'Vaccination UK have been instructed by NHSE to administer the MMR vaccination to all school aged children who are outstanding one or both doses. The MMR would have been given at the age of 1 year and the second dose at 3 years and 4 months. There has been an outbreak of Measles in the West Midlands which have been on the rise within the last few weeks. If your child is outstanding one or both doses of the MMR, please contact their office on 01527 390030 to make an appointment.'

On Tuesday 6th February we will be joining schools and youth organisations across the UK in celebrating Safer Internet Day 2024. Safer Internet Day is a global campaign to promote the safe and responsible use of technology, which calls on young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers and more, to help to create a better internet.

This year the campaign will be focusing on change online,  this includes covering:
• Young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology
• Using the internet to make change for the better
• The changes young people want to see online
• The things that can influence and change the way young people think, feel and act online and offline.

Using the internet safely and positively is a key message that we promote in school and celebrating Safer Internet Day is a great opportunity for us to re-emphasise the online safety messages we deliver throughout the year.

We would be delighted if you could join us in celebrating the day by continuing the conversation at home. To help you with this the UK Safer Internet Centre has created some free activities and information for parents and carers which are available at: Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre

Whether you have 5 minutes to start a conversation or hours to spare, there are top tips, quizzes and films which you can use at home with your child.

This week the Wrens have been busy learning all about Antarctica where Pingy comes from.  We used Google earth to compare the environment in Abberley to the environment in Antarctica.  We discovered that Antarctica is covered in snow, ice and rocks and does not have any plants, houses or roads.  We thought about the different reasons for this and decided that whilst it would be interesting to go and visit Antarctica we wouldn't want to live there!

We have been working hard on our writing over the last couple of weeks and have made our own information books containing facts about penguins and Antarctica.  

We were inspired by the Antarctic landscape to create some fantastic artwork this week.  We used transitional art techniques and layered different types of collage materials to produce some lovely representations of snowstorms, sunsets and icebergs.  

In maths this week we have been investigating the numbers 6, 7 and 8 with a particular emphasis on careful counting and the composition of the numbers.  Next week we will be extending our learning by focussing on one more and one less than a given number. 

In phonics we are continuing to work through the phase 3 vowel digraphs and learn our new set of tricky words.  The children are doing really well at applying their knowledge during reading and writing activities.  Next week we will be learning our final phase 3 sounds before moving onto using this knowledge to read longer and multisyllabic words.  Please continue to practise the sheets that come home each week in your child's green phonics book. 

The children are continuing to enjoy our rainbow challenges and it has been lovely to watch them working independently and encouraging each other to complete their weekly tasks.  Great work Wrens!

In English this week, Skylarks have been learning about instructions. The children looked at lots of different examples and suggested features of instructions. We read more of our book and found out that the duck needs to disguise himself as a dog. We discussed what the duck would need to do to disguise himself as a dog, such as make some floppy ears and a tail. The children then began to write their set of instructions for the duck, starting with their title and equipment list.

In maths, Year 1 have been working hard on their numbers to 20 and using number lines in lots of different ways. This week they learnt what it means to estimate. They estimated where different numbers on a blank number line would go and were able to justify their answers using the half way point. 

Year 2 finished their learning of shapes on Monday by creating patterns using both 2D and 3D shapes. They made both repeating patterns and symmetrical patterns. They have now started learning about money. They identified all of the coins and notes before finding totals of amounts in pence and pounds. 

In geography, we continued learning about the North and South Poles and what it is like in these places. We then moved on to learning about the equator and what the climate is like for countries near it. The children located this on a world map and globe. 

In science, we continued our work on the topic of materials. This week, the children were using their scientific understanding to explain why certain objects were made from certain materials, e.g. why are windows made out of glass? The children gave some thoughtful explanations and their use of scientific language was fantastic. Some of the children then went on to explain what would happen if objects were made out of not so appropriate materials, e.g. what if a house was made out of paper?, which encouraged them to think even more deeply about the properties of materials.

In English this week the children have produced fantastic poems with a brilliant selection of rhyming couplets and alliteration. We have started work on our next piece of writing which will be a diary entry from the point of view of the character in our book "The Boy Who Grew Dragons". 

In maths, we have worked hard at the written method for division and we will be continuing to consolidate their learning into next week. 

We have dived deeper into the world of Ancient Egypt. The children learnt all about how the Ancient Egyptians structured their society and the importance of Hieroglyphics to them. The children even had a go at writing their names using Hieroglyphics. 

In science, we have started a new topic which is Humans including animals. The children began an investigation into how different liquids affect the enamel on our teeth. We will be studying the results next week. 

In RE, we looked in more detail at Hindu worship at home and studied "Puja" worship both at home and in public.  

The children began the process of creating their Papier Mache sculpture of "dropped ice cream cone" last week and we will continue this work going forward.

In music, we have been learning to play the pentatonic scale and using the notes to create our own melodic phrases. We have been looking at graphic notation and how we can use pictures, patterns and symbols to record our ideas when composing.

In English this week, we have continued reading 'The Girl Who Stole an Elephant'. Chaya is trying to break her friend Neel out of prison but it is looking like that might not happen. Our focus is on newspaper reports and the children have been using a chapter from the book to answer who, when, what, why and how questions to help them find information that might be useful for this. 

In maths, we have come to the end of our work on formal multiplication. The children used the knowledge they gained last week to solve word problems and reasoning question this week. They were able to apply these skills extremely well and should have a good understanding of the topic.

This week in Merlins class we have been inspired by our class book ‘The Shark Caller’ to write setting and character descriptions of our lead protagonist, Blue Wing, ascending the mountain of her village. The children have produced some fantastic writing, using quality examples of description and figurative language. 

In maths, we have concluded our topic of ratio. This week the children have been simplifying ratios, problem solving with ratios and using this understanding to solve problems including recipes. 

In science, the children were looking at friction and what can affect it. They were given two cubes of jelly, one ordinary and the other coated in oil. They had to predict which would be easier to pick up with chopsticks! The children were able to explain their reasoning using scientific vocabulary and their prior knowledge.

In music, we have looked at different celebrations such as Chinese New Year and St Patrick's Day. We have looked at the different instruments used and how the music is structured. We used the pentatonic scale to create music for Chinese New Year and performed together a traditional Irish reel.

In history this week we have been exploring Anglo Saxon crime and punishment. The children have learnt about how a ‘tithing’ comprised of 10 villagers, all responsible for one another and any crimes committed. This had huge repercussions for those that did not ensure that certain criminals made it to court. This week, we were analysing sources, explaining what each source taught us about the history of Anglo Saxon crime and punishment. 

In RE, we were interpreting the Sanskrit text ‘The Man in the Well’ from the Mahabharata. As the story was told, children used interpretive drawing to retell the story before they worked in groups to try to come to a decision about how each event in the story symbolised an aspect of real life.

Please see below information from within the community and independent of the school