: Blog items
Date: 11th Jan 2024 @ 11:10am
In Maths, we revised topics from last term and recapped various arithmetic methods, including fractions, percentages and decimals. We also learned about the mean and the method for finding the average of a set of numbers. We were very impressive and even managed to work out how to give the answer as a decimal when the total of the numbers isn’t divisible by the number of values we have.
Wednesday welcomed another Computing Day, this time exploring the world of virtual reality! To start the day, we recapped on our knowledge of online safety from last term; we felt this was important after Christmas, given that children may have received new electronic devices. Following recent discussions in class on diversity and representation in media, we reminded ourselves of ways in which we can have a healthy ‘online life’ and to be aware of subtle gender stereotyping and influencing we may encounter on social media. Then, moving onto our VR topic, we used the iOs application, CoSpaces, to follow various algorithms and design our own virtual reality. We had to design an aesthetically pleasing environment, including characters, as well as multiple scenes and actions. The use of audio was encouraged too! On Friday afternoon, we then presented our virtual worlds and explained the features we had included. Well done, Year 6!
As artists, we had a great lesson on photomontages. We selected images from magazines, newspapers and the Internet to experiment with composition and create interesting layouts. We had great fun showing off our creativity and creating a new image by using a combination of other images – check out Twitter for some of the finished pieces! In addition to this, we also looked at abstract art through photography. ‘Macrophotography’ was our STAR vocabulary for the lesson as we had to compose close-up photographs of a natural form – in this case, it was the inside of either a pepper or orange – and sketch the photos we had taken in a quadrant. Following our superb sketching of lizard eyes back in Autumn 1, it was fantastic to see more of the children’s drawings – this time focusing on a more specific aspect of an overall image.
The children are aware of how to access their homework for next week – either on SATs Companion or in their books. Spellings have also been set for next week. If your child is accessing their homework through SATs Companion and needs additional support, please remind them that there are support videos attached to the tasks. Reminder that all children across the whole school are encouraged to read each day both in and out of school. Some additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
A great first week back in 2024 – covering lots of different curriculum subjects! Have a fantastic weekend.
Date: 10th Jan 2024 @ 1:26pm
Happy New Year! We absolutely loved seeing all of the children’s happy, smiley faces on Monday morning and hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas break.
This week, we were shocked to discover some mysterious footsteps and some unusual eggs! We knew we just had to investigate further and find out who they belonged too. To help up we carefully wrote some descriptive sentences for other people in case they had left them by accident. After, we made our first prediction as to who they belonged too, we had some great ideas from dinosaurs to the Easter Bunny! Later in the week, we learnt that they belonged to a…dragon! We were so shocked to learn that they might still be in the school and Mr Essery had found them on the cameras! To stop other classes getting eaten we decided to make some posters using commanding language!
In our Guided Reading lessons, we found out that we were going to read a book called, ‘The Dragonsitter’ by Josh Lacey. To help us, we started by looking at some of the new vocabulary we might encounter, matching the definitions to the word and writing them on our writing bookmarks to help us remember them in the future! We cannot wait to find out what happens in the first chapter!
In History, we started to explore our new topic, ‘Is Kenya really that different to the UK?’. To start with, we created our own circle maps, identifying our prior knowledge, before recapping what we had learnt in previous topics by naming and labelling the different continents and oceans on a map. After, we identified where Kenya and the UK was and were shocked to see how far away it is compared to us.
In Science, we also started a new topic on Living Things and their Habitats. To help us with this topic we first had to identify the difference between living things and dead things.
All children across the whole school are encouraged to read each day both in and out of school. Some additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
We are so proud of how you have returned after such a long break, have a lovely weekend!
Reminders
- Please note that our PE days are now a Monday and a Thursday.
- Recorder lessons take place every Monday, please bring your recorder to school, they will be returned after the lesson.
Date: 10th Jan 2024 @ 1:11pm
Happy New Year to everyone and we hope you had a lovely Christmas. The children have returned to school with big smiles and full of excitement sharing news about their holidays.
For RE this week we welcomed Caroline into class for our first Godly Play of 2024. It was lovely to welcome Caroline as she told the children the story of ‘Jonah and the Whale’. Thank you so much to Caroline, the children love it when she visits us.
The children have enjoyed listening to different stories all about the ‘New Year’ and talking about how they celebrated with their family and friends. We also discussed what month the New Year starts and that we are now in the year 2024. We talked to the children about how sometimes people like to make a ‘New Year Resolution’, this means a promise for something you are going to do for the year ahead, it may be that you want to make new friends, keep your bedroom tidy or even learn a new skill such as fastening your coat or riding a bike. The children had lots of different ideas about what they may like to do.
