Autumn 1
A very warm welcome to our new academic year! The children have returned to school happy and ready to learn. They have all been getting to know their new teachers and classroom routines. It has been lovely to welcome parents, carers and families into school this half term for our Macmillan event and to celebrate Fairtrade. The children have also enjoyed our Book Fair and having the opportunity to choose a new book to immerse themselves in.
In Nursery, the children have had a lovely start to the year welcoming all the new children to their class. They have been making new friends, learning new routines and finding out about each other.
The children have also been involved in a new national pilot scheme to encourage daily toothbrushing. The children are very good at this now and clean their teeth in class everyday for 2 minutes!
In Reception their topic for the first half term is ‘Marvellous Me.’ The children have been learning about their bodies, their homes, their families and their senses. It has been wonderful to observe the children building friendships, learning the new rules and routines and exploring their new environment with lots of play.
In Year 1 the children have had great fun this half term. They have enjoyed Forest School where they have played on the swings and hammocks. They have also made autumn hats and hedgehogs. In English the children have enjoyed their work based on The Three Little Pigs and have visited a building site and followed instructions to make a pig mask. In Maths the children have worked hard on place value and have been comparing numbers.
In Year 2 the children have been using iPads to explore photography during their computing lessons. They have learnt about composition, lighting, and how to create different effects. The children also discovered how to share their photos on Seesaw.
In Science, the children have been classifying and sorting materials, learning about their various properties. As part of the ‘Restart a Heart’ initiative, the children also learnt the vital life skill of performing CPR. This was very exciting and the children have been sharing this skill with their families.
Wow, what a busy half term Year 3 have had! They have been looking at owls as part of their English unit of work and they were very excited to have a special owl visit where they learned lots of new facts. Using these facts, they then wrote a brilliant non-chronological report.
In Maths, the children have been working hard on their place value unit of work which has involved recognising 3-digit numbers and then adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. In Science, Year 3 have been looking at shadows and light and have carried out a range of investigations using a variety of scientific enquiry skills.
In Geography, they have been looking at Europe at Italy. The children have worked very hard locating these on a map, named countries in Europe and enjoyed finding out about the physical features of Italy.
They have also really enjoyed their PE lessons playing Tag Rugby and Hockey and they have developed their skills in these areas read to play some competitive matches. The children have really enjoyed their Spanish lessons so far this year and have been learning greetings. They all loved their day at Mossley Hollins learning all about colours, greetings, numbers and Spanish festivals.
In Year 4 the children have really enjoyed their new topics in science, RE and history.
In History, the children have looked at the life of the Ancient Egyptians and have found out about society from this stage of History, how their lives impacted our lives and who the important characters of the time were.
Their Science topic this half term has been Living Things and during their lessons, the children have been learning about the basic parts of the digestive system and identifying the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions. They have also constructed and interpreted a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.
This half term Year 5 have been busy learning about Earth and Space and the children came up with their own pneumonic to remember the order of the planets. They learned all about Fair Trade and how they can help by buying Fair Trade tea. The children also took part in a brilliant workshop about racism- Show Racism the Red Card where children learned wha racism is and how they respond in different situations.
It’s been a very busy half term in Year 6 packed with lots of fun activities, interesting visitors and learning challenges aplenty. In their first week, they were visited by Jonathan Reynolds, our local MP. The children asked him some brilliantly thoughtful questions and he was definitely impressed by their knowledge of current affairs! Year 6 have also been busy taking part in an Enterprise Challenge this term in order to raise money for Willow Wood Hospice – they have lots of ideas and we can’t wait to see how much they’re going to raise. Year 6 also enjoyed a performance and workshop delivered by Show Racism the Red Card and Odd Arts– they learnt all about Winston Jones, a member of the Windrush generation.