16 December 2022

Newsletter Articles

Head Teacher’s Welcome

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are in the midst of a magical time of year! We have had a wonderful Christmas period and have now completed the telling of the Nativity story from Reception to Year 4 with our school productions. I was so proud of all the children as they did an amazing job. The staff worked incredibly hard to put these productions together, and it was lovely to see so many parents and family members attend. The telling of the Nativity story is such an important moment in a child’s primary education, so I am very pleased many of you were able to enjoy it with us after not being able to for so long.

We have had some year groups go on trips outside of Yeovil. The year 3 children enjoyed their trip to Stonehenge and learnt so much about this world heritage site. Also, Year 1 had a great experience visiting Carymoor recycling centre. The whole school had a fantastic time at the pantomime. During the spring term, the year 5 children will be looking forward to their first residential trip to Mill on the Brue. Mill on the Brue is an incredible place and an amazing experience which builds the children’s self-esteem and confidence significantly. It has been such a pleasure to see parents coming back into the school for Inspire mornings where they have been able to learn with their children.

I also want to thank the Holy Trinity School Association who have been working so hard to raise money for the school. It was so great that they were able to run a raffle and provide teas and coffees at the performances. We have also had a disco and Christmas Bingo which have been brilliant events. If you are able to help, I know they are always looking for extra support – the money that is raised does make a big difference.

We wish Mrs Salvetti good luck as she heads off to have her first baby! Miss McDonald-Thomson a member of our cleaning team will also be leaving us at the beginning of January to start a new job, we wish her well. We have also had some new members of staff join the school. Mr Camp has started as a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant. Miss Bracher has started as an Apprentice Teaching Assistant and Mr Drayton is now our new Site Manager.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing the children again on Wednesday 4th January 2023.

Yours sincerely

Adam Beauford
Head Teacher

Reception

Class 1

During Spirituality Day the children in class 1 spent time making Christingles and learnt about what they represent.

Countdown to Christmas – Class 2

The children in class 2 have been enjoying the different activities we have been completing this half term during our topic, Countdown to Christmas.

Recently the children have enjoyed making Christingles and finding out what they represent.

The children have also made their own Advent wreath and they have thought about what each candle represents and when it is lit during the countdown to Christmas. They have also enjoyed opening an Advent calendar each day too.

We wish you a Merry Christmas from us all in Class 2!

Class 4

This has been a very busy term for class 4, and we have been very busy learning lots of new skills and experiencing new things.

In our newsletter photos, you can see us co-operating together in order to pass a hoop around a circle. This was pretty hard because everyone had to hold hands and not let go.

We have also been co-operating as part of our DT unit on moving mechanisms. The children in class 4 worked in pairs to create sliders, levers, and wheel mechanisms. Next they are going to apply this knowledge to create their own moving pictures.

We also enjoyed Spirituality Day where we created our own advent wreaths.

We hope that you enjoy looking at our photos. Class 4 wishes you a very happy Christmas.

Year 2

Spirituality Day

On this day, we learnt all about advent. We worked together as a year group to make a big display of the advent candles and we made stars to put all around it! We all worked hard, and the display looks amazing! Our theme for the display was ‘It was on a Starry Night’.

Methodist Church Visit

We were incredibly lucky this term to be able to visit the Methodist Church in town. There were lots of amazing helpers at the church who helped us make a Christingle and a light to take home. We also learnt all about the Nativity story using wooden figures.

Nativity

We performed our first ever Nativity since being at school! It was called ‘Born in a Barn’. We all had various parts to play and did an amazing job at learning our lines, songs, and actions. We performed really well in front of children from across the school and all of our adults.

Our trip to the Methodist Church

Spirituality Day

Year 2 Production

Class 7

We have had a wonderful first term in class 7 where the children have really stepped up to all the challenges that year 3 brings, as well as getting used to new classmates and adults.

Stonehenge Trip

We were very lucky to be able to visit Stonehenge as part of our Stone Age topic. We visited the museum and then had a walk around the stones. The children had a wonderful day and had lots of opportunities to show off all their knowledge! They also sat and sketched the stones!

Hinduism

Our second RE unit of year 3 has been all about Hinduism where we have had a focus on Diwali and what it means to people. We are creating our own Diva Lamps out of clay, and then painted them, created our own henna designs, Rangoli Patterns and Paper Lanterns.

Spirituality Day – Advent

Our first Spirituality Day of year 3 focussed on Advent. We created advent wreaths, after talking about what each candle represents. We thought about cooperation and how we can work together and be of service to others! We then wrote advent promises to go on our cooperation calendar!

Class 8

What a busy first term we have had in year 3! It has been a fantastic start to the year, and I am so proud of how every member of class 8 has taken it in their stride. Here is what we have been up to!

Stonehenge Trip

To end the history part of our Stone Age topic, we were lucky enough to visit Stonehenge in person! Part of our day was spent in the museum looking at the artefacts found at the site and those found at a similar site in Japan. This special part of the exhibition allowed us to see that it was something commonly built during that period across the world! We then went up to Stonehenge, walked all around the outside, identified some of the stones we have learnt about and had a go at drawing it! The other part of our day was spent with the fantastic volunteers, who set up a carousel of activities for us to do. We really felt like historians that day!

