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St Bernadette's Vacancies Vacancies St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School, Hob Moor Road, Yardley, Birmingham B25 8QL, TEL: 0121 783 7232 Email: m.smallwood@stberns.bham.sch.uk Head Teacher: Miss Emma Finnegan Level 3 Teaching Assistant EYFS Specialist Teaching Assistant Full Time - TTO Email Address: m.smallwood@stberns.bham.sch.uk Telephone Number: 0121 783 7232 Job Start Date: As soon as possible, due to an increase in pupil numbers Salary range: £28,598 to £34,434 - Grade B Closing Date: 14 February 2026 This vacancy may close earlier than advertised depending on the level of applications received. Teaching Assistant – EYFS Specialist St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School is seeking to appoint an exceptional EYFS Teaching Assistant who is passionate about early childhood development and committed to giving every child the very best start to their learning journey. The successful candidate will work closely with the class teacher to support learning through play, deliver targeted interventions, observe and assess children’s progress, and contribute to a nurturing, language-rich learning environment in line with the EYFS framework. This role will be focused within our Nursery class, so experience and expertise in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is essential. We are looking for someone who: · Has proven experience supporting children in school or an EYFS setting. · Demonstrates a secure understanding of the EYFS framework · Can support learning through play, exploration and structured activities · Has experience working as part of a school team You will also: · Be warm, patient and nurturing · Have excellent communication skills · Be proactive, adaptable and reflective in your practice · Be committed to inclusion and meeting the needs of all learners The successful candidate will join a school that: · Has a warm, inclusive and nurturing ethos where every child is known and valued · Benefits from a supportive, experienced and welcoming staff team who work collaboratively · Places high importance on early language, communication and personal development · Provides a well-resourced EYFS environment that supports learning through play and exploration · Values the role of Teaching Assistants as key contributors to children’s progress and wellbeing · Is committed to high-quality teaching, learning and continuous improvement · Actively supports professional development and the sharing of good practice · Maintains a strong commitment to safeguarding, pupil welfare and positive relationships If you are enthusiastic about making a difference in the early stages of a child’s learning journey, we would love to hear from you. For further details and an application form please visit www.stberns.co.uk in the vacancy section. Visits to the school are warmly welcomed and can be arranged by contacting our office staff on 0121 783 7232 or emailing m.smallwood@stberns.bham.sch.uk This school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff to share this commitment. An online search will be carried out as part of due diligence on all short-listed candidates. The successful candidate will be subject to all necessary pre-employment checks, including: Enhanced DBS Childcare Disqualification (where applicable) Qualifications (where applicable) Medical fitness Identity and right to work. Application Form - Support Staff EYFS TA r - Job Description EYFS TA- Person Specification Recruitment Monitoring Form Disclosure Form

Our Mission At St. Bernadette's Catholic School you will find us caring, hardworking and co-operative. We follow the ways of Jesus using our talents and gifts to make our school special. We show respect to all and welcome you. Click play below Our Behaviour Expectations and Values Our Catholic ethos promotes positive relationships based on respect; pupils are helped to make moral choices about their behaviour and their contribution to the school community. Our behaviour expectations are based on Christian values. We expect children to be polite, co-operative and considerate of others. Staff are committed to creating a school environment where these qualities are seen to be important and are positively encouraged and reflected in their own conduct. Classroom behaviour is based on simple expectations and values that the children can understand and have confidence in and which relate to all aspects of school life. Below are the 8 positive behaviour statements that are displayed around the school and prominently in classrooms.

Parents Inofrmation - Diary dates, Term Dates, Uniform Guide, Bedtime Stories Newsletters School Attendance - A Very Important Message for all Parents & Carers Bedtime Stories Diary Dates CALENDAR FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR September 2024 -July 2025 Autumn Term 2024 Monday 2nd September 2024 To Friday 25th October 2024 Half Term Monday 4th November 2024 To Friday 20th December 2024 Spring Term 2025 Monday 6th January 2025 To Friday 14th February 2025 Half Term Tuesday 25th February 2025 To Friday 11th April 2025 Summer Term 20 25 Tuesday 29th April 2025 To Friday 23rd May 2025 Half Term Monday 2nd June 2025 To Friday 18th July 2025 INSET DAYS Monday 23rd September 2024 Friday 25th October 2024 Monday 24th February 2025 Tuesday 6th May 2025 Monday 21st July 2025 Bank Holiday Monday 5th May 2025 Please note that these dates may be subject to change CALENDAR FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR September 2025 -July 2026 Autumn Term 2025 Monday 1st September 2025 To Friday 24th October 2025 Half Term Monday 3rd November 2025 To Friday 19th December 2025 Spring Term 2026 Monday 5th