St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

"LET US DO LITTLE THINGS WELL TODAY"
Our vision is to ensure children grow and develop through the love and teaching of Christ,
becoming responsible citizens able to make a positive contribution in society.

Clairmont Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 9BE

01206508445

office@st-teresas.essex.sch.uk

Chapter 17    -    A big round of applause to Mrs Brown for reading the whole of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone! What an achievement! A massive thank you from us all!

Chapter 16.

Chapter 15

Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Chapter 12

Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Chapter 3 

Chapter 2

Mrs Brown Reads Harry Potter

Unfortunately our visit to Walsingham House tomorrow (Tuesday 17th March) has had to be cancelled.  We apologise for the short notice and any inconvenience that this necessary cancellation may cause.

On Tuesday the 10th March we visited Wagamamas to consolidate our topic on sustainability and food produce from the Rainforest. This also linked in with our whole school approach towards healthy eating. The children had great fun weighing out the ingredients needed for their meal which was then cooked for them. They also made smoothies from a variety of exotic fruits; some children even challenged themselves to try a fruit they'd never tasted before!  The hairnets were a real hit! A wonderful time was had by all!

Please note that there are two sets of photos below.

Please find below some photos of Year 5 from World Book Day - we had some wonderful costumes as ever!  During the day we also had our Fair Trade session led by Year 6.  The children were given the message that whilst you can’t protect the planet without protecting its people first, rigorous Fairtrade Standards support farmers to protect the environment and the Fairtrade Premium is enabling them to invest in climate resilience and adaptation. Some beautiful posters from Year 5 have been entered into the whole school competition - judging to happen soon!

Please note further World Book Day photos including all the Wooden Spoon entries can be found on the Latest News page of the website.

 

 

Today we  welcomed back Charlotte from the Essex Wildlife Trust to give another very informative assembly to the whole school and then to work with us in the afternoon. We had a  very practical hands-on session looking at habitats/biomes, identifying different creatures from clues such as skulls, skins, nests etc as well as going on minibeast hunts, using keys, thinking about sustainability  and finally making bird feeders. This session perfectly enhanced our topic about 'World of Change' - deforestation and the effect it is having on plants and creatures, their habitats and gave us suggestions of ways we can help.  Charlotte's questions and ideas certainly got us thinking!

 

On Monday we were very fortunate to have Ian Hornett, a published author, visit Year 5 and 6 to discuss  his journey towards becoming a writer.  He explained how he was inspired to write his book Quarton - The Bridge and encouraged the children to think about what inspires them. He also shared some of his top writing tips and set them the challenge of editing the start of his next novel. The children, as ever, had many thoughtful questions to ask and I know that a number have already started creating their own books at home. We are very grateful to Mr Hornett for giving up his time to spend such an enlightening morning with us. 

This Tuesday we had the penultimate Young Astronomers Club with the focus being the Sun.  It was another fun- packed session with awe-inspiring videos, the making of sundials and a fun-filled question and answer session. Once again we are indebted to the volunteers of the North East Astronomical Society for running this club.

 

Year 5 had a fun science session investigating properties and changes of materials. They looked at how different materials reacted when placed in water making predictions and then carefully observing what happened. There were certainly some surprises!

 

Our monthly Astronomy Club took place last Tuesday where it was the turn of the  Moon to be centre stage. The children learnt about the different phases, were given a moon diary to complete over the coming month, watched a video about the moon landing as well as having the opportunity to look at a 3D display using 3D glasses. The session ended with a practical activity outside involving flour and cocoa powder to reproduce the surface of the moon. The children had fun looking at  the effect of different types of asteroids (ball bearing/ping pong ball and tennis ball) making contact with the surface of the moon - they were amazed at the different patterns left behind! Next month - constellations!

This week we were researching the famous Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his amazing engineering feats.  After looking at how he designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge, we had a go ourselves at planning a design for our own suspension bridge model. The DT skills that we used involved selecting appropriate materials, tools and techniques;measuring and marking out precisely;using different tools and equipment safely and accurately. At times cutting and joining was a challenge but we persevered!The first group of photos below show our finished attempts whilst the second shows the processes involved. Active learning at its most exciting!

