'Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God'

Happy New Year! It was so lovely to welcome back all the children on Monday, after what felt like a long holiday! The children have come back refreshed, refocused and ready to learn. In fact, this week has been my favourite week with Year 3 so far… they have all come back so eager and excited to learn that every lesson has been exciting and I feel like we have fit in so much learning. We are all so proud of them.

This week we have begun our class novel, a little later than we had hoped as we got carried away with our dragon learning, however after Christmas, ‘The Ice Cat’ novel seems a perfect way to start the new year. The children have embraced this novel as we have explored all the beautiful descriptive phrases and vocabulary in the first chapter, they have raised such deep questions about what they wonder about the plot and discussed the answers to some key questions. It is at this point where you can really see how much progress the children have made in their reading! Please continue with how much you are reading at home, as all the hard work IS paying off, not only are they making progress, you can see how much more they are enjoying their reading, which is such a joy to see.

In grammar we have continued to collect and use prepositions, which you will see on the homework, but we have also started to look at main clauses, and spotting them in complex sentences. In Maths were are continuing with our addition and subtractions, reasoning and playing with number continuously. RE this week, we have started to look at the sacrament of Reconciliation, in preparation for Our First Holy Communion.

Mass today was beautiful, the children prayed so reverently and it was lovely to celebrate as a whole school the start of a new year.

Most children have come back to school smartly, as you saw in my last blog and Miss Hornby’s before Christmas, that we would like to see the children dressed according to our school uniform policy. Specifically, it is so important that children please where the correct school jumpers to school (no hoodies or other such jumpers), the correct type of trousers and FULL school tracksuit on PE days please. As a refresher, please read the following guidelines to help you, found on our discover page, under ‘things to remember’.

On behalf of the year 3 team thank you so much for the thoughtful Christmas gifts. They were all incredibly heart warming and kind.

Thank you to everyone who signed up for Parents Day on 29th January. If you haven’t already please make sure you do, as this is the only time I will get to meet with parents. Many thanks.

Have a lovely weekend and God bless,

The awards this week go to …

Jacob thank you for being such a focused Cooper Crab, concentrating in class,participating in lessons much better and developing your resilience.

Hollie Rose what an enthusiastic Bobby Bee you are! You have become such a Maths Monster, developing your resilience, focus and even doing extra maths at playtime- we are very proud of you!



'The beauty of Christmas is not in the presents but in the His presence' Matthew 1:23

What a magical week we have had in Year 3! Amid all this weeks festivities we have still continued with our learning, Maths has continued with our reasoning in addition and subtraction and we have now finished our Arctic Geography topic. This week the children have wrote some wonderful reports on Polar Bears, using all of their skills and language features from their non-chronological report learning in English.

The children have worked so hard this term and we are very pleased with the progress they are making. Today we have given the children their new ZPD codes for their reading books and all of them made sure they had a reading book to read over Christmas. All children have made good progress in their reading, but this must continue, so please over the Christmas period read frequently together and discuss the text, it helps more with their learning than anything else. We have gifted each child with a new bookmark before they left, with the quote ‘a book is a gift that you can open again and again’- how true this is!

Miss Hornby spoke to the children today in assembly about the need in wearing the correct school uniform that is in line with the school’s uniform policy- please see the website homepage for Miss Hornby’s blog.

We started the week off beautifully with our Christmas Carol Concert, where the children sang their hearts out and stood so smartly, we were all so proud of them- I am sure you will all agree that both performances were magical. On Wednesday, we then danced our socks off and had lots of fun at the Junior Christmas Party! Here are some of the pictures we took on the day!

Have a wonderful, relaxing and holy Christmas!


The awards this week go to …

Mason Thank you for being such a focused Cooper Crab, concentrating in class, managing your distractions much better and developing your resilience.

Jess what an enthusiastic Bobby Bee you are! You have clearly loved our Geography topic and it has show in your work- well done!