January 2026 To Friday 13th February 2026 Half Term Monday 23rd February 2026 To Friday 27h March 2026 Summer Term 20 26 Monday 13th April 2026 To Friday 22nd May 2026 Half Term Monday 1st June 2026 To Friday 17th July 2026 INSET DAYS Monday 1st September 2025 Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Monday 5th January 2026 Friday 22nd May 2026 Monday 20th July 2026 Bank Holiday Monday 4th May 2025 Please note that these dates may be subject to change Parent Meetings Nursery Nursery Welcome Meeting 2024 Reception Reception Welcome Meeting 2023 Reception RWI Meeting 2022 Year 1 Year 1 Welcome Meeting 2023 Year 2 Year 2 Welcome Meeting 2023 SATs Meeting 2025 Year 3 Year 3 Welcome Meeting 2024 Year 4 Year 4 Welcome Meeting 2024 Year 4 Maths Week Resources Year 5 Year 5 Welcome Meeting 2024 Year 6 year 6 FGM / CSE Meeting Year 6 Welcome Meeting 2025 Year 6 Confirmation Meeting 2024 Year 6 SATs Meeting 2025g Podcasts Wishlist If you would like to donate a book to our school, the links below contain items from our Top 20 lists and Book of the Month recommendations. Each book will be stamped with the name of the person who has donated it and will be placed on our class bookshelves. Nursery Year 3 Reception Year 4 Year 1 Year 5 Year 2 Year 6 Wishlist

St. Bernadette's Staff Senior Leadership Team Miss Finnegan – Head Teacher Mr Carroll – Deputy Head (On secondment) Mrs Hill – Assistant Head Miss Di Pierri - Assistant Head Mrs. Canning - Acting Deputy Head Mrs Taylor - SENCo The Hub Miss White - HUB Teaching Assistant Miss Mohamed - HUB Teaching Assistant Mrs Kehoe - HUB Teaching Assistant Year 6 Miss Z Boron - 6ZB Teacher / History and Geography Co-ordinator Mrs C Brownhill – 6CB Teacher Miss Connaire - 6CC Teacher/KS2 Co-ordinator Mrs O Armanaviciute – Year 6 Teaching Assistant Year 5 Miss M Friar - 5MF Teacher Miss C Grant - 5CG Teacher / MFL Co-ordinator Miss Taylor - 5ET Teacher Mrs K Yakoob – Year 5 Teaching Assistant Miss Elliot – Year 5 Teaching Assistant Year 4 Miss K Lakin – 4KL Teacher / English Co-ordinator KS2 Mr A Markham-Jones – 4AMJ Teacher / PE Co-ordinator Ms F Mohamed - 4FM Teacher Mrs S Khan - Year 4 Teaching Assistant Ms Baker – Year 4 Teaching Assistant Year 3 Miss E Gibbs - 3EG Teacher Miss D Adu - 3DA Teacher Miss Di Pierri – 3DH Class Teacher Mrs Hill – 3DH Class Teacher Mrs T Emilton - Year 3 Teaching Assistant Mrs S Richards– Teaching Assistant Year 2 Mrs S Hussain - 2SH Teacher/Science Co-ordinator Miss E O'Brien - 2EOB Teacher Mr R Wayne - 2RW Teacher / DT and Art Co-ordinator/KS1 Co-ordinator Mrs J Robinson – Year 2 Teaching Assistant Year 1 Miss O Bowden – 1OB Teacher/EAL Co-ordinator Miss O’Toole – 1CO'T Teacher / English Co-ordinator KS1/EYFS Mrs Clarke – Year 1 Teaching Assistant Mrs Begum – Year 1 Teaching Assistant Reception Mrs L Canning – REL Reception Teacher Mrs Lennon - REL Reception Teacher Miss C Belcher - RCB Reception Teacher Miss L Coley - RLC Reception Teacher Mrs Colclough – RCB Teaching Assistant Mrs Thomas – Reception Teaching Assistant Ms T O'Neill – RLC Reception Teaching Assistant Mrs McCartan - Reception Teaching Assistant Mrs Mayers – Reception Teaching Assistant Nursery Mrs S Rainey - Nursery Teacher / EYFS Co-ordinator Miss E Barron – Nursery Teaching Assistant Mrs S Buchanan - Nursery Teaching Assistant Miss Nield - Nursery Teaching Assistant Miss Thomas - Nursery Teaching Assistant Mrs J Docker – Teacher Ms J Ryan - Teacher Miss C Corkery - Teacher Mr E Baker - Teacher Mrs K Harston – Teacher Mr Lavin – Teacher Miss Lavin – Teacher Miss Finn– Pastoral Support Maternity Leave Mrs C Kidner – Teacher/Computing Co-ordinator Mrs Jones – Teacher/EYFS Co-ordinator Mrs Smallwood – Office Mrs Byng – Office Miss K O'Neill – Office Mrs Apted – Technician Mr Abbott – ICT Operations Manager Mr Malone – Building Site Supervisor Mrs Worth - School Cook

EYFS Click the image above for the EYFS Handbook 25/26 Our Learning Nursery Long Term Plan 25-26 Reception Long Term Plan 25-26 EYFS Policy 25-26 Nursery Autumn 1 Knowledge Organiser Autumn 2 Knowledge Organiser Pre-Phonics Document 25/26 Reception Maths Knowledge Organiser - Autumn 1 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Autumn 1 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Spring 1 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Summer 1 Maths Knowledge Organiser - Autumn 2 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Autumn 2 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Spring 2 Literacy Knowledge Organiser - Summer 2 Understanding the World Overview Autum 1 Understanding the World Overview Spring 1 Understanding the World Overview Autumn 2 Understanding the World Overview Spring 2 Early Years Foundation Stage Welcome to St. Bernadette’s Early Years Foundation Stage! Our teaching team in Nursery consists of Mrs Rainey (Red Group), Miss Barron (Yellow Group), Mrs. Buchanan (Blue Group), Mrs Nield (Green Group). The teaching team in Reception consists of Mrs. Canning, Mrs. Lennon and Mrs. McCartan (REL), Miss Coley and Miss O’Neill (RLC), Miss Belcher & Mrs. Colclough (RCB). . Our school is a beacon of hope and a place that offers children in the EYFS an education rich in wonder and memorable experiences. We want our children to succeed in our ever-changing world; we hope our education gives our children the best chance to become happy and well-rounded individuals, reaching their full potential and fostering our school motto, ‘Love to Learn, Learn to Love ’. At St Bernadette’s School, we are committed to the Catholic faith, recognising and valuing every individual as special and unique, created in the image and likeness of God. We welcome and celebrate differences and our curriculum is designed to recognise children’s diverse