Ice Cream

The last food that McKee class had expressed an interest in learning about was ice cream! Mrs Johnson and Mrs Matthews were also keen to have a go at making it, and so asked around to try and borrow an ice cream maker. The generous donor went one better and loaned an ice cream ball. McKee class had a fantastic of a time playing with this. This is a selection of what they said afterwards when they were asked what to put on the blog.....

"We wanted to eat ice cream and Mrs Matthews said we should we make it first! We borrowed a big pink ball.

Ready steady.....

In one side we put the cream and sugar and other ingredients and put the lid on.

 In the other side we put lots and lots and lots of ice cubes and some lumpy salt.



Rock salt

Then we took turns, in our groups, to roll the ball in a circle. The ingredients were runny but they went solid.

The salt helped make everything stay cold. We had to keep adding more ice cubes. It was really cold when we were rolling it. My hands were freezing! We did it outside to help it stay cold. We had to keep rolling it and not let it stop.



Ice cream

The ice cream was yummy. We had two bits each. I liked it better than home ice cream. It tasted lovely. It did not taste like the ice cream I have a home, I like that better than this. I want to do this with my mummy. I hope we can make it again at school. This was fun."

The end result

As you can see the experiment was a success and surprisingly easy, if rather cold on the hands! Most of the children enjoyed the ice cream, only one said he preferred the ice cream he usually ate at home. Afterwards the class were keen to talk about what they had done and how the ingredients had changed to make this special treat. A great way to end the topic on food.

Operation Christmas Child assembly

The shoebox appeal is all about helping other children at Christmas time. All you have to do is put a few things in a shoebox, covered with wrapping paper, and bring it into school the week we return from half term.

It is great for all the children in poorer countries or areas that suffered. This is because some of them would not get anything for Christmas.

Last Monday, our vicar, John Hookway, did an assembly on this and told us all about it.  Many people say they are going to help. It is an amazing cause and I think everyone should take part

Natalie – year 6

Socks for chocs

On Friday the PSA invited members of the school to wear colourful socks! In exchange, anyone taking up the challenge, donated some chocolate to the PSA to be used as a prize at the Christmas Bazaar.

Abigail  - Year 6 said : "It was really amusing seeing everyone in their funky socks. Maybe next year the teachers might want to try it. It made the day colourful and exciting ".

Being a house captain

At Christ Church we have four houses. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There are three captains for each house and they are elected by their peers. Four of the house captains have written a few words, about what they did to get elected and how they felt when they found out they had won.

I tried to make my presentation funny and firm. I liked standing up in front of people and  I was loud but not too loud! I said, if they are upset I will be there for them and I am very tolerant. If they are unhappy come and talk to me I will sort it out.

I was overwhelmed when I won and amazed. I was against ten others and I hoped if I stayed confident I would get through and I did.

by Abigail (Luke)

I did a power point about how I could help everyone and represent the school. It was nerve-wracking because of the people watching. You were not allowed to watch the vote and had to wait all day to find out (in the afternoon assembly). I thought it went well and I was really, really pleased. It was tough because there were so many people going for. I was really, really happy because I really wanted it and can not wait to do it now.

 by Maisie (Mark)

I tried to be comical but serious as well and tell what I was going to do and why they should vote me. So I did a page that was funny and a page that was serious. I included things I liked and things I don’t like. I did pictures because they would have more impact. I felt very, very happy to win and that the pressure was over because we had to wait until after lunchtime to find out the result. I was thinking I hope I get it, I hope I get and then I was relieved. I wanted it because I want to help John house to win everything even netball.

by Dylan (John)

I am extremely pleased to be the house captain of Matthew in 2012. I feel happy with myself. In my presentation I included the things I would do to improve Matthew house, how I would help everyone and make sure everyone was happy. I decided to have a mascot and came up with Mattie Bear and he will come to house events (sports day) and family forum.

I am still amazed at being the house captain and shall try to help in everything I can. I feel proud to wear my green house captain badge and hope to be a successful house captain.

by Natalie (Matthew)

Food, glorious food!

For the last half term the foundation stage have been learning about food.

In Mckee class we have investigated, tasted, made, cooked, taken apart and thoroughly enjoyed learning within this topic. Amongst others things the class asked to learn more about sweet corn and wanted to eat mashed potato. This we did. They wanted to eat cake and so we looked at few celebrations and then held one of our own!

On Wednesday we held an afternoon tea party. The children made their own sandwiches, spreading the filling and choosing a shape into which to cut them, (no they were not cucumber), they decorated a cake and asked to have more popped corn. We also added some fruit  to balance everything up.

After an afternoon of dancing, singing and playing games the children enjoyed their plate of food.

We have managed to learn about all the foods the children requested, when we planned with them, at the beginning of term. The only one we have not covered is ice cream.....watch this space.

Changeable food



Making popcorn



This week Mckee class have looked at how some items of food and drink change. The class asked to learn more about sweetcorn and so they did. They also made corn on the cob pictures using real corn kernels to go in the "indoor garden". They then made and ate popcorn, with all but one child enjoying the taste of this treat.

Carle class continued the theme of treats by making milkshakes and drinking those. All sorts of fruits were chosen and blended with milk to make a tasty drink. The class enjoyed this activity and it's results!

