Meeting Matt Goodfellow, author of THE FINAL YEAR!

Year 5 and 6 had a real treat yesterday, meeting and learning from the Carnegie medal nominated poet Matt Goodfellow. He led a writing workshop at QEGs following The Final Year project that we have been doing this year.

It was a real treat to hear from and have the opportunity to meet someone so inspirational, who shared his personal battle with ADHD, family difficulties, failed rockstar status. Fortunately, none of these held him back, once he realised what his path in life was.

One of our Year 5 was nominated and was gifted a signed copy of his yet to be released sequel, ‘The First Year.’

Thanks Matt and thanks QEGs for the opportunity.

Mrs Jones/Mrs Proudfoot

Year 4 - 'Magic of Science' morning at St John Henry Newman School

Year 4 had a wonderful morning at Newman school this morning learning about the 'Magic of Science' 

Lessons included:

• Elixirs and Potions with Mr Wilkinson
• Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them with Miss Little
• The Science of Fire and Ice with Mrs Orton
• Illusions and Light with Mrs Bell
• The Physics of Reflection with Mr Riddick
• The Wonders of Alchemy with Mrs Nichol

We had a wonderful morning (in proper science labs) carrying out lots of practical tasks and watching the wonders of science in motion.

One of our children won a prize for his 'Chemical Reaction' entry into the competition. We even had a drink and a snack!

All-in-all a wonderful scientific morning!

Mrs Jones

Science Lead

Science 🧬 Week Finale - Assembly

What a great end to science week when we showcased our learning for the week!

Well done to our poster competition winners, who will no doubt enjoy their science experiment packs. Well done boys!

Thanks to all the parents who came to hear about all the wonderful work going on in school this week, on the theme ‘Change and Adapt.’

Thanks also to Mrs Salkeld, a parent, governor and science teacher, who came to teach chemistry to Years 4-6 about plant adaptations and her assistant Mr Dasey.

Special thanks to Mrs Jones who has worked hard to make the week successful and fun for all our pupils.

🧪Science Week🧪

It is Science Week in school this week. This year the focus is ‘Change & Adapt’.  
 

We began with an assembly to introduce the week, where teachers carried out some experiments to wow us all! 

Class 1 are focusing on the change from a butterfly to a caterpillar. Class 2 have been looking at how animals adapt to live in the rainforest. Class 3 are looking at the health and circulation of animals. Class 4 began the week playing a ‘climate change’ board game. 
 

All children have been sent home with information about our science poster competition. (Entries to be returned by Thursday).

We also invite parents to our Science assembly this Friday (14th March) at 2.40pm. 
 

Happy Science Week! 🧪🥼🔬

February 27th 2025

Tree Planting

What a fantastic day tree planting! Well done to all of the pupils who planted a tree each and established our very own small woodland. Year 6, in particular, deserve a special mention as they worked incredibly hard all day helping all the other pupils! Thanks also to the parents, grandparents and governors who came to help, it was a real St Catherine’s community day.

We can’t wait to watch the trees grown and start lessons out there ASAP!
 

Jigsaw 🧩 Walk

The whole school enjoyed a reindeer walk on Tuesday 10th around the top end of town. We raised much needed funds for the Jigsaw Children’s hospice - whilst wearing antlers and ringing bells! 🔔 

What great fun! 🤩 

KS 2 children had great fun at Theatre by the Lake, Keswick on Friday. They went to watch ‘Jungle Book’. 📕

A superb performance by a small cast! 👏 

24.10.24

Whole School French Day

What a ‘fantistique’ day we’ve had today for the whole school French Day. We’ve; tasted traditional food, learned about the Eiffel Tower and Bastille Day, enjoyed fencing with Mr French and created pointillism masterpieces inspired by George Seurat!
Tres Bien. 

11th September 2024

Rachel from Penrith Red squirrel group came to talk to us about the red squirrels which live in our area. We found out how to look after them and how lucky we are to live in an area where they are still present. 

Summer Reading Challenge - Penrith Library

Penrith library are running the summer reading challenge again this year.  The launch is this Saturday 13th July, 2024 from 10am-4pm.  

This is the update from the library re the event;

Join us for the launch of the Summer Reading Challenge. The theme this year is "Marvellous Makers".

