Yesterday all staff and children participated in a school lockdown drill. The drill started with an assembly followed by an opportunity to answer any questions the children had.

There are many reasons why a school may need to keep their children, staff and visitors on the premises safe – ranging from a dangerous dog roaming loose to an incident or disturbance in the local community which poses a risk to the school. Environmental hazards such as a smoke plume or gas cloud may also be a risk for some geographical areas. 

The purpose of the lockdown is to keep everyone safe inside the school building. Just like a fire alarm, a lockdown keeps us all safe. Thank you to everyone for your support and if you would like to discuss the assembly with your son or daughter you will see a copy below.

Reception

The children in Reception have been learning about Kenya this week as part of their topic ‘All around the world’ and have focussed on the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’. The children were very quick to notice differences between Handa’s life and their lives which led to discussions about living in another country. The children discussed the different fruits that Handa had in her basket; and they discovered there were fruits in there that they had never tried before. The children then had a fruit tasting session where they tried the fruits from the story and voted for their favourite.   

Key Stage 1 children have this week finished creating their puppets. They used running stitch to join their fabric and add on decorations. In History they have been continuing their learning on the Great Fire of London and have been looking at different sources. 

Year 3 have had a brilliant start to the new half term. They have continued with their settlements topic in Geography and have been looking at how to use four figure grid references to read maps. The children really persevered with this difficult skill, and after some trial and error they all did a fantastic job with their map reading. Year 3 have also started new units in PE. The children are very excited to be going swimming on Fridays and to be playing cricket in their other PE lesson. In Science, Year 3 have finished their rocks topic and next they are going to be looking at fossils and how they are formed. Well done Year 3 on an excellent first week back!

Year 4 have worked really hard this week after their half term breaks. In science, the children have started their unit on 'electricity'. The children explored school looking for electrical appliances that run off cell or mains power and also began building simple series circuits. In art, the children used their understanding of 'tints' and 'shades' to make an object look three dimensional by mixing paint. The children have also enjoyed their PE lessons this week and are developing their stick work in hockey and their passing skills tag rugby. Well done! 

Year 5 have had a great start to the new half term! They have been continuing with their discovery of Ancient Greece and finding out how different city states lived - there were some VERY shocking fact! In maths, the children have been identifying the links between fractions and decimals and finding equivalents in both. In English sessions, the children have been consolidating their understanding of speech punctuation and have started to investigate the impact that the Fairtrade Foundation has on workers in tea plantations.

Year 6 have had a great week! The children have continued their work as scientists by taking part in a light investigation. They carried out an investigation to see how the distance of an object from a light source affects the size of the shadow. The children recapitulated their knowledge on independent, dependent and controlled variables. To end the week, the Year 6 children led the first Mass of the term. The theme was Fast, Pray, Share' and Fr Richard reminded all of how important it is to grow closer to God by fasting and to serve others by praying and sharing. 

HENRY Workshops

Please look further down on the newsletter for a flyer advertising HENRY workshops provided by some of our wonderful family support workers. These workshops can only be run if we have a certain number of parents sign up. Please use the QR code or the booking information on the flyer below to sign up!

LENT - Confessions

Lent is the time in the church's year, when we say sorry and remember the journey Jesus took towards the cross on which he died for us. It lasts 40 days and ends at Easter. Fr Richard will be providing the children with opportunity to attend confession. Today Year 6 were given the opportunity to go to confession to help them in their Lent preparations.

CAKE SALE: We would like to relaunch our cake sales in order to help raise money for school projects. On specified dates we ask one or two classes to donate cakes that will then be sold to the children that break time. Cakes are sold at 50p per cake. Our first cake sale will be Tuesday 27 February and we would be grateful to Years 5 and 6 families for any cake donations that could be made for the sale. Further dates will be added to the newsletter. Thank you.

During this season of Lent, the children and staff will be undertaking CAFOD's 'The Big Lent Walk'. The school has signed up to walk 200km in 40 days to help fight global poverty. 

To donate please click on the following link to our school's fundraising page.

School Disco

We  plan to have a school disco during the last week of this half term (date to be confirmed) and are looking for parent volunteers to help run the event eg selling refreshments.  Does anyone have any disco lights which we could borrow to add to the occasion?  Also, does anyone have DJ equipment and would like to be our resident DJ for the evening?  If you would like to volunteer, please contact the school office - 01299 877808/enquiry_wul@emmausmac.com

Dates for your Diary