Lower School

At this early stage of children's learning we want to preserve the natural joy of childhood experiences, affirming the unique worth of each individual and knowledge of God's character e.g. as a loving Father-Creator. 

We prioritise: 

• The nurture of relationships, thankfulness, curiosity, creativity, imagination, conscience, a love of truth, beauty and diversity. 
• Play and first hand experience e.g. exploring and caring for the environment, the joy of discovery, and expressing prayer and praise to God. 
• The development of foundational learning skills e.g. speaking, listening, observation, numeracy, memorising, reading, writing singing, crafts, movement. 
• Knowledge about creation within topics which captivate a child's interest e.g. the life of bees, how we breathe. 
• Appreciation of community: ways to contribute to family and school life, family histories, people who help us, contact with friends in China and Africa, helping other people e.g. Operation Christmas Child. 
   

Lower School Curriculum Picture Gallery

Chirk Castle - Year 1

June 2022

Year 1 children had a great day out at Chirk Castle to extend their history learning of castles and science learning about plants. They explored  castle life in the medieval era including the dungeons and the servants hall  and were able to try on a range of armour. In the gardens the children investigated wildflowers and also used their senses to enjoy the stunning garden flowers.

Paddington Bear Fundraising Morning

March 2022

Lower School children took part in a special Paddington Bear morning to support a charity in Poland who are helping Ukrainian refugees. Each child did helping hands jobs at home to raise money. They brought to school their favourite teddy bear and took part in a range of age appropriate activities to learn about the refugee situation, pray for those who are refugees, make Paddington cakes, marks and bookmarks. A big thank you to all the Lower School families who helped to raise over £200 for this important work. 

World Book Day

March 2022

Lower School children loved taking part in World Book Day 2022. They each came to school dressed in their favourite book character and enjoyed taking part in a wide range of book related activities throughout the day. These included cosy reading by torchlight,   designing bookmarks, making role play masks, designing teddy bear biscuits and a taking part in Bible quiz. The highlight for many was watching their teachers take part in a pantomime about Goldilocks and her 3 friends... watch out for Burglar Bill!

Lower School Celebrate Chinese New Year

February 2022

Lower School children took part in a range of activities to celebrate Chinese New Year, including learning about Chinese traditions in Year 3, tasting authentic chinese food in Reception and making dancing dragons in Year 1 and 2. 

Year 3 - China 

February 2022

In Geography, Year 3 have been finding out about Chinese culture and Art. Aren't their fans and lanterns great?

Robot Invasion in Year 2

February 2022

Year 3 - Celts

February 2022

Year 3 have been finding out about the Iron Age Celts. They had great fun dressing up in the type of clothes they might have worn.

Space - Year 1

January 2022

Year 1 children have been exploring the topic of Space this half term. They have been learning about the Solar System and were fascinated by a visit to the Planetarium at The World Museum Liverpool. In design technology the children planned, made and evaluated their own rockets and produced some beautiful moon and sun pieces of art. They went back in time to discover key events in space travel history and were able to order these events on a time line. They took part in space travel role play in our own class International Space Station. 

Imagine That!

Lower School had a brilliant day out at Imagine That. They took part in science shows, art and craft and some great role play activities.

Lower School Nativity Play

December 2021

Our Lower School children performed a wonderful Nativity Play. The singing was heartfelt and joyful and our actors and narrators did a great job of telling this very special story. Well done everyone!

Making a Christmas Cake - Year 1

December 2021

Year 1 children are making a Christmas Cake  to share with their family. Mrs Taylor is helping them with each stage of the process, from mixing the ingredients, rolling out and positioning the marzipan, rolling out and putting on the icing and finally decorating the cake. What a special treat for Christmas!

Disability Awareness Month

November 2021

 Mrs Wakeling came to do our assembly this week entitled 'Differently Abled' and taught us that we are all created by God with different gifts. She told the story of 'Helen Keller' who was deaf and blind but learnt to read and write and later became an author. Mrs Wakeling taught the children how to say 'hello' using sign language and then the children had chance to try on glasses which enabled them to experience what it is like to be visually impaired. The children also took part in a braille challenge and managed to crack the code!

Liverpool Buildings - Year  3

November 2021

As part of Year 3's topic on Liverpool History, they have carefully looked at iconic Liverpool buildings and planned how they could recreate them as models.

