For more information go to www.bliss.northants.sch.uk or @BlissCharitySch

World Religion Day

The Bliss Charity School

Newsletter

Issue: 8 Monday 27th January 2020

Term 3

Hello everybody,

We had an incredible 132 finishers of the Christmas Reading Challenge! Everyone was celebrated in assembly on Friday 10th January and some holiday favourites were shared – David Walliams was a clear winner! One lucky child’s sheet was picked in the prize draw and it was great to see him wasting no time in making a trip to Waterstones to use his book voucher! Great reading everyone! Can we beat the numbers in our Easter Challenge?

Thanks to everyone who supported the Poppy Appeal in November. As a school, we raised £261 for the Royal British Legion. You may be aware that Campion Secondary School initially appointed Trish Hammond to lead the school for one year. The Trustees of Campion are delighted to announce that Trish has been offered and accepted the permanent position of Head of Campion School. Congratulations to Trish, we wish her well!

The rehearsals for ‘Young Voices 2020’ have gone really well and today is show time! This evening, boys and girls from Classes 4/5/6 will perform in front of a packed audience at the Birmingham NEC. These children have given up lots of their own time, learning and practising the songs at home as well as every Monday morning before school since September. We wish them the best of luck! Have a great time and enjoy the experience!

Mr. Carter

On Monday 20th January, the whole school celebrated World Religion Day. We started off with a whole school assembly which looked at similarities between world religions. The children were then vertically grouped with others from Classes R to 6 and took part in a carousel of activities. They learnt about the 5Ks of Sikhism and Bhangra dance; they studied the pillars of Islam and created Islamic designs using geometric shapes; they learnt about the importance of dijas and rangoli patterns to Hindus; and explored the Jewish festival of Tu BiShvat by trying lots of fruit eaten during its celebration. It was a great day of learning with everyone demonstrating our metacognitive attitude of being open minded.

Class 5

For more information go to www.bliss.northants.sch.uk or @BlissCharitySch

Class 6

Class 4 Class 4 have made a fantastic start to the term! We have enjoyed reading the legend of Beowulf and are now busy writing our own super stories, filled with blood-thirsty battles and heroic adventures. In topic lessons, we have found out about where the Anglo-Saxons came from and why they settled in Britain. We have also designed and made our own shields to protect our new settlement! We are now looking forward to finding out more about the Anglo-Saxons when we visit the Abington Park Museum for our class trip. Pupils have also been having fun in science, exploring how different sounds are made. Using a range of musical instruments, we have learnt how sound is a result of vibrations and then experimented with this idea by making our own string ‘telephones’. Next, we will be using data loggers to record just how loud we can be!

Term 3 Topics

Class 6 have got off to a great start with their 'Explorers' topic. They have been researching explorers and writing their biographies; they have done lots of mapping work and challenges; they have started creating their own papier-mâché globes; and they are really engaged in learning all about Darwin, his travels and his theories. With lots more work to come, this is shaping up to be a brilliant topic. Well done, Class 6!

Class 5 have immersed themselves – with boundless enthusiasm – in ancient Greek culture and knowledge, through constructing and understanding an ancient Greek timeline; researching the rise and fall of Alexander the Great’s Empire; investigating primary and secondary sources and the daily life of an ancient Greek; comparing the Greek democratic system to our present one; exploring the origins of the Olympic Games; discovering the hardships (through guided reading) of a life of slavery in ancient Greece and uncovering what the ancient Greeks have done for us! Furthermore, in English, they have written instructions to an ancient Greek time-traveller. They are now using various dramatic techniques to bring ancient Greek mythology to life as they dramatise the story of Hercules before they start planning their own ancient Greek myths!

Class 3 Class 3 have been thoroughly enjoying this term’s ‘Ice World’ topic. Our amazing ‘wow’ starter involved the children making their very own stop-go Pingu animations. Class 3 then went to the Snozone in Milton Keynes where they got to experience real snow slopes and develop their collaboration skills. In literacy, the children have gone back in time to 1914 where they’ve met and joined Ernest Shackleton on his famous expedition to the Antarctica. As part of our topic-based curriculum, the children have also been undertaking ice experiments in science and Inuit painting in art. The chill-dren hope for a brrrrrr-illiant second half to the term!

Class R Class Reception’s topic ‘Dinosaurs’ has proved to be a ‘roaring’ hit with all of the children so far this term. Dinosaurs have been the focus for all of our maths learning. The children have enjoyed using balancing and measured scales to weigh and compare dinosaurs. In addition to this, they have been measuring the length and height of dinosaurs using a range of objects including cubes, with some of the children beginning to use rulers! It has been great to hear facts the children already know about dinosaurs and they have thoroughly enjoyed using a search engine to find further information. The children then have used their facts to produce some amazing writing to label dinosaurs or write sentences about them. We have seen some super art work through dinosaur painting and the children have demonstrated their knowledge of bones, creating T-Rex and Triceratops skeletons. The children still have many fun and engaging learning opportunities over the next three weeks: sorting dinosaurs in maths, further fact finding in literacy and, of course, meeting our special visitor as palaeontologists! But remember… It’s top secret!!!

Class 2 Class 2 have had an exciting start to Term 3 after receiving a surprise letter from outer space! The children were given the important task by Billy, The Man on Mars, of persuading his friend Bob that aliens really do exist. The children wrote Bob some fantastic letters describing the aliens in detail – several letters even received Headteacher awards! Using knowledge acquired from their topic lessons, the children created their own rocket to launch their letters into outer space and were thrilled to receive a special parcel back from their favourite astronaut!

