Welcome to our final news message of 2018. It has been a long and very busy term for staff and children. I would like to say thank you to all the staff for their commitment and dedication to the school; thank you to all the children for the hard work throughout the term. Thank you to family and friends for all the support we receive in making such a difference to so many lives. From all the staff, children and governors we wish you a Merry Christmas and a well deserved break. We would like to thank you all for your prayers, cards and gifts and wish you all a happy and holy Christmas season. Mrs Whitehead
We placed a wreath at Friary Garden's War Memorial and participated in the Remembrance Parade.
Thank you to the School Council for leading us all in an act of remembrance.
The children created beautiful art work to recognise and remember those who have served our country.
The Rainbow Wishing Tree sponsored by Reflection Media and decorated by St Mary’s tree was awarded first prize for best dressed tree at Richmond Market. There were so many votes for our tree that they ran out of voting slips. Thank you to Reflection Media for all your hard work, well done to all our children, the tree looked amazing.
Well done to all the children, Reception and KS1 for their "Christmas with the Aliens" nativity and KS2 for their Advent Liturgy in Church. We are all very proud of you. Well done!
Well done to Gracie L, Isabelle T and Xander P for their Christmas Card design being picked by the mayor of Richmond as their card to send out this Christmas.
Thank you to family and friends who attended the Journey through Advent, Be Spirited sessions this week. This provided the children with the opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.
Father Christmas visited the children on Wednesday after the Christmas lunch providing all the children with a Christmas gift. Thank you to the FOSMs who made his visit possible.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the Pantomine at the Georgian Theatre this week displaying impeccable behaviour both walking to and from the theatre and during the performance. Thank you to all those who helped with walking with us.
Reception have had a very busy half term preparing for their fantastic performance in the Nativity learning all the songs and their stage directions. Children have also been writing lots of letters and cards in our Christmas Post Office in the classroom. Children have enjoyed learning about advent and preparing for Christmas. Miss Fairhurst
Year 1 have been very busy this half term! Visiting Empire Cinema Catterick to see Ferdinand was a real treat and really inspired the children’s writing. Year 1 also visited the Ripon Workhouse and Victorian school room with Reception and Year 2 where we explored what schools were like for children in the Victorian times. Whilst at the museum we planted seeds, made rag rugs, experienced a real Victorian school room and a lot of fun learning about the schools in the past. Teaming up with Year 2 we learnt some playground games from around the globe. This was so interesting and enjoyable that we are still playing some of the games at playtimes! We thoroughly enjoyed our topic afternoon and had a great time writing our own school rules on blackboards, creating art in our sketch books and making our own peg dolls. Year 1 worked incredibly hard this half term to prepare not only for the school nativity and the Christmas Fair but also for their first class collective worship in Year 1. I’m sure you’ll agree that they all did fabulously and we are so pleased that so many parents and guardians were able to join us. Mrs Jackson-Cooper
Year 2 have had a jam-packed half term of fun and learning. We started off the half term writing poetry for Bonfire night, Autumn and then Remembrance week, which we really enjoyed. We also wrote recounts about our trip to the cinema to watch Ferdinand and our trip to the Workhouse Museum in Ripon where we had first-hand experience of being in a Victorian classroom, potting plants, making rugs and playing Victorian games. We were happy to see so many parents and grandparents at our class collective worship and at our Advent assembly at the end of November. As well as working hard in the classroom, we have also been busy rehearsing for our fabulous Nativity performance of ‘Christmas with the Aliens’, which we hope you enjoyed watching as much as we enjoyed performing. Mrs Tucker
Year 3 News
Year 4 News
Year 5 On Wednesday 14th November Year 5 hosted an afternoon tea to raise money for our bus trip to the Life Centre. A lot of people helped bake cakes for the afternoon tea and helped eating them! Year 5 managed to raise a total of £290 however we had to pay for expenses, e.g. cups, plates and drinks, therefore we had £254.93. Year 5 helped as waiters and waitresses and cashiers. Year 5 had lots of fun and were proud of themselves after they knew how much money they raised. Loads of people came helped eat cakes so we could raise enough money for our bus trip. Thank you for helping. By Ruby W and Harry S
Year 6 News
Year 6 had a fantastic start to the new half term with an Assembly informing us all about the UK Parliament System. We then divided ourselves into party groups, wrote our manifestos and held our own election.
We had a very special week in November, where we focused on remembrance. In English we learnt all about World War One and the centenary of the end of this historic event. We found out about what it was like living in a trench and what conditions the soldiers were subjected too. We all thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Christmas Truce and what joy and heartache this will have brought the troops.
On Monday 12th November, we had the best morning! We went to watch Ferdinand at Empire Cinema in Catterick.
Tuesday 20th November will be a day remembered by everyone! SPONSORED SILENCE DAY. We fell silent at 8.55am and never spoke again until we cheered at 3.20pm because of our achievements. I think Mrs Finn could hear our celebrations in the office. An amazing achievement by all. We can’t wait to eat our pizza’s in May.
We worked with Year 5 for a day and focused upon Global Learning and Art. We collected materials and learnt about fairness and sharing. We then worked in groups and created a Mayan Temple outside using natural materials.
For our Christmas crafts we created Santa logs and crochet decorations. Along with a number of treats for other people to buy at the fair. Caitlin was an incredible teacher and Mrs Sartini came to help us too. Brilliant team work as always by Year 6 Mrs England
St Mary’s Arts Council have been keeping a close eye on events this half term which has been very busy and very rewarding. During the week before Remembrance Sunday, every class in school produced some amazing artwork which was displayed in the hall and looked fantastic. We celebrated the Festival of Film by taking KS1 and KS2 to see Ferdinand at the Empire Cinema which inspired the children in their own writing. We showcased each class’s brilliant artwork in the hall ready for our topic open afternoon and this is now displayed inside school. The school choir has been very busy and have done us proud by travelling to a number of venues to sing carols, including the Terrace care home, dementia day centres and the Mayor’s Concert in St. Mary’s Church. The children have all taken part in performances, either in the Nativity performance of ‘Christmas with the Aliens’ or in the KS2 Liturgy, which were both excellent. We are looking forward to watching other performers too at the pantomime in the Georgian Theatre before we all sing again for Carols Round the Tree on Friday- We hope to see you there! Mrs Tucker
Computing - St Mary’s took part in the worldwide Hour of Code (3rd – 7th December). We focused on learning about algorithms, a set of instructions needed to complete a task. They also looked at debugging an algorithm, learning how to put right mistakes. They were able to program algorithms iPad apps, laptops, beebots or human robots! Year 2 had fun programming a human robot to move around the classroom – it was much trickier that it sounded. They learnt how important it was to give exact instructions – especially if making a jam sandwich, as it could get messy! KS2 used the Hour of Code website to program the Grinch. http://www.grinchhourofcode.com/ Mrs Jackson
Humanities and Global Learning
Children really enjoyed their outdoor Humanities and Global Learning day. Year 6 and 5 built houses based on their Mayans Topic. Children in Year 3 and 4 worked together to look at the Egyptians and slavery. Children in Year 2 and 1 learnt different outdoor games from around the world. Reception looked at where different food comes from around the world. Miss Fairhurst
