Welcome Back!

Don’t forget that Monday 2nd September is an inset day. We look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Tuesday 3rd September.

First Day Back gathering together

Today we gathered together to welcome all staff and children back for our new school year. Mr Wilson led Prayer and Liturgy giving everyone the opportunity to reflect on what they are excited about for the year ahead!

Y3 Art – Alexander Calder

The children have been researching the work of the artist, Alexander Calder.

Year 6 Science

Today in Science, Y6 have been investigating the impact of exercise on their heart rate by measuring their pulse before and after 5 minutes of exercise in the glorious sunshine.

Maths in Year 2

We have been using different maths resources to represent numbers.

Joan Miro

In Art, Year 5 have started researching the Spanish painter and sculptor Joan Miro. They discovered that his artistic talents were evident from a young age although his family did not agree with his passion for the subject. He developed his love for surrealist art in his adult years when he became an inspiration to other artists.

Reception’s first week

Reception have had a fabulous first week in school. The children have been exploring the different areas within the classroom and the outdoor area.

Tag Netball

This term, Year 6 will be focusing on ball skills in PE. Today, we have been developing our reaction and response in a game of tag netball.

Year 1 English

In Year 1 the children have been practising new words by writing them in the sand and making them using magnetic letters.

Reception Read Write Inc parent meeting

Reception parents were invited into class to read with their child. Parents then had the opportunity to meet with Mrs Wilkinson to find out about our phonics scheme ‘Read Write inc’. During the meeting, parents were given a reading pack to help with their child’s reading and writing at home.

Music

Y3 used the chime bars to make up their own rhythm patterns.

Y1- Maths

In Maths this week, we have been learning to find one more. We used the 10s frame and linking cubes to represent what one more than our number would be.

Achievers Assembly

Congratulations to this week’s achievers!

Computing

What is a computer? We learned that a computer uses electricity and needs an input to produce an output. We worked out if an object was a computer or not.

Y6 Geography

Y6 were using atlases to find the location of different mountain ranges from around the world, particularly the Himalaya which is what we will be learning about this term.

All About Me Biscuits

Our topic this autumn is All About Me. We can all identify the parts of our face. We decorated some biscuits and spoke about how everyone is different and how out biscuits are different too.

Prayer and Liturgy

This week Year 1 celebrated Prayer and Liturgy in our Spiritual Garden. We listened to the sounds in the world around us and thanked God for all that he created for us.

Prayer and Liturgy with Year 1 and Year 2

Our Prayer and Liturgy this week reminded us that God will provide us with everything we need so we don’t need to worry. If we do have worries, like the bubbles, they will eventually disappear.

Drawing Club

Preschool Drawing Club

This week preschool have begun Drawing club. Our first text is, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

Prayer and Liturgy

This week Year 3 celebrated Prayer and Liturgy in our Spiritual Garden. We listened to the creation story and discussed our duties as Christian stewards in protecting our special world.

Achievers Assembly 20.9.24

Here are this week’s achievers. Well done everyone!

Music – An Intro to Jazz

In Year 5 Music, we have started listening to Jazz and had a go at playing along on the chime bars.

Science – Air Resistance Experiment

In Science, Year 5 have been observing the effects of air resistance on parachutes. They have been investigating to find the relationship between the surface area of the parachute and the resulting air resistance; measuring this by seeing the time it takes for them to reach the ground when dropped.

Our Senses

The children in Reception have been learning about their senses. They had the opportunity to taste different foods. they tasted foods that are salty, bitter, sour and sweet.

Year 1 Maths

This week in Year 1 we have been comparing amounts using symbols. We used cubes to prove that our number sentences were correct.

Magic Breakfast

🥯 Don’t forget that we serve hot breakfast items each morning at the front of school, from around 8.40am.

Crumpets with jam, buttered bagel halves and honey bagel bites are our specialty!

❗️Allergen information is available from the school office.

Science Enquiry

We measured the handspan of children from different classes. Even Mr Parry was part of the enquiry. We looked at the observations made and recorded what we found out.

CAFOD Visit

On Monday 23rd CAFOD visited our school to tell us all about how their World Gifts scheme has developed and how Catholic Social Teaching principles remind us how to live together, supporting everyone.