For more information go to www.bliss.northants.sch.uk or @BlissCharitySch

Class 1 In Class 1, we have been busy riding our tour bus around the United Kingdom. So far, we have stopped off in Wales where we sliced, peeled and chopped our way to a tasty leek and potato soup. Next, we visited Scotland and learnt about the myth of the Loch Ness Monster, Nessie. Rumour says she even made a quick trip to our school pond! We wrote some incredible questions to ask her and described what she looked like to non-believers who hadn’t seen her before. While we were in Scotland, we also painted our own tartan designs for kilts and got to look at a real one that Mrs. Anderson bought in. Class 1 are now preparing to go back in time to 1666 London, where we will find out all about The Great Fire of London.

For more information go to www.bliss.northants.sch.uk or @BlissCharitySch

Parents’ Evenings

Parents’ evenings are being held on Monday 10th February (3:30 – 7:50 pm) and Tuesday 11th February (3:30 – 5:50 pm). These 10 minute consultations are a chance to share your child’s achievements so far this year and discuss progress targets for the remaining terms. Our new, mid-year reports will be sent home on Friday 7th February – please bring this with you to your parents’ evening appointment. If you have not done so already, please use the following link to book an appointment with your child’s class teacher: https://theblisscharity.parentseveningsystem.co.uk/. If you have any problems with the system or do not have internet access, please contact the school office for support. A selection of work from the current class topics – as well as information related to Safer Internet Day 2020 – will be on display in the school hall during the parents’ evenings. The latest edition of the school newspaper (The Blissful Times) will also be on sale.

Sports News Year 5/6 Table Tennis Club has got off to a super start – last week saw a focus on serving and the children made wonderful progress. We will begin our intra-school championship very soon! On Thursday 23rd January, a large proportion of children in Key Stage Two took part in the first of two lunchtime cross-country fun runs planned for Term 3. It was great to see so many pupils challenging themselves to complete as many laps of the green as they could in the time limit – look out for the next cross country lunchtime fun run on Thursday 6th February. Finally, congratulations to the Year 6 team who won the Campion Cluster Sportshall Athletics Competition on 16th January! Both the boys team and the girls team finished top of their respective tables, giving Bliss victory overall! The team has qualified for the South Northants and Daventry round of the competition which will take place later this week – good luck to all the athletes.

Music News

In association with the Northampton Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT), we have two First Access music projects in school at the moment. Over the course of Terms 3-4, Class 4 are learning to play the ukulele, while Class 3 learn the recorder. Both projects will culminate in a celebration concert at the end of the 10 week courses (dates TBC). The children in Class 3 have really enjoyed having Mrs. Bristow back in school to teach them how to play the recorder and the children in Class 4 have really impressed their music teacher with how quickly they have picked up the notes and chords.

For more information go to www.bliss.northants.sch.uk or @BlissCharitySch

Film Night

Thursday 23rd January saw a special guest arrive at Bliss! Lightning McQueen was on the school playground to meet the children who stayed for our Cars 3 Film Night! Many thanks to all the adults involved in organising and supervising such a successful event!

Healthy Eating Week (10th – 14th February) We have been working hard all year to build on our healthy eating work from previous years in order to achieve an award in the Healthy School’s Rating Scheme. We want to continue to inspire children to make healthy eating choices so will be having a real focus on healthy eating in the final week of Term 3. Children will be singing healthy songs in singing assemblies, revisiting what it means to eat a healthy diet and each class will be cooking something healthy over the course of the week. Photos and recipes will be compiled into a whole-school recipe book which will be shared at the end of the week and sent home. Snack Attack will be providing a free healthy snack at break-time to kick-start the week on Monday 10th February and our new Snack Attack Loyalty Card will be launched. We would like parents/carers to help too, tweeting @BlissCharitySch with pictures of healthy lunchbox ideas, healthy breakfasts and healthy dinners from home – please use the hashtag #BlissHealthyEatingWeek. We are hoping that this sharing will inspire children to try different things and give new ideas for healthy eating!

Rising Stars Sports Camps

Rising Stars Sports will be running more holiday sessions at Bliss during the February break. There are 16 places available on each day – these will be allocated on a first come first served basis. The camps will run from 9:30 am – 4:00 pm on the Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the holiday, covering a different sport on each of the days:

Monday 17th February – Football

Wednesday 19th February – Gymnastics and Dance

Friday 21st February – Tag-Rugby

The camps cost £18 per child, per day, with an option of an early drop-off (from 8:30 am) for an additional £2 per child, per day. If you would like your child to attend, please complete the Rising Stars Sports form (sent as a separate attachment) and return it to the school office along with your payment.

Metacognition

Making Choices and Decisions – In assembly, we helped a boy called Danny make good choices when faced with some difficult decisions during the school day. We agreed that good choices and decisions occur when we think carefully before acting, consider the consequences – for ourselves and for others – before choosing/deciding, explore all the options and evidence available, respond calmly and take our time … and have the courage to do what is right!

Resilience – In another whole-school assembly, we read a story that showed us how we all demonstrate resilience when we are very small, for example, by trying again and again to walk, bouncing back from failures and trying once more. By persevering when things are hard, staying positive and learning from mistakes, we can all withstand difficult situations and achieve the unexpected!

Our whole-school skill for February is awareness of learning styles and our attitude is being reflective.