During the Season of Advent we take time to carefully prepare the school community for the coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ at Christmas time, by putting together weekly Advent Liturgies to correspond with each week of Advent. On Monday all children will receive a Walk with Me Advent and Christmas Calendar. The children’s calendar is a fun and creative gift to help families come close to Christ during Advent as we prepare for Christmas.

It is also a great way to help us all look forward to Christmas and prepare together. The calendar enables us all to create space for us to engage with Advent as a family in a fun way.

It was wonderful to receive the email below from Stourport Town Council this week. I am very proud of our school community and I would like to thank you for your continued support. If you have any feedback for the Council please email ebrocklesby@emmausmac.com and your feedback will be passed on.

Good Afternoon

A huge thank you for joining us at this year’s Three Kings Parade and Christmas Light Switch-on. 

Your support helped in making a memorable evening for the people of SNOWport.  We also hope that you had an enjoyable time.

Please can I kindly ask if you could spare a few minutes to let me know any feedback about the evening.  I will then compile this for discussion at our debriefing meeting and this will help us in planning a bigger and better Three Kings Parades in the future.

We look forward to your support again at 2024’s Three Kings Parade and Christmas Light Switch-on.

The Big Ambition – Have your say!

Reception Class have been learning about the festival of Diwali. As part of their understanding of the festival of lights, the children have been listening to the story of Rama and Sita, making their own Diya lamps as well as experimenting making their own Rangoli and Mehndi patterns. During the week the class have been listening to traditional music and have had the chance to explore movements of their own choosing as well as following dance moves based on a week in Diwali. The week led up to an exciting afternoon when the class had a Diwali party. They performed their Diwali song, wrote Diwali cards, made decorations and even tried some traditional foods. A very exciting and busy week for Reception Class!

Last Friday KS1 went to Hartlebury Castle. The children spent the morning in a Victorian classroom and luckily they were all so well behaved, no one got the cane! On Tuesday the class had their final multi skills session where they got to play netball. 

In Geography this week, Year 3 have been looking at tsunamis. They have used their prior knowledge of plate tectonics and earthquakes to work out what causes a tsunami and what some of the impacts of a tsunami are. All the children are really enjoying their lessons this term and are coming up with some fantastic questions and ideas. During Art this week the children were looking at the abstract artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe. They created their own abstract artwork by using a viewfinder to focus on one part of a flower. They had to look carefully at the image and really focus on what part they were drawing so that they could include as much detail as possible. Everyone did a fantastic job. Year 3 also voted for their school councillors this week. A lot of children wrote speeches, which they then presented to the class and the children then voted for who they wanted to represent them in the school council. Well done to everybody who wrote a speech and presented it in front of the whole class. They were all excellent.

The children in Year 4 have grown in confidence so much already this year and this has resulted in some wonderful examples of work and effort in class. In gymnastics, the children have been working in pairs and using the apparatus to sequence balances and spins. They have really impressed Mr Tasker with their ability to work collaboratively to showcase their ideas and creativity. On Wednesday, the class voted for their School Council representative and the children shared their speeches with clarity and enthusiasm. It was lovely to see how much the children supported each other and celebrated the successes of their peers. Thank you to all the children that completed and shared their application forms. The children have been working really hard in their swimming lessons over the past few months and it has been really pleasing to see how their confidence in the water has improved since the start of the year. Finally in Science, the children have continued using practical examples to observe the behaviour of materials and how they change from solids, liquids and gases. They have been observing changing states and recording how materials reversibly or irreversibly change when heated or cooled. Well done, children!  

This week Year 5 have been starting to develop a plan to write a sequel story to their class text, 'FaRther'. They have had to identify the structure of the story and then innovate it to consider how the story could be carried on. Over the next few weeks, they will be building on these plans to write their own fantastic versions! Miss McGowan was also incredibly proud to see how many children applied to be the Year 5 School Council Representative. All children spoke clearly and confidently and showed that they all had the skills to represent the class wonderfully. In DT, the children have continued creating their moving parts book, this week creating a page with a pivot. It was very tricky, but all worked hard to achieve this. The children have also been learning more about the Earth and beyond as they have been finding out more about the planets in the Solar System, and thinking about what similarities and differences the planets have. Their enthusiasm for the subject has been wonderful and Miss McGowan is very excited for the children to become space experts!

Year 6 have celebrated Mass with Year 1 and Year 2. All the children listened attentively to Fr. Richard about how important it is to do their best to please God. This week the children were also able to try speed stacking (or sport stacking). It was so popular with the children that many of you may be asked to add a set of cups to a few Christmas present lists! Stacking is an individual and team sport that involves stacking 9 or 12 specially designed cups in sequences as quickly as possible. Sequences are usually pyramids and the stacking takes place against the clock. It was first played in the 1980’s and is very popular in countries such as America and South Korea. Have a look at some photos of the children stacking.

School Council Elections

The School Council for 2022-23 was elected this week. Every child who put their name forward for consideration, penned a manifesto at home and then presented their ideas, and personal qualities to their class peers. Elections were held in each of the classes and the councillors were duly elected by their peers. Through the school council, the children will be given a key role in saying how the school is run and it will enable all pupils to have their voices heard! We wish the 2022-23 School Council all the very best in their endeavours and look forward to sharing their successes with you throughout the year!

Advent - Travelling Crib

As Advent starts the children will be bringing home a travelling crib. We hope you will spend some time with your child looking at the crib and using some of the resources we have put in them. Please could you look after these travelling cribs and return them the next day to school so as many children can share the travelling cribs  this Advent. Do take photos and email them to your child's class teacher. Below are the class email addresses you can use to email the photographs. reception_wul@emmausmac.com ks1_wul@emmausmac.com year3_wul@emmausmac.com year4_wul@emmausmac.com year5_wul@emmausmac.com year6_wul@emmausmac.com 

Thank you in advance for your co-operation.

To help raise money for Kemp Hospice, mistletoe is available to purchase, for a kind donation, from the school office.  Why not add some Christmas cheer to your home whilst also helping us raise money for Kemp Hospice?  All donations will be gratefully received.