Embedded Files
Dear Parents and Carers,
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin”- Tony Robbins
I am reminded of this quote whenever I feel that the challenges of our day to day lives and the time that is sometimes needed to fulfill these. I know our children and staff sometimes feel that a task or a piece of learning feels really impossible but during this term our termly value “Determination” has encouraged the children on not giving up and to focus on starting the journey and overcoming. As we move through this winter season, we see the perseverance and enthusiasm of our children shining through, especially in their reading and writing. This term, we have focused on developing stamina in these key areas, encouraging our pupils to embrace challenges and grow as confident, independent learners.
I am delighted to share that our recent external monitoring by the Local Authority and School Improvement Partner highlighted the successful implementation of the Little Wandle Phonics scheme as well as other curriculum areas such as Maths.
A huge thank you to those who attended our Parent Forum last week and our regular Parent Coffee Mornings. Your engagement and feedback are invaluable in ensuring that we continue to support every child in the best way possible. By working together through strong communication and close collaboration, we can nurture each child's potential and celebrate their progress.
I am excited to share some fantastic news! We are partnering with Nourish, a new catering company, to enhance our school meals. This means fresher ingredients, more nutritious options, and a greater variety of meals to ensure that our children are well-fuelled for their learning each day. We look forward to sharing more details soon!
Finally, we have started the HT Gold Award initiative. If your child does something Grafton Great- they will come to my office for an award which will also include a telephone call to you to celebrate.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. Have a fabulous holiday!
kind regards
Mrs Bana
R RECEPTION Blue class
R RECEPTION Blue class
Blue class has settled into the term and have continued exploring different topics. This term, Blue class has enjoyed learning about traditional tales such as: Goldilocks,The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk and many more. We learned about structures of houses and apartments in our local area and discovered it is better to build a house with bricks because they are stronger. In maths, we are focusing on number compositions to 5 and above
We celebrated Lunar New Year, where we learnt how to write our name in Chinese, the Chinese Dragon Dance, and maDE lanterns.
1 Squirrel Class
1 Squirrel Class
The children in Squirrel Class have worked very hard this half term! 'Beegu' has been our core text and the children have created a range of work linked to the book including a poem, a postcard and a 'Guide to Earth' leaflet. In maths, the children have been developing and deepening their knowledge and understanding of numbers to 20. They have also been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and their properties. Weather has been the focus of our science lessons; the children have been finding out about the defining elements of the four seasons, and different types of weather and have even had a go at being weather forecasters! In art, the children have spent time mixing colours, learning how primary colours can be used to create secondary colours. They have then used this skill to imitate the work of the Artist Clarice Cliff. In geography, the children have had a great time learning about the four countries that make up the UK - this has involved a lot of food tasting and creative activities such as creating daffodil and thistle pictures. It has been a very busy and fun half term!
2 Circle class
2 Circle class
Circle class have had another busy half term and have thrown themselves fully into all learning opportunities across the curriculum.
At the start of the term, Greta the Grafton fairy godmother visited our classroom with a sprinkle of fairy dust, leaving us a letter about wishes - we are still hoping some will come true! She then popped up again in our Literacy texts Cinderella and Prince Cinders. We became really familiar with both stories, and loved the humour of Prince Cinders. We compared both stories, spotting lots of similarities and differences between them. Prince Cinders is als Greta the Fairy’s favourite book, so she had a wish for us. As she had read it so many times the story was too familiar and predictable so she asked us to rewrite the ending for her as a surprise. Will the Prince and Princess marry and live happily ever after or will there be a twist? Maybe you can read them when you visit for parents' evening.
In Maths, we have covered units on both shape and money. With shape we explored the properties and vocabulary needed to describe both 2d and 3d shapes. Whilst with money we have mastered coin and note recognition, making amounts in different ways and of course calculating change - all important life skills. Why not ask them to help you next time you pop out to pick up some shopping.
In Science we became apprentice gardeners, investigating the best conditions for cress seed germination and growth. Within our testing we made predictions, recorded our testing method, made careful observations and measures and finally drew a conclusion. We had some surprising results…. Why do you think the seeds with no fresh air grew bigger than those with air? Why do you think the seeds in the dark grew but were wiry and yellow? Still confused, maybe ask your apprentice gardener. Next half term we will continue to explore plant growth, grow and harvest potatoes - get those green fingers crossed.
