ATW Newsletter 11th October 2024

In Reception and Nursery, the children have been learning all about autumn and the changing seasons. They have also been learning about some significant figures as part of their Black History Month work and fining the number four. Read more about their week through the link.

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-reception-news-autumn-and-black-history-month

This week, Year 1 have been out and about exploring the local environment. On Tuesday they took a walk in to Sanderstead noting all the human and physical features along the route. Human features are those made by people and physical features occur naturally. They also visited the park. See more by following the link.

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/year-1/atw-year-1-trip-to-sanderstead-recreation

This week, Year 2 have been busy making their healthy muffins following their design process. They also had a special visitor this week. On Tuesday the children learnt all about the Hindu festival Diwali. Nabhi from the Hindu temple delivered a fantastic assembly where he told the children about the story of Rama and Sita. He taught everyone that Diwali is a festival of light and that Hindus celebrate by lighting Diva lamps.

After waiting for the rain to finally stop, Year 3 managed to pay a visit to Crystal Palace Park this week to support their learning about The Crystal Palace and the Victorians. They began at the bottom of the park where they went dinosaur hunting! The dinosaurs are the original sculptures placed in the park for the Great exhibition when it was moved there from Hyde Park. The Victorians were curious about fossils and the dinosaurs were created to represent this. Waterhouse Hawkins, an American sculptor, used fossil measurements to determine how large each dinosaur needed to be, to be a life sized model. The children then continued through the park to visit the Joseph Paxton monument. Joseph Paxton was the architect Prince Albert chose to design the Crystal Palace. After a fire in 1936 where the Palace was completely destroyed, there is now not much remaining. However, the children used their imaginations and were astounded by how huge the Palace would once have been. It was a long day but everyone had a great time exploring!

This week, Year 4 have been writing in role as Boudica. They wrote diary entries, focusing on emotive language, to show Boudica’s feelings at the time the Roman’s invaded Britain. In DT, the children have designed some amazing Roman shields and are looking forward to painting these over the next week.

In Year 5, the children have been writing with suspense and tension based on the short animated film ‘Alma’. In PE the children have been develop their football (passing skills) and learning and rehearsing a Viking dance. In RE they have been continuing to learn about Sikh beliefs and traditions and in maths the children have been reviewing subtraction with exchanging. Finally, in Computing this week the children have been finding out what plagiarism is and how to avoid it by crediting sources of information you have used and in their Thematic work they finished sketching a Viking helmet adding areas of light and shade.

This week, Year 6 have been learning about the impact the famous suffragist ‘Emmeline Pankhurst’ has had in helping women win equal voting rights to men in the UK. The children have then used their knowledge to write a range of emotive diary entries in the role of line Pankhurst. In maths, they have been using their place value skills to solve a variety of negative number word problems. Finally, in science the children have examined a variety of fossils and investigated how fossils are formed.

Smartphone Free Childhoods

Many of you may be aware of a campaign that has been gaining some traction in the media. Many parents are increasingly concerned about the impact that smartphones are having on children’s childhoods. If you a parent of a child in Year 5 or 6 you may already be having to contend with your child wanting a smart phone. We know that smart phones can be a wonderful tool for all sorts of reasons but there is a growing body of research into their wider impact, especially on children. Some parents have approached the school and asked that I share a link to a website promoting the work of the smartphone free childhood movement. https://smartphonefreechildhood.co.uk/ Their website has lots of useful information for parents.

Sports News

On Thursday 3rd October, a team from Atwood attending the Croydon Sports Partnership cross country at Royal Russell. The course was on varied terrain and took in the playing fields and wooded areas of Royal Russell. The children all ran extremely well and every single child had a smile on their face and did a fantastic job of supporting their team mates.

Results:

Year 3

Elizabeth 30th

Poppy 46th

Sienna 55th

Michael 1st

Archie 48th

Caleb 61st

Harry C 62nd

Year 4

Isabelle 61st

Grace 91st

Olly 37th

William 60th

Sebastian 61st

Year 5

Grace 2nd

Neave 43rd

Mary 57th

Annabel 68th

Orlando 50th

Leo 67th

Year 6

Alicia 37th

Nikolai 29th

Courtney 48th

On Thursday of this week, it was the turn of year 1 and 2 to take part in the Cross Country at Coombe Wood School. Again all of the children did a brilliant job of representing the school.

On Thursday the boys’ football team played a match against Courtwood. They played hard to earn a 2-1 win with goals from Olly C and Courtney and a man of the match performance from Peter. Well done to all the boys.

And finally…

A reminder that next Friday the children are invited to wear red to school to Show Racism the Red Card. This is an awareness raising event and no donations are required. Children can wear as much or as little red as they like and there is no requirement to wear school uniform. A reminder that if your child has PE that day, please ensure they are wearing suitable footwear to take part.