A note from Mr Webster… Dear parents,

What a week! Although every week in a primary school flies by, this one has

felt like it has been on fast forward.

There are times when I look back on what I have achieved in the week

thinking that I haven’t got very far but always come up with the most weird

and wonderful list. This week I have:

Watched Gardening Club dig up parts of the garden with so much enthusiasm it made me laugh.

Been invited to Reception’s ‘restaurant’ to eat homemade vegetable soup.

Been told by a child that they love ‘Class Chat’ because they get cuddles and talk about fun stuff

in school.

Seen the excitement on our youngest pupils faces as they took their first trip off site to meet Fr

Caddell at church.

Seeing over half the school want to join our Show Choir.

Been so proud of child in Year 6 coming 2nd in a cross country race against over 90 other pupils.

This list is just a snap shot of things that have crossed my path this week and I could write a list 6

pages long full of wonderful and funny events from our school. I gave a short talk to Edge Hill

trainee teachers this week and it is a great feeling to be able to stand in front of 400 people and tell

them that they have signed up for what I believe is the best job in the world. Yes the children will be

sick on you, drive you mad and be daft but… they

will also make you immensely proud and force you

to test your own abilities on a daily basis.

I look forward to reading some more of the

wonderfully positive Class Chats that were sent in

after last week. Mrs Howat also enjoys seeing the

range of three piece suites our families have!

Have a restful weekend,

Mr J Webster, Headmaster

‘What have you done in

school today?’

Week ending

22nd September 2017

Stars of the Week Angelina Preston, Louie McBride, Maeve Bunclark, April Ashworth, Harry Sankson, Ryan Motlagh and

Max Moradian

Latest Updates

A new source of up to date information for parents can now be found on

the Home page of the website. Click on ‘Latest Updates, found under

‘Welcome’ to access reminders and latest information.

House Points Winners A new rewards incentive introduced this

term is the weekly House Point Win-

ners’ Medals. Each week the pupil with

the most House Point in each house

from each class will receive a medal and

this week’s winners are picture left. The

medals are returned to class for the fol-

lowing 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.

Reception This week the children dug up potatoes and picked parsley

from the school allotment and created a delicious vegetable

soup. The children demonstrated their knife skills as they

chopped celery, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes and their fine mo-

tor skills as they peeled carrots. They enjoyed a sensory over-

load as they described textures, colours, smells and most im-

portantly taste. The children set up a ‘restaurant’ and invited

Mr Webster and Mrs Howat to taste their wonderfully

healthy and hearty soup. The children were very proud of

their achievements and it was fantastic to observe them

working as team, making positive, healthy choices and showing

a sense of pride in their own abilities.

Year1 Mathematics To begin with the children thought of all the

words/phrases that meant the same as addition

and subtraction respectively. This included - find

the difference. Then the children used addition

facts within 5, counting two sets of objects and

then combining them to find the total number of

objects. They became familiar with using the +

and = symbols in addition number sentences and

use a number track to support their work. The

children also used subtraction facts within 5,

counting a set of objects and then taking away a

given number to find the number left. They be-

come familiar with using the − and = symbols in

subtraction number sentences and use a number

track to support their working.

Year 2 Science Year 2 have been enjoying their Science topic of ‘All Living things

and Their Habitats’. Over the last couple of weeks the children

have explored and compared the differences between things that

are living, dead, and things that have never been alive by thinking

about life processes. The children have used their observations

and ideas to suggest answers to questions by explaining how they

know something is living. The children enjoyed exploring our

school grounds to identify and name a variety of plants and ani-

mals in their habitats and to find things that were alive, dead or

have never been alive. They recorded their results and discussed

them as a class before recording their findings.

Year 3 Mathematics This week Year 3 have been looking at different

ways to add and subtract mentally. The first

method was bridging, where they have to jump

to the nearest 10 and then count on from there.

They used number lines and their white boards

for this. The second method was partitioning,

something the children looked at last week.

They were all confident in splitting the numbers

into hundreds, tens and units and then added or

subtracted the tens and units together. Some

found partitioning easier than bridging, they

chose their favourite technique to answer some

difficult addition and subtraction calculations

independently.

Year 4 English We have looked at direct speech this week in English. We discussed the key features and the children

worked together to create a checklist, which they then used when writing their dialogue. We then

played ‘the dialogue game’; each pair wrote out their conversation with their partner and they used

their checklist to ensure they used the key features when writing a dialogue. Children would score a

point each time they ticked a key feature from their checklist.

Year 5 English

In Year 5 this week the children have learnt what it means to follow and write instructions during

English lessons. At the beginning of the week the children were introduced to simple dice games to

play, they were able to read, understand and follow the instructions of the games. They discussed in

their groups they type of language used within instructions before decided whether or not they would

change any of the instructions to make the games more enjoyable. The children focussed on using

imperative verbs as a way of writing ‘bossy’ instructions. By the end of the week the children were

able to write their own instructions for being out on the playground or a game they created.

Year 6 RE

In R.E. we have been learning all about what it means to be part of the Christian family and showing

love to all. We listened to the story of the Prodigal Son and talked about the fact that it is a parable

with a lesson to learn from.

We held our own court case in which the Prodigal Son was accused of not showing love to others.

After opening arguments from our lawyers Angel and Ben, the witnesses gave their evidence to either

prove or disprove his guilt. In the end, the class decided that he had not shown a great deal of love to

his father and found him guilty (however Mrs Gallagher thinks many of them just enjoyed the idea of

finding our defendant Ethan guilty).

