Weekly Newsletter

It has been a busy first week back in Stars, as we welcome our new starters and get settled back into the new term. The new children have all settled in really well and our existing children have welcomed them and shown them the ropes.

This week we have been enjoying the story of 'The Gingerbread Man' and joining in with the repeated refrains. The children have enjoyed making their own gingerbread men out of playdough and decorating gingerbread men using different materials in the creative area. We have acted out the story of 'The Gingerbread Man' in the small world area and counted gingerbread men in the maths area. We have also had fun mark making in flour.

In Phonics we have been singing lots of action songs and thinking about the sounds we can make using body percussion. In maths we have been practising identifying representations of 1,2,3 and making our own collection of 1,2,3 objects.

Star of the week: Riley D

Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a fun-filled Christmas holiday. We have been looking forward to welcoming you and your children back into our school community this week. We began by sharing our Christmas experiences and the children were so excited to talk about their family memories. We have reviewed lots of previously taught graphemes this week and introduced ‘oo’ - the book nook. We are amazed at how embedded their phonic knowledge really is! This week we asked the children what they already know about penguins. It was really interesting to hear some weird and wonderful facts. We then shared the story of The Emperor’s Egg by Martin Jenkins and we soon discovered that penguins are flightless birds! Even though the book was a story it was full of so much information! We feel like we know lots more about penguins now. In Maths we started our new topic ‘Alive in 5’. We began by introducing zero and understanding that zero represents the absence of something. Then we explored different representations and sorted them into ‘zero’ and not ‘zero’. In RE we shared the story of Jesus blessing the children from the gospel of Mark 10:13‐16. We thought about the feelings of the children at certain points in the plot and had discussions with our talking partners.

Star of the week:

Moon - Archie S

Mercury - Bobby G

What a brilliant start to 2024! The children have come back in and they were straight back into it. In maths, we have recapped doubling and near doubles which the children really responded well to using tens frames to help them apply their learning. In Geography the children were able to apply their ever growing map skill knowledge and were able to create a simple map. We started by creating an aerial map of the classroom before progressing onto drawing maps of Brayton. Some children even took the time and care and used a ruler to help them draw the furniture or roads. Some were excited to show off their phonics skills and label their map. In Science, used the local school field to search for signs of Winter. Lots of children were able to recall when we last walked on the school field and looked for signs of Autumn. Keep up the great start for 2024!

Star of the week

Galaxy: Poppy B

Venus: Penny D

Wow! What a speedy and busy first week back! In maths we have been slowly working up to the introduction of multiplication and division by identifying and making equal and unequal groups of objects. In English we are learning all about the powers of persuasion and what grammatical features we need to include for us to be successful. This work is all based around the book ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ by Drew Daywalt. Our weekly class reader and guided reading text are both by the author Tom Percival and the children have really enjoyed this link. In RE we explored a range of sacred places for people to worship as well as our own - lots of the children said their homes and families were sacred to them. In Jigsaw we have explored the feeling of success and the need to make our goal realistic so that we can achieve them. Art saw the beginning of our exciting sculpture topic which will be taking us out to the Yorkshire Sculpture park next half term. The children really enjoyed exploring maps of the UK and Australia and learning about lots of different famous landmarks. We have started our very important computing topic of E-Safety. In science we have started to explore local habitats and the plants, animals and insects which we may find around us.

Stars of the Week

Earth: Ned H

Mars: Isla Mae R

Although it’s only been the first week back since the Christmas Holidays, the children have returned to school full of energy and ready for an action-packed spring term ahead.

In English we have started our new class text ‘The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!’ by Jon Scieszka. This week the children have amazed us by writing effective sentences for the alternative version of the famous fairy tale.

We have also started our next unit in maths this week. The children have been focusing on Multiples of 10, Reasoning about multiplication and beginning to look at multiplying a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number.

In PE we have also started our next units which are orienteering and dance. On Monday in orienteering the children took part in team games focusing on solving problems with others and on Friday in dance, the children explored and created narratives in response to a range of stimuli as well as understanding the link between heart rate and breathing when exercising.

