Term 1 2017-18

News in School

20th October 2017

I am the music man, I come from down your way…

This year we have been able to access the ser-vices of Lincolnshire Music Services. Under the guidance of Mrs Patterson and Mrs Carter, pupils in Year 4 and Year 5 are learning to play the Cello/violin or clarinet/saxophone respectively, as part of their weekly music lessons. They are making great progress already. Watch out for news of future performances as we move through the year.

Our Record Reception Class Settle in Well

A fantastic start 1

Class News 2-5

Sports News

All Saints Mass

6

Christmas Events

7

Term Dates & Forth coming

events

8

Inside this issue:

Well done to our new Reception pupils who are a wonderful addition to our school family. Under the guidance of Miss Rogders and Mrs Smith they have made an excellent start to

their primary school careers.

With the introduction of our new early reading teaching scheme (Read Write inc) the children already know an excel-lent range of sounds which they are now using to blend when

reading CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. In addi-tion they are using the Rwi pneumonics to help them to re-member the correct letter formations for each letter too. I think they are all ready to enjoy a wonderful rest over the half

term.

Our Lady Of Good Counsel

If you have a child due to start school in September 2018, we would be de-

lighted to welcome you to our open day events being held on Thursday 2nd November 9.30-10.30am and 6-7pm. Please share this date with any families you know who may have children due to start school next year.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School

The Drove, Sleaford NG34 7AT

Email:office.admin@our-lady.lincs.sch.uk Website:www.our-lady.lincs.sch.uk

Open Day Events

Who will help me? - Reception class will! This first term has been a new and exciting one for the

Reception class! Coming into a new school year can be

worrying for many children, but none more so than our

youngest ones, and they have been doing a fantastic job

of settling into the school and learning all about the rules

and routines of the day. The children are already showing

that they are excellent at working and playing together,

and at making new friends. They have been working hard

on developing skills such as speaking and listening, shar-

ing, and gaining more independence in a range of tasks.

Phonics sessions have been a roaring success, with the

children learning over 15 sounds already! Many of the

children are already beginning to read small words and

they are as proud of themselves as their teachers are of

them. Reception have spent lots of time outside, and they

have greatly enjoyed helping to make improvements to

the outdoor area, including creating new plant pots! The

children also love observing the things that are happen-

ing around them, and they have been looking after many

small insects, giving them food and shelter. It is great for

all to see how well our newest class have settled in, and

we look forward to seeing what exciting things the next

term will bring for them!

Page 2 Term 1 2017-18

A Harvest for the World in Year 1 Year 1 have settled in really well and are hav-

ing lots of fun learning. They have been learn-

ing about harvests all over the world, and es-

pecially England. They have sketched fruit in

the style of Caravaggio and painted fruit

paintings that have formed the harvest display

in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church. They

have tasted lots different bread rolls to decide

which they liked best ready for making their

own. They loved trying all the bread rolls and

proved to be super healthy eaters by choosing

the wholemeal roll as their favourite. In science

year 1 have been investigating how they have

changed since they were babies and are cur-

rently investigating how good their sense of

smell is by identifying smells in sealed pots

and using their hearing sense to identify

sounds in our school environment that they

don’t usually hear.

News in School Page 3

Year 2 London’s Burning

Your Support with Learning at Home is Essential

We cannot understate the positive impact of home learning upon pupil’s rates of progress. Please continue to invest your time in your child’s potential by ensuring that they complete any homework set. Hearing them read each day and helping them to learn their times tables and spellings will ensure that they are well placed to access learning in school which is underpinned by these basic skills.

Year 2 pupils have done some GREAT learning, discov-

ering all about the Great Fire of London. They’ve learnt

lots of historical facts about the fire and how the fire

was difficult to put out. They’ve talked about the mod-

ern day fire service and the great job it does, as well as

other emergency services such as the police. In Sci-

ence, a fun experiment with glitter germ bugs showed

the children just how easily germs can spread and

they’ve discovered the importance of healthy food and

exercise, in the hope they won’t need to call any NHS

emergency services! In English, the children have

written some super fire stories, non-chronological re-

ports and even poetry about fire. In Maths, they’ve been learning all about place value and

developing their addition and subtraction skills to become marvellous mathematicians. In

Art, the children have created some lovely fire pictures, thinking about “warm” colours and

the term concluded with the children baking biscuits, just like the baker from Pudding

Lane, but fortunately without any major fires!

