News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 5th January
Welcome back and a very happy New Year to you all. We hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.
Thank you for respecting our neighbours by parking on the main road and only driving on the privately owned Kingsley Avenue when dropping off or collecting from breakfast and after school club. Please remember, we have parking permits for you for Oden Road car park, only a short walk from the school, available upon request.
This week we welcome new staff Kathy and Clive who will support the children at lunchtime. They have been made to feel very welcome by the children.
Despite being a shorter week back, it has been a very busy week. Please read on to find out what has been going on in and around all the classes this week.
Wishing you all a peaceful weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been learning about winter. On Tuesday we shared the excitement of our Christmas holidays with each other. On Wednesday we talked about the signs of winter and today we went down to the woods to look for these signs. We have painted pictures of our Christmas holidays.
Year 1 have had a great week back to school after Christmas and we have loved hearing all about what you got up to over the holidays! We have started a new book in our Writing lessons called ‘Weather’. We have been using this non-fiction book to help us find the similarities and differences between fiction and non-fiction books and have been thinking of the different types of weather that we often see. We went on a short weather walk around the school to help us think of adjectives to describe the weather, then in groups we each had a different weather and we thought about things that we did and didn’t like about that weather, what we would wear and words to describe it. In Maths we have started Place Value to 20 and have been looking at how we can represent the number 10 in different ways as well as some teen numbers.
Welcome back Year 2 and Happy New Year! They started off by thinking about what they wanted to get better at in 2024 and made a book of their New Year Resolutions so that they can keep checking how they are doing. They have begun to learn about money in Maths by counting different amounts in pence and pounds. In English, they have been using different words in their writing to describe how a character is feeling and are looking forward to writing a story next week based on a video clip they have been watching. They have started their new Science topic by thinking about what humans and other animals need to keep healthy. There are few outdoor learning dates coming up over the next half term so please look out for the email containing all of the dates.
Year 3 re-enacted the story of Noah and the Ark in a dramatic way. They n music they created a graphic score to tell the story of a train journey and in French they learnt the months of the year. Year 4 revised the 5 pillars of Islam. In music they overlaid cyclic patterns to add texture to their composition and in French they learnt how to say what pets they have. Year 5 considered how many of their Christmas traditions are linked to the true meaning of Christmas and then looked at examples of Christmas advertising to see if they could find the true meaning of Christmas there. Year 6 considered what genre the story of creation is in genesis and learnt how to say what hobbies they have in French.
Year 3 have had a brilliant first week back. In Science, we learned all about the human skeleton. We researched the names of some of the bones in the human body and found out that the femur is the longest and strongest bone. In History, we began our new topic on Marie Curie, we discussed all the things that we already knew about her and then wrote our own questions to find out more. In English, we selected and sequenced the most important events from the book ‘The First Drawing’ and used adverbial phrases to add detail to our sentences. In Maths, we recapped some multiplication from last term and also found patterns in the 2, 4 and 8 times tables. In Values, we began thinking about this half term’s value. We discussed some of our achievements and things that we are proud of.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have started their new History topic which is “How has our diet changed since 1918?” The children thought about how our diets have possibly changed from 1918 and why. In Maths, we have been looking at factor pairs and how we can use factor pairs to solve more challenging calculations, such as 16 x 7. It would be really helpful if the children could practise their times tables at home on TTRockstars to help them with this! In English, we have begun a new sequence based on the book Jack and the Dreamsack, which is a fantasy story. The children have learnt and remembered some of the pages to become familiar with the structure and rhythm of the book. In PE, we have begun gymnastics, where the children had a go at doing some partner balances. In Science, we looked at food chains.
It has been a great start to the term for year 5. Happy new year to you and your families. All the initial assessments have now been completed and the class have started some of the new units of work. In English we have started to think about the Great Plague and write in the form a diary about a young boy called Daniel. He lives in London (1665) with his family, but they have caught the plague and Daniel needs to try and escape. Our new history learning is focused on the Shang Dynasty. We have looked at when this was (1600 – 1046 BC) and where it was located in China. The class have looked at primary sources (old bone fragments) to discover what life may have been like back then. We have also started our new science unit on Earth and Space. This term outdoor learning will take place on 11th and 18th January and 2nd February; normal outdoor learning clothing required for these dates. Homework will continue to be set on Google Classroom, maths online and spellings.
Year 6 have come back and worked hard this week on completing fraction work in maths as well as going over arithmetic skills. In Literacy, they have begun their new text ‘Pig Heart Boy’ which has raised quite a few questions so far about people having organ transplants. We have quite a lot to cover before SATs and children will be bringing papers home with them. Any support that you can give, to try and help them to retain information in grammar, spelling and maths would be much appreciated – the earlier they start to master the skills and retain information, the better as it helps so much with confidence. Happy New Year to you all and let’s hope we have a really positive 2024!
