From the Heart. Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School. Springfield Road, Wigan. Welcome to the Spring edition of From the Heart

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1 From the Heart Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Springfield Road, Wigan Welcome to the Spring edition of From the Heart The Spring Term was very busy and very rewarding with most positive outcomes from both our OFSTED Inspection and our Inspection of Catholic Life, Religious Education and Collective Worship which took place in February. Inspection of Catholic Life, Religious Education and Collective Worship: OUTSTANDING in all areas OFSTED Inspection - GOOD in all areas Both reports are available on our school website and I hope that you will enjoy reading about the many successes of Sacred Heart. All members of our school community should feel very proud! Here are some of our favourite quotes from Inspection of our Catholic School: Pupils appreciate, value and actively participate in the Catholic Life and mission of the school. Pupils respond very well to the opportunities the school provides for their personal support and development. As a result they are happy, confident and secure in their own stage of physical, emotional and spiritual growth. A member of staff said, Senior leaders deliver beautiful and well-planned praise assemblies that teach pupils to be proud of their Catholic faith, but also include our pupils of other religious backgrounds. The extent to which pupils achieve and enjoy their learning in Religious Education is outstanding. There is an obvious sense of inclusivity and community at all levels. The school promotes justice and respect for all. This is clearly evident in the excellent relationships that exist within this close community. From our OFSTED Inspection: Pupils are polite and courteous in class and around the school. Pupils are very proud of their achievements and this has a positive impact on their engagement in learning and the consistently good progress they make. In 2017, pupils progress was above the national average. The strongest area was mathematics, where the rate of progress was in the top 20% of schools nationally. Outcomes in phonics are consistently strong. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are well supported and, as a result, progress well against their individual targets. The curriculum is enhanced with a good range of extracurricular activities and school trips. Strong and respectful relationships exist between pupils and staff. As a result pupils are confident and readily engaged in their learning. Children make a good start to their education in the early years. There is certainly a lot to be proud of at Sacred Heart! So much has been achieved! Thank you to all our parents and carers for your continued support, and for being with us, every step of the way. By the time this edition of From the Heart reaches you, we will have celebrated the most special feast of Easter. We finished our term with Stations of the Cross in which all children made a small cross to add to our Easter garden. I hope that you had a lovely holy and peaceful holiday with your family and friends. Yours sincerely, Mrs C. Mason (Headteacher)

2 From the Heart Lots to Celebrate! Sacred Heart Pilgrimage The highlight of our Spring Term was our whole school pilgrimage. All pupils from Nursery to Year Six, together with our staff, took part. We travelled around our school building and grounds exploring themes from the book Only One You. Before our pilgrimage began, we prepared by thinking about how we are all unique individuals who are known and loved by God. We were inspired by the illustrations in the book, in which each fish character has an image painted onto a pebble. Each child designed and created their own fish pebble, representing who they are, their likes, their personalities, their favourite colours and patterns. We began our pilgrimage in the school hall. We gathered together in a large circle, each child holding their fish pebble. We sat quietly and enjoyed the uniqueness of each fish, knowing that it represents each of us. We held our fish and thought about the journey ahead. We listened to a reading from Luke s Gospel in which the disciples had been fishing all night and didn t catch anything. Jesus asked them to try again and this time their nets were full of fish... they were heavy, bursting with life. The disciples answer Jesus invitation to follow him, they will be catching people now instead of fish. They will follow Jesus and learn from him, helping to spread God s message to everyone they meet. Jesus offers the same invitation to each of us, every day come and follow me. Together we travelled, carrying a large cross and a bible, singing as we went. We visited five different themed prayer stations. At the first stopping place we explored the theme: Change. How can we change direction or take a different turning when things are not going well? How can we change to become better people, remembering that God is always with us, even when we make the wrong choices? We wrote a personal message on a heart shape and asked for God s help.