Important information:

Year 3 parents day will be slightly different to the rest of the school- it will be held on Wednesday 29th January, booking appointments will live first week back.


'I wish the world was twice as big- and half of it was still unexplored' David Attenborough

What a lovely week we have had in Year 3 this week! We started the week ready and eager to explore a freezing place in Geography- we got on our scarves, hats and gloves, preparing ourselves for a chilling adventure as we learnt about the Arctic. The children this week have learnt about the countries that make up the Arctic circle, the climate of the Arctic, what physical features are found there and all the animals that live in this polar region. The children have loved this topic and it has been a pleasure to see such Bobby Bee’s in the classroom! We are looking forward to putting all of our work on non-chronological report writing to good use, as we write a report on a polar bear. In Maths the children have continued to problem solve and reason in their addition and subtraction and in RE the children have looked deeper in to the birth of Jesus Christ and the visit of the wise men.

On Tuesday we had the pleasure of watching the KS1 Nativity who told the story of the birth of Jesus beautifully through their words, song and of course dance moves- it truly felt like a celebration of his arrival. Then on Wednesday Year 3, along with the rest of Key Stage 2, went to rehearse at church ready for our Christmas Concert next week. This was Year 3’s first time at church to practice and we were so proud of their patience, cooperation and of course how they sang- in fact Mrs Gregan complemented them, saying they were one of the best Year 3 classes at a concert rehearsal- so well done Year 3, lets keep it up next week! There are just a couple of songs we need to practice, so please over the weekend encourage the children to sing a long and learn the songs that have been shared on Year 3 homework page.

We are looking forward to sharing this concert with you next Tuesday- you are in for a real treat!

We loved seeing the array of Christmas jumpers in the classroom today and even had our very own catwalk!

The awards this week go to …

India Thank you for being such a focused Cooper Crab, concentrating in class and managing your distractions.

Olivia what an resilient Sadie you are! You always have a go, manage distractions around you and when you make a mistake you seize the opportunity reflect and learn from your mistakes.

Important information:

Christmas concert on Tuesday 17th at 2pm and 6:30pm at church. Please drop your child off and come in at 6:15pm

Wednesday Christmas Party- Party clothes (dancing shoes trainers are best!!). You may bring in a treat for example, a chocolate bar or packet of crisps. Please bring a drink too this can be flavoured but not fizzy. We have great fun at the party - I’ll post pictures!

Friday 2pm finish


'Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world' C.S.Lewis

This week has been all about our writing. We started the week off by showering our thoughts and ideas of the characteristics of each of our dragons- what they look like, where they are found and their unique characteristics. Once we had gathered enough information, the children then wrote their first independent non-chronological report on their chosen dragon. I can’t wait to get marking them! In Maths we are continuing with our addition and subtraction and in RE we have been looking at the true meaning of advent, reflecting on ways we celebrate this special time, in particular the symbolic meaning to the advent wreath. Today we have started our Geography topic on the Arctic, which will be our big focus over the next couple of weeks.

Advent Mass was beautiful once again this morning, with so many families coming to share this time of reflection. Please don’t forget that the last Advent Mass is taking place Next Friday at 8am in the hall. At this incredibly busy time of year, it is important to take time for ourselves and be reminded of the true reasons to celebrate at Christmas.

The awards this week go to …

Thank you Amber for being such a Curious Clownish learner- for asking all the right questions and always wanting to find out more.

Julia you have been such a Kiki Chameleon- well done for showing your creativity in your writing and doing extra writing at home!

Important Information…

Christmas Cards - We had a great chat in class today about Christmas cards and how every year at Christmas, instead of spending money and sending out cards, it is a much kinder idea in the season of Advent to collect the money and choose a Cafod World Gift to buy from us all. We agreed that the children could create or buy one card for the class and then donate any money they would spend on cards to our collection. As we get enough money, we will look at the World Gifts as a class and decide on the ones we would like to purchase for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Christmas jumper and silly sock day on Friday 13th December - Year 5 have organised the event and are hoping to raise over £1000 for local charity Brian House. On this day, children can wear their own clothes with a Christmas jumper and/or silly socks for a small donation of £1.

