What stood out to us was when she said: "I keep going because I know who has called me."

Five 'You Made Me Smile' slips are drawn out of a box each half term and the winners get a values wristband. 'You Made Me Smile's' are given to children who have been seen demonstrating our values around school.

Can you remember our school values?!

(Love, compassion, truth, fairness and forgiveness.)

Well done to our winners!

Each class has a homework heroes box and each time a child reads at home or completes a piece of homework, they get to put a raffle ticket into the box.

One winner is drawn from each class. Well done to our Homework Heroes for Autumn 1.

Kaleb said singing is his favourite thing in the whole world.

Paisley suggested that we sing to welcome God to our worship. The music makes Ember happy.

After the war they were named this to symbolise peace.

They are all different. Different shapes, colours, poses and flavours. We are all different too. Differences are wonderful and we talked about the jelly babies to help us remember this.

Always forget about arguments after they’ve finished - Debbie-Leigh

If you practise making peace when you are young, you will be able to do it when you’re old. - Ellie-Mai

Compromise - Muhammed-Yusuf

Rev Rebecca asked us how we know that Christmas is coming. Here were our ideas:

"It gets colder."

"We write Christmas cards."

"The Christmas decorations go up."

"Parents start to hide things in the house!"

"We kick a ball. I want a ball for Christmas."

"The leaves fall off the trees."

Rev Rebecca told us that she knows Christmas is coming when she sees the Coca Cola advert!

We reflected on how we can be a light at Christmas too.

What does advent mean? Rev Alice told us it means waiting. Three children had a go at waiting for a long time. It was very hard!

That’s a very long time to wait and hope.

We reflected on what helps us to wait for things.

We are so enthusiastic about our new reading scrapbooks! Each week there is a big list of children wanting to share what they have done at home!

Rev Rebecca asked: What does peace mean to you?

"Showing respect to other people."

"I think it means rest or quiet time."

"No fighting and there’s always respect."

"No noise."

"Peaceful, calm, special, happy."

The candle made us peaceful. The candle represents Jesus as the light of the world and he brings peace to our lives.

As part of the good news section, Esther and Debbie-Leigh read a sports report they had written about the success of the girl's football team that week! Sport is a big part of our school life and the children love representing school. Doing so allows them to flourish and showcase their talents. We are very lucky to have such talented children at St James'!

We had a competition to see which line of children could pass on a message the fastest.

In the nativity story, the shepherds shared the joyful news to everyone that Jesus had been born.

We found out how Christians in Pakistan celebrate Christmas.

T tinsel

H halo

A advent calendar

S star

R Rudolph

C cat

I igloo

S santa

M magnet

The children on stage rearranged themselves to make a word. The word was Christmas.

On the back of each bag was a word. The words made this scripture:

Today a saviour has been born to you. Luke 2:11

Saviour means the one who saves. Rev Rebecca reminded us that Jesus was our saviour, sent to Earth at Christmas to save us all of our sins.

As it is the end of term we had extra achievements to celebrate, including our you've made me smile prize.

Throughout the half term, when a child makes a member of staff smile by showing our school values, it is recorded on a special slip of paper and put into the 'You Made Me Smile' box.

On the last day of the half term, 5 slips are chosen at random and the winners are rewarded with a wristband containing our school values!

All of our St James family gather in the hall, in front of our lovely Christmas tree, and sing Christmas Carols together.

Each class treated us to a poem, reading or performance.

What a perfect way to end 2023 in school. Merry Christmas!

Rev Alice led us in the first worship of the Spring Term. It was so lovely to be back in church together.

We launched our British Values theme by discussing democracy and what it means. We played a game where we voted whether we thought a situation was a good example of democracy or not.

What does democracy mean?

It means people have a say in how they live and no one person controls them. - Y6 Amelia

Only the boys could vote for the song today. The girls said this wasn’t fair and they felt left out and offended. Some of the boys said they thought it wasn’t fair either.

Mrs Bibby and some of the Y6s told us all about the suffragettes. They were a group of women who campaigned for the right to vote.

Kyla Y6 - yes because it’s better than we were as we can wear trousers and vote.

Lyla Y4 - men are physically stronger and women mentally stronger

Debbie Leigh Y5 - Building on what Lyla said, I think it depends on the individual

Ellie-Mai Y6 - there used to be some things that women had that men didn’t for example men can wear dresses now.

We voted again for which song we wanted to sing. This time, all the children could vote. Here I Am to Worship was the winner.

We talked about how it’s harder for some people to respect some professions such as traffic wardens who give parking tickets and tax collectors.

