Atwood Newsletter 2nd February 2024

Even though there were lots of children in school in their pyjamas today, it was a far from sleepy school. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to our Pyjamarama in support of Children with Cancer UK. The cake sale was hugely popular and the children all looked fantastic in their various onesies and pyjamas. At the latest count, the event has raised over £1350 so thank you to everyone for their generous support.

The children in Early Years have been exploring Bog Babies and habitats. In Nursery the children have been immersing themselves in the story of the Three Little Pigs. You can read more on the website here.

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-early-years-news-bog-babies-and-little-pigs

In Year One this week, the children wrote instructions for the games they created last Friday. They explained how the games work and played them with each other. They then used their knowledge of number bonds to ten to work out how to add to twenty. For example, if 7+3=10, then we know that 17+3=20 or 7+13=20.They also worked systematically to find every way of adding two numbers to make twenty, there were 21 ways altogether! In science the children explored the properties of different materials, seeing if they were hard or soft, shiny or dull, etc. They sketched their toys in art and experimented with making different shades of colours before painting the finished sketches.

This week in Year Two, the children have been learning all about fractions of shapes and identifying halves and quarters. In art, the children mixed primary colours to make secondary colours and in their History studies the children learnt all about the Great Fire of London through a contemporary dairy entry.

In Year Three, the highlight of the week was having a Victorian afternoon tea. On Tuesday, the children settled down for cucumber sandwiches, scones and tea. There was a focus on the etiquette that prevailed during the Victorian era. Tea drinking in Victorian society was governed by a strict set of rules and etiquette. Proper tea etiquette was considered essential for those aspiring to be part of the social elite. Even the way you held your cup and saucer would have been scrutinised.

In Year Four, the children have been reading a book called Earth Shattering Events and learning about different types of Volcanoes and how they erupt. In English, they have imagined that they were in Pompeii in 79AD and witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The children have continued to find out about the Romans in their History lessons and this week thought they about how life in England today has been influenced by Romans invading Britain all those years ago.

The current Science topic is Sound and this week the children have been discovering how sound travels – they had great fun deciding how different musical instruments make sound and thinking about why some of them are so loud!

In Year Five, the children have been experimenting with cams. They have been making cams and the children are preparing the materials they need to make a toy width moving parts.

This week Year Six, have been designing their Ancient Egyptian death masks in preparation for Thematic week. The children have also been working towards completing their narratives based on ‘The Red Pyramid’ by Rick Riordan in which the children have particularly enjoyed creating their monstrous villain.

SPORTS NEWS

On Tuesday, our Year 5 and Year 6 netball teams visited Gresham to play a friendly and a league match. The Year 5 girls started off with a fantastic display of all the skills they have been learning and showed great teamwork and enthusiasm on court. For some girls, this was their first match! The match ended 4-2 to Gresham but the big smiles on their faces showed how much everyone enjoyed it. Well done to Alicia who was voted Player of the Match. Congratulations also to Honey, Amber, Tekarra, Beatrice, Izzy, Autumn and Olivia.

Next, it was the turn of the Year 6 team. The girls started confidently, making some great link ups across the court. Brooke and Holly worked brilliantly in the goal circle, supported by our attacking team of Eloise and Robyn. In defence, the superb team of Sofiah, Nabilah and Juliet worked hard together, making numerous interceptions! Unfortunately, the girls suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat. Gresham voted Brooke as the well-deserved Player of the Match. Well done to the whole team and thank you to all the parents who came to support the teams.

The boys played two football matches this week. On Wednesday, they came up against a very strong Royal Russell side and despite battling hard they lost 7-0. On Thursday the boys travelled to Greenvale in the reverse fixture of last week’s 1-1 draw. This week, Greenvale ran out 5-2 winners but the boy acquitted themselves well.

WELLBEING WEEK

Next week in school, we will be raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing with a wellbeing week. Schools are a vital part of a child’s support system and are increasingly recognised as key sites to help promote mental wellbeing. Here at Atwood we take this responsibility seriously and already have a lot of things in place to support our children’s wellbeing, such as a PSHE curriculum which is at the heart of the Atwood ethos and ELSA support for those who need it. To continue developing our wellbeing provision, we will be regularly assessing the health and wellbeing needs of our student population. This kind of data will help to build a wider picture of the mental wellbeing at Atwood and will help ensure we take proportionate action to address the children’s needs. Next week the children will be asked to complete a simple survey in school. We will also be talking about strategies and activities for helping our wellbeing for example, through a mindfulness Monday.

SAFER INTERNET DAY

Safer Internet Day 2024 will take place on the 6th of February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year they cover an online issue or theme that speaks to the things young people are seeing and experiencing online. Created in consultation with young people across the UK, this year Safer Internet Day will be focusing on change online, this includes covering:

Young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology
Using the internet to make change for the better
The changes young people want to see online
The things that can influence and change the way young people think, feel and act online and offline

We will be talking about Internet safety in assembly next week but this day is always a good opportunity to reinforce messages at home so that children can keep themselves safe online.

A useful place to start is https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers

And finally…

We look forward to welcoming parents and carers into school next Friday for our Museum Day. Details went out in a letter this week but you are reminded that parents came visit the school from 9.05am – 10.15am and again at 3.15-4pm. Please enter through the front entrance where our tour guides will be waiting to meet you. We look forward to seeing you here.