Our Key stage 2 Christmas performance is on Tuesday 17th December at 2pm and again at 6.30pm. The songs they sing are beautiful

Party day Wednesday 18th December. Drink (not fizzy) and fun snack (chocolate or crisps)- PARTY CLOTHES- sensible shoes for serious dancing!

'You are precious in my eyes' Isaiah 43:4

What a lovely week we have had in Year 3! I must start by saying how proud we were of all the children for their wonderful performance on Tuesday. The children spoke out so confidently and loudly and their acting skills were very impressive, especially as they had so many lines to learn. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you all. What an important message it had too- remembering that we are all different and unique because God made us that way therefore we should all accept and value one another differences, and as Jessica said beautifully on the day as her character Eli ‘and I don’t make mistakes’.

We have had a great week of learning this week, continuing to look at non-chronological reports and the features we need to include once we start our very own next week. In Maths we have been focusing on the commutative law and the whole-part model representation, which the children have grasped excellently. In RE we have looked at The Visitation and focused on the Hail Mary, its meaning and even writing our own version of the prayer. Today we had a visit from Father Peter in preparation of India’s baptism that we will be attending next Wednesday. This is such a special time for India and her family and we feel honoured as a class to be get to be there and be a part of it.

This week Jack, Harriet and Saul delivered a wonderful liturgy in the chapel on how we must help one another- it was so beautiful to see the children praying with such reverence.

It was lovely to see so many of you at our curriculum evening last night and sharing all about how we develop mastery and resilience in Maths during school. There was such a buzz around the school, it was lovely to see!

The awards this week go to …

Thank you Holly for being such a reflective Lizzie Ladybird working so hard to improve your handwriting, spelling and presentation. ,

Stephanie you have been such a Bobby Bee! Showing great enthusiasm and going above and beyond in your learning, doing extra work at home and fully immersing yourself in your learning.

Important Information…

Our Key stage 2 Christmas performance is on Tuesday 17th December at 2pm and again at 6.30pm. The songs they sing are beautiful

Our Advent masses begin next Friday morning - at 8.00am in school. Please come and join us - it is always such a lovely time.

"Faith is seeing light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness."

Wow what a day today! Thank you so much for helping us raise money for such a worth cause- Brian House. The other bonus is that we got to spend the day in our PJ’s with our friends. Today we have been ‘dragon pet-shop owners’, discussing and writing all about the best way to look after a dragon- there are some definitely interesting ideas! All week this week, we have been learning about a particular type of dragon that I am sure you have heard all about at home and some of you may have even seen … The Manchester Ridge-back. The children have worked hard to story map, learn actions and can now recite the non-chronological report all about this dragon. See if the children can tell you any fascinating facts about it, if they haven’t already, as there is quite a buzz in the classroom.

In Maths this week, we have started to count up in multiples 4’s and 8’s, looking at the mathematical connection. We have also started addition, firstly looking at the whole, part model and how calculations are drawn from this representation. They have made an excellent start!

We have been practicing our assembly this week, and the children have made a really good start at learning their lines, so thank you. Could you please make sure you practice this weekend, focusing now on expression and definitely volume with them. We have also been practicing the song every day, if you have time also to go over the song with them to make sure they know it, it would be much appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjDBd6tBBY

Next week we look forward to our curriculum evening. If you would like to learn more about Mastery in Mathematics and how we develop a growth mindset, then please come along for a fun evening. We have example Maths lessons showing small steps in each of the junior classes, a variety of Maths puzzles, Mrs Hotchkiss is giving a guided tour of our school website and much, much more.

The awards this week go to …

Thank you Jack for being such a focused Cooper Crab for working so hard, managing your distractions and being ready to learn every week!

Grace you have been such an enthusiastic ‘Bobby Bee’! We have loved seeing your enthusiasm and enjoyment of learning!

