It has been another busy week of learning at Atwood.
YEAR GROUP BY YEAR GROUP
Our Nursery and Reception children have been busy outside enjoying the sunshine and you can read more about their week on our website here.
In Year One, the children have been writing their own versions of ‘I Want My Hat Back’. In maths, they have been ordering objects and numbers. They have also been finding 1 more or 1 less than a number.
This week, Year Two have been looking at using expanded noun phrases for their rewrite of ‘The Bear and the Piano’. If you want to follow up the children’s learning in class, there are two sequel books by David Litchfield to look out for; The Bear, the Piano the Dog and the Fiddle or The Bear, the Piano and Little Bear’s Concert. They also taste tested some fruits and vegetables for making healthy muffins and designed their own packaging. In maths, they have been adding multiples of 10 and working systematically.
In whole class reading, children in Year Three have been reading David Olusoga’s ‘Black and British,’ finding out facts about black Victorians such as Pablo Fanque and Mary Seacole among others. In English, they made clay cats as they put the model instructions to the test in their week of imitating a particular writing style.
In Year Four, in English the children have been learning the story of Romulus and Remus whilst in maths the children have started learning all about negative numbers.
In Year Five, the children have been finishing their writing about Beowulf and in science, as part of their work on forces, they have been learning about fulcrums and levers. They have also been developing their art skills using shading when drawing a Viking helmet.
Finally, Year Six have been learning about Emmeline Pankhurst and her role as a leader in the Suffragettes movement. They have written diary entries from Emmeline’s point of view and learnt all about her childhood and what motivated her to fight for the vote for women. Today, the children had a workshop from Transport for London teaching them how to use their Oyster cards and how to keep safe when travelling on public transport. This workshop is an important next step as they prepare for travelling to secondary school next year.
Elsewhere, the children in the after school forest club were busy making dens this week. Over the coming weeks, they are they are hoping for a change in the weather so that the children can see how well the shelters hold up in rain or even in snow.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
This week in assembly we have been talking about Black History Month. We discussed the origins of Black History Month from its genesis in America and its later development in Britain. We recognised the role of significant figures in the American Civil Rights movement but questioned why Black History has, in some schools, failed to focus on the role of Black Britons in British History. Black History Month this year is ‘Saluting our Sisters’ and celebrating the role of Black Women and their contribution as leaders in all spheres. Hopefully, the children have come home asking questions and are keen to find out more about some figures that they were introduced to this week. We will be finding out more throughout the month.
For an interesting series of short videos of children talking about their Black History heroes, follow the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000wfhl/our-black-history-heroes
PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT
Some of you will have noticed that part of the climbing frame on the KS2 playground has been cordoned off. Following a long overdue safety inspection, part of the climbing equipment was deemed as unsafe through years of wear and tear. Once we have the full report and some idea of costings, we will endeavour to get this equipment back in service along with making necessary repairs to other equipment. We understand that this is frustrating for children at playtimes but the children’s safety must take priority.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT
It was lovely to meet all the classroom reps this week for what was a very fruitful meeting. It was useful for me to hear some of the questions that people are asking about the school. Hopefully, it was useful for the reps to hear the answers and they are able to feed back to people accordingly. It was a very cordial meeting and although all of the answers might not be exactly what everyone wants to hear all of the time, meetings like these at least give the school an opportunity to explain the rationale for decisions and why we sometimes can’t do everything that people ask.
BIKEABILITY
Following on from last week’s news about Bikeability, if there are any children who missed out or who are interested in completing the training, courses are available to book for free through Croydon at the following website https://www.cyclinginstructor.com/croydon
WEAR RED
On Friday 20th October, we will be supporting Wear Red Day to Show Racism the Red Card. Children can wear something red to school to support this campaign. They can wear as much or as little red as they like from a red hair band or red socks right through to a full blown red suit. Football kits are permitted. This is an awareness raising event and not a fund raising event so there is no need to bring money to school. However, if you would like to read more about the campaign or make a donation, you can find more information here
AND FINALLY …
Yesterday was National Poetry Day so we shared a poem in assembly called ‘Say Something Nice’ by A.F Harrold. Hopefully, the children have taken the message on board and all said something nice as they arrived home today.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
- Monday 9th and Wednesday 11th October: Parents’ evenings
- Friday 20th October Wear Red Day
- Friday 20th October: End of half term
- Wednesday 1st November: Start of half term
- Friday 3rd November Harvest Assembly. We will be asking for donations for a local food bank. More details will follow
- Tuesday 19th December: KS1 Christmas performances 9.30am and 2pm. Details to follow.
- Thursday 21st December: End of autumn term
For details of this week’s Black History Month assembly and a challenge for children to research, see here.
