sUMMER tERM 1
GRAFTON NEWSLETTER
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Dear Families,
"We can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things
we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them."
George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
This term has been a term filled with hard work and anticipation. Our Year 6’s completed their SATs
papers and the rest of school engages in working towards their set goals- pupils are getting ready for
other assessments such as the Phonics Check in Year1/ 2 and the MTC (Multiplication Tables Check)
in Year 4 etc. When I speak to the pupils, about their wishes and hopes for the future, they are
optimistic and want to succeed. This is amazing. We do have those that are unsure, still finding their
way and needing the support and guidance from home and school and that is ok. We are here to
provide that and sometimes difficult decisions have to made in the best interest of pupil and school.
As a Headteacher, I am proud of our dedicated staff and express my gratitude to them for their
unwavering commitment in doing their best. Our recent OFSTED inspection report has been
published and we have retained the Outstanding Grade. Please see the school website for the report
if you have not seen it through our school communications. It is clear what we need to work on as a
school and we will do our utmost to raise standards and outcomes.
Thank you to all parents who attend our parent workshops as well as the HT Forum held termly. It is
an opportunity for finding out about our curriculum as well as understanding how we teach certain
subjects like phonics. Please try and come if you can!
Enjoy the half term break and I look forward to welcoming you back on the 2 nd of June.
Mrs Bana
the ark
the ark
This term, the children have been learning about Emotions. We have been learning and exploring different emotions through sensory stories and songs such as ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ and the ‘Making faces’ book.
The children have been developing their language and communication skills through sensory stories and experiences, for example, making a feelings monster. We have also been working on building simple, colourful semantic sentences. The children enjoyed a variety of sensory activities, for example, colourful cornflour play and water play based on different colour emotions.
The children have been developing their knowledge more and less through practical activities. We have also been learning about how to compare objects to measure if they are heavy or light. The children have also been working on prepositions such as ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘behind’, and ‘in front’. We enjoyed moving our dinosaur teddy around the room to different prepositions.
The children have been developing their fine motor skills through a variety of activities such as spaghetti snip, working on our scissor skills using loop scissors and posting activities. They have also enjoyed a wide range of sensory creative tasks, for example, making worry jars and food tasting a variety of different happy foods.
R green class
R green class
Summer term 1 has been an exciting and fun-filled term for Green Class. We have been reading 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and we have learnt so much about caterpillars and butterflies. We created our own large life cycle pictures and have enjoyed watching our own little caterpillars transform into chrysalis. We can't wait for them to break out of their new home as beautiful butterflies. We had a great time pretending to be the hungry caterpillar and got to taste some yummy fruit.
In PE, we have been listening to nursery rhymes and creating our own dance routines. We have pretended to be Humpty Dumpty, mice and the three Little Pigs. Our science lessons have all been about minibeasts. We have been classifying many different types of bugs and had plenty of fun on our minibeast hunt in our garden.
We still have our trip to look forward to, as well as all the fun things we have planned for Summer 2. We love Green class and all of the wonderful learning we do.
4 oak class
4 oak class
What a busy and exciting time we have had in 4 Oak this half term!
In Literacy, we have been reading the book 'Mouse Bird Snake Wolf' by David Almond. Before we were introduced to the book, we thought about the types of creatures or plants we would create for a world that had very little in it and why. We then enjoyed making them out of playdoh, leaves and twigs. We used drama and discussion opportunities to explore how the characters change through the different stages of this tale. We learnt different techniques for writing story openings and endings. We also wrote our own sequels to the book which we are very proud of. Another fantastic book that we have been exploring is ‘The Rhythm of the Rain’ by Grahame Baker-Smith. From the tiniest raindrop to the deepest ocean, this book helped us to begin to understand the water cycle and the remarkable movement of water across the earth. If you’re interested to know more, find someone from 4 Oak to tell you what happens throughout the water cycle.
In Maths, we have been learning about Decimals, Money and Time. We have also worked hard on learning our times tables and have been regularly using Times Tables Rockstars and Pin point to help us improve our speed and accuracy.
In Science, we learnt about the different states of matter by exploring the properties of solids, liquids and gases. We carried out practical experiments to see how materials can change their state and explained our observations to our learning partners.
In RE, we have learnt about the functions of religious buildings and places around us in our community. We have also learnt about the benefits of attending a place of worship.
The highlight of our half term was our trip to Valence House. Our trip linked with our history topic ‘How and why has Dagenham changed over the last 150 years?’During this topic, we have learnt all about Dagenham and how significant events, like the construction of the Dock, the building of the Ford Factory and the development of the Becontree Estate, changed the whole area.
5 rowan class
5 rowan class
This half term in Year 5 has been packed with exciting learning across the curriculum. In Literacy, we delved into a range of Greek myths, including Daedalus and Icarus, The Wooden Horse, Daphne and Apollo, and Theseus and the Minotaur. As we explored these stories, we focused on using expanded noun phrases, varying our sentence openers and lengths, and incorporating speech to bring our writing to life. Eventually, we used all of these skills to plan and write our own imaginative Greek myths.
During our Reading lessons, we enjoyed 'The Giant’s Necklace' by Michael Morpurgo. Through this gripping story, we developed key comprehension skills such as inference, prediction, summarising, and exploring the author’s language choices.
In History, we turned our attention to Ancient Greece. We discovered how the Greeks have shaped the modern world in areas such as democracy, architecture, philosophy, and sport.
Meanwhile, in Maths, we sharpened our geometry skills. We learned how to measure angles using protractors, translate points and shapes across a grid, and reflect shapes using a mirror line.