range of experiences and prior learning from their previous settings and their home environment. We know the crucial role that early years education has to play in providing firm foundations upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based. Our EYFS curriculum is driven by our four fundamental EYFS curriculum drivers: Learn to Love, Love to Learn We want children’s curiosity and creativity to be nurtured so their love for learning is ignited. Through developing learning behaviours, such as: playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically, we want children to be autonomous with their own learning and resilient. We want them to plan, implement and review this process and do it with integrity and become successful, lifelong learners. Communication Communication and language skills are the cornerstone of learning. We want our children to be able to speak clearly and process speech sounds, express their ideas and to understand and interact with others. We want them to develop an enriched vocabulary and a love for reading. Communication is the vehicle for learning, making friends and succeeding in life. Community We want our children to develop a sense of pride in themselves and respect and tolerance for others in their immediate and school community, as well as the world that is beyond their local environment. They need opportunities to experience the richness of our diverse community and show they care about its management and sustainability. We want to cultivate partnerships with families and engagement in their child’s lifelong learning journey. We want children to develop a sense of citizenship in line with British Values. We follow the Values and Virtues from the Archdiocese of Birmingham's Catholic Schools’ Pupil Profile; we see them in action in our lives and in the lives of others and we work on how to encapsulate these values in our lives. Possibilities We are passionate about broadening the horizons of our children, providing rich learning opportunities and experiences to develop imagination, curiosity, creativity and ingenuity. Our children cannot aspire to things that they have never encountered; we want to expand their knowledge of the world in which we live. Play Based Learning Outdoor Learning Reading Reading Tips Nursery Ryhmes Maths Pencil grip Outdoor Learning “The best kept classroom and the richest cupboard are roofed only by the sky” Margaret McMillan (1925) The outdoors provides young children with one of the best possible environments in which to learn. Why is learning outdoor important: Physical development is the pre-requisite for the children’s growth. It enhances the development of gross and fine motor skills, develops co-ordination, balance and body awareness. It develops a life-long good habit of daily exercise, encouraging them to be active and healthy. It provides the opportunity for assessed ‘risky’ freedom, where children can play and socialise freely and use their own imagination an initiative. All the areas of learning can be achieved outside while the children’s long-term social, emotional and mental health are being enhanced. Learning outside the classroom gives children contact with the natural world and offers them experiences that are unique to outdoors, such as direct contact with the weather and the seasons. Playing and learning outside also helps children to understand and respect nature, the environment and the interdependence of humans, animals, plants, and lifecycles. Outdoor play also supports children’s problem-solving skills and nurtures their creativity, as well as providing rich opportunities for their developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness. The outdoor environment offers space and therefore is particularly important to those children who learn best through active movement. Very young children learn predominately through their sensory and physical experiences which supports brain development and the creation of neural networks. For many children, playing outdoors at their early years setting may be the only opportunity they have to play safely and freely while they learn to assess risk and develop the skills to manage new situations. At our school we have two well equipped outdoor areas, as well as a garden where the children can explore, learning and play. In addition to this, the children will have the chance to visit the EcoPark where they can experience, hands-on, pond dipping, mini-beast hunts, explore the seasons and build dens to name a few. Outdoor Play Based Learning Play underpins the Early Years Foundation Stage at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School. When children play, they are learning at the highest level and through play, children develop language skills, their emotions and creativity, social and intellectual skills. Play takes place indoors and outdoors and it is in these different environments that children explore and discover their immediate world, practise new ideas and skills, take risks, show imagination and solve problems on their own or with others. We provide high quality planned and unplanned experiences for children’s play and our teaching team support children’s learning so that it is both enjoyable and challenging. Play Reading At St. Bernadette’s Catholic School we foster a love of reading from the onset, sharing stories, poems and rhymes to develop vocabulary and comprehension. We have selected a number of high, quality texts to support a love of reading. Nursery Reading and Rhyme Spine Reception Reading and Rhyme Spine Nursery Rhymes in EYFS We also follow Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk for Writing’, this is a multi-sensory approach, introducing a simple way to inspire young children's