“Love is always patient and kind..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Our learning this week…

In English the children have investigated the meaning of unfamiliar words in the story FArTHER and we have begun looking at a model of a great example of a first-person setting narrative.

In Maths the children have focused on using mental methods for addition and subtraction.

In RE we have explored what Jesus meant by love, using St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.

In Science we have learnt how flowering plants reproduce and have dissected a tulip into the different parts of the flower.

In History we began our Ancient Greeks topic. The children looked at the geography of Greece and the consequences of this for the Ancient Greeks.

In computing the children have designed and coded their own animation onto a micro:bit.

In our PE session this term Year 5 will be working alongside the Year 5 staff and Sport’s coach Erin to build their resilience through games.

In art the children have finalised their drawings in the style of Alberto Giacometti in preparation to make their own sculptures.

Yesterday, the first group of Year 5’s had their baking lesson with our school cook to build some life skills as part of their resilience building. Great job!

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Amy

Maths - Avie

Writing - Oscar

Star Award -

Resilient moves…

Thank you to those who have shared their resilient moves this week…

What resilient moves will you make this week? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make this week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

  • Get enough sleep (Basics)

  • Understand right from wrong (Coping)

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 newsletter gives helpful advice about…

  • the online game Minecraft, a game that remains popular amongst children,

  • how to set up parental controls on your WIFI/broadband - most providers include these for free as part of your broadband package.

  • WhatsApp, a free messaging app that allows you to send messages, voice notes, photos and videos. You must be at least 16 years old to register for and use WhatsApp; however, we are aware in school that many of our older children use this app and so the guide will give helpful advice about its features.

  • and links to further information regarding online safety.

We hope you find this Newsletter informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.

Online Safety Newsletter January 2023

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…

TenTen Parent Newsletter

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss



Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Year 5 achievements

I can’t believe we’re already at half term, the last seven weeks seems to have flown by! The children have been working hard over this half term and it’s been lovely getting to know them. They’ve particularly enjoyed their new leadership responsibilities of Buddies to Reception and Play leaders to KS1.

Today we had our Harvest festival and we came together as a whole school to celebrate this. Thank you once again for your generous contributions to our Harvest collection, it’s' very much appreciated. The tins of food (over 400 tins) will be going to a local food bank for people within the community, which I’m sure you’ll agree is a worthy cause. Thank you for your support!

Our learning this week…

In English the children have built on their story plans and have written their own episode in the style of Jeremy Strong.

In Maths the focus has been on placing numbers on number lines of different scales up to one million.

In Science we have used and created mnemonics to help us remember the order of the planets in our solar system and have identified how they move in relation to the sun.

In geography we continued to use absolute location by reading the lines of latitude and longitude on maps. The children identified countries on World maps using lines of latitude and longitude.

In PE the children had their last session working on developing their leadership skills and have continued to work on adapting games that they can lead when playing with their buddies and KS1.

Our award winners:

Golden Award -

Maths - Mickey

Writing - Rion

Star Award - Charlotte

Reading champion

When the children read regularly, golden tickets are given out and then we do a draw at the end of each half term. Well done to Elsie, who is our golden ticket winner for this half term.

Bedrock Competition

Well done to all of Year 5 who achieved 120 points or more on Bedrock over this last half term. I wish you all luck for the Bedrock prize draw! A big congratulations goes to our Bedrock Champion, Charlotte, and well done to all the other children on our TOP 5 scoreboard. Well done! 👏🏻

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Charlotte 461 points ⭐️Bedrock Champion ⭐️

2. Emma 318 points

3 Hallie 292 points

4 Oscar O’C 284 points

5 Ola 271 points

6 Joshua 262 points

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/half-term-holiday-special?pid=MTA101634&v=72.4

Dates for your diary…

Friday 4th November 6-7pm - KS2 Bonfire Night Disco. £3 a ticket (to be paid on Parent Pay) More details will follow in due course.

Sunday 4th December - Christmas Fair. More details to follow.

