Young Voices

Wow! The children in Y5/6 had a fantastic time at the Young Voices concert last Friday. After rehearsing in the afternoon, they were all excited to see parents and family filling up the auditorium. We were much easier to spot this year and it was lovely to see the reactions of both the parents and the children when they saw each other! The children (and staff) sang and danced their hearts out and we hope you had as much fun as we did.

It is such a privilege to be able to enrich the children's education with opportunities such as Young Voices. These experiences provide them with lifelong memories. As always, your children were impeccably behaved and a credit to you and the school.

Sports Kit

You may have noticed from the News articles this week that we have purchased some lovely new sports kit for the children to wear when representing the school in competitive sports events.  

Each kit is supplied in a numbered plastic bag and consists of a T-shirt, shorts and long socks.  

Please could you ensure that if your child borrows a kit that is washed and returned to school in the numbered bag as soon as possible.  There will be a box placed in the Reception area for the kits to be returned to.  Please can you ensure that your child returns their kit to this box and does not leave them in their classroom or hand them to their class teacher.   We will then be able to mark them off as returned and hopefully not misplace any!

Thank you!

House Cross Country

We will be holding our house cross country event next Friday (9 February 2024).  All the children will be taking part and running in year group races.   The field is still very muddy and we have a lot of mole hills so the children will all need a pair of sturdy trainers (not studs as they are also running on the playground) and their PE kit (which will probably get muddy)!  Thank you.

We have had a very exciting week in Wrens as we have been off to Antarctica as polar explorers.  Our role play turned into an explorers tent with equipment and warm clothes.  We had to think carefully about which food would be available in Antarctica and remove all the fruit and vegetables as we found out it is too cold for any plants to grow there.  In Topic we found out about the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.  We imagined what it would have been like to set off for Antarctica 100 years ago in a sailing boat with no computers or mobile phones.  We decided they must have been very brave.  Later in the week we discovered what happened on Shackleton's Endurance expedition.  It is an amazing story and we were inspired to do some fantastic writing to retell the key events.  

The children continue to be inspired by our weekly Rainbow Challenges and it has been lovely to see them challenging themselves to complete the tasks independently. This week they have been learning about one more and one less, sequencing and labelling the life cycle of a penguin, writing lists of equipment to take on an Antarctic expedition, using pastels to create some beautiful pictures of the Southern lights and investigating floating and sinking in our water tray.  Some of the children were inspired by the last task to complete the star challenge and build their own boats that floated out of junk modelling or construction materials.

In DT, the children have created some wonderful puppets with Mrs Postlethwaite.  These are based on the careers the children would like to pursue when they are older.  See if you can spot what they are in the photographs below!

Please do not forget we are holding our phonics information meeting on Tuesday 6 February 2024 at 3.30 - 4.00pm in Wrens classroom.  There will be a creche available for the children.

This week in English, the children composed a set of instructions to help the duck in our story disguise himself as a dog. We then moved on to our new book, Flat Stanley. We made predictions about the story and how Stanley became flat by looking at the front cover. Year 1s drew themselves as a flat character and wrote about what they'd get up to if they could fit into tiny gaps. Year 2s also practised using apostrophes for contraction.  Today, the children all received a letter from California!  It was from Flat Stanley's friend and the children will be replying to their letters next week.

In maths, Year 1 have been comparing numbers using the greater than, less than and equal to symbols and vocabulary. They have been playing games such as Top Trumps to apply their knowledge. They have also been ordering groups of numbers. 

Year 2 have continued to focus on money. They have been learning how to count pounds and pence. They have also been 'shopping' and figuring out which coins and notes they might use to pay for items. If you are in the shops, why not give your child the challenge of figuring out which coins they could use to pay for different items?

In geography, we explored what Kenya was like to live in. The children compared Kenya and the UK and were able to identify similarities and differences between the two places. Some were also able to state which place they'd rather live and justify why.

In science, we continued with our work on materials. This week, the children were investigating the properties of different materials. They were set the challenge of finding the best materials for building a house for the three little pigs! After discussing what they would look for in a good, secure house, the children set about testing a range of materials to find out which were the strongest, most waterproof and most windproof. 

