St James' CE Primary can take up to one class each year, but actually takes slightly fewer children. Classes have usually around 24 pupils.
Key information about the day-to-day running of St James' Primary School can be found here – everything from the price of a school dinner to important dates in the school year. If there remains something that you still need to know, we’re always happy to answer any questions you may have – call in or contact us.
This section is all about how you can join in and be part of our community.
St James' CE Primary is very much an active community. Pupils, parents / carers and staff at school are all important 'stakeholders' and we want everyone to have their say, to express their ideas and to keep on making our learning community a great place to be.
Every pupil at St James' CE Primary School is an enthusiastic, positive and expressive learner – but it's not just our children! We are all learners: we can keep on learning new methods, new facts, new points of view.
This section is all about learning and how parents / carers can support or join in the learning process.
It finishes with a little goodbye message from me.
I just want to add that I am so proud of all of you all and how you have coped with the school year taking such an unexpected turn.
I have loved every day of teaching at St James’ Primary School and will really miss seeing your smiling faces 😊 I will be keeping in touch to see how you are all getting on in your Reception year and Year One.
We can’t believe that this is our final week of home learning activities. We’re going to finish with ‘Where’s My Teddy?’ written by Jez Alborough.
We often celebrate our learning and the end of Foundation with a Teddy Bear’s picnic party. Sadly, this isn’t going to be possible this year but we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun. So, this week, we’d love it if you could have a Teddy Bear’s picnic at home and send us your photos.
We’ll share all of your photographs on the class news page. We thought that this would be a lovely way to end the year – to fill our Class News Page with all of your happy, smiling faces.
Where’s My Teddy
Did you enjoy the story?
How do you think Eddy felt when he lost his teddy?
Do you have a favourite teddy bear or soft toy? Talk to your family members about their favourite toys as children. They may still have an old favourite teddy hidden away somewhere that they can show you.
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Mark Making
Draw or cut out an outline of a bear. Ask your child to add eyes, a nose and a mouth to the bears face. You could encourage them to draw some clothes on the bear or a bow tie and decorate it with patterns. There are also some free printable pencil control activity sheets to download on Twinkl.
Find a recipe to bake something to eat at your Teddy Bear’s Picnic this week. There are lots of recipe ideas on the I Can Cook website. Some bears like to eat honey; you might like to make a honey sandwich! Ask your child to help butter the bread and add their choice of sandwich filling. With help, they can cut their sandwiches carefully into squares or triangles.
Understanding the World
Do you like honey? If you’ve never tried it before, have a try. What does it taste like?
Where does honey come from? Maddie Moate knows all about where honey comes from because her parents are bee keepers. Watch these short clips to find out about how bees make honey and how Maddie harvests honey from her bee hives.
Mathematics
1) Top Marks has a teddy bear counting game that children really enjoy playing at Nursery. We help children to recognise the number so that they know how many cupcakes to feed the bear.
2) Ask your child to choose some soft toys/teddies to invite to the picnic. How many have they chosen? How many plates and cups will they need?
Watch
Teddy bears are obviously very popular as there are lots of programmes available to watch all about bears! Here’s an episode from Postman Pat about a Special ‘teddy’ Delivery or you can find out what happens in the town of Biggleton when too many bears arrive for the picnic.
A bit of a different story time today. Today’s story will be read by the author herself; Carol McCloud.
“Have you filled a bucket today?” is a lovely way of explaining to children our feelings and how we can help improve the feelings of others.
You can watch the video below:
Today’s activity linked to the story is simple but important. A conversation. This has links to PSED; understanding / talking about our feelings and how we ‘manage’ them. You might ask:
What might you be feeling if you have an ’empty bucket’?
What makes your bucket feel empty?
What can people do to help you fill your bucket?
What might you be feeling when your ‘bucket’ is full?
What makes your bucket feel full?
What can you do to help fill the buckets of other people?
Your child may want to draw some pictures inside a bucket outline of all the things that fill their bucket.
Have a lovely weekend and remember to always try to be a ‘bucket filler’
Whilst going on a big holiday might be less likely this year, we know that everyone loves a trip to the seaside.
This week’s story is another of Julia Donaldon’s popular books, it’s called ‘Sharing a shell’.
You can also listen to Julia Donaldson singing the ‘Sharing a Shell’ song here.
Talk about the story with your child. Have you ever visited the seaside and had a look in the rockpools? You may have some photos that you could look at and talk about what you saw whilst at the seaside.
Here are some activities that you could try that are linked to the story.
Listening skills
We might not be able to visit the seaside as much as we’d like to at the moment, but we can still listen to some seaside sounds. Listen to the beginning of the recording and see if you can guess what some of the sounds are.
Don’t worry if you don’t have any sand! Have you ever made cloud dough at home? Whilst it can be messy, it’s great fun and very easy to make. All you need is some flour and oil (vegetable oil or baby oil) and to mix them together in a bowl. There’s a recipe here, but you don’t have to add the extras like oranges or cinnamon. Once you’ve made your cloud dough, you can use small pots and spoons (yogurt pots or small containers) to scoop and mould it.
