Reception’s first week

Reception have had a fabulous first week in school. The children have been exploring the different areas within the classroom and the outdoor area.

Reception Read Write Inc parent meeting

Reception parents were invited into class to read with their child. Parents then had the opportunity to meet with Mrs Wilkinson to find out about our phonics scheme ‘Read Write inc’. During the meeting, parents were given a reading pack to help with their child’s reading and writing at home.

Our Senses

The children in Reception have been learning about their senses. They had the opportunity to taste different foods. they tasted foods that are salty, bitter, sour and sweet.

CAFOD Visit

On Monday 23rd CAFOD visited our school to tell us all about how their World Gifts scheme has developed and how Catholic Social Teaching principles remind us how to live together, supporting everyone.

Water Play

Both indoors and outdoors, Reception children have been exploring the water areas. Allowing children to explore water safely helps children to develop and strengthen their gross and fine motor skills, as well as improving their hand-eye coordination. They have enjoyed finding different ways to make the water travel.

Looking after our teeth

In Reception we have been learning about people who help us, we looked at the job of a dentist. We then talked about how we can keep our teeth healthy. The children had a chance to practise their teeth brushing skills.

Buddies Assembly

Year 6 welcomed their buddies from Reception to St Jude’s Catholic Primary School during assembly.

Reception class 2024 open evening. 🌈

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

Autumn

In Reception, the children have been learning about the season of Autumn. They had the opportunity to go on an Autumn walk around the school grounds to look for signs of Autumn. The children also rolled conkers in paint to create some fantastic pieces of art.

Bonfire Night

Reception about the story of ‘The Gunpowder Plot’. The children also had a discussion about keeping safe during Bonfire Night. They then had the opportunity to make some edible sparklers and created some firework artwork.

❤️🌈⭐️ Fun Friday in Early Years ⭐️🌈❤️

What a lovely morning we have had in our early years department this morning. ⭐️
We have been using our water play equipment, we have been pouring, mixing and strengthening our developing gross and fine motor skills.

⭐️❤️🥰 Open Evening 🥰❤️⭐️

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

Open evening ❤️🌈⭐️

🌟 📚 Do you have a child due to start Reception Class in September 2025?
Applications have opened on the Wigan Council website and will close on 25th January 2025. Between now and the closing date is your opportunity to visit local primary schools and choose the right school for your child. ❤️

📚 To give prospective families a closer look at our fantastic reception class and the experiences we offer, we invite you to our Open Evening on Wednesday, 27th November from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM.

🍎 Join us to tour school, meet our dedicated staff and discover all that St. Jude’s has to offer. It’s a perfect opportunity to ask questions and see firsthand how we create a supportive and stimulating environment for our youngest learners.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of our nurturing, vibrant school community! We can’t wait to welcome you and your child.

⭐️ For more information and to apply, visit the Wigan Council website today! https://www.wigan.gov.uk/resident/education/schools/school-admissions/primary-schools.aspx

StJudesschool #Reception2025 #OpenEvening #WiganCouncil #EarlyYearsEducation #FutureofEducation

Fun in the Snow

After the snow fall over night, Reception had lots of fun playing and exploring outside.

Art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy

The children in Reception looked at and discussed photographs of Andy Goldsworthy’s artwork and sculptures. They then create their own pieces of art in the style of And Goldsworthy.

Shadows

In Reception we have been exploring light and dark. The children enjoyed making shadow and finger puppets in class.

Pattern

The children in Reception have been learning about pattern. They explored making patterns such as spiral, zig zag, lines and dots. They then went on to make AB patterns with their bodies and coloured objects.

Wigan Library Services

Reception had a visitor from Wigan Library Services, they learned about what the local libraries have to offer and found out how to become a member of a library. The children also enjoyed joining in with fun, interactive stories.

Christmas Buddies

Reception and Year 6 have enjoyed spending some time together with their buddies, sharing Christmas cards that they have made for each other and eating lunch together.

Winter

In Reception, the children have been learning about winter. They had chance to spot scenes of winter on a wonderful walk around the school grounds, they learnt about wearing appropriate clothes in winter to keep warm. They had the opportunity to explore freezing and melting with real life snow. They also painted some beautiful winter scenes.

