Lots of Talents

Well done to Year 6 for showing their various talents in school this week.
At awards assembly on Wednesday, all the sports and academic awards from the year were given out.
On Thursday morning, Year 4 and Year 6 recorder and guitar groups played in a special music assembly. They were all fantastic and a credit to the school.
Year 6 will share their final assembly in school on Monday morning and their leavers' mass in Chruch on Tuesday morning at 10am.

French Picnic

On Tuesday, the children in year 6 had the chance to try out the French they have been learning this term. At our picnice, we could all show that we could greet in french, ask for food and drink and exchange other conversations.
Thank you to Mr McCarthy from Archbishop Ilsley for organising this event.
Check out the life channel for the photos from our morning!

Grid references

On Friday, in our Geography lesson, we looked at OS maps and how to use grid references.
We now know how to navigate around the Birmingham area if the 'SAT NAV' does not work. Next lesson we hope to move onto six figure grid references!

How to make a bridge from paper

On Thursday, Year 6 had a mission - to make a bridge from 3 pieces of A4 which could span 20 cm.
All the groups had different approaches to the task - rolling the paper, folding it up, creating a fan - and all of these had pros and cons.
By the end of the session, 6 relatively sound structures had been made. Well done!

How to make a great shelter!

This week in DT we have been exploring what makes an 'effective' sheleter and how we can design one.
Our focus has been Anderson Shelters, which links in well with our History Topic. We have looked in detail about how these shelters were built and what their purpose was. We have also made cardboard versions of this shelter to understand how the structure is put together.
Our next steps are to design how our group will make their own Anderson Shelter. We shall keep your posted!

Summer Fayre Performance

Year 6 performed a song from Brazil at our Summer Fayre last Saturday - complete with drums and flags.
Brazil will be the country that we will be looking at in more detail as we continue our 'One World Month'. Perhaps children you can find out what the national dish is or what language people in Brazil speak!

Our visit to Harvington Hall

On Friday, Year 6 visited Harvington Hall. This was a wonderful ending to a very busy and important week.

We all enjoyed a very informative tour around the hall and were even able to explore inside some of the priest holes!

After this, we celebrated Mass with Fr David in the beautiful church at Harvington Hall. It was a lovely opportunity to reflect on making our Confirmation earlier in the week and the role of Saints in our faith.

We thank Fr David, Mrs Aldred and Mrs Girling for travelling up to join us and for all their support last week. We also thank Mrs Dwyer, Mrs Reel and all our parent helpers.

If you would like to find out more about Harvington Hall, please check out it's website:

http://www.harvingtonhall.com/

Our Confirmation

Just a reminder about the times and dates for our Confirmations.

Class 6C will make their Confirmation tomorrow (Monday 8th) at 7:00pm.
Class 6K and children of the parish will make their Confirmation on Tuesday 9th at 7:00pm.
Could all Confirmandi and sponsors be at Sacred Hearts and Holy Souls Church by 6:40pm at the latest. This will give us time to seat everyone, give out Sponsor cards and go through the key parts of the service.
We look forward to welcoming everyone to our Church for these very special evenings!

Preparing for Confirmation

We are continuing our preparation for Confirmation.
We are visiting Church to practise what we will do, say and sing on the evening of our Confirmation next week.

Remember that 6C are being confirmed on Monday evening (8th June) at 7:00pm and 6K (with the people of the parish) are being confirmed at the same time on Tuesday evening (9th June).

Bishop Pargeter will be visiting school on Tuesday afternoon.

How to speak French

On Tuesday Year 6 had their first French lesson with Mr McCarthy from Archbishop Ilsley School.

We learnt how to greet each other, how to ask someone how they are, and how to say how we are feeling. ( Excellent, fantastique.........bof!)

We will have a French lesson each week until the end of term. This is wonderful way to make links with our Secondary school and will be a fun task to continue with in our 'One World Month'.

Welcome back

Welcome back Year 6 for your final half term at Holy Souls School.
It is going to be an exciting, jam-packed and fun-filled seven and a half weeks.