All children across the whole school are encouraged to read each day both in and out of school. Some additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
Please can you ensure your child has a warm coat, hat and gloves in school at all times and that it is clearly labelled with their name, thank you
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Molloy, Mrs Bevin and the Nursery Team
Date: 9th Jan 2024 @ 3:44pm
A Happy New Year to you all! It has been a delight to welcome Year 4 back into the classroom this week and we sure have had kicked things off with a bang!
To acknowledge of Collective Worship value of Wisdom, we identified the qualities wise people share and used critical thinking to discuss ‘Do you have to be clever to be wise?’ We discovered that although we do need knowledge, our experiences sand judgements are what give us wisdom. With a focus on Authority, we began our RE topic by comprehending what authority is and experiences of authority in our own lives or in professions of people around us. We concluded that the King, Government, Police and teachers all hold authority as they have the power or right to give orders and make decisions.
It is apparent that our focus on volcanoes this term is a huge interest and we are intrigued in all aspects of the curriculum to discover more about volcanoes to support our learning. In English, we have discovered a wealth of vocabulary this week to describe volcanoes and the environments they might be found in. We have defined and illustrated words such as barren, tremors, eruption and pumice, in order to remember their connection to volcanoes and how we can use them in our writing. Using conjunctions, we formed sentences to explain what happened in the opening of our story ‘Escape from Pompeii’, ensuring that we used a range of conjunctions and stayed away from the word ‘and’ as much as we could. We considered the words in the story which would need to be considered in order to create an image of the setting, spotting vocabulary that explained what could be seen, heard and smelt in the Roman town. Using our ideas, we formed a descriptive piece of writing to tell the reader what they would be able to see, hear and smell if they were to visit Pompeii. Next week, we will compare our lives with that of Tranio, the Roman child in our story, and create a diary entry of his daily life.
Connecting our understanding of multiplying by 10, we began the week by multiplying numbers by 100. We discovered that in order to multiply by 100, we need to move our place value counters two columns to the left. Using our knowledge of place value and how the digits move on a place value grid when we multiply by 10 and 100, we recognised that to divide by 10 and 100, we simply moved our counters to the right instead. Using our knowledge from the week, we completed word problems by recording the multiplication calculation we needed to complete and demonstrating the multiplication on a place value grid. Next week, our focus moves onto written methods and how we can use the grid and column method to support us in multiply two- and three-digit numbers.
In Geography, we discovered that the Earth is made up of four layers; the crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. We identified what each layer’s substance is and the distance from the Earth’s crust. PE saw us taking on a defence game of dodgeball. Working as knights, we had to defend our castles from the incoming cannon balls and aim for the opposition’s defences. It was also time to bring back a classic board game in PE, as we took on the TSP Cluedo challenge. We used our orienteering skills and process of elimination to discover which TSP teacher committed a crim in our school. After discovering that electricity comes from different sources, we created a Tree Map to show how appliances in our classroom and household are powered. We discovered those that are mains powered and battery powered before moving onto consider renewable and non-renewable energy.
All children across the whole school are encouraged to read each day both in and out of school. Some additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
We look forward to seeing you next week, Year 4. Have a great weekend!
Date: 9th Jan 2024 @ 1:36pm
Wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the very best for 2024!
It was great to welcome back the Year 5 children who were recharged and refreshed after an excellent (and lengthy) festive break spent with loved ones. It is fair to say that we made the most of this first school week of 2024 and it was great to be back together as a class team once again. Here are just a few things that we got up to…
Our new writing theme allowed us to delve into the world of Norse mythology. We expanded our vocabulary and explored the many weird and wonderful beliefs of the Viking people. We enjoyed expanding our vocabulary as we labelled and decorated our own Yggdrasil World Tree before employing impressive thinking skills to create a brace map of the ‘three levels of the universe’ (according to Norse mythology). This knowledge will serve us well as we delve further into all things Norse as we begin our new class text. Our Geography learning also connects seamlessly with our new writing focus where we will be exploring the Scandinavian countries.
In Maths, we have been learning a method for long multiplication. The children have honed their understanding of the ‘grid method’ and can apply their skills with much greater confidence and accuracy. Well done to you all for your resilience and accuracy when approaching this method!
In RE, we also commenced our new unit titled ‘Jesus the teacher’. For this opening lesson, we first reflected on our teaching and learning experiences throughout our lives so far. Using our ‘brace map’ (thinking map), we selected three teachers who were responsible for teaching us an important skill or fact that will always stay with us. A lot of deep and meaningful reflection took place as the children chose a variety of teachers from: school itself; their families; sports clubs that they attend: their friendship circles and even wider!
