Forest Academy Newsletter

26th April 2024

Message from Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are thrilled to share some exciting updates from the Forest Academy as we conclude the second week of the summer term.

Firstly, we are immensely proud to announce the official launch of our DfE Attendance Hub, a significant milestone for our school community. As you know we are one of only 32 schools nationwide selected to spearhead this initiative in collaboration with the Department for Education (DfE). The Forest Academy Attendance Hub has now began to support 65 schools across England in addressing attendance challenges. Through collaboration and shared expertise, we aim to cultivate a positive attendance culture and ensure that every child receives the education they deserve.

In addition to this, we are delighted to unveil a new feature on our website to enhance accessibility for all members of our community. We have integrated the Google Translate feature, allowing users to easily translate content into multiple languages. Simply click on the world icon located at the top right of the school website to access this invaluable tool.

Lastly, as we continue to strive for excellence, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to those parents who have already taken the time to complete our recent survey. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we truly appreciate your contributions towards enhancing our school community. For those who have not yet had the opportunity, we kindly encourage you to participate and share your thoughts with us. Click here to access the survey.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Mrs. Lloyd

Our core value this half term is responsibility, which is the state or fact of being accountable for something. Responsibility is more than just completing tasks; it's about taking ownership of our actions and their consequences.

Responsibility involves acknowledging our role in situations and being proactive in addressing them. Whether it's owning up to mistakes, fulfilling commitments, or seeking solutions, taking ownership empowers our children to navigate challenges with integrity and resilience. Together, let's cultivate a culture where accountability is valued and celebrated.

Junior Leadership Team - Pupil Voice

This week two members of JLT's and a fellow Year 6 pupil introduced a new computing lunchtime club to some younger students. They explored a program called 'Free Code Gorilla' on an app called Purple Mash and made an object of their choice move in different directions. The pupils enjoyed the club thoroughly and will be attending it every Tuesday lunchtime.

Reception - Ash Class

This week in Reception, the children have continued reading their new core text ‘It’s Okay to Be Different.’ In literacy, they have been writing sentences about themselves. They used adjectives to describe the colour of their eyes and hair. In addition, they have compared themselves to others and discussed the differences and similarities between themselves and their friends. The children loved using Purple Mash to create their own avatar.

In maths, the children have recalled number doubles to support them with their learning this half term. They extended their skills further, when counting beyond 10. They have been learning the names of numerals from 11-20. They used Numicon to make the 'teen' numbers and then they described how to make the number by using the speaking frame 'I have 10 and 5. It's makes 15.'

In topic, the children have been focusing on art. They have been learning about what a portrait is and have been experimenting with different sketching techniques. They have been looking in mirrors and using these to draw their own portraits. Within the provision, they have been using loose parts and play dough to create themselves, their families and friends.

Year 1 - Cherry Class

This week in Year 1, the children have learnt how to count in 2s, 5s and 10s, forwards and backwards, and from any number. They filled in missing numbers on the number line and the number track in 2s, 5s and 10s. They were able to tell the total number of objects by counting in 2s, 5s and 10 as well. They also solved reasoning questions involving counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. They learnt how to make equal groups of objects and used the sentence to describe the groupings - the number of groups and the objects in each.

In science, they learnt learnt about the parts of a plant. They investigated the various parts of a plant by labelling a life plant with the key words. They also learnt that different parts of the plant do different jobs to help it grow properly. They found out that roots suck up water and nurients (plant food) from the soil for the plant to use to make its own food from the soil, and hold the plant firm in the soil. The stem supports the branches, leaves and flowers from falling over whereas the leaves use heat from the sunlight, water from the soil and air to make food through a process called photosynthesis.

In PE, the children are learning how to balance objects using different parts of the body. They were able to do this by using eye-hand coordination. In the lesson they had this week, they were asked to balance a ball on a cone by lifing up the cone with both hands and then one hand.

Year 2 - Elm Class

In English this week, we have been sequencing the events in the story 'Coming To England' using time adverbials. We have also been using the conjunction 'because' when discussing the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story.

In maths we have finished our topic on measurement and we are now confident about choosing centimetres for smaller objects and metres for larger items. We are now moving on to a new topic of capacity, mass and temperature. We are starting this new topic by taking part in practical activities using different types of weighing scales.

This week in RE we have had a visit from Stuart, who is the Youth and Children's Worker at Shirley and West Wickham Baptist Church. The children prepared questions to ask him and he also did a presentation all about church and Christianity.

Year 3 - Lime Class

This week in English the children explored the main character’s feelings in our core text. They discussed what emotions the character might feel during different parts of the story and what actions people do when they feel certain emotions. They then took on the role of the main character with within their Kagan partners. Finding unit fractions of a set of objects was the focus of our maths lessons this week. The children made sure to divide by the denominator and multiply by the numerator in order to find unit fractions. They made sure to use concrete as well as pictorial representations to help them work out the answers.

Understanding what plants need to grow was the focus of our science lesson this week. The children learnt that plants need sunlight, water, air, and nutrients to grow. They discussed that without these plants would either wilt, suffocate or die. Understanding what life was like in the Bronze Age was the focus of our history lesson this week. The children learnt that people in the Bronze Age lived in roundhouses. They found out that each household consisted of two houses. Sometimes this would mean there was one house for living in and another outhouse for cooking, working and storage.

Year 4 - Oak Class

In English this week Oak class we have been empathising with the main character, Ahmet, from 'The boy at the back of the class'. We wrote informal letters as Ahmet, back home letting them know all our feelings and all that has happened since fleeing Syria. The children used the known features such as, address, date, friendly greeting, warm sign off and wrote in a relaxed style.

Gospel accounts and the gifts of the Holy Spirit were the focus of our RE lesson this week. The children worked in pairs to make some amazing posters to explain the gifts of wisdom, courage, understanding, right judgement, reverence, wonder and knowledge. In maths, we have been looking at tenths and hundrdths of a whole, usinf our number bond knowledge to aid our calculations.

Year 5 - Pine Class

This week, Pine class have begun constructing biographies using a variety of structural and literary features. They have been exploring firstly by sequencing the features of a biography to identify specific features such as moments that are early in the journey and later on, mind blowing moments and achievements. Pupils identified punctuation and uses of language within modelled texts to support them to structure and construct their paragraphs.

In maths, pupils started a new unit on perimeter and area. They enjoyed calculating by revising simple arithmetic skills to explain their reasoning. They reflected on their progress with regards to their previous topic and have been picking up specific skills to revise daily to have greater automaticity with their arithmetic skills.

In DT pupils designed the electrical circuits for the wind turbines they will be creating. They explored the vocabulary of circuits and gathered the resources they will be using. In geography, pupils have been exploring what natural resources are and the significance and uses of them. They have begun identifying what renewable and non-renewable resources are and the uses of these.

Year 6 - Rowan Class

This week, Rowan class have been busy drafting their narrative based on the visual stimulus 'El Caminante'. They have been working hard to include a setting description, character description and dialogue to advance the action. The children have also focused on their use of varied punctuation and sentence structures and have been able to engage their reader well.

In maths, the children started the week by solving a range of ratio problems using their ratio learning from the previous week. They then moved onto calculating the mean average of a set of data and identifying the parts of a circle (circumference, diameter and radius) and using formulas to calculate their distance within a circle.

In history, the children learnt about VE day and used a range of primary and secondary resources to explain the significance of the end of the war in Europe. In PE, the children were practising their catching and throwing skills.

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 in order to do this, they need to be at school as much as possible so that they don’t miss out on any learning.