Loving, Living and Learning in the Light of Christ Christ teaches us to put others first and to offer the hand of kindness to those in need. As our school mission is to ‘love, live and learn in the light of Christ’ it is no surprise that when we present charitable fund raising events that these are well sup-ported. Our first event of the year, the McMillan Coffee morning, was a great success. With lots of delicious cakes donated and high levels of support on the day, we

amassed a grand total of £348 for this very important charity. Thank you to eve-ryone.

This week in school we have been collecting a food mountain as part of our Harvest collection. Thank you for all the kind donations received. These will be donated to the New Life food bank.

Our charitable work will continue next term, with the launch of the ‘Poppy Appeal’ in November, Children in Need and Save the Children

Christmas jumper day. We thank you in advance for your support.

‘Chocks Away’ for Year 4

It’s a prehistoric adventure in Yr 3 What a term! Year 3 have been working hard as geologists and palaeontologists, inspired by

Mary Anning, and worked hard at identifying and creating models of different rock types (using

Play-Doh and chocolate – but not at the same time!). Learning about the different rock types

provoked an interest in the Stone Age in the children, which we have been studying in all les-

sons, including reading UG: Boy Genius of the Stone Age and watching clips from The Croods.

These sources were excel-

lent for providing inspiration

for their Big Writes, which

have included character de-

scriptions and sets of in-

structions. These instruc-

tions were perfect for aiding

the pupils in creating their

recipes for the perfect fami-

ly in RE.

Page 4

The Year 4’s have also been lucky

enough to children travel back into

1939 this term to be historians studying

about World War Two. With this in

mind they travelled to the Battle of Brit-

ain Memorial Centre and learnt all

about the glorious planes that fought

for Britain in the war.

Year 4 have been super scientists this term, learning all

about the digestive system. They began the term with a

very messy start, recreating the digestive system using

tights, orange juice and bananas. The children then

moved to learning all about the use of our teeth. The

Year 4’s were set the very important task of finding out

what effects sugar drinks have on our teeth and what

toothpaste provides our teeth the best protection against plaque.

Term 1 2017-18

Year 5 Learning about the Anglo Saxons!

Page 5 Term 1 2017-18

What a fantastic start to the new academic year the children have had! Y6 returned to school ready and focused for lots of new challenges ahead.

Throughout the term. Y6 have been learning about the Mysterious Maya and took part in a thrilling, informa-tive workshop. During the workshop, the children were able to discover new and ex-citing facts about this myste-rious race: the top five sacri-ficial ways to die; death ritu-als; the uses of many original Maya artifacts; Mayan Maths and the many gods they wor-shipped.

The Jaguar Stones – our class story – has had the children gripped in Max’s adventure to San Xavier, Mexico, to search for his missing parents in the Maya Underworld! A world governed by the gods of death! Will they ever make it out alive?

It’s Mayan Mahem in Year 6

The year 5's have been busy exploring

where the Anglo-Saxons came from this

term. Year 5 have learnt about a range of

different maps and have generated keys

to help them identify the different routes

the Jutes, Angles and Saxons took from

Europe. During CLJ, the children, as a

class, have been designing and building

an Anglo-Saxon settlement finding out

what life was like back then. In science,

the Year 5's have designed and built their

very own on boat using recyclable materials (special thanks to parents/

grandparents for your help). All vessels then took part in a class boat race

which was very gripping! In their English lessons they have produced some

tremendous inspired Beowulf adventure stories along with some gripping

news reports. The Year 5's are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next in-

vaders in term 2!

Sporting News

News in School Page 6

Our Breakfast and After School Clubs offer daily wrap around

care. Bookings can be made directly through your ParentPay ac-

counts, with same day bookings available though the office.

Children arrive for Breakfast Club are able to enjoy a wide range

of tasty breakfast treats (£3 per session). Children attending Af-

ter School Club are provided with a light snack and a range of

fun activities. (£6.95 per session.)

Welcome Father Jude Following the retirement of Father Micheal we are de-lighted to welcome Fr. Jude Orlu Eze as our parish and school priest. He has already been to visit the children in school and we expect to see him regularly

as he settles into his new role.

We will be joining the Parish for All Saints Mass on Wednesday 1st November at 10.15am. Children should arrive for school as normal, for 8.55am so that we can walk to the church together. Parents are welcome to join us in the walk (departing at 9.40am) or at church

for 10.15am.

Developing healthy lifestyles at a young age will ensure our chil-dren are able to go on to make healthy lifestyle choices for them-selves as they grow. With reports of obesity epidemics, together with associated health risks, education is tasked with helping our young people to develop life long habits that will aid good health for individuals and the nation as a whole.