Partitioning five

In Reception, the children have been exploring ways to partition 5 into different parts. They have been singing five little speckled frogs and they have also been hiding the frogs into the pool to find different way to partition 5.

Chinese New Year

The children in Reception have been learning about Chinese New Year, they learned about the celebrations and traditions that take place. The children enjoyed tasting some delicious, Chinese food and made some fabulous decorations.

Handa’s Surprise Food tasting

This week, Reception have been reading Handa’s surprise. They have had the opportunity to taste the delicious fruits from the story. Whilst doing so, the children described how the fruits felt, smelt and tasted.

NSPCC Number Day

Reception enjoyed taking part in NSPCC number day.

Colour Mixing

Reception have been exploring mixing primary colours together.

Artwork in Reception

Reception have been creating art in the style of Kandinsky.

Shrove Tuesday

The children in Reception learnt about Shrove Tuesday. They then had the opportunity to choose and add toppings to their pancakes.

Floating and Sinking

This week in Reception, the children have been exploring floating and sinking in our outdoor water area. They found different objects from inside and outside of the classroom to investigate whether they float or whether they sink.

World Book Day

The children in Reception dressed up as a character from their favourite story book. The children had a brilliant day celebrating books. During the day their year 6 buddies came to class to share a story with their Reception buddy.

Investigating 7

In Reception, the children played a game to investigate ways of making 7 with two parts.

Road Safety

The children in Reception have been learning about how to keep safe on the roads, they learned all about how to cross the road safely. They enjoyed taking part in different activities related to road safety.

Number Doubles

Reception have been doubling numbers within 10 using their fingers, dice and objects. They also had a go at writing the number sentence.

Reception RE – The Last Supper

Reception retold the story of The Last Supper together. They then shared some bread and a drink. They passed it around and reenacted the story of Jesus’ meal with his friends.

The Big Lent Walk

Reception went on their Big Lent Walk around the school grounds.

Reception Maths – Capacity

in Maths this week, Reception have been learning about capacity. They have been exploring filling containers using whilst using the vocabulary ”full, nearly full, empty, nearly empty’.

Mother’s Day 💕

A fabulous Prayer and Liturgy to celebrate all of the amazing ladies in our lives.

Easter Garden

The children in Reception made Easter Gardens to further their learning about Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

3D Shape

In Reception, the children have been learning about 3D shapes. They built models using the different 3D shapes they have been learning about, whilst building the models the children talked about the properties of the 3D shapes.

Springtime

In Reception this week, the children have been learning about the season of spring. The children have been on a spring walk around the school grounds to look for signs of spring. The children have also created some beautiful observational paintings of spring flowers.

Magnets

The reception children have been exploring magnets. They discovered that magnets stick to some objects, like metal, but not to others, like wood or plastic. They enjoyed testing what a magnet can pick up and were surprised by magnetic attraction and repulsion. 

Easter Baskets

During Spring 2, in RE, Reception class learned about different traditions that take place during Lent. The children learned about a tradition in Poland, this is where baskets containing a sampling of Easter foods are brought to church to be blessed on Holy Saturday. The basket is traditionally lined with a white linen or lace napkin and decorated with sprigs of boxwood (bukszpan), the typical Easter evergreen. As a class we decided to make a class basket to share with the local foodbank. The children donated packets and tins of food to contribute to the Easter basket.

Minibeast Hunt

Reception went on a minibeast hunt around the school grounds, they found lots of woodlice!

Ladybirds

Reception have been reading What the Ladybird Heard, they made some ladybirds. This activity developed the children’s cutting, folding and joining skills.

Clay Spiders

As part of Reception’s topic ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. Reception have been creating clay spiders, the spiders were inspired by Louise Bourgeois ‘Mamam’ sculpture.

Pentecost

Reception children have been learning about the coming of the Holy Spirit in RE, we had a Pentecost celebration in class. The children decorated a banner to display in class, they decorated biscuits with red icing and they made paper swirls to blow in the wind.