We’re so excited to start our summer full of reading and play!

Sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge! You will be given a special collector’s pack and we will help you check out some books.

Drop in- 10:00am to 11:00am- Make Create! Decorate!

Join us to create a Banner to display in the Library over the summer in the children’s area.

Booking is not required, tickets are a measure of interest.

The link for this event is below.

I've also attached the details of the event and other resources that you can access in the library.

Happy reading!

Mrs Jones

Class 3 trip

Class 3 had a ‘grand’ day out at Maryport Aquarium yesterday.  The children watched an informative clip about the destruction of sea kelp, narrated by David Attenborough (who they're writing a biography about) and then looked at all the beautiful fish and sea creatures housed in the aquarium. 

Lunch was followed by an extremely fun and exciting play on the playground outside.  We finished the day with a litter pick on the beach at Allonby, as part of our topic on pollution and climate change. 

It was a brilliant day and the children of Class 3 really showed superb teamwork and camaraderie during the course of the day.  Mrs Jones was extremely proud!

Today Class 1, 2 and their parents took part in a very wet May Procession! Thank you to everyone who attended. 💐

Yesterday, we held our celebration assembly where fabulous examples of our school values: resilience, kindness and respect were demonstrated. There was a special Headteacher’s award for great resilience in the face of adversity too. Well done everyone, we are proud of you all.

Cross Country at Hunter Hall School 

Some year 1-3 pupils had an excellent afternoon representing our school at the Hunter Hall annual Cross-country competition today. Special mention to Year 1 girls who came 3rd overall, but well done to everyone who took part!

Reading Ambassadors

Our Reading Ambassadors have spent time this week making letters to send home about the first ever ‘Great World Book Night Quiz,’ which we will be holding on zoom next Tuesday evening at 6pm. They introduced the event in assembly too - well done!

We would like to invite all families to join us on Zoom (adults will be expected to join in) all the information will be emailed on Monday and a quiz sheet will come home with all children too.

Also, Maggie and Dave have harvested and prepared the leeks which have been growing all winter in our garden, every child will come home with one today to enjoy.

Natwest Easter 🐣 Egg Project

St Catherine’s children have been decorating eggs to display in Natwest Bank, Penrith. On Thursday, Nicola Smith (Branch Manager) and Karen Bouch (Community Champion) came to school to present the children with chocolate rabbits to say thank you. Pop into the branch and have a look!

Mrs Jones

Whole School Fencing Workshop

Yesterday, the whole school were treated to a 'Fencing Taster Day' led by George and Alex from SportsCool, North Lakes.  Each class learned keys skills, which built up to some fencing matches.  3-2-1 En Garde!

British Science Week 2024 - TIME

We launched our science week with an exciting assembly this morning.  The teachers carried out different experiments to enthuse us for this busy week.  Mrs Jones showed us how a lava lamp worked.  Mrs Grice and Miss Gordon had a race to see which volcano would blow first.  Mrs Proudfoot showed us the floating tea bag trick and Miss Osborne managed to get a boiled egg inside a milk bottle without crushing it up.  What fun!

Mrs Jones has launched the ‘Science Week Poster Competition’ which is on the theme of TIME.  Ideas are on the sheet that has been sent home.

There is an parent’s assembly on Friday at 2:30pm, to share what we have been learning about in each class. 

Mrs Jones

Class 2

We have had an amazing Science Week in Class 2 focussing on 'observations' over time. We began observing the changes in fruit over time. We noticed that the banana changed colour, shape and texture over the course of the week. We then observed the changes in materials when heated. We experimented with a piece of slate and a chocolate button in our hand at body temperature 37 degrees. Finally, observed with our touch senses to look at the changes in our heart rates over time! We did some walking and yoga but realised our dancing and running raised our heart rate the most! It has been so much fun! Please see Class 2's page for photographs. 

Miss Gordon

Year 6: this week the children made a Harry Potter wand using electrical components. They had to use their knowledge of conductors and insulators. They also conducted an investigation into which materials make the best insulator for hot and cold food items. We were surprised by our results. We found out that the paper cup was the best insulator; most of us predicted that the metal can would have been. 