3 From the Heart Lots to Celebrate! We explored our uniqueness, drawing self-portraits and listening to the word of God: Great and wonderful creator God! I thank you and I praise you for creating wonderful me! Our third theme focussed on our hopes and dreams. We heard about the dreams that God has for us, which are as many as the grains of sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. This theme inspired some beautiful art work, using powdered ink, collage and jewels. pleases God. We know that if we share what we have with the hungry, the homeless and those in need, we can make the world a better place for others. We heard about Saint Teresa who sets an example to us all, through her words and actions. Her mission was; to make the world a better place for those around her, she touched the people closest to her, she did what she could. Saint Teresa said: I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. To respond we brought coins to share with others, money to make a difference. We dropped our coins into a pool, each making a small ripple. Altogether high up on the roof terrace at the rear of the we raised 125 which enabled us to purchase five building. They felt the wind on their faces, listened to birth certificates for children in Africa, to enable five the seagulls flying close by and looked far into the children to have a better future. distance. We listened to the Creation story in which Our pilgrimage God gave us a beautiful world. We were reminded was a wonderful, that beauty is all around us. We just need to slow spiritual and down a little and look. Look at the people, the living joyful experience creatures, the beautiful scenery, flowers and trees for everyone. we need to take time to look and to make memories. One which united In response, we painted a large picture, representing us in prayer and the beautiful colours of our blue planet, the clean re-affirmed our water, the life giving water and the washing of the Catholic Mission. waves. We are very blessed to belong to such a caring and Our final stopping point encouraged us to make the loving school community. world a better place for others. We listened to a reading from Isaiah 58: 3-8 to hear about what Our next station celebrated life, of animals, of plants and the world. Our Reception children enjoyed being

4 From the Heart Nursery We have been learning about Lent a time when we grow in love. We have been hearing about our friend Jesus and some of the wonderful things that he did. During our special Gather Time we have been sharing stories and prayers and learning some new Easter songs. People Who Help Us We learned a lot about the people who help us at home, at school and in the wider world. We used the computer and books to research the jobs of nurses, doctors, vets, fire-fighters, police, and lollipop men and ladies, and we did lots of talking about them. We looked at their vehicles and painted them, and thought about the colours we used. We had a visit from Alan, the local PCSO. He showed us his uniform and told us about his job and even let us try his hat on. It was enormous! We had hospital and ambulance role play areas and had fun dressing up and wrapping each other and our teachers in bandages. Through this topic we covered all areas of learning, including the following: Expressive Arts and Design we drew and painted vehicles; we set up and acted out different scenarios in role play areas; we made models of fire engines; we sang songs. Knowledge and Understanding of the World we used technology to research; we made observations and talked about what we saw; we learned about different occupations. Mathematics we learned about the properties of shapes and used them to build and make pictures, we counted wheels and thought about one more/one less; we read numbers and counted out the matching quantity. Literacy we looked at fiction and non-fiction books; we did some story maps; we made police notes and medical notes; we wrote labels; we learned about rhyming words. Physical Development we ran round the garden, putting out fires and catching villains; we built structures and fire engines with the big blocks; we used scissors and simple tools; we practised holding writing tools correctly. Communication and Language we did lots of speaking and listening. Personal, Social and Emotional Development we shared and took turns; we cared for each other. Growing We began by reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. The next day we came into nursery and got a big shock there were giant footprints all over the place and a giant letter. It was from the giant! He asked us to help him to grow a new beanstalk as his had been chopped down. He left us some seeds which we are going to plant in our garden maybe we will have a beanstalk of our own to climb! We did some measuring and used mathematical vocabulary associated with size, and we wrote story maps. We read the story of the Enormous Turnip and investigated vegetables, looking at their texture and colours, and thinking about where they came from. We chopped up the vegetables and made delicious soup, and used them to make prints. We did some vegetable shopping and practised counting out pennies. We learned about other things that grow and did some planting. We used all our senses to investigate flowers and painted them using tiny brushes to add details. We talked about spring and looked for signs of spring in our nursery garden.

