The reception and nursery children are working hard this half term, but having lots of fun as they learn. Our math's activities have been focussing on accurate counting and finding 1 more or less than a number for the nursery children, while reception children are becoming more and more confident at completing and recording addition and subtraction problems. The Drs role-play area is popular, with many injections, blood tests and mending of broken bones! We have had some fantastic snowy and frosty weather so there have been lots of opportunities for mark making, shape and pattern hunting, exploring freezing and melting, and even enough snow to make a tiny snowman! It has been lovely to welcome Grace into our class.

Friday night is Dance night for the next four weeks. Dance teacher Katie Allcott is running an energetic dance club. Tonight they learned a dance and performed it to Queen's Don't stop me now!

Five children from year 3 and 4 have completed 350 hours of exercise in their free time at school. Amazing!

Following on from Tuesday's Epiphany mass, our Friday assembly was in the form of a traditionally German custom, when all staff and children followed year 6 children with candles, the star of Bethlehem and the 3 wise men into each classroom so that they could be blessed for the new year. Mr Crabtree blessed the chalk before writing 20+C+M+B+19 above the doorway in each classroom. The letters C,M,B are the initials of the 3 magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, the are also abbreviations of the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, "May Christ bless the house". The Christmas hymn "We three kings" was sung by the children as we travelled from one classroom to the next. Penny, Sam, Tom and Freddy were excited to wear their Nativity costumes one more time!