A great school week to properly welcome in 2024. Enjoy your weekend everyone and see you all on Monday!
Reminders:
-Year 5 PE days for this half term are Wednesday and Friday.
-Year 5 swimming lessons will recommence on 31st January and subsequent Wednesdays following the re-opening of Formby Pool.
-Maths and English Homework has resumed and has been set, as usual, via Mirodo on Friday 12th. This should then be returned on or before the following Wednesday (January 17th).
-Spellings have been set from this week and the weekly test will take place next Friday (19th).
-For more information on what we will be learning about this term, please click here.
-Some recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
Date: 19th Dec 2023 @ 5:21pm
..and just like that, it is the end of 2023!
I am sure we can all agree that it has been a wonderful term, full of fun and laughter! We have had so many incredible memories to look back on and so many to look forward to.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your generous, thoughtful gifts, both Miss Dunbavin and I are very grateful. I would also like to thank you for making my first term so special, I can't wait to see you all in the New Year!
If you wish to continue any learning over the holidays, please see Google Classroom for Christmas activities.
From both of us here in Year 3, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
See you in 2024!
Date: 19th Dec 2023 @ 11:02am
..and just like that, it is the end of 2023!
I am sure we can all agree that it it has been a wonderful term, full of fun and laughter! We have had so many incredible memories to look back on and so many to look forward too.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your generous, thoughtful gifts, who knew you listened to us just as much as the kids do! Thank you from everyone in team, Year 2.
It is with a heavy heart that we have to say goodbye to the fantastic Miss Martin who is leaving us for a new and exciting adventure. We have been very lucky to have had the pleasure of working and learning with her over the past two years and have so many magical memories with her. Everyone in Year 2, children and staff, wish her every luck in her new role and know that she will come back to visit us soon!
From all of us here in Year 2, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Date: 19th Dec 2023 @ 7:58am
On Monday, Caroline came to talk to the children about the symbolism of the Christingle. The children learnt that the orange represents the world. The red tape symbolises love. The sweets and dried fruit represent all of God's creations. The lit candle represents Jesus's light in the world. The children then enjoyed making their own Christingle to take home. Thank you, Caroline, for a lovely session. On Tuesday, our Year 6 buddies came down to play some games and have some festive fun with us.
What a fantastic term we have had! We are so proud of each and every one of the children for all their hard work this term. Thank you for all your continuous support and we hope you all have a lovely well-deserved break. Thank you so much for all the kind messages, cards and gifts that we have received. We are extremely grateful.
Have a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Please see our updated virtual classroom, the link can be found below.
Miss Dalley and the Reception team
Date: 18th Dec 2023 @ 8:29pm
That's a wrap for 2023! What a wonderful first term we have had in Year 1.
This term we have enjoyed making many memories, learning lots of new things, and practising some fantastic new skills. I am sure our school Twitter reflects how much fun we have had! I am incredibly proud of how much Year 1 has achieved so far, and I cannot wait to see how much more you can all aceive in the New Year!
I wanted to say a huge thank you for all of your support and for your kindness this Christmas with the wonderful gifts.
I wish you all a very well-deserved break, and hope you enjoy an amazing holiday filled with Christmas magic! Thank you for making my first term so special, I can't wait to see you all in the New Year!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Miss Law and the Year 1 team.
Date: 18th Dec 2023 @ 12:53pm
What a wonderful, highlight-packed first term in Year 5! There are so many memories and experiences already, so many of which have been showcased on X (Twitter) and also via these blog posts. The highlights continued even in such a short week with gingerbread house building, a Christmas quiz and a beautiful Christmas Carol concert at Halcyon House care facility, alongside St. Peter's church choir.
Our Autumn term finished on Tuesday with the Christmas Service at St. Peter’s Church. This reminded us of last year where we had the starring roles so we were keen to join in with the different songs and carols that we remembered well in order to support our friends in Year 4. A poignant way to finish this term with a reminder about the true meaning of Christmas.
If you wish to continue any learning over the holidays, please see the virtual classroom which is attached once more to this blog.
All that is left to do now is to wish you all the most amazing Christmas and New Year. We would like to also take the opportunity to say a massive, heartfelt thank you for the generous gifts, cards and well wishes received by Year 5 staff throughout this week. Thank you for your generosity and, although never expected, it certainly is greatly appreciated.
