We were lucky with the weather on Monday for our Walk A Mile With Me Cafod Appeal journey, although it was bitterly cold.  We had a huge array of heavy school bags, dolls and cuddly toys being carried on our walks – one mum ended up carrying her son who had fallen asleep which I am sure all parents will relate to. Imagine having to do that for days without any food.

A BIG THANK YOU to all our families and friends who joined us on our walk which is the children’s chosen charity for Lent, having seen the Famine Tragedy unfold on our TV screens.  We do of course need the sponsor money to come in so that we can get the funds to where they are needed as quickly as possible.  Cafod are part of the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) Group of charities where every penny goes directly to the women and children affected.  Sponsor forms have gone out but are also on the website – to be returned by the latest Monday 3^rd April.  Prizes for those who raise the most!

Congratulations to Emilia & Adam who both represented St John Fisher School in the Birmingham & South Midlands Schools Ski Race on the 12th March.

They both came in with amazing results; Emilia gained 1st place in the U12 girls category and Adam won 1st place in the boys U10 category. 

We wish them lots of luck when they compete in The British Schools Alpine Championship in Austria over the Easter holidays.


 

Congratulations to Emilia & Adam who both represented St John Fisher School in the Birmingham & South Midlands Schools Ski Race on the 12th March.

They both came in with amazing results; Emilia gained 1st place in the U12 girls category and Adam won 1st place in the boys U10 category. 

We wish them lots of luck when they compete in The British Schools Alpine Championship in Austria over the Easter holidays.


 

On Wednesday 15th February our school football played their next two matches in the league. We had two matches that were played at St Lawrence school and in terrible weather conditions. In our first game we played against Colmers Farm Primary School and performed very well.

All boys coped well with the conditions and eventually ran out 5-0 winners. We then played our second game against Northfield Manor. The game was very tight and, after taking the lead in the first half, could not quite hold onto the lead and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Well done to all the boys who played.

During our last day of Safer Technology Week, we had the great pleasure of welcoming parents into our school for a parent's workshop. We looked at different precautions that could be taken to ensure that technology is safe for children to use at home as well as introduce and revise any potential dangers that children might encounter. Thanks to all of the parents who came to either one of the sessions. 

 

The children spent the afternoon revising the SMART rules which should be followed when using the internet. Children created posters which could be displayed for younger children to show these SMART rules.

Four pupils from KS1 and eight from KS2 took part in our first ever Cross Country Competition at Woodgate Valley Country Park on Thursday 9th February.

Pupils completed a gruelling course, with KS1 running a large and small lap whilst KS2 ran an extra area in addition to this. The conditions were ideal for Cross Country, mud, wind, rain and even a little bit of snow added to the excitement, as each and every pupil required great effort to complete the course.

After a very close race Curtis Mitchell came 1st in the KS1 race. KS2 team came 1st (combined lowest scores) – Dylan Mitchell, Cormac Byrne, Oliver Cook, Josh Singende, Annabelle Bennett, Stephanie Pearson, Aine McNamara and Isabel Hemmings. Well done to the whole of KS1 team; Curtis Mitchell, Lily Round, Erin McDaid and Nathan Luther who all showed amazing effort and enthusiasm.

Day 3- Wednesday 

On Wednesday, we looked at our next Digital Literacy topic and completed the tasks in our classes. 

Children looked at the following themes:

Reception- Smartie The Penguin

Year 1- A-B-C Searching

Year 2- Follow The  Digital Trail

Year 3- My Online Community

Year 4- Private and Personal Information

Year 5- Digital Pledge Information 

Year 6- Super Digital Citizen 

 

Day 4- Thursday

Today, children in Year 4,5 and 6 had the fantastic opportunity of having a hands on coding workshop with Lego Robots. They used coding to safely move the robots around the hall by programming instructions onto laptop computers. The day started off with an assembly attended by all of Key Stage 2 where the NAO Robot performed a serious of tricks which it has been pre-programmed to do. Thanks to Mr. Rowley  from Link2ICT for a fantastic day of workshops. 

Read some comments below by the children:

"It was the best day ever!"

"I enjoyed it because it was challenging and fun."

"It was a cool way to use Computing Skill."

All of this week, we are focusing on one main theme: Safer Technology. Children are looking at how technology has changed over time as well as the dangers that they  may encounter when using technology. Overriding all of this week is empowering children to make the right choices when something on the website upsets or concerns them. 

 

Tuesday- Day 2

Today we took part in Safer Internet Day 2017 which is in its 14th year. 

In the morning, we all gathered in the hall to look at the theme for this year which is 'Be the change: unite for a better internet'. As part of this, we were looking at personal information and photos that get uploaded onto the internet and the fact that once put on the internet, they might be on there forever. We looked at what information should be concealed and ended the assembly by taking a selfie picture with some children and Mr. Plant in which we followed the rules learned about safer uploading of pictures.

 

Reception, Y1, Y2, Y3, Workshops

This morning, children in KS1 and Year 3 took part in a coding  workshop in the hall where they got to program our Beebots. Children had a huge amount of fun building houses for the Beebots to sleep in, knocking down animals using the Beebots and playing games using our Beebot town map.

 

This afternoon, children have been completing activities linked to the theme for the Safer Internet Day. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have been looking at Smartie the Penguin. Smartie has something appear on his laptop and he was confused to whether he should click on it or tell his parents. Children had to advise him on what to do. Year 1 have learned a little song about what to do when you are unsure about something when using the internet. 

 

Year 3,4,5 and 6 were looking at first impressions and how photos can have a forever life when uploaded online so people shouldn't upload things that they want to be kept private:

All of this week, we are focusing on one main theme: Safer Technology. Children are looking at how technology has changed over time as well as the dangers that they  may encounter when using technology. Overriding all of this week is empowering children to make the right choices when something on the website upsets or concerns them. 

Day 1- Monday

On Monday all of the children learned about how technology has evolved over time during assembly. Lots of children were surprised to see how technology had changed over such a short period of ti

Ten pupils from Year three and four were chosen to represent our school in the Cluster Benchball competition. As always it was incredibly competitive event, with schools showing both a high standard of physical ability and an excellent tactical awareness and understanding. Although we didn’t win the event all of our children showed determination and resilience throughout. A big thank you to the Newman PE Students, Liz Plummer their Course Leader and Sarah Lay for their tremendous support and organisation.