Hinduism

In Reception, we had a visit from one of our parents and siblings. They came into class to talk about their religion. The children learnt about different Hindu traditions and beliefs.

Year 6 and Reception Prayer and Liturgy

Year 6 and Reception have taken part in a Prayer and Liturgy together in our Spiritual Garden. The children reflected on the times they have spent together this year and how they are now ready for their next step as Reception move into Y1 and Y6 move up to High School.

Y6 and Reception buddies.

Year 6 have spent their last lunch at St. Jude’s with their buddies from Reception.

Achievers Assembly

On Friday, we celebrated our first Achievers Assembly of the new school year. Well done to this week’s achievers! Keep up the great work ⭐️

Settling In

Reception have made a great start to their time at St Jude’s. We have enjoyed making new friends, learning our classroom rules and routine and exploring all the learning opportunity. We are looking forward to a fun filled year together!

Matching

In Maths this week Reception have been learning about sorting and matching. We read a story called ‘A Pair of Socks’ and then played a matching game.

God’s wonderful world

This week in RE Pre-school and Reception have been learning about the story of creation. The children learnt about how all the things God made were ‘very good.’ We decided to share a Prayer and Liturgy together in the Spiritual Garden, where we celebrated God’s wonderful world. After, we searched for things God had made and thought about what he would say about it.

Buddies

On Friday our Year 6 children welcomed their buddy into our school with a special Prayer and Liturgy. Reception parents were invited to share in this celebration. Year 6 presented their buddies with a seed which they will plant together as they support their buddy to ‘Learn, love and grow with Jesus.’

Achievers Assembly

Congratulations to this week’s achievers. Keep up the great work!

Achievers Assembly

Well done to all the achievers this week!

Achievers Assembly

Congratulations to all of our achievers! We love celebrating all of the hard work that has taken place throughout the week.

Achievers Assembly

Congratulations to this week’s achievers!

Fun in EYFS ❤️

Here is a quick recap of our last week in preschool. 💛

Achievers Assembly

What a wonderful half term we have had at St Jude’s! It has been a joy to share all of the hard work the children have accomplished over the last 8 weeks.
Here are this week’s achievers. Keep up the great work everyone and we look forward to celebrating everyone’s success next half term ⭐️

Achievers Assembly

Well done to all the achievers this week!

Blessing the crib

Nursery, Reception and Year 6 all joined together for a very special Celebration of the Word. Father Michael came in bless our cribs. Each Reception child had made a manger and during Advent we have been adding hay to get it ready for Jesus’ birth. After the blessing, Receptions Year 6 buddies gave them a baby Jesus to put into their mangers they had made.

Assembly Achievers

Well done to all the achievers this week. What an excellent way to start the new year and term!

Achievers Assembly

What another fantastic week! Well done to all the achievers. Keep up the great work ⭐️

Achievers Assembly

Another fantastic week at St Jude’s. Well done to all the achievers this week! ⭐️

Shapes with 4 sides

In maths this week, Reception have been exploring shapes with 4 sides. Children have identified the properties of the shapes by counting the sides and the vertices. We discussed a square having 4 equal sides is what makes it ‘special.’ Children then used their knowledge of shapes to sort shapes into 4 sides and not 4 sides, explaining where their shapes belonged and why.

Assembly Achievers

Well done to all the achievers this week!

Sharing what we have

Reception have been learning all about when Jesus fed the 5000. We discussed how the little boy shared what he had with Jesus so that he could feed everyone who had come to see him. The children wanted to share food with others just like the boy in the story. We decided to invite our buddies to share sandwiches, sharing our bread, cheese and lettuce before cutting the sandwich in half to share and eat! The children also made cards for the resident of a local care home “to cheer them up” and “spread God’s love.”

Assembly Achievers ⭐️

Congratulations to all of our assembly achievers this week! What a wonderful way to end the term.

Pancake Challenge.

Today in Reception, things got flipping fantastic! 🥞

We challenged the children to a one-minute pancake flipping contest and asked, “How many can you flip in a minute?” Using their fantastic gross motor skills, the children carefully flipped their playdough pancakes in the pan while counting each one.

There was lots of concentration, excitement and big smiles as they tried to beat their own scores. What a fun way to build coordination, confidence and counting skills all at the same time!