Class 3 

We focused on 'Light and Dark' during science week.  Lots of experiments were carried out about; light sources, reflection, how a mirror works and the dangers of the sun.

We also had a workshop with Jamie Normington from the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, who showed us fossils and how to date trees and shells.  We also learned about the importance of peat bogs and how they are being destroyed, which is devastating for the environment.

On Friday, Mrs Salkeld and Mr Dasey came into school to teach us all about 'chemical reactions.' We made rockets out of old camera reel canisters.  It was brilliant fun, when they exploded into the air.

Such a great week of science learning was had by all!

Mrs Jones

Science 'Showcase Assembly' - Friday

The whole school showcased their science learning on Friday in a super assembly for parents. 

• Class 1 had been learning about dinosaurs.
• Class 2 had been carrying out experiments over time.
• Class 3 had been carrying out experiments during the week based on 'Light and Dark'
• Class 4 had been testing different materials in relation to parachutes and how to protect a fragile egg.
• Class 5 had been learning about James Dewar who invented the flask.  Experiments were carried out to see which was the best material to keep food warm.

What a super way to finish science week!

We had some amazing winners of the 'Science Poster Competition' too, who received an amazing science book as their prize!

Mrs Jones

World Book day 2024

7th March

What an exciting day celebrating books at St Catherine's! Thanks to everyone who took part and dressed up as a book genre or a specific book - there were some beautiful creations. 

In assembly we gave out prizes for the winners of the plate decorating competition in each class - there were some excellent entries that are all on display, well done to everyone for getting creative. Mrs Proudfoot also announced the re-launch of the 'Reading Ambassadors' program which will run for years 4-6 this week and will be extended to Y2 and 3 in the next year. Interested pupils should fill in their application in the next week and Ambassadors will be announced in a couple of weeks. 

We all appreciated our free books and enjoyed reading them in Class. All Classes had fun today and here's an outline of what each Class has done:

Year 6 learned about how to make good book choices and enjoyed their very own 'Book Choice Bistro.'

Class 3

What fun we had on World Book Day!

In class, we watched a 'Footy and Booky Quiz' on-line with the National Literacy Trust.  The children loved the multiple choice quiz.

After play, we had a lesson called 'Book Choice Bistro' which explains how children choose a book which is at their level.  Miss Campbell and I then served the children in the class bistro with their choice of book from the menu.  They also had biscuits and bread sticks whilst they perused the menu.  

We then had our own book quiz to guess well-known characters in different genres of books. 

Our costumes were amazing!  

Mrs Jones

Class 2

We had an amazing World Book Day in Class 2!

We began the day by learning the 'World Book Day' song which we then performed! It was such good fun and the words really showed us the importance of reading!

We then entered the Class 2 'Book Choice Bistro' where we learned how we should choose a book. Once chosen we then made a paper copy of our chosen book and expressed our reasons for this choice.

Finally, in line with our recent work on Paddington, we planned our own adventures for Paddington! There were some amazing ideas from Paddington in the sea to Paddington visiting Disneyland!

A great day was had by all!

Miss Gordon

SAFER INTERNET WEEK

The whole school enjoyed 'Safer Internet Week' during the last week of term.  Safer Internet day actually took place on the 6^th of February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

Our learning throughout the week focused on;

• Young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology
• Using the internet to make change for the better
• The changes young people want to see online
• The things that can influence and change the way young people think, feel and act online and offline

Each class shared their learning during an informative parent's assembly on Friday morning. 

A Detective from Cumbria Constabulary, Lee Clark will be coming to talk to the older children on Friday 1st March, 2024 re further issues around internet safety.

The 'JIGSAW' Reindeer Run 2023

What great fun we had today, whilst running the Reindeer Run for Jigsaw, Cumbria Children's Hospice.

The children all received a set of antlers and ran around the playground with their friends, whilst raising money for such a worthy charity.

All sponsorship money should be brought in to school by this Friday please!

Road Safety Workshop

The whole school enjoyed a road safety workshop with Anthony Bainbridge from Kier who explained all about safety on the roads, stopping distances, safe systems and why traffic can be dangerous!

Children received spot prizes for super answers.

A super informative session!