Do not forget that your Saint Project is due in tomorrow ( June 1st) and that all Sponsor Cards need to be in by Tuesday (June 2nd).

Faith Friends First Holy Communion

Our Faith Friends in Year 3 made their First Holy Communion yesterday at Church. Both services were beautiful!
Year 6, with help from Mrs Dwyer and Mrs Reel, made personalised cards and envelopes which we presented to our faith friends on Friday.
Well done to Year 6 for leading the liturgy at mass this morning!

The Science of Sound

This week in Science, as part of our Science revision, we have been looking at Sound. We looked at the difference between pitch and volume. We also know about how sound travels. Check out these websites to help you...
www.bbc.co.uk/revisewise ( click on sound)
www.simplescience.net (look at Year 5 units and click on sound)

Rounders and Softball Cricket Trials

Rounders Club now runs after school on a Tuesday for year 5 and 6. If you would like to come and try out for the school team, please see Miss Cranmer for a letter. Well one to those children who came last week!

Mr Kelly and Mr Barton will be holding trials for the school cricket team in our PE lessons. Our matches will start before half term.

Finding out about St. Chad's Cathedral

Today, all the children in Year 6 visited St. Chad's Cathedral as part of our Confirmation preparation.

In our groups we had the opportunity to have a tour - including St. Edward's chapel and the crypt. We also had the chance to celebrate a mass where Year 6 led the liturgy.

We really enjoyed finding out about the story of St. Chad and where his relics are kept. We also spotted where the cathedral was hit by a bomb during the Blitz - it is amazingly lucky that St. Chad's was not destroyed!

For more history about the Cathedral, check out http://www.stchadscathedral.org.uk/

A new term

Welcome back to the summer term!

Do not forget to bring your holiday work packs back in on Tuesday 21st April.

We will be making preparations over the next few days for our trip to St. Chad's Cathedral. If you have time, research it and see what top facts you can come up with!

Netball Match against St. Bernadette's School

On Thursday evening, our Netball team played their first home match against St. Bernadette's.

The match was the first for the St. Bernadette's team and only the second time our team has played together competitively.
Both sides played well, with enthusiasm. St. Bernadette's were first to score and but by half time the score was 4-2 to Holy Souls. In the second half, Holy Souls scored one more time to bring the final score to 5-3.
The girls on both teams should be congratulated for their good netball playing and great sportsmanship.
Holy Souls will play St. Bernadettes again after Easter.

How do we see things?

In science this week, we have been exploring how we are able to see objects, how mirrors can reflect light and how shadows are made.
In Thursday's lesson we invesigated HOW we could make a shadow larger and smaller. You can use this bbc bitesize activity to help you:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/light_shadows.shtml
This website is very good to remind you how we see things. ( Remember how important the life source is! (Remember that this is an external site and so Holy Souls School is not responsible for what is on it!)
http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/alienattack/flash/concepts/reflectionseeingobjects.htm

Prayer work in RE

Today we looked at forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconcilliation.
We ended our lesson with personal reflections and here is one:

Our Act of Contrition

God our loving Father
I come to seek your forgiveness.
I know that I have sinned.
For the times when I have not listened,
I have failed to hear your words.
For the times I have been disrespectful,
I have failed to follow in your footsteps.
For the times I have denied your words,
I have failed to be your follower.
I am sorry.
Bless me, guide me and help me to be just like your Son Jesus.
Love me even when I do wrong.
Help me to not sin again.

Amen.

Netball matches

This afternoon our Netball Team took part in our League's netball matches. We played well against Our Lady of the Wayside, Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadettes.

The Holy Souls team played three very strong games. They put up a great defence and set up lots of great goal opportunities. Today was the first time that our team had played in a competitive match and they were great ambassadors for our school.

Congratulations to Our Lady of Lourdes, who won our section of the league.

Good luck to our footballers, who play tomorrow.

Why does bread rise?

In Science this afternoon, Year 6 looked at the effect that adding yeast had on the making of bread.
By measuring the dough's change in height every ten minutes, we were able to show that adding yeast to flour, sugar, butter and water resulted in the mixture 'rising'.