PE

Year 3 have been practising their footwork skills and developing their co ordination skills.

Y6 throw tennis

This week, the children in Year 6 were developing their reactions in PE and then applied this to a game of throw tennis.

English – a mysterious morning

Today Year 1 discovered a mysterious object in the school hall. After some exploration we then found yellow footprints. Thankfully Mr Wilson caught it all on school camera. An alien has come into our school and landed it’s spaceship so we have decided to ask it some questions.

Water Play

Both indoors and outdoors, Reception children have been exploring the water areas. Allowing children to explore water safely helps children to develop and strengthen their gross and fine motor skills, as well as improving their hand-eye coordination. They have enjoyed finding different ways to make the water travel.

Year 4 – Ukulele

Children are doing extremely well with our ukulele unit this term!

Achievers Assembly

Well done to all our achievers this week.

Year 5 PE – Endball and Spatial Control Skills

In PE we have been practising our ball control skills and using these to improve our Endball gameplay.

Assembly Achievers

Well done to this week’s achievers!

Y6 Music

This week Year 6 worked with Carmel from the Wigan Music Service to identify and play rhythm patterns using ½ beat (quavers) , 1 beat (crotchets), 2 beat (minims), 4 beat (semibreve) notes.

PE in Y1

This week in PE, Y1 were focusing on their balancing skills and transferring from one leg to the other without falling.

Y1 Computing

In our computing lesson this week, we were practising our mouse dragging skills. We created marks on the page and created our own pictures.

Y3 Art

The children used pipe cleaners to sculpt their own animals like the artist Alexander Calder.

Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who has come along to support our school book fair so far! A lot of books have been sold already but there’s still one last chance to come along tomorrow and pick up an exciting new book to enjoy!

Y1 Popping pirates PE

This week in PE, Y1 have been practicing their balancing skills. We worked in pairs to balance as many pieces of ‘treasure’ onto our pirate partner as we could. They then had to balance on one leg, trying to keep as many pirate ‘treasures’ in place as possible to gain the most points.

Y6 Art

Year 6 have been making abstract sculptures out of clay to represent the natural world. Their designs have been inspired by the work of Barbara Hepworth and Zaha Hadid.

Assembly Achievers

Well done to all our achievers this week!

Tesco Stronger Starts

🍏🥝🍓🍑Exciting News! 🍉🍊🍐🍎
From tomorrow, each morning we will have a selection of fruit and vegetables available alongside our breakfast offering of bagels and crumpets. If children wish, they may take one piece of fruit to save for their snack at break time.
This new fruit and vegetable scheme is being funded by ‘Tesco Stronger Starts’.

Looking after our teeth

In Reception we have been learning about people who help us, we looked at the job of a dentist. We then talked about how we can keep our teeth healthy. The children had a chance to practise their teeth brushing skills.

Harvest Thanksgiving Mass

Today Canon McNally led our Harvest Mass in thanksgiving for all that we have. We also welcomed a visitor from the Community Grocery to explain how our food donations would help those in need in our local community.

Mixing Colours

This week Year 1 have been exploring colour in Art and Design. We mixed primary colours to make secondary colours.

Achievers Assembly

Congratulations to all of our achievers this week!

Y3’s final art work

The children used wire to make their own animal sculpture

Learning about The Annunciation

Today Y1 heard the story of the Annunciation. Children enjoyed hearing the story from the Bible, the Golden Box and then retelling it themselves.

Buddies Assembly

Year 6 welcomed their buddies from Reception to St Jude’s Catholic Primary School during assembly.

Clay hedgehogs in preschool. 🦔

In preschool we have been learning all about hedgehogs. We had an amazing idea to make our own clay hedgehogs. We used our fine motor skills to model and mould our clay. When we had made our hedgehog shapes, we then added our eyes, nose and the very important spikes. Well done preschool.

