From our Inspection report Jan 2009.

“What the school should do to improve further…...

Embed the well devised programme for enhancing community cohesion, ensuring that pupils have further opportunities to take responsibilities in the school and to visit and participate in the wider Bristol community.”

In a week (Oct 2009) when issues around ‘community  have been very much in the news (Panorama in Southmead and BBC Question Time) the responsibility of schools perhaps comes into sharper focus.

What underpins Community Cohesion?

How can children be engaged in understanding this?

See here our Community Cohesion & Equality Action Plan for 2009-10   (For those wondering what OfSTED expect, see questions on page 4!)

   Eid Mubarak (Happy Eid!)

This weekend our Moslem families, and all Moslems all over the world, will be celebrating Eid.

This past week all children have been learning about this aspect of Islam as part of our commitment both to  Religious Education  but also to  Community Cohesion (see our OfSTED report). In terms of the latter we started by considering some facts:

• If the whole world were  20 people, 4 would be Muslim (and 6 Christian).

• If the whole of the UK was 20 people 1 would be a Muslim.

• If the whole of Bristol were 20 people, 1½  would be Muslim.

• Every week in the UK 930,000 Muslims go to a place of worship, this is about the same number of Christians who go to church.

In one of our assembles children (and adults) were invited to think about the following and if they wanted to, how these compare with Christian Teaching (a theme picked up in class discussions).

The Koran teaches Muslims what to do to be a good person:

• Look after the poor and needy.

• Spend some time everyday in prayer.

• Spend some time every year fasting.

• Try to make a visit to a special ‘Holy’ place.

Earth Connect & Harvest 
           @Christ Church Autumn 2009

All Year 6 visited (Sept 22) Christ Church  to take part in an interactive learning session based on the themes of fire, earth water and air.
Link here
"In each of these areas we learned about pollution, global warming and the damage that is being done to God's creation".

Harvest Celebration started with the prayer:

Happy Diwali Oct 17

From  Newsletter no 3:

Happy Diwali to the Hindu and Sikh families in our community.

You might want to ask your children what they have learnt about this 'Festival of Light' that 15% of the world’s population will be celebrating tomorrow!

Visit to Stapleton (Bristol) Mosque Oct 2009

Building on our acknowledgement of Eid il Fitre in September, the whole school visited the local mosque.

 It was wonderful to have so many parents involved.

Of course children learn about Islam in RE lessons, but perhaps what is more important is having the memory of a positive experience of being invited by Iman Rafiqual Alami  to visit the special place of worship for many of our local Islamic Community.

20 boys and girls (two teams) took part in a tournament with a dozen or so local schools, thanks to the parents who helped.

Our ‘gold’ team got through to the semi-finals and were knocked out by the eventual winners. 5 children from the school play at Cleve, follow the hyperlink above for more details.
 Bristol Rugby  have done 5 training sessions in school with children this last term.

The school will again be hosting a group of children from Belarus in July 2010. The school Governors quiz team took part in a fundraising evening in Oct 2009 which raised £900 pounds (they also won the quiz!).

July 2009 Group

Nov 11 2009

All around the country, it seems that the 2 minute silence this year has  been observed with added  poignancy & meaning.

The children seemed to have really picked up on this, looking total concentration at  pictures from WW1 and Afghanistan and then observing the silence,  wrapped up in their own thoughts & understanding.               
It was very moving.

see www.corf.co.uk

Singing is such a powerful collective way of engaging with and renewing the  experience and Christian foundations of Christmas. Of course there is the  element of fun (Frosty the Snowman!) but when the whole school (and congregation on Monday!) are singing carols………...The school Choir gave lovely concerts of Carols and Christmas songs, first in school on Monday evening for families and friends, and then across the road at Grace Court Housing for older people on Friday Dec 11. 

Christmas in the Christ Church Community   Dec 2009

Kitchen staff produced 300 (!) Christmas dinners on Wednesday Dec 9.  Children,  governors, staff  (past and present) all ate together and commented on how delicious the food was! A really big thanks to the Kitchen Team and Dinner Ladies.

School Carol Concert. 

Monday 14 Dec: The Church was packed and the singing was uplifting and full of Christmas joy. Many thanks to children, parents the choir & Revd Jo Vickery.

A really Happy Christmas to Everyone

The Congregation gave a hugely generous collection of £259 to support local children with a terminal illness. The true Christian spirit of Christmas is alive and active in the school-church community!