 

Today, Father Tom kindly led the children through an example of a wedding ceremony in order to help consolidate their learning about Life Choices. Everyone enjoyed taking on a role, be it a 'bride' or 'groom', 'best man' or 'mother of the bride'. It was certainly a joyful celebration!  Many thanks to Father Tom for 'officiating', Mrs Heron for lending the bride her own beautiful veil and providing the wedding music and to Mrs Moclair for making the stunning bouquet.

Our Astronomy club is now up and running with our first meeting taking place last Tuesday. We are very grateful to the volunteers from the North Essex Astronomical Society for organising and running this club - a fabulous opportunity to study this subject in greater depth. Their enthusiasm certainly rubbed off on the children who had countless questions to ask! We were even treated to the opportunity to view an orrery (a clockwork model of the solar system) in action!  For more information please click on the following hyperlink...

 NORTH ESSEX ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Last Monday (14/10/19) Year 5 visited The Royal Observatory and The National Maritime Museum to consolidate their learning about Earth and Space. They watched an interactive show in the Planetarium on the Universe before moving into the Weller Astronomer Galleries. Then it was a short walk down to the National Maritime Museum for lunch before spending an hour completing a trail around 'The Moon Exhibition'. This exhibition has been put together especially to celebrate the 50 years since man landed on the moon and is only open for a short period. Therefore, we were very lucky indeed, to have had the opportunity to visit. Before catching the coach home the children also enjoyed visiting the different exhibits/displays/rooms in the rest of this museum where they were able to make even more links with their learning - past and present!   Please keep scrolling down to see the many photos of the day!

Year 5 had an amazing day today (8/10/19) when they visited BT Adastral Park, Ipswich, for a Crumble Robot Taster Session. It was a day of coding, tinkering, persevering and team work  resulting  in each group programming their own robot to race around a track.  The event ended with an inter-schools robot race in which we came a fantastic 3rd! Well done, to Will, Nick and Charlie for this amazing achievement along with all of the class who can now  proudly say that they are programming experts! 

On Friday 4th October, Year 5 visited the Lexden History Society's Photographic Exhibition of local history at St Leonard's Church Hall. We were made very welcome by the members of this society who were keen to share their knowledge and very much enjoyed answering the children's many questions. A Victorian artefact table had  been put together especially for our visit and the children had great fun trying to work out the purpose of these objects on display.  They also enjoyed playing some of the games that would have been popular during the reign of Queen Victoria. The afternoon finished off, much to the children's delight, with a gingerbread biscuit and a drink! An afternoon well spent!

Art and Science - our own interpretations of  the Milky Way. Can you see the spirals  and clusters?

Year 5 are now into their second week of learning a string instrument as part of an orchestra. Mrs Luff has been incredibly impressed with how quickly they are picking up the tunes.  I'm sure that you are in for a treat when you hear your child perform at the music concert in June

On Tuesday the 17th September, Mr Curd, our brass instrument music teacher came to all the classes for an informal workshop.  Volunteers had fun having a go at playing the trumpet! Mr Curd kindly said that anyone who hadn't had the opportunity to try an instrument during the session but was keen to have a go was welcome to come along at a later date - just see me (Mrs Emerson) for this to be organised. Hopefully, some children may have been inspired to take up one of the instruments we looked at!

Our Science topic this half term is Earth and Space and as an introductory activity the children made models of the sun and the orbiting eight planets. They then recorded the distance from the sun to the respective planet. Finally, they took their learning outside to draw the planets thinking about their relation to the sun.

Year 5 have been enjoyed working as teams to develop the skills needed to play dodge ball.  Each week different challenges are being added!

On Friday 6th September the whole school spent the day teaching Fundamental British Values through the medium of Art.  Year 5 focused on the Rule of Law and depicted Lady Justice in the style of a Picasso Cubist painting. Justitia or Lady Justice was the Roman goddess of Justice, who is equivalent to the Greek goddess Themis. Her attributes are a blindfold, a balance and a sword.