language development through storytelling. Our children learn language through memorable, meaningful repetition. The ‘Talk for Writing’ approach enables children to internalise the language of story so that they can imitate it, innovate on it and create their own effective stories independently, allowing their language development and creativity to flourishes. We have a secure, systematic, synthetic phonics programme taught from the beginning of Reception, with phase 1 listening and attention activities being the focus in our Nursery. Our children have many opportunities to read and reread books that match their phonics stage. We also have a robust assessment system in place to quickly pick up children falling behind and thus we are able to give these children targeted support. Check out our Reading area on our school website for more information. EYFS Mathematics There's more to mathematics than just counting! Children learn about maths through play and their daily experiences and the more meaningful to them and hands on it is, the better. Our Nursey and Reception (both indoors and out) is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting things for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate and describe. This supports them to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and to have a go and to be resilient. EYFS Mathematics Overview Click here to visit our Mathematics area of our school website for more information. Please refer to our Maths Knowledge Organisers above. Literacy We believe that literacy and communication are key life skills. We will help children to develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively in both spoken and written language. We want the children to enjoy and appreciate a rich variety of literature. Literacy skills permeate the curriculum and are vital in ensuring progress across all subjects. We aim to develop pupils’ abilities within our core programme of reading, writing, speaking and listening. The children have opportunities to use and improve their skills in other subject areas. We are committed to engaging our children with stories and rhymes from a very young age. Early language development is established through daily stories and rhymes. Children will experience quality reading, story, rhyme, talk and play on a daily basis. This is carefully planned within directed teacher led sessions and in our continuous provision. Please refer to our Literacy Knowledge Organisers above.

St Bernadette's School Council School Council Making a Difference St. Bernadette’s has an active school council in which 2 elected members from Years 1-6 meet and discuss views and ideas in our school, community and world. The Election Process Years 1-4: Children had to express to their teachers why they wanted to be in School Council and what qualities they could bring. Teachers discussed all candidates and voted for their Year bands councillors. Years 5-6: Children had time to write a speech on why they wanted to be a representative for their peers. They explained changes they wanted to make and ideas they had to continue to make our school a positive and welcoming environment. They then had to present this speech in front of their Year bands and teachers. The children were then asked to vote for 2 chosen candidates from their year bands using a ballot process. Each of the children were given a voting slip which they had to exchange for a ballot paper. The children then had to go to the voting booth and select their candidate by placing an ‘X’ in the box. What is our Vision? To have a school which is dynamic, a school that not only listens, but acts upon the views of its pupils. To further promote and express the voice of the child, not just within our school but within the City of Birmingham and with schools around the World. We hope to extend and share our ideas through further communications with other schools across the globe. What is our Aim? To raise people’s awareness that children have valid ideas. To be a voice for the children in our school. To make our school an even more friendly and pleasant place in which to learn. To make suggestions as to how our school could be improved further. To further improve our school environment. To raise money for charities. November For the month of November, School Council were thinking about being thankful and how lucky we are to have the things we do. In order to help others, School Council decided to collect for the Trussell Trust food banks. The Trussell Trust provides food and toiletries to families when they need it most. Councillors spread the message throughout school and encouraged their peers to donate. They organised the food and prepared it ready to donate. We managed to collect a huge 34kg of food and toiletries! October School Council were asked by Mrs Canning to choose a name for our new space in school. This space will be used for pupils who need some time away from class, to continue to explore and learn. We would like the room to be a calm environment and the name to reflect that. After many discussions and a vote, we decided on The Moonlight Room. We can’t wait to see the sign up soon! September School Council have been set a task by Mr Carroll! We were asked to discuss ideas for new Track-it prizes for the school. We met last week and brainstormed ideas, deciding on what prizes could be used for less and more points. We thought about what we would find useful as a prize, as well as things we would just enjoy. School Council went back to their year groups and gathered ideas from their peers. On Tuesday, we met with Mr Carroll and pitched our ideas to him. He was impressed with how well thought out our ideas were and we hope to see a few of them soon.