Important Information…

Our class assembly is on Tuesday 19th November 9:10

Curriculum Evening is Thursday 21st October 6pm - 8pm.

Thursday’s sports club with Mr Nay is the white group- 21st November and 28th November 8-8:45am.

'Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of this faith is to see what you believe' St Augustine of Hippo

The title of our blog this week is extremely fitting for all of our learning this week … faith has been the centre of most of our lessons... In RE we have looked further in to the Annunciation, looking at Mary’s difficult decision but immense trust in God, it was only through her devout faith that she found the strength the accept God’s will. The children’s responses to this have been so deep and heart felt. We have also been looking closer at what it means to be faith-filled, analysing quotes and we even studied the story Charles Blondin, a famous tightrope walker who showed great faith in what he did, but also asked faith from his audience … ask the children what he asked of the audience. We learnt that there is a real difference in talking about our faith compared to how we can act on our faith.

We have now started to collect evidence of dragons, so be aware! In English we are now looking at starting our non-chronological report unit, where are focus is… dragons to begin with. Today we have looked at the story we are learning, as part of our talk for writing approach and over the next couple of weeks we will innovate this and create our own dragon report. It is all very exciting and I think a few children have even found a dragon’s nest in our environmental garden! Miss Brisco is ready with the telescope for children that want a go at spotting any flying around!

We have now started our assembly, the theme is all about how we are all unique, difference and special … we are all precious in His eyes. It is, once again, about having faith in ourselves, others and most importantly God. Children now have their lines to learn for next week please and the song is also there to learn on the homework page. We look forward to sharing this with you.

Today the flu vaccines were given to the children who were given permission back in September, they were all super brave.

The awards this week go to …

Thank you

Christian McKenzie for being such a focused Cooper Crab for working so hard, managing your distractions and being ready to learn this week!

John Joseph Shaw you have been such a ‘have a go’ Tommy Turtle! We have loved seeing your confidence grow and your enjoyment of learning this week, good boy for having the courage to get your hand up more this week.

Important Information…

Our class assembly is on Tuesday 19th November 9:10

Curriculum Evening is Thursday 21st October 6pm - 8pm

'Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase' Martin Luther King

Welcome back to the second Autumn half term- I can’t believe how fast the first half term went and this half term will go even quicker I am sure! It was lovely meeting you all before the holidays to celebrate your children and I think the key message was mostly, please keep reading with your children every night. I have to say, it is lovely coming back and seeing the children so enthusiastic about the books they are reading and they are much more eager to take quizzes and get on to their next book- their is a real buzz about reading so thank you!

You can see the children have come back back well rested, full of what they have been up to over half term and most importantly ready to grow our brains and learn as much as we can! The focus has been heavily on our History ‘Stone age to Iron age’, which the children have loved learning about Skara Brae and Stone Henge. They have had to think extremely deeply, as historians do, looking at evidence and interpreting what this tells us about the way they live. We have had very exciting Maths lessons this week, where the children have been focusing on comparing numbers and using the greater than or less than sign for various representations of the number. In RE this week we are looking at Mary Our Mother, focusing firstly on when Mary found out she was to have a baby, which links in beautifully with the introduction to our Christian virtues of the half term- ‘Faith-filled and Hopeful’. Next week we will be exploring Mary’s act of faith even further and discussing how we too have faith in our daily lives.

Danceathon on Tuesday was a huge success, thank you for all of your support. The atmosphere on the playground for our Wake up, Shake up was magical, which set the mood for the rest of the day. The bell rang throughout the day, which paused our learning briefly while we danced, then we had a lesson to learn the cha cha- the children were wonderful! Finally at the end of the day, the whole school met on the playground to perform the whole dance from start to finish, it was all very exciting!



The awards this week go to …

Thank you Abi Cassidy for being such a focused Cooper Crab for working so hard and always being ready to learn.

James Barrow what an enthusiastic Bobby Bee you are! We have loved seeing your desire and enjoyment of learning this week, your hand is forever up.