After our discussion, Rev Rebecca is a story from the bible about when Jesus showed respect to a tax collector and taught him how to be kind and humble.

We were extra excited today as many of us were in our own clothes or pyjamas and had tattoos, jewellery or our own snack for the PTFA Break the Rules Day!

Rev Alice said the words mean that Jesus was saying to God, I don’t want to choose, I will do what you choose for me.

We looked at some pictures of baptism and Rev Alice told us how Christians can make a choice to be baptised, just like Jesus was in the River Jordan.

We discussed what choices we had made already in the morning before our worship.

We talked about what choices we might change if we could choose again. For example, some children said they would choose to get out of bed earlier rather than go back to sleep so they weren't rushing or late.

I wonder how many of our children will grow up to be PCSOs?!

Mrs Tindall also told us which children had won a badge for our walk to school challenge in January!

Well done to the recipients of the Walk to School badges, who have kept their bodies healthy and reduced pollution by walking to school throughout January!

By the end, Rev Alice had no one to talk to! She talked about how lonely it is to exclude people and how Jesus loved everyone, so we should do the same.

Rev Alice said her list again and this time, if something was true about us, we had to stand up because Rev Alice loves us! Everybody was standing up and we all agreed that it felt much better that way, when everyone was included.

Different classes were paired together and we watched a video about two men, Reverend Mark and Imam Irfan who are good friends and also leaders in places of worship for two different religions - Christianity and Islam.

The atmosphere was lovely and the children said they loved interacting with others who they don't usually chat to. Lots of children said they felt proud when someone that makes them different was celebrated by being recorded on someone's grid.

Esther chose to use improvised prayer with whatever sprung to mind, in front of the whole school! She is very brave and creative - some of the reasons why she was voted by her peers to become a Worship Warrior!

A huge thank you to our choir and to Miss Whaley for closing our worship with a beautiful rendition of Fix You.

She reminded us what Lent is and why Christians believe it is so important. Many Christians give something up for Lent, just like Jesus had to resist the temptation of the devil in the desert.

Have you given anything up for Lent?!

Here are our SKATs winners. SKATs stands for Skills and Attitudes and were created by St James' to celebrate important attributes alongside the National Curriculum, which are important for our holistic development and future success.

The Eco Pupil Voice Group did an incredible job at leading the assembly all by themselves! They were very passionate!

This week in church we focused on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.

We talked about how a famous person might arrive at church if they came to visit. We looked at photographs of the procession for King Charles at his coronation.

Then Rev Alice told us all about how Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. Some Reception children helped act out the arrival of Jesus on Palm Sunday.

Rev Alice told us about during Holy Week, when Jesus went to the temple and people were using it for selling things instead of worshipping and praying. He flipped the tables over in anger. They made a big bang like the metal tins in the tower did.

We suggested things we would like to pray for.

The story was sad, as Lazarus died, and it seemed as though there was no hope in the story at all. But when we reflected carefully, we saw there was hope there, through Jesus. Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life.” He went to Lazarus and Lazarus came out of his tomb alive.

Rev Alice reminded us that Easter is about hope.

Some children helped Rev Rebeca explain how Jesus was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane by acting out the story.

The Oracy PVG encouraged lots of discussion and the children came up with some fantastic ideas.

One of our junior children contributed by very bravely standing at the front of school to share how BSL is used in her family and taught the school some basic BSL signs. This was a very special moment and we were very proud.

Here is Kyla telling Reception and Year 3 all about WWF - The Worldwide Wildlife Fund.

The Y6 children did an amazing job and really thought about how to engage their audience, including videos, photos and quizzes.

All the Y6s did a superb job.

"God directs the steps of the Godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." - Psalm 37: 23

Have a look at our History page on the website to see some more photographs!

Rev Rebecca reminded us that the church are still celebrating Easter.

We watched a video all about the events of Easter to remind ourselves of what happened.

What small things can we do for Jesus?

The children shared their ideas:

Celebrate him

Make sculptures of him

Spread his word

Remember why we eat Easter eggs

Pray to God

Thank him

Make a day about him and celebrate him

Rev Rebecca suggested that we could forgive others like we are forgiven.

3 volunteers came to the front. Everybody was given 5 dojos apart from the three volunteers. They were given a bag instead, which they could open at the end of worship.

We are so loved by God that he will always he our hope and be in our corner. Because of Easter, there is hope for everyone that we can be with God forever and we will always have someone there by our side.

Two bags had an Easter Egg and dojos and one had nothing. Even though the children didn't know what the outcome would be when they opened the bag, the hope was still there.