Mental Health & Well Being Mental Health and Wellbeing at St.Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School At St. Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for our whole school community and recognise how important mental health and emotional wellbeing are to our lives. Our role is to ensure that everyone is able to manage times of change and stress, and that all members of our community are supported to reach their potential or access help when they need it. We also have a responsibility to ensure that our children, staff, and wider community learn how to maintain positive mental health, understand what affects their mental health, help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues, and know where to go for support. Therefore, we have developed a curriculum to help children become more resilient and aware of their own mental health and wellbeing. For children, mental health encompasses their emotional, social, and cognitive wellbeing. It involves how they feel, think, and act, and is crucial for their overall development. Mental health affects daily life, relationships, and learning. In childhood, good mental health includes reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and developing strategies to cope with challenges. We encourage the following abilities through our delivery: Resilience This is the ability to bounce back from challenges and adapt to changes, which is important for long-term well-being. Children develop the ability to manage stress, learn from mistakes, and build confidence. When children build resilience they form stronger relationships, have better problem-solving skills and manage their emotions better. Healthy relationships Healthy relationships with peers and adults can foster a sense of belonging and support. Children have healthy relationships when their communication is based on respect, trust, honesty and open communication. Healthy relationships offer support and encouragement, helping children to grow and develop their confidence. Children who learn to build and maintain relationships develop empathy and can communicate effectively. Self-regulation These are abilities that help children manage their emotions, behaviours, thoughts and choices of actions especially in the face of challenging situations. It is a crucial skill as it impacts learning, social interactions and overall well-being. Children learn how to manage and regulate strong emotions like anger, frustration and sadness. It is important for children to know how to control their impulses, by resisting the urge to act on immediate desires and rather make more thoughtful decisions. Children are encouraged to maintain attention on tasks and resist distractions. What we provide your child. We have several programmes and methods we use to encourage this. These programmes are described below. Compass This company are a NHS endorsed group who offer support to your child’s mental health through Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (LI-CBT). This service is offered at no cost to yourselves and we have many children who have really benefitted from their time spent in sessions. They can offer one to one sessions with a child or sometimes where more appropriate they offer parent and child meetings to help you develop together. These can take place in person at school, in a community place or online. Letter for Parents Intro to MHST Pupil Voice: A Year 4 pupil said ,”I learnt ways to calm down. I use these a lot. I use Happy Breathing.” A Year 4 pupil said, “They were awesome. They taught me to take a deep breath. I could talk about what happened and my feelings.” Throughout the year we will organise one-off workshops for parents as advertised in the newsletter. Their parent worker has a lot of experience in sharing ideas and knowledge that we could use as parents when our children are experiencing difficulties. You can self-refer to Compass or ask Miss Corkery, Mrs Taylor or Miss Finn and they can talk you through the process to receive your consent for a referral. Throughout the year we will organise one-off workshops for parents as advertised in the newsletter. Their parent worker has a lot of experience in sharing ideas and knowledge that we could use as parents when our children are experiencing difficulties. You can self-refer to Compass or ask Miss Corkery, Mrs Taylor or Miss Finn and they can talk you through the process to receive your consent for a referral My Happy Minds Children are led through a weekly informative programme where they are shown how parts of our brain drive how we feel. They watch short videos, play games, hear short stories for each section. hm1 hm2 hm7 hm1 1/7 My Happy Mind Happiness Heroes This is a group of KS2 children who meet regularly to share how to help their year band sort out little issues in the playground or the classroom. They will start the important role of Playground Ambassadors and will be trained in how to watch out for children that are sad or lonely on the playground. They will be trained in how to start a conversation to help others explain what they are feeling and what to do to help.

St. Bernadette's Catholic Primary School, Yardley, Birmingham St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School 1/10 Parent Pay Newsletter School opening hours Monday to Thursday 8.30am -3.15 pm Friday 8.30am- 2.00pm Total time 32.5 hours Pupil Absence Staff Email

Reading at St Bernadette's Reading At Saint Bernadette’s, we recognise that being part of a child’s early reading journey is a privilege. We as staff understand that we are teaching and building a skill that our pupils will rely upon day after day throughout their lifetime. We encourage our children to view reading as a gift, a gateway to worlds that are different to theirs, a source of knowledge and empowerment. The Five Plagues From Nursery to Year 6, children study the 'Five Plagues' in whole class reading sessions. These five plagues represent five different challenges presented in literature: Archaic texts (stories written in older language) Non-linear time sequence (books which treat time in an unusual way) Complexity of the narrator (stories which are challenging because of the narration) Complexity of story (books with a challenging plot) Resistance texts (texts which are written to be deliberately difficult to understand) We believe a steady exposure to these different challenges will help to prepare our pupils as life-long readers. Reading tricky texts provides our students with a toolkit for future reading. Within these lessons, children will also explore a range of non-fiction texts; develop their understanding of new and challenging vocabulary; listen to their teacher's 'thoughts' as they read and improve