Head teacher’s update
Hasn’t it been lovely to feel some warmth and sunshine, this week? We have really enjoyed noticing the signs that spring is finally on its way. Thank you to our Eco Committee who visited church this week, to meet with members of Wall Heath in Bloom. We had a lovely visit and really enjoyed looking at the fabulous bug hotels, new bird boxes and all the wonderful plants and flowers that are now coming into bloom.
Well done and thank you to our year 5 pupils who behaved brilliantly on their visit to church for Experience Easter. You listened carefully and gave some very thoughtful responses – you have made us all very proud.
We have really enjoyed the Funtime Theatre Company visit, this afternoon and their performance of Oliver Twist. It was great to be able to watch a live performance in our own school. Thank you to the fundraising efforts of the HSA which allowed us to be able to have such a great experience.
Neurodiversity Celebration Week has been a great success at Church of the Ascension. Children have made thoughtful observations and sensitive responses to all that we have learnt about and celebrated. The colour and celebration in school today for non-uniform day has been great!
Collective Worship
This week, we have been celebrating similarities and differences, in our assemblies. As it is National Neurodiversity week, we have been thinking about how our differences can bring talents, strengths and sometimes difficulties. We thought about how we all want to feel that we belong and that we are valued. Jesus set the example of this by ensuring that people pushed to the edges of society were made to feel included, welcomed and a sense of belonging. We used this example to think about ways that we can be helpful at school in making sure that everyone feels happy, safe and a sense of belonging. We talked about how sometimes we all need personal space, peace and quiet, support and friendship. The children offered some excellent contributions and we have concluded the week with a lovely celebration assembly today, where we all wore our own clothes representing what makes us happy. It was great to see children in different uniforms, kits and own clothes that represented where they feel that they are happy and that they belong.
4C Stone Age Painting
Today in 4C, we had a great afternoon making paints using natural ingredients like they did in the Stone Age.
We used flour, water, spices and fruit to create different coloured paints.
Once we had made our paints, we had a go at mark making using the back of the paintbrushes which felt like using sticks which is what they may have used in the Stone Age.
Finally, we drew some British animals on sand paper using charcoal. We chose animals as during prehistoric times people drew lots of animals because they were a very important aspect of their lives. The sand paper provided a rough texture like the walls of a cave they would have drawn on in prehistoric times. To complete them, we painted using the lovely colours we made earlier in the lesson.
4C Neurodiversity Celebration Week
This week in school, we have been learning all about Neurodiversity as part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week. In each class, we have looked at a famous person with a diagnosis of Neurodivergence and explored the challenges and strengths related to their given diagnosis. In 4C, we got to look at Dav Pilkey who is famously known for being the author of some of our favourite books like ‘Dog Man’, ‘Cat Kid’ and ‘Captain Underpants’.
We found out that Dav Pilkey has a diagnosis of ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) and Dyslexia. The author has famously spoken about this and how these conditions have helped him succeed. He says ADHD helps him to write stories that are exciting and that grab people’s attention. He goes on to mention that having Dyslexia means he has gotten good at picking the perfect words so his books can be enjoyed by everyone. Below is some of the work we completed on Dav Pilkey:
We have enjoyed learning all about how people can be different and how everyone has strengths that can be celebrated.
Elements Choir Festival
On Wednesday, our KS2 Choir travelled over to Christ Church, Coseley, to join with the other schools in Elements Diocesan Learning Trust for a day of singing and enjoyment.
After a short warm-up, each choir was given the opportunity to showcase their singing to one another. We chose to perform Cornerstone and My Favourite Things.
After listening to the other schools perform, we then all learnt a new worship song together. Listen to the chorus of our new song, ‘Praise’.
Our KS2 Choir represented our school brilliantly and sang their hearts out! Thank you to Mrs Somerfield and Sheila for joining us on our trip.
Year 5 Easter Experience
Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their ‘Easter Experience’ at Church of the Ascension. They participated in different activities based on the Easter story.
We made palm leaves with welcome messages on the back.
We discussed the importance of bread and wine at The Last Supper.
We wrote sorry prayers and thank you prayers.
Investigating Pitch
In science, this week, 3/4JB have been investigating how to change the pitch of a sound. We realised that we can do this in different ways depending on the instrument. We made pan pipes to investigate how the pitch is changed. On this instrument, we realised that the longer the pipe the lower the pitch and the shorter the pipe the higher the pitch.
Eco Committee Visit to Church
This week, our Eco Committee went to visit the church to meet with members of Wall Heath in Bloom. We looked at all the wonderful plants and flowers. We also looked at the bug hotels that have been built in the church grounds. When we got back to school, we investigated what bugs and insects might live in each part of the hotels and the positive impact that they have on the environment. As we visited on a beautiful sunny day, we were lucky enough to see lots of birds. It is hoped that they will soon start to make use of the newly installed bird boxes. We are looking forward to visiting church as a school, next Friday. The stones that we have decorated with bug designs will be added to the church’s displays.