Mrs Jones

November 2023

Thanks to everyone for you generous donations to the Samaritans Purse shoebox appeal. Year 6 enjoyed delivering their parcels to the collections point and we pray they will be appreciated by those in need the Christmas. 

October - November 2023

Year 6 did a great job of coordinating the sale of poppies for the whole school in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day. Thank you Year 6.

October 2023

Foodbank food collection

Once again thank you to everyone for your extremely generous donations to Penrith Foodbank during this harvest season. We were delighted to deliver so much to help this in need in our local area. 

ASIAN HORNET

I've attached the Asian Hornet identification sheet and Asian Hornet watch app, that was mentioned in assembly yesterday by Dr Margaret Riches, chair of Penrith & District Beekeepers Association.

It's really important that we report sightings of these hornets, as they can devastate the local bee population.

Mrs Jones

Science Lead

Bees Week

We've had such a good week so far, whilst working with Beekeepers Margaret and Mark from Penrith Beekeepers Association.

We've learned about;

• the different types of bees and their roles in the hive
• the anatomy of a bee
• flowers that attract bees to suck their nectar and pollen
• other pollinating insects
• the 'waggle dance' that bees carry out whilst searching for flowers

We were fortunate enough to have an 'observational hive' in school and it was fascinating watching the bees carry out their roles.  The Queen Bee was very prominent in the hive.  

We're all excited about wearing black and yellow on Friday and also about sharing our learning/work with parents during an assembly on Monday 12th June, at 2.40pm.

Mrs Jones

Science Lead

(Photographs to follow)

Lake District National Park Water Workshop Day

Friday 17th February 2023

Tasha from the LDNP came to visit school today to work with us all about water. She began with an assembly for KS1 and moved on lead KS2 workshops. We found out all about the water cycle, the importance of saving water and how we can do this. We also found out about how important our beautiful Lake District is and how important water is to it! We have used Geography, science and problem solving skills today!

National Storytelling Week

The whole school enjoyed taking part in National Storytelling week from 30th January to 5th February, 2023.  

Over the week, each individual class put storytelling at the forefront of English lessons. Children had the opportunity to tell each other stories within a timed session. 

Some classes watched storytelling events on-line with authors like; Abi Elphinstone and Wendy Shearer.

Across the school,  the younger and older children joined together for 'paired reading' sessions which was lovely to see.

Mr French, who comes in to school to teach multi-skills PE, even shared his new published book, 'Action Ants' with Class 3 during their session on Thursday.  

St Catherine's is definitely a reading school!

Mrs Proudfoot

3-10th October 2022

National Libraries Week

Every Class has been invited to the library to find out what they offer to the community in Penrith. Some children even had time to choose some books for withdrawal. Thanks to Claire at Penrith Library for organising an excellent week. 

Visit to Penrith Library - Helen Haraldsen (Author) Workshop

Class 3 went to Penrith Library on Friday 7th October, to meet Helen Haraldsen, who they have been working with since they won her lovely book 'A Tale of Two Shoes'

Helen talked about her book and then the children wrote some free verse poetry or prose based on the environment and the two characters out of the book, Shane and Sheila shoe.

The children also had the opportunity to purchase Helen's books and were presented with them on the day.  

It was a lovely experience to meet a 'real author'  Class 3 are still continuing English lessons based on this book, which they have found very exciting.

Thanks to Claire and Vicky at the library for their continuing support!

(photographs to follow)

Mrs Jones

16th September 2022

Class 3 won a copy of the book The Red Shoes by Helen Haraldsen in a library competition - Claire from Penrith Library came to visit to present the book. Class 3 get to meet the author Helen in a few weeks and to do a writing workshop with her - aren't they lucky!

15th September 2022

What a pleasure it was to be all together again for our first National Cafod Assembly about Harvest. 

14.7.22

Sports Day 2022

What a ball we had - no rain and so much fun.

Thanks to all the parents for your support, it was so good to be back! Well done to St David's team.

4.7.22

Summer Reading Challenge Assembly

Thanks to Claire from Penrith Library for coming to school to launch the Summer Reading Challenge; 'The Gadgeteers.' I'm sure everyone in school will get involved over the summer! See the link below for information and links.