their fluency. Non-Fiction Texts We believe that pairing non-fiction texts with fiction books helps to increase absorption rate of both texts. Children are more likely to remember the non-fiction because they are then applying it within the story they are reading, and they are more likely to understand the story because they then have the non-fiction background. Across the school, children are given the opportunity to explore a wide variety of non-fiction texts in conjunction with their plague text on topics such as: asthma, bullying, dementia, refugees, deaf awareness, and the holocaust. They also explore non-fiction texts and poems which link to the science, history and geography curricula. Reading Culture Reading for pleasure is of paramount importance and we work hard to ensure that all pupils develop a love of reading. We publish Book of the Month recommendations; have reading challenges within every year band; create links with authors, through visits and video calls; have timetabled story sessions throughout the school and build a reading community through constant book talk. Reading at Home It is vitally important that children are heard read every night at home. We recommend that parents work with their children for at least twenty minutes a day on their reading. Research states that children who are heard read at home for this length of time will hear 1,800,000 words per year and will, on average, fall in the 90th percentile. Reading at home may involve your child reading to you or you reading part of a story to them. This could involve sharing a book or reading a magazine or newspaper. Try to promote book talk as much as possible in the home. Accelerated Reader We use the Accelerated Reader system as our home-school reading system for Key Stage 2. Children will complete a 'Star Assessment' termly and are given a ZPD score. Books in our school library are organised by ZPD and pupils may choose their own books from the selection within this range. When they have finished a book, children take a quiz to see if they have thoroughly read and understood it. Passing these quizzes gives them points and they can get certificates based on their reading achievement. Accelerated Reader: Parents Guide Reading: About Us Phonics We begin this journey with RWInc phonics and the teaching of letter sounds. Staff teach children to use their knowledge of sounds to decode and blend words enabling children to access phonically matched reading books from the RWInc programme. We develop the children’s love of stories, poems and other genres through daily story sessions and book talk. It is through book talk that we develop the children’s comprehension skills in their EYFS years before they move onto written comprehension tasks in KS1. Through the combination of learning to read with RWInc phonics and listening to and discussing a range of stories, above a level that can be independently read, we aim to foster a love and enjoyment of reading in our pupils. Comprehension At St Bernadette’s School we adopt a strategy based approach whereby pupils are exposed to a variety of texts, question types and are taught strategies (tips) to support them to fully comprehend challenging texts. While the children are reading RWInc books, they will have weekly comprehension lessons based on the RWInc book they are reading. In these lessons they will answer a range of questions including literal retrieval, inference and deduction, vocabulary and summarising. What is the two-week cycle? In week one pupils read the text and focus on identifying any links to the text, retrieving information from the text, clarifying new vocabulary as well as summarising the text. In week one pupils are also taught how to make sensible predictions based on prior knowledge. How do we ensure reading is an active process? Before reading the text, pupils are set a challenge so that they read the text with intent and are actively engaged throughout. What happens during the reading process? Strategies for following the text are modelled by the teacher -for example pupils may be encouraged to follow the text with their reading finger. A variety of approaches are used to read the text and these include the teacher reading the text aloud, pupils filling in word-gaps as the teacher reads as well as independent reading. At St Bernadette’s School we stop at key points in the text and encourage pupils to think aloud. During this process, they may consider how a character is feeling or they may even make a sensible prediction about what may happen next. After reading, pupils summarise the text . This is a key skill. Once pupils have been submerged in the text, we model how to be selective and retell the text in our own words –sequencing the events as they occurred. Did you know 1/5 of the 2018 paper tested vocabulary? After reading we return to the words pupils may have been puzzled by and clarify their meaning. We teach the pupils how to methodically skim and scan for key words or phrases and give them strategies to make this process efficient. We model how each question starter gives the reader a hint as to the response required. Pupils are encouraged to circle the key word in the question and other key words so they carry the information in their head. Pupils are exposed to all the question types. We ensure that pupils are presented with questions in different formats so they become increasingly familiar with the many question styles. Our role is not only to expose them to all the question types but to give them strategies to answer each question type, ensuring that they annotate the text first Once the pupils are familiar with the text it means that in week two they can dig deep and be text detectives (they realise the answers are not explicitly in the text) and infer information. This mind set means they grasp inference and are quite excited about the challenges ahead. In addition, pupils consider how the text is organised and discuss why the author has used certain language choices and their effect. Assessment to inform planning. During the two-week cycle, key objectives are assessed and should the need arise pupils will have a drill down lesson whereby they close the gap in a specific area to ensure the skill or strategy is secure before moving on. Reading Tips for Parents We ask that parents listen to their children read every night at home. With the younger children, this will help them to improve their word recognition, therefore building up their sight vocabulary and fluency. However, for those children who are fluent readers, parents should concentrate on developing their child’s understanding of the text. It may not be necessary to listen to fluent readers every night, but instead to question them about the text