Saint Christina's School Bulletin - Friday 19th March 2021 - Saint Christina's School

Saint Christina’s School Bulletin
 Friday 19th March 2021
Dear Parents,

There has been a lot going on in School this week. Monday was Pi Day (so called as it is the 14th day of the
3rd month… 3.14) when we encourage the children, annually, to try and learn as much of Pi as they can. I
am pleased to say that one of our Year 5 children who accurately recalled Pi to 220 decimal places smashed
the record this year! Word is that she is keen to break her record next year, so watch this space. On
Tuesday we celebrated St Patrick’s Day. It is true that chef missed the memo this year as we celebrated
with a curry, however, the children in Year 2 and the EYFS had the opportunity to explore St Patrick and all
things ‘Irish’ to mark the occasion. Some even learned how to count in Gaelic! As I write the children are
enjoying a Space Science workshop day of Virtual Reality.

The children and staff remain absolute tonics to the age that we are living through. There is a sense of
purpose and joy in being back together in School that is only to be celebrated. We are very keen to go
gently as a community, however, because I think it will take some time for us all to entirely recalibrate into
the full-on world that we miss and yearn for.

You may not be aware that next Tuesday has been designated as a National Day of Reflection. It is a whole
year since we were all asked to move into the first lockdown. Cardinal Vincent has issued a PowerPoint for
people to use in their reflections on the 23rd. There is no particular time of day that people are asked to
stop, however, the link is here - https://education.rcdow.org.uk/support-resources-catholic-life/. If you
scroll down the page you will find the PowerPoint.

You may also know that households with school age children are able to ask for rapid test kits. These are
the same Lateral Flow Tests that are used by staff in School. For those of you who do not receive tests from
your employers you are able to access this provision. Please see this link for further details:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-
staff#how-to-get-a-rapid-lateral-flow-test.

You may have noticed that we have had a visit or two by our new local police community support officer.
She has been really complimentary about the way that our parents have been endeavouring to create
social distancing and not hang around at drop-off and pick-up. Good news! She has nevertheless reminded
me that those of you who drive need to be mindful of the traffic laws when you park considerately.

Thank you for your ongoing positivity and support for the staff and children here. We are so pleased to see
the children, in particular, in such good spirits. I will add that most of the children have taken their termly
progress tests in Maths and English (PUMA and PIRA). These tests are measured against the national
expectations for children of their age and I am very pleased to say that the children have performed
incredibly well against the measure, placing the School very competitively within the national cohort. This is
thoroughly deserved because they have all worked incredibly hard throughout the term despite the
challenges we have all faced.

Alastair Gloag
Headteacher

Pi Day Year 5
On Monday we celebrated Pi Day. I was so impressed with all of
the children in the class who stood up to recite pi to as many
decimal places as they could. I was blown away as everyone was
able to recite more than ten decimal places. Huge
congratulations to Millicent who recited Pi to a record breaking
220 decimal places! The class listened and watched Millicent in
awe as she did her recital. There was a huge cheer for Millicent
as she completed and broke the school record. Emily and Grace
made pies at home and made them represent pi!

Year 5 have a better understanding of pi now and what it is
used for. They know that the circumference of a circle divided
by the diameter always equals pi and they have tested this out.
They know that the formula to find the circumference of a
circle is pi times the diameter.

In our English lesson we also celebrated Pi Day. The children
had to think of as many words as they could that began ‘pi’.
The most thought of in 5 minutes was 30 words. The
words were then collaborated as a class and as many as
80 words were shared.

The children then wrote a poem representing pi. They
could choose whether to focus on the number of words
in a line of the number of syllables in the line. The
words of syllables had to represent pi e.g. first line 3,
second line 1, third line 4, fourth line 1 etc.

This poem is a syllable poem (syllables per line represent pi)

 Banoffee (3)
 Pie (1)
 Banoffee Pie (4)
 Rules (1)
 Oh so delicious (5)
 Yummy, scrumptious and so amazing (9)
 To eat. (2)
 Mix banana toffee (6)
 Together and stir (5)
 Add butter (3)
 Toss the dark chocolate (5)
 Stir together and add the cream (8)
 Put it in the oven and watch it (9)
 Take it out (3)
 Get some (2)
 Biscuits and (3)
 Caramel and drizzle it on (8)
 Cut it all up (4)
 Then share it with your class (6)

 Written by Marta, Isabella and Millicent, Year 5
Charlotte shared the following facts with the class:

  Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

  It was first found by the Babylonians and the Egyptians.

  The 1000th digit is 9.

  Until computers were invented the longest calculation of pi was 620 digits.

