NEWSLETTER
We have had so much fun in Yellow class this half term. One of the books we have read is ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch’. We tasted the mustard sandwiches Mrs Grinling made to put off the hungry seagulls, we told Miss Manning how to make a jam sandwich and wrote out instructions, then made and ate our jam sandwiches!
We had a special visitor come in to deliver an exciting under the sea workshop where we went in search of the lost pearl and we were thrilled when we found it at the end of our adventure!
In Maths, we have been spotting patterns within numbers and learning about doubles, odd, and even numbers. During PE sessions, we practiced throwing, catching, and rolling balls. We have been working as partners and as part of a group.
In Literacy, Badger class has been learning about the text Look Up by Nathan Bryant. As part of our hook, the children explored a telescope, some stars and a globe. The children came up with some lovely ideas on how these items relate to time travel and how it might connect to our new literacy book. When writing, the children have made lots of progress by using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.
In Maths, the children have been working on addition and subtraction within 50. The children have also learned number bonds to 20 using the part whole model. Badger class have been working hard on solving word problems relating to length and height, using rulers and non standard units of measure such as cubes. They have also been able to show their reasoning skills when working with their learning partners.
In History, the children have been learning about travellers through time. They have learned about Ibn Battuta, who travelled the world for 30 years from 1325 to 1354. They have learned about famous astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemison. Badger class were able to compare these extraordinary explorers by identifying similarities and differences.
In Science, Badger class has been learning about plants. The children were able to name parts of a plant and tree and explain the similarities. During Science week, the children made wormeries by placing soil, coloured sand and leaves in a plastic bottle. They then added real worms and waited patiently for them to make tunnels. The children now know how important worms are to making our soil healthy for plants and crops to grow.
For World Book Day, the children dressed up as a character from their favourite book. The children had a lovely day and enjoyed an exciting World Book Day menu made by our lovely catering team.
Square Class have been extremely busy this half term with World Book Day drawing along with famous authors and illustrators. We even went on our dragon hunt around the school - watch out where you walk, they're hiding everywhere! In literacy, we have been reading the Dragon Machine by Helen Ward and writing our own alternative middle and ending. We have used adjectives and expanded noun phrases to make our writing exciting!
We have also learnt a lot about plants and even grew our own seeds such as sunflowers, freesias, carrots, peas and beans. We have observed their growth over time to better understand how different conditions impact this. So far our broad beans are in the lead!
In geography, we have been looking at maps of the UK and London as well as local landmarks. We are looking forward to visiting some famous London landmarks next week on our trip to the Tower of London.
We have had a busy term in Year 3!
In Literacy, we read a book called 'Malala’s Magic Pencil', a story of a young girl who had big dreams to change the world for the better. We wrote a diary entry as Malala to experience her feelings and emotions and wrote her dreams for a better world, especially for children. We also wrote a biography about Malala, stating all her achievements and reasons why she’s such an inspirational figure. Malala found her magic in her voice and believed that we all have magic too, in knowledge, beauty, peace and our words.
In Maths, we explored fractions. We learnt how to write fractions and what the denominator and numerator show us. We also found fractions that are equivalent to one-half and one-quarter using our fraction walls.
Science has been great fun! We have been learning more about plants. During the first week, we dissected a flower to learn about the parts of a flower. We learnt a lot of new vocabulary like ‘stamen, pollen, style, stigma, carpel, germination and fertilisation’. We learnt about how flowers get pollinated and how seeds get formed and dispersed. In the final week, we ordered the stages of the life cycle of a flowering plant.
We really enjoyed dressing up as our favourite book character on World Book Day. We celebrated the love for reading and enjoyed activities related to World Book Day. We also participated in a competition where we had to create our favourite book character on a potato and we had a winner in our class!
History has been exciting, we are still learning about the Ancient Egyptians, who they were and what was important to them. Last week, we really enjoyed learning about how Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the famous Pharaoh King Tutankhamun.
In Computing, we created a branching database. Firstly, we explored questions with a ‘yes or no’ answer, and how these can be used to identify and compare objects. Then using those questions, we sorted objects into groups. We used our chromebooks to create a database.
This term Elm class have been extremely busy. In Maths, we have been working on Fractions and are now learning about decimals. Despite being a bit apprehensive about fractions at the start of the unit, everyone has managed really well and have made fantastic progress. In Literacy, we have been reading the book ‘One Plastic Bag’ which is about a woman who lives in Zimbabwe and decided to improve where she lives because of all the rubbish that was collecting and causing problems. From this, we have been planning and writing speeches. We went to St Mary's Church for our Easter Experience. The staff at the church were amazing and had some fantastic activities set up for us to do. In Design and Technology this half term we have had great fun tasting different biscuits, adapting a biscuit recipe and then baking them. We even designed our own packaging! We also participated in an online lesson for Science week, where we learnt about different aspects of animal adaptation. So all in all, it has been a very busy half term.
We have had a very productive half term with many exciting activities that have taken place. Everyone has worked very hard and we all have learnt a lot!
Fascinating Fieldwork!
At the beginning of this half term, we visited our local Valence Park with a clear purpose - ‘Let’s make our park better!’ Walking through the park, we were completing a survey, in which we expressed our opinions about different aspects and areas of the place. We were looking at things, such as the state of the pavements, the amount of green space or safety. Then, we decided to rate each issue that we observed, hoping to change things for the better in the near future. We also drew the maps of the new, improved Valance Park and wrote persuasive letters to our school governor, Mr Ghani. We hope he reads some of our letters and helps us address the problems that our local park faces.
