13th December 2024

Message from Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we wrap up the penultimate week of the autumn term, I want to express my congratulations to Ash and Cherry class for delivering such a heartwarming nativity performance. Thank you to everyone who came to watch and support the children.

A few reminders for next week:
On Monday, we have our annual Christmas Fun Afternoon in collaboration with Play Place. This year, the event will take place during the school day so staff can support the children and we can ensure everyone has an equal turn to enjoy the different activities available. There will be an array of festive delights, including Santa's Grotto, Christmas craft activities, and even a bouncy castle. It promises to be an afternoon filled with enjoyment for all.

Friday brings a festive atmosphere as we gather for our Christmas lunch. Children are invited to don their festive jumpers once again, adding to the joyous spirit of the season. We will also be hosting a Christmas Carol Concert for the whole school at 2:30. We invite all families to join us. Your participation in these festive events adds to the warmth and community spirit we cherish at our school.

We hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Mrs. Lloyd and Mrs. Dennis

Our value this half term is COLLABORATION

'the action of working with someone to produce something'

Collaboration is not just about working together, but also celebrating together. When we collaborate, every success is shared. Let’s celebrate our collective achievements, big and small, and remember that every success is greater when it’s achieved as a team.

Reception - Ash Class

This week, the reception children have developed their mathematical understanding of 4-sided shapes like squares and rectangles. They had fun exploring 2-dimensional shapes by creating patterns and collages. They went on a shape hunt around the school and identified a range of shapes within the environment.

The reception children have learned about effective communication! They practised being good talk partners, remembering to listen carefully and look at their partner when speaking. This will help them to work together and with each other. In the global curriculum, the children explored the concept of day and night and discussed the similarities and differences between day and night.

To add to the festive cheer, they participated in a Christmas nativity, singing songs and dancing. This combination of learning and holiday fun is a great way to engage young learners!

Year 1 - Cherry Class

This week, the children used a different strategy to find answers to subtraction number sentences within 10. They identified what the number line looks like and noticed that the numbers go up and down in ones. They learnt that when using the number line to do subtraction, the whole number is the first number and that should be found on the number line first and the second number in the number sentence shows the number of jumps they need to make backward on the number line. The number they land on is the answer to the subtraction number sentence. They chant the golden, "Jump before you count and then count your jumps".

In geography, the children learnt about human features in Croydon. They explained what human features are and discussed different human features in Croydon. They showed a good understanding of human features in and around Croydon and annotated a Google map of Croydon to the human features. They also explained what their favourite human feature is and gave reasons why that was.

Year 2 - Elm Class

Year 2 have enjoyed creating and performing poems this week. We focused on what was required when performing to engage our audience, and we decided that a loud and clear voice, the ability to make eye contact with your audience and use good expression as you read were the essential elements.

In maths, we have been looking at 10 more and 10 less and adding 10 to a 2-digit number and subtracting 10 to a 2-digit number and which is the best strategy to find the correct answer.

We looked at why a significant person in the past may have made decisions to bring about time. Amy was the first female to fly solo from London to Australia, therefore paving the way for other females to change history and take on roles that maybe females have not done in the past.

Year 3 - Lime Class

This week in year 3, pupils have been writing their reports based on Rosie Revere Engineer. Pupils re-read their writing to think about what to write next. Pupils edited their pieces of writing to develop spellings and correct punctuation. Pupils used their spellings charts, checklists and class writing models to support them and ensure they had included all the features of a report. Pupils re-drafted and published their reports with corrections and enjoyed contributing to their class display.

In grammar, pupils answered test style questions and edited sentences in which they had to alter tense or sentence structure to change the sentence type to a command, question, statement or exclamation. Pupils further visited the uses of apostrophes for possession or contraction.

In maths, pupils learned the vocabulary to describe the position of numbers in multiplication equations and were able to name factors and the product. They made links to find common multiples within the 4 and 8 times tables and were able to use the inverse to explore the relationship between multiplication and division in the 3 x table.

In science, pupils enjoyed predicting and testing how much paperclips a variety of magnets would hold when testing magnetic strength. Pupils have set up a further investigation to measure the distance a magnet can be pulled from a variety of surfaces.

In DT, pupils began to create their photo frames, exploring how to create joins and reinforcements.

Year 4 - Oak Class

This week in Design and Technology, the children have been applying their sewing skills to create a drawstring bag. They had to join the front and back parts of the fabric with a running stitch. They also had to turn over the top to create a seam for the drawstring to be threaded through. Decorating the bags created personalised effects. In maths, the children have been learning about factor pairs of numbers. This will help with multiplication and division questions. Linking multiplying by ten with place value has helped the children to multiply two-digit numbers.

In science this week the children have been linking up the changes of states of water to create the water cycle. They investigated how the changes create a closed cycle through evaporation, condensation, transportation and precipitation. In computing the children have been coding using the Logo software. They have been typing a range of commands to draw letters on the screen. They have been able to use the repeat command to make their coding more efficient.

Year 5 - Pine Class

This week in English, the children finished writing the narrative in the 3rd person. The children made sure to include an exciting ending for their stories and used figurative language to build tension. Solving problems involving multiplication was the focus of our maths lessons this week. The children practiced the formal written method for multiplication and used efficient mental strategies to work out answers.

Understanding the reasons why the nativity is painted in contemporary clothing and settings throughout history was the focus of our R E lesson this week. The children explored different classical paintings such as the Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence by Caravaggio and discussed how the artist has made the famous scene more relatable. The children then moved on to create their own Nativity scenes in a modern setting. Planning and carrying out a fair test was the focus of our science lesson this week. The children first discussed what it means to carry out a fair test and concluded that a fair test is a controlled investigation carried out to answer a scientific question. Next, they moved on to experiment to see what would happen if you heat or cool different materials.

Year 6 - Rowan Class

This week, Year 6 have been learning how to use a range of devices to persuade. They wrote a formal letter in character using rhetorical questions, emotive language and repetition for effect. In maths, the children finished their fractions unit by solving a range of fraction problems using the 4 operations. In science, the children observed their bread slices over the week and noted down any changes they noticed. They also began their double-page spread, answering the assessment question 'Why is the classification of living things necessary to understand biology?'

In history, the children completed a double-page spread, answering the question 'How has the fight for human and civil rights shaped Britain?' In RE, the children created a double-page spread on the rites of passage that can be found across a range of religions. In D&T, the children used their plan to create a beating heart using a pneumatic system. They used a syringe, tubing, masking tape and a balloon and will evaluate their outcome next week.

Attendance

We expect pupils to maintain a high standard of attendance. We want all of our pupils to be able to achieve at their very best and to do this, they need to be at school as much as possible so that they don’t miss out on any learning.