Story time with Mr Wilson. 📚 🐻 ❤️

Mr Wilson came to preschool and he brought one of his favourite stories with him, We’re Going On a Bear Hunt 🐻. The children were so excited, we thought we need to document this special moment in our floor book. ❤️

Yayoi Kusama Pumpkins 🎃 🖼

In art preschool have been learning all about Yayoi Kusaman, and how she painted spots on pumpkins. We got our own pumpkins together and set off to work, we worked together to make our spotty pumpkins, we was showing amazing sharing and turn taking skills. Well done preschool. 🧡🎃

Looking for signs of autumn 🍂

Preschool went for a walk in our school grounds, and we have been looking for signs of autumn. 🍁 We went to the spiritual garden to observe the leaves changing on our trees. 🌳

Assembly Achievers

Well done to all our achievers this week!

Y6 balancing and counter balancing in PE.

Year 6 have been working together to solve physical challenges using a variety of balancing techniques.

Making potions 🧪❤️⭐️

This morning in preschool we have been reading one of our termly stories “Meg and Mog” and in the story they made a potion, so preschool decided what an amazing idea it would be to make our own potion. We worked together to mix, pour and stir our amazing potion. We will keep checking our potion to see how it changes from a liquid to a solid. We look forward to updating you with our marvellous creations. ❤️

Reception class 2024 open evening. 🌈

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

Preschool potions 🧪⭐️🕷

Our amazing potions are ready! ⭐️

We went to collect them from the kitchen, and we noticed they weren’t like water anymore. One child said “it’s wobbly!” ❤️

We then enjoyed our wonderful creation together for an afternoon snack. 💛

Well done preschool! 🧪🥰

Y3 Geography

The children have been using atlases to find out which country New York is in.

Year 5 – The Solar System

In Science, we have learned about orbits and the 8 planets in our solar system. We all wrote our own quirky mnemonic to help us remember the order of the planets from the sun.

Meg and mog 🕷🧪🍂

In preschool this morning we have been continuing our ‘Meg and Mog’ story. We went into the school grounds with our nature wands, and made some nature potions. 🧪❤️

Bonfire night 🔥🎆🍂❤️

We have been learning all about bonfire night today. ❤️
We have made some salt art fire work pictures. 🎆 We have watched about what we need to do to stay safe on bonfire night. 🔥 And we have celebrated our learning in our floor book. 😊

Year 5 – DT

In DT, Year 5 were looking at different times of beams and pillars when building bridges and the structural benefits and weaknesses of different types of bridge.

Showing love in preschool. ❤️

In our RE topic this week we have been looking and learning all about how God loves everyone and how Mary loved Jesus. To celebrate this we made a collage heart to hang in our RE area. ❤️🙏

Learning about number two. 🌈

Our focus this week in maths is all about the number two. ⭐️🌈🥰

Autumn

In Reception, the children have been learning about the season of Autumn. They had the opportunity to go on an Autumn walk around the school grounds to look for signs of Autumn. The children also rolled conkers in paint to create some fantastic pieces of art.

Bonfire Night

Reception about the story of ‘The Gunpowder Plot’. The children also had a discussion about keeping safe during Bonfire Night. They then had the opportunity to make some edible sparklers and created some firework artwork.

❤️🌈⭐️ Fun Friday in Early Years ⭐️🌈❤️

What a lovely morning we have had in our early years department this morning. ⭐️
We have been using our water play equipment, we have been pouring, mixing and strengthening our developing gross and fine motor skills.

Achievers Assembly

Here are this week’s assembly achievers. Well done everyone!

Y3 RE

The children have been exploring the Bible. They have been finding out where different scripture are located for example, The creation story, is in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament.

Y6 Science investigating shadows.

This week, Y6 have been investigating shadows as part of our light topic.

Remembrance Day

Today, at 11 o’clock, we all gathered outside in our Spiritual Garden to observe a 2 minutes silence to remember all those who have fought for peace.

⭐️❤️🥰 Open Evening 🥰❤️⭐️

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

🧦 Odd socks day in preschool 🧦

Today in preschool we all wore our odd socks to support anti bullying week. ❤️

Year 1 Making pinch pots

Year 1 have been making clay pinch pots and painting them in the style of Dale Chihuly. Their work reflects the Macchia series which Dale Chihuly created using over 300 colours.