5 We talked about the time we spent with our families over Christmas, the gifts we had given and received, and reflected on what a wonderful time of year Christmas is. Our first topic in was Celebrating. We discussed the different ways in which we celebrate and talked about some of the celebrations from around the world. We really enjoyed our class party and loved playing lots of different party games. Our next topic was Gathering and we loved acting out the processional service in our brand new role play area, taking on the different roles of key members of the parish family. We are currently learning all about Growing, and have been watching how different plants and animals grow and talking about how we change. We have taken part in a range of nature walks and art activities looking for the signs of spring in our outdoor environment. We have been talking about Lent and how we can grow to be more like Jesus. We really enjoyed our Pilgrimage around school with our Year Six Gardeners and enjoyed reflecting on the qualities which make us a unique individual. We had a Rock Pool Experience in school where we were able to learn about, look at and hold different rock pool creatures. We From the Heart Reception loved talking about how different the creatures were and loved observing them. Literacy One day when we were in our classrooms we received a very important letter from the Gingerbread Man. He explained that his friend, Mr Wolf, was very sad as he did not know how to make pancakes, and it was Pancake Day. We learned all about Shrove Tuesday and enjoyed making our own pancakes. We helped Mr Wolf by writing a list of ingredients he would need, and a list of instructions to make them! Mathematics We have continued to work on our understanding of number and enjoyed using the tens frame to solve problems. We are getting very good at addition and subtraction, and have particularly enjoyed learning about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. Topic In January we learned all about Chinese New Year. The whole of Foundation Stage celebrated with a Chinese New Year Day. We tasted lots of different food (kindly donated by one of our parents), learned different Chinese dances and had a go at writing our names in Chinese writing. We took a vote to decide on our next topic, and the most popular choice was Transport. It has been really exciting! We particularly enjoyed taking part in a traffic survey, and loved testing to see whether different items would float like a boat. We used our fantastic Computing skills to design our own type of transport and talked about what we think transport might look like in the future.

6 In our topic Special People, Meals and Changes, we talked about the jobs of special people who help at church and visited church to do some role play. We have recognised the importance of the Eucharist through our topic on Meals. We have discussed family meals and learnt about a special meal that Jesus had with his friends, called the Last Supper. We are currently learning about how people try to change and make a new start during the period of Lent. We are also finding out about Palm Sunday and the Easter story. English We have read Toys in Space and Beegu. We particularly enjoyed making rockets and spaceships for our display. We were able to use nouns and adjectives in our stories and can sequence a story using a story map. We wrote letters to the alien and made invitations for our From the Heart Year One alien party, which was great fun! We have been working hard in Read, Write Inc, reading stories and writing sentences containing the Year One sounds. Currently we are reading and reciting poems together. We loved reading Dinosaur Roar and we were inspired to make a dinosaur fact book. Other poems that we enjoyed were What I like and Noises off by Gervase Phinn. We loved celebrating World Book Day and had some amazing costumes to portray our favourite characters. Maths We have been working on addition and subtraction stories and solving picture problems. We have been finding out about fact families and using number bonds and ten frames to solve problems. We have learned about ordinal numbers (eg, 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and took part in our own fun races. We looked at number patterns and filled in missing numbers. In Mental Maths we have worked on halves and quarters and positional vocabulary. Topic We have been exploring different materials and their properties. We have named and sorted a variety of materials. We performed experiments to see which materials are waterproof and used adjectives to describe them. When we had found out information on the materials, we used this knowledge to help us to design and make a shelter for the alien. In our topic When our Grandparents were Young we have been making timelines about ourselves. We found out what schools were like in the past and compared them to schools nowadays. We talked about houses in the past and the household items they might have contained. We enjoyed finding out about the toys that our Grandparents might have played with and what type of music they might have listened to. Art We have been studying landscapes and the features they contain. We enjoyed talking about Van Gogh s Starry Night and used oil pastels to create our own landscapes. We have been looking at portraits such as Da Vinci s Mona Lisa. We also made our own portraits. PE In PE we have loved getting moving to exciting rhymes and songs which have topics such as planets, the circus and the zoo.