Hinduism

Our second RE unit of year 3 has been all about Hinduism. We have been closely looking at the Hindu Festival of light ‘Diwali’. We have focussed on how the festival makes Hindus feel a sense of belonging, what it means to them and how they celebrate it. What better way to get a full understanding of this than to try it ourselves? We incorporated DT into our work by creating our own Diva Lamps out of clay, and then painting them. We even put a tealight inside, lit them, closed all the windows and blinds, and got an idea of what it would be like during Diwali with all the Diva Lamps! We also created our own henna designs, Rangoli Patterns and Paper Lanterns. It really brought our learning to life!

Spirituality Day – Advent

Our first Spirituality Day of year 3 focussed on Advent. A big focus of ours has been the Advent Wreath and what this means to Christians. We looked at what each candle represents and what makes up the wreath. To bring this to life a bit more, we finger painted our own wreaths, coloured own candles and stood them up on our wreaths. We also thought further into each candle, and thought of ways we can show Hope, Peace, Joy and Love this advent. Advent is a time for Christians to reflect and think about how they can go into the New Year. We thought about this and created our own promise prayers of how we can be of service to others in the New Year!

Children in Need – Pyjama Day

We certainly loved celebrating Children in Need in our pyjamas! We felt very chilled and relaxed all day. It was also a very funny moment to see all of class 8 walking back from swimming in our pyjamas!

Class 9

Writing

In Writing, children have really enjoyed their recent unit on poetry. We used the model text of ‘The Otter’ by Robert McFarlane and learnt to recite this poem successfully. The children then used this poem as inspiration to write their own poem all about an animal that lived within them. Aiden wrote about the bat within him that stayed up all night because he hates going to sleep. Beau wrote about the bunny within her that hops through fields every day. Willow wrote about the owl inside of her that pounces on her prey. Elga wrote about the butterfly within her that flutters around elegantly, sniffing flowers.

Maths

In Maths, the children have enjoyed their work on place value, addition, and subtraction and then more recently on multiplication and division. They worked hard to create pictorial representations of multiplying by one and zero and soon realised that any number multiplied by zero is zero!

Topic/Class Story

Our current Topic is Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. The children have enjoyed learning about how and why these people settled and invaded Britain and produced some lovely informative leaflets. They found out about Kings and Queens, Danelaw, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and the Viking Battle at Lindisfarne too. They were interested to make links between their Topic work and our class story ‘The Last Viking’ by Terry Deary.

PSHE

In these lessons, children have explored the questions ‘What is Diversity?’ and ‘What Makes A Good Friend?’ The children were surprised by what they found out when researching Italian culture on their IPADs and created some colourful posters to show their findings. In lessons on friendship, we discussed empathy and how to consider things from someone else’s point of view using the characters from Inside Out to help us understand more. We also looked at conflicts and listed some useful strategies we could use to help us resolve these.

Christmas Art

The children in class 9 created some lovely Christmas Art in the style of fairy-lights and these were sent home for you to order as Christmas card designs. Additionally, children worked hard to create a watercolour sky and silhouettes of The Three Wise men from the Nativity Story, as we attempted to recreate the famous Christmas Carol ‘We Three Kings’ for our Christmas Art frames in the practical area outside of our classroom. We think it looks fantastic and hope you do too!

Posada Box/Spirituality Day

The children enjoyed their recent Spirituality Day, all about Advent. They learnt about the real meaning of this occasion and what the colour of each advent candle represents. They also created a class Christingle candle which we have on display at the front of the classroom.

Class 10

Maths: Perimeter

In Maths, we have been learning how to work out the perimeter of rectangle shapes (including squares) and rectilinear shapes.

We have used concrete resources (multilink) to help us work out the perimeter of these shapes. We enjoyed using the concrete resources as it helped us workout how to work out the perimeter.

Writing:

This unit we have been looking at narratives. We have studied the story ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers. For our final piece, we published our work across a double spread page. We added a title and some creative artwork! We are so proud of our work, and we hope you enjoy it too!

Science - States of Matter

Our science unit is currently States of Matter. We have been learning about the different states of matter and what the particles look like for a solid, liquid and gas. We have also learnt about how States of Matter can change if the temperature changes. This is called melting and freezing. To see it in real life what it looks like when something changes state, we did a chocolate melting experiment! 

We loved the idea of melting chocolate in our lesson. We loved it even more when we got to try the melted chocolate at the end!

Posada Boxes:

We have enjoyed sharing the Posada Boxes in class. This is a special moment where we get to have time thinking about the Christmas Story and share a prayer.

Year 4 Production

The Match Girl’s Christmas

This half term, Year 4 have been working really hard learning all the songs and lines for our Christmas Production.

It is the first time we have performed since year 1. We are so proud of everyone for their performance and hope you all enjoyed it too!