Investigating tea

Mckee class finished off by learning about tea plants and then using their investigation skills to examine tea bags and tea leaves. They did not know that the leaves started off as "real green leaves". They were also surprised at the colour of "black tea" most claiming to have only seen tea with milk in.  

Pirate assembly

Last Friday  Potter class entertained the school and their parents with their pirate assembly and they were able to show how much they have learnt over the past few weeks.

"It was lots of fun doing the assembly and I liked being in the pirate fashion show best. We had designed and made hats for this show. My two designs were a rabbit and cross bones and a bear and cross bones. I only put one on my hat.

We had a ship called The Golden Chicken and we were all pirates. We told everyone what pirates were like and my favourite word was loblollies! It was fun being in this assembly!"

In join me learn we wrote instructions on how to make pirate hat. Our parents could help us but we had to do the writing. The parents were good learners!"

By E in Potter class

Firework safety

"Today the police came to school and told us all about fireworks. They said we need to stay safe and not touch them. It doesn't matter if they are big ones or small ones. If they are lit, and don't go off, then stay away because they could still explode and hurt you.

We must wear gloves, if we use spaklers, and hold them away from us and other people. We should put them in a bucket of cold water when they go out and not touch them again or drop them onto the floor.

They also said that if anyone is going to go trick or treating, to go to people we know and if they say go away or don't open the door then we should just go away.

We must not play nasty tricks or throw anything at their house or car."

(written by a Year 2 pupil)

School Disco

Around 200 children attended the PSA Disco on Friday evening. There were 2 sessions, one for KS1 & foundation another for KS2.

Fred said "The best bits were the action songs like the Macarena and the conga." He also enjoyed being with his friends and the way all the glo bands looked in the dark.

All the children seemed to have good fun and looked great in their disco outfits.

One of the mums on the PSA, who shall remain nameless, was enjoying strutting her stuff much to the amusement of the rest of us.

Several parents, when they collected their children, commented on how loud the music was, we must all be getting old!

Thank you Mrs D'Arcy for this review. (Mrs D'Arcy is a school MSA, LSA and on the PSA!) This Disco raised an amazing £500. Well done all and thank you.

Mr Allchin- Marathon Runner

Mr Allchin  made it! On a very wet and windy day he battled the weather and the hills to complete the Eden project marathon - all to raise money for our school.

He says "This event was advertised as 'challenging'.  I can tell you it is BRUTAL!"

"I knew I was expecting some hills on the course, but nothing I had done in training prepared me for the onslaught of continuous hill climbing in the first 13 miles.  It seemed that around every corner was another hill, just as steep, and just as muddy."

Congratulations Mr Allchin on this huge achievement and many thanks from us all of us at Christ Church School.

Please have a look at his own Blog for a more detailed review of the event. 

Harvest week in Reception

McKee and Carle started their week and ended it with Harvest festivals!

On Monday we joined the rest of the school in church and celebrated together. We took with us  a basket of tomatoes which had been grown in our outdoor area.

The theme of the service was saying "Thank you" and so McKee class made a thank you poster for the kitchen staff who prepare and serve the food to us in school during the week. The children took it with them to lunch and presented it that day.

They also made thank you cards during literacy and made a list of as many people they could think of who are involved in getting food to our tables including farmers, shops, lorry drivers etc.

The week ended with a the Toddler service, once again in Christ Church. The church very kindly invite us to this every year and let us join in their celebrations. Many of the children previously attended this service with their parents before they joined school and so loved going back.

During the service we used all of our senses and enjoyed tasting different foods, smelling and touching items and using our ears and eyes to take part in the service. The chocolate was our favourite taste closely followed by grapes and most of us did not like smelling the coffee!

At the end we were all given a magnet to take home to remind us to say thank you to God for providing us with a huge variety of food and drink.

Harvest Festival

Home grown produce

Yesterday we went to church and were learning to say thank you to God, Jesus, shops, our parents, big sister, after school club and the school cooks. We should say thank you to them because they all give us food and company.

From home we brought gifts of food. Some of my class brought chicken soup with mushrooms and other people brought tins, packets of tea, pasta and lots more.

We also took fresh food to the front, this was from the teacher's gardens and the reception class. Mr Cadwallader brought some apples and the tomatoes were from the reception class.

We  played hangman against the vicar. The words were say thank you. We won, but there was nearly a whole hangman. Rev. Hookway did well but we won!

I like going to church because I like listening to the vicar (and other people) speak about things that happened a long time ago and about Jesus. I can’t wait for the next time we visit the church because I feel excited before we go.

I think I will remember to say "thank you" to the dinner ladies for my food.

By J in McGough Class

Mashed potato

In McKee class we had a go at making mashed potato. This is how we did it.....

We peeled the potatoes

We cut them into bits and cooked them

We added butter and milk and mashed them

We added some colour (not flavour) to half of the mash

We ate them

We made a tick chart to see how many children chose each bowl. Seven of us chose to eat green mash and fourteen chose the normal colour. Some of our comments....

The green tasted like apples, because apples are green - M.

The green was not good for me it made my tummy ache - O.

I chose green and it was yucky - R.

Green was tasty, mmmmmm - A.

I want normal because I like it at home and I don't like green food - D

I make this at home with mummy. She said mine is the best! - H

After this the children were able to eat up the rest of the potato and there were quite a few complaints that there was not enough and they wanted more!