7 From the Heart Year Two This term we have been learning about Books and Thanksgiving. In Books we learned about the special books that are used in Church and the special books that we use in school during Collective Worship. We talked about how we show that these books are special and how we treat them with reverence. In Thanksgiving, we have been talking about The Last Supper and why it is special. We have also been thinking about ideas of how we can say thank you to the people that mean the most to us. have been learning all about past tense verbs and have written our stories using past tense verbs. Topic and Science This term we started by learning about different materials, their properties and their uses. We learned what different things are made from, and why. We then planned and designed a boat ready for our boat race! We had to make Maths This term we have been learning about money. We are starting to recognise different coins and notes and we have been adding them together to make different amounts. We have also been learning to tell the time to quarter past and quarter to on both digital and analogue clocks. We have learned about 2D and 3D shapes. When looking at 2D shapes we used mirrors to find lines of symmetry and described the properties of the different shapes. English We have really enjoyed reading our collection of books about Traction Man! We have retold the story of Traction Man s adventures and then used this inspiration to create our own unique story with an imaginative adventure! We have learned about contractions and when we need to use apostrophes in our writing. We sure that the materials we chose were waterproof and floated on the water. We loved our trip to St. Helens World of Glass where we learned more about the properties of glass. We loved watching how glass was made and feeling the heat from furnace. Recently, we have been learning all about the Great Fire of London. We have learned about when and where it happened and the diary that Samuel Pepys wrote about the event. We have loved writing about the Great Fire and it has been very interesting to see the differences between London in 1666 compared to how it is now. We created fire pictures in Computing using the tools in Colour Magic, and made an animation of the Great Fire spreading through the streets.

8 From the Heart Year Three This half term we have been focusing on Visitors and Listening and Sharing. In Listening and Sharing we enjoyed creating a dance for the equal groups of an amount when dividing. English Gloria singing Alleluia (praise to God). We were very lucky to have a visit from Mrs Birchall to tell us all about her role in Sunday Mass and how she prepares for mass each week. In Collective Worship we have really enjoyed gathering together, listening to scripture and thinking about how we will go forth with God s message. In English we have been undertaking lots of reading and writing activities based around Egyptian Cinderella, describing the character Rhodopis including expanded noun phrases and main sentences. We also researched all about the River Nile and produced an information text using headings and sub-headings to lay out information clearly. Ancient Egyptians How can we discover the wonder of Egypt? We visited Manchester museum where we had lots of fun exploring, observing different artefacts and taking part in exciting activities. In school we have enjoyed researching about mummies and in groups we were able to mummify one of our friends! We have also looked at where Egypt is in the world and discussed the importance of the River Nile. Science Are you attractive enough? We investigated which materials are magnetic and which are nonmagnetic. If the object was magnetic we could also identify what metal it was. We also investigated to see which would be the strongest magnet using different types of magnets and materials. Let s Sing Concert Maths This half term we have been learning to multiply and divide. We have become more confident at using maths equipment to solve equations and word problems. We can also show our understanding of groups of and We thoroughly enjoyed learning and practising new songs for the Let s Sing Concert at Robin Park. We especially enjoyed learning the French song Boum by Charles Trenet.