We also know about the optimum conditions that yeast needs.

Moon Maths

Try out this link to practice the timestables you find tricky.
(Holy Souls is not responsible for the webpage)

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/moonmaths.swf

Should we have a longer school day?

Throughout this week in literacy, we have been discussing the following: 'Should our school day be extended to 5pm?'.
As a class, we came up with arguments both 'pro' and 'anti' the question. Using great persuasive devices and 'wow' logical connectives, we all wrote up our side of the argument. Which side was the most persuasive? Do you think that we voted to extend our school day?

Should we have a by-pass?

In our lesson on Friday, Year 6 discussed whether Acocks Green needs a by-pass to be built around it. We came up with lots of reasons why this would be a good idea and reasons why it should not.
We went on to design a survey which we could use to collect traffic data. We will carry this out when the weather improves.

Know more about Forces!

Year 6 have been looking at forces in our Science Topic. We now understand gravity, upthrust, friction, magnetic forces, balanced and unbalanced forces, to name just a few!

If you want to refresh your memory or review part of our topic that you are not quite sure about check out www.simplescience.net.
Click on Year 6 and then 'forces'.

On here you will find a video to revise with and a short song to help you remember the key facts.

Remember that Holy Souls School is not responsible for content on other websites.

Assembly with our Faith Friends

On Thursday Year 6 met with their Year 3 Faith Friends and shared an assembly together in the hall.
We talked about Lent, and what we could and should not do during this time to show our love for Jesus.

What is a crime and what is the role of the Police?

In our PSHE lesson on Friday we had to make some very tough moral decisions!

Our first problem was to decide what made a crime and to order the crimes in their order of seriousness. We all had lots of different ideas and it took a while to explore our opinions.
We went on to discuss how the Police keep us safe. In addition, we looked at what the Police can do if a crime is committed. To help us understand this, many of us played out different situations in role plays.

We all agreed that this was a useful and thought-provoking lesson!

Faith Friends Assembly

On Thursday afternoon, Year 6 met with our Faith Friends in Year 3.
We shared an assembly together with a focus on Lent. In our pairs, we wrote down things that we will take on during Lent and things that we will do less of in order to show our love for Jesus.
Well done to everyone for coming up with thoughtful and reflective ideas!

Ash Wednesday

Today Year 2 - 6 attended Chruch with the Parish for the Ash Wednesday Mass. All readers read clearly and the choir sang beautifully.
Today is the first day of Lent. All classes have made promises which they will try to keep throughout the Lenten period and these were all read out during mass today.
When we returned to school, we all reflected upon how we will try to walk with Jesus through Lent and presented our ideas on decorated footprints to display around school.

Year 3 and Year 6 do not forget our family mass at Church on Sunday at 10am. We look forward to seeing you there!

Football and Netball after school activities

Well done to the Holy Souls Football team for their enthusiastic effort in their match against St. Bernadette's last evening. The final score was 5 - 2 to St. Bernadettes. See the PE noticeboard for the full match report.

Well done to the Netball Club which has re-started afterschool now that the weather has improved. Our tournament is happening in a couple of weeks and so Miss Cranmer and Miss Whitehouse are now looking to put our team together!

Welcome back!

Welcome back everyone - we hope that you all had a great half term break!
Do not forget to bring in all your holidays activities for the first day back. Remember that your RE projects on researching another faith are due in this week.
Furthermore, do not forget to continue with the Reading Challenge - 8 books to be read by the Easter holidays!

SATs are Inspiring!

Well done to those children ( and their grown ups) who battled the elements on Thursday to attend the Year 6 SATs Inspire Work Shop.
We spent the morning in groups finding out about everything that the children will have to do during the SATs week in May. We spent time doing activities together, looking at past SATs questions, understanding what areas are included in each of the papers and learning how we can prepare at school and home.
Well done to Year 6 for their brilliant input and thank you to the grown ups for attending, despite the snow!

The Service of Light...and Snow!

