What have you done in school today? 15th March 2019 by St. Mary's College

‘What have you done in

school today?’ Dear Parents,

15th March 2019

Yesterday we had a whole school focus on health and well being. It was a fantastic opportunity to take some time out from the chaotic nature of life and reflect on different things throughout the day. It was wonderful to see all year groups taking part in yoga and mindfulness sessions and the feedback from the children has been great. I think it is important for all of us to take a moment, every so often, to focus on the important things in life and consider whether we over concerned about things that are not important in the grand scheme of things.

Stars of the Week

Have a relaxing weekend, Mr J Webster, Headmaster

Stars of the Week Maya Segarajasinghe, Anna Sugden, Luke Pomeroy, Sebastian Handley, Daisy Soo,Yasmin McIver, Alice Leite, Anna Yu and Harvey Cope. Mrs Murray was also awarded a ‘Star of the Week’ certificate, as she leaves today to start her maternity leave. She and husband, Scott, await the arrival of their first child and we will keep you posted on this exciting news.

Music Awards We have introduced two new weekly music awards this academic year. ‘Musician of the Week’, is awarded by Mrs Booth to the pupil who has excelled in class music or instrumental tuition. Year 5 pupil, Sophie Locke is this week’s recipient. Miss Walton will be awarding ‘Singer of the Week’ to the pupil who works hard and tries their very best at singing. This week the award goes to Year 3 pupil, George Charnley.

House Point Winners Each week the pupil with the most House Points in each house from each class will receive a medal and this week’s winners are picture right. The medals are returned to class for the following week’s presentation at Star of the Week Assembly. Well done to all the children who have worked hard this week and accumulated the most House Points.

Sports Awards We have introduced an award for the Infant and Junior Sportsperson of the Week. These awards are chosen by all the staff and discussed in our staff meetings, deciding who has shown great sportsmanship, skills or team work in their P.E. and Games lessons or while on a fixture. Well done to Year 2 pupil, Noah Malthouse who won the Infants Prize for his excellent participation in Rugbytots and Anna Quint in Year 6, who was awarded the Juniors’ Prize for her excellent team organisation skills and shooting accuracy as she captained the netball team this week.

Mission Together Assembly On Monday, Mary Dearden from Mission Together came in to deliver an assembly to the children all about the work of Missio and Mission Together. The children got to see just where their money goes to and what it can provide for children in Jordan like little Sandra and her friends. The children are really starting to understand that a small donation can make such a huge difference. Mary then passed on a Mission Together candle to our school so that we may keep the light of Christ alive, shining and guiding us in all that we do.

Fundraising during Lent This year, once again, we will be raising money for both Nugent Care in our Good Shepherd appeal and for CAFOD in our wider global community fundraising efforts. Here is the list of activities we will be holding over the coming weeks. Thank you for your support.

Some ideas for children and families to do during Lent.

Book Fair We will be running a Book Fair in the Hall during the times below. It’s a great opportunity for pupils (and parents) to select books for reading at home. We do receive commission on all sales, which is used to buy books for the school library and class shelves. Pupils using the school buses or after school club, can go into the Book Fair at break times to choose books. Money for these should be sent into school in an envelope, clearly marked with your child’s name and ‘Book Fair’. All after school clubs will run as normal. The Book Fair is open Tuesday, 19th March 3.15—4.30pm  Wednesday, 20th March 3.15pm—3.45pm  Friday, 22nd March 3.15pm- 3.45pm Don’t’ forget to bring your World Book Day vouchers! 

Friends of Merrilocks Park As you may be aware, we are involved with bringing life back into Merrilocks Park and our Gardening Club have already made a start on clearing the borders. There is a great deal of work to be done and with the help of Green Sefton, the Park is being transformed to regain some of its former glory. The group of volunteers driving this project have asked for anyone who wishes to help to come along to gardening sessions in the Park. These will take place every Saturday, starting tomorrow, 16th March, from 2pm to 3pm. Children are warmly invited to come along and help out. Bring your own gardening gloves if you have them!

Coffee Morning To raise funds for shrubs and plants, the FMP are holding a Coffee Morning on Saturday 30th March from 10am to 12pm at West Lancs Golf Club. All are invited—parents and pupils. There is a strict dress code of no jeans for all, so if you do intend going along, please adhere to this. Those wishing to attend, please RSVP to Mrs Howat at howatp@stmarys.lpool.sch.uk If you are free and in the area, please do try and support the group.

Reception Yoga, mindfulness and massage Reception children learnt about the importance of connecting the mind, body and heart during yoga today. The children now understand the importance of looking after how we feel on the inside as well as the outside. They were taught techniques to calm a worried mind and stretches to soothe the body. The children in Reception are continually developing their fine motor skills/control as well as developing good hand eye coordination. With this is mind, we gave each other gentle hand massages which the children found relaxing, calming and soothing. It also demonstrated that gentle hands can also show inner strength and kindness.

