Bring your Dad to school afternoon

Tuesday 15th June 2010 saw Bolton St Catherine's Academy's very first "Bring your Dad to School" afternoon. 


Over 30 mums and dads turned up for the Football themed afternoon in celebration of the World Cup Season. The Dads played the kids at football and the mums and dads also took part in arts and crafts activities related to the World Cup. 


Mrs Schofield who organised the event commented "I am so pleased to see so many Dads coming to school and working really well with their children. It has been a really fun afternoon".

Saffron and Tomiwa created a Vlog.

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Teacher Profile - Mrs McDonald

Mrs L McDonald

Primary PE Coordinator

What is your favourite sport?

My favourite sport is boxing, it helps to keep me active and really fit.

What do you do at Bolton St Catherine’s Academy?

I am a Teaching Assistant in year 6 and I am the P.E. Coordinator. I organise lots of sports activities within school and take groups of children to compete and represent the school.

What is something scary about you?

I was born on All Hallows Eve!!!

Why did you choose to work at Bolton St Catherine’s?

My sister was a teacher here and said what a really good school it was, so I decided to work here too!

What other jobs have you done?

I used to be a sports therapist and I have also been a waitress.

What do you enjoy the most about your role at Bolton St Catherine’s Academy?

I love new challenges, I like working with children and I believe that even if I only make a difference in one child’s life - it is all worth it.

Are you married?

Yes, and I have a daughter and three step children.

The Teacher Profile is brought to you each half term by Tomiwa. Watch out, next edition: Mr Hill

Sport Relief Miles

Hundreds of miles clocked up in aid of Sport Relief.

On Friday 19th March, students from Bolton St Catherine’s Academy dressed up in sports clothes and donated money in aid of Sports Relief.

As part of the day, water bottles were on sale and students took part in running a mile each. Even the students in Nursery and Reception took part, they got into teams and shared a mile between them.

The aim of the day was to raise money for Sports Relief. All of the money raised is spent by Comic Relief to help disadvantaged people, both at home in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries. Some of the money will be spent helping kids in Africa get into Primary School - something we take for granted.

So far, Sport Relief 2010 have raised a massive £30 million from people up and down the country running the mile.

Well done and thank-you to all the students and staff who took part in the mile and made it a real success. We really are making a difference.

Also in Sport this term, as Summer is very quickly approaching more and more sports   activities will be taking place.

Mrs McDonald has arranged for 20 Key Stage 2 children to take part in an orienteering       competition at Moses Gate Country Park.

There will be Athletics club after school, as well as rounders club. Watch out for posters around school or ask Mrs McDonald for a permission slip.

Year 5 and 6 will also be going swimming at Horwich swimming baths. They will learn how to swim and how to behave around water. By the end of the course, they will hopefully pass their Key Stage 2 Swimming Award, which certifies that they are aware of the dangers of water and what to do in times of trouble.

If there are any sports that you would like to see happening at Bolton St Catherine’s       Academy, e-mail the Primary Peek with your comments.

China Trip

As part of their Unit of Inquiry, Year 1 and Mrs Potts took a trip to China Town in  Manchester.

On Wednesday 24th February, Mrs Potts led year 1 to the minibus on the playground—their            destination: CHINA TOWN! The children got to see lots of Chinese Architecture, people, shops,                restaurants and really enjoyed themselves.

One of the children, Mia, said “The Chinese Arch was really big and had lots of nice colours.”

Year 1 have been inquiring into how people belong to different communities. They have looked at what being part of a community is like and what different kinds of  communities there are.

The class really enjoyed their visit to China Town, Mrs Potts said “The children were really impressed when we took them into the Chinese Supermarket and they saw all the different foods and the Chinese writing.

London Calling

Students get an invite to London, to discuss new thinking on tackling crime.

On a very cold Thursday morning, 25th February at 7.30 am, a group of students from Bolton St Catherine’s Academy embarked the train at Bolton Train Station, headed for London.

They were invited to take part in the Design Out Crime Project. The 30 students had taken part in a workshop at school to come up with ideas to reduce crime, make the area look good and allow people to feel good about themselves.