December - Christmas Jumper Day - date to be confirmed and more details to follow nearer the time.

Thank you for your support in donating to the PTFA’s non-uniform day. Hope you all have a great holiday and we’ll see you back at school on Tuesday 1st of November - don’t forget your swimming kits!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss.




Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Be the best role model you can be!

This week the children were involved in Reception’s Welcome assembly. They accompanied their buddies to assembly and helped present their very special Our Lady medals. Some of our Year 5’s read a prayer based around our school wish for them to live life to the full. Year 5’s were so mature and it’s so lovely to see the wonderful friendships that they have developed. In addition to this, Year 5 made a good start in their lunch time play leader role on the KS1 playground during lunch time.

Our learning this week…

In English we have looked at how a story grows through three stages of development and have evaluated a model for their own writing. The children have planned their own writing with this in mind.

In our Tales Retold workshop the children continued to work on their characterisation.

In Maths the focus has been on numbers to one million and representing number in different ways.

In geography we’ve been learning about absolute location by reading the lines of latitude and longitude on maps. The children all did really well and were able to identify places on maps of Europe and the UK using lines of latitude and longitude.

In Spanish the children were introduced to the Spanish alphabet and learning the phonetic sounds of some of the letters.

In PE the children have continued to work on developing their leadership skills and have been working and adapting games that they can lead when playing with their buddies and KS1.

In art the children have continued to work on their enlarged sketches based on the work of Hundertwasser.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Hallie

Maths - Oscar Op.

Writing - Elsie

Star Award -

Bedrock Competition

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Charlotte 346 points

2 Emma 273 points

3 Hallie 248 points

4 Oscar O’C 242 points

5 Jacob 204 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻

We are delighted to be able to share with you the Good News Gospel readings for families. Please follow the link to share the Gospel at home with your family. These are really child-friendly resources to share at home. https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/half-term-holiday-special?pid=MTA101634&v=72.4

Harvest Thank you!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful contributions to our Harvest collection, it’s' very much appreciated. If you’ve not yet had chance to contribute, then there’s still time to bring some tins of food in which will be going to a local food bank for people within the community. Thank you for your support!

Blackpool Football Club Community Trust

A reminder to take part in the poster competition for Black History month. Please click the link for the poster information.

Dates for your diary…

Thursday 20th October - own clothes day. £1 per child to be donated for PTA fund via Parent Pay.

Friday 4th November 6-7pm - KS2 Bonfire Night Disco. £3 a ticket (to be paid on Parent Pay) More details will follow in due course.

Sunday 4th December - Christmas Fair. More details to follow.

December - Christmas Jumper Day - date to be confirmed and more details to follow nearer the time.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss.

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Our week...

Yesterday we had our first class mass at church with Father Frank. Well done to the children who read in church, they read so beautifully and clearly. The class behaved so well and so respectfully we were so pleased for them.

Our learning this week…

In English we have discussed how the role of the narrator is the ‘voice’ of the story and can show strong likes and dislikes about the characters. We have compared the characters and identified language that shows the narrator’s point of view of the characters.

In our Tales Retold workshop this week, the children worked on developing their favourite characters and then they got into role and hot seated. We were really impressed with how well the children maintained their character roles and answered questions from the character’s point of view.

In Maths the children have rounded numbers to 100,000 and have read and written Roman numerals using M, D, C, L, X, V and I and they have learnt to recognise and represent a year written in Roman numerals.

In geography the children have created an itinerary for a group of travellers travelling through North and South America with different interests. The children had to choose places across America that matched their interests and identify them on a map.

In computing the children have learnt about all the Mars Rovers that NASA has sent to Mars and they learnt that the more RAM (Random access memory) the robot has, the more instructions that it can have in a row. The children then played a game that stimulates programming a Mars Rover.

In PE the children have continued to develop their leadership skills by learning how to adapt their games for children with additional needs. The children learnt to play a game of Goal Ball that involves playing sat on the floor blindfolded, or in our case with eyes closed, and a ball with a bell so they are encouraged to listen for the ball.

