Whole School Worship with Rev.Matt
Today’s worship began with an exciting race, where three pairs of children took part — each child carrying a partner on their back. This fun activity led us into our Bible story: “Was Paul worried?” In the story, we saw how Paul remained strong — not just for himself, but for others too. Even in difficult times, he encouraged and supported those around him. We reflected on the idea that sometimes, we are called to look after others, especially in important or challenging situations. The children then discussed the questions: How are others strong for you? How can you be strong for someone else this week? To conclude our worship, we were reminded that being strong doesn’t always mean being the loudest or the fastest — sometimes, true strength is shown through kindness, patience and standing by someone when they need us most. We left worship thinking about how we can be a source of strength and support for others in the week ahead.
Year 1-Year of Prayer- Mirror Image
This week, as part of the diocesan Year of Prayer, Year 1 took on a prayer challenge called 'Mirror Image.' Each child stood face-to-face with a partner, taking turns to mirror each other's movements. Afterwards, they prayed to Jesus, asking for help to reflect his love, kindness, generosity, and respect by sharing it with others.
Year 1 to Year 2 Transition Day- Self Portraits
Today was a great transition day for our incoming Year 2 class! They drew some fantastic self-portraits for a new classroom display. They worked incredibly hard, carefully tracing the outlines of their faces and features before colouring them in with felt tip pens. The results look brilliant, and we can't wait to get them up on display!
Year 1 to Year 2 Transition Day- English- Exploring Riddles
During their transition day, our current Year 1 children (soon to be Year 2) kicked off a new poetry unit. They absolutely loved exploring riddles, carefully investigating the clues. They then challenged themselves to create their own clues for various objects, using adjectives and similes. We were incredibly lucky to have Freddie and Oscar from the current Year 6 class in our room, who did some fantastic modelling of similes to help the younger children. The Year 1s then impressed us with brilliant examples like: "A snake is long and thin like a hosepipe," "A snake is green like a gecko," "An apple is round like the world," "A crab is snappy like a crocodile," and "A coin is shiny like the moon."
Year 1 to Year 2 Transition Day- Phonics Bingo
Today, during their transition day, our current Year 1 children (soon to be Year 2) enjoyed an exciting game of phonics bingo. Last year, as they moved from Reception to Year 1, they focused on Phase 2 and some Phase 3 sounds. This year, they confidently tackled all the Phase 5 sounds, including alternative graphemes, which they've recently been learning and applying in their writing. It was brilliant to celebrate their progress and test their knowledge of these many sounds!
Year 1 PE- Kicking
This week in PE, Year 1 focused on refining their kicking skills. They practiced controlling the ball, stopping it with precision, passing accurately to their teammates, and shooting confidently into the net.
Year 1 Class Worship- The Man Who Came Back
This week, Year 1 explored the powerful story of Jesus healing the ten lepers during their class worship. The children learned a valuable lesson from the story: only one of the ten men returned to thank Jesus, while the others quickly went home to their families. This prompted a wonderful discussion about how important it is to be grateful and thankful for everything we have. We then heard some beautiful prayers from Leila, Harry, and Alessia. They thanked God for his love and power and asked for help to remember to be thankful every day.
