Weekly Newsletter

This week, Nursery has become a ‘Winter Wonderland’. We have read the stories ‘Jack Frost’, ‘Snow bears’, ‘Snow Friends’ and ‘One Winter’s Day’ as well as a funny story by the author of ‘Supertato’ called ‘Snowball’ where a snowball gathers up all sorts of strange things when rolling down a hill. The children have enjoyed a snowy sensory tray, a frozen small world, snowflake art and lots of wintery creative activities.

In Phonics, we have continued to look at syllables and we have played lots of games such as syllable snap and syllable halves, to develop the children’s awareness of the syllable structure of words. Our Nursery Rhyme this week is ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’.

In maths we have been looking at number 2. The children have looked at the position of 2 on a number line and the formation of 2.

Star of the week:

Jessica C (last week)

Ivy N-B

We have again taken part in 'Drawing Club' this week and everyone absolutely loves it! We shared the story “Owl Babies” and there were lots of new words for us to learn such as “nocturnal” “contemplate” and “descend”. We are encouraging everyone to remember and retell the story using our vocabulary, so ask your child if they can tell you about the story at home. In phonics we have introduced the graphemes ure - sure it’s the cure, er - a bitter winter and ow - go slow in the snow. They are becoming increasingly confident at applying their phonic knowledge writing independently. In maths we have discovered how to find a balance and compared objects to see how heavy or light they were. We then compared capacity and experimented, pouring and filling containers in different measures. We have also been modelling the language of mass, heavier, lighter, more, fewer, balanced, capacity, greatest and smallest. In RE we explained that a type of group to which many people belong is a religious group. Each faith is made up of people who believe in very similar things to Christians. We looked at their God’s, symbols, temples and festivals. The children then created a cross for Grace, star and crescent for Imran and an aum for Samit.

Star of the week:

Moon - Emilia E (last week), Ayan C

Mercury - Isobel H (last week), Beatrix H

A fantastic week for year 1 again. The children were very creative during Monday and Tuesday’s art lesson, we were able to use our observation skills to apply our newly developed shading skills through hatching and cross hatching. The attention to detail that everyone applied to their work was spectacular with many of the children producing realistic sketches of roses. In Science we have moved away from exploring the season winter and now have moved onto exploring the animal kingdom. Children have already began to identify and group animals by differing features by developing their own criteria. Some sorted animals by those that had feathers or fur, some by size and some by what they eat. It was very interesting to see how we could all group animals in different ways. In computing the children were able to apply their phonics knowledge as they explored how images and text can be used, the children would select images to create a scene, complete with text boxes to show speech between each of the images.

Only one more week left, let’s keep working hard and doing our very best Year 1!

Star of the week

Galaxy: Priscilla-Valentina K (last week), Emily H

Venus: Sofia N (last week), Jasmine W

Another super week from Year 2! We started to plan our poems in English ‘If I Were in Charge of the Country’ based on Judith Viorst’s Poem ‘If I Were in Charge of the World.’ The children have used their wild imaginations and come up with some brilliant ideas! In science we have been looking at food chains and how energy passes from a plant/animal to another animal. In maths we have been learning the 5 and 10 times table and looking at division with these numbers. We have started our history topic about toys and the children have enjoyed remembering and discussing their favourite toy and looking at what toys are like today. In PE we have enjoyed getting outside and doing some Orienteering and continuing with our Dance practice! We have also understood the importance of ESafety in our Computing lessons. Well done everyone, keep up the hard work - one more week to go!

Stars of the Week

Earth: Lucas A (last week), Riordan H

Mars: Ellis L (last week), Katelyn M

We’ve had another wonderful week of learning in Year 3! At the beginning of the week, great excitement and anticipation filled the air as the Year 3s embarked on their independent writing task. First, the children devised the key features and events of their sequel story, ‘The Wolf Escapes from Jail’, then towards the end of week, they got stuck into producing entertaining content for the first two plots. In Maths, we finished Multiplication and Division and then moved on to Length and Perimeter, firstly recapping standard units of measure and measuring accurately in centimetres, metres and millimetres. In History, a Roman legionary (AKA Mrs Fell and Mr Osborne) visited the Year 3 classrooms prepared to answer the probing questions that the Celtic spies (the children) created last week. The children then used their research to advise their Celtic Chief, whether or not to take on the Romans. In Science, we predicted, then tested, the magnetism of a range of metals, such as zinc, bronze, copper and steel. As a result, the children were able to explain why some metals are magnetic and some are non-magnetic. On Friday afternoon, we finished off our busy week with learning and performing the next section of our dance routine, and writing a program in Scratch, using movement and repetition.