In PE we have been developing our football dribbling and passing skills, focusing on close control and using the inside of both feet as well as looking at defending and interception play. In history we have learnt about the structure and role of the Monarchy, next half term we can’t wait to visit the Tower of London and see for ourselves where Richard III is said to have hidden, and maybe murdered, his two nephews just to become King. In Art, we have been looking at creating texture with paint and inspired by the artist Romare Beardom have created collages of castles - look carefully when you visit do you see the rough castle walls, the fluffiness of the clouds, the swishy grass and plants in our work?
We also had a visit from the London Fire Brigade to talk about fire safety, so no doubt they will have lots of ideas and knowledge to share with you and they may be checking smoke alarms and home fire escape plans with you.
3 Birch class
3 Birch class
A Fantastic Half Term of Learning!
As we reach the end of this half term, we are excited to share all the wonderful learning experiences of the children in Birch Class. From unearthing ancient artefacts to writing incredible stories, the children have worked really hard and should be very proud of their achievements!
Literacy – Bringing Ancient Egypt to Life
One of the highlights of this term has been exploring The Egyptian Cinderella. The children embraced the story through role play, bringing characters to life with fantastic performances. They then used their creativity and writing skills to produce their own brilliant versions of the tale, showing their imagination and storytelling talents.
Art – Creating Papyrus Masterpieces
Inspired by ancient Egyptian civilisation, the children have been busy making their own papyrus. They then applied their drawing and painting skills to create stunning artwork in the style of the ancient Egyptians, demonstrating fantastic attention to detail and creativity.
History – Becoming Archaeologists
The children started their history unit in an exciting way—by becoming archaeologists! They dug out artefacts, examined clues and began to uncover the fascinating world of the ancient Egyptians. Through their investigations, they learned about Egyptian society, its people, and what was important to them.
Science – Investigating Light and Dark
Science this half term has been full of discovery! The children explored light and dark, conducting investigations to understand how shadows are formed and how they can change. Their curiosity and enthusiasm shone through as they experimented and made exciting discoveries.
Maths – Mastering Multiplication and Division
In maths, the children have been working on multiplication and division. They have compared multiplication and division statements, used known facts to solve problems and learned how to multiply and divide using partitioning. They have also explored fact families and applied their skills to solve a range of problems.
RE – Celebrating World Religion Day
On 17th January, the children took part in a wonderful afternoon of activities for World Religion Day. They explored different beliefs and traditions through a variety of engaging tasks, broadening their understanding of the world’s religions in a fun and interactive way.
A Successful Half Term!
It has been a fantastic half term full of exciting learning opportunities. The children have shown great enthusiasm and determination in all their subjects and we are incredibly proud of them. We look forward to another term of discovery and creativity!
5 alder class
5 alder class
We cannot believe we have reached the end of Spring 1 already! We definitely hit the ground running, and we've been having so much fun learning together!
A Stellar Start to the Term!
We kicked off this half term with an amazing visit from the Wonderdome, an in-school planetarium! This fantastic experience linked perfectly with our Space topic, and the children were absolutely fascinated learning about our solar system, the planets, and the stars. We've got some budding astronauts in the making!
Hidden Figures: A Powerful Read
In Reading, we've been delving into the inspiring story of "Hidden Figures." This book tells the incredible true story of a group of brilliant African-American women mathematicians who worked at NASA during the early days of the space race. It highlights their vital contributions to the space program, which were often overlooked due to the racial segregation and discrimination prevalent in the US at that time. We've had some important discussions about the book, focusing on the adverse effects of racism and the struggles these women faced. The children shared examples of discrimination that were important to them and created powerful protest posters to express their feelings. We even held our own class protest!
Making Music!
Our Music lessons have been filled with rhythm and melody! The class has been learning to play a range of songs, including the catchy tune "Honey Crunch," using chords C to B. They are developing their musical skills beautifully.
We're looking forward to the term ahead and are excited to see what new learning it brings!
6 willow class
6 willow class
This term we have been on a journey, with Ernest Shackleton and the crew on the Endurance, reading the Ice Trap; the true story of a perilous expedition in Antarctica.
We have had to share our opinions, have debates, and even created glossaries with the amazing vocabulary that we have discovered. We then became journalists and reported on the events of the Endurance22 mission to recover the lost vessel.
