St. Margaret Clitherow Catholic Voluntary Academy

🌟 Another Wonderful Week of Learning! 🌟
Our children have been busy learning, exploring and achieving great things across the school this week.
🧸 Nursery
This week, Nursery have been exploring number patterns, focusing on identifying which number comes next in a sequence. They have worked incredibly hard on recognising numbers and have continued to enjoy colour mixing activities, creating lots of exciting new shades. In Science, the children investigated magnetic forces and had great fun testing which objects were attracted to magnets.

🔺 Reception
Reception have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes, identifying 2D shapes within 3D objects. They have loved using their creativity in the construction area to build and design their own 3D shapes.

✝️ Year 2
Year 2 delivered a wonderful Celebration of the Word on the Eucharist. Their thoughtful reflections reminded us all about the importance of sharing love and kindness with others.

📖 Year 3
Year 3 have been writing their own Egyptian Mystery stories, developing their creative and descriptive writing skills. They proudly published their stories and shared them with Year 5, who provided valuable feedback on their work.

⚡ Year 4
In Science, Year 4 have been constructing simple electrical circuits and investigating which materials conduct electricity and which do not. The children thoroughly enjoyed the practical activities and made some excellent observations.
They also took part in their second Gaelic Football lesson with Callum. Their kicking and solo skills have improved greatly, and after working hard on hitting the ball, they are now ready to move on to shooting and scoring next week.

🏃 Year 5
Year 5 have particularly enjoyed their PE and Fitness lessons this week. In Fitness, they practised squat jumps, while in Gaelic Football they developed their kick pass skills. They have also been captivated by their class reading book and can't wait to discover whether their predictions about the story's cliffhanger are correct next week.

🎭 Year 6
Year 6 had great fun creating character profiles to help them prepare for their end-of-year production. In RE, they participated in a silent debate about the message of the Gospel, respectfully sharing ideas, challenging opinions and learning from one another.

👏 Well done to all our pupils for another fantastic week of learning, teamwork and achievement!

Your generosity is truly changing lives! 🌟

A huge thank you to for the fantastic delivery of tyres. We are incredibly grateful for your support in helping us develop our OPAL play areas — the children are going to absolutely love them! 🛞

We are reading at The Good Shepherd Church on Sunday 14th June at 9.45am.

All children in Years 4, 5 and 6 are very welcome to take part.

If your child would like to read, please let the office know as soon as possible.

⭐Year 4 and Year 5 had the fantastic opportunity this week to take part in their first Gaelic football session. The children thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to this fast-paced and exciting sport, learning key skills such as the hand pass, soloing, movement, and teamwork. They showed great enthusiasm and determination as they began to practise these new skills and understand the basic rules of the game. It was wonderful to see so many children fully engaged and willing to have a go, supporting each other as they learned. We are very lucky to be continuing this exciting opportunity until the end of the year.

🌟 Weekly Class Round-Up 🌟

It has been another fantastic week of learning, creativity, and teamwork across the school. Here is a snapshot of what each year group has been getting up to in their classes and beyond. Well done to all the children for their enthusiasm and hard work! 👏

Nursery
This week in Nursery, we have been exploring the difference between 3 and 4 using beanbags. The children have enjoyed counting how many beanbags they can get into a hoop, developing their early counting and number recognition skills through active play.

In RSHE, we have been talking about the difference between things we need to buy from the shops and things we want but do not need. The children have shown some fantastic thinking and understanding around making choices.

Reception
This week in Reception, we have been writing sentences to describe our very own odd fish! We have loved reading The Odd Fish and exploring the story together. The children have used their imaginations brilliantly to create unique fish and then write creative sentences to describe them.

Year 1 and 2
Year 1 and 2 have been loving OPAL play and exploring the different areas available at lunchtimes. We enjoy spending time with friends, building new skills, and using our imaginations through play every day!

Year 3
In Year 3, we have been researching the achievements and legacy of the Ancient Egyptians. We worked collaboratively to create PowerPoint presentations, learning lots of new digital skills along the way. We are looking forward to presenting our findings to the rest of the class.

Year 4
In Year 4, we have been working on electricity and making simple circuits. We investigated what would happen to a bulb when we added more wires, exploring whether it would become brighter or dimmer. The children enjoyed testing their predictions and developing their understanding of how electrical circuits work.