9 From the Heart Year Four Our topics this term have been Giving and Receiving and Self-Discipline. These topics have explored the Sacrament of Eucharist and the most important parts of the Mass and the sacrifices that Jesus made for all of us during Lent and the Crucifixion. Thank you to Mr Moffat, who is training to be a deacon, for visiting our classes to share his experience and knowledge. He brought in many objects for us to look at, and answered all our questions. The children are very excited about making their First Holy Communion and have been working hard to prepare for this with extra work in church to help their understanding. We are so glad that some of our children have decided to make this important step in their faith, and we know that it will be an important day in their lives. the bus stop method. We enjoyed reading statistics and drawing graphs and tables and so far in our fractions topic we have looked at mixed numbers and equivalent fractions. Literacy This term we have been reading The Runaways which links with our Victorian topic and this helped the children to really engage with the characters and have empathy with the situation they found themselves in. We would not want to be in a workhouse either! We have since moved on to our next text, Street Child which looks at the plight of a boy on the streets in Victorian times. Topic We finished our topic What makes the Earth angry? with some fantastic presentations from the children. They researched a variety of natural disasters and we could see how much hard work the children had put in. The children have really engaged with our current Victorian topic, Where Have all the Mills Gone? They have learned about the horrors of the workhouse and how badly poor people were treated. We cannot wait to find out more about the Victorian era and how Wigan has changed since then. We studied some famous people who came from Wigan and the children have produced and shared some amazing posters, leaflets and presentations as part of their homework, well done! Competitions Year Four children have taken part in Inter-School Science and Maths competitions this term (more information on the Back Page). They have made us very proud and have shown themselves to be excellent team players! Well done! Maths We have been looking at multiplication, division, graphs and fractions. We have worked really hard to learn our times tables and showed resilience when working with

10 From the Heart Year Five We began with the subject of Mission. We listened to a talk about The Brick charity, then completed our own mission and hosted a cake sale which was extremely popular! We raised 230 for this worthwhile local charity. We thought about the significance of Eucharist and, specifically, the Mystery of Faith. We studied the part of Mass when the bread and wine is consecrated to become the Body and Blood of Christ: the children can relate parts of the Eucharistic Prayer and know how this links to The Last Supper and the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. We have studied famous artworks, created drama, written prayers and thought about the importance of the words in Mass. We are now exploring the topic of Sacrifice and beginning to understand the key points in the Easter story. In particular, we have considered the role of Judas in betraying Jesus and explored his changing feelings through his actions. In discussing the events leading up to the crucifixion, we have considered Jesus arrest, trial and sacrifice. We have tried to understand that he bore no resentment to his captors but accepted his fate as the will of God. In the school pilgrimage, we travelled around school, listened to and discussed scripture and inspirational quotes and completed thought-provoking activities while appreciating that we are all unique but equally valued and loved. Our fish pebbles are a reflection of our unique characters and contributions to the world. Maths We thoroughly explored fractions this term: finding equivalent fractions, ordering them, comparing them and simplifying our answers into the lowest terms. We have learned a lot of vocabulary and used this to prove our methods and thinking. Some of this knowledge we are now using in our new decimals topic to help us convert between fractions and decimals. We have interpreted different styles of tables and graphs including timetables, bar charts and line graphs. It might be important to read timetables for future holiday flight times! Decimals are so much easier than fractions and we are becoming experts at reading, writing, comparing, adding and subtracting them. Rainforests What a great topic! We learned why rainforests are important to us all, the different layers of the rainforest, from the forest floor to the emergent layer at the very top. There is such a variety of creatures, which we have classified, studied and done amazing drawings of! We read and studied The Lorax by Dr Seuss. This picture book provided many opportunities to develop our key writing skills, and we loved it! The serious message of the book was brought home to us when we looked at deforestation and the loss of the planet s rainforests. We have also produced some amazing animations in Computing on the theme of deforestation. Science Our topics this term were rainforest creatures and human creatures. We loved researching rainforest creatures and writing fact files about them. We learned that all creatures can be classified as: mammal, amphibian, reptile, insect, bird or fish. We thought about how we have grown and changed since our birth, developing the skills we need for life so far.