Make the most of the time together with your family during the festive period and we look forward to seeing you all in 2024!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Date: 16th Dec 2023 @ 8:07pm
.JPG)
What a magical (almost) end to the Autumn Term we have had in Year 3. On Monday, we had our annual schoolwide sing-off. The school was separated into four houses and only had an hour to rehearse the words and dance moves for their given Christmas song. We all reconvened in the hall and sang and danced our hearts out to compete for house sing-off champions.
Christmas dinner was on the menu this week and we certainly filled our boots. We celebrated with our friends and teachers as we sang to Christmas music and wore our Christmas hats and pulled Christmas crackers. The festive celebrations didn’t end there, as we gathered to complete our own TSP Santa Dash. We dashed around the school on the hunt for clues to reveal the name of the reindeer hidden behind each clue. We crossed off the reindeer names associated with the teacher from the list until we were left with only one teacher we thought was hiding a red nose!
Our classroom was filled with glitter and Christmas crafts this week. We enjoyed Christmas party day, dressed in our favourite Christmas jumpers we danced around the classroom, sang along to Christmas songs, and played lots of festive party games.
We completed our ‘big write’ in English, the children worked so hard and took such pride in demonstrating all they had learnt over this term. They included lots of the grammatical features we have learnt this half term. Similes, conjunctions, prepositions and using inverted commas to punctuate the direct speech. Well done Year 3! When we return, we will be focusing on ‘The Stone Age Boy’, which the children are very excited about.
In January, we will be continuing with multiplication and division objectives so any work that you can do on TT Rockstars, Sumdog or Hit the Button (or in your own way) over the Christmas break would be very helpful for when we meet again. There will be additional resources added to Google Classroom if you wish to utilise those.
Have a lovely Christmassy weekend, Year 3!
Reminders:
- School finishes at 1 pm next Tuesday 19th December
- School will resume on Monday 8th January 2024.
Date: 15th Dec 2023 @ 2:54pm
Well done this week Year 1! We have enjoyed a fantastic fun filled week as we prepared for Christmas.
We began our week with another special task from Father Christmas! He needed our help to identify and sort all of his presents. He left us a note and lots of 3D shapes wrapped up, we needed to describe and identify all of the shapes so that we could sort them. We started with a game of pass the parcel, as we felt for vertices, edges and faces. We were brilliant at recognising the different features of each shape. We understood that 3 – dimensional shapes are solid shapes. After we had identified each shape and its qualities, we had to sort them! To do this we unwrapped each shape, then discussed the ways we could sort them. We created groups of 3D shapes based on the number of vertices they had, as well as groups based on their faces, and finally we created groups based on the surface of each shape. We were so proud of our hard work and hope that Father Christmas is too!
We explored the final country in the United Kingdom in Geography, as we discussed Northern Ireland and its features. We learned all about the festival of St Patricks Day as we looked at how and why it is celebrated. We looked at the national flower, famous food and the national music and dancing. We had a go at some Irish dancing and came up with some fantastic dance moves!
This week we completed our Modern Tales unit in Computing. We explored digital literacy as we discussed online safety and online rules when using apps, Year 1 had a brilliant understanding of how to safely use all of their favourite apps online. We then explored animation, and began by looking at some famous animation films, we found these fascinating! We had a go at creating our own simple step animation frames. Finally, we created our own class story tale with a focus on online safety, we used our understanding of this unit to share ideas and come up with a brilliant story board.
I hope everyone enjoys another weekend of Christmas magic!
.jpeg)
Date: 14th Dec 2023 @ 4:50pm
This week, our class elf, Twinkle, has been up to a lot of mischief! We have had lots of laughs and giggles all around. As a gift from Twinkle, the children have enjoyed listening to a new Christmas story each week.
As a reward for all Reception’s hard work this term they got to have a class treat of their choice. The children voted to have an ice cream parlour. They thoroughly enjoyed making their own ice cream sundae with lots of different toppings. Delicious!
On Wednesday, it was Christmas dinner day. The children all sat together in the hall, singing along to songs and pulling crackers with their friends. What fun we had! In the afternoon, the children walked over to St Peter’s church for their Christmas WOW service. The Reception children took part in a Nativity service with the help from some of their Year 6 friends. The children in Nursery then sang two songs for us all to enjoy. Thank you to Anne and Caroline for everything that you do.
On Thursday, the children took part in a Santa dash. Reception were challenged to find the clues hidden in Santa hats in the outdoor area. This would help us to find out which teacher was secretly Rudolf. We successfully figured out that it was Miss Jones!
