St Mary’s Welcomes Reception Class 2023

Our new September starters in EYFS were officially welcomed to the St Mary’s family during a special ‘buddies’ worship and assembly led by Year 6 and their new friends. It was a culmination of several weeks’ get-togethers where the pupils ate lunch together, played together and learned lots together too! They read, wrote, cut, coloured, glued and drew pictures – in short, had lots and lots of fun!

The theme this year was ‘under the sea’ and the service had a distinctively ‘nautical’ theme to it – including a fun-filled rendition of ‘under the deep blue sea’! The story of the ‘Rainbow Fish’ was re-told and there was even a little bit of acting!

Mother Katy kindly helped to make the new starters feel officially welcomed, by presenting each with their own personal copy of our school prayer book: The Lord’s Prayer. Blessings were gratefully received and parents enjoyed their proud moment as each child begins their journey with us at St Mary’s.



Viking Dance

Here are some extracts from the Viking dance that was created with a professional dance coach and really enhanced the Viking topic. When the dance was completed, the class performed it for Year 4.

Carol Service 2022

Year 5 led our Christmas Carol service this year. The service focused on ‘Home for Christmas’ taking the theme of ‘No room at the inn’. It contrasted the bustling commercialism of a modern Christmas with the plight of homelessness.

Through God’s love and our Christian Values, we encourage each individual to love, respect and value God, themselves and others. The message, “Love one another as Jesus loved us” (John 13 v 34-35) was powerfully conveyed through the production.

The children had a great time rehearsing for the production and both parents and staff alike commented on the success. All pupils in Year 5 spoke clearly and presented themselves with confidence.

Experience Harvest

Today, the children were welcomed across to St Mary’s Church to take part in our ‘Experience Harvest’ event. There were five interactive stations where the children were encouraged to reflect upon the harvests of the sea, the garden, the grain, the flock and the earth. They had the opportunity to create a clay pinch pot, and an origami boat and work together to create a weave. Throughout the activities, the children thought about what we could learn from the harvest. For example: being patient like the farmers waiting for the perfect time to harvest their crops. We also thought about how we could be faithful to God, show humility to others (by putting their needs first) be joyful givers and be generous to those in need. Above all, the children learnt about being thankful for all that God has given us and learnt how to fill ourselves with peace. It was a truly lovely day.

School Day

Our current school opening times are 9:00am – 3:30pm.
This meets the Department for Education minimum requirement for all children to be in school for 32.5 hours per week

Arrival at school
The gates to the playground open at 8.40am. Children should arrive punctually between 8.45am and 8.55am. Children will be supervised on the playground from 8.50am and then asked to enter school through the Reception, Key Stage 1 or 2 entrances at 8:55am.

Morning Session:
KS 1 and KS 2 9:00 – 12:00
School starts at 9:00am. Please ensure your child is in their classroom before the door is closed at 9.00am. If your child is late, please take them to the main office and sign them in. If your child is ill, please inform the school office before 9.30am.

Morning breaktime
10:25 – 10: 40am – KS 1
10: 40- 10:55am – KS 2

Lunchtime
KS1 12.00- 1.30pm KS2 12.00- 1.00pm

Afternoon Session
1:30 – 3:30pm KS 1 1:00 – 3:30pm KS 2

Afternoon breaktime
2:35 – 2: 50pm – KS 1
2:15 – 2: 30pm – KS 2

Children should be picked up from their classroom door.
If you are going to be late picking your child up please ensure you contact the school office
as soon as possible so the teacher can be informed. If your child has not been picked up by 3.40pm they will be brought to the school office to be collected.

Easter 2022

This years Easter service was led by Year 4. The key messages explored through this years service were faith, perseverance and compassion. With consideration to the powerful messages delivered in the Bible at Easter, the children re-enacted the Easter story providing key messages to their peers, families and the community.

