The children have had yet another fantastic week at school. They are enjoying learning phonics and it is lovely to see them starting to recognise the letters and have a go at blending some words. This week's parent cafe was the phonics workshop and I have uploaded the slides to our Google Classroom for those of you who were unable to attend. If you have any questions about supporting your child at home with their learning, then please just ask. Please continue to check that all items coming into school are clearly named including shoes, coats and jumpers and don't forget to send in, or email us, a family photo if you haven't already done so. Thank you for your continued support.

Year 1 have worked incredibly hard over the last couple of weeks. The children showed their brilliant writing in their English lessons and loved reading Beegu; our reading practise book. In our maths sessions, the children enjoyed finding patterns within numbers. Our topic lessons have been DT and science. The children created fabulous moving pictures in DT and learnt about different parts of the plant in science! As the weather is changeable, please make sure any jumpers, cardigans and coats are named.  

Year 2 has been exploring Grandad's Island and The Goose who Laid the Golden Eggs. We have been testing our comprehension through a variety of questions and applying this to our reading sessions. In maths, we have been looking at greater than, lesser than and equal to. We have been using a range of concrete resources to investigate questions and we are becoming more confident in using these manipulatives. In topic, we have been learning all about animals and their habitats. We have been going on bug hunts and deciding whether different things are alive or not alive. Our outside area has been growing and developing along with the children. We are happy to say they are looking after it very well and are enjoying it on a daily basis!

Year 3 have been working hard, continuing with our poems on the theme of emotions. These have been planned out and we will be writting them up next week. We were lucky enough to have visitors from Cemex in preparation for our quarry trip next week. They spoke to us about what happens in a quarry, the impact on the local area and what can happen to the natural environment after they have stopped digging. We explored a range of different rocks and fossils and even created our own versions using natural materials found outside and plaster.  

The children are still enjoying beginning their morning in school with journaling where they can record how they feel and jot down anything important that has happened to them. In maths, they have estimated numbers on number lines and have been comparing and rounding numbers to the nearest 10, hundred and thousand. During our writing lessons, the children have explored and studied how adverts try and persuade people to do something using superlatives, slogans,  rhetorical questions and certain organisational features such as bullet points. We have also continued to learn about living things by looking at vertebrates, invertebrates and flowering and non-flowering plants. Next week they will be using their scientific knowledge to classify animals using classification keys. 

Please help your child to log onto Mathletics each week. Maths (usually Mathletics) and spelling homework is set each Friday and we ask that the children complete these activities by the next Thursday. 

Year 5 have had a busy few weeks focusing on negative numbers and looking at decimal numbers - comparing and looking at their place value. In English, we have begun to look at stories set in a different culture, thinking about using cultural references and dialogue to plan and write a story which we will be finishing over the next week. In addition to this, we have been learning about materials and their properties in Science, looking at why certain materials are used for specific purposes in everyday life and what reversible and irreversible changes can happen. 

Lastly, well done to all of Year 5 taking part in the school run on Wednesday. They all did amazing and were very supportive of each other. 

We have had a great couple of weeks in year 6. One of the highlights was taking part in the sporting event at Stanborough where the children got to compete in various sports against other schools, such as football, basketball and archery. The children were amazing and thoroughly enjoyed themsleves. Inside the classroom, they have been continuing their WWII history topic, learning about rationing, evacuation and the Battle of Britain which they have found really interesting. In English, the children have just finished writing their autobiographies, which has allowed us to learn so much about their lives! There has also been a lot of excitement in the air this week as we approach our PGL trip - we are looking forward to a week of fun and activities.