The students travelled to the 02 arena and had a tour around, while the staff there were setting up the seating for the Lady Gaga Concert. They went to a special “VIP” area within the Arena, called the “Blue Room”, where they watched a DVD about tackling crime in local areas.

After a very long, hard day of meetings and walking around London, the group headed back to Euston Station, they had to go on two underground journeys to get there.

By the time the group got back to their train to head back to Bolton they were very tired. Mr Caldwell who had been involved in organising the event said, “Everyone was really well behaved and were a credit to our Academy. They have done us proud.”

There will be more from this project in the Summer Term. Be sure to check out our website for updates.

International Events

Bolton St Catherine’s Academy celebrated two International Events in one week this term; World Maths Day and World Book Day, and what a week it was!

World Book day was celebrated on the 4th March this year. Everyone in school had the opportunity to dress up as their favourite book character. In Nursery, the best dressed girl was Brooke, who dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, and Leon was the Tiger who “came to tea!”

In year 2, Joshua had a very impressive Tin Man costume from the Wizard of Oz, and Leah was a brilliant Mini Mouse. In year 5, Callum dressed as James Bond and Millie was Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians. The best outfit of the whole day was Rebekka in year 6 who dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, she even made her own hat for the occasion.

It wasn’t just the pupils that dressed up, the teachers gave it a good go too, Mr Hill as Bananaman, Mrs Renshaw as Maid Marian, but the winner was Miss Cass, can you see her in the picture? Where’s Wally???

World Maths day was held on the Wednesday, Rebekka and Josh scored very highly in the online maths tournament, competing against children from all over the world. Rebekka, Josh, Saffron and Bradley were in the top 10 out the whole Academy, including children in years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11!!! Well done guys!!!

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Teacher Profile - Mrs F Tonge

What is your position in the Academy? I am the year 3 teacher and the ICT coordinator.

What was your least favourite subject at school? It was P.E. (but only because we had to do a lot of running around).

What is your favourite subject? ART!!! The messier the better!

When were you born? I was born towards the end of the last century!

Have you ever had a birthday party? Yeah, I have had loads of them, more than I can remember! I have always had a cake too!

What are your hobbies? I like catching up and hanging around with my friends, I really enjoy playing badminton. But I love going shopping with my sisters the most.

What is your greatest fear? Apart from being interviewed for this article, my biggest fear is the taking off the run-way in an aeroplane.

Has this fear stopped you going abroad? Not at all, the holiday is really worth it. I love going to Greece.

The Teacher Profile is brought to you each half term by Tomiwa. Watch out, next edition: Mrs McDonald. 

GYMNASTIC FANTASTIC

Lots of sporting events have continued to take place this half term, including Tchouk ball for year 6 and a Gymnastics competition for years 1 and 2. 
On the 14th January, eight people from the year 6 class were selected to take part in a Tchouk ball tournament on the Secondary Site. Bradley, Ryan, Travis, Bianca, Maya, Courtney and Rebekka played really well as a team. In our rounds we competed mainly against Blackshaw Primary School, this time we lost by just one point. To play Tchouk ball, which was invented in Switzerland in the 1960’s, you need a small ball and an angled bouncy net called a “trampet”. You throw the ball at the net and get a point if it hits the floor before an opponent catches it. After all the rounds, we came in 4th place, which Mrs McDonald was very pleased with.

Meanwhile, year 1 and 2 were involved in a gymnastics competition on the 18th January. The children competed against three other schools and tried really, really hard.

The students that took part were Joshua, Shauna, Dillon, Stephanie and Callum.

There were three parts to the competition. Body Management, Floor and Vault.

Our very own Callum Stevens, pictured above, came first place in Body Management and floor. He had 45 minutes to learn a routine and then perform it for the judges.

Everyone who took part got a certificate. Mrs McDonald commented “I am very impressed with Callum for learning the routine so quickly—he is a natural. We are very proud.”

Also in sports, BSCA’s under 11 football team played against other teams in Bolton in the Premier League tournament, held at the Bolton Arena. The competition, organised, by “Football in the Community”, was very enjoyable and the whole team played wonderfully together. 

SNOW-WHERE TO GO

Christmas holidays were over and students from Bolton St Catherine’s Academy were eager to return back to start the Spring term with excitement, only to find that school had to close due to the weather and they had “snow-where” to go! 

