It has been a very busy half term and the time has flown since we started back in September. I wish you all a restful break and look forward to seeing you back on Wednesday 30th October.
In Reception and Nursery, the children have been enjoying some autumn sunshine nd taking their learning outdoors. In Nursery, the children had some special visitors. On Wednesday, some owls from Kent Owl Academy visited with their keeper. The children had to sit and listen very quietly because the owls don’t like loud noises. In Reception, the children have been learning all about their bodies with the help of Dr Bones, the skeleton we have in school.
This week, Year 1 have partitioned numbers using a part-whole model and added together numbers. The children also found addition fact families. During English, they created a sea creature poem using adjectives and verbs. When the children had finished their poem, they performed it with a group and published it for a class poetry book. In science, the children completed a weather diary for the week and looked at the season of autumn a bit more carefully. During these lessons, children discussed the weather, clothes, plants and animals you would find in autumn. In geography, the children created a simple map to show the route they took from the school to the local park when they went on their trip.
This week, Year 2 have been exploring a multimedia text in their English lessons. They have written their own diary from the point of the view of the boy in a ‘cloudy lesson’ focusing on writing in first person. In Science, they investigated the best way to wash their hands and concluded that it was with warm water and soap. In Thematic, the children learnt about John Blanke who was one of the first British black Tudors who was portrayed in the Westminster Tournament Roll. The children then explored artefacts to find out more about his life. The children were surprised to find out that Henry VIII gave him a pay rise and even bought him clothes for his wedding!
In Year 3 this week, the children have been fully immersing themselves into the life of Waterhouse Hawkins, the sculptor famously known for designing and creating the dinosaurs they saw at The Crystal Palace Park alongside Richard Owen. The children discussed how important instructions must have been for his team when building the dinosaurs and the children then followed their own set of instructions to create their own clay dinosaurs in class (unfortunately not life size like Waterhouse Hawkins’ models).
In Year 4, the children have been writing speeches in role as Boudica and they have filmed them. They have also been choreographing their own dance moves and performing. The children have also designed and finished painting their Roman shields.
In Year 5, the children have been publishing their piece of suspense writing based on the animation ‘Alma’. They’ve included short sentences, repetition and well-chosen vocabulary to build tension and suspense. The finished pieces were excellent and this afternoon some children shared their stories for an eager audience of Year 6 children. In science the children have been investigating levers and exploring Newton’s laws of motion. They have been continuing with subtraction with exchanging in Maths. In their RE lessons the children have been understanding the importance of the Mool Mantar in Sikhism.
This week, Year 6 This week, Year 6 continue to learn 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 used their knowledge to write a persuasive speech in role of Emmeline Pankhurst which they will perform after half term. In maths, they have been using their fraction knowledge to multiply and divide fractions. Finally, for Black History Month the children have been learning about the famous Notting Hill Carnival and have been making their own carnival style headdresses.
Show Racism the Red Card
It was lovely to see so many children dressed in red today in support of ‘Show Racism the Red Card’. This campaign is the largest anti-racism charity in the UK working to promote the important message of being anti-racist by providing educational materials and resources.
Healthy Packed Lunches
For those of you whose children have packed lunch, I know that it is not always easy to keep the packed lunch varied, interesting and healthy but the NHS has some useful guidance on what a healthy packed lunch could look like as well as some useful ideas recipes for healthy choices.
https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes/#tips
Reading Cloud
Today, your child should have come home with a log in for our new lending library app. This has been introduced in assemblies this week and your child should know how they will log in. The bar code will be used in school for scanning books and the four-digit code is both the username and password. If you visit the website and start typing ATW the school will appear in the drop down menu. After half term, this app will allow the children to borrow a book from our library and for the school to track who has what. The app also has lots of features such as reading lists and recommended reads. We are excited that we will now be able to offer a proper lending library service to encourage the children’s reading for pleasure. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped us to scan all of the books so that they are logged on to the system.
Black History Month
Well done to all the children who completed the optional homework looking at family heritage and history. There have been some lovely pieces of work in school and it has been interesting to read about people’s histories. A special shout of appreciation to Salihah and her parents who came in to school today to give a very interesting talk to the children in Lavender class.
And finally…
Today in our Gold Award assembly we celebrated some of our most resilient learners. We heard all about children who really persevere even when faced with challenging learning. Well done to all those children who never give up!
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Friday 18th October – Break for Half term
Wednesday 30th October – First day back to school
Sunday 3rd November FOAP Fireworks display.
Tuesday 5th November – Year 1 trip to Science museum
Wednesday 6th November – Harvest assembly in collaboration with Nightwatch
Friday 8th November – Year 2 trip to Hampton Court
Friday 8th November: Magenta Class assembly
Friday15th November: Cyan Class assembly
Friday 22nd November: Indigo Class assembly
Friday 29th November: Amber Class assembly
Friday 20th December: End of Term
Monday 6th January: Back to school
