Parish News

We have enjoyed a truly fantastic first half of the Summer Term here at Newchurch St Mary’s. The sunshine has brought plenty of smiles, and our children have been incredibly busy both inside and outside the classroom. Here is a glimpse of what we have been up to!

In the Classroom
Key Stage 1: Our younger children have been exploring their poetic sides, learning to recite The Owl and the Pussycat. In Geography, they’ve been designing islands and drawing maps of the playground with brilliant ideas on how to improve it. We also celebrated World Bee Day, which included a very special treat when one of our pupils brought in fresh honey from their own garden hive!

Key Stage 2: In Art, inspired by the story of The Minpins, the children sculpted beautiful clay birds. In PE, they have been mastering net and wall skills ready for tennis games. In English, they have been busy writing official reports linked to a 1000-year-old novel, while in Geography, they’ve been diving into history to learn about early settlements. Furthermore, our potato-growing project is coming along beautifully—our plants are looking incredibly green, healthy, and full of life!

Super Writing Success!
A huge congratulations to Alexander and Leo! The Padiham Rotary Club visited us to award the winner and runner-up of their writing competition. We are absolutely thrilled to share that Alexander was named the overall winner out of all the schools that took part! Well done to you both for such a fantastic achievement.

Celebrating our Wonderful Year 6 Pupils
Our Year 6 children have shown amazing dedication and resilience throughout their SATs week. To help them prepare, they enjoyed a special breakfast together ahead of their final paper to fuel up for the last push. Once the exams were officially finished, the celebrations began with well-earned ice creams in the sun!

After working so incredibly hard, we felt they deserved a chance to let off some steam. Thanks to FUNDA, they tackled an action-packed inflatable obstacle course! From racing through the obstacles to cheering each other on, it was fantastic to see so many smiles, laughs, and great team spirit. We are immensely proud of them all.

Special Events & Whole-School Fun

• The Big School Workout: During Mental Health Awareness Week, the whole school took part in a live workout session with Joe Wicks. It was an amazing opportunity to get active, boost energy levels, and emphasize the vital link between physical and mental health.
• Sir David Attenborough’s 100th Birthday & The Great Newchurch Expedition: We marked this incredible milestone celebrating the legendary naturalist and broadcaster with an “Explorers Day” and a special live assembly, where we were delighted to welcome parents into school. The children had a wonderful time dressing up as adventurers for their Explorers Lunch.
  The excitement reached a whole new level for our KS1 infants when they embarked on The Great Newchurch Expedition! They received an extraordinary surprise letter letting them know that a mysterious new species had been sighted right here in Newchurch. Our young explorers did a fantastic job tracking it down!

Learning Beyond the Classroom
Celebrating Achievements: As always, we have been delighted to celebrate our weekly Wizards and Special Stars of the Week. A special shout-out also goes to our best-behaved children in FOG club, our amazing animators, and our talented artists. There is so much to be proud of!

• Splashing Into Success: KS2 pupils have successfully commenced their school swimming lessons as part of the curriculum.
• Gardening Club: Our green-fingered children have been working hard cutting back daffodil leaves, weeding, and planting vibrant geraniums, marigolds, and Sweet Williams. They also planted herb pots and finished their hard work with a well-earned treat of fruit, pastries, and fresh juice in the sunshine.
• OPAL Play: Creativity has been thriving outdoors! In our OPAL play area, children set up their own “auction mart,” walking their pretend cows around, and built fantastic houses and boats.
• Bullseye for Teamwork! Our Year 5 and 6 boys had an amazing time at an after-school darts event. They played brilliantly and showed fantastic sportsmanship cheering each other on.
• PALS Wraparound Care: Our after-school provision has been packed with fun. The children have been busy making everything from slime, dreamcatchers, and lollystick catapults to delicious pitta bread pizzas and cheesecakes!

Community & Looking Ahead
Supporting Pendleside Hospice
We were delighted by a visit from Penny the Squirrel, who came to present a cheque to Pendleside Hospice. Thanks to your incredible generosity during our recent Bunny Hop event, our school community raised a spectacular £1,109.48! Thank you so much to everyone who supported this.

Coming Up Next Half Term…
Our Year 6 children are counting down the days until their upcoming adventure trip to How Stean Gorge. We can’t wait to hear all about their outdoor exploits!

We are also excited to launch a fantastic new array of after-school clubs and wraparound activities for the next half term. Here is what we have on offer for the children each day:

Monday: FUNDA Fun & Unplugged Play Hub
FUNDA Fun: A high-energy coaching session focused on active games, movement, and teamwork.
Unplugged Play Hub: Tabletop games and creative building to promote turn-taking and face-to-face interaction. Activities include LEGO, Top Trumps, Tetra Tower, Draughts, Dobble, Cluedo, UNO, Jenga, and trivia.

Tuesday: Sportscool Cricket & PALS Cooking
Cricket
Cooking Around the World: Weekly themed culinary activities exploring different countries, including Pizza (Italy), Bread making (France), Samosas (India), Polvorones (Mexico), Chocobananos (El Salvador), Scones (England), and Strudel (Germany).

Wednesday: Sportscool Rounders & PALS Art
Rounders
Tactile & Creative Play: Weekly hands-on arts and crafts projects including Peg Creatures, String Art, Clay Modelling, Paper Plate Animals, Loom Band Bracelets, and Canvas Art.

Thursday: Gardening Club & PALS LEGO
Gardening Club: Hands-on outdoor growing, seasonal weeding, and planting activities.
Lego Club: Creative building and construction challenges to spark imagination.

Friday: STEM Club
Science, Technology, Engineering & Math: Exciting weekly experiments for our young scientists, featuring Balloon Rockets, Straw Construction, Magical Sun Art, Robot Kits, Bath Bomb making, and Alka-Seltzer Lava Lamps.