It has been wonderful this week to mark the start of the Advent season and see all the prayer areas changed to purple and dressed to indicate this special season.

This week we have also celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception. To prepare for the Feast day in assembly we learnt that Mary was the first witness to

the light of Jesus because she was Jesus’ mother and God sent the Angel Gabriel with a special message. The Angel said that Mary was full of God’s grace

and that God had chosen her to have a special baby, God’s Son, Jesus. Although Mary did not fully understand all that the Angel was telling her, she knew in her

heart that the message was from God, and she said ‘Yes’. This week we have all tried to follow Mary's example.

It’s snow joke, our Rudolph Run took place today despite the passing showers. The playground was full of Christmas cheer and fun. I was so impressed with the Elf/Sports Crew who lead a range of fitmas activities guided by Mr Tasker. Thank you for your support to help us raise money for Kemp Hospice who support so many of our families. Well Done Everyone. 

The Blessing of the Bambinelli (Baby Jesus) is a tradition which began in Rome and today we have started that tradition at Saint Wulstan's. 

Every year on the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday), the Holy Father invites children to bring the Baby Jesus (Bambinelli) from their family Nativity scene to Mass for a blessing. 

Today parents and grandparents have joined in with their children and grandchildren in this simple but beautiful tradition. We hope you will all take your Bambinelli to Mass on Gaudete Sunday. 

I would like to thank Mrs Freitas who organised the Family workshop and thank the children and families who participated.

Reception Class

The children in Reception have been focussing on light and dark this week. They have been reading the story 'Owl Babies' and have learnt about nocturnal animals. The children have been exploring light and dark by using the dark den and torches during their provision time which they have found very exciting! They have also been learning about how shadows are created and have enjoyed using the torches to create shadows in the classroom. 

Key Stage 1 have been learning all about Herbivores in Science this week. The children have enjoyed finding out about all the different animals that are Herbivores. 

In English this week Year 3 have been looking at the book How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth. They have all enjoyed this book and have created a set of instructions based on this text. The children organised their work with subheadings, used a colon in the correct place and produced a fantastic piece of work. They are all experts now in washing woolly mammoths! In Science the children have continued their work on nutrition and diet. This week they have been comparing the diets of different animals and the similarities and differences between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.  During the lesson children had to pick an animal out of a bag without anyone else seeing. They then had to say whether the animal was a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore, as well as using the other scientific vocabulary they have learnt this term, such as vertebrate/invertebrate, to describe the animal to the rest of the class who then had to work out what animal it was. Everyone came out with some excellent descriptions and the whole class really enjoyed this lesson.

In Art this week, Year 4 created wax resist drawings using 'hatching' and 'cross-hatching' techniques. The children used their collages from the previous lesson as inspiration and also prepared their own surface using wax and paint. The children really enjoyed using tuned percussion instruments in music this week and composed short, looping melodies that considered the different movement of animals in the rainforest. The children have started looking at the features of non-fiction writing, with a particular focus on information pages in our English lessons. They are excited to plan and create their own pieces of work based on the 'River' and 'Romans' units covered in our learning this year.  

This week, Year 5 had a very exciting visit from Mr Mallinson to record their video ready for the Pyramid Concert. It was a very professional set up and the children were absolutely amazing and rose the the challenge wonderfully! In Science, the children have continued to explore the Solar System and began to look at how they could create models to represent the sizes of the planets. Year 5 were very surprised at the size differences between some of the planets and the distances between them! In History, the children explored how religion changed during Anglo-Saxon times and then applied their newly gathered knowledge to investigate the burial at Sutton Hoo. Year 5 have also received some lovely photos from the children who took home our travelling crib this week. Thank you so much for your support in this lovely activity. 

Year 6 have had a busy week. In English they have working hard on the features of their diary entries and have been exploring vocabulary choices to create an impact on the reader. In Maths, the children have enjoyed converting units, especially converting from miles to kilometres (imperial and metric units). In Science, the children have been learning about complete and incomplete circuits. They've explored reasons why a circuit may be incomplete. They have ended the week with the enjoyable Santa dash.

The Christmas wellbeing newsletter, from The Wyre Forest School Sport Partnership, is filled with ideas to support the whole family (adults and children) in improving overall wellbeing, through opportunities that are linked to the '5 ways of wellbeing'.   

Calling all budding designers!  Our Christmas tree in school is missing a sparkly fairy to go on the top.  If your child would like to enter the competition, the closing date is Monday 11 December. The fairy can be made out of anything; recycled packaging, paper, toilet roll tubes etc.  The winning entry will take pride of place on the top of our tree.  The other entries will be displayed around school for everyone to see and enjoy.  Good luck!

Dates for your diary