Achievers Assembly

On Friday, we had another very successful week! Well done to all our achievers ⭐️

Achievers Assembly

Well done to all our achievers this week. Keep up the great work ⭐️

Safer Internet Day 💻

Today, the whole school took part in an assembly lead by Mr Parry for Safer Internet Day. They discussed how AI can be used to help us but also has its limitations.

Y6 and Reception Reading Buddies for World Book Day

Year 6 loved having buddy time with Reception to read some stories during World Book Day.

🌟 World Book Day & The Big Lenten Walk in Reception 🌟

Reception children combined World Book Day with taking part in the Big Lent Walk in a very exciting way!

We explored the story of The Gingerbread Man, retelling the tale together and joining in with the famous line, “Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”

Just like in the story, a Little Old Lady had baked a gingerbread man… but he ran away from our classroom! The cheeky gingerbread man dashed out onto the playground and the children had to chase after him to try and catch him. The children loved running, laughing and working together to help the Little Old Lady catch him.

Back in the classroom, the fun continued as the children made their own gingerbread people using playdough, carefully shaping and decorating them. At the end of the day, everyone enjoyed a special gingerbread treat after all their hard work!

This exciting day also helped us take part in the Big Lent Walk, where we walk to support people living in poverty around the world during Lent.

It was a wonderful way to bring together stories, creativity, exercise and helping others. The children had so much fun and showed fantastic enthusiasm throughout the day! 🏃‍♂️🍪📚

Well done Reception! 👏

📚✨ Reception and Year 6 Buddy Time – World Book Day ✨📚

Our Reception children had a lovely time celebrating World Book Day with their Year 6 buddies.

The older children spent time with Reception, talking about their fantastic costumes and the characters they had chosen to dress up as. It was wonderful to see the children confidently sharing their ideas and explaining who they had come as for the day.

The buddies also enjoyed sharing stories together, with the Year 6 pupils helping to read and talk about the books. Reception loved listening and joining in, and the older children were fantastic role models.

It was a really special time for both year groups, helping to build confidence, friendships and a shared love of reading. 📖

Thank you to our wonderful Year 6 buddies for making the day so special! 👏

Homework Coffee Afternoon

As always, we were delighted to welcome families into school to celebrate and share all the fantastic effort children have put into their homework projects. Thank you for supporting your child to be creative and share their learning. We were so impressed with each and every project.

Reception Create Beautiful Easter Gardens 🌿🐣

This week in Reception, we have been exploring the meaning of Easter through a hands-on and creative activity—making our very own Easter Gardens.

To begin, the children watched a short video which showed them step-by-step how to create an Easter Garden. This helped them to understand the key features, such as the tomb, the cross, and the natural elements like grass, soil and stones. We discussed what each part represents and how it links to the Easter story.

Following this, we worked together as a whole class to create our own Easter Garden. The children were fully involved in shaping the soil, placing the stones, and carefully positioning the crosses. It was a lovely opportunity to work collaboratively, share ideas, and reflect on the meaning behind what we were making.

After our class creation, the children showed fantastic independence and creativity by choosing to make their own Easter Gardens during provision time. Using the leftover resources from our whole-class activity, as well as materials available in the creative area, they designed and built their own unique versions. It was wonderful to see them applying what they had learned, making choices, and expressing their understanding through play and exploration.

We are so proud of the children’s enthusiasm, creativity, and growing understanding of Easter. 🌼

Stay and Pray: Getting Ready for Easter 🙏🌿

We were delighted to welcome our Preschool and Reception families for a special Stay and Pray session as we prepare for Easter.

Parents and Grandparents joined us for a calm and reflective collective worship, where we gathered together to think about the true meaning of Easter. The children listened beautifully as we shared the story of the Last Supper, helping them to begin to understand this important part of the Easter story.

Together, we spent time reflecting on how we can be like Jesus in our everyday lives. The children reflected on being kind, helpful and loving towards others, both at home and at school.

It was a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community, and it was lovely to see the children engaging so respectfully alongside their families. Thank you to everyone who joined us and made the session so special. 💜