Year 5
Year 5 have been developing their map reading skills to explore countries, capital cities, seas, and oceans across Europe. We were also lucky to take part in a Gaelic football session, where we learned key skills such as the hand pass and solo.

Year 6
This week, Year 6 have been exploring new vocabulary from our class text using a range of strategies to help us understand unfamiliar words. We also held auditions for our Year 6 play, which has everyone very excited for the performance ahead!

🥳 We’re Platinum! Our fantastic OPAL achievement 🥳
We are absolutely delighted to share that, following our final OPAL audit on Thursday, we have achieved OPAL Platinum Accreditation – the highest level of recognition within the programme!
This is a truly exceptional achievement and reflects the commitment, dedication and passion of our whole school community in creating outstanding play opportunities for our children. As part of the audit, it was clear to see the remarkable culture of play we have built together.
Wendy, our OPAL East Midlands Mentor, shared: “St Margaret Clitherow now stands as a true beacon of best practice in play, demonstrating what can be achieved when a whole school community embraces the power and importance of play. Your commitment to providing exceptional opportunities for children is inspiring and will undoubtedly continue to influence and encourage others on their own OPAL journeys. It has been a privilege to support you throughout this process, and I am incredibly proud of all that you have accomplished.”
In her letter, she also highlighted some really special strengths of our school:
• The incredible transformation of our Play Team, whose commitment and expertise now shine across every play space.
• The enthusiasm and pride of our children, who spoke so positively about their play experiences and the freedom and adventure they enjoy every day.
• The care and attention to detail across our environment, creating inspiring spaces full of identity, creativity and purpose.
We are especially proud that this achievement reflects a whole-school approach – where children are confident, imaginative, happy and fully engaged in their play every single day
Mrs Sweeney-McGinty is incredibly proud of everyone who has helped make OPAL such a success at SMC. A huge thank you to our curriculum coordinators, Miss Cartledge and Miss Holmes, and our fantastic Play Team for their creativity, energy and dedication in all weathers!
And finally, thank you to our families for your continued support – sending children in with wellies and waterproofs, and donating all the wonderful resources (from suitcases to pallets!) that make OPAL so special.

Choir for First Holy Communion
The choir will begin rehearsing the hymns chosen by our First Holy Communion children tomorrow, Friday 5th June 2026.
Please sign your child up on Arbor if they are able to come along and support their friends by singing these special hymns in the choir.
We will then come together to celebrate in school at our First Holy Communion Party on Wednesday 18th June 2026.
Thank you for your support.

Local Event:
The next sale is coming up this weekend at The Redhill Academy, Redhill Road, Arnold NG5 8GX on Sunday 7th June 2026, from 2.30pm–4.30pm.

These events are all about bringing parents together — whether they’re passing on outgrown items or looking for good‑quality essentials at affordable prices. They’re always full of friendly faces, including lots of first‑time parents, and there’s a lovely community feel throughout the day.

This year is a special one for Mum2Mum as they are celebrating their 10th birthday, and were recently shortlisted for a Gedling Borough Council Business in the Community Award — a recognition that highlights the positive impact these events have locally.

Over the past decade, they've helped hundreds of families save money on the cost of raising young children, but just as importantly, they’ve supported our community to reduce waste and embrace reuse. Every sale keeps thousands of quality items in circulation — clothing, toys, books, equipment — giving them a new life instead of sending them to landfill. It’s a simple, practical way for families to recycle, support one another, and make more sustainable choices.

With the cost‑of‑living crisis continuing to affect so many households, they’re really pleased to be bringing our events back to Arnold to support even more parents.

Last chance to sign up for today's OPAL Extra session! All of the money raised will help us buy and renew resources for our OPAL play! Sign up on ARBOR

✨ Today we have had a fabulous day celebrating Mrs Waszkiewicz as she retires from our school after 23 years of dedicated service ✨

💙 We would like to thank her for all the hard work, love and support she has given to the children, staff and families throughout her time at SMC. She has made a lasting difference to so many lives and will be greatly missed by our whole school community.

🌟 We wish Mrs Waszkiewicz all the very best as she begins this exciting new chapter in her life. Enjoy your well-deserved retirement! 🌸

👏 Thank you for 23 wonderful years! 👏