that they have read. Reading with children and helping them practice specific reading strategies can dramatically improve their ability to comprehend. We have included a number of questions that parents can use with their children to develop their comprehension skills. It is not expected that parents cover all of these questions every night, but rather that they concentrate on two or three questions each day. KS2 Parent Reading Leaflet: Click image to download The school follows the Read Write Inc Phonics, which teaches children to ‘learn to read’ so they can then ‘read to learn’. In the Spring term, children in our Nursery are introduced to letter sounds and throughout the Reception year and KS1, they are exposed to new sounds until they are confident identifying all 44 phonemes. Parents can support their children throughout the scheme by reading with their children every night and revising their speed sounds on a regular basis (link to speed sounds and pronunciation ). As children become more confident in recognising the sounds they will begin to blend the sounds to form real words and nonsense words. The link attached illustrates a range of real and nonsense words for each of the set 2 and set 3 sounds. These are useful charts which will encourage children to use their phonic knowledge to decode a variety of words. Phonics Set 2 Sounds Quick Read 'oy' Quick Read 'ow' Quick Read 'ou' Quick Read 'or' Quick Read 'igh' Quick Read 'ee' Quick Read 'ir' Quick Read 'oo' as in zoo Quick Read 'oo' as in look Quick Read 'ay' Quick Read 'air' Quick Read 'ar' Anchor 1 Set 3 Sounds Quick Read 'ur' Quick Read 'u-e' Quick Read 'tious' Quick Read 'tion' Quick Read 'ow' Quick Read 'oi' Quick Read 'o-e' Quick Read 'cious' Quick Read 'ea' Quick Read 'ear' Quick Read 'er' Quick Read 'ew' Quick Read 'i-e' Quick Read 'ire' Quick Read 'oa' Quick Read 'aw' Quick Read 'ai' Quick Read 'ure' Quick Read 'are' Quick Read 'a-e' Children are encouraged to progress through the scheme at a rapid rate. They will not necessarily need to cover every book in the scheme, and may be capable of accelerating through the scheme if they demonstrate a sound knowledge of words. In every year band, children are set according to ability and assessments are conducted every 6-8 weeks. As a result of these assessments, children may move up or down into a new setting group. An example of the assessment is here . The national phonic test is administered to pupils in Year 1 in June. On average, pupils need to be able to read 32 of the 40 words in order to pass the test. If they are able to read all set 1,2,3 sounds, they are likely to pass the test. If they score below 32, they will need to repeat the test in Year 2. School Library

Mini Vinnies At St. Bernadette’s we are developing a dedicated team of Mini Vinnies. Mini Vinnies are 7 to 11 year olds based in schools and parishes across England and Wales, and in several countries across the world. They come together to form part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society England and Wales, a voluntary organization dedicated to tackling poverty in all its forms. The role of the Mini Vinnies is to help to be the religious and spiritual voice of the school. Years 3-6 are represented and members of the group demonstrate how they are filled with God’s love by their willingness to help others, as they put their faith into action. The group meets on a regular basis to pray, discuss concerns they may have and plan events to help live out the group’s motto of ‘Turning Concern into Action’. As Mini Vinnies, they embrace the three key points to: ‘see’, ‘think’ and ‘do’. Mini Vinnies are seen as having, ‘the potential to significantly contribute to the future of our Society’. This aim also fits in perfectly with the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching. The Mini Vinnie Prayer Lord, thank you for our gifts and talents. Lord, show us who needs our help. Lord, use our hands to help those who are hungry. Lord, open our hearts to love and comfort those who are sad and lonely. Lord, let us share our time, gifts and talents with those in need. Lord, help us care for the sick. Lord, may we all help and support each other as Mini Vinnies to build a better world. Amen Fundraising During Lent the Mini Vinnies held a cake sale for Father Hudson's Good Shepherd Appeal and raised an amazing £325 in one day! Together with the money from the cake sale and the generous donations in the Good Shepherd boxes, we raised £728.50 for Fr Hudson’s Care. Some of our Mini Vinnies will be representing our school at the annual Good Shepherd Mass held at St Chad’s Cathedral. The Mini Vinnies team are looking forward to organising more fun events to make a difference!

Celebrating our Faith Throughout the academic year, we celebrate our faith with a number of special events. This academic year we have celebrated the following. इस भाषा में अभी तक कोई पोस्ट प्रकाशित नहीं हुई पोस्ट प्रकाशित होने के बाद, आप उन्हें यहाँ देख सकेंगे।

We are delighted to announce that St Bernadette’s School has achieved the Live Simply Award, having successfully demonstrated that we are living simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the world’s poorest communities. The assessor stated: It was wonderful to hear how the children were able to relate the actions they have been taking to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and how we are entrusted to look after God’s world. It was lovely to hear how praying helps them to feel calm, peaceful, safe, happy and grateful. The action you have been undertaking to build links with the Aaran Court care home and with the local parishioners was lovely to hear about and it was clear the children are enjoying interacting with the older generation. It was great to hear about the fundraising you are doing to support young people in Rwanda and how one of the children is now at Manchester university studying engineering. The children were knowledgeable about climate change and how the world’s poorest countries are the most impacted, it was fabulous to hear of the initiatives you are doing to make a difference. It was very interesting to see the difference in energy usage during your “digital down day”. We have decided as a school to pursue the CAFOD Live Simply award. This is an opportunity for us to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us.” To earn this award, we need to show as a school we are living: Simply- how we encourage our families to consume less in our daily lives. Taking the time to be more reflective, prayerful and considerate to others. In solidarity with the poor- being aware that other people might be experiencing difficulties, vulnerabilities, injustice or exclusion. Sustainably with creation- learning