In music the children listened to “Rockin’ All Over The World” by Status Quo and have compared it to “Livin’ on a prayer”. The children have identified the style indicators of Rock music and have accompanied the music by playing glockenspiels.

In art the children have continued to work on their enlarged sketches based on the work of Hundertwasser.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Zak

Maths - Frankie

Writing - Ayson

Star Award -

Bedrock Competition

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Charlotte 191 points

2 Hallie 157 points

3 Oscar O’C 134 points

3 Jacob 132 points

3 Emma 126 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻

Also a big well done to Hallie who made the most progress in Bedrock last month. Well done Hallie!👏🏻🥇

Dates for your diary…

Thursday 20th October - own clothes day. £1 per child to be donated for PTA fund via Parent Pay.

Friday 4th November 6-7pm - KS2 Bonfire Night Disco. £3 a ticket (to be paid on Parent Pay) More details will follow in due course.

Sunday 4th December - Christmas Fair. More details to follow.

December - Christmas Jumper Day - date to be confirmed and more details to follow nearer the time.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss.

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Doctor Seuss

Year 5 have continued to develop their leadership skills this week through their PE lesson and through their Change for Life workshop. Through both sessions the children have got into their new play leader groups and have begun working as a team to come up with games that they can deliver to their buddies and to KS1 when they begin their role next week. In both sessions the children were challenged to communicate effectively and to lead other children through the games. The games the children came up with were really creative and we were particularly impressed with how well the teams worked together, gave positive feedback and made good suggestions for how to improve the games. Next week the children will begin their play leader role and will be given a duty once a week during lunch times.

On Wednesday the children were treated to an afternoon of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company and some of our Year 6. Last week we had spent some time exploring the play and so Year 5 were really excited to watch the performance and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reading challenge…

This week I have set the children a reading challenge. We are going to try and increase the amount we are reading as this is such an important part of the children’s learning and just as Doctor Seuss says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Please can I ask that parents encourage the children to read at home and sign their reading diary. I’ve noticed that quite a few children are not reading as regularly as they should and some children rarely bring their reading diaries to school. This is such a shame and it will have an impact on their quiz scores in school and the progress they are making. The children should be reading for at least 20 minutes a day at home. To improve this, we will continue to check reading diaries daily and in addition to the house points and the Golden tickets they usually receive for reading and taking quizzes, they will receive daily bonus points. By earning house points for reading, this will support the children in getting a minimum of 50 house points each week in order to be included in our weekly prize draw on a Friday and will increase the number of Golden tickets they receive. (The Golden ticket draw will take place at the end of half term when we celebrate our reading champions.) Get reading Year 5! 📚

Our learning this week…

In English Year 5 have used drama to act out the different episodes of Jeremy Strong’s story “This is NOT a fairy tale” and have written the episode using dialogue.

In Tales Retold the children worked in groups to freeze frame scenes from a chosen book where the characters were really challenged. They then reframed the scene after the character made a resilient move and they overcame the challenging time.

In Maths the children have rounded, compared and ordered numbers to 100,000.

In RE the children have considered the two different viewpoints of the creation story (scientific and theological) and have talked about how the scientific explanation does not contradict religion.

In Science the children have described the movement of the Earth relative to the Sun and have learnt that the tilt of the Earth is the reason for our seasons.

In music the children listened to “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple and have compared it to “Livin’ on a prayer”. The children have found the pulse and rhythm of the songs.

In art the children chose one of their sketches based on the work of Hundertwasser and have enlarged it.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Emma

Maths - Jacob

Writing - Joseph

Star Award -

Bedrock Competition

A reminder that Bedrock’s new prize draw competition runs till the 23rd October. Collect 140 or more points (at least 20 points each week) using Bedrock to be in with the chance of winning one of their prizes. If you go to the dashboard on your Bedrock account, you will find details of how you can collect points. Remember, you need to complete at least one Bedrock lesson for homework but to earn more points you can do more. In addition to Bedrock’s competition, we will also have an in class Bedrock competition too. The member of our class who has the most Bedrock points by the end of half term will win a prize. Good luck Year 5!