Year 1 - History of Toys Topic

November 2021

This term Year 1 have been learning about the history of toys and developing their understanding of chronology.  They started by exploring their own favourite toys and the sort of toys that children play with today. They then found out about the toys that their parents and Grandparents played with when they were children. Last week the children were able to meet some very special early 20th Century toys that belonged to Miss Dowrick's Grandparents. They loved playing a game called Tumbelin that was 100 years old! We compared the changes in toys over the years.

Phonics Fun! - Reception

Autumn Term

Phonics Fun - we read the jolly phonics story, learn an action and a song for each sound and then we enjoy lots of hands on practical activities to help us remember our sounds.

Year 2 - Ferry Trip

November 2021

Year Two enjoyed their trip on the 'ferry across the Mersey'. They had great fun spotting the Liverpool landmarks and checking them off their list. They are all getting very good at naming the Liverpool buildings that can be seen along the waterfront. We also visited 'The Museum of Liverpool' and took part in a workshop called 'Best Buildings'. The children looked closely at the picture by Ben Johnson called 'Cityscape' and later had fun using stencils and collage to decorate their own Liverpool building.

Liverpool History Projects - Year 3

November 2021

Year 3 have been finding out about how Liverpool has changed since the 19th Century. For homework they were asked to focus on either housing, buildings, sport or transport and to track changes over time.

Lower School - Remembrance  Day

11th November 2021

All of our Lower School classes commemorated Remembrance Day by taking part in class assemblies and creating special poppy wreaths. 

Hibernating Hedgehogs - Reception

November 2021

After discussing the changes that occur in God’s world during Autumn we decided to make some little clay hedgehogs to hibernate on our Autumn table. We were surprised how hard the clay felt compared to the play dough that we’re used to handling. With a little effort we were able to mould an appropriate shape and carefully pushed little sticks into the clay to make the hedgehog’s spikes. Painting was a little fiddly but we’re very proud of our completed hedgehogs and found them a safe space to hibernate.

Fireworks - Year 2

November 2021

Year Two had fun creating colourful firework prints! Then in English they wrote their own firework poems and shared them with the class.

Bonfire Night Activities - Reception

November 2021

We enjoyed a safety talk from the older Y8s and learnt all about the history of bonfire night. We ordered and wrote instructions for using sparklers safely and for making chocolate apples. We made some fantastic junk model rockets which we zoomed around our classroom and then we sat around a pretend bonfire and sung firework songs. 

Big Body Movements - Reception

Big body movements - we were unable to go swimming and it was very wet outside so we went to the hall for some big body movements. We climbed up the bars, swung on the ropes, slid down the slide, pedalled the bikes and threw balls and foam javelins. 

Year 1 Autumn Explorers

November 2021

Year 1 used their five senses to explore the signs of Autumn in our school grounds today. They particulary enjoyed hearing the rustling and crunching sounds as they kicked the leaves and tasting a crisp and sweet Autumn apple.

Patterns - Reception

October 2021

Pattern Fun - we read a lovely book called pattern fish and then we used lots of classroom resources to make repeating patterns. We also made some musical patterns and action patterns using our body. We ended the week making some delicious fruit kebab patterns. 

The Secret Sky Garden - Year 3 PSME

October 2021

Year 3 enjoyed the story 'The Secret Sky Garden' by Linda Sarah and Fiona Lumbers. They chose happy colours for the kites, then they wrote down what makes them feel good on the bows.

Reception - Lighthouses

October 2021

Reception class were learning about Jesus as the Light of the World. They sang the song ' My lighthouse' and created these fantastic light up lighthouses.

The Rainbow Fish - Year 2

October 2021

In English we have been reading 'The Rainbow Fish' by Marcus Fisher. The children had

great fun dressing up as the characters from the story in our role play area and acting out the story. Then we looked at the Bible verse 'love one another as I have loved you' John 15 v12 in a PSME lesson. We made colourful 'friendship fish' and discussed the things that make a good friend.

Meeting Baby Ducklings - Reception

Meeting baby ducklings - We had great fun meeting Mrs O’Connor’s baby ducklings - they felt very soft and they loved eating little seeds out of our hands or off the carpet. The little ducklings ran around everywhere and were very noisy and messy.  

Year 2 - Rivers

September/October 2021

This term Year Two have been learning all about Rivers. We had fun doing a practical illustration to show the flow of rainwater down a mountain to form a river. Then the children labelled photos of landmarks along the Liverpool waterfront. We decided on symbols to represent these landmarks and placed them on a map. We are also learning to label the seven continents on a world map.