In English this week we have begun our diary entry all about the discovery of a dragon. The children have been thinking about how to put events into chronological order and then imagining the emotions these events would engender. 

In maths, we have completed our work on multiplication and division and we will be moving onto measuring length and perimeter.

In music this week we have been looking at grid notation and learning to play a melodic phrase using the pentatonic scale.

The children began an investigation, last week,  into how different liquids affect the enamel on our teeth. The eggs were left in the various liquids all of last week and in Science this week the children analysed the results of these tests. 

In RE, we looked in more detail at Hindu worship at the Mandir and studied "Aarti" worship and rituals Hindus in Britain practice their religion.  

The children continued to create their Papier Mache sculpture of "dropped ice cream cone" last week and we will continue this today. 

On Thursday, we had a theatre company come in and present "Back to the App" for our online safety day. The children really enjoyed it and it was a great way to bring the realities of safety online to life in an engaging and interactive way. 

In English, the children have been focussing on finding out about the features of a newspaper report. We have read a newspaper report and worked together to identify these features. Next week, they will be using our class book, 'The Girl Who Stole an Elephant', to produce a newspaper report about Chaya breaking Neel out of prison.

In maths, we have moved on to formal short division, sometimes known as the bus stop method. The children in Y4 have been dividing 2/3 digit numbers by 1 digit and have also been working with remainders. Y5 children have been dividing up to 4 digit numbers by 1 digit, also working with remainders. I always seem to say the same thing, but children with secure times tables knowledge find it far easier to identify which questions will result in a remainder.

In English this week, we have been analysing the character of Maple from our story, ‘The Shark Caller’. Maple is a newcomer to the island and we have enjoyed reading about how her and Blue Wing’s friendship has blossomed chapter to chapter. This week, we have sequenced the eventful moments that Maple has experienced since her arrival. We have then written sentences using relative clauses to provide extra information before we later went on to write a short recount of one of these events using time adverbials. 

In maths, we have begun our Algebra topic. We began the week by solving problems involving one and two step function machines. Later in the week, we were practising forming algebraic expressions and on Friday we were using substitution where a number was represented by a number within a calculation. 

In science, whilst some Y5/6 children were at The Chantry competing in a dodgeball tournament, we looked into air resistance. The children discussed what they thought it was and how it affected objects. They then made parachutes out of different materials to see the affects of air resistance.

In RE this week, we discussed what Hindus believe happens after death. We talked about how Hindus believe in Samsara, which is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth and how it is the choices you make in life (Khama) that determine your ultimate end, whether that be reincarnation of Moksha (freedom from this cycle, and to be one with God). 

In dance, we learnt about a style of dance that originated from Punjabi farmers in India. They would perform the ‘Bhangra’ dance in celebration of their harvest time. This style of dance is known for its energy and liveliness. Characteristics of this style of dance include large arm movements and a rhythmic bounce. This week the children learnt a short Bhangra routine before putting together their own routines with original movements. 

In art this week, the children have further progressed with their piece of art based on ‘identity’. Last week, the children produced their self-portraits which will be the centrepiece of their final piece. This week, the children used mixed media (collage and paint) to further express themselves. 

In music, we listened to Bhangra music and looked at how to play the Dhol drum. We learnt how to play the Chaal and Break before performing the rhythms together as an ensemble. 

We introduced the Ancient Egyptian Gods this week in History and the children learnt about the differences between various of the different divinities.  

Worcestershire Children First is undergoing a review of the resources, advice and best practice around transition for our nursery age children into schools. We are keen to hear from, and learn from, the experiences of parents/carers and settings around this important transition time. Please find below the link for the survey to gather your views.

After the review we would like to consolidate transition advice, celebrate good practice and seek to improve the transition experience from nursery to schools for all children in Worcestershire.

The survey will be closed on 16^th February 2024.  Thank you for your time.

Parent/carer survey link: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=hxj0rDe900WeZUfN5I3IWlzpjaWwIwhNgHy55bULg9xUNlNRNTBNSkVHUUc3V0pESEhKVlZPMzkzOC4u