  In 2010 the 2,000,000,000,000,000 digit of pi was calculated.
A successful time celebrating Pi in Year 5!
Mrs Ellisdon - Year 5 Class Teacher

Year 5 PSHE
The Year 5 girls have been learning
about basic emergency first aid in their
PSHE lesson. They have learned about
and how to do the recovery position
and know how to get help in emergency
situations. The girls practised putting
each other into the recovery position
and were then given a number of
different scenarios to consider. They
were asked when they might use the
recovery position and whether they
thought it would be suitable in every
emergency situation.

A Busy Week in Year 2
This week in Year 2 we have been learning about mass
and weight using balances and different scales to help
us. The children practised their estimating skills but were
sometimes surprised by how light or heavy objects could
be!

In Art and English, the children continued working on
our ‘dinosaurs’ topic. We have begun looking at dinosaur
poetry, which has helped us improve our adjective work.
The children used oil pastels to create these wonderful
dinosaur landscapes. Some children included volcanoes,
trees and other dinosaurs too!

It was also St Patrick’s day on Wednesday 17th March. The children learnt all about St Patrick and then they
learnt how to say hello in Irish and how to count to 5! They may need some practice to remember, but it
was lots of fun. At the end of the day, the children created these wonderful dancing shamrocks, listened to
some traditional Irish reels and watched a Riverdance performance. What a great day!

Miss McQuillan – Year 2 Teacher

 Counting to 5 in Irish!

Pi Day in Year 3
To celebrate Pi Day this week, Year 3 carried out a survey to
find out what their favourite pies were and showed the
results on a pie chart. They learnt that pie charts represent
data in a circle which is divided into segments. They also
learnt some new vocabulary associated with circles - radius,
diameter and circumference. They measured the diameter
of different circles in centimetres and using a calculator
multiplied these measurements by Pi (3.14) to calculate
their circumferences.

Lisa Sephton
Year 3 Class Teacher

This week in Year 1
In PE, Year 1 have started practising their ball skills this term. They have been practising rolling and
catching. Now they are practising some football, learning to pass using the correct part of their
foot and having lots of fun!
This week in English they have been learning to write instructions. They have created dances in
groups and written the instructions for the class to follow. It was lots of fun testing out their
dances to their favourite songs. They have designed their own posters for their classroom with
some examples of ‘bossy’ verbs.
Miss Higgins – Year 1 Class Teacher

Virtual Reality Space Workshop
To celebrate Science Week, the Year 1 to 6 classes have enjoyed an interactive workshop exploring the
solar system today. The children simultaneously blasted off into space, piloting their research vessels
around planets and moons, learning all about the solar system.

“I enjoyed it because I have learnt a lot about Space and it feels like
you were actually there. We learnt lots about the solar system. It felt
real, I loved it!” – Tia.

“The workshop was about the planets in our Solar System. We
used VR sets and travelled to all of the planets listening to
information coming from a speaker. It felt like we were
astronauts and that we were in space!” Marta
“The workshop was really fun because I really enjoy VR headsets.
I found it very interesting. It was very factual and fun at the same time. It was my favourite science
lesson.” Cecily
“I loved the VR science workshop because it felt like we were getting so close to planets and we
learnt so much about the different moons that each planet has.” Helen

Up, Up, and Away! Join the Saint Christina's Balloon Race! 
Hello Everyone,
Only 1 week to go until the Saint Christina’s virtual balloon race!! 
To take part, all you have to do is pick a colour and design for your balloon, give it a nickname and
pay £5 via pay pal. All proceeds will go Fr Terry’s food bank charity. Have fun guessing which of the
balloons belong to your friends at the starting line and checking the progress of your balloon after
the race starts!
Deadline to buy your balloons is Thursday 25th March at midday and the race finishes on Easter
Sunday at midday! There are prizes of Amazon vouchers for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd balloons across
the line. You can purchase as many balloons as you like. To take part, see link below:
Balloonrace.com - Virtual Balloon Race
Don’t feel “deflated” from missing out, join now!
Parent Link Committee

Reminders
 If you borrowed a Chromebook during the school closure, please can you check at home to make
 sure you have returned both the charger and the Chromebook. We are currently missing one
 chromebook and two chargers. Thank you.

 Prince Regent Court
 Please bear in mind when dropping off or collecting your child from the playground entrance on
 Avenue Road, that the gardens around Prince Regent Court are private property, and some
 resident’s bedroom windows are on the ground floor. Thank you for your understanding.

 Summer Uniform
 A reminder that summer uniform should be worn after the Easter holidays.

 Key Dates

 Date Event
Friday 26th March  SCHOOL ENDS AT 12.00PM FOR THE EASTER HOLIDAY

Tuesday 20th April  Children & Staff return – children to wear summer uniform