Important Information…

Our class assembly is on Tuesday 19th November 9:10

Curriculum Evening is Thursday 21st October 6pm - 8pm


“Discover how to visit the past and bring yesterday's stories into our lives today”

Sorry for the late post, but I wanted to make sure that I uploaded all the pictures from today to show you what a muddy but wonderful time we all had! Wow, today has definitely been the highlight of our week… we all had the best time, despite the wet weather! In the morning the children worked together so cooperatively to build their shelters as the early Stone Age men would have done. There was lots of little extra touches as well that were added, such as fires, chairs and some very impressive entrances. I am sure you are impressed by the photographs. Then all the children, used flints to begin their own fires, which was then safely put out by heat proof gloves- they were all super sensible! We then had the opportunity to get dry inside while we had our lunch, until is was back to the forest to play some hunting games! What a day!

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School trip to Brockholes on Friday

Friday is our school trip to Brockholes and we are all very excited to go! We will be setting off promptly at 9am, therefore please ensure that you are at school for 8:45am. We should be back for the end of school, after a wonderful day outdoors, with no rain (here’s hoping).

As the trip is outdoors all day and we may get muddy, the children have been asked to wear their own, old clothes. Please do not let the children wear anything they don’t want to potentially ruin or get muddy! We ask that no jeans are worn as these can get very wet, and advise children to wear wither tracksuit bottoms or leggings. Layers is also advisable, t-shirt, with jumper over the top and please, please, please do not forget a waterproof coat. If you child has waterproof bottoms, then feel free to send these in. The children also need to wear old trainers or walking boots for the day.

Jackie will provide packed lunches for those children who usually have a school dinner on Friday, however, if you usually have a packed lunch then please do the same. It is vital that all packed lunches are packed in disposable bags, as the children will not be able to carry these around with them and there is no storage. No Tupperwares, plastic forks or special water bottles- the bottles again need to be disposable. The children will not need bags or any other belongings with them on this day, as they need to just concentrate on their learning and having fun.

The Merchant of Venice

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As part of our back stage experience Leo and Casey Hornby , who are in charge of marketing, would like to invite you to see the Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. The show will be performed at Our Lady of the Assumption on Tuesday 8th October at 7pm. Tickets on sale at Our Lady of the Assumption reception. Or you could come along to the Grand in Blackpool. On Saturday at 1:30pm 20 children from our school will be part of the production both backstage and front of house. Casey and Leo will be there to greet you!

“The quality of mercy is not strained.It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.”
— William Shakespeare

'It's not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts' Mother Teresa

I cannot believe we are coming to the end of our 4th week- time flies when you are having fun! The children are working so hard, showing great enthusiasm and rising to the challenges Year 3 brings! In RE we have been discussing what is meant by our Christian family and what all our parish has to offer, before starting today to look at the Sacrament of Baptism, which is how we join our Christian family.

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'A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new' Albert Einstein

What a wonderful week in Year 3 we have had, especially as the sun has been shining! I don’t know how, but we have managed to fit a lot of learning in to just one week, which shows just how focused and settled the children are in Year 3. This week we have had our first music lesson with Mrs Mallinson, we have had french with Madam Jefferson and of course Art yesterday with Mrs Curtis.

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'Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom' By Aristotle

Well, what a wonderful week we have had in Year 3! It has been so lovely getting know all of your lovely children and we now look forward an an exciting year ahead. The children have come back, most of the time, with their junior heads on. They are all so eager to contribute in class and enthusiastic about their learning, we just need to remember not to shout at out times- something to work on for the rest of the year.

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Welcome back to Year 3- 'Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable'...

I hope you have all had a wonderful summer holiday, full of fun, relaxation and most importantly family time. I am really looking forward to seeing you all after a long summer and starting our learning journey together in the juniors. As you all know, you are not the only ones that have not been in Year 3 before, as I also will be new to the year group, but we have plenty of exciting learning to look forward to and lots of new opportunities.

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