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

Check out the second edition of the Primary Peek...

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.

FIRST EDITION RELEASED!

Check out the first edition of the Primary Peek....

Teacher Profile - Mr G Watson

Mr G Watson

Primary Phase Leader 

What is your position in the Academy?
I am the Primary Phase leader, which means I make sure that everything that needs to be done on the primary site gets done.

What age do you think you will be when you retire?
I will be 65. It won’t be any sooner unless Mr Brown will let me.

What are your hobbies?
I really like watching football, going to quizzes, playing computer games and having fun.

What were your top three subjects when you were at school?
In primary school I really liked doing maths.
In secondary school I learnt about Classical Civilisations.
At college I liked history.

When did you start your career in this Academy?
I started this Academy in September 2001 when it was Top o’ th’ Brow Primary School.

Have you had any previous jobs?
Yes, I used to be a wholesale delivery driver and a newspaper packer. I had to get up really early in the morning, which is especially horrible in winter!

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

CLUBS, CLUBS, CLUBS!

Lunch times and after school has never been so busy! September was not only a new start for the Academy, but lots of clubs have started up again. 

Miss Cooper and Mrs Ford are running a dance club after school on a Monday night. Miss Cooper said, “I decided to do a dance club because I thought it would be nice for pupils to have an after school activity to join and lot’s of children had asked me to”. They do all kinds of different dances from street to hip hop, ballet to ballroom there’s something for everyone!

Mrs Tonge runs a puzzle club to develop children’s inquiry and thinking skills. Mrs Tonge said “I enjoy being able to work with children from all the Key Stage 2 classes”. When asked about the types of puzzles they do in the club she replied “Come and have a look for yourself”, (cheeky; but she has a point!). You should check it out; they have jigsaws, connect four, Jenga, the bedlam cube, draughts, dominoes, time puzzles, crosswords, snakes and ladders, interactive puzzles on the computer like Hexagon and loads more!! It’s on every Friday lunch time from 12.20 - 1.05pm. Everyone in Key Stage 2 is welcome you just come in and try to solve the puzzles on the carpet, computer or tables. See if you can beat Mrs Tonge at Jenga—apparently she is an expert!

Mr Hill and Mrs Potts run the media club which produces an Academy newspaper each half term. Rebekka, one of the reporters, thought of the name “Primary Peek” and Mr Hill designed the logo! The club is on every Wednesday from 3.20 to 4.20 in the ICT suite. Look out soon for the all new “Peek-Online”, a digital version of the Academy Newspaper with video reports - interested in getting involved? Speak to Mr Hill.

Mrs Tinsley is running a library club every Tuesday dinnertime in the Library, a chance to sit and have a quiet read, change your book, or take part in the literacy activities with Mrs Tinsley.

The applications were made for the new School Council members and elections have been held. Do you know who your school council member is? They have a council meeting every Tuesday during assembly time in Year 5 - if you have any comments about the Academy or want your voice heard then let your class representative know.

By Jade and Ellie-Louise.

CLIMB-TASTIC EQUIPMENT

Over the Summer holidays, early years and foundation stage had an extreme makeover: Academy Edition! 

Not only did they all have a classroom swap and get loads of brand new furniture, they got a mega structure built right outside the new doorway in the extension!

The climbing frame will help the younger children in the Academy to develop their climbing and balancing skills and practice jumping and exploring. They will have to be risk-takers if they want to get across that bridge in the middle though!

We interviewed Mrs Ford, who was very excited about the new equipment. She said “We are really lucky to have such outstanding equipment in our outdoor play area, the children love it so much.”

By Charlotte and Saffron.

WHAT AN ABUNDANT HARVEST

The week of October 12th was all about celebrating the harvest. We collected tins of food, fresh fruit and vegetables and learnt all about the harvest and why it is such an important time of year for many people. 

Each class collected as much food as they could and packaged it all up for giving out to the elderly people in our local community.

The harvest celebration assembly, held on Wednesday 14th October, was the biggest and best we have ever had. We would like to thank everyone who donated towards the harvest for being so kind and caring. Each class performed a song, poem or play about the harvest. 

The children in early years foundation stage told us about their Autumn Walk and impressed us with their ICT skills. Year 1 performed a really good acrostic poem which spelled out HARVEST. Year 2 had been tasting different fruits all week and told us which was their favourite. Year 3 had made up a poem for every letter of the alphabet, from A is for Apple—juicy and sweet right through to Z.

Year 4 performed the “Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley grow” song, and Year 5 sang “Food glorious Food”, and told us some facts about the history of the Harvest celebration. Year 6 sang a song about sowing seeds and digging the land.

To finish the wonderful celebration off, Reverend Sue Forrest-Redfearn, talked to us about seeds and how all good living things come from seeds - even you and me! Let’s hope that next year’s harvest will be just as good, we can collect even more food and help more people. 

Matthew, Ashleigh and Keren report.

GREAT START FOR ACADEMY

September saw the start of the first term as Bolton St Catherine’s Academy and there have been many changes.


We have a new uniform, which makes us look really smart. We have brand new carpets on the corridors too. Some of us have the chance to meet new teachers like Mr Leese, PE teacher from the Secondary site and Mr Roberts (or Herr Roberts to us!) teaches us German.

Some teachers have had a change of classrooms and some have got new classrooms and they look lovely. In Mr Hill’s class, they have plants on the tables; which year 5 must remember to water every day!

The whole Academy building has been painted cream and every door painted blue, with posh signs on.

Most children have been given new opportunities like learning German with Mr Roberts or brass with Mr Broomhead. Watch out for the all new My Space, which is now opposite the parent room in the main entrance.

We now have a shorter dinner time, 55 minutes instead of 60, but we still have enough time to go to clubs. Every Tuesday we finish at 3.00pm giving teachers time to have meetings.

We have many clubs to join such as ‘media club’, ‘dance club’, ‘puzzle club’ and ‘football club’. Check on the board outside the hall for times and Jade and Ellie’s article on page 2 for more details.

by Rebekka and Tegan