On Friday it was Christmas jumper and Christmas Party day, the children came to school wearing their own clothes and a Christmas jumper to raise money for Save the Children. The children took part in party games, dancing and decorated a Christmas biscuit. What a fun day we had.
We hope you all have a restful weekend and see you next week.
Miss Dalley and the Reception team.
Reminders:
Tuesday 19th December – School Finish @1pm
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 6:59pm
Christmas is nearly here and the New Year will soon be upon us. It might be time to part ways for now, but we look forward to the incredible learning and memorable experiences we will share together in the year to come in Year 4.
What a better way to end the term than with a celebration of our amazing Christmas Service performance. We are so proud of each and every one of you. You were truly remarkable and gave TSP the best Christmas send-off possible.
We hope our class Twitter page has reflected all the laughs and wonderful learning that has taken place since September. Thank you for the gifts and well wishes sent our way, we are truly grateful!
It has been a delight to count down to Christmas with you all, Year 4. You have made December such a magical experience for us all and we cannot wait to welcome you all back in January. From us all here in Year 4, we wish you a very happy Christmas and a safe and enjoyable festive period. Keep shining like the stars that you are! See you in 2024!
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 5:17pm
..and that's a wrap for 2023!
It certainly has been a wonderful term – now including far too many to mention in this blog. Hopefully our class Twitter page has reflected all the laughs and wonderful learning that has taken place since September and the children will be excited to return to Year 6 in January. Thank you to all those parents who have sent in gifts – including the class collection - and all the well wishes. It is never expected, but always appreciated! You all seem to know the staff very well!
The Year 6 team have thoroughly enjoyed the academic year so far and are looking forward to another great term in January. If you wish to continue any learning over the holidays, please see the virtual classroom attached once more.
We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Christmas holiday. Thank you once again and we will see you all in 2024!
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 5:07pm
Our final, full week in school for 2023 is now complete!
The Christmas festivities have continued with the House ‘Sing-Off’ returning on Monday and a trip to Formby High School to watch the KS3 ‘Wizard of Oz’ pantomime on Tuesday. We also had our annual Santa Dash – this time with a twist as we had a ‘whodunnit’ style mystery to solve on our travels. Friday morning brought further celebrations: the children enjoyed playing Mr King’s ‘Extreme Pass the Parcel’, unwrapping layers to reveal either rewards or dares! Such dares included carolling at Mrs Meredith’s door; competing against friends to get as many selfies as possible with teachers around the school; hunting for shoes and even issuing dance-off challenges to staff!
Outside of our Christmas celebrations, we had a day of Science on Thursday, continuing with our learning about the human body. We focused on the functions of the heart and how it is able to pump blood around the body. This can be a rather tricky task, but the children’s overlearning of the terminology and processes throughout the initial lessons meant that they could soon articulate how the it works. This then enabled them to move onto how water and nutrients are transported around the body. Again, not an easy task, but the children work very hard – well done!
As authors, we still found some time to explore the realms of poetry. Taking inspiration from Kit Wright’s poem, ‘The Magic Box’, the children wrote their own poems. Filling their magic boxes full of abstract wonders, the children created the most wonderful pieces of poetry which not only explored the five senses but were packed with literary devices such as personification and metaphors.
To conclude our week, we had an incredible opportunity to ‘Zoom’ with Holocaust survivor, Hedi Argent. Having learned all about the treatment of the Jewish race during WW2 last term – and with it also being Holocaust Memorial Day next week – the children were very excited about the prospect of speaking to somebody who lived during this time and already had plenty of questions they wanted to ask before the session even started! Hedi was so fantastic in sharing her story, including how life was for her as a Jew in an Austrian school in the 1930s and how her family sought refuge in the UK after Kristallnacht. She also shared life lessons she had learned around inclusion and kindness, which still stand today.
‘Well done’ to those children who narrated part of Reception’s WOW service on Wednesday afternoon. It has been wonderful to see so many members of the class being eager to volunteer for such opportunities.
Thank you to Mrs Guyers for paying a special visit to the class on Monday…with her baby boy! It was a lovely surprise for the children.
There is no compulsory Maths and English homework set for over the holidays however a Maths pack has been sent home including the Y6 knowledge organiser and two arithmetic papers. These do not need to be returned but can be used to further support learning at home. Spellings have been set for when we return.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 11:11am
Nursery - we cannot believe it is the end of the first term! What a wonderful time we have had and we are sure you are ready for the Christmas Holidays.
On Monday the children enjoyed learning about the Christian tradition of a ‘Christingle.’ The children talked about symbolism of the Christingle and then enjoyed creating their own Christingle to take home.