 

 

Blackpool Zoo

Year 2 had a wonderful day learning about animals and their habitats at Blackpool Zoo. There have been so many awe and wonder moments today. Such smiling faces and squeals of delight!!! It has been a privilege to witness the happiness today and to finally take them out on a class trip.




Chicks

Year 2 have waited patiently for 3 weeks to see if the 7 eggs that we put in an incubator would hatch. 6 new lives have joined our world and have been named. We have all enjoyed cuddling and caring for them and are sad to see them go to their new home. It inspired us to write great information and instructional texts linked to this science topic.

Circle Time

Year 2 had a reflective session with Father Paul today. We all enjoyed a peaceful and spiritual Circle Time.

Music

Year 2 have enjoyed using vocal sounds, body parts and musical instruments to accompany music inspired by British myths and Legends.

Experience Church

The children from Year Two to Year Six have spent time at St Mary’s Church, to participate in the ‘Experience Church’ event. This gave them the opportunity to reflect, discuss and learn about the importance of the different parts of the Church and the role that they play in the life of the Church. The stations included: the entrance, Lectern, Font, Altar, Votive Stand, Kneelers and the stories in the windows. The children really enjoyed creating their own stained glass windows, to create candle holders to reflect that ‘Jesus is the Light of the World.’ They also created origami birds, in which they folded their worries, and flew them away. Lots of deeper discussions were held about Christians being disciples of God and about the importance of prayer. The children learnt about the Christian values and the value of what we can bring to the Church and take away into the wider world.

 

Seaside Jigsaws

We were given one piece of jigsaw each to inspect. We had to be like ‘Dr Resilience’ and notice the smaller details. This caused lots of puzzlement and questions in our minds like ‘What is that?’ ‘Where could it be?’ ‘Has someone else got a piece from my jigsaw and how can I tell?’ We then worked with a partner to look at what clues we could see in fragmented pictures/ parts of photographs. We carefully looked for clues to see what we could notice and thought about what sort of place it could be and gave reasons how we knew. We discussed what we know about the seaside and our experiences of these localities. We shared our picture with another pair and compared similarities and differences. We then used the pieces to complete the seaside jigsaws.

Travelling Science Show

Year 2 had an amazing travelling science show visit where they looked at ways to change materials to produce unexpected effects, explored and tested the properties of materials in unusual and astounding ways  and enjoyed taking part in interactive experiments to answer questions such as ‘How many people can fit through a sheet of paper?’  ‘Why is it not a good idea to bring your packed lunch to school in a paper bag?’ and ‘Can we make a piece of tissue so strong that no one can rip it?’ It was awesome!

The Disgusting Sandwich

Year 2 had such fun following instructions to make their very own disgusting sandwiches like in the story that we had read. They were amazing chefs and thought of lots of verbs to collect and synonyms vocabulary for ‘disgusting’. We are looking forward to writing our own disgusting soup recipes.

Straw and Order Show

This year, Years 1 and 2 have performed ‘Straw and Order’. This show was set in a courtroom where the judge had to listen to 2 sides of a story and give their verdict.The donkeys and cows were both represented in court to decide who the stable belonged to! After realising that being respectful towards each other, understanding differences and being kind and sharing is better, they  agreed to all live together in peace and harmony! This was a lovely Christmas message that reflects ‘Love one another like Jesus loves us’. We were so proud of all our infant pupils who performed so well in front of 2 large audiences. They danced, sang and acted brilliantly.

Oldham Rotary Carol Concert Peformance

The woodwind ensemble and school choir were delighted to perform live at the Oldham Rotary Carol Concert on Saturday evening. Both groups performed superbly and enjoyed a fabulous evening. We were delighted to be able to help raise funds for Maggie’s Oldham by taking part at this event.

 

Buddies Video

Welcome to our page for our new Reception Class children who start with us September 2020

This is a video of your School Buddies

Ash Wednesday Service

The children took part in a thought-provoking Ash Wednesday Service. This was led by Reverend Katy Cunliffe, who was accompanied by Reverend Dorothy and Mr Sanderson to mark the beginning of Lent.