Creative
Have a go at making a flag to go in your sandcastle. You could use a bamboo skewer or find a small stick when you go for a walk. Cut out some paper to make the flag and decorate it with a picture. Will it be a triangle or rectangle shaped flag? Make sure that you keep it somewhere safe so that you can take it to the seaside, the next time you go. You’ll be able to look forward to building a giant sandcastle!
Lego challenge
Build a lighthouse using your Lego/Duplo bricks. How tall can you make it? Is it stable or does it fall over? Here’s a very short clip of Maddie learning about lighthouses.
Role play
Do you like to eat fish and chips at the seaside? You could have a go at creating your own fish and chip shop. Cut out a circle to make a cone and use some dry penne pasta for chips. You could make a fish using some brown cardboard. If you have an old newspaper or magazine, you could use that to wrap them up. Add a note pad to take orders and some money for the customers to pay. Have fun!
Watch
Join Barnaby Bear on his visit to the seaside.
Health and self care
What would you wear to go to the seaside? Being able to get undressed and dressed independently is a really important skill. Encourage your child to get dressed by themselves when you’re not in a rush. Can they put their own shorts and t-shirt on? How about tricky socks?
This week’s story is one of the very popular books from a series of stories written by Claire Freedman; they’re all about aliens, dinosaurs and pirates that love underpants!
We hope you enjoy listening to the story about a crew of cheeky pirates that are looking for some golden treasure.
Pirates Love Underpants
We hope that you enjoyed listening to the story.
What was your favourite part?
Did any parts of the story make you laugh?
Can you remember which animal was waiting underneath the bridge?
How did the pirates trick the rival pirate crew to steal the treasure?
Here are some activities for you to try that are linked to the story.
Creative
Have a go at making your own pirate hat, patch, telescope or treasure chest. Before you start, gather together some cardboard boxes or tubes from your recycling pile. You could cut out the shape of a hat from an opened out cereal box or you could simply roll up some paper to make a telescope. A clean, empty egg box would make a great treasure chest. It can be as easy or as complicated as you want to make it!
We’ve added a few links if you need some help or a starting point.
Music
This week, we thought we’d share another of the songs we enjoy listening to before home time at Nursery. It’s called ‘Port Side Pirates’. We hope you enjoy singing along at home.
Mark making
Every good pirate needs a map! Draw where the pirates have hidden the treasure on the island. Is it next to a tree or in a cave?How will you show where the treasure is? That’s right, X marks the spot. When we were little, we used to use a teabag to stain the paper to make our treasure maps look really old. Did you?
Role play
Grab your hats, telescopes and treasure maps and come aboard! We’re sure that you can make a pirate ship on your bed/sofa/picnic blanket and enjoy sailing the Seven Seas together. What can you see through your telescope? Is that a desert island ahead? Look for the landmarks on your map and go and find some treasure! Ahoy, Maties!
Mathematics
Investigate capacity using a selection of different containers, bottles and tubs. This activity might be a good one to do in the bath or outside with a bucket or storage box full of water. Children love to play in the water and investigate pouring and filling containers. As they pour, talk to your child about which containers/bottle holds the most/least water. Is it nearly full? Half full? Empty? If you have a funnel or colander in the kitchen, let children explore using these too. If you want to add to the discussion, you could put a hole in one of the bottles. What happens to the water as you try to fill the bottle?
Treasure hunt – Hide 5 coins outside. As children find them, ask how many there are left to find. Once you have found 2 coins, how many are still missing?
Listen to this counting story about ’10 Little Pirates’ . Can you join in each time and work out how many pirates are left each time?
Physical development
Can you walk the plank at home? Have a look in your garden or whilst on a walk in your local area to see if you can find something to practise balancing along to ‘walk the plank’. You might have a plank of wood that you could lay along the floor, or you could use a rope or rolled up blanket. Children will enjoy carefully balancing along it and then jumping off the end.
Scavenger hunt
Can you find something that is… red/blue etc… circle/triangle shaped something shiny/dull something that makes a loud noise/quiet noise…
Perhaps your grown-up can think of more items to hunt for!
Don’t forget to send pictures of your home learning to:
This week, it is the turn of one of my favourite children’s books. There is a part at the start where you should try to guess the main character (so I won’t reveal the title just yet!)
How would Gerald be feeling at the start of the story when the other animals are laughing at him?
How many different types of dance did the jungle animals perform?
What do you think the cricket meant when he said; “Sometimes when you’re different you just need a different song?”
How was Gerald feeling at the end of the story?
Do you like to dance? What is your favourite song and dance move? Perhaps you can send us a short video of your fab dancing for the class news page!
stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Activities
Have you ever wondered what a real-life jungle might look like? Google Maps now has the ability to let you see a ‘street view’ of the Amazon Rainforest! Just type in ‘Amazon Rainforest’ on the website and drag and drop the little yellow person in the corner to any blue marker.