Please see or updated virtual classroom attached to this blog if you would like to explore any of the themes we will be exploring after the Christmas Holiday.
Thank you for all your continuous support and we hope you all have a lovely well-deserved break. We would also like to thank you all for your kind wishes, cards and gifts and we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Reminders:
Return to school - Monday 8th January 2024.
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 11:07am
What a wonderful time we have had. We have spent the week baking mince pies and finishing off making cards and gifts for family and everyone is very excited!
We continued to think about Christmas and how it is a time we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. The children also enjoyed attending our Christmas WOW service on Wednesday where they gave another fantastic performance of a couple of their songs from the ‘Sing-a-long’. Thank you to Caroline and Anne for all their help and support this year.
We have continued to be entertained by our class Elf ‘Olaf’ who has been up to mischief in the classroom. The children have been excited to see where he is hiding every morning and what story he has brought for them to share together.
Friday was Christmas jumper and Christmas Party day; the children came to school wearing their own clothes and a Christmas jumper. We had fun playing lots of party games and eating party food. What a super way to end the week!
Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to a couple of days next week, full of fun and excitement before we finish for Christmas on Tuesday!
Please can you ensure your child has a warm coat, hat and gloves in school at all times and that it is clearly labelled with their name, thank you.
Reminders:
Tuesday 19th December – School Finish @1pm
Date: 13th Dec 2023 @ 11:03am
Our time in Year 4 this week has truly ensured we are in the festive spirit, ready for Santa’s arrival.
There was a rush of excitement in the air as the children entered the classroom on Monday morning. The schoolwide sing-off was being held and they were ready to sing and dance their hearts out. The school was separated into four houses and then they had an hour to rehearse the vocals and to create choreography for their given Christmas song. After a short break, everyone reconvened in the school hall to compete to give the best show possible. The children all said that they can't wait to do it again next year!
We also filled our boots full of Christmas dinner, celebrating the festive period with our teachers and friends as we wore our Christmas hats and pulled Christmas crackers. If that wasn’t enough, we even gathered to complete our very own TSP Santa Dash. We dashed around school on the hunt for festive clues to reveal the name of the reindeer hidden behind the clue. After discovering the hidden reindeer name, we then crossed off the associated teacher from our list until we were left with just one teacher who we believed was hiding a red nose!
Naturally, glitter and sequins filled the classroom this week as we created lots of Christmas craft. We also brought our best dance moves and favourite festive jumpers to our Christmas party day, dancing to our favourite Christmas songs and playing some of our favourite party games… with a festive twist of course!
The final preparations are being made for our Christmas Service next week at church. After many rehearsals in the classroom and school hall, we finally got the chance to venture to the real venue on Tuesday morning where we will deliver the message of the Greatest Story Ever Told. The children deliver their lines with sincerity and their singing is sure to touch your heart. Things are really coming together and all of their teachers are so proud of the dedication they are putting towards a meaningful, memorable production.
Have a restful and Christmassy weekend, Year 4! We look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Reminders:
- School finishes at 1pm next Tuesday 19th December
- School will resume on Monday 8th January 2024.
- PE days for Year 2 after Christmas will be on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Date: 12th Dec 2023 @ 1:50pm
The time is (nearly) here to step into Christmas!
What a brilliant final full school week of 2023 to cap off what has been a fantastic term spent with this Year 5 class. Each child has made us proud with their achievements on a weekly basis and the end of term is a perfect time to reflect upon just how far the children have come in this time. Roll on 2024! However, not before a well-deserved Christmas break for the children and many memories created with loved ones. Still though, this is all after two more fun-filled (and Christmassy) days in class next week!
Let’s delve into just a few highlights from an extremely festive week that was packed full of highlights…
Our English work this week was to complete our final writing pieces within our ‘Author Books’. The atmosphere within the classroom was so calm and focused as the children put their absolute all into recording this piece of writing to the best of their ability. Many of the children also enjoyed looking back at their first piece of writing at the start of the half term and noticing the transformation in their handwriting and presentation. We are sure that there will be plenty more examples of this as the school year progresses!
We have enjoyed plenty of musical delights this week too, including a festive themed Clarinet lesson to close out 2024. Not only this but we also split into our “House” teams on Monday to be part of a sing-off, where each house learned a Christmas song which was then built into a performance with lots of props, dancing and festive fun!
We also created Christmas cards for our loved ones which incorporated a pop-up tree design and other artistic elements. We hope families enjoy receiving these to mark the upcoming festivities.