Year 1 Mental Health & Well-Being through Cookery, Dance, Mindfulness & Yoga The children have been learning about kindness, love, gratitude, appreciation and self-love. Each morning and afternoon a child read a card to the rest of the class which displayed a positive thought for the day. These thoughts reiterate the way we think controls the way we feel and the way we feel controls our lives. Our Dance and Cookery lesson helped the children recognise how important it is to eat food that is full of nutrition and exercise to achieve a healthy lifestyle. In the Dance lesson, since our topic was Africa, the children mimicked some of the African animals going to the waterhole and crossing the grasslands. In cookery, the children made a fruit cocktail made with a variety of fruit from Africa. Such fruit included papaya, mango, pineapple, banana, tangerine all cut into small pieces with the juice from lemons and oranges. The children

washed their hands- a prerequisite when handling food. Using their senses, the children looked and smelt each fruit. It was interesting to see how many children could recognise and name papaya. Then the children observed the number, size and location of the seed(s) in each fruit. The children were fascinated when they explored how different cross sections of the banana made different patterns with the seeds. The children learned about the nutritional value of each fruit and experienced peeling, plucking and cutting. On Thursday morning the children were introduced to Mindfulness. They were shown a PowerPoint and engaged in a variety of mindful exercises with their teacher Sian, to help them develop concentration and self-awareness. Such activities included touching the table when they could no longer hear the Tibetan Singing Bowl and staying still for ninety seconds. Some found this very challenging.

On Thursday afternoon, just like Indian Yogis who invented Yoga thousands of years ago,Year 1 enjoyed learning some Yoga positions by using toy animals and insects as stimuli. They mimicked: bees, butterflies, cats, dogs, cobras, lions, rabbits, giraffes and many more with Lisa, their Yoga teacher and focussed on their breathing. The children thoroughly enjoyed the relaxation session.

Year 2 English Year 2 children explored Recounts in English. They read ‘Diary of a Wombat’ by Jackie French. After Jackie saw our photos on Twitter she requested a phone call with the class. The class came up with questions to ask Jackie and they were delighted to get the chance to speak to such a talented author and to listen to her tales of wombats amongst other things. The children asked some excellent questions such as ‘What inspired you to become an author?’ and ‘What is the funniest thing you’ve ever seen a wombat do?’. Jackie gave the children a challenge to write their own diary from the view point of another animal. The children are currently working on this in class. The children want to keep in touch with Jackie and show her some of the work that they produce.

Health and Well-Being This week, as a class, we have been focusing on our well-being and positive mind set. We have talked about how we are each special and unique. We have explored what makes us feel good and how we can make others around us feel good. The children have made lists at home to share with the rest of the class about what makes them feel good about themselves and about their life. The children enjoyed some quiet, reflective moments through collective worship and circle time. Noah kindly brought in some mindfulness activity cards which focused on kindness and calm. The children are now more aware of different ways that physical activity can help promote our health and well-being. This week they have enjoyed continuing their ‘Greatest Showman’ dance routine in PE, practising their Rugby Tots skills in their Games lesson and also joining in with a Yoga session.

Year 3 Health and Well-being This week the Year 3 children have focused a lot on their health and well-being. They began their week by doing their physical activity, swimming, which includes walking to and from Crosby swimming baths. They then went outside again as part of the R.E. lesson, as being active and having fresh air is very important. On Health and Well-Being day,Year 3 had a visitor to explain the importance of mindfulness, in particular focusing on the present and having some time to gather our thoughts and focus on our breathing. Finally they took part in a yoga lesson which again focused on having a healthy mind and body.

Year 3 Green Club As part of Fairtrade fortnight, the children in Green Club have been reflecting on how they can make a difference to the lives of farmers and workers in the developing world. They identified all of the different Fairtrade products that are on offer in our supermarkets and they recognised that when we buy these products, we are ensuring that the people who grow them get a better price for their hard work. The children then enjoyed using Fairtrade ingredients to make a healthy banana split. They were quick to identify the Fairtrade logo on the packaging and they are going to look out for this on food items at home and in their local shops.

Year 3 Science Club Linking in with our theme this week of Health and Wellbeing,Year 3 Science club made their own bath bombs. Ingredients per bath bomb They used relaxing lavender oil and vanilla that produced a wonderful aroma. The children carefully 3 tablespoons sodium bicarbonate measured Bicarbonate of Soda and Citric acid, then 1 tablespoon citric acid 0.5 teaspoon almond oil adding almond oil to soften our skin and a small 3 drops of essential oil or cosmetic fraspray of water. The children were able to choose eigrance oil ther yellow or green colouring â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many choosing yelwater â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a few drops low as they felt this was a happy colour. Mrs Savage food colouring (optional) was very pleased with how well the children Mix the dry ingredients first and then worked; they were very excited and seemed very carefully add the oils, pigment and water. keen to go home for a bath. If you would like to Place into a mould or muffin case and make some more at home, the recipe is on the left. leave to dry overnight.