11 From the Heart Year Six This term we started by uncovering the meaning and process involved in the receiving of Holy Communion, primarily it brings us together in unity as a Christian family. Easter is the time of new life, and we have been learning about death and new life. This topic focussed on some toughto-talk-about aspects of everyday life leading up to the most important time in our religious calendar Easter. our topic, enhanced by those of you who were able to join us. A sincere thank you from us all for sharing our worship with us. Maths Masters! Our collective worship was a wonderful and spiritual way to celebrate the end of The children have had an arithmetic- and reasoningfilled term! All our scores are on the up and that is the direction which we want them to move! Alongside the excellent preparation the children have been doing, we have been continuing with our topic coverage. This term we have become percentage professionals, ratio masters and algebra experts! Ready to Read Our children are steadily becoming reading masters. We have studied a whole range of different text types in preparation for the Year Six SATs. From poetry to newspapers, from Goodnight Mr Tom to David Walliams swimming the English Channel we are leaving no page unturned. The main focus this term has been inference questions; tricky, as these answers cannot be pulled directly from the text. Can YOU read between the lines? Shine a Light on Science This term we have been looking at how we can light up our lives literally! Light is an amazing and unusual aspect of science, in which our pupils fully immersed themselves. We studied the properties and sources of light, and how artists use light to create impressive and emotional effects. World War II A super link to our WWII topic has been Goodnight Mr Tom. We have been wowed by the way the children have critically analysed and stripped apart the text, examining the underlying meanings in the story. Are they going to be Broadway play critics? This work has certainly served them well in Year Six as their amazing biographies created enthusiastic and intrigued reactions from two very proud teachers. We were very lucky to visit the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. We had the honour and privilege of meeting David, who is a ninety-four year old veteran. David was one of the first wave of soldiers to land on Juno beach on D-Day. He was very impressed with the sensible, mature questions our pupils asked.

12 From the Heart The Back Page What a term it has been for our sports teams and clubs! There are after-school multi-sports clubs run by Wigan Athletic which are enthusiastically attended by large numbers of children from Year Two onwards. Children in Key Stage One have been learning to Zumba, and there are Running Clubs as well as Rugby and Football practice sessions for the Juniors. First mention must go to the Tag Rugby Team for their amazing performance in the Manchester School games. Having competed in the local tournament, they were invited to take play at the Etihad Stadium. They eventually finished in Third Place out of 400 schools... what an achievement! Children (and staff and parents!) from across the school have taken part in the Wigan Family Mile Run. What an achievement, particularly in the extremely cold conditions! Teams of girls from Years Three, Four, Five and Six Inter-School Challenge Days Sacred Heart sent teams to Nicol Mere School to participate in their recent Inter-School Challenges. The children all enjoyed their experiences and returned feeling very proud of their achievements. In the Maths Challenges, the Year Three and Four team came 1st out of 14 schools, and the Year Five and Six team came 4th out of 19 schools. We are so proud of our budding mathematicians' achievements, and are particularly proud of the way they all conducted themselves. Miss Fouracre accompanied them and reported that there was very positive feedback about all of their behaviour. Children from Year Two and Four went with Mrs Kane to the Science Challenges. They took part in science quizzes, investigating paper helicopters and parachutes. They used their knowledge from their Sciences lessons to design helicopters and parachutes and had to give explanations for their choices. The Year Two parachute was very impressive and was brought back to school for a demonstration. Sport represented Sacred Heart at the Soccer Dome in Football tournaments organised by Wigan Athletic. Miss Fouracre reported that there were some great goals scored and a lot of fun was had by all! Teams of girls and boys from Years Five and Six took part in the Wigan Schools Indoor Athletics Competition. Mr Hoy was very proud to report that the children performed really well, finishing in an overall 5th out of the 22 schools taking part. The children loved taking part in the competition as well as the weekly training sessions leading up to it. In Contact Rugby our team has so far only been able to take part in one of the competitive sessions, where they won four of the five matches played. They are now third in their league, with more sessions to come this term.