A fantastic end to Autumn 1 2022!

In the week that saw us host our spooktacular Halloween extravaganza, there was lots of incredible learning happening across the school.

In Nursery, the week started with a Halloween theme with the Friendly Frogs decorating pumpkins and practising their name writing before being busy spiders spinning amazing webs! Later in the week, in Art, the children produced some sparkly webs in the outdoor classroom before heading into their potions class where they wrote recipes, collected ingredients, took turns to stir their creation, cast their spells and created a wonderful potion to make a new broomstick! On Thursday, the Friendly Frogs were set a DT challenge. They had to make a spider using different resources. The Friendly Frogs had to think about what shape their spider would be, how many legs and eyes it would have and then use their fine motor skills to make it. We were very impressed with the children's independent learning. On Wednesday afternoon, the children really enjoyed painting by putting special tape on their paper first and found out that the paint wouldn’t stick to it! They made some lovely patterns.

In Reception, the children were busy exploring the word “double” in Maths. They found an animal from Rosie’s Farm (their current text of study) and found it’s double and they found this made two; some of the children went on to discover that if they doubled this again it made four. Later on in the week, the children were doubling again and using mirrors to help them check. They also used their counting skills to identify how to achieve doubling with the cubes. In PE, our Reception pupils enjoyed playing ‘Rocks and Mountains’. They were in two teams: one team had to balance beanbags on top of the ‘mountains’ while the other team had to put the beanbags in the ‘rocks’. Last Monday, Reception went for a walk to the bottom of the sloping yard and had a go at drawing Christ Church in their sketch books. The children discussed the different shapes that they could see and the different parts of the building. They did a super job and they created some beautiful drawings, which links to their Art topic of study.

Meanwhile, there has been lots of wonderful work in Year 1 too. In Maths, pupils have been looking at subtraction calculations and learning different methods of working out answers, including: drawing dots and crossing them out, using concrete resources (multilink) and using a number line- all in-line with our Calculation Policy. Last Wednesday, Year 1 were set with a STEM task to protect Humpty Dumpty from another fall! Each group were given an egg and a range of materials to help protect it. Working collaboratively, the children planned their design, labelled the materials, tested their materials, made a prediction, carried out their investigation and then concluded by reflecting on their initial predictions to evaluate. Year 1 even had a STEM Ambassador from Sellafield to help them with their Science experiment and the visitor was very impressed with the children's scientific skills and problem solving! In DT, Year 1 put their recently learnt cutting skills to the test by carving pumpkins as part of our Halloween day!

Year 2 went on a mini-outing last Wednesday afternoon to the KS2 grounds. The children had a great time exploring and taking photos. This was part of their Computing lesson on Digital Photography. Well done Year 2, you were all AMAZING photographers! In PE, Year 2 have been working on their speed and agility in last week's cricket lesson by playing Banana Tig! They have also been practising their hand-eye coordination with some throwing and catching games- the children have thoroughly enjoyed their cricket topic this half-term. In English, there have been lots of happy writers in Year 2 as the children have been busy writing up their stories (from their Draft Books) using their neatest handwriting. The children used lots of impressive time openers, adjectives and conjunctions- well done Year 2!

In Key Stage 2, Year 3 enjoyed an Active Maths session to start their latest topic on measure last week. In the session, they focused on measuring and ordering. They also incorporated column addition/ subtraction using their measuring results after trying to jump the furthest (and learning about metres/ centimetres at the same time)- lots of fabulous Maths in action! In MFL (French) the children have been making mini-books - all about colours- great work, Année 3! Last Wednesday afternoon was the children's final session of hockey and they competed in mini matches against each other. During their topic of study in PE this half-term, the children have made amazing progress: they all understand the concept of an invasion game (attacking and defending), can all hold the hockey stick correctly and are able to dribble with the ball confidently. Meanwhile, in Art, pupils have been completing their Stone Age inspired cave paintings. They have sketched Stone Age animals then used pastels and charcoal to add colour to them- this forms part of their Art topic of study. Class 3DT also had a fabulous, final Forest School session on Friday; the children have thoroughly enjoyed their Forest School provision this half-term, lots of which linked to their Stone Age topic in History.

In Year 4, in English, the children were studying Boudicca and her rebellion against the Romans. Last Tuesday, they were outside re-enacting the story, with some very confident Celts and Romans on show! In Science, Year 4 have been looking at water in its three states of matter and have learnt about the scientific terms of 'water vapour' and 'evaporation.' Last Monday, Year 4 went to the Roman Museum and Vindolanda, as part of their History topic 'The Romans'. The children had a wonderful day: listening to a virtual Roman teacher, watching a 3D film 'The Eagle Eye', as well as seeing all the different artefacts which have been excavated from the Vindolanda Fort. After the museum, the children explored the Roman Fort at Vindolanda itself; they were able to see the size of the fort and the wonderful Roman architecture. By the end of the day, the children had a real feel of what life was like in Roman Britain. Their behaviour was impeccable and the children received many compliments from members of the public and museum staff- well done Year 4!

In Upper Key Stage 2, Year 5 have been ordering decimals and enjoyed an active session outdoors. The children worked carefully in groups using the place value of the numbers to help. In PE, the children enjoyed playing high five netball in their last netball session, where they were able to showcase all of the skills they have learnt throughout the half-term of studying the sport. The children have excelled- great work Year 5! In an English lesson, the children performed their speeches to the class based on pollution- linked to their topic of study in Geography. In Music, the children are doing a fantastic job with their recorder skills by applying the instrument to accompany a song they recently learnt to sing. This unit of work provides the children with an opportunity to recap and build-upon the recorder skills they first learnt in Year 2.

In Year 6, the children have enjoyed learning about religion in Ancient Maya times as part of their History topic of study. The children took a lot of pride in their presentation. In DT, the children started their food topic and have been busy researching alternative pizza bases and ways to make pizza more nutritious. They are looking forward to the next series of lessons, which will include making their nutritious pizzas and evaluating them. In Maths, the children have been studying angles in complex shapes and concluded the week by using protractors to both draw and measure angles accurately.

Finally, sticking with the Mathematic theme, over the past couple of weeks, Key Stage 2 have been battling it out on a TTRockstars challenge! A huge well done to our ‘most valuable players’ and all participants: it was a very closely fought battle!

We are looking forward to welcoming all the children back to school tomorrow ready for another half-term of fabulous learning.