Self Portraits - Year 3

September 2021

Year 3 explored the Bible verses from Psalm 139 about being 'fearfully and wonderfully made'. They created these beautiful self portraits.

Year 1 - Busy Beach Art

September 2021

Year 1 have been learning about the Welsh Artist Janet Bell. They carefully observed the colours and shapes in a range of her paintings and created their own busy beach collage pictures. These included drawings of their friends from Year 1 playing on the beach!

Year 2 Razzle Dazzle Art

October 2021

Year 2 have been learning about the Pop artist Peter Blake and how he used colour and monochrome lines and shapes to ‘dazzle’ the snowdrop ferry on the Mersey.  We had a go at dazzling the classroom window! We are learning how God has made us creative so that we can celebrate what we see around us through design and colour!

Year 1 Noah's Ark

October 2021

Year 1 children have been exploring the story of Noah and created this beautiful Noah's Ark collage. They have enjoyed learning about  God's promises in The Bible.

Year 3 Bible Explorers Drama

September 2021

Year 3 children have been exploring the Bible story of Abraham's servant meeting Rebecca at the well. They acted out the scenes of Abraham giving instructions to the servant, Rebecca getting water for the servant's camels, Rebecca's family giving permission for her to go and Rebecca meeting Isaac. 

Settling in to life in Reception class 

September 2021

We have really enjoyed getting to know one another and exploring the learning environment both inside and outside our classroom. 

Year 2 and 3 Beach Trip

July 2021

Children from Year 2 and 3 had a wonderful day out at Ainsdale Beach. They built sandcastles, buildings and cities, had a demonstration from life guards, a paddle in the sea and an ice cream.

Reception and Year 1 Mini Sports Day

July 2021

Year 3 China

July 2021

Mr and Mrs Lok came to talk to Y3 today about China as part of our geography topic. They taught us how to use chop sticks and we learned all about schools in China  and about the Christians who live there.

Reception and Year 1 Trip to Summerwood Farm

June 2021

Reception and Year 1 children had an amazing day out at Summerwood Farm. In the morning they took part in a nature trail and feed the chickens and collected their eggs. Later on in the day they saw a falcoln show and met Eddie the tortoise and Tilly the Sheepdog. To finish off the day they had a great fun on the bouncy castle, slide and games equipment and a tasty icecream. A huge thank you goes to The Cooke Family and their friends who hosted such a wonderful day for us all. 

Police Visit to Lower School

June 2021

On Monday Lower School had a visit from Jai and Helen who work as Police Officers in Liverpool. They talked to the children about how the Police can help us and what a day in the life of a Police Officer is like. They brought in some of their equipment for the children to see and explained how it would be used. The children enjoyed seeing the Police car driving off with it's flashing lights at the  end of the assembly!

Year 1 - Maths

June 2021

Year 1 have been creating repeated pattern designs for their summer t-shirts.

Year 3 China

June 2021

Today Y3 had a visit from Miss Cheung who showed some photos of her nephew, who used to be in the class. He now lives in China . The children are doing a topic on China at the moment and they were able to ask lots of questions about the country and find out about their friend's new lifestyle.

Year 3 - Rainforest Art

June 2021

Some of the Year 3 children were using oil pastels to work on the emergent layer of the rainforest. The rest were using collage to show the plants on the forest floor. 

Year 1 Bee Topic

June 2021

 Year 1 have learnt how bees make honey by passing nectar from bee to bee to get it into the honeycomb. They also found out that God made bees for pollination.

Year 3 Roman Soldier Visit

June 2021

Today, a Roman Soldier visited Year 3 as part of their Roman topic, he showed the children what he wore as a soldier and answered all of their questions about what it was like to be part of the Roman Army

Year 1 Minibeast Hunt

June 2021

To launch the new Science topic of Minibeasts, Year 1 took part in a hunt in our school grounds. 

Reception and Year 1 Vegetable Allotment

Children from Reception and Year 1 have been working together to plant a wide range of vegetables in our mini allotment. 

Year 3 - Archaeological dig

Year 3 enjoyed taking part in an archaeological dig as part of their history topic, we found lots of interesting artefacts.

Lower School Assembly - The Role of a Nurse

May 2021

We had a special visitor in Lower School, Mrs Biggs, who is an A&E Nurse. She talked to the children about what her job in A&E involves and about the roles that Nurses play throughout our city.  She also helped us to think about ways of keeping our bodies healthy through exercise and making healthy food choices.  