🌎❤️ World Kindness Day ❤️ 🌎

In preschool today we decided to show people in our school environment how much we care about them. 🥰 We made some lovely cards and brought some delicious chocolates. Then we went around school showing random acts of kindness to others. 🥰

🐻❤️ Children in Need ❤️🐻

This morning in preschool we are celebrating children in need by making some of our own Pudsey ears. ❤️🐻⭐️

❤️💛 Making patterns 💛❤️

Today in preschool we used linking cubes to make patterns. ❤️💛

Assembly Achievers

Well done to this week’s achievers!

Y6 Fairground Rides

This term, Year 6 will be learning to make mechanical fairground rounds in Design and Technology. They have been exploring everyday objects and fairground rides that rotate and have been investigating how motors are used in a circuit. This week they have had a go at creating strong structures and framework for a fairground ride.

Y3 Science

In science the children have been exploring magnets and how they attract and repel. We talked about the north and south poles and how the same poles repel but the opposites attract.

Y3 Prayer and Liturgy

The children worked together to plan their own prayer and liturgy. They chose how they wanted everyone to gather and wrote their own response prayer.

Open evening ❤️🌈⭐️

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

Year 5 – English – Mary Jackson Court Case Roleplay

We have been studying the ‘Hidden Figures’ book in English, about the Civil Rights Movement and the inspirational black women of NACA and NASA during the 20th century. During this lesson, we created a roleplay script between Mary Jackson and a judge at the local court, as she asked to be given an equal education to others. A great chance to practice using a formal and official tone with our writing! Once created, children acted out the moment.

Year 5 – RE – Commitment Cards

At the end of our topic ‘Belonging’ in RE – we have looked at the concepts of fidelity, commitment and responsibility with a focus on service to God and Christianity. As a celebration, we have made ‘Commitment Cards’ to take home and show our love for others by promising to serve them in our own chosen way.

Fun in the Snow

After the snow fall over night, Reception had lots of fun playing and exploring outside.

🔴🟡Children in Need 🟢🔵

Thank you to everyone who participated and donated to our Children in Need non-uniform day last Friday. We raised £107 which we have today sent to Children in Need. Well done everyone ☺️

Y6 Computing

Y6 have been coding with Edublocks to create patterns using different algorithms. Children have inputted loops and conditionals while experimenting with RGB colour selections to complete their work.

Assembly Achievers

Well done to all our assembly achievers this week!

Y6 Science

Year 6 have been investigating the angle of reflected light using mirrors to create a human ‘periscope’.

Assembly Achievers

Here are this week’s assembly achievers. Well done everyone!

Elmer- All are welcome!

In PSHE, we have been learning about how to celebrate our differences like Elmer.

3D Shapes

In Y1, we have been learning about 3D shapes. We have learnt their names and sorted them into different groups.

Science- Animals

Today in Y1, we have been learning about animals diets. We have been sorting different animals into carnivores, herbivores and omnivores using a venn diagram.

Art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy

The children in Reception looked at and discussed photographs of Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork and sculptures. They then create their own pieces of art in the style of And Goldsworthy.

Shadows

In Reception we have been exploring light and dark. The children enjoyed making shadow and finger puppets in class.

Y3 Science

The children were investigating different magnets to see which one was the strongest. They used a ruler to measure when each of the magnets attracted the paper clip. They found that it didn’t matter on the size of the magnet.

Consultation on Proposed Changes to our Admissions Policy 2026/27

The School Admissions Code 2021 requires an admission authority to consult each time it proposes to make significant changes to its admission arrangements or if it has not consulted on its admission arrangements for seven years. With this in mind, a consultation period will run from 2nd December 2024 to 31st January 2025 where parents, other schools, other admission authorities, local authorities and other interested stakeholders are invited to raise comments or concerns about the proposed arrangements.

Should you wish to submit comments or concerns, these can be made in writing to: The Archdiocese of Liverpool, Education Department, St Margaret Clitherow Centre, Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, L17 1AA. Alternatively, you may wish to email admissions@rcaol.org.uk . Comments should also be copied to the Chair of Governing Body at our school address or via email enquiries@saintjudes.wigan.sch.uk .