Yesterday Year 3 and Year 6 shared a Service of Light together in the school hall. During our service, the children said readings, shared the gospel and prayed together.
Each child in Year 3 gave a personalised candle to their Faith Friend in Year 6. Year 6 gave one back in return.
It was lovely to share 'Candlemas' with our Faith Friends and be part of this, the first service to be held with just our Faith Friends in the school hall. Well done to all the readers and Mr Kelly, the headteacher, commented on how wonderful the singing was!

The Year 6 Service of Light which was to be held in Holy Souls Church last evening had to be cancelled due to the snow and freezing conditions.

The Big Sing

On Friday, all the children in Year 6 participated in the 'Big Sing Liturgy Thing' at Our Lady of the Wayside School in Shirley.
The day was led by the CJM team who have been running events like this for over ten years. All the children had the chance to learn new songs, actions, and some took part in a dance workshop. All this hard work was put together in an afternoon service shared by over 400 children.
Well done to everyone in Year 6 for their enthusiasm and being wonderful representatives of our school! Thank you to OLOW for hosting such a great event!

Football match against St Thomas More's

On Thursday evening, an enthusiastic and energetic Holy Souls Year 6 team competed in a football match against St Thomas More's.
Both sides played well in very cold conditions. The final score of 4-1 to St Thomas More did not quite reflect the effort put in by both teams.
For a more detailed match report please see the PE notice board out on the playground.

The Big Sing Liturgy Thing

Next Friday, Year 6 will be joining lots of other school at Our Lady of the Wayside for 'the Big Sing Liturgy Thing'.
This event has been running in schools for over ten years and is organised by the CJM Music Team. For more information check out www.cjmmusic.co.uk. ( Please note the Holy Souls School is not responsible for the information on other websites.)

We will update the blog with how we got on after our trip!

How are laws made?

On Friday Year 6 had some very tough decisions to make.

Having found out how a bill becomes an Act of Parliament and a law of the land, Year 6 set about discussing, drafting and creating new potential laws.
We looked at whether the following were 'good' or 'bad' laws:
1) That Cyclists should not be allowed on the road during peak times.
2) That the use of SAT NAVS should be banned whils the car is in motion
3) That electric lights should be switched off between the hours of 10am and 2pm.

Can you think of the pros and cons to these laws? Do you think that any could become Acts of Parliament?

Enrolment Mass

Well done to Year 6 for participating in a lovely mass this morning and making their Enrolment Promise.
Father invited us to say our promise in unison, which stated that we wished to be part of the Confirmation preparation programme and to open our hearts and minds to the workings of the Holy Spirit.
This mass signifies the formal start of our preparation to be confirmed in June. We will record on our blog some of the activities and visits that this will involve.

Music Workshop

On Thursday morning, Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to be involved in a music workshop in school.
David and Ian from the CBSO visited us to tell us a little about Dvorak and his 'symphony from the New World.' We were able to hear some extracts from each of the movements played on the violin and cello. Some of us had the chance to accompany with percussion instruments. David and Ian really helped us to understand WHAT we were listening to in each movement and how the rhythm and key can affect the mood of music.
We are now very excited about our visit to the Symphony Hall in February!

Enrolment Promise

On the 18th January, Year 6 will make their Enrolment promise in church during our family mass. In this promise, they will be stating that they wish to begin the formal preparation to make their Confirmation in June.
On Friday afternoon, we wrote our promise in our own words and have started to prepare our own bidding prayers for mass.
We look forward to seeing all Year 6 with their families at the Enrolment Mass next week.

Topic Day

On Thursday, Year 6 enjoyed a Geography day.
In the Summer term we will carry out an investigation about our local area and some of the issues which affect it.
On our topic day, we investigated maps of Acocks Green, identified what facilities we had in our area, came up with issues which affect us all locally and tried to suggest some solutions.
We all agreed that it was fun to come off timetable for a day and can not wait to start surveying in the summer term!

Welcome back!

Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Year 6 are to remember that their projects are due in on Friday 9th January.

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be very busy preparing for our Confirmation Enrolment Mass on 18th January in Church and also starting our new Science and Geography topics. We also hope to be involved in a couple of music related activities - watch this space for more details!