Here is our TOP 5 on the scoreboard this week:

1 Charlotte 95 points

2 Oscar O’C 86 points

3 Emma 75 points

3 Hallie 75 points

3 Joshua 75 points

Well done to all the children who are on our leader board this week.👏🏻

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss.

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Our week...

Year 5 have had another lovely week and have continued to work hard. It’s been lovely to get to know your children and see their strengths shining through. As you know, last week the children officially met their Reception Buddies. Miss Heim-Sarac was so impressed with the children last week so this afternoon we all went down to Reception so that they could spend some time together and then accompany their Buddies to their very first assembly. We’re so proud of the children and in assembly the children all received their Buddy badges. Well done Year 5!

Our learning this week…

In English Year 5 have explored Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” in preparation for next week’s visit from the RSC who will be performing the play in our school hall. The children have immersed into the story, the households and the characters through freeze frames and drama.

In Maths the children have applied their understanding of the place value of numbers up to 100,000 to represent and partition them in different ways work. They have also been using number lines to 100,000 and identified numbers that are between two points (for example multiples of 10,000), using mathematical language to describe the position.

In RE the children have discussed the Scientific view of how the World began and also listened to the Creation story from Genesis 1 (Theological view) and have made their own Creation wheel as a reminder of the story.

This week in our space topic in Science, the children have been looking at how the rotation of the Earth allows us to have day and night. Ask your child to explain it to you, to see how much they’ve remembered.

In music the children listened to “We will rock you” by Queen and have compared it to “Livin’ on a prayer”. The children have been learning to find the pulse and playing games to develop understanding of rhythm and pitch.

In PE this week, Year 5 began their Buddies Leadership programme delivered by Erin, who worked with the children last year in PE. The aim of the programme is to support the children in developing their leadership skills so that they can work as a small team to deliver lunch time activities to their Reception Buddies and to KS1 children. This week the children worked together in small groups as a team to play a ball game and came up with their own rules.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Avie

Writing Award - Bobby

Maths Award - Oscar

Year 5 Star Winner - Rion

Bedrock Competition!

A big well done to those children who have already logged on to Bedrock at home as part of this week’s homework. As you can see below, Bedrock have launched a new prize draw competition with some fantastic prizes to win. You have all been entered into this competition and for a chance of winning, you just need to collect 140 or more points ( at least 20 points each week) using Bedrock from now till the 23rd October. If you go to the dashboard on your Bedrock account, you will find details of how you can collect points. Remember, you need to complete at least one Bedrock lesson for homework but to earn more points you can do more. However, please do not complete more than one lesson per day to ensure vocabulary retention. In addition to Bedrock’s competition, we will also have our own in class Bedrock competition too. The member of our class who has the most Bedrock points by the end of half term will win a prize at the end this half term. Good luck Year 5!

Don’t forget that Year 5’s homework for this week is on the Year 5 homework tab or folllow this link https://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/yr5-homework

Next week…

Unfortunately, Thursday’s Leadership workshop this week had to be cancelled due to the rain, but will now take place next Thursday instead. Therefore, the children will now need to wear their PE kits Monday through to Thursday next week. (Monday will be our other Leadership workshop, Tuesday is swimming, Wednesday PE and Thursday’s Leadership workshop - it’s going to be a busy week!)

Have a great weekend!

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Our week in Year 5...

What a great week we’ve had! Year 5 have made a great start to this year and it has been lovely to spend time getting to know them a little better. We’ve been impressed with how quickly they have settled into the new routines and we are excited to be working with them this year.

