Message from Mrs Brocklesby

Year 6 pupils celebrated Mass for the Feast of St. Francis with Father Richard on Tuesday. It was a special time to come together in prayer and learn about St. Francis.

Saint Francis is a shining example to us all! He loved and cared for animals, showing us how important it is to be kind to all living things. 

Next week, we will be surveying children and parents to find out if it is best for children to come to school in their P.E. kits on their P.E. day starting in January.

Your feedback will help us decide the best way to make this work for everyone.

Message from Mrs Warnett

Reception

Reception have had a great week full of learning and creativity. In Science, the children have been exploring the different parts of the human body and enjoyed identifying lots of them. In Phonics, they have continued learning new sounds and have started blending these together to read and write words. In Reading, the children have been enjoying the story Supertato, developing new vocabulary such as escaped, trapped and vanished. In Maths, they have been working with numbers up to 4, discovering how these can be made in different ways, such as 2 and 2 or 3 and 1. In RE, the children have been looking at the story of Creation and discussing what God made on each day. During Outdoor Learning, the children combined their learning about autumn with art by creating natural paintbrushes from leaves and twigs, which they then used to produce some beautiful autumn-inspired paintings.

KS1

Year 1 and 2

In English, the children have been working on their dictation and question writing skills as they re-told the story of The Three Little Pigs. It was so interesting to hear the different versions that children already knew from home and how they were similar and different. In maths, the class have been using Numicon to help develop their understanding of number bonds. In PE, the children have been developing their sense of balance, even managing to balance outside on a windy day! The class have been working with Miss Giles to discover more about castles in the past. In RE, the children created story hills to show what happened in the story of David and Goliath. They especially liked learning what a catapult is and why shepherds used them in the past! The children were sad not to be in on Friday this week, especially as that is when the raffle prize winner is chosen each week! Don't worry- we will have the raffle all ready for some winners on Monday!

Year 3 / Year 4

The children have completed another busy week and have tackled some challenging concepts with resilience and effort. In maths, the children have been using number lines to help them round 3-digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. The children really grew in confidence as the week progressed and will continue to consolidate this skills over the next few days. In English, the children have used the text 'The Invisible by Tom Percival' to support their writing this week. The children have developed their understanding of speech and possessive apostrophes to make their writing more interesting. In art, the children planned a composition by creating a collage using their scissor skills and creativity. They also prepared a wax-resist background to draw their composition on next week. Finally, the children researched James Brindley in history and created fact files on him and his importance to the canal building construction process. The children are really looking forward to visiting the canal basin for a local history trip after half term. 

Year 5 

This week, Year 5 have been busy continuing their work on The Chocolate Tree. In English, the children explored different sentence types, focusing on mastering the use of both complex and compound sentences, while also adding short sentences for dramatic effect. They then applied these skills in their Star Writes, producing some truly fabulous pieces of writing – well done, Year 5! Next week, the class will be moving on to The Rain Player, another Mayan tale, this time based on Chac, the rain god. In Maths, Year 5 have been working on mental strategies as well as addition and subtraction of whole numbers with more than four digits using the column method. These were challenging concepts, but the children approached them with determination and great resilience. In RE, the class have been learning about St Francis of Assisi, retelling his story thoughtfully and with care.

A big well done to Year 5 for all their hard work this week!

Year 6 

It’s been another busy week in Year 6 and even though there have only been four days for the children, they have definitely packed in plenty of hard work! In Science, the children have been further investigating light and how it travels, this week looking at refraction and what happens when light travels through different mediums, such as water or glass. The children found the results very interesting and were able to talk like scientists about what they observed. In PE, the children were creating their own map routes to challenge others in OAA and in RE, have been exploring the story of Cain and Abel and considering the relationships between the brothers and Cain’s relationship with God. As artists, the children have been finding out about and exploring the technique, Chiaroscuro, by using charcoal and rubbers to consider how the use of light and dark can add to the 3d effect of letters. Miss McGowan has also been incredibly impressed with the children’s writing this week. The children were tasked with retelling a section of the wonderful story, ‘Street Child’, where a young boy, Jim buys a pie foe him and his family. The understanding of the characters and  language used to describe characters and how they talked was very impressive, as well as the children’s understanding of the emotions linked to the story. A job very well done Year 6! Keep it up!

We warmly invite all families with children starting school this September to come and explore Saint Wulstan's.

Join us to:

• Meet our friendly teachers and staff

• Tour our classrooms

• Learn about our welcoming community and enriching curriculum

Come and see why Saint Wulstan's is a place where every child can grow, learn, and thrive!

Open Days - If you know of anyone who is looking for a school place for their child, please let them know we have three Open Days this year:

- Friday 24 October 2025 from 10:00am to 12:00pm

- Thursday 4 December 2025 from 9.30am to 11:30am

- Wednesday 7 January 2026 from 1:00pm to 3:00pm

Open Day flyers -  We have a stock of these.  If your workplace could take some of these, to advertise the events, please contact Mrs Brown in the school office to obtain some.  Thank you

On Tuesday 7 October,  Next Tuesday, Tempest Photography will be in school to take the individual and sibling photographs. Could children please wear their winter uniform for the photographs ie shirt and tie.

Parents’ Evening are now open on Arbor. This is a valuable opportunity to meet with your child’s class teacher to discuss their progress, celebrate achievements, and talk about how we can work together to support their learning.

Appointments will take place in the school hall on Thursday 23 October and Monday 3 November, between 3:50pm and 6:00pm. If you are unable to attend in person and would prefer an online meeting via Teams, please contact Mrs Brown in the school office who will be happy to help arrange this. The email address is enquiry_wul@emmausmac.com. 

On Friday 17 October, we will be supporting Dwarfism Awareness Month. Children are invited to come to school wearing green clothing to show their support. We kindly ask for a £1 donation, which will go directly to Little People UK, a charity that provides support, advice, and information to people with dwarfism and their families.  Moving forward, any payment items for school will now be on Arbor and not Parentpay (excluding current payment items eg Kidderminster Harriers this term and the Year 5 residential trip next year).  Any kind donations of £1 towards the Dwarfism Awareness Month can be made via your Arbor account - this is the new way for paying for school related items instead of Parentpay.

To raise money for an exciting opportunity for the Reception class, later in the year, the Reception children have come up with an idea of having a scarecrow competition.  To raise as much money as possible, the competition is open to all the children at St Wulstan’s with an entry fee of £1.

The scarecrows can be any size and made from any material.  The entries will be displayed on the grassy bank by the school’s main foyer, for everyone to enjoy.

The closing date for entries will be Monday 20 October.  The winning entry will be announced in school that week, with a prize for the winner.

If you make a scarecrow, bring it to school and hand it in to Mrs Brown.

We look forward to seeing your imaginative creations!

On Thursday 9th October, the school book fair will be arriving and will be in the hall for a week. Books and stationery may be purchased using cash or cards. The fair will be open before and after school each day and children will also have the opportunity to visit during the school day. Every purchase helps us buy books for school, so we thank you for your support.

If your child is in their final year at primary school, you need to apply for their secondary school place.  The closing date is 31 October 2025.  Visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/schooladmissions

If your child is due to start school in September 2026 (and was born between 1 September 2021-31 August 2022) the closing date for applying for a place is 15 January 2026. Visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk/schooladmissions

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive universal free school meals.  However, based on your income, you may be eligible to a different free school meal type. This can be applied for even when your child is still in Reception, Years 1 & 2.  This entitles you to a free school meal voucher during the holidays and also continued free school meals until the end of Year 6. If you think you may qualify for these,  visit www.worcestershire.gov.uk