Science Week
Earlier this half term, we celebrated British Science Week at Grafton. It was a very fruitful week for all of us. We had lots of fun looking for the camouflaged butterflies around the school and we all enjoyed our practical Science lessons. During that week, we received a letter from a girl called Ineda, who asked us for some advice. Ineda was making a box card and wanted to know which type of glue would be the most waterproof, the strongest and easily removable from her clothes. Eagerly, we decided to help her and made three different types of glue, which we then tested. As a class, we agreed that the most effective glue would be the one made out of flour and water. It was a very educational experience and we were glad we could help Ineda.
World Book Day in our Class
On the 6th March, we celebrated World Book Day. Most of us dressed up as different book characters. We were also sharing our favourite books and explained why we liked them. Furthermore, we designed alternative book covers for some of the books we enjoy reading over and over again. It was such a magical day!
This half term has really flown by and we have had so much fun while learning new things. Now, we are looking forward to our Easter holidays believing we will gain a lot of knowledge of the new topics and concepts in the summer term.
This week in the Hub, we have been supporting some of our children with social and emotional needs. Children have been working hard to earn their Golden Time.
We celebrate our successes on Friday with a Hub Celebration Morning with staff and pupils. The children receive a certificate to acknowledge their resilience working through their own personal challenges. We have been talking about our dreams and aspirations for their future.
The children have been creative over the past two weeks, junk modelling, creating puppets with recycled resources.
We were excited to receive a donation of an Air Hockey Table that children are accessing at break and lunch times - even the adults are having fun with it!
Have a safe and enjoyable Easter break from the Hub Team.
World Book Day
Wow, what an amazing day it was. Take a look at the photos to see how our children (and adults) enjoyed World Book Day 2025. Throughout the day, children took part in a range of activities, including Grafton’s Mystery Reader Challenge, Book Bistros, live story events, Drop Everything and Read and Character Battles. A big thank you to our parent/carer reading volunteers who came in to read with some of the children. We had an incredible number of children taking part in our potato character competition. Some of our winners are below. Thank you for all your support in making this an amazing day!
Red Nose Day total raised was £164.10
Grafton Primary Parent Teacher Association
Who we are, What we do, Why we do it!
Welcome to our very first PTA Newsletter!
We are a friendly bunch of parents and staff volunteers who enjoy meeting up over tea and biscuits to discuss and plan how we are going to work together to raise extra funds to help create a better learning environment for our children!
In total, we have raised over £4,000. and I want to say a special thank you to each and every one of our school community – our PTA members, our Staff, our Parents and Guardians, and of course our Children – anyone who has volunteered their time or attended our events. It really does make a huge difference, so again, Thank You!
We usually hold two main events each year – our Christmas Fayre and our Summer Fair. However, with the current financial climate, we are really seeking to expand our goals this year and in the future.
A lot of effort goes into organising our events, but it never feels like hard work!
Being a part of a great team and school community, seeing your creations come together, and hearing the feedback from the children really makes it all worth it!
Our PTA are currently the main fundraiser of our OPAL playground journey, and we really want to get a large part of this in place before our year 6 children leave us in July.
So far, our children have been able to enjoy the start of a ‘small world’ zone, a music zone, a fancy dress zone, and you may have noticed our new storage shed that has been completed in our KS2 playground.
This has all been thanks to the money raised so far by our wonderful PTA.
In the coming weeks, we will be building a lovely new sandpit – this will be mostly funded by the ‘’ASDA Cashpot for Schools’ initiative. This would not have been possible without our Grafton parents getting on board with this and signing up, so thank you!
How can YOU help?
It would be great if we can get some more of our Grafton Grown-ups involved with the PTA.
This wouldn’t mean sacrificing all your spare time, we do what we can when we can and we aim to work our meetings around outside commitments.
Here are some Myth Busters that will hopefully answer some questions people may have about joining a PTA.
PTA myths – BUSTED!!
Myth 1 – The PTA is just for mums
The PTA is for everyone! The PTA will survive with the support of all volunteers – parents – both mums and dads, guardians, aunties, uncles, school staff, all are welcome!
Myth 2 – I can only join the PTA at the start of the school year
You can join the PTA anytime!
Myth 3 – The PTA is cliquey
PTAs consist of ordinary members of the school community who see value in helping. Most PTAs are friendly and welcoming and enjoy creating social ways to raise funds that benefit all the children. Whilst the PTA provides resources and experiences that might otherwise be out of reach, especially with the current school funding challenge, it’s a fab way of getting to know people!
Myth 4 – I work; I don’t have time to help
There will always be a way to get involved that will fit around availability, and having different schedules and commitments from your fellow members can be an advantage – it allows people to contribute in different ways, whether it’s approaching local businesses for raffle prizes, inflating footballs or constructing sweet cones for the summer fayre, organising a uniform sale or even just using a donation app for online shopping.
Myth 5 – You must go to every meeting
Attending one meeting does not then commit you to the PTA for life! Every portion of time contributed is valued no matter how big or small. Supporting the PTA can be done in different ways outside of meetings and events.
Myth 6 – I can’t attend during school hours, so I can’t help at events
Most events will happen outside of the school day and so there will be plenty of volunteering opportunities. There may be times you aren’t available for set up, but during or even afterwards, when it’s time to clear up a helping hand will never be turned down!
Myth 7 – I have small children, and they will make too much noise during meetings
We are child friendly! Bring your little one, and we will make sure we bring the toys or colouring out to keep them occupied! We don’t mind the background noise!