“He got rocks and a hammer.”

“He made the flowers.”

How does the video make us feel inside?

“Happy.”

“Excited.”

“Thankful.”

When we are given a gift what do we do with it?

“Open it.”

“Use it.”

“Say thank you.”

“Pass it on to someone else.”

Rev Rebecca talked about how we would look after a precious gift that we are given. She told us that the world is a gift from God and we should care for it.

"If someone falls we can help them up"

"Help someone with their work"

"Smile"

We shouldn’t ...

"Push people"

"Join in if people are being unkind"

"Tease people"

Rev Rebecca told us the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan. She talked about how this sets an example for us.

We discussed in talk partners why being kind is important, then the worship warriors told us about an example of kindness in the bible: the Pharaoh's daughter who saved Moses from the river as raised him as her son.

Before worship, every child had been given a positive note with somebody else's name on the back. We did an activity where 5 children had to find their name in the hall without anyone helping. They couldn't do it!

The worship warriors explained that this shows how our own happiness as well as that of others, is easier to find when we help each other, rather than just focus on our own.

We can hear from the bible even if we don’t have one or struggle to read.

What do we think Psalm is telling us? The children shared their ideas:

-Cheer up

-Don’t give up

-You don’t need to be worried

-You don’t need to be afraid because even though we can’t see them, God and Jesus are always around us because they are the light of the world

-He is always there whenever you need him

-Don’t be worried about our enemies and stay calm

-Think happy feelings

God is telling us: you are so special and precious. The challenges you face, I have got it sorted.

We thought of a challenge which we have coming up and Rev Rebecca prayed for God to be with us.

Mrs Tindall showed us a video to explain all about Ascension Day. 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven and told us the Holy Spirit would be with us always. Ascension Day is always on a Thursday. The symbol for Ascension is a cloud.

How did the disciples feel when Jesus ascended?

“The disciples would have felt surprised to see him ascend."

"Confused because it’s just not what you usually see."

"Sad because he came back and then he had to go and leave them again."

Did you know the winners of star of the week, class of the week and planet points are on our website home page?!

The man invited lots of rich, important people but they were unable to attend. The man went to the village and asked some poor people to come instead. They had the most amazing time because they had said yes. Jesus said these people are so important and we mustn’t forget them.

How does the church help their community?

Rev Rebecca told us they run food banks, help people learn how to manage their money, run stay and play sessions, run lunch clubs, provide warm spaces during winter.

How could church help in other ways?

The children gave some suggestions:

“Help people”

“Pray”

“Set up more food banks”

“Set up a group where you pray”

“If someone is in a sad place, you could be there for them”

“Donate water across the world”

Have a look at our class padlets to see how the children responded.

What needs power?

We shared some ideas of objects we know need power to work.

Rev Rebecca shared an artists portrayal of Pentecost. Jesus told his disciples that when he leaves, he would send a helper to help them continue sharing God’s love. The helper was the Holy Spirit.

We made the rushing wind noises and Rev Rebecca told us all about the flames that were over the heads of the disciples. We talked about how amazing it is to have Jesus all around us all the time.

We talked about how amazing bees are, how hard they work and how they work as a team.

Some children afterwards said they found it very interesting and powerful.

Joshua 1:1-9

We talked about what God was saying to Joshua. Here were our ideas:

“I will be with you”

“You can do it”

We discussed how the bible passage teaches us that God is always with us and we are never alone. One child responded: “We might feel happy because we know we are not alone. God is always next to us.”

The pieces of art are by artists from different places in the world. We also looked at pictures which show some aspects of the culture from the country which the artwork came from.

We shared with each other which our favourite piece of artwork was and why and talked about what surprised us. Then we discussed how Jesus is represented in the pictures and why this might be different in different pieces of art.

“Everyone in the world sees things differently and so they will see Jesus differently too.” - Eska Y3

We looked at the artist He Qi from China and some more examples of his work.

Finally we created our own depiction of Jesus on small pieces of wood to show how we would represent Jesus.

The finished pieces were absolutely incredible and were showcased in church, then moved to our worship display in school.

Isn't it amazing?!

We talked about what we might do when we are excited. Here are some of our ideas:

“Jump around our bedroom.”

“Smile.”

“Cry.”

“Run around.”

“Scream and go on your knees.”

What does the bible tell us we should do when we are excited?

We looked at Philippians 4:4-6, which tells us: "I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

We learned a bit about the singer - Matt Redman - and why he wrote the song.

We picked apart the lyrics and looked at bible scriptures which inspired the lyrics of the song.

We all nested the things we are thankful for.