Year 3

Year 3 have continued to thrive this half term! In English, we were introduced to Romeo and Juliet and loved taking part in Miss Birch’s performance of the play! Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at persuasive writing techniques so that we can write our very own persuasive letter to either the Capulet parents or the Montague parents. During reading, we have studied features of non-fiction texts and have even been learning to use the contents and index page to find specific information. In Maths, we have started our multiplication and division unit and we are applying our knowledge of our times tables will help us tackle tricky division questions. We loved our beach trip to kick off our Rocks learning in Science, and will be continuing to explore different types and classifications of rocks. In Geography, we have been learning to identify UK rivers on a map and even challenged ourselves to see which sea they flow into! In History, we have been learning about mysterious cave paintings and can name some of the famous caves these were found in.

 

Year 5

Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their Art & Design Technology week, and the outcomes were fantastic!! From carefully designing their motif taking inspiration from the mechanics of a working bike, to using the skill of precision to carve into their tile in the form of intaglio (this was far more challenging than it looked!) before then applying paint and creatively deciding on the repeated pattern for their print! We then went on to design their very own inventions with a clear target audience and purpose – just superb! With numerous ideas popping up over the year group the children worked exceptionally hard both in school and when taking learning home, to present their invention to their peers with such confidence! The inventions included:

  • ‘A moveable stationary pot’ designed so children never have to ask for stationary again. The pot would move towards them when they required it. – Lily
  • ‘A jacket that changes temperature to keep you warm or cool when needed’ designed to be worn all year round. – Jenna
  • ‘A face recognition doorbell’ designed to help avoid the frantic look for door keys and eliminate the event of anyone getting locked out of their house. – Florence and Darcie.

The children showed fantastic resilience when questioned about their designs going back and forth to improve their design ideas. The creative ways in which they presented their designs were fantastic including annotated sketches/diagrams, explanations on how their design works alongside PowerPoint presentations and prototypes! Not only that but in English, Year 5 have explored explanation texts. We focused our study on the audience and purpose of these texts and the key features they present. We then used this learning to write our own explanation text to explain a task ‘How to ride a bike’. The children worked hard to make certain they were using their knowledge of causal conjunctions to expand their instructions and be sure to explain how and why throughout their piece of writing.

Year 6

What a busy Half-Term!

Parents ‘Open Afternoon’ wrapped up the end of the first half term, beautifully. It was wonderful to see so many parents in school, participating in art, design and poetry activities. Of course, having the opportunity to discuss their child’s progress was paramount for most parents, but the buzz and warmth in the school rounded off a fabulous half-term.

 

Art and Design Week…

Allowing children to use tile-cutters continually fills teachers with dread! However, as always, the children follow the safety instructions to complete a successful brief. The repeated print designs and enthusiasm provided a fabulous addition to the arts and crafts agenda.

 

Respectful Performance

To commemorate Remembrance Day, all children in the school undertook tableaux and performance activities to bring World War 1 poetry to life. The children showed so much respect to this difficult topic and used the communication skills taught in Faculty lessons to great effect, alongside aspects of the Performing Arts. In Year 6, the children worked tirelessly as a group ensemble to meet a tough deadline. Children in Year 6 also shared their ‘Free Writes’ to inspire others in the school. Their heart-felt words and empathy affected teachers, also.