Newsletters

Hot Chocolate and Toast

Thank you to everyone who supported our hot chocolate and toast break times over the past 2 weeks.  In total, £83.00 was raised which will be donated to the Salvation Army, Worcester.

Reception and Key Stage 1 Easter Celebration

On Thursday 30 March 2023, Reception and Key Stage 1 would like to invite you to their Easter celebration which they are holding in conjunction with Abberley Preschool.

The event will take place in the Village Hall at 9.15am and should last approximately 1 hour.

The children will be performing some Easter songs and poems.

There will also be an Easter bonnet parade and competition.   Please bring all Easter bonnets into school on Thursday morning.  Prizes will be awarded for the best bonnets in each year group.

Following the children's performances, the Friends will be serving refreshments.

We hope you can join us.

Abberley Acorns

If your child attends Abberley Acorns, parents will be receiving their invoices up to Friday 17^th March. The last two weeks of this spring term will be added to the April invoices which will be sent out in May. 

Please can we remind parents that your child needs to be signed out of Abberley Acorns otherwise you will be invoiced up to 5.20pm regardless of the actual time they are picked up. Remember to sign out all siblings, not just one of your children, and please note that after 5.20pm, parents will be charged an additional £10 overtime payment to cover staffing.

It has been lovely to see all the children back in school after our disrupted week last week.  We loved seeing the photographs of them enjoying the snow.

In English, Year 1 thought carefully about different adjectives they could use in their writing to describe the snow and the fun they had sledging and building snowmen.   This week we have been undertaking a review of our writing and all the children were amazed and proud of how much progress they have made when we looked back at their first piece of writing.  We then discussed what we needed to do next to make our writing even better and all the children were given personal targets to work on.

Meanwhile, Reception have been working hard in phonics to read and write words with more than 1 digraph/trigraph.  They have approached this with confidence and remembered to use the strategies they have learnt such as chunking to help them read longer words.  We have also enjoyed discussing and learning some new vocabulary along the way.

In maths, Year 1 have started to explore numbers up to 50 and have discovered the importance of writing tens and ones accurately to ensure our numbers are correct.  We have enjoyed some practical lessons using mathematical apparatus to represent 2-digit numbers.  Reception have been learning about pairs (both numbers and objects).  Maybe they can put their skills to the test and help in making pairs of shoes or socks at home!   

In Topic, we learnt about the female aviator Amelia Earhart.  We became history detectives looking at photographs of Amelia and the planes she flew.  They had to wear very warm clothes, flying hats and googles because the planes were open topped!

We have also been busy making some cards and gifts for a special day on Sunday.  We talked about how we all have people in our lives who love and care for us so it is nice to have a special day to celebrate them.  

In English this week, the children have begun research into finding facts about the Great Fire of London to create their own information booklet about the terrible disaster that took place in 1666. They have been skim-reading documents to find key vocabulary and facts about 3 different areas that interest them, for example, 'What happened in the bakery?', 'Who was King Charles II?' and 'Why did the fire spread so quickly?'. Their booklets will be full of information and colourful images that document the fire.

In maths, our focus has been on measuring in metres and then ordering measurements from shortest to tallest or shortest to longest and vice versa. We have spent more time practising on using a ruler and metre stick to get accurate measurements, and have learnt to round to the nearest cm if it isn't quite on the line. 

In history, Year 1 and 2 have this week been 'Vocabulary Detectives', learning all about the key vocabulary that crops up when learning about the Great Fire of London. We looked at definitions and 'filled in the blanks'. The children have also learnt to 'empathise' with people from the past, taking on the role of King Charles II of England shortly after the fire in 1666, writing letters to his subjects apologising for the destruction and promising change for London in the future. 

In computing, we have started to learn how to program using ScratchJr. Today we 'tinkered' with the software to explore what the different blocks of code did. Scratchjr is free, so if you would like to download it on a home device for your child to continue their learning at home please use this link ScratchJr - Home.

This week in English, our main focus has been on character descriptions. The children produced some suggestions for what makes a powerful and effective character description. They identified that a good character description should give the reader a clear image and tell them things about the character through their actions and speech. The children then had a simple character description to improve using what they had suggested. They have also learnt about synonyms and antonyms and how we can develop our vocabulary through the use of a thesaurus. We have also focused on the use of figurative language in character descriptions, such as similes, metaphors and personification. 

In maths, we rounded up the learning on perimeter before moving on to fractions. The children learnt the correct names for the parts of a fraction. They understood the difference between unit and non-unit fractions and were able to identify these. We then began to learn about equivalent fractions and identifying these. 

In history, we were focusing on a significant historical figure from Georgian times. We learnt about Anna Maria Garthwaite and why she is a significant person in history. The children were intrigued by her and produced a paragraph explaining who she was. They then designed a swatch of fabric in the floral style Garthwaite used.

In English this week, we have continued to read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and have used Percy's introduction to Camp Half Blood as a stimulus for writing instructions. We looked at the features of instructions and practised using imperative verbs. The children then chose an activity suitable for Camp Half Blood to base their instructions on. We have also been finding out how to write command sentences which came in very handy for the children's instructions.

In maths, we have started our topic of area and perimeter. We began with perimeter and imagined a security guard walking the perimeter fence each night to remind us of the difference between area and perimeter. The children have been finding the perimeter of rectangles, rectilinear shapes (two rectangles put together) and a wide range of other polygons. 

In science, Y5&6 have been experimenting with chromotography. They used felt tip pens, filter paper and water to investigate how to separate a mixture. They were fascinated to see how the ink separated into different colours and were able to explain why this had happened.

In PSHE, we continued with our topic of 'Healthy Me'. We discussed smoking and the effects this has on the body. We also talked about alcohol and read a scenario involving young people drinking. I was impressed with the responses of the children and how eloquent they were when giving their opinions. 

In Merlins class this week we have been using our class book to inspire some of our work in English. In GPS, we have explored how to use apostrophes and relative clauses. We have begun writing a detailed set of instructions which aims to teach a newcomer to Camp Half Blood how to successfully complete a task. For example, 'how to beat a centaur at archery', 'how to win a forest race with a wood nymph' and 'how to beat a Minotaur' to name a few. 

In maths, our current focus is area and perimeter. We have been calculating the area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and compound shapes. 

In history this week, Y5 have explored the recruitment methods used by the British government to encourage young men to join the army to fight against Napoleon. In Y6, we have explored the factors which led to a French Revolution. 

In PSHE, we have learnt about the impact smoking has on the body by looking at smoking's 'Poster Child'. We then looked at some of the advertisements that coverage and vaping companies use/have used in the past and evaluated whether the poster child or advertising has the most lasting impact.