As part of our Computing work, we were introduced to a microcontroller called the Crumble controller. We had great fun learning how to connect and program components, including output devices like LEDs and motors.
6 beech class
6 beech class
It has been a very eventful half term for Year 6. There has been lots of preparation to ensure that pupils felt ready for their SATS. Well done to everyone for your hard work and resilience, not just this half term but throughout the year.
In Literacy, we completed a unit of work based on the short film ‘Alma’. As an end piece, we wrote narrative stories in the third person. Our class worked hard to include suspense techniques to engage their reader and capture the sinister mood of the film. There was also a focus on integrating dialogue to develop the characters and move the story forward.
In Maths, we have been learning how to solve a range of problems linked to the four rules of number, fractions, percentages, position and direction, ratio and proportion, time and properties of shapes. When solving these problems, we often had to apply our knowledge from different areas of maths which was great for revision. We found that drawing or annotating pictures as well as underlining important numbers and key words, helped us understand what steps we had to take in order to solve the problem.
In Reading, we practiced answering a range of SATs style questions such as retrieval, inference, vocabulary and mixed questions. We found it helpful to practice answering these questions and revising strategies for unknown words, such as, replacing the word with another word, reading around the word and using our previous knowledge or looking for root words within a word.
In Science, we have been learning about Evolution and Inheritance. We have learned about natural selection and how this has enabled living things to adapt to their environments and evolve into living things as we know them today. We also learned that offspring inherit some characteristics from their parents but some characteristics develop through the environment in which they live. For example, eye colour, blood type and hair colour are all inherited traits; however, weight, the languages we speak, and talents, are dependent on our environment.
During SATs week, we completed some mindfulness art: ‘Drawing your Breath’. We placed a pencil on our paper and took a moment to notice and observe our breathing. Then we had to visualise our breath as a line and represent this on the paper. We drew a deep breath in and formed a curved line and our exhaled breath was a straight line. The different lines formed together to make a variety of shapes which we coloured in.
We look forward to enjoying our last half term in Grafton before we move on to our new adventure in secondary school.
computing
computing
This half term, Year 5 children took part in a ‘Be Internet Legends’ live assembly with Google. During this assembly, children learned about internet safety through interactive challenges. Our local MP, Mrs Margaret Mullane, also joined us for this special assembly.
Online Safety is extremely important to us here at Grafton. Keeping pupils safe online is crucial for their wellbeing and development. Teaching online safety not only protects them but also empowers them to use the internet responsibly. In February, we took part in Safer Internet Day, where the children made posters about how to protect themselves online. We linked this to Article 16: The right to privacy.
At Grafton, we follow the Teach Computing Scheme of work. Through our Computing lessons children learn a range of computing skills and develop their knowledge of information technology. We cover interesting topics such as programming, online safety, the internet, digital media and computing systems and networks. Here is just a snapshot of some of the interesting learning that has taken place.
In Year 1, children have been developing their mouse skills using the paint program.
Children in Year 2 have been using their Computing lessons to make music.
In Year 3, children have created their own branching databases to identify animals.
Children in Year 4 have worked together to plan and record podcasts linked to our work as a Rights Respecting School. Have a listen to Maryum and Victoria from 4 Elm.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hVNNCAvawDP8gLV2Wlw1_Ae1PjbOEslP/view?usp=sharing
In Year 5, children have created country databases.
In Year 6, children worked collaboratively to create their own websites using Google Sites.
Geography
Geography
This academic year has been very exciting for Geography at Grafton Primary School. Geography is a valued part of the curriculum at our school. It teaches children a knowledge and understanding of the world in which they live and aims to inspire a curiosity and fascination about their locality and its people. Through their growing knowledge and understanding of the world, children gain an appreciation of life in their own and other cultures and gain a greater understanding of their roles and responsibilities as positive global citizens.
Year 1 children have been having a very productive time exploring our local area and discussing how to find different places on a map. They were also identifying physical and human features in their locality
Year 2 pupils went on a virtual trip to Kenya in Africa earlier this year. They have learned a lot about this fascinating country, discussing the similarities and differences between the UK and Kenya and where they would prefer to live.
In Year 3, children have studied the Amazon rainforest. They explored the fascinating species that live there and learnt about the consequences of deforestation.
Earlier this year, the pupils in Year 4 became volcanologists and seismologists, and studied the natural disasters. The children have become very knowledgeable and now they know why, where and how the natural disasters happen.
Year 5 children have been learning about life in Brazil and compared it to our lifestyles in England. In groups, they have created their own vlogs, where they talked about similarities and differences between those two countries.
Pupils in Year 6, have been exploring the Polar Regions. They have found out what life is like in those parts of the world and have created amazing projects, which show what they have learnt.
school council
school council
Our school council has been very busy this term. During our meetings, the children have been discussing how to improve the school via fundraising. We have come up with a variety of ideas on how to raise money for new equipment, such as picnic tables, funky bins for the playground and books for our reading corners.
We were lucky enough to visit the Houses of Parliament recently for a school trip. We got to explore the House of Commons and House of Lords and gained an understanding of how the voting system works. In addition to this, we got a Q&A session with our MP Margaret Mullane. We asked a wide range of questions but focused on the safety of the roads around the school. The children were able to give Margaret our petitions from parents and pupils to make a school road. Following this, there will now be a visit from the Cabinet member for Parking and Senior Council officials to discuss this further.
We continue to share our input on the new school menu and will be meeting with the new catering team in June.
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