Atwood Newsletter 20th September 2024

We are now well and truly back in to the swing of things at school and the children have been immersing themselves in the new learning in their year groups.

In Reception and Nursery, the children are in full time and have been settling in brilliantly.

In Nursery, the children have been reading the story ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell. They have been able to identify the characters in the book and join in with the repeated refrain by one of the Owls; Bill, who said “I want my mummy”. Throughout the week, there have been many opportunities to join in with Expressive Arts and Design; painting their own Owls, Mathematics; counting the same number of Owls in the nest and using pincer tweezers to feed worms to the Owls and lastly, Understanding of The World; exploring the tuff trays.

The focus in Maths this week has been the number 1. The children have been encouraged to join in with giving the class teddy one jelly, as well as performing actions to the number one such as one clap, one jump, one hop and joining in with the song “Show a one in the air”.

In Reception this week, the children have started this half term’s topic, Marvellous Me. While looking at the story ‘So Much’, the children have talked about their own families and who lives in their house. In Maths, they have taught the class counting puppet how to count things using 1:1 correspondence.

This week, Year 1 have been learning all about the human body in Science. They have been counting on with 1 more in maths and in English they have been discussing Bear and Rabbit’s feelings in Jon Klassen’s classic ‘I want my hat back’.

This week, Year 2 have been designing their Tudor shields for their Thematic front cover using printing and repeated patterns. They have also focused on using past tense verbs in their retell of ‘The Lonely Beast’ and have learnt about marked and unmarked number lines in maths.

Across key stage one, all the children have been getting their regular phonics sessions and their reading practice sessions. We follow the Little Wandle programme for phonics. If you would like to know more about how it works or how you can help your child at home there are lots of videos and tips on their website at

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Year 3 have been looking at ‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne and retelling the story in the first person using adjectives and expanded noun phrases. They have also been learning about the Crystal Palace in preparation for visiting Crystal Palace Park on Monday. In science, the children have finding out all about Wilhelm Roentgen who discovered X-rays -accidentally—while testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass.

Year 4 have been busy studying the story of Romulus and Remus while also comparing Rome and London to identify differences and similarities. In RE they have been learning all about Hindusim and how Hindus worship at mandir.

In Year 5, the children have been reading ‘The Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom’ by Louis Sachar. In Science, the children have been investigating friction and forces. They used a Newton meter to drag objects across different surfaces to find out which type of surface creates the most friction. They have also been learning about Viking longboats in History and rounding numbers in maths.

This week, Year 6 have been creating an Egyptian self-portrait and developing their knowledge of place value rounding to hole numbers. The children have also written a fabulous diary entry based on the short film ‘The Ruin’.

Jeans for Genes

It was lovely to see so many children coming to school in their denim today. The children came dressed in jeans, denim shorts, denim jackets, and denim skirts. Some were blue and some were pink. Some were faded, some were ripped and some were studded with sequins! The children made a great effort to support the valuable work of Jeans for Genes which focuses on raising awareness and funds for children and families affected by genetic disorders. Many thanks to everyone who donated. The school raised an impressive £320! All funds go towards essential care and research.

And finally…

Did you know that on May 20^th 1873, Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant to San Francisco obtained a patent for ‘riveted work pants’? Miners working in the mines during America’s Gold Rush needed hard wearing work wear that wouldn’t fall apart at the seams. Thus, the blue jean was born. Levi Strauss & Co. are still making jeans today.