Last weekend, the church celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost is one of the most important feast days of the year that concludes the Easter season and celebrates the beginning of the Church. Pentecost occurs 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and ten days after his ascension into heaven. When the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, they preached the Good News of Jesus Christ. Miraculously, people of many different languages and nations could understand the Apostles in their own languages. This miracle reflected God’s desire for the Gospel to be preached to all, and for all the peoples of the earth to be united in faith.
This week’s prayer and liturgy was planned and led by Alexander, Callum and Jackson. The theme of their liturgy was Every Good Tree Bears Fruit Guided by the help, inspiration and encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the Church grew and the disciples were recognised by their love for one another; the fruits of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. Today, we will focus on the fruits of the Holy Spirit as we begin to recognise those fruits in our actions and the actions of others.
‘Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”’ John 20:19-23
Golden tickets and Extreme Reading Challenge
Just a reminder that during the Summer term, the whole school will continue taking part in our reading challenge. Children will receive a golden ticket each time they read and get their reading diary signed three times. At the end of each half term, during our celebration assembly, we will draw a golden ticket from each class’s box, and one winner from each class will receive a reward. Please encourage your child to read regularly and bring in their signed reading diary so they can start collecting their golden tickets.
We’re also asking the children to take part in our extreme reading challenge. Your challenge is to take a photo of yourself reading somewhere extreme (but safe!) and send it in to school. Thank you to those who have already sent theirs in - these will be uploaded soon to the website at the location shown in the photo below.
Please send your photos to admin@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk so we can display these in school and on our website. We can't wait to see your pictures! Thank you for your support!
An Ode to Blackpool
Earlier in the year, we took part in a workshop with the Royal Shakespeare company. During the workshop, the children wrote lines as an ode to Blackpool. This week, the RSC sent us the finished version of our very own Ode to Blackpool. 👏🏻😊
Our award winners:
Golden Award (RESPECT) - Year 5 for their respectful behaviour during our visit to St Mary’s. Well done!
Writing Award - Year 5 for working together in groups to sequence illustrations by using adverbials of time, place and manner.
Maths Award - William Kirby
Our learning this week…
In English this week, we have been sequencing illustrations from the text and using adverbials of manner, place and time to help the flow of the story.
The focus of our maths this week has been identifying, comparing and ordering decimal numbers.
In RE the children have been working with Mrs Mannix on the story of the Prodigal son.
In science, we were visited by the school nurses who came to talk to the children about the changes that affect boys and girls through puberty.
In computing the children have continued to use the coding program called Scratch to create music.
In DT, the children tested their Truss bridges made from spaghetti. Alexander, Callum and Jackson won the challenge by making a bridge which could hold over 300 cubes and was still standing. Well done boys!
The new BEBCMAT Rock Stars Super League competition started this week and runs till the 18th July. Good luck everyone!
Our school is currently in 5th place out of 12 schools in the trust and we have scored 326 points (school average score) so far.
This week’s Our Lady’s Top of the Rock’s Leaderboard:
1st Matilda Year 4 2550
2nd Finlay Year 4 1651
3rd Priya Year 4 977
4th Annie Year 4 939
5th Martha Year 5 799
Well done to everyone on our leaderboard this week!👏🏻
At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters
Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.
This month’s online safety guide gives helpful advice about…
What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Generative AI Safety This free guide explores the risks and rewards of children using generative AI tools, highlighting dangers such as misinformation, privacy breaches, and reduced critical thinking, while offering essential tips for safe, positive use.
What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Emojis This free guide explores the modern digital language of emojis, revealing how they can subtly shape young people’s communication - and sometimes conceal deeper concerns.
What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Ofcom Media Reports 2025 This special edition unpacks key findings from Ofcom’s 2025 Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report on children’s digital habits, spotlighting trends in screen use, gaming, social media, and attitudes towards online safety.
We hope you find these guides informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all. Thank you.
To read this week’s Good News Gospel reading, please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. Good News Gospel
Please also have a look at this Parent Newsletter linked with our weekly whole school and class worship…
June 2025 Year 5’s in school workshops with experienced drama/dance practitioners as part of the Tales Retold project
Wednesday 2nd July Year 5 St Bede’s Taster day. More details to follow.
Monday 7th July Year 5 trip to Grand Theatre for end of Tales Retold project - more details as they become available.
Tuesday 8th July (9.15am start) KS2 Sports Day - provisional subject to weather🤞🏻. (Please note KS1’s will be the day before.)
Thursday 10th July (9.15am start) Alternative KS2 Sports Day if it doesn’t go ahead on the 8th July. (KS1’s alternative date Wednesday 9th.)
Friday 11th July Year 6 Leavers mass whole school and families in church.
Friday 11th July 2.30pm – Year 5/6 Drumming Showcase (2 guests per child only)
Thursday 17th July Our Lady’s Got Talent Contest.
Friday 18th July Close for Summer 3.15pm
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Mrs McVey, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Andrew
If you need to contact me or have any questions/queries, please contact me on year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.