The whole country came to a standstill in the first week back after the Christmas holidays. Schools up and down the country were closed because it would not have been safe for staff and pupils to come in.

At Bolton St Catherine’s Academy primary site, the playground, car park and entrance was piled up with snow. Mr Cole managed to get a big JCB tractor so that he could move the snow onto the grass.

It took a long time for the snow to be moved and the school to be made safe enough. Even two weeks after all the snow had melted on the playground, there were still huge piles on the grass verge!

As you can see from the satellite picture taken by NASA, the whole of the United Kingdom was covered by the snow, causing chaos for thousands of people. We had fun though, building snowmen and igloos in our gardens! 

HELP FOR HAITI

Bolton St Catherine’s Academy’s School Council have raised a huge amount of money selling cakes in aid of the earthquake disaster in Haiti.

In Haiti, there has been a terrible earthquake, meaning deaths, injuries and heart breaking moments for children who have lost their parents.

The minute-long quake was felt all over the island and reached 7.0 on the Richter scale, which measures the strength of the tremors.

Lots of buildings, including the national palace and a hospital in capital Port-au-Prince, were destroyed.

Aid agency, the Red Cross, say that as many as three million people could have been affected by the quake. Saffron Clegg, year 5, came up with the idea to raise some money and send it over to Haiti to help them.

She approached Bethany and Tomiwa, her class representatives, who put the idea forward at the next meeting.

The school council members decided that it was a fantastic idea and that they would decorate and sell cakes for the appeal. The money will be used to replace water pipes, homes, shops, schools, hospitals and to make sure that the children who have lost their families have somewhere to stay and enough food to eat.

Mr Hill and Mrs Renshaw, who help the school council, have been busy getting cakes and decorating ingredients, which have been kindly donated and made by the teachers.

Everyone we interviewed about the cakes commented that they were really yummy. Mr Hill’s favourite cake was the “Marshmallow Mountain”, made by Mrs Hill, which Mrs Tinsley was heard saying, “That is the best cake I have ever tasted in my life!”.

Mrs Renshaw commented on how proud she was of the school council members for being so dedicated in taking action to help people on the other side of the world.

With donations from teachers, friends of the school, and money raised from selling cakes, the school council has managed to raise £360.00 in total and has sent it off to Haiti.

As a special thank-you for buying so many cakes and raising so much money in just one week, a fabulous platter of cakes was put together for one lucky winner. The names of people who had bought cakes during the week were put into a hat and one was drawn in the Friday Celebration assembly. Ashleigh, year 4, was the winner of the platter.

Media Club Christmas Edition Party...

Media Club celebrate the launch of their second edition of the all new Primary Peek in style with Canapés and Bubbles.


First we prepared the newspapers for delivery...

Then we counted them out and delivered them to each class...

Then we celebrated our hard work with a few bottles of bubbly and some canapés...

SECOND EDITION RELEASED

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Teacher Profile - Miss K Cooper

Miss K Cooper

Year 4 Teacher

What is your position in the Academy?

I am the  year 4 teacher, and I run a dance club after school with Mrs Ford.

When were you born?

I was born a long time ago in 19 eighty-something!

When did you start your career at Bolton St Catherine’s Academy?

I started my career in this school in 2007 when it was called Top o’ th’ Brow.

What are your favourite three vegetables?

I like  peas and broccoli but my most favourite is cooked Carrots.

What are you favourite three fruits?

Apples, grapes and strawberries. My most favourite though is apple crumble and ice-cream or

custard.

What is your favourite food?

I really love spaghetti Bolognaise with garlic bread.

What is your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is purple because it makes me feel happy.

What is your greatest fear?

SPIDERS!! Because they are small and hairy.

GLORY GIRLS

Bolton St Catherine’s Academy girls’ football team were victorious and triumphant and won the Caldwell cup.

On Thursday 22nd October, six girls were  selected to represent Bolton St Catherine’s Academy Primary site against other Bolton Primary Schools.

Amongst those competing for glory were Blackshaw Primary School. Bolton St Catherine’s girls gave them a real run for their money and secured an 8-1 victory.