1.7.22

Penrith Town Council Jubilee Presentation

Thanks to Penrith Town Council for presenting all our children with a souvenir Jubilee medal. 

Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations

British Science Week - Monday 14th - Friday 18th March 2022

We opened British Science week with a ‘bang’ today!  We talked about famous scientists and watched an amusing clip about what Science is.  Mrs Jones made ‘carbon dioxide’ by using of all things; red cabbage, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Miss Elliott put a pin in a balloon and it didn’t pop. Wow!

We’ve even got chance to design our own ‘lab coats’ in a competition!

Watch this space to see what each class is doing during Science week!

Mrs Jones

Closing Assembly - British Science Week 

We had a lovely assembly to share what we had been doing during Science week. Each class had been extremely busy!

Mrs Proudfoot even made ‘Elephant Toothpaste!’

We also revealed the winners of the Lab Coat Competition.

All in all a fantastic week!

Mrs Jones

Class 4

It's been a busy week in Class 4 learning about LIVING THINGS AND THEIR HABITATS

We have found out about life cycles of animals and plants, how animals are adapted to their environment. We completed fabulous artwork using watercolours of life cycles and researched Jane Goodall, an important scientist of the last 40 years who has helped us understand primates. Our homework was to investigate an endangered species too and consider what we could do to help! To top it off we had a fabulous lesson from Mr French about how to save lives with CPR, the recovery position and defibrillator machines!

Class 3 - British Science Week

What an amazing week we had during British Science Week.  Our over-arching topic was 'Animals including Humans.'

We started off this new topic finding out about the importance of 'teeth.'  We found out about the functions of incisors, canines, pre-molars and molars.  We even tried to eat food with our incisors but found out that it was virtually impossible as the molars do that job to grind and chew.  We looked in our mouths and counted our different teeth.  Children have around 20 teeth and an adult has 32 teeth in total (including wisdom teeth).

Next we moved on to the 'digestive system.' We found out that it takes 6 seconds from swallowing for the food to reach your stomach.  We carried out experiments to emulate the digestive system using; crackers, a banana, water, orange juice, masher, tights and a cup.  The main organs that make up the digestive system (in order of their function) are the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus. Helping them along the way are the pancreas, gall bladder and liver.

Mrs Richardson moved on to the animal world and we found out about omnivores, carnivores and herbivores.  We did experiments in the hall and then carried out activities based on food chains.  

Finally, we had a session of 'First Aid' in the hall with Mr French.  We learned about bandaging an injured person, resuscitation and the importance of using a defibrillator and finding out where they are located in Penrith.  It was really interesting.

Next week, we are having a session with Gill from Phunky Foods to make a healthy dip.  We'll also be using 'plaque disclosure tablets' to check how well we are looking after our teeth!

Mrs Jones

3.3.22 World Book Day

We all had a wonderful day celebrating books. There were some fantastic outfits inspired by book characters. Thank you to everyone for making such a huge effort. Well done to the KS1 and KS2 winners, in the excitement I forgot to get a picture of you!

National Storytelling week 29.1.22-5.2.22

This week we are telling lots of stories across the school and asking children to talk to their families about their favourite stories when they were young?

Year 5/6 have been hearing Grimm’s Fairy tales this week!

NATIONAL STORYTELLING WEEK - CLASS 3

We are enjoying National Storytelling Week, which is a chance to promote and encourage storytelling.

We've listened to the traditional story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.  During our WWII topic, we found out that the operation to evacuate the city children during the Blitz was called 'Operation Pied Piper'.  

Some of the children have brought in their favourite books to share with the rest of the class. They are loving reading a section of their book to the rest of the class in the role of 'storyteller'

The children have also been talking to their parents about their favourite books when they were younger.  

Monika's Dad enjoyed 'Journey to the centre of the Earth' by Jules Verne as he loved adventure books.  Her mum liked to read a book called 'Anne of Green Gables' by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  This story was about an red-headed orphan girl who was talkative and had lots of imagination!

Penny's Mum read the 'Famous Five' books by Enid Blyton and also any books by Roald Dahl.  Her love of Dahl was also shared by Penny's Dad who read them too.  