Year 4 Deaf Active On Tuesday,Year 4 visited the Deaf Active centre in Liverpool for their final session of learning sign language and practising football skills. The children showcased their learning from the past 10 weeks by taking part in a quiz where they had to work together to ask the instructors questions in sign language and interpret their responses. They then combined their knowledge of different signs with their football skills and took part in a number of team games. To end the afternoon, the girls took on the boys in a very competitive game of football which ended 1-0 to the boys! The children had an excellent afternoon and they are looking forward to continuing their sign language learning in class.

Year 4 Health and Well-being This week, the children in year 4 have been learning all about wellbeing and mental health. They recognised that mental health is linked to our emotional wellbeing and that it affects how we think, feel and behave. The children worked in groups to identify all off the things that have a positive and negative impact on our mental health and they talked about how they can take action to ensure that they are looking after their own mental wellbeing. We then moved on to explore the difference between feelings and emotions. The children designed a picture to represent each of the different feelings that we identified and they then used these to create their own feelings wheel. They will use this resource in the future to discuss their feeling and emotions.

Year 5 Maths & Health and Well-being During health and wellbeing week, the children in Year 5 had the opportunity to take their learning outside of the classroom. In maths the children have been renewing their understanding of area and perimeter. The children were given the task to measure the perimeter and area different quadrilateral shapes. Being outdoors has been proven to lift mood and reduce stress and most of all improve concentration, the children thoroughly enjoyed being on the playground during a maths lesson! To continue our health and wellbeing week year 5 enjoyed a relaxing yoga session which included breathing exercises and trying to hold balances and poses. As well as this the children discussed what it meant to participate in mindfulness activities and the importance of focussing.

6M Health and Well-being For Mindfulness and Well-being week, 6M have been looking at kindness and how they can be kind to each other and themselves. The children created a poster relating to what kindness means to them. They presented their findings with the class and explained in detail what they felt ‘kindness’ meant to them. The children also looked at ways not only to be kind to each other but to themselves. They wrote on hearts about how they can be kind to themselves and they shared how these ideas can be carried out. Later on in the week, the children focussed on the word ‘wellbeing’ and in pairs they wrote a poem and shared it with the class in relation to this. The children enjoyed participating in a mindfulness workshop where they focussed on meditation and how to relax and calm themselves. They finished off the week by having a yoga lesson, which they all enjoyed and felt very relaxed.

6W RE Collective Worship The class joined in a Collective Worship and reflected on ourselves as people thinking of both our positive and negative attributes as an individual. We focused on areas that we can work to improve on and develop in the future. We looked at inspirational people and how we can use these as positive examples and role models when looking at our own character.

Health and Well Being As part of our Health and Well being focus, 6W joined yoga teacher, Lisa Bostock for a yoga session. This ancient spiritual discipline including breath control, simple meditation and specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation. The class also had a mindfulness workshop which taught them how to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;chillâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and focus on bringing their attention to the present.

Healthy Diet and Gardening Food plays an enormous part in our own health and well-being. As part of this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities, all the children took part in planting their own seed which hopefully, they will have brought home and once sprouted will transplant into your garden. It has been proven that healthy eating increases energy, improves concentration, boosts moods and helps maintain a healthy weight. A healthy diet can help prevent mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and ADHD. The children chose their seed from a wide selection: runner beans, carrots tomato, beetroot, rocket and a selection of herbs.

Cress Head! This week Pearl in Year 1 has been reading ‘How to be a Cress Barber’ She has really enjoyed reading about how to grow seeds and commented “I would really like to make a cress head”. Mrs Newell got to it and Pearl has now taken home her cress head, beautifully hand decorated. We can’t wait to see how it grows, Pearl!

Tickets on sale in the school Office

Key dates for your diary Please visit the school website www.stmarys.ac/prep for full details of fixtures and important dates. For many of the events listed below, letters and emails will be sent to parents over the coming weeks.

Date

Event

Classes involved

Monday, 18th

Book Fair Week Year 2 Trip Rufford Old Hall

Whole school Year 2

Tuesday, 19th

Slow Down for Bobby Assembly

Whole school

Thursday, 21st

Year 3 Pupil Choice Lunch

Year 3 parents

Saturday, 23rd

St Mary’s Festival of Music’ at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, 7.30pm (Rehearsals’ arrangements emailed) TICKETS ON SALE

All invited.

Monday, 25th to Friday 29th

Assessment Week

Whole school

Tuesday, 26th & Wednesday, 27th

ABRSM Exams

Tuesday, 26th

School Nurse Drop In, 8.30am

All parents invited

Wednesday, 27th

Taster Day (3)

Pupils intending joining Reception Class Sept 19

Thursday, 28th