Please read on for news of another packed week at Atwood.
YEAR GROUP BY YEAR GROUP
Early Years, finished off the week with their Christmas making day. The children were busy making cards, decorations and getting in to the festive spirit. Many thanks to all the parents who volunteered to help.
You can read more about this on the website here:
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atwood-early-years-news-christmas-making-day
On Tuesday, Year One used no pen day to be news reporters, interviewing other children who were pretending to be the astronaut Mae Jemison. They used the facts they had learned about her and what they have learned about astronauts to answer questions about space travel and her life.
They also tried making 3D shapes out of straws and blu tack. They looked closely at the number of edges a 3D shape has and used the straws to make the right shaped faces for cubes, cuboids and rectangles.
This week, Year Two have been drawing their own Tudor portraits in the style of Holbein. For no pens day the children took the chance to rehearse their Christmas production. Staff were impressed with the children who have learnt their lines already! In English the children have been writing non chronological reports about Henry VIII using subordinating conjunctions and in maths they have been subtracting using money to find the change.
In Year Three over the past couple of weeks, Jade class has been using their developing research skills to aid their English and Thematic learning. Inspired by the dinosaur sculptures found in Crystal Palace Park, they decided to create non-chronological reports about a dinosaur of choice, to then create a non-fiction reference book to be read in the classroom. They began by doing some research at home and then continued to research using chrome books in class independently. They learned about the features of non-chronological reports and made sure that they included them in their final pieces. They now have a great reference book for the classroom!
The children continued to use technology to identify how the land use has changed in this area since the Victorian era. They used Digimaps and ordnance survey maps of the Crystal Palace area in the 1890s and today to compare and contrast and had fun identifying and mapping where the railways, roads and houses were then and now. They couldn’t believe how much it had changed!
Year Three have also been investigating in maths and science this week. In maths they were using money to make amounts, and acting as shopkeepers and customers to make exact amounts. In science they investigated magnetism, identifying the forces that attract and repel.
In Year Four, the children have been investigating circuits and learning about resistors and conductors in the study of electricity. They have also been problem solving in maths and using their speaking and listening skills to build their latest stories.
In Year Five on no pens day the children investigated methods of separation in science, making cube numbers in maths and making Viking dragon heads out of clay in art.
Finally, Year Six have had a busy week. They have been working through some practice SATs but they have also managed to break up the week with a visit to the Nursery to read with the youngest members of our school community. They also used their design skills and construction techniques to make a Shaduf as part of their Ancient Egyptian thematic work. A shaduf was predominately used during the ancient Egyptian times to transport water from a lower level to a higher one. The children had to plan and consider how to balance, pivot and construct their model so it could hold water. They used a variety of materials and equipment to construct the Shadufs including wooden beams, saws and coconut shells!
NO PENS DAY
Wednesday was No Pens Day in school when the children downed tools to show how they can learn in different ways without the need for written recording. For more on this news story visit the website here.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atw-no-pens-day-wednesday
AFTER SCHOOL CLUBS
The after school clubs have been going well. Dance Club for Years 1 & 2 have been taught various styles of dance this term including Contemporary, Hip Hop and Jazz. Over the past two weeks the pupils have been learning how to dance a small routine from the Nutcracker.
In Musical Theatre, also for Years 1& 2, pupils have learnt songs from Annie and Matilda and have worked together in small groups to prepare small scenes from well-known shows.
Book Worms for KS2 have had a great term. The children read sections of “Shackleton’s Journey” for several weeks, learning about the different jobs on board the ship Endurance. They each chose their favourite role and had great fun “applying” for the job and being interviewed in front of the rest of the crew! In recent weeks, pupils have read Michael Morpurgo’s “I believe in Unicorns” and without initially knowing the title of the book, designed their own front covers by listening to the story.
Elsewhere, cooking club made a delicious meal of breaded chicken with garlic and herb wedges served with a side salad
CHRISTMAS IS COMING
Although all tickets for the Year 3 and 4 morning performance have gone, there are still some tickets available for the matinee show and for both of the year 5 and 6 shows.
A reminder that tickets for the Key Stage One Nativity will be available from the office on Monday.
SPORTS NEWS
Netball
This week, the year 6 netball team played their first league matches of the season. On Tuesday, we welcomed Margaret Roper to Atwood and enjoyed a competitive match with them. The Margaret Roper team voted Sophia as their player of the match and our coaches’ player of the match was Robyn. Both girls were excellent in defence.
On Thursday, the team played against Ridgeway and although the scores were level at half time, Ridgeway pulled away by 2 goals in the second half. The team greatly improved and took on board feedback as the match progressed. Ridgeway voted Nabilah as their player of the match for her determination as Goal Keeper and the Atwood coaches nominated Eloise as the player of the match due to her excellent performance as centre. However, all girls should be very proud of their efforts, especially as it was extremely cold! Congratulations Sophie, Ami, Eloise, Holly, Nabilah, Robyn, Jess and Brooke. Thank you also to all the parent supporters who braved the weather to watch.
Cross Country
The first race of the SLH Winter series took place on Saturday 25th November at Woodcote School. We had an enthusiastic team from Year 3-6 who all did amazingly well in the sub-zero conditions.
Well done to the children who took part in this event for the first time – I hope you will be back for our remaining races!
A special mention to Eloise who came 2nd in a competitive field – well done!
Results:
Year 3 & 4
Grace W – 13th
Evie M – 22nd
Mary W – 34th
Salihah – 59th
Elliot A – 8th
Ronnie T – 32nd
Laiq C – 40th
Logan B – 48th
William M – 56th
Year 5 & 6
Eloise R – 2nd
Nikolai B – 9th
Girls’ football
This week it was the girls’ turn to participate in the Crystal Palace Foundation tournament at Dulwich College. In icy conditions the girls turned in a string of excellent performances to qualify as runners up from their group of 8. They narrowly missed out in the semi–final losing 1-0 to the eventual winners Thomas Beckett.
And finally…
OFSTED
In a separate communication today, you should have received a copy of the report following our recent Ofsted inspection. We believe that this a very positive result for the school that reflects the school as it is. Ofsted reports are remarkably brief given the amount of scrutiny an inspection entails and although the report only captures a small part of what the school does well, there was lots of more detailed positive feedback from inspectors. I have always said that a school shouldn’t do what it does for Ofsted but for the children in the school and at Atwood we are lucky to have an incredibly dedicated group of staff who are passionate about the children achieving well and enjoying their time at primary school. I would like to put on record my thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the inspection.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
*New dates are being added all the time
- Tuesday 5th December Year 5 Viking Day
- Tuesday 5th December Year 1 Visit to Church
- Thursday 7th December Year 1 Visit to The Science Museum
- Friday 8th December Christmas Lunch Day and Christmas Jumper Day
- Tuesday 12th December Rock Steady Christmas Concert for parents 10:00am*
- Wednesday 13th December Year 2 Tudor Day
- Wednesday 13th December Year 3&4 Christmas Show 9.30am and 2.pm
- Thursday 14th December Reception Christmas performances 9.10am and 2.30pm
- Thursday 14th December Nursery Christmas Show 11am*
- Friday 15th December Year 5&6 Christmas Show 9.30am and 2pm.
- Friday 15th December FOAP Disco- various times*
- Tuesday 19th December: KS1 Christmas performances 9.30am and 2pm. See separate letter
- Thursday 21st December: End of autumn term: Please note that in order to support working parents school will finish at the normal time of 3.15pm
- Monday 8th January: Back to school*