If the week wasn’t already exciting enough, Year 5 also enjoyed the chance to bring in toys and games from home as they earned their ‘Secret Student’ reward. This was followed later in the week by Christmas Party Day featuring a whole array of Christmas jumpers, outfits and accessories. We also used our thinking skills to solve a Christmas mystery in this year’s Santa Dash…with a twist.
What. A. Week!
Have an enjoyable weekend before the final two days of school in 2023!
Some reminders:
-There is no set homework for next week, however the Year 5 ‘Virtual Classroom’ has been updated and attached to this blog, which includes links to a variety of websites and resources. All pupils' individual passwords can all be found on Google Classroom. Don't forget, there is also the ‘Practice’ section on Mirodo where the children can choose any topic they wish to practise for Maths, Reading, SpaG or Science.
-School closes at 1pm on Tuesday 19th December. School will resume on Monday 8th January 2024.
-Please can all school books be returned to school before next Tuesday.
-The Year 5 children will have their PE sessions in the Spring Term on Wednesday (swimming) and Friday (PE). Please remember that children will need to arrive to school in their PE kits on both of these days.
Date: 10th Dec 2023 @ 4:14pm
And just like that, we have completed the final full week of school for 2023! What an incredible half term we have had.
On Monday, we loved taking part in the annual, traditional house sing along. Here, we joined forces with other children from our different year groups to learn a variety of Christmas classics. After a short practice period, we loved performing our songs to the rest of the school, a truly wonderful tradition. A massive well done to the winning house, Luke!
On Wednesday we had our traditional Christmas Dinner, and Tim did not disappoint! The music was blaring, and the roast potatoes were excellent, we had a wonderful festive lunch with our friends pulling crackers and wearing party hats, if we hadn’t been feeling festive before we certainly are now!
On Thursday, the wonderful Think Tank, supported by Miss Mcvey, organised our annual Santa Dash, with a twist! Just like our world book day, we sprinted around the school in small groups to decipher a variety of clues and work out which teacher was dressed up with the red nose! It of course was... Miss Jones, who was also Mistletoe. A huge thank you to Miss Mcvey for organising such a fun event.
In Maths, we revised our number bonds to 20 to work out some festive colour by number, it as a lot trickier than we thought however, we all perservered and made some incredible art work as a result!
We completed our final Phonics lesson of Year 2 this week and are extremely excited to start our Pathways to Write after Christmas and cannot wait to read our first text; Dragon Machine.
We finished off our History topic on The Great Fire of London and have loved learning about its causes and effects both short term and long term. We loved learning about Samuel Pepys and his diaries. We discussed how this was a good, reliable source of information for historians to use whislt also exploring a range of additional resources such as artefacts and paintings.
We ended our week on a high celebrating Christmas Jumper Day with a fantastic Christmas Party. It was wonderful to see so many festive jumpers and Snowflake our elf got in on the action too. The children have had so much fun playing games with their friends, a truly festive day.
Reminders
- Please can all books be returned to school before the end of the year.
- School closes at 1pm next Tuesday 19th
- Please can all school books be returned to school before next Tuesday.
- School will resume on Monday 8th January 2024.
- PE days for Year 2 after Christmas will be on a Monday and Thursday.
Date: 10th Dec 2023 @ 3:55pm
Another week down, and one more full week to go until the Christmas festivities can truly start!
In Maths, we have been looking at our final topic of the term, Shape, and have worked hard to connect our learning back to Year 1 to recall the difference between, and the names of, 2D and 3D shapes. After, we learnt how to count the sides of different shapes, marking off each side to ensure we only count the sides once. This proved a little tricky for some irregular shapes. Next week, we will explore vertices and practice counting them before moving onto looking at 3D shapes in more detail.
In RE, we re-enacted the Nativity story, which proved to be a lot funnier than we all thought with some superb acting by all involved. Afterwards, we reflected on how the different people from the story may have felt at different points such as when Angel Gabriel appeared, and how these emotions have a big impact on the story.
In History, we started to investigate our topic ‘The Great Fire of London’. We were presented with a series of clues and working together, we had to identify where, when, how the fire started as well as for how long. We had some great answers and loved learning more from the curators of the World Museum.
This week we also completed Computing Day, where we all became epic coders. Using the Scratch app and BookCreator we completed a series of challenges and programmed scratch to move as well as debugging previously developed programmes. It was brilliant to see our computer literacy develop, adding in pictures, voice clips and writing to add more detail. We ended on a high as well with a quick go on our Class Dojo Island, a firm favourite here in Year 2!
One more week in school before you all can truly enjoy the festive break, have a wonderful weekend, Year 2!
