The final week before half term has been very busy with lots of exciting things happening in school.
Walk to School Week
This week has been ‘Walk to School Week‘. Mrs Jerman and Miss Fernandes launched this in our Monday assemblies. The theme this year was ‘The Magic of Walking’ and focused on children taking active journies to school.The children were encouraged to walk to school for the week and if successful, were awarded with a special badge. Two children from each class, who walked for the longest time, were also awarded with an ambassador badge! These children will be working with Miss Fernandes next half term to promote active travel. Well done to all the children who participated!
Science Week
The school has been full of scientists this week who have been designing expeiments, making predictions, and carrying out investigations.
At the Lower School , the children in Reception have been developing their understanding of the world by exploring materials and their properties. They have explored how to turn butter into cream and which materials will melt in the sun. Year 1 have been developing their ability to make predictions. They have been predicting what will happen when we add water to magic snow and water to skittles and then investigating to see if they were correct. They have also used celery and food colouring to look at how the stem of a plant works. Year 2 have been investigating how humans change habitats over time and what this means for the animals and plants. They then used this knowledge to design and make their own ‘bee hotels’.
At the Upper School, Year 3 have been making links to their learning about light and shadows. They made and tested their own shadow puppets, plant mazes and sundials. Year 4 have been learning about animal adaptations and focusing on how animals have adapted to climate change in the UK. They then designed and made a clay model of one the animals explaining how the adaptation benefitted the animal. Year 5 have used their knowledge of forces and air resistance to design and make paper planes. They then modified their designs to make improvements so they would fly further. In Year 6, the children have used their knowledge of batteries and circuits to create lemon circuits.. They then decided which variable to alter, such as the type or size of fruit, and investigated what changed.
Please click here to see more about Science Week at Cypress Upper
Click the link below to see a video of Dotty, Eesa, Ruby and Tyren show their banana experiment!
https://my.uso.im/mydrive/efe6cd56271847e18c22edf753219783/IMG_5807[1]-(1)
Special thanks to Ms Wadham-Powell, our Science Lead for coordinating such a fun and informative Science Week!
Trip to Parliament
On Monday 20th May both the School Council and House Captains at Cypress Upper visited the Parliament. They were given a guided tour of the House of Lords, the House of Commons as well as the oldest parts of the Palace of Westminster. Once the tour was complete, we learnt about the roles and responsibilities of the Members of Parliament (MPs) and the Lords by getting ourselves into the roles of government and opposition. We had a choice of topics to debate and then had the opportunity to debate what laws should be in place. Abbey in Beech took the role of House Speaker and had the tough task of keeping order in the chambers! It has given us an insight into the democratic process and why this is important in our lives now and in our futures.
–Cypress School Council
Gold Awards
This half term’s Gold Award celebrates those children who have demonstrated they are ‘team players’. Well done to the following children who earned an award:
| Red Class – Mabel and Zen | Turquoise Class – Lucas and Heidi | Rowan Class – Layla and Arabella |
| Orange Class – Geneva and Hugo | Ruby Class – Antonio and Rufus | Hazel Class – Robin and James |
| Yellow Class – Sadie and Adem | Birch Class – Gabriella and Amanda | Sycamore Class – Hettie and Ben |
| Blue Class – Alfie and Isla | Cedar Class – Alanna and Shyla | Willow Class – Beatrice and Olivia |
| Green Class – Lumi and Atticus | Holly Class – Freddie and Ida | Beech Class – Jessica and Dotty |
| Indigo Class – Kacey and Jack | Hawthorn Class – Beatrix and Harry | Larch Class – Maggie and Meredith |
| Violet Class – Aisha and Elliot | Lime Class – Ignas and Nevaeh | Oak Class – Taylan and Nealan |
Cypress Superstars
We have had lots of children visiting the office to celebrate their achievements. Blue Class have been completing some fabulous writing in their English lessons based on the ‘Tinga Tinga Tales’. We really enjoyed reading them all! In Red Class, Louis has been working really hard on his number formation and recall and produced some excellent number recording. Year 2 have produced some fantastic designs for their ‘bee hotels’ and were able to explain what they had included and why. We were very impressed with their science knowledge! Nancy in Orange Class produced some excellent independent story writing. We loved hearing about the ‘big bad chicken’! Flynn in Red Class came to see us with a super story he had written called ‘The Little Witch’. He had used all his sounds and finger spaces to produce a wonderful story.
Omari and Ilyas in Hawthorn have written a wonderful opening paragraph for their story, ‘The Dream Giver’. Their stories contained beautiful description and were well structured. Keep up the great writing! Sofiia and Molly in Rowan had created a fox that had adapted and evolved to suit its habitat – the city! They had brought their ideas to life using clay. Great combination of science and art and design knowledge, girls! Filip in Hazel began a biography on the life of American mathematician and human computer, Dorothy Vaughan using his plan to support his writing. I can’t wait to read it when it is finished, Filip! Musa in Hawthorn has been working hard to read and write some descriptive sentences – you have made such progress in such a short time, Musa. We are very proud of you. Georgia and Caleb created a model of how light is reflected. They visited the office and gave Mrs Wayman a thorough and knowledgeable explanation – she was very impressed by your detailed understanding of light.
PSHE
During our first week back at the Upper School, we will be thinking about racism, the impact it has on us and others, and how to combat it. Please speak to your children about what they have learned at school.
We wish all our children and families a relaxing half term and look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 3rd June.
Ms Binks, Mrs Carpenter and the Cypress Team