This year in R.E we discussed how important it is to celebrate world religion day as it helps us to understand and bond with our peers.We shared our religious items and took pictures presenting them to our class.After that we wrote how we celebrate our cultures and glued in our pictures / notes into our R.E booklet.In addition pupils mixed with different classes and also shared facts about their religion. The different religions that we focused on was : Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Judaism and Hinduism.
During our art lessons we have been focusing on sketching houses by observation; we have also created monoprints using block printing ink. First, we did an observational sketch of a house. Then collectively the pupils picked a specific part of the house to create their monoprint. Monoprinting is mainly used for fine art prints and textiles work. It is used for single prints or small batches. Only a limited number of prints can be created this way as each print removes a layer of ink from the acrylic sheet. Monoprints are usually limited to one colour.
In Computing, we created websites and slideshows that explained the lifestyles of different animals. Firstly, we went on Google Sites and searched for a polar animal of our choice. Then the class chose layouts which they then typed the information they found on Google. In addition, we selected pictures and facts that we thought were interesting. Finally, we checked over our work and published it to Miss K.
First, in science, we started with the human circulatory system and the human heart. We then moved on to learning about human blood and the different components in it. Next, we learned about pulse investigation based on male and female pulses. After that, we studied about a healthy lifestyle by making posters. This term we were taught about biological classification. We first represented it by classifying liquorice all sorts; then we learned about how living organisms are classified. In addition, during our Science lessons, we learned about the kingdoms of life and the acronym of MRS GREN. This week, we have been learning about how the Linnaean system is used to classify living things.
In Maths, we learned about algebra and our first lesson about it was finding a rule-one step/two-step was all about putting inputs and outputs of numbers and algebra. Next, we were taught about Form expression one of the questions was whether Kate was investigating two function machines. She inputs 10 and the output is 100. What could the functions be. Later on, we learned about substitution which was all about changing letters and numbers. Then the next lesson was solve one-step question equation. After that we had our end-of-unit check to make sure we understood algebra.
By Tanisha, Manha, Khadijah and Pramita
City Year MENTORS
City Year MENTORS
We are a group of 5 mentors, at different stages in our education. We've chosen to work as a volunteer for an amazing charity called City Year, which focuses on supporting young learners and making a real difference in their education. It's been an incredible opportunity for us to learn, grow, and connect with students in ways we hadn't expected. At Grafton Primary School, each mentor works mostly within a single-year group. It’s been rewarding to see how each year group brings its unique energy and challenges, and we love being there to support them in whatever way we can. Our role as mentors isn't just about helping with schoolwork. We also run a variety of clubs during lunchtime and after school. These clubs give students the chance to have fun outside of their regular lessons. We want to create a space where students feel excited to join in and make the most of their time at school. One of the highlights of our time at Grafton Primary has been getting to know the students. They bring so much energy and enthusiasm to everything they do, and it’s been a joy to help them grow, both academically and personally. As mentors, our goal is to help build their confidence, improve their skills, and give them the support they need to succeed. It's been such a rewarding experience, and we can already see the positive impact it's having on both the students and ourselves.
Spanish
Spanish
¡Hola familias!
We are so happy to share with all the adults in our children's lives, the latest updates from our vibrant Spanish program at Grafton, in Spanish, we are continuing to have a lot of fun while learning!
Year 3 students are using everyday Spanish to have short conversations, greeting each other and asking and responding with their names. They are learning the building blocks of the Spanish language while having a great time. At the start of Year 3, we introduce basic linguistic techniques for natural decoding of words using images, music, songs, movement, role play, and games. We start by dancing the vowels and combining them with “easy consonants” in syllables to practice accurate word formation. We then put them into memorable sentences like “Mi mamá me mima” – ask your child in Y3 to read and translate it, and you’ll see the joy of learning in their eyes! Currently, we are perfecting the names of the letters in the Spanish alphabet, not only to enjoy singing them beautifully in a song but also to start embedding the skills of listening, writing, reading, and speaking through spelling our names. After the school half-term, we will start learning about colors and numbers.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ka5a5cjVB_F13tYUl4-Q29HSyStqoMn1/view?usp=sharing ( Y3 all class speed practice introducing myself)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ty4xqkYVFKf-v7d31jwsJXUktQuL-j3h/view?usp=sharing (Y3 2 pupils demonstrating)
Years 4, 5, and 6 have the advantage of having been introduced to more complex areas of the language, such as rebel consonants, unique Spanish sounds in phonetics, and some exceptions. This enables most of them to read and speak accurately. They are currently developing the skill of writing from sound through a variety of topics, and depending on the year group, they are gradually getting acquainted with grammatical differences such as gender and number in nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Year 4: They have been asking and exchanging opinions by speaking and writing sentences about their favourite means of transport. They are learning the usefulness of a calendar in Spanish, dancing and singing the days of the week and months of the year to the rhythm of " La Macarena" , and next, they will extend their knowledge of numbers up to 31.