Our history topic this term is ‘Roman Britain’ and on Wednesday the children explored their first key question of the topic ‘Why did the Romans invade Britain? They began to do this by initially comparing British and Roman settlements at the time.

Finally, in computing we started our next project ‘Programming with Scratch’ and this week the children loved writing their own simple programmes with text outputs, wait commands and movements.

A great first week back!!

Star of the Week:

Jupiter: Jaxon Lamb

Saturn: Tyler Winn

It has been fantastic seeing everyone again after a well earned break! The children have bounced straight back and have picked up from where they left off. In English, we have started to look at our first piece of writing this term, based on ‘The Iron Man’ written by Ted Hughes. We started the week with an experience day, looking at a number of different materials and coming up with a variety of adjectives to describe them. In Maths, we have been looking at a new unit of ‘Multiplication and Division’ and have specifically focussed on factor pairs. In PE, we have started our two new units of ‘Dance’ and ‘Orienteering’ and the children have enjoyed doing something slightly different in PE. These two units have been a little bit different to what they have previously done. In History, we have begun our new unit of ’Anglo Saxons’ and have started off by looking at a bit of background information behind them. We have also focussed on putting this time period into context in regards to where it sits on a historical timeline. In Music, we have looked at the value of notes and identified these within a piece of music.

The children have done an excellent job this week. We are so proud of how well they have all come back! Keep up the good work.

Stars of the Week:

Meteor: Eleanor Hare

Neptune: Monty Waugh

A great start by the Year 5s this week. After getting over the excitement of Mr. Pooley being back and teaching in Asteroid, the Year 5s continued the hard work they were doing before the holiday. In Maths, we have learnt the method behind multiplying two-digits by two-digits. We had to spend a couple of days on this, as there are quite a few steps to complete one question. Just remember the place holder, and if they know their times tables, they will be fine. After being more confident in knowing the method, we have moved on to multiply three-digits and four-digits by a two-digit number. It is hard, but they have done well. In English and Guided Reading, we have been reading and writing about a key figure in Space, Katherine Johnson. We have learnt how she was a pioneer and a trailblazer, and the fantastic work she did at NASA. In Science, we learnt about the Earth being a spherical shape, and how Aristotle discovered it being round. Interestingly, ancient civilisations thought our world was either a flat disc, on a short fat cylinder or on a cube surrounded by a spherical body of water (like an egg yolk). So, well done Year 5, a great start to the term, let’s keep this up.

Star of the week

Asteroid: Billy Carmody

Pluto: Katie Adams

What a wonderful way to start the new term, Year 6! The children have returned to school, eager and enthusiasic, and continued just as we hoped and more. In Maths, children have started their new unit of learning- ratio. The first mention of the name gave the children a slight panic but after working through their learning steps this week, including the ratio symbol, ratio and fractions and scale drawings, children have seen how they can face, and achieve, any maths that they come across. In Guided Reading, we have started our new class read- The Explorer. Children have spent the week making predictions and developing their understanding of new vocabulary. The children are hooked already and cannot wait to see what happens to the four children lost in the Amazonian rainforest after a crash-landing. Across Writing, Year 6 are using the text to plan and write a ‘missing chapter’. After a session generating high-level descriptions, the teachers are already looking forward to reading the short narrative. As well as our English sessions, children are also working on Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) sessions to ensure those objectives from the whole of KS2 are constantly revisited and reviewed. In Geography, children drew on prior learning from Year 5 about the Equator and the Tropics and explained their significance on climate and biomes. In Science, children used secondary sources to prove or disprove statements on Linnaeus’ classification system. In RE, children have started their work on an investigative question- Is it better to express religion through architecture or in generosity and charity? Initially, children’s opinions were in favour of charity and generosity; however, after explaining the value of sacred buildings, children were able to explain from another perspective why the answer to the question might in fact be buildings. It really has been such a great week in Year 6 with so much learning, hard work and most importantly, fun!

Star of the week

Nebular: Cameron Younger

Constellation: Zack Jeffreys