Colouring is a great way to be calm and relax. Scholastic.co.uk have a lovely Giraffes can’t dance themed colouring sheet. Click here to download and print yours!
Today’s story is called The Runaway Train and is all about Duffy Driver and his adventures on ‘The Little Red Train’. It is one of a series of books written by Benedict Blathwayt.
We hope that you enjoyed listening to the story. Here are some things to talk about after you have listened together.
What did Duffy Driver forget to do at the beginning of the story?
Can you remember some of the different types of transport that he used to try and catch up with the train?
How did Duffy Driver manage to get back onto the train?
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Role play
We love to build trains, boats and other vehicles at Nursery using a whole variety of resources. Can you make a train at home? Have a look around and see what you can find to use. You might put your dining chairs in a line or make a row of cushions on the floor. If you have any cardboard boxes you could use those. Where will you go on the train? What can you see out of the window?
Do you need a ticket? Cut some small pieces of paper and use them as tickets. The conductor could collect them and write on where each passenger is travelling to. Remember, writing for a purpose is great way to get children mark making in Nursery. Writing/mark making of all forms is valued – from lines and circles to zig zags and crosses.
Small world
Do you have a train track at home? Have a go at building a circle track together. Children can usually join pieces of track together, but they often find it difficult to work out how to make the track join together to form a loop. Have a go and send us a photograph of your completed track!
Creative
Have you ever noticed that different vehicles leave different tracks? If it’s a sunny day, drive your toy vehicle through some water and see if it leaves a track on the floor outside. Alternatively, put some paint on a plate and get some paper – the bigger the better! You could use the back of some old wallpaper or wrapping paper. Dip your vehicle’s wheels into the paint and drive it along the paper. What tracks does it make? Remember to wash your vehicles before the paint dries too much!
If you don’t want to get too messy, you could draw your own roads or train tracks. We often put a large cardboard box or piece of paper on the floor at Nursery and ask children to draw roads or track. We then add other details such as ponds and trees. Children love to create their own towns and roads/tracks to drive the trains and cars along.
If you don’t have any small vehicles at home, you could make your own simple train using shoe boxes!
This Little Train goes.. We move our arms by our sides, in time with the music, pretending to be trains. Do you need to move your arms quickly or slowly?
Mathematics
Next time you go for a walk, have a look for the numbers that are all around you. Can you spot any numbers on the cars? Children are not expected to know the numbers yet, but they may begin to recognise numerals of personal significance such as 3 or 4 for their age.
How many red/blue/white cars can you count as you walk along the path?
Look at a selection of different vehicles including bikes, cars, buses and vans – How many wheels do they have?
Watch
Find out more about steam trains and different types of train with Catie and her amazing machines.
Duffy Driver tried to catch the train on a bicycle. Have you got a bike, scooter or ride on toy? Go outside and have a go at using the pedals or balancing. Remember to be safe and wear your cycle helmet.
Wednesday activity
When we play outside at Nursery on a sunny day, one of the most popular activities is creating a car/bike wash. We put some soapy water in a bucket and add some cloths/sponges, washing up brushes and a few old spray bottles. Children love to clean the wheels on the trikes; this often develops into garage role play including fixing bikes and refuelling at the petrol station.
We’ve now welcomed back to school all children in Foundation 2. As this is the case and the children will be accessing learning in their class bubbles, we’ll no longer be posting home-learning activities for F2.
We’ll continue to post weekly activities for Foundation 1 each Monday and a ‘Story time’ video to enjoy at home each Friday. The class bubble teachers will also be posting pictures of the learning that is happening in school each week.
We encourage you, as always, to keep sending in pictures of activities at home to:
For today’s story, I have chosen Daddy’s Sandwich by Pip Jones and Laura Hughes. To listen to the story, click here
I have a little helper reading the story for me today!
Activity ideas
In the story, the little girl is trying to add all of her Daddy’s favourite things to make one giant sandwich. If you were going to make a sandwich for someone special in your family, what things would be in their sandwich?
Perhaps you could draw a picture of your mega sandwich, including all of their favourite things and label it. You could give it to them as a present.
2. This Sunday 21 June is Father’s Day. It is a day when we celebrate and say thank you to someone we love. This could be your Daddy, Grandad or maybe even an uncle. Twinkl.co.uk have lots of craft ideas to make gifts and cards for the day (search ‘Father’s Day’)
I really like this book where you can write lots of things about your special person and add drawings. You can change the name by downloading the editable version.
Can you spot any tricky words in this story? How many did you find?
Maths
Now that we have reached the number 20, we will be doing lots of revisiting and revising of the teen numbers. If you have powerpoint at home, have a go at these twinkl slides. There is also a worksheet for all to have a go at.
(Top Tip: Treat each flower pot as a tens frame. You can only have a maximum of 10 in each pot!)
To listen to the story, 