In October we dedicated time to praying the Rosary to celebrate the "Month of the Rosary," a Catholic tradition . This involves teaching pupils about the Rosary, reflecting on its mysteries and praying together. Year 2 took time to reflect on Mary and learn about the different parts of the Rosary beads. Mary  is celebrated as a central figure of faith, love, and devotion. She is a symbol of love, humility, and trust in God, inspiring the pupils to emulate her virtues.

Even on a rainy day, Year 5 enjoyed an excellent recent trip to Jarrow Hall Anglo-Saxon village in support of our history work. It was enjoyable acting out some of the crimes and punishments used in this society and we even got to reenact an Anglo-Saxon battle scene. Our favourite memory was our visit to the Anglo-Saxon settlement and listening to the epic tale of Beowulf, as we shared an Anglo-Saxon drinking horn. It was a great day.

Year 5 have been doing excellent work this term, ‘Turning Concern into Action’ as Mini-Vinnies. First, the children began their journey as Mini-Vinnies by taking part in a special celebration and receiving their badge. Straight away, they began thinking of ideas and ways to help people in need. First up was the idea to hold a ‘Canny Friday’, which would be a whole-school food collection, with as many people as possible to bring in a tin of something to donate. The Children created posters, spoke at assembly to spread the word, organised the collection, and then took all the generous donations to church to give to the West End Food Bank. It was a huge success and a great effort by all involved.

Before half term we celebrated European Day of Languages on 26 th September.  Children were able to participate in a number of activities including a ‘Name the European Flag’ competition, a ‘Design a T-Shirt Logo’ competition and playing ‘Which language is it?’ by listening to clips of people talking in one of 38 European Languages.

This week in Nursery we have been learning about Bonfire night! We have been busy creating our own beautiful firework art and exploring firework fine motor activities. We have learned how to keep safe around fireworks and used a range of vocabulary to explore our different senses when watching the fireworks. Our focus story has been ‘Whatever Next’. We have loved building our own 2D shaped rockets during Maths!

This week, our Year 1 children took part in a virtual geography visit to explore the fascinating bridges that cross the River Tyne. Using online maps, videos and photographs, the children learned to identify and describe both physical and human geographical features in the local area. They spotted the flowing river itself—a physical feature shaped by nature—and contrasted it with the impressive bridges built by people, such as the Tyne Bridge, Millennium Bridge and Swing Bridge. The children discussed the purpose of each bridge and how they help connect communities on either side of the river. Inspired by what they saw, the children then had a go at drawing their own bridges, thinking carefully about the structure, shape and design.

Our Year 1 children had a fantastic outdoor learning experience during their visit to Scotswood Garden. The focus of the morning was teamwork, creativity and scientific thinking as the children worked together to build hedgehog houses. Using natural materials found around the garden—such as leaves, sticks, and moss—the children collaborated in small groups to design and construct cosy shelters for hedgehogs. Once the houses were built, the real investigation began: which house would keep a hedgehog the warmest? It was wonderful to see the children so engaged, working together and applying their learning in a real-world context. The visit not only supported their understanding of habitats and seasonal changes but also encouraged teamwork, problem-solving and care for wildlife. A big thank you to Scotswood Garden for hosting such a memorable and meaningful learning experience!

In Year 1, children begin to develop a deeper understanding of numbers and their relationships. One exciting area of learning is comparing numbers using the concepts of greater than (≥), less than (≤), and equal to (=). Children have been busy exploring these symbols through hands-on activities and group work. They have built confidence in using mathematical language to describe their thinking. For example, they might say, “7 is greater than 4” or “6 is equal to 6.”

We gathered in prayer to celebrate the end of our unit on families. We thought about how our families love and care for us. We listened to psalms which told us of God’s love and care then we read the prayer which we had written together. This was a special experience and we shared how we could take this love and care into our everyday lives.

Year 1 have been enjoying looking for signs of Autumn. We hunted around the outdoor environment in search of signs of autumn. We found berries, brown, yellow and red leaves, fallen leaves and apples. We used our magnifying glasses to make closer observations and noticed that the leaves were also different shapes and sizes.

The focus of the learning was to explore the concepts of prejudice and discrimination through movement. By exploring this challenging topic, pupils worked together to demonstrate the emotions that surround prejudices. Pupils then took a closer look at the impact of acting on this prejudice (discrimination).

This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming our wonderful parents into the classroom to celebrate all our hard work! The children had a fantastic time sharing the nursery rhymes they’ve been learning and performing them with great enthusiasm. Parents also had the opportunity to look through our beautiful workbooks and see just how busy and creative we’ve been at school!