Well done for yet another impressive week of hard work and determination. Keep it up Year 3s, there are just five school days until half term!

Star of the Week:

Jupiter: Khloe L (last week), Evie P

Saturn: Reuben S (last week), Teddy D

Wow, what a superb week. English has seen the children writing up their independent writing. We spent the first half of the week planning our character description on ‘The Iron Man’ and the children were incredible at getting in fantastic vocabulary, similes and even some metaphors. Once their planning was all done, they buckled down and wrote out their independent character descriptions. They were amazing! In Maths, we have been looking at dividing 2 digit numbers by a 1 digit number. This has been a tricky thing to get our heads round but they haven’t let that impact them. Their perseverance and determination has been astounding, as they have wanted to improve their confidence on this subject. Well done! In History, we have continued to look at our key questions, diving into the background of ‘The Anglo-Saxons’. The children have been fascinated by all the interesting facts they have found out about this historical period. In PE, we have continued ‘orienteering’ and ‘dance’. ‘Orienteering’ has required the children to design their own maps to help locate a series of objects scattered around the school. They have had to use each other’s maps to try and identify where these different objects are. In Science, we have experimented with different objects to discover whether the height at which they are dropped, affects the sound that is produced. The children loved doing this and found it extremely interesting.

Fantastic work yet again Year 4. Keep up the great work for your final week of this half term!

Stars of the Week:

Meteor: Bram O (last week), Taylor S

Neptune: Seb S (last week), Conor Y

When we told the children that we were going to be learning about fractions again in Maths, we could tell that they were not particularly delighted. However, clearly they have retained all the knowledge they have because most of the children are achieving the expectations already. We have been multiplying unit and non-unit fractions, and then moving onto multiplying a mixed number fraction as well. While the latter has been more difficult, the children have had more resilience towards their work. Their attitude towards fractions is changing, as they become more confident. In English, we have read and studied a poem called “The Dreadful Menace”. It is our inspiration for our own poems about Space. We have looked at similes, metaphors and personification again, and been discussing the different aspects of Space. The children have also been researching some facts about Space, so that they can use it in their writing. It has been a surprise for the children to see how small we are in the Universe, and how there are so many unanswered questions about where we live. In Guided Reading, we have continued to learn more about Liam and how, due to his height, he has been able to be mistaken as an adult. The children seem to be enjoying this book, as they are disappointed that we are not reading more of the book each day. Sorry! You will just have to wait to see what happens over the next few weeks.

Star of the week

Asteroid: Joshua L (last week), Oakley C

Pluto: Isla L (last week), Holly H

It’s been another brilliant week in Year 6. Maths has seen the children tackle Algebra once more and this week, they were tasked with solving 1 and 2 step equations. Yet again, the children have exceeded expectations and blown us away with their understanding of what can be a feared area! In English, the children have stepped into character and deepened their use of dialogue so it’s carefully crafted in writing and not just an add-on. This has been a slow process with constant revisions and edits. Children have worked on editing their writing, with particular attention on cohesion. As a result of this, children have produced some effective dialogue that really expresses the characters from our Guided Reading text, The Explorer. In Reading Response, children have worked on the reading skills of inference and vocabulary. In Science, children have used classification branching diagrams to identify and sort Amazonian species. They were responsible for the questions, and it was pleasing to see previous week’s learning was used to form these questions. In Art, children have continued their colour mixing by creating tints and shades. Even with a small starting point, children have created some striking visuals showing tints and shades. Their use of watercolour is really improving too as they become more confident with the media. Well done on all your efforts this week and keep it up, that’s all we will ever ask for!

Star of the week

Nebular: Amelia S (last week), Austin S-S

Constellation: Bradley S (last week), Jacob W