Year 5: The Spanish language has been developed through healthy food, giving opinions about fruits in sentences joined with connectives. They have been introduced to how verbs work in Spanish through movement. They have learned about the infinitive form in verbs and the present tense to be used when following and giving directions. Next, they will embed directions through asking, understanding, and following directions while trying to find shops and places in town.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cEkmxC5roAFNVNHUyOaFnMh86SWNW7oF/view?usp=sharing ( Y5 dialogue opinions healthy food & translation)
Year 6: They have continued practicing linguistic techniques, embedding numbers 1 to 60 to ask and tell the time using a 24-hour clock. They have also expanded their geographical knowledge by learning about all the countries where Spanish is the official language, with a catchy tune! Next they will practise giving and justifying opinion with school subjects.
Exciting News!
We now have a KS1 French club on Mondays!
In the KS2 French club on Tuesdays, we continue to help our Year 6 pupils with their transition to secondary schools that offer French as a foreign language in Year 7.
¡Hasta la vista!
Miss Belén :)
events
events
Young Voices
Young Voices
January 20th, 2025 Young Voices
In January, the Key Stage 2 choir took part in the Young Voices Concert at the O2 arena.
Before we went on the coach we had to have an early lunch in the kS1 hall. After that, we grabbed all of the things that we needed. Then we went on the coach for a thirty-minute drive. After that, we arrived at the O2 and we had people to show us around. When they showed us around we finally made it into the arena and then started rehearsals. We also have a register call out for all of the different choirs. We also had an amazing director called David he was the one helping in rehearsals. Then we had a quick snack and we all got into the real show where parents started to come in. After we started singing, everyone enjoyed the show! That is all for now I hope you enjoyed hearing about Young Voices 2025!
Written by Alina and Gabby 4 Elm Class
Our trip to the bett show at the ExCeL centre
Our trip to the bett show at the ExCeL centre
On the day we went to the EXCEL centre to visit the Bett Technology show, we did lots of stuff including games, robots and even played some online games. We got lots of accessories including a Kahoot cape, a crown, and also a badge. We did 'tic tac toe' with a robot and a couple of people won against it. We also went to this section where you could play fun maths games and if you had enough coins you could play a game that wasn't related to maths. The EXCEL looks like a massive dome with a white lumpy carpet on top.
They had this big room where we got our accessories and played games. There was even a mascot that was dressed up as a frog! There were a lot of people, especially considering that it was a school day also played this game which it was a bit like sports and we had to throw a ball at the right maths question and it was a lot of fun and when we did boys versus girls, the girls won but maybe that was because we were outnumbered.
You could also play Rocket League with your friends but if you wanted to compete in a tournament Rocket League you had to book online. However, there is a section where you could play it even if you didn't sign up online.
That is what we did at the ExCeL Computing Bett and I hope you might go there if you haven't already and if you have the chance.
-Badr 6 Willow & Computing Club
y3/4 Rights Ambassadors
y3/4 Rights Ambassadors
The year 3 and 4 Rights Ambassadors have been exceptionally busy this year and they have shown wonderful commitment to caring for the environment and supporting their local community. They took part in the Happy Bags collection, donating clothes and items to help those in need. In addition, they have contributed to the Heath Community Hub food drive, raising essential supplies for those who are less fortunate. As part of their efforts to reduce food waste, they participated in a workshop where they creatively used leftover food to make delicious quesadillas, learning about sustainability in the kitchen. To round off their environmental awareness, the children also listened to an insightful talk from the air ambulance service, gaining a deeper understanding of the vital work they do. These activities have inspired the children to continue making a positive impact on both their local community and the planet.
Restricted Hours!
Restricted Hours!
Please ensure your child/children have all of their personal belongings with them before arriving to school.
Packed lunches, water bottles, P.E kits, coats and musical instruments will not be taken round to children during lesson times.
We will now be restricting opening the main gates during break and lunch times to ensure the safety of our children.
Times are as follows BREAK TIMES 10.45-11.05
LUNCH TIMES 11.30-1.00
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