Your child will have come home with their reading book (with a new ZPD) and diary. Bookmarks and diaries will be checked daily so please encourage your child to read regularly and they must have their book and diary in every day. Your child’s new water bottle  will also come home with them each evening to ensure that it can be washed and filled ready for the next day. Unfortunately we don’t have spares in school, or cups they can use, so it is important that they bring it in each day. Please also ensure your child brings a coat each day just in case the weather changes over the course of the day - we will still want to get outside for some fresh air even if it is a bit cold or just a bit of rain. 

On Tuesday the children began their swimming sessions and we were delighted with the way they conducted themselves and represented our school. They made a fabulous start to their lessons and this enabled their swimming teachers to get them sorted into swimming groups quickly and begin working on their new swimming techniques. Well done Year 5!

On Thursday the whole school went across to Church to take part in mass to celebrate "The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”. Again I am so proud of the behaviour of the children - they all showed great reverence, listened well and took part in the responses.

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Joshua

Writing Award - Emelia

Maths Award - William

Year 5 Star Winner - William

Our learning this week…

This year, Year 5 will continue working with the Knotted project and the Grand Theatre on the Tales Retold resilience and storytelling project. On Monday, the children had their first session working with Natalie and Helen, who worked with the children in Year 4. It was lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for the workshop and I was impressed with how engaged the children were in the activities.

In English we have begun looking at stories by the author Jeremy Strong. This week the children have read “This is not a fairy tale” and they have begun identifying the key features of his style of writing and have compared this to other extracts of his stories.

In Maths the focus has been on place value.and the children have been reading and writing 5-digit numbers and recognising the value of each digit.

In RE we have been discussing how the world began and have compared their own views against those of their learning partner.

In Science we will be learning about aspects of Earth and Space. This week the children have shared their existing knowledge of this topic and they took part in a Space quiz to see how much they know already. We have also considered different types of evidence, both direct and indirect evidence, for the shape of our Earth.

Our Computing topic this half term is all about the Mars Rover and this week the children have learnt about the automated motor vehicle and have  explored how and why the Mars Rover transfers data. To get an idea of the distance that the Mars Rover had to travel, the children also researched the distance to Mars based on the length of other objects, such as Big Ben, the length of a blue whale, the length of a double decker bus, and the length of a football pitch.

In our art lesson we have begun to look at the work of Hundertwasser and have used viewfinders to select and draw a section of his images into their sketchbooks.

PE days

Full PE kit will need to be worn on Tuesdays (swimming) and Wednesdays.

Homework

Year 5 will use online learning for their homework this year and on a Tuesday afternoon I will post the details of Year 5’s homework on the homework tab. Homework should be completed by the following Monday ready for spelling and times tables tests on a Tuesday. I will add more details next week.

Well done Year 5, you’ve made a great start! We hope you all have a lovely weekend with your families.

Parents, if you need to talk to me, please catch me at the gate at the end of the day or alternatively please email me at year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Mrs McVey, Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss

Posted
AuthorKay McVey

Welcome to Year 5!

Welcome to Year 5! I hope you have all had a wonderful Summer and are ready to start the new year in Year 5. I look forward to welcoming you into class tomorrow and look forward to getting to know you all!

I just wanted to let you know our PE days will be Tuesdays (swimming) and Wednesdays.


Tuesdays will be swimming and this will start on Tuesday 6th September and take place each Tuesday throughout the year. The children will be accompanied to the pool by Miss Evans, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Hodgkiss .The children will need to come in their school PE kit for the day and will need with them their swimming kit in a separate bag to their school bag. Girls will need a one-piece swimsuit and boys will need swimming trunks (please see photo of acceptable type as baggy swim shorts are not allowed), a towel, swim hat for all girls and boys who have a longer hair style or fringe, and goggles if you returned the signed goggles letter. The children will not need shampoo or shower gel as they will only have time to rinse and get dressed quickly ready to return to school. If your child has asthma, inhalers will be taken to the pool by the teachers so please make sure your child has an up to date inhaler in school as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Mrs McVey

Posted
AuthorKay McVey