Stella Maris School

We’ve arrived safely at a very busy Palace Theatre! Fantastic seats!

KS2 are super excited for their long-awaited trip to the Palace Theatre to watch Annie the Musical! 🎭✨

We're all on the tram and heading into Manchester, ready for a fun-filled day of music, singing and amazing performances. We can't wait to watch the show and make some great memories together!

Keep an eye out for updates from our adventure! 🚋🎶🌟

🎭✨ Bringing Shakespeare to Life Through Oracy! ✨🎭

Our Key Stage 2 pupils have been exploring the famous Shakespeare sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day?” as part of their oracy learning this week.

Working with our specialist drama teacher, Ms Mesagno, the children focused on the power of rhythm, expression and performance, discovering how Shakespeare’s words come alive when spoken aloud. Through drama activities, choral speaking and performance techniques, pupils developed their confidence, communication skills and understanding of how rhythm helps convey meaning and emotion.

It was wonderful to see the children experimenting with pace, emphasis and vocal expression as they brought this timeless piece of poetry to life.

🌟 Building confident speakers
🌟 Developing expressive reading skills
🌟 Exploring the beauty of Shakespeare’s language
🌟 Having fun through drama and performance

A fantastic session that showcased the importance of oracy in helping children find their voice! 🎤📚

The Year 6 pupils were extremely happy to receive their ‘Leavers’ Hoodie’ this morning!!

This week's school newsletter is here! You can read about everything that has been going on at Stella Maris, inside and outside of the classroom.

Our specialist Art teacher, Mrs Baldwin, inspired our KS2 pupils during this afternoon's art lesson.

Using willow charcoal, the children created beautiful forest scenes while exploring tonal value and shading techniques to create depth and atmosphere in their artwork. It was wonderful to see their creativity and artistic skills develop as they experimented with light, dark, and texture to bring their drawings to life.

⚽🌍 This morning, KS1 turned into historical football detectives as part of our World Cup project!

The children had a great time exploring how the Men’s Football World Cup has changed over the years. They compared old black-and-white photos from the very first tournament in 1930 with pictures from modern World Cup matches, using clues to work out which images were older and spotting what has stayed the same and what has changed.

We learned about the first World Cup in Uruguay, found out that England won in 1966, and talked about how millions of people around the world watch the tournament today. The children were especially interested in seeing how football boots, balls, stadiums and refereeing have changed over time!

To finish, everyone worked together to put key World Cup events in order on a timeline, using words like long ago, before, after, past and present.

A brilliant morning of football, history and lots of great discussions! ⚽📚

🎶🐞 This afternoon, our Pre-Prep and KS1 pupils enjoyed a wonderful educational visit to the Bridgewater Hall, where they attended a very special schools' concert performed by the Hallé Orchestra, featuring well-known pieces by famous composers such as Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Puccini.

The theme of the concert was Minibeasts, providing an exciting opportunity for the children to enrich their music curriculum through a live orchestral experience. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about the different sections of the orchestra and discovering how each instrument contributes to the overall sound.

The beautiful classical music brought the fascinating world of minibeasts to life, capturing the children’s imaginations and inspiring a love of music. It was a memorable afternoon filled with learning, creativity and musical enjoyment for all.

Pupils in Key Stage 1 were fully engaged in this morning’s maths-focused World Cup project! ⚽📊

The children began by heading outside to measure how far they could kick a football, using their rounding skills to estimate distances to the nearest metre. They then returned to the classroom to organise their results into tally charts before transferring the information onto bar charts.

Working alongside some of their fantastic Year 6 buddies, the pupils tackled a variety of word problems linked to their data, demonstrating excellent understanding and interpretation of information presented in bar charts.

A brilliant morning of active learning, teamwork and mathematical thinking!