The proposed 26/27 admissions policy and proposed supplementary information document is published on our admissions webpage – https://www.saintjudes.wigan.sch.uk/admissions/

Year 5 – DT Suspension Bridges

We have been working as groups to create bridges in class that have been able to hold the weight of toy cars.

Year 5 – PE – Coordination & Counterbalancing

In PE, we have been focusing on our coordination skills with our footwork; walking forwards and backwards along a line in different ways using balancing skills to assist us. Alongside this, we have been working with a partner to practise using our weight to counterbalance them in different shapes and forms.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

🎼🎅During this festive season, our St. Jude’s School Choir have been spreading Christmas cheer throughout the community.

🎤❄The children were invited to perform at St Jude’s Social Club during their weekly ‘Wednesday Warm and Cosy’, where the choir sang a variety of songs they have been preparing for their upcoming concert in March, as well as Christmas carols. They also visited the local retirement home, St. Clements Court, and performed Christmas songs for the residents, who generously gave the children a selection box as a gift. 🎄

Year 1 RE

This week Y1 learnt about the angels visiting the shepherds on the hillside. We then made a host of angels to celebrate the words from The Gloria.

Year 5 – Science – The Earth’s Rotation and Revolution

In Science, we have been learning about how the Earth spins on its axis every 24 hours, which causes our night and day time. We have also been studying the effects of the Earth’s axis on seasons in the Northern and Southern hemispheres as the Earth orbits the Sun.

Christmas Cards for the Community

As the choir were going to sing at the local retirement home, Year 6 made Christmas cards to give to the residents. The people of St Clements Court were very grateful for the kind gesture.

Y6 Homework Projects

This term, Y6 were asked to make a model of a mountain or a mountain range. We had an incredible display of homework projects to show off at our coffee afternoon. Don’t they look spectacular! 🏔️👏🏻

A Christmas to Remember

The children were invited by the Wigan Music Service to watch a special Christmas production of The Snowman with the Wigan Youth Orchestra. The children loved listening to the brilliant ensemble along with recognising songs from different Christmas films. It was a pleasure to watch the talent children we have in Wigan.

Pattern

The children in Reception have been learning about pattern. They explored making patterns such as spiral, zig zag, lines and dots. They then went on to make AB patterns with their bodies and coloured objects.

Wigan Library Services

Reception had a visitor from Wigan Library Services, they learned about what the local libraries have to offer and found out how to become a member of a library. The children also enjoyed joining in with fun, interactive stories.

Year 3 DT

The children have been learning about pneumatic systems and made their own moving monster using a pneumatic system. They used a syringe, tube and balloon. When they syringe was pressed, air passed through the tube and inflated the balloon, this then made the mouth to open.

Year 1 RE craft sale

Year 1 looked at how Christmas is celebrated in Poland. We made crafts and sold them to our families. To entice parents to our stalls we re-enacted the Christmas story. We raised £28 and bought Christmas World Gifts from CAFOD to bring love, joy, hope and peace to our global family this Christmas.

Christmas Buddies

Reception and Year 6 have enjoyed spending some time together with their buddies, sharing Christmas cards that they have made for each other and eating lunch together.

Making numbers

Today Year 1 were using Maths apparatus to make numbers between 10 and 20.

Winter

In Reception, the children have been learning about winter. They had chance to spot scenes of winter on a wonderful walk around the school grounds, they learnt about wearing appropriate clothes in winter to keep warm. They had the opportunity to explore freezing and melting with real life snow. They also painted some beautiful winter scenes.

Candlemas

Year 1 have been learning about Candlemas when candles are brought to the church to be blessed. We lit a candle for everyone in Y1 today and thought about how God’s loves all of us.

Year 3 – Spanish

In Spanish, we have been practising greeting each other and asking and answering the question, ‘¿cómo estás?

Y5 Science – Properties of Materials

In Science, the children have been investigating mixing materials with a liquid to discover if they are soluble or insoluble

Achievers Assembly

Well done to all of our achievers this week!

Y6 Prayer and Liturgy

Some pupils from Y6 took an active role in our class prayer and liturgy on the baptism of Jesus.

Y1 Coding

Today Year 1 were moving blocks to create code and make the sprite move North, South, East and West. We even explored using a repeater block.