Sports News—Cross Country It was the first LDCSA cross country race at Wavertree this year on a glorious afternoon. The

children were all raring to go! We have some fantastic results in the Year 6 boys race with Casper

England coming second, Henry Funes-Cervera coming third and Jack Savage finishing tenth. The other

boys did incredibly well finishing in other high positions. The girls also did very well, especially Isabelle

Hamer in Year 4 running her first cross country race, in a Year 6 race! It was a great team

performance by everyone and Mr Cooke is convinced they are looking forward to the next race

already!

Fixtures

Over the coming weeks leading up to half term, the pupils are taking part in quite a

number of fixtures in football, netball, cross country, hockey, rugby and tag-rugby

both locally and further afield in AJIS competitions. The fixtures are listed on the

school website calendar. We will endeavour to post results Latest Updates, Facebook

and here in our weekly newsletter ..so please keep you eyes peeled!

Good luck to all the children in the various teams and in particular the U9 and U11

football teams who are competing today.

Gardening Club

Gardening Club got underway with a flurry of new

green fingered friends. The older gardeners were

keen to help and show the new members how to do

things. The main job saw the children clearing away

and tidying the gardening patch. Nothing is wasted in

the garden, with the leaves and dead plants going into

the two compost bins for our future use.

Costa Coffee give used ground coffee gran-

ules to customers, which the children can use

to enrich and fertilise the soil. Coffee grounds

are a fabulous source of organic matter and

are ‘green’, meaning they are rich in nitrogen.

The effect they have on the soil is that they

act as a barrier to slugs, snails and ants and

yet encourage worms. It is wonderful to recy-

cle items such as this and if any parents wish

to send in used coffee granules, or indeed any

other compostable matter, please do not hes-

itate. Our green fingered pupils will be only

too happy to compost or recycle!

Art Clubs Both Reception and Year 3 Art Clubs’ pupils have

had a wonderful start with their portfolios with

autumn leaves, Greek vases and more!

Dates for you diary… Thursday, 5th October—PA Committee Meeting , 7pm at The College

Friday, 13th October—Family Quiz Night Monday, 30th October—Halloween Disco for all!

Saturday, 9th December—Festive Fayre at St Mary’s College

Joint Chairs, Sue New and Emma Cowin, are always keen to welcome new

members to the PA and hope to meet you soon either at the next meeting or

event. They can be contacted on

suerice1@btinternet.com or emmaliz999@hotmail.com

100 Club

There are still a few numbers available for the Club to buy and a annual subscription of £24 gives

you entry to each of the 12 monthly draws. There are 12 monthly draws from September through to

August will take place at school. With 100 members prizes are 10 MONTHLY PRIZES OF £45, £25 &

£15 and Star prizes in July & December of £100, £50 & £25. Prize money is 50% of the total mem-

berships fees, with the remaining 50% going to the PA to fund equipment, resources and opportuni-

ties for all pupils. Please contact the 100 Club Coordinator, Helen Savage, via the School Office.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE NOW FOR TWO GREAT EVENTS!

Fancy

Dress!

HALLOWEEN DISCO

Monday, 30th October ‘17

in the Tom Kelly Hall

Kindergarten and Infants – 4pm to 5pm

Juniors – 5.15pm to 6.30pm

£5 per child

When Friday, 13th October

Tickets for both events are available from

the Office and will also be on sale on the

playground from PA Committee

Members.

Be sure to get your tickets early!

Key dates for your diary Please visit the school website www.stmarys.ac/prep for full details of fixtures and

important dates

Date Event Classes involved

September

Thursday, 28th Open Evening, 4pm to 7pm

SCHOOL FINISHES AT12PM Year 6 pupils to help. Come in full uniform

Whole school

Friday, 29th Macmillan Coffee Morning

Cake donations welcome Whole school

Saturday, 30th Open Morning, 10am to 12pm Year 6 pupils to help. Come in full uniform

Year 6

October

Monday, 2nd ‘Big Soup Share’ week All classes

Wednesday, 4th Dance Club start Details will be sent home next week

All classes

Thursday, 5th Parents Association Meeting, 7pm Senior School

All welcome

Monday, 9th to

Thursday, 12th

Travelling Book Fair All classes

Thursday, 12th Grandparents’ Mass, 10am at St Joseph’s All classes

Friday, 13th Parents Association Family Quiz Night

NEW DATE

Whole school

Tuesday, 17th Junior Chef Academy at school All classes

Friday, 20th ‘Silly Sock’ Day Pupils can wear silly socks and are asked to bring in a

bottle (full) for the Autumn Fayre

All classes

Monday, 23rd to

Friday, 27th

Half Term Holiday All classes

Monday, 30th Parents Association Halloween Disco More details will be sent home

All classes

Date Event Classes in-

volved

November

Tuesday, 7th Ski Trip Meeting, for parents 7pm Parents of pupils

going on Ski Trip

Tuesday, 14th Parents Association meeting, 7.30pm All welcome

Wednesday, 15th Year 6 Trip to Apple Store Year 6

Wednesday, 22nd Year 4 Trip to Imperial War Museum Year 4

Monday, 27th Assessment Week All classes

Thursday, 30th Year 1 Pupil Choice Lunch, 12pm Year 1

December

Friday 1st Sleepover All classes

Monday, 4th Parents’ Evening, 3.3pm to 7pm All classes

Tuesday 5th Parents’ Evening, 3.30pm to 7pm All classes

Friday, 8th Infants’ Nativity Play, 2pm Rec, Year 1 and 2

Saturday, 9th PA Festive Fayre, 12pm to 3pm All families

Tuesday, 12th Show Coir at R Charity Concert,

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

Show Choir

Thursday, 14th Whole School Carol Service, 7pm All classes

Friday, 15th Term ends, 12pm Whole school