We capped off another busy week with a very well-attended dads’ breakfast and all the children dressed in mufti today.
YEAR GROUP BY YEAR GROUP
In Early Years, the children have been keeping busy and learning all about the weather. The Nursery children have been learning about the colours of the rainbow. You can read more about their week on the website here.
On Tuesday, Year One prepared for Moon Day by making astronaut helmets out of paper plates and tin foil. On Moon day itself they explored the moon and read a story about space. They then made moon biscuits and sandwiches for a picnic on the moon. The children also made slime and experimented with making it runny and sticky!
In Year Two, the children have been writing non chronological reports based on their trip to Hampton Court Palace. And in maths they have been learning about money. The excitement has also started building as the children start rehearsals for their Christmas nativity production.
Year Three have researched and written non chronological reports based on dinosaurs and continued their work on subtraction. They have also been developing gymnastic sequences incorporating rolls and balances.
In Year Four, this week the children have been investigating how electric circuits work in their science lessons. They enjoyed using different components, such as bulbs, wires, motors, batteries and buzzers to create working circuits. In art, the children completed their Roman shields and even got to practice the tortoise formation with them, just like the Roman soldiers would have done! Every child is so proud of their shield and they all put in a lot of thought into the design and making of them!
In Year Five this week, the children have been using their sculpting skills in an exciting art project to design and make Viking dragon heads using modelling clay. They have also been reciting performance poetry of “Raven” from the book “The Lost Words”.
Finally, Year Six this week have been creating pop-up pyramid nets to creatively showcase their pyramid research – they are looking fantastic in the books! The children have also continued work on ‘The Watertower’ book, using our ‘2 sentence horror story’ ideas to develop an alternative story line.
BOOK FAIR
An update on the final income from the Book Fair. The generosity of parents has raised £1120 commission on sales of £1867. Thank you to everyone who supported the fair. In the new year, we will replenish the book stock in the reading corners.
POPPY APPEAL
Thanks also to everyone who supported the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. The school raised £247 for the valuable work of this charity.
PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT
It was lovely to see so many dads, grandads, uncles and other male carers in school today. It was a fantastic turn out and the children were delighted to have the opportunity to chat and play with family members. The event proved so popular that in future we may have to consider if we need to split the group up a bit or wait until the summer so that the event can be taken outside but thank you to everyone who attended.
Thank you to the parents/carers who attended the Reading Workshop this week. The slides and some accompanying resources have been uploaded to Google Classroom for anyone unable to attend.
CHRISTMAS IS COMING
A letter has gone out today (via Studybugs) with details of performance and ticketing arrangements for the Key Stage One Christmas Nativity ‘The Angel who nearly missed it all’ . Tickets will be available from Monday 4th December. Tickets for Years 3-6 will be available from the office on Monday 27th November. Reception will send details of their festive celebration separately.
Don’t forget to come along to the Christmas fair tomorrow. All the fun starts at 12 midday.
SPORTS NEWS
On Thursday, we entered a team into a Crystal Palace Football Tournament. The children travelled to Dulwich College to compete with other schools from across Croydon and South London. The boys gave an excellent account of themselves qualifying through the group but eventually getting knocked out in the semi – final. Many thanks to Mrs Christopher who gave up her time to organise and attend this event.
ATTENDANCE NEWS
I am pleased to welcome to the team at Atwood the Trust’s Educational Welfare Officer, Sonia Wesley. Previously, these services were contracted out but we are now glad to have Sonia working for us and bringing these services ‘in house’. Hopefully, many of you will never need to meet her but if you need support with getting your child to school and maintaining good attendance then she will be the point of contact. More information about attendance can be found on the website here.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/attendance
And finally…
It is with sadness that I need to share the news that Miss Dunn will be leaving us at the end of this term. Whilst it is always sad when a member of staff leaves us, we are happy for her that she has been successfully appointed to an Assistant Headship role at Ridgeway. I would like to put on record my thanks for helping me to settle in to the school and for her support during the recent Ofsted. We wish her all the best for the future.
Note that we are currently experiencing technical difficulties adding dates to the website calendar so please see the list below for updates.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
- Saturday 25th December School Christmas Fair 12-3pm
- Wednesday 29th December ’No Pens’ day
- Tuesday 5th December Year 5 Viking Day
- Tuesday 5th December Year Visit to Church
- Thursday 7th December Year 1 Visit to The Science Museum
- Friday 8th December Christmas Lunch Day and Christmas Jumper Day
- Wednesday 13th December Year 2 Tudor Day
- Wednesday 13th December Year 3&4 Christmas Show 9.30am and 2.pm
- Thursday 14th December Reception Christmas performances 9.10am and 2.30pm
- Thursday 14th December Nursery Christmas Show 11am
- Friday 15th December Year 5&6 Christmas Show 9.30am and 2pm.
- Tuesday 19th December: KS1 Christmas performances 9.30am and 2pm. See separate letter
- Thursday 21st December: End of autumn term: Please note that in order to support working parents school will finish at the normal time of 3.15pm
- Monday 8th January: Back to school
