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Publisher’s note:

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the first edition of the Monthly Blah, the magazine created by St

Mary's Catholic Primary School Press Club. The kids have worked hard to

create a fun and interesting content for you. Some of the information here are

facts, and some are written tongue-in-cheek. I have guided on what to do, but

the ideas are all theirs. So, I hope that you will enjoy reading the Monthly

Blah.

The press club is free to join and aims to give the kids an outlet for their ideas

and creativity. Thanks to Mrs Wray, and Year 5 teachers (Mrs Hunt & Mr

Wilson) for supporting the club.

Hope Varnes

Content:

P3 - Gossip

P4 - Interview with Reception

P5 - Interview with Mrs Wray

P6 - How to be a good friend

P7 - Friendship quiz

P8- Word search & sudoku

P9 - Why we like sports

P9 - Why we don’t like sports

P11- Weird & wonderful facts

P12 - Cartoons

P13 - Advice to parents

P14 - Christian Friendship

P16 - Number Cruncher

Members:

Editor: Katie Slade

Art: Rachel Lane

Communication: Lin-ay Varnes

Quizzes: Amber Lowen

Interviews: Keira Billington

Competition: Grace White

Features: Maddy Hewlett

News: Amelia Denton

Photos: Daniel O’Conell

Sports: Jacek Kulik

Boy Friday: Grey Varnes

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School News

What is happening at St Mary’s

School?

Receptions are learning about mini

beasts and super-heroes. Soon they

will learn all about fish.

Year 1 are making butterflies using

primary colours and reading the

Jungle Books.

Year 2 are learning about

lifecycles. They are focusing on our

local environment, mapping and

investigating our woodland.

Year 3 are writing letters and

stories about adventure and

mystery.

Year 4 are learning about Anglo-

Saxon settlements, lives, homes

and food. Some are also getting

mad about Club Penguin.

Year 5 are learning about WWII, &

building an Anderson bomb

shelter. They are also writing

about Macbeth. A little bird told us

Macbeth is boring.

Year 6 were very busy preparing

for SATS. They’re relieved it’s

finally over.

In the community:

St Mary’s school raised

£651.42 during its Change4change

campaign. The money was divided

between its work with Ghana and

CAFOD.

Harrogate Symphony Orchestra

presents the Summer Concert: A

children’s matinee concert with

puppetry, raising awareness for

the “No Strings” charity.

Tickets available from your local

school music coordinator or from

Harrogate Theatre Box Office:

01423 502116 or online:

harrogatetheatre.co.uk

See you next issue!

Grace, Amelia D & Maddy

Birthday mentions:

Advance happy birthday to Grace

White and Amber Lowen

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An interview with Reception

During the spring term, St Mary’s Reception Class studied all about

mini beasts. Keira Billington, 10, sat down with Grey Varnes, 5, to

find out all about mini beasts.

Keira: What is the longest mini

beast?

Grey: The longest mini beast is an

Indonesian stick insect.

Keira: Can you tell me about bees?

Grey: Only female bees have the

stingers.

Male bees don’t collect honey and

they get kicked out of their hive

Keira and Grey also found out

together that there are two species

of rhinoceros beetle, the first one

has a spiky horn and the other one

has two horns that aren’t spiky.

By Keira Billington, Grace White &

Grey Varnes

Did you know… scientists think

that Dung Beetles use the Milky Way

to go on a straight line when they roll

pooh - better than using the

curlywurly

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Interview with Mrs Wray

Q: What did you want to be when

you want to grow up?

A: I always wanted to be a nurse

Q: What were your hobbies and

what did you like and dislike?

A: I liked sports, and didn’t like

dolls

Q: Did you get good grades?

A: No, because in those times we

didn’t have as good education as

today

Q: What was your favourite

subject?

A: PE & History

Q: Who was your favourite

author?

A: C.S Lewis

Q: What was your favourite food?

A: Irish stew

Q: Do you have any brothers or

sisters?

A: I have a brother and a sister

Q: What was your favourite sport? A: Football

Q: Why are you a teacher?

A: When I started teaching

children to swim I realised I liked

teaching kids so I went to

university

Q: What is your favourite thing

about being a teacher?

A: I love to get to know the

children

Q: Do you have any children?

A: Yes, a boy and a girl

By: Amber Lowen, Keira Billington

and Grace White

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How to be a good friend

By: Keira Billington and Grace White

Our friends are important. So, how do we

make sure that we are being a good friend to

our friends? Here are some of our tips:

1. If your friends are upset, cheer them up

2. Make sure they are always included in

your games

3. If your friends are being bullied, or have fallen out with another friend,

try and cheer them both up

4. If your friend is alone, invite them to

play with you

5. If you have fallen out with your friends,

say sorry first before they do and it will be ok!

6. If you recently had a baby brother or

sister don’t let her come between you two, look

after the baby but don’t look after the baby too

much(because that’s mum’s job!), but hang out

with your friend. If you do, your friend will

think that you have stopped being friends. If so,

say sorry and explain the problem with the baby.