ways that can help rebalance our relationship with the environment. Remembering that God gave us this Earth for us to care for. We already do so much as a school to fulfil these objectives, but this year we have planned some special events which we will have a positive impact upon our global, local and school communities. The action plan is as below, some of the highlights are: Engaging with the vulnerable in our local community by writing Christmas cards to older people, inviting them in to watch our Christmas performances. Developing links with our local foodbank by taking collection of food and hygiene items from staff and children to donate regularly. Working towards the Oceans Friendly School Award, making concerted steps to reduce our waste in school and electing members of an eco-team to monitor this. Live Simply Action Plan Food bank collection This Lent we demonstrated how we can be ‘Generous and Grateful’ ‘Compassionate and Loving’ by inviting parents/carers to donate to a food bank that Mrs Buchannon had heard about The food bank is run by Teresa at the back of her café called Lily’s Tea Parlour. Every Friday a collection bin was placed at the Nursery and the gates at the front of school, with a list of items that were most needed. Mrs O’Brien, Mrs Robbins and Mrs Bchannon looked after the Nursery collection and Mr Wayne collected in the donations from the gate. Our parents/carers were extremely generous in donating plenty of items and these were then picked up by Teresa and given out to members of the community in need. We would like to give our thanks to all who felt that they could spare some provisions, especially at this time when costs of our own food and provisions is rising. Living in Solidarity We have been demonstrating our virtues of ‘Compassionate and Loving’, and ‘Generous and Grateful’ by inviting residents of Aran Court to our seasonal celebrations this year. On Wednesday 7th December 2023, we had extra members in the audience for the Christmas Performance of ‘Born in a barn’. The ladies and men really enjoyed their performances as can be seen below in the tweets and photos on the day. They loved getting to meet the cast of the play and our children were delighted to be able to get to chat to them in their costumes. The Wellbeing staff, Katie and Sharon sent us this lovely message when they got back to the home. We also had Year 4 making Christmas cards for the 80 residents of the home. "We had a lovely afternoon, thank you very much for inviting us. We felt very welcome in your school and your children were so well behaved too. Thank you for our refreshments - the ladies love a good cuppa!" When reception held their Easter Bonnet Parade on 29th March 2023, we invited the Aran Court residents in to watch the children proudly displaying their beautiful bonnets. Nursery and Reception were delighted to have an extra special audience. After the parade we invited our visitors to have tea and biscuits. As can be seen below they really entered into the spirit of the day and came with their own beautiful bonnets! Sharon and Katie who are staff members of Aran Court are pictured here having a well-earned cup of tea. They have always been delighted to join us in our celebrations. Our visitors also took a tour around our Easter egg competition entries and were really impressed with the effort put in to making the Religious Stories entries. We are also inviting the residents for an afternoon tea on Friday 26th May 2023 as this is our Vocations Day for the whole school. We will have some Mini Vinnies attending this tea, having a chat with them to find out more about their previous life, where they worked and just getting to know them better. Check back here soon for how this goes! Waste Management Results from the parent/carer environmental survey Many thanks for the replies to the environmental survey we sent out recently. We had 85 replies and this shows that there is an awareness and care for our local and world environment within our community. Below is a pie chart demonstrating how you consider single-use plastic when out shopping. Living Sustainably This shows there is a care towards using less but we all know sometimes the most convenient solution can be heavily plastic based eg, apples in a plastic wrapper or milk in plastic bottles. The pie chart above shows that it has sometimes been a decision for you to walk/take public transport instead of using the car. This shows you consider the effect of pollution on the air we breathe, and the cost of petrol makes this decision make sense. When asked what concerns you where you live 43 out of 85 people said litter/flytipping/waste management. It is all our responsibility to ensure we reduce our waste. When asked what your concerns were for the global environment some people said pollution. Some said plastic waste, others mentioned global warming/climate change. Our children are so environmentally aware and knew that we needed to do something as a school community about the plastic we dispose of. Although great efforts were made in our classrooms to recycle paper and card we did not have a dedicated recycling system in place for plastics. That all changed this academic year. Special plastic recycling bins were ordered and installed at key places within school. These were clearly labelled with the items which could be recycled within them. The Eco-wardens check the bins in their particular zone weekly and when these are full help Mrs Lennon empty these into the larger plastics bin for refuse workers to collect. Through the work we are doing for our Live simply award, the Eco-wardens and the Earth Ambassadors are all working together to help make our school more environmentally aware. We are grateful for your support to your children achieving this aim. Digital Down Day You may remember that on Monday 20th March, children and staff participated in Digital Down Day. During this day, teachers taught their lessons without laptops and interactive whiteboards, the staff in the kitchen switched off the ovens and served cold lunches and children arrived in bright clothing to light up our classrooms since the lights were switched off. We were so impressed with how this day was embraced by children, parents and staff members. We wished to highlight how making small changes to our everyday routines could have a massive impact upon our energy consumption and thus our impact upon the environment. The charts below show our electricity usage during the month of March. You can clearly see our reduced electricity usage on the 20th March, which was very similar to Friday 10th March – a snow day, where no children and a limited number of staff were in school. We are so proud, thank you for your support. The Eco-team