To assist us in our task we have again engaged the services of PE special- ist teachers from Carres to enhance our Physical Education provision in school. The significant improvements seen in the engagement of our pupils across the school in high quality PE lessons, and a wide range of intra and inter sports competitions, has ensured we have been awarded the prestigious Sainsbury’s ‘GOLD’ school sports award for the third year running. Mrs Allen will be working hard to enabling us to make an application for the ‘platinum’ as we worked through this year.

Already this year, Miss Rodgers and Mrs Allen have worked hard to secure our entry to a

number of competitions including Rowing, Football, Netball and Cross Country. Mrs Allen

and Mrs Wellock have been working very hard preparing our football and netball teams to

compete against local schools. Please watch out for fixtures so that you can go along and

cheer our team on!

Wrap Around Care available from 7.45am to 5.45pm

Christmas

Preparations

and Celebrations

Christmas term in school is always a very busy term, packed with curriculum learning as well as our preparations for Christ-mas. We have lots of things to look forward to and hope that, like us you feel excited as we look forward to celebration of Je-sus’ birth.

Year 3 will be leading us in our celebration of Mass on-Wednesday 13th December at

9.05am in school. Please come along to join us .

Carol Service

at Our Lady of

Good Counsel

Church

Key Stage 1 Nativity Performances

Whole School Christmas Lunch and Class Parties

We have booked our Christmas lunch menu to be served on Tuesday 12th December.

Please check your ParentPay accounts to book your child’s lunch. It is a wonderful

occasion with almost all the school enjoying Christmas lunch together, served by the

teaching and support staff.

The term will conclude with class parties on Tuesday 19th December, again further

details will follow.

This year’s Key Stage 1 Nativity Performances will take place in school on Thursday 14th December at 6.15—7.15 pm and Friday 15th December at 1.45-2.45pm. Further details will follow next term.

On Thursday 7th December at

6pm, we will be leading a Carol

Service in the Church. Watch out

for further details next term.

Advent

Cinderella Pantomime trip On Monday 11th December we will again

be enjoying the delight of live theatre as the whole school joins in the seasonal tradition of the pan-tomime. Please watch out for further information in the new term.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic School A Voluntary Academy

Unfortunately we have had a number of reported outbreaks of nits in school this term. In order to combat this com-mon school nuisance we would be extremely grateful if all parents/carers would kindly take extra care over the holidays to check your child’s hair and treat as necessary. Please re-member eggs are not always killed on the first treatment and a second application can be needed 5-7 days after the first.

Extra Curricular Clubs . Details for next term’s after school clubs have been published separately, please complete and return the reply slip to the office if your child would like to take part in any of those on offer. All clubs (except taekwondo) commence week 2 . KS1 clubs finish at 4.05pm and KS2 at 4.10pm

The weather has been mild to date, but as Win-ter approaches please ensure that your child is provided with an out-door coat each day.

Uniform Reminders—Our uniform is a visual enactment of the

high standards we have at Our Lady’s and we thank parents and carers for their continued support in ensuring that all children wear their uniform cor-rectly so that high standards or personal presentation are achieved across the school. As we break for the holidays, I would be grateful if you could check that your child’s uniform conforms with the school’s published uni-form requirements. Please remember that trousers/skirts etc should be dark

grey NOT black. White blouses and shirts should have stiffened, square collars to enable ties to be worn correctly. Children need black school shoes as trainers should only be worn for PE or outdoor play. Jo Jo bows are not part of the uniform and should not be worn for school. Further information can be found in the prospectus available on the school website. I will make personal reminders to parents where uniform errors are noted. Many thanks.

Term Dates 2017-18

Term 2 –Tues 31st Oct – Tues 19th Dec

Term 3—Wed 3rd Jan—Fri 9th February

Term 4 - Mon 19th Feb – Wed 28th March

Term 5– Mon 16th April – Fri 25thMay

Term 6 -Mon 4th June – Fri 20th July

Please remember to label all of your child’s pos-sessions. We have already collected a lot of un-named lost property which we are unable to re-turn to its rightful owner.

Dates for your Diary

31/10—First day of term 2 01/11—Mass at church 02/11—Open day for YR September 2017 9.30-10.30am and 6-7pm 08/11—Year 1 class liturgy 15/11—YR class liturgy 17/11—Children in need 22/11—Deacon Tony liturgy 30/11— Year 6 class liturgy 07/12—Carol service at church 6-7pm 11/12—Pantomime visit 12/12—Christmas dinner 13/12—School mass Year 3—Christmas 14/12—Nativity performance 6.15-7.15pm 15/12—Christmas jumper day 15/12—Nativity performance 2.30-3.30pm 19/12—Class Christmas parties –End of Term

Dealing with Little Critters