Atwood Newsletter 26th January 2024

There has been some great learning at Atwood this week.

The children in Early Years have been exploring Monsters and learning about the Three Little Pigs. To read more about their learning visit the website here:

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-eyfs-news-creative-crafts-and-beastly-creatures

In Year One this week, the children have been diving in to their Toys topic. On Tuesday they had a workshop with a lady from Croydon library who brought the children a wide selection of old and new toys to look at and play with. The children discussed which ones they thought were new and which ones were old. They linked this to their science learning about materials and were able to explain why they thought some toys were older than others because of the materials they were made with. They children got to with wooden toys, puppets, spinners and many other old toys. In English the children made their own cup and ball toy and then wrote instructions about how to make it. On Friday, they made their own games for instruction writing next week. In maths the children have been adding to teen numbers by counting on, using number lines and ten frames.

This week in Year Two, the children have been super excited to write their own ‘twisted fairy-tale. They had some fantastic ideas and really used their imagination. In Maths this week the children finished learning about division and will now be moving onto fractions. In Thematic, the children looked at what life was like in London 300 years ago compared to what life is like now and in Science they have been exploring the suitability of materials discussing why we wouldn’t have a chair made out of glass!

In Year Three, the children have completed their own versions of Folk Tales based on The Stone Trolls. They have also started investigating rocks and soils and considering what types of rocks could be found locally. In art, the children continued developing their art skills by using pastels and paints and looking at the work of Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale

In Year Four, the children have been exploring the poetry of Joseph Coelho in the book ‘Werewolf Club Rules and other Poems’. The children learnt the poem’ Red Ruby Rings’ and then considered how the verbs could tell us how to perform the poem with more expression. The children have also been learning about the harmful effects of smoking in their PSHE lessons.

In Year Five, the children have produced colourful and informative posters based on their research about the Amazon Rainforest. The children have been finding out all sorts of amazing facts about the importance of this natural resource. They have also started thinking about the impact of deforestation. The children have been reading Elizabeth Laird’s ‘Oranges in No Man’s Land’.

This week Year Six went on a visit to The British Museum to deepen their knowledge of ancient civilisations. Despite the challenges they faced from TFL cancellations, they arrived in good time and were especially delighted to discover the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies.

SPORTS NEWS

Well done to children who competed in the SLH cross country league on Saturday 20th Jan and to the children who swam in the Croydon schools’ gala today. The cross country runners did a brilliant job once again and we had fantastic results- well done to all children, particularly those who were racing in this league for the first time.

Results were as follows:

Year 3 & 4

Grace 9th

Evie 10th

Mary 53rd

James 17th

Olly 23rd

Elliot 24th

Laiq 29th

Logan 37th

William 46th

Year 5 & 6

Eloise 3rd

Nikolai 5th

Damir 29th

Atwood had 26 children competing in the Croydon schools’ gala heats at Trinity. The whole team did us proud and everyone swam brilliantly. We will find out in the next few weeks who has made the finals to be held at Trinity on the 21st February. Thank you to the parents who have supported us by transporting your children to and from various venues and for giving up their time to help us – it is very much appreciated.

Elsewhere, the boys’ football team continued their impressive season with a tight, hard-earned draw against Greenvale. Having been 1-0 down at half time, the boys regrouped and fought back with a well taken equaliser from Mason. Both teams had chances to win the game but in the ned a draw was probably a fair result for all.

PYJAMARAMA

On Friday the 2^nd February the children are invited to come in to school in support of World Cancer Day which falls on Sunday 4^th February. As well as raising awareness, we are trying to raise funds for Children with Cancer UK. Children are invited to make a suggested donation of £2 on the day. If parents would like to make a donation online, we will provide details of the giving page in due course. In support of this event, Year 2 will also be selling cakes from the library at the end of the day.

Children have been advised to be mindful of the weather on the day and consider wearing a base layer under their pyjamas. Children should wear suitable footwear on the day. Trainers or school shoes are fine. Slippers are not advised. Children doing PE should wear trainers.

And finally…

Some children in Year 6 this week used their measuring skills and knowledge of area and volume to calculate how many multilink cubes we would need if, for some reason, we wanted to fill the library. After doing some big maths, they worked it out to be roughly 29 million cubes.