Year 5

William Morris Art Display

Victorian Day

Year 5 dressed up as Victorian children and enjoyed a day full of activities. They were taught by Mr Murphy. They learnt some simple drills, learnt to write on slate and even write with ink. They explored and looked at some Victorian artefacts and enjoyed playing some traditional Victorian games.

Class 12

Inspire morning

Class 12 enjoyed their inspire morning with their adult. The main activity was designing and creating their own prints in the style of William Morris. They had great fun!

Year 6

We have been learning about different aspects of WW2 this term – specifically the leaders of the allies and axis countries.

Following on from this we have been investigating paper planes plus designing and making our own simple wooden plane.

Tia made the paper plane which travelled the furthest. However, Ethan was the person who threw it.

To make the planes the children had to: use their technical drawing skills for the wings and tails, using a protractor accurately; measure the wood to the length they wanted; cut the wood using a saw and a jig, and once they had completed this, they had to use the glue gun to stick the wings on.

Here are some pictures of our finished wooden planes:

History Visit

Year 6 were visited by Bill (Maisie’s great grandad) this term. He spoke to both classes about being evacuated twice during World War 2: once with his sister and the other with his mum and sister. The children were all enthralled by his talk and were eager to ask questions. It was wonderful to have someone with first-hand experience to come and speak with the children about what life was really like during that time.

Remembrance:

Some of class 14 took on the challenge of optional homework in which they were asked to write a poem or piece of writing for Remembrance. Mr Barker was delighted with what many of the children produced. Below is a snippet of some of the work alongside some artwork that accompanied our display in the Trinity corridor.

Christmas Art display:

Across the school, the children have been producing their respective art displays to fit the theme: Christmas Songs. Year 6 chose ‘A Bleak Midwinter’ and took the opportunity to explore techniques with charcoal, waxes, and other mediums.

News from around the School

Choir

Choir have been working hard this term. In Autumn 1, they performed one of their songs in Key Stage 2 worship. During the Remembrance Service, choir performed a song after the two-minute silence.

Giant Pumpkins!

Look at these giant pumpkins grown by one of our children, they are huge!!

Sporting Success

The Y5/6 boys did amazingly well up at Bucklers Mead. They played 6 games, winning 5 and drawing the other. Their composure on the ball and behaviour was commented on by staff from other schools (and almost made me forget how cold I was) so if you see any of the following boys around the school, do give them a well done!

Holy Trinity 1-0 Birchfield
Holy Trinity 0-0 Oaklands
Holy Trinity 3-0 Kingfisher
Holy Trinity 1-0 Queen Camel
Holy Trinity 2-0 South Petherton
Holy Trinity 1-0 St Michaels Academy

A Message from Christopher Blackburn & Samantha Hann – Co-Chairs of Governors

As we approach Christmas, we anticipate that you will all be looking forward to a well-earned break and times of celebration with family and friends.

We commend the children for the work and effort that they have invested in their studies this term and for their talented contributions to the seasonal and other events and activities in which they have taken part. It has been great for the School to be free from the types of national restrictions which have limited such involvement in recent years.

We are also grateful to the School Leadership Team and all the Staff for their effort and dedication throughout the Term in providing a good learning environment and for the support provided by parents and carers and we thank the members of the School Association for their ongoing work in organising invaluable and enjoyable fundraising activities for the School’s benefit.

The Local Governing Committee met in in early October to evaluate the effect of the changes made last year to its structure and ways of working and the difference that this had made for the School from a governance perspective. It was agreed that the changes had been beneficial and would continue. Governors also discussed and agreed the School Development Plan and formulated their core monitoring proposals for 2022 – 2023, details of which have been published on the School’s website. Learning Walk visits provide a good insight into the delivery of the School’s Curriculum and the progress being made. They also give governors an opportunity to hear what the children themselves have to say about their school experience, alongside the results of parent and staff surveys which they receive and consider. Governors have also been privileged to make other monitoring visits and to attend worships in School and the Church and join the recent Spirituality Day.

Ken Nichols, our longest serving Foundation Governor, reached the end of his third Term of Office and stood down in early December, having served the School in this capacity for the maximum of 12 years allowed. During that time, he also served as Chair of the Finance & Resources sub-committee for about 6 years and fulfilled the role of Health and Safety Lead Governor (which included making regular site monitoring visits). The School owes a debt of gratitude to him for his loyal and reliable service and support as a governor and for his faithful upholding of the School’s Christian Foundation.

This means that there are currently two local governor vacancies. Also, the School will be running a Parent Governor Election early in the New Year as one of the current 4-year parent-governor terms of office will end in January. Please keep an eye out for the Election Notice and further details if you feel that you might be interested in supporting the School community in this way from February onwards.

It has been a busy term for everybody involved with the School and, in closing, on behalf of all the Governors on our Local Governing Committee, we wish you a peaceful and joyous Christmas and a very happy and successful New Year in 2023.

Christopher Blackburn and Samantha Hann
Co-Chairs of Governors