It has been Science Week and Refugee Week at Cypress. We have been considering the amazing contributions of people who have come to the UK fleeing war, natural disasters or persecution and used our empathy skills to imagine what it would be like to leave your home country, at short notice, with few or none of your personal belongings. We know that it takes courage, strength and determination to make a journey like this. We also considered stereotypes when we think of the word ‘refugee’. We now know that many people who move from one country to another for safety are highly skilled and highly educated and in many ways, much like us.
It has also been Science Week. We had a visitor from the Surrey Wildlife Trust, Laura, who came to speak to us about ecosystems and how integral insects are within this. She also told us about the plight of the badger, hedgehog and dormouse. We will be encouraging our adults not to cut down their hedges! This has been instrumental in the decline of hedgehog, along with the over-management of parks and gardens, loss of green space to paving/decking and the use of chemical pesticides, leading to fewer insects for hedgehogs to eat.
We also had a visit from ‘Gooey Stuey’ from Fizz Pop. Our workshop, ‘What On Earth Is That?’ focused on properties of materials. We found out how a material like paper can completely disappear in a flash, and how two white powders can look deceptively similar but have very different properties! It was great fun and very informative! Look out for our news story exclusively on Science Week at Cypress Upper next week!
Sycamore class gave us a fantastic assembly based around the book, ‘Hidden Figures’ by Margot Lee Shetterly. They took us back in time to see how life was different back 70 years ago.Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes, like providing the calculations for America’s first journeys into space. And they did so during a time when being black and a woman limited what they could do but they worked hard. They persisted. And they used their genius minds to change the world.Thank you Sycamore for sharing such an inspiring story and also sharing your book reviews! This book is now at the top of my ‘must read’ list! They finished off the assembly by singing Journey’s ‘Dont Stop Believin” Well done Sycamore! Thank you also to Ms Assell, Ms Brathwaite, Ms Simadree and Ms Mitchell for supporting the children to deliver their a great performance.
Cypress Superstars
A big well done to Kenzo, Conner, Thalia and Deimante for reaching the finals of Croydon Sports Primary Athletics competition! We cannot wait to watch you run this evening. A huge well done also to all children who took part! Thank you for representing the school – we are very proud of you!
I am very impressed with the efforts of Evie, Ray, Sebastian, Maxwell and Pablo, who have used their initiative and entrepreneurship to make badges in support of Ukraine and have sold them, making £90.55 for charity. Well done for taking action for a worthy cause!
Beech class were definitely enjoying their science experiments this week. Beech class, particularly, Julia, Thalia, Kemara and Mikayla, who explained with clarity how they had used different materials to filter water.
Lastly, well done Flora, who wrote the first instalment of her fairytale in her English lesson. She used fronted adverbials to add detail, ambitious vocabulary and speech to advance the action!
Have a fantastic weekend,
Mrs Carpenter and the Cypress Upper team