‘Good friends try to be kind and trustworthy. Good friends will try to share

and listen to each other.’

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Friendship quiz

By: Amber Lowen & Amelia Denton

How well do you know your friend? Get your friend to answer these

questions with you, but don’t tell each other your answers until you finish.

When you’re finished, match your answers.

1. Q. If your friend sees

something funny, he or she…

A. Laughs out loud (LOL)

B. Giggles quietly

C. Try not to giggle at all

2. Q. If your friend is upset do

you…

A) Try to be kind and caring

B) Ignore them

C) Try to be extremely kind

and caring

3. Q. If you are good at something

would you…

A) Help and support your

friends

B) Say they’re rubbish

C) Or don’t do anything to

them

4. Q. If your friend is good at

something, do you…

A) Ask them to teach you

B) Say that they’re good and keep

encouraging them to do what they

like doing best.

C) Say that they are rubbish and

hurt their feelings to make them

stop them doing it so you will look

better.

How well did you do? How many

of your answers matched?

1-You need a new friend.

2- Have you just met?

3- Were you friends who split

up and just recently got back

together?

4- You two are besties forever!

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SUDOKU By: Amber Lowen

Use numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ,9

Word Search

By: Katie Slade

Clubs

Teachers

Children

Monthly

Classroom

School Blah

See answers on page 15

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Why we like Sport?

Daniel O’connell and Jacek Kulik tell us why they like sports.

Daniel: I like to watch sport because it is fun. And I love football because my

anger goes into one kick. It takes all my anger out.

Jacek: I really like sports because I like to help my friends in the team. I also

like sports because I can score points and win.

Why we don’t like sport

By: Lin-ay Varnes & Rachel Lane

Most people love sport but we don’t and here are 11 things why. And it’s not

because we’re lazy.

1. Sport is very, very tiring.

2. Sport doesn’t have very good

uniforms.

3. Sport gets boring if you do it for

too long.

4. Sport is too competitive.

5. There are too many rules to

learn in sport.

6. Long jump hurts our legs.

7. Running can make you fall over.

8. It is embarrassing if you lose a

sport race.

9. Cross country really hurts our

legs.

10. In team sports, you are very,

very rarely put with your friends.

11. We are always picked late

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Weird and Wonderful facts

Collected and illustrated by Lin-ay Varnes

Did you know…?

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Cartoons

Concept: Lin-ay Varnes Illustration: Rachel Lane

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Advice for parents from children who know better… (or think

they do)

By: Lin-ay Varnes & Katie Slade

To our dearest parents,

You are always telling us what to do, So, we would like to have our turn too.

Here are 8 important things that we think you should do…

On a school night, let us go

to bed when we choose

Never shout at us

More pocket money

More art stuff

More teddies, toys, toys, and

more toys!

More ice-cream and sweets

and chocolate and biscuits

Let us eat whatever we want

BAN GREENS!!!

And when we are sick and tired,

you can tell us ‘we told you so…’

Your lovely children

What is irony?

It’s like coppery but harder…

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What are we really up to on a Thursday…?

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Solutions Sudoku

Word Search

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Christian Friendship David and his son Solomon are two of the

most familiar names from the Old

Testament. David was King of Israel in

about 1000 BC. Solomon was King David.

They made the same kind of mistakes. But

David’s life ends in brilliant success, while

Solomon’s life ends in disaster. Why the

difference?

David had something of great value that

saved him from disaster: a good friend

who was prepared to come up to him,

even though he was King, and told him

off. That friend was Nathan.

Nathan was loving and brave enough to

tell David that he was doing wrong.

Nathan got David back on the right path.

So, David went on to lead Israel into

happiness and prosperity, and he is

remembered as the greatest king.

Solomon also had friends, but none of

them was brave and loving enough to take

him aside and tell him off. Solomon

started a great king, but slowly declined.

The Kingdom of Israel disintegrated and

was unhappy.

We all need friends like Nathan who are

prepared to tell us the truth about our

behaviour or ourselves. We need to know

true friendship when we see it. We need

to have the courage to pull up our friends

when necessary if we want to be a true

friend to them.

Christian friendship is not an easy us.

None of us wants to risk losing a friend by

speaking to them a truth that we know

they need to hear. But Christian

friendship demands this of us. It requires

us to put the best interests of our friends

first, often at cost to ourselves, and even at

the risk of putting that friendship on the

line.

Many people, both children and adult,

don’t have this understanding of

friendship. So, they avoid speaking the

hard truths that risk self-isolation or that

might cause a ripple of discomfort. This is

even more so for youngsters. As parents

and educators we need to be aware of this

and to be compassionate and

understanding, while at the same time

holding up to them the ideal of Christian

friendship that we all strive for.

Also, when it comes to speaking the truth

in love children need to learn sensitivity,

affirmation, compassion, and timing. And

we need to show them these qualities. As

parents and educators, let us take

whatever opportunities arise to be an

example to them. In this way, we can help

to ensure that their exercise of Christian

friendship is a positive one. Then, God

willing, they will learn that speaking the

truth does not weaken true friendship but

strengthen it.

Father William

May 2013