The girls; Bianca, Courtney, Katie, Tandy, Rebekka and Maya each scored at least one goal each and only let one goal through from the opposition.

Mr Watson, who took the girls to the competition commented on the excellent team work the girls showed and the amazing sportsmanship displayed at the end of the match. Every member of the team went up to the opposition to shake their hands.

At the end of the game medals were given out and Bolton St Catherine’s Academy won it’s first ever trophy. The cup is called the Caldwell cup, named after the Head teacher of Top o’ th’ Brow Primary School, who is now a Vice Principal within the Academy.

Mr Watson said, “We are really proud of our girls winning this trophy. You can see it for yourself in the entrance of school in our brand new trophy cabinet”.

We interviewed Bianca and asked her what she thought of the way the other team performed. She said, “They played really well, but not as good as we did!”.

Well done to the girls’ football team - keep up the good work and good luck for the rest of the season.

YEAR 5 TAKE A TRIP THROUGH TIME

Since the 3rd September 1939, there has not been a single day where the world has been at peace!

This has been the central idea for year 5’s unit of inquiry this half term. Year 5 have been inquiring about the conflicts that have occurred around the world since 1939. They have been looking at the concepts of peace and conflict. We spoke to  Jordan in year 5, “Peace is calm and relaxing and conflict is war, fighting and destruction!”.

Year 5 have been gathering facts and reflecting on research to create booklets containing information about the wars of the past and the present. They have a big poster up in their classroom saying “Peace” and “Conflict”. The year 5 students drew images of what peace and conflict meant to them and stuck them up on the banner.

As part of their unit of inquiry, year 5 went on an amazing trip to Manchester. We interviewed Elysse and Tomiwa about their trip. “We went to the Imperial War Museum North, which was built next to Manchester United’s football ground.”

“We went into a really large hall, which had real tanks and bombs and spitfires hanging from the ceiling. Then we watched a film in which people involved in war talked about their experiences. We heard sirens, bombs exploding and saw big flashes.”

You can see more on the website www.iwm.org.uk

SCHOOL COUNCIL

School Council has been running for almost a full term now. What have they been doing within the new Academy?

This year school council is being run by Mr Hill and Mrs Renshaw. At the start of this year members of Key Stage 2 voted within their classes for a boy and girl to represent their views. In year 3 the representatives are Brandon and Amy, for year 4 there is Louise and Reece. Year 5 have Bethany and Tomiwa . Year 6 is represented by Bianca and Matthew.

So far this year, the school council, which meets weekly on a Tuesday morning, have raised money for charity at the Halloween Disco. They made their own witches brew with gooey sweets and slimy worms, they also made monster hands of popcorn.

The School Council also held interviews for the UCan centre (featured above) to decide who would be best to take part in the take-over Friday. They had lots of interviews to do and asked each applicant really good questions.

Last week the School Council ran a lucky dip at the  Christmas disco. They have spent weeks wrapping up goodies from “BodyShop” and put together nice gift sets for people to win in the lucky dip. All the money raised will be going to a charity in the new year. If you have any ideas about a local charity that would benefit from the money raised then please speak to your school council rep.

Check out the school council display outside the hall for updates and messages from your reps.

STUDENTS TAKEOVER

11 Million Takeover Day was held on Friday 13th November. Students from Bolton St Catherine’s Academy took part.


Students from Key Stage 2 applied to take over a number of roles within the Academy and local community for the day.


Tomiwa, Milly, Ryan and Jade were successful in their applications to takeover at the UCan centre. They were interviewed and selected by School Council and were given duties to perform in the office. They answered the phone, dealt with problems and helped to design new advertising posters. Ryan said, “I really enjoyed the day and it gave me a good idea of what it is like to work in an office.” Milly said that she really enjoyed it and would love to do it again!
Meanwhile, students took over lessons up and down the school and even took charge of the celebration assembly.


Saffron, Elysse and Martina took over the assembly and led the celebrations.
Miss Cooper, Mr Hill and Mrs Watson gave students in their classes the opportunity to take over their lessons. Check out the work that year 6 made whilst Katie and Nicole led the art lesson - it’s on display outside their classroom. What would you want to take-over at school? Add your comments to the article on the blog.

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