Reminders:
- Friday 15th December – Christmas Jumper and Party Day
- Tuesday 19th December – School Finish @1pm
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 8:28pm
We finished our RE topic “Christmas: God with Us.” The children solidified their learning by using self-assessment to demonstrate their deeper understating of the Christmas Story, the concept of incarnation and how God was present at the birth of Jesus ‘Emmanual’. When we return after Christmas, we will begin our new topic that will deepen the children’s insight into the impact Jesus had/has on people’s lives.
In Maths, we drew on our previous learning of arrays from Year 2 to remind ourselves how we can utilise arrays when using multiplication. We had lots of fun playing our array games with our shoulder partners. We have also been focusing on multiples of 5 and 10 this week.
In Design and Technology, we had lots of fun tasting various vegetables and other ingredients. We discussed the taste and textures and decided which flavours would work best in our seasonal tart. The children then designed a ‘mock-up’ of their tarts using various materials to represent the vegetables, pesto and/or tomato puree and puff pastry. We are excited to get cooking next week.
We have been planning for our ‘big write’ in English this week. The children thoroughly enjoyed our book Winter’s Child and now they have the opportunity to retell the story using their fantasy character in place of Winter’s child. Using similes, time adverbs, prepositions, and noun phrases to help sequence our stories and make them even more fantastical.
In PSHE, we have been focusing on dealing with conflict and bullying. We had some fantastic discussions about how we deal with conflict in different situations. The Year 3 children demonstrated how caring and considerate they were when we talked about bullying and how to handle the situation as both a victim of bullying and an onlooker. Well done Year 3!
Have a super festive weekend!
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 2:42pm
The penultimate full week of our first term in Year 6 is now complete!
We continued with the Christmas spirit this week as we were able to be the audience members for the Reception and Year 1 Nativity performance rehearsals on Monday morning. It was a great start to the week! A special ‘well done’ to those members of the class who supported the Reception Nativity by acting as the narrators. Also, ‘thank you’ to our Digital Leaders who helped with the music for the Nativity performances.
Music continued to play a key role in the week as 14 of our Year attended St Joseph’s Home on Wednesday afternoon to sing carols and read prayers to the residents. Also, our week concluded with our final brass lesson in primary school. Thank you to Mrs Fogg for all her support and guidance this term.
As historians, we were treated to a virtual workshop led by The National Holocaust Centre and Museum this week. We delved further into the story of World War 2, including how the Jewish community were treated and how this was able to happen. The children’s knowledge of WW2 was certainly developed, particularly their understanding of antisemitism and how the Jews were allowed to be treated so badly in Germany during this time. Thank you to the National Holocaust Centre for providing this opportunity for the children! We particularly enjoyed the final messages around being a courageous advocate and having the courage to stand up for others if we see an injustice or somebody / people being treated unfairly.
Assessments have taken up a large part of this week, with the children sitting past SATs papers for Reading and Maths. We have had several discussions around these, highlighting that these papers are designed to be sat in May and that there are objectives we haven’t covered or revised yet; this is just an opportunity to see if we can improve on our results from September and to identify our own areas of improvement once we receive our scores back. The children have shown excellent focus and determination while sitting these assessments and should be very proud of their efforts; it has been fantastic to see them expressing their pride and sense of achievement when realising how much progress they have already made since September.
The children are aware of how to access their homework for next week – either on SATs Companion or in their books. Spellings have also been set. If your child is accessing their homework through SATs Companion and needs additional support, please remind them that there are support videos attached to the tasks.
We hope you all have a restful weekend and are excited for the festivities to continue next week!
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 8:07am
Reception you are amazing! We are so proud of each and every one of you for performing in the Nativity play. You all worked so hard and really did shine. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Thank you to all the parents at home for their support helping the children learn their lines, what super stars they are.
The children have been thoroughly enjoying finding where our elf ‘Twinkle’ has been hiding each morning. We have discovered she is quite a mischievous elf. She even dressed as an angel to try and be part of our Nativity play. Each day Twinkle kindly brought a Christmas story for us all to enjoy. Thank you Twinkle!
This week, the children have been using the post office area to write letters to Twinkle that include questions. We then came together and thought of different questions we could ask her including, ‘What is it like in the North Pole’ and ‘Do you have any elf friends?’. We were amazed to find that Twinkle had written back to us. We loved finding out about your very important job as an elf.
We hope you all have a lovely restful weekend and see you all next week.
Miss Dalley and the Reception team
Reminders:
Wednesday 13th December - Christmas WOW service 2pm @ St Peter’s Church
Friday 15th December – Christmas Jumper and Party day
Tuesday 19th December – School Finish @1pm