Year 3 Romans Projects

May 2021

Year 3 have been finding out all about the Romans. Each child has created a fantastic home project. We have also been finding out about what each piece of the armour of God represents.

Geography - Our Local Area

May 2021

Year 1 took part in a Geography walk along Overbury Street. They identified different types of homes and buildings. Back in the classroom we looked at a map of Overbury Street and created a 3D model to represent the 2D map.

Year 2 Art

May 2021

Our Claude Monet 'Water Lilies' inspired painting session

Being Active in Reception

April 2021

The children in Reception have been very active this week. They worked as a team to create an enormous 100 square and practiced balancing and travelling over large equipment in P.E.

Year 1 Plants Topic

April 2021

Year 1 are getting green fingers this half term as they explore the topic of plants. We have planted a mini Year 1 garden which we are watering every day. The children looked carefully at the shape and colour of the bluebells, daffodils and hyacinths in our garden and used pastels to create some beautiful pictures. Reception children enjoyed creating lovely hyacinth art work too. 

We discovered that part of God's purpose for plants was to provide food and habitats for animals and humans. We know that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helps us to stay healthy. We have designed and created our own vegetable and fruit salads. 

Year 2 Frog Project

In science this term, Year 2 are learning all about pond life. The children are enjoying having a tank of tadpoles in class to observe and care for and are very excited about the prospect of tiny frogs! In English, we are learning about the features of an information book and the children are all busy making their own fact books about frogs.

Celebrating Easter in Lower School

Lower School celebrated Easter in lots of creative ways. We explored the Easter story through special Bible assemblies and took part in  role playing some of the events leading up to Good Friday. We made cards and crafts and took part in some cooking activities. We had great fun on an Easter egg hunt!

Welfare Week

March 2021

During Welfare week, Year 3 enjoyed the story, 'The Secret Sky Garden' by Linda Sarah and Fiona Lumbers. The character in the story feels happy when she flies a kite in the garden she's created. Year 3 chose their own 'happy colours' for their kites and then wrote down what makes them feel good on the bows.

Year 2 Welfare Week Activities

During welfare week , Year 2 read the story 'In it together' which is all about children's' different feelings and emotions about returning to school after lockdown. The children identified their emotions and then wrote about their thoughts on speech marks. We looked at the Bible verse 1 Peter 3 v15 which teaches us to cast our cares on God'

Later in the week we looked the the verse in Jeremiah 29 v11 which talks about 'God's plans to bless us'. We talked about the things we are looking forward to doing in the future. The children decorated our 'jar of hope' and then drew pictures and wrote about the things they are looking forward to doing.

In PSME we talked about how God has created us in his own image 'special and unique'. The children worked in pairs and did portraits of one another, looking carefully at each others skin ,hair and eye colour.

Life in the polar regions

January 2021

Reception children have been learning about the polar regions both in school and at home. 

Christmas Forest School Day

December 2020

Lower School had a special  Christmas Forest School Day. We started the day with a woodland reflection focusing on God's creation, collecting lots of natural materials and following a star activity trail  We used some of  the natural objects that we found to create a range of beautiful Christmas crafts to share with our families. To finish off the day we enjoyed hot chocolate in the woodland area and sang Christmas songs in the open air.

Legend the Donkey

December 2020

The highlight of the Autumn term was a visit from Legend the donkey. He had a starring role in our Nativity play and every child in Lower School had a chance to have a ride and give him a stroke too.

Autumn Explorers

October 2020

Year 1 used their senses to explore the signs of Autumn in our school grounds. They produced some beautiful Autumn art work with leaf collage and finger painting. 

Year 1 Art Work

September 2020

Year 1 have created self portraits for our class display and our friendship circle. We looked carefully at our skin, hair and eye colour and celebrated how each of us are uniquely made and equally special. 

As part of our theme of Holidays, we created these fun suns and seaside  paintings in the style of Janet Bell, a Welsh artist.

Back to School - Psalm 23

September 2020

On returning to school after lockdown we focused our assemblies on Psalm 23. We learnt that God is our good Shepherd. He knows us by name and he takes good care of us. We helped the children to know that they can talk about anything they feel anxious or worried about with an adult at school or home and they can take these worries to God in prayer too.

Welcome to Reception

September 2020

Settling into our new indoor and outdoor environment.

Lower School Curriculum Displays

2019-20

Beach Trip

2019

In the summer term Lower School children all head to Ainsdale Beach for a day of sandcastle building and paddling in the sea. We couldn't go in 2020 so here are some highlights from 2019.