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Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we kicked off our worship by looking back at our incredibly busy yet fantastic week, focusing on how we can all flourish together. The stories of the Unforgiving Servant and the Earth Shake were central, allowing us to explore the Christian Value of forgiveness and the importance of seeking evidence. This week was also a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our amazing school during the SIAMS inspection on Tuesday. Mrs. Araujo took some of the children from our WOW group to the prayer tent in the old St. Paul’s Church grounds in Hoddlesden, many of our children enjoyed another fabulous cre8ability, Forest School, Multi-Sports and Choir session and our Year 1 and Year 4 gained valuable insights from an environmental workshop about waste and recycling. Then came the well-deserved recognition for our students! We proudly congratulated our individual value award winners: Reggie, Olly, and Eva in EYFS and KS1, and Naomi, April, Sonny, Mason, Summer, and Freddie in KS2. These children were celebrated for working exceptionally hard across the curriculum and always striving to be their best, both academically and personally. Our attendance winners were also highlighted, with huge congratulations to Year 1 and Year 2 for achieving an outstanding 100% attendance, and Year 4 for an impressive 99.8% attendance. Further congratulations went to India Mill, who were our overall value award winners with a fantastic 669 points, and the children in Year 5 and 6, who clinched the DPSSA Netball league final for the second year running. The celebrations didn't stop there, as we also acknowledged the amazing achievements of our children outside of school. A huge well done to Callie for being ‘Student of the Year’ at Martial Arts, Max for being ‘Player of the Week’ at Little Darreners, and Eva and Alice for representing their dance school in a recent show. Archie was recognised as the ‘Most Improved Player’ for Mill Hill Juniors Football Club, while Marley was ‘Star of the Day’ at the Ed Start Multi-Sports Club. Lydia was awarded Olivia at Rainbows for doing her promise, and Eleanor and Olivia earned a badge for their courage on rides during a trip to Gulliver's World with Rainbows. Alfie competed in a recent tournament, receiving a trophy for being part of the team that won the Europa League and also being ‘Player of the Match.’ In swimming, Jack achieved his Bronze award, Elsie and Vienna received their 200m certificate, and Naomi reached Level 5. Lyla was ‘Star of the Day’ in her lyrical, and Scarlett was named the Under 8s Coaches’ Player for 2024/2025 at Rivington Netball Club. Olivia earned a medal for her football team's unbeaten season, Desmond received the Parents’ Player trophy at football, and James was recognised for being a great team player. Daisy achieved a gold award in a recent gymnastics competition, Peyton earned her yellow belt at kickboxing, and Eliza successfully completed a recent triathlon. To conclude our worship, we were treated to some beautiful prayers from Olivia and Callie, who prayed for peace around the world and offered thanks for our beautiful world and all the wonderful people in our lives, including our school family. Mrs. Ham wished us all a lovely, restful weekend, and the worship ended on a high note with a singalong to ‘My Lighthouse’.
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Collective Worship- Seeking Truth and Evidence
Today's worship began with the children singing the song "Jesus Strong and Kind." Following the song, James, Jack, and Lily from Year 4 signed the Trinity, adding a visual element to the worship. Next, the whole school participated in a "Spot the Difference" challenge. Rev. Matt then shared a message emphasizing the importance of delving deeper to find the truth, stating that the Bible provides accounts based on evidence, not made-up stories. He read the Bible story "The Earth Shakes," with children actively participating by acting out the movements described. To encourage reflection and the concept of "living life in all its fullness," the children paired up for a "Question Time," pondering how they could find out more about Jesus. The idea was put forward that we can learn about Jesus by doing what he did and by exploring historical accounts, reflecting how deeply faith is woven into our experiences. The worship concluded with a prayer asking for help to seek evidence.
Year 1 RE- Joseph the Ruler (Forgiveness)
Yesterday, Year 1 continued their exploration of the story of Joseph, reading Part 3: "Joseph the Ruler." They learned a powerful lesson about forgiveness as Joseph chose to forgive his brothers after seeing their genuine change. We connected this to the Christian value of forgiveness and then engaged in an activity identifying scenarios where forgiveness might be needed due to unsafe, disrespectful, or unkind actions. Examples included throwing rubbish on the floor, saying unkind words, pushing in line, running in the dinner hall, playing football indoors, and snatching items. Year 1 then discussed how asking for forgiveness should be accompanied by a commitment to change our future behavior.
Year 1 Science- Environmental Workshop
Yesterday, Year 1 had a fantastic time at an environmental workshop led by Georgina. She made learning about waste and recycling interactive and engaging, teaching them how to sort materials into the different coloured bins. The children left with some great new facts and shared these at the end of the workshop. Joey and Percy discovered that batteries should be placed in a carrier bag outside the bin to prevent fires. Callie learned that hard and soft plastics need to be separated, with hard plastics for recycling and soft plastics as waste. Olivia noted that hard plastics and metals go in the grey bin, Vienna shared that paper and cardboard belongs in the blue bin, and Haydn added that food waste should be put in the burgundy bin. All of our children received a recycling pack to take home which included a variety of follow-up activities, information for those at home, a certificate and a sticker.
Whole School Worship - The Unforgiving Servant
The theme in this worship was “forgiveness”. Mrs Ham continued to reveal the meaning behind the Lord’s Prayer, today, focussing on the line “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. To explain what Jesus taught us about forgiving others, Mrs Ham chose to share the story of The Unforgiving Servant with the help of some willing participants. Rev Ben and a couple of the children gave a fabulous performance, showing us that we should replicate to others the mercy shown to us, and that forgiveness should be given as many times as necessary. The children reflected on the story’s moral and shared their opinions about this.