Ascension day service in church

Yesterday we gathered together in church to celebrate and reflect on the ascension of Jesus to heaven. As ever we had great fun learning from the bible and responding to God in prayer and sung worship.

Our school musicians played us in and out of church confidently and once again we were very proud of their talent and contribuiton.

Many thanks as ever to all the staff at St Johns church who make this such a special part of our school life. They were as creative, funny and engaging as ever, even disapearing upstairs in search of Jesus!

St Johns Church  also provided us with an opportunity to pray in the playground at the end of the day, offering the chance to write our prayers on a fish and place them in a fishermans net. Wonderful creativity at work!

Light in darkness

In a moment of prayer for the people caught up in the Manchester bomb attack we took the time to think about the light that God calls us to share, by reflecting on an adaption of some of the verses from Isaiah

Is not this the kind of light I have chosen?

A light that

Loosens the chains of injustice

Unties the cords of the yoke,

Sets the oppressed free

And breaks every yoke

A light that

Seeks to share food with the hungry

Provide the poor wanderer with shelter

Clothes the naked and doesn't turn away from its own flesh and blood

Yes this is the light I require

For as you shine 

Your light will break forth like the dawn,

And you will raise up the age-old foundations;

You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

And a restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

So let your light shine

Art work in key stage 2

Poetry and art have been combined to great effect in KS2, leading to some very creative and colourful displays.

Reflections on creation

So a few thoughts from some of the children across the school on the wonders of God's creation story as told in Genesis.

God had a rest on the last day because he had done so much hard work!

The flowers were made so that we could enjoy them.

God made the fish so that we can eat them!

God made the trees so we could have fruit to eat.

Creation is so amazing, it keeps showing us new things every day.

God made us to care for everything - that's an incredible responsibility.

When the sun shines it shows off God's amazing creation, so much colour, so much imagination.

Gods creation - I love it!

Pirates take over Foundation Stage!

Wonderful to visit Foundation Stage today and see so many pirates hard at work in their learning. Lots of great costumes and a strange desire for me to walk the plank!

Our amazing world

Did you know Earth is not actually a sphere? That we are rocketing around the sun at 67,000 mph? That the majority of Earth's fresh water is locked up in Antarctica?

  

These are some of the facts we have been reflecting on this week as we have explored how amazing is the creation that God has made and that we experience every day. 

Our home, Earth, is the third planet from the sun and the only world known to support an atmosphere with free oxygen, oceans of liquid water on the surface and — the big one — life. Earth is one of the four terrestrial planet: Like Mercury, Venus and Mars, it is rocky at the surface.

I loved the TV series 3^rd Rock from the sun that began in 1996 and finished in 2001. It was a story of  a group of aliens are sent to Earth, disguised as a human family, to experience and report life on the 3rd planet from the sun. Great humour and many opportunities to emphasise how amazing and complicated and wonderful our world is. I’m sure there are clips on You tube!

But the truly amazing thing is that we are a rock, 3^rd from the sun, but placed here by the God who created the universe and everything in it. So as we have taken the time to reflect on what impresses us most about creation and to consider its diversity and wonder this week,  we have been reminded that the words of Psalm 19 v 1 are just as true today as they were at the dawn of creation - The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Miracles or magic?

Our global theme this week led us to think about the importance of food and how easily we take it for granted as well as the amazing diversity, texture and creative opportunities that the world's food supply brings. Closing our eyes in one assembly we imagined our favourite food and took a few moment sot thank god for His creativity and provision.

In addition we have been looking at the questions that were raised by Jesus' miracles, focusing on particular on the feeding of the 5,000. Today in whole school assembly we considered some amazing magic tricks, from spoons that bend to playing cards that end up in the middle of fruit!

Magician's promote headlines with their amazing acts and in the same way so did Jesus. People continually asked ' Who is this man?' Even Jesus himself asked his disciples ' Who do you say I am?'

Magicians tricks are exactly what they are - tricks; created by careful planning, distraction and a range of other techniques. They are not real. But what about Jesus' miracles, what do we say about them?

So today we paused to consider the question - Who do we think Jesus is?

Who are you ?

The one who turned water into wine

Gave the blind their sight, the lame the chance to walk

The one who raised people from the dead

The one who spoke with such authority and purpose

Who are you?

The one who shared the bread and wine

The one who forgave and offered new life

The one who attracted thousands

Who touched the leper and made him whole

Who are you?

Magician, conjurer, wise man, prophet

Preacher, Rabbi, teacher, mad man or fool 

Son of God, light of the world, creater and sustainer

Who are you?

Stomping Dinosaurs and class 3S assembly

Yesterday we were treated to a brilliant musical introduction to dinosaurs as we all enjoyed class 3S assembly. For each dinosaur that they shared with us they had located some groovy tunes, supported by their carefully choreographed dance moves. In preparation they had each produced their own dinosaur mask and considered their dress style to reflect the music. Two confident newsreaders led us through the assembly, which was wrapped up with the 3S class prayer. Definitely an assembly to remember for all of us. 

Special visitors to year 5

Today year 5 enjoyed meeting two very special visitors and their owners who came into school to talk about the joys and challenges of owning a dog. One even came in school uniform - the dog not the owner!

The children took the opportunity to ask many different questions and to consider the differences between the two breeds. They will be using what they learnt and experienced today as a stimulus for their learning.

Many thanks to our visitors.