Spring Term is a time for renewal  and growth and at Grafton Primary we have seen this shine in our pupils- from nursery where they have truly settled and have begun writing in sentences , all the way to Year 6 who are preparing for their SATS and embedding the skills that they have learnt.  Well done to the whole of  Grafton Primary- for trying your best!

It is so important in our community that we understand the impact of screen time on young people and again research has indicated that children under the age of 2 should have no access or very limited- bonding, interaction and conversation are more important. Children 2-5 years should have under 1 hour. Please support us and your child by limiting access.

“The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?” — Jack Kornfield 

Happy Easter!  Enjoy the time with family and friends. 🌷🐣

Spring 2 started with our wonderful Lunar New Year celebrations. We had the chance to make lanterns, dance with ribbons and even write our own wishes. We also looked at how people around the world celebrate the New Year and why this year is the 'Year of the Horse.' 

We planted our own beans after reading Jack and the Beanstalk and watched them grow. Some of them have grown very well. The children will be taking them home and hopefully, they can continue to grow at home. Who knows...maybe one of them will be a magic beanstalk! 

World Book Day was great fun and all of the brilliant costumes made the classroom very colourful. We had princesses, bees, Harry Potters and even a 'Gangsta Grannie!' Throughout the day, we heard lots of stories from different people, including Mr Farquhar's favourite! 

As part of our work on The Giant Turnip, we went into the Nursery garden and found a turnip! We had the chance to cut, peel and chop different vegetables. We also wrote ingredients for our own vegetable soup and then made our own class soup. 

For Science Week, we created our own animals and had a fun yoga session where we pretended to be sea creatures. We have also learned about how flowers grow and how important bees are to the world. 

Spring 2  term has been an amazing half term and we are very much looking forward to Summer 1 term.

This term, the children have been reading Look Up! by Nathan Bryon. When Badger Class arrived at school, they were excited to find a telescope in the classroom, which sparked lots of curiosity about space. The children learned about the astronaut Mae Jemison and discovered interesting facts about space, including meteor showers. They used this information to create their own awesome space fact files!

It has been lovely to see the children so enthusiastic about their learning!

In Maths, the children have been learning about numbers to 50. They have been practising counting in 2s and 10s and learning how to partition numbers into tens and ones.

We have also had an exciting term, celebrating lots of different things. Badger Class parents joined us for Books for Breakfast, and it was wonderful to see so many parents sharing a book with their child.

The children also celebrated World Book Day and came dressed as their favourite book character. The outfits were amazing and the children were very excited to show their costumes. Badger Class also shared books with Year 2 and enjoyed listening to them read.

In DT, our Year 1 children have been exploring the exciting world of pulleys! They worked in groups to understand how axles help wheels move smoothly, then designed and created their very own pulley toy cars. The results were fantastic—so imaginative and creative! It was wonderful to see the children experimenting, problem-solving, and bringing their ideas to life.

To celebrate British Science Week, the children in Badger Class made their own wormery! We learned all about worms and how they help plants and flowers grow by keeping the soil healthy. The children carefully layered soil and sand to create the wormery and helped place the worms into their new home. It was a fantastic hands-on activity and the children were very excited to watch how the worms moved through the layers over time.

This term, we have also been learning about how to keep our bodies healthy. The children explored different ways to stay healthy, including eating nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly. We talked about how these habits help our bodies grow strong and keep our minds feeling good.

What a busy and wonderful term it has been in Badger Class!

What a busy and exciting half term it has been in Morpurgo Class!

Literacy

In Literacy, we explored Malala’s Magic Pencil. We learned about Malala’s life, thoughts, and hopes, and the children created their own diary entries as Malala. They showed fantastic ideas and empathy while developing their reading and writing skills!

Maths

Our learning has focused on multiplication and division. The children have been confidently using their 3, 4, and 8 times tables to solve problems, and we have introduced the expanded written method. Everyone has shown great determination and growing confidence with these new skills.

World Book Day

This term, we celebrated World Book Day! Children came to school dressed as their favourite book characters, recreated the covers of books of their choice in class, and participated in reading for enjoyment. It was wonderful to see everyone so engaged and excited about stories.

Science

We have been learning about different types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. The children explored patterns, shapes, and textures, learning to describe what rocks look and feel like (smooth, rough, hard) and explaining how they are formed. The hands-on activities really helped bring the science to life!

Design and Technology

Year 3 have been making their Egyptian collars. They have been learning running stitches and cross stitches to sew various shapes and patterns. Each child created their own paper template and is now bringing it to life in fabric. Each collar is unique and represents the child’s personality. 

It has been a wonderful half term filled with learning and creativity. We can’t wait to see what exciting adventures the next term brings!

Communication and Language at Grafton

Here’s an update on some of the developments across communication and language at Grafton. As well as developing writing in our Literacy lessons, we’ve been increasing the opportunities that the children have to write in other subjects across the curriculum. This helps them to apply the skills they learn in their Literacy lessons and also to better understand the role that writing plays within a range of careers - as a biologist (Science), a museum curator (History) or a travel advisor (Geography).  Here are just a few examples of our writing across the curriculum. 

Children in Year 3 to Year 6 have the opportunity to further develop their communication skills by learning Spanish. This year, we introduced a new language programme, Language Angels. Through this online platform, children learn the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing.  In Year 3, children start by learning the sounds and the names of fruits and animals. This then progresses through to Year 6 where children are able to have conversations about healthy lifestyles and the activities they do at the weekend. If you want to ask your child how they are in Spanish, it’s  Cómo estás

Finally, if you’ve been in our KS2 playground recently you’ll have seen the building of our new library. Last week our Reading Ambassadors visited the new library at Beacontree School. We heard how their Reading Champions had decided on their library design and how they run their library. The visit gave our ambassadors lots of ideas which they’ll be sharing in the Summer term.