Rosie's Mum's favourite childhood book was 'Alice in Wonderland'.  She loved the adventure and the amazing, unusual places Alice went to and things she saw.

What fun so far!

Mrs Jones

St Catherine’s School Choir

It was lovely to hear the school choir today, as they welcomed us onto the playground singing Christmas carols.  It put us into the Christmas spirit!

Mrs Jones

Reindeer Run

We all enjoyed a sponsored ‘Reindeer Run’ today in aid of Jigsaw, Cumbria’s Children’s Hospice.  Key stage 1 children ran around the playground with Key stage 2 running around the school field.

An amazing effort by all involved!

Mrs Jones

Roman Workshop at Penrith Library 

KS2 enjoyed a Roman workshop at Penrith Library this week with Claire Dougherty and Karen MacDougal from Robinson School (Penrith Museum). The children learned lots about the road systems that the soldiers built.

They also used various different sources, including microfiche to find facts about unusual Roman finds.

Karen from Penrith Museum had brought in various Roman artefacts to show the children which included; a sistrum (bell), Roman helmet, sandals, a strigil (used to scrape dirt from skin), map pointer, brooches and knuckle bones (Roman type game of Jacks). 

 It was a very enjoyable and informative session! 

Mrs Jones

Be Bright, Be Seen Get Active

We joined in with the Autumn Term ‘Get Active Day’ and Be Bright, Be Seen on any day during Road Safety Week 15th-19th November 2021. Children wore bright colours to school and decorated their coats and school bags with bright colours.

JELD-WEN, Penrith very kindly sponsored some reflective stickers and arm bands for the children to wear on coats and bags.

What a bright week!

Mrs Jones

National Poetry Day 7.10.21

We have all enjoyed celebrating this special day in school today. Have a look what we have been up to. 

Class 3

For National Poetry day, we wrote acrostic poems on the theme of RAIN, especially since we've had lots of it recently!  We thought of lots of different sounds that the rain makes and how it falls from the sky.  We listened to different 'rain' poems where some rhymed and some poems that didn't actually sound like poems.  We decided that poetry can be virtually anything, so we just enjoyed 'playing around with words'  

We'll update some photographs of our finished work and maybe even some clips of the children reading their poetry this week.  Watch this Space!

Mrs Jones

Class 4 

Wrote their own emotion poetry to share with the local community of Penrith. The library are creating a QR trail around Penrith and using our National Poetry Day poems. Year 6 also visited the Library to take part in a poetry workshop to celebrate National Libraries week! What a busy day!

LIVE PE SESSION WITH SHAUN

What fun we had in school and home exercising with Shaun our PE coach, on a live Zoom yesterday. He taught us lots of ball skills.  It was a fun 🤩 afternoon!

Thanks Shaun. We’re really enjoying your fun weekly PE sessions!

Mrs Jones

February 2020

JOURNEE FRANCAIS 

(French Day)

All the children from Key Stage 2 were fantastic ambassadors of the school when they attended Ullswater Community College for a French morning. We had the privilege of experiencing two workshops: pancake making and learning all about the French Festival Calendar. The morning finished off with a spectacular French inspired lunch cooked by Sue back at school. The children had an amazing time and were so enthusiastic about French and couldn't wait to tell their class teachers all about their morning. 

Fr. John blessed our new Prayer Garden.

The sun shone through our wonderful stained glass cross!

Congratulations Chloe in Y3 

for your winning entry

Rainbow Girl

in the Cumbria Library Services Competition!

Border TV came along to record interviews

with Chloe and her friends.

We look forward to watching you on tv!

Bishop Paul celebrated Holy Mass with Fr. John and Fr. Jerome for our school and our Parish.

The Blessed Sacrament was placed on the altar and we came into church in small groups to act as witness to Christ.

Bishop Paul also came into school for a very quick tour

and to say hello!

Certificates have been given out for

Cross Country Competitions

and

Orienteering.

Well done to everyone involved!

Congratulations to our KS1 pupils

for their fantastic efforts in Cross Country!

Some of our KS2 pupils had a wonderful time making Easter Bonnets with the ladies. The staff complimented the children on their caring attitude and exemplary behaviour.

We hope to carry on with more exciting projects throughout the year.