What a wonderful week we have had! While I am always so proud of how our children present themselves every single day, it was a particular joy to see them yesterday for school photos. They wore their Rockliffe Manor uniforms with such immense pride, standing tall and looking exceptionally smart.

We began the week with an assembly packed with interactive learning as the children practised their Makaton signing! Together, we enjoyed a shared reading of the poem The Magic Picnic, where the children enthusiastically signed along using please, thank you, yes, no, more, and finished. Inspired by the story, they then flexed their creative muscles by crafting their own brilliant Makaton-inspired tales. It was fantastic to see the children facing one another to perform their stories, developing their oracy skills alongside their signing. The range of imagination on display was vast—we had settings ranging from the local park to an ice cream shop, and characters from best friends to Vikings! To top off this brilliant showcase of communication and inclusion, we listened and signed along to the classic feel-good song, "You've Got a Friend in Me."

We are so proud of how quickly the children are picking up these new skills—keep an eye out at home to see which signs they can show you! Speaking of which, our signs to focus on for next week will be good and bad. You can watch a quick video guide here: Makaton for 'Good' and 'Bad'. 

On Tuesday, we welcomed families to our Reception Stay and Learn session to observe phonics being taught in class, followed by a parent workshop on phonics and early reading. A big thank you to everyone who was able to attend! When we work together, we create the strongest foundation for our children's learning and success, and your active partnership truly makes all the difference in their educational journey.

Earlier this week, we also welcomed prospective families for our first Open Morning for Reception 2027 entry. Visitors had the opportunity to tour the school and see first-hand what life is like here at Rockliffe Manor—from our youngest learners to our oldest pupils—and experience the wonderful environment and provision we strive to offer every day.

Curious about what’s been happening in the classrooms? Take a look below to see the highlights of our week!

Information regarding our upcoming Parents' Evening has gone out today. This is a fantastic opportunity to discuss your child’s transition, their progress and celebrate their learning. Please follow the instructions sent out to book your appointment slot on Arbor. If you need a hand or have any trouble booking, please give the school office a call and we will be delighted to help.

In other news we are absolutely delighted to share that Miss Gallagher has welcomed a healthy baby boy! Both Mum and baby are doing wonderfully well and Cassius is already loving his new role as a big brother. I know you will join us in sending our warmest congratulations and love to Miss Gallagher and her family during this very special time.

With that said, I bring to a close the first Newsletter for October, as ever we wish you all a restful and enjoyable weekend, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday.

With very best wishes,

Mrs. Cook and the Rockliffe Manor Team

Let’s take a look at some of the learning this week … 

In Nursery this week, the children have been exploring different facial features. Using Mrs Budd’s model as a guide, they practiced recreating faces of their own. They also explored body outlines, dressing up their characters with jumpers, glasses and unique details. To top off a busy week, the children have also been practicing their counting through fun number songs.

In Reception, the children have been exploring how to make the numbers 2 and 3. With a little help from the Numberblocks, they’ve been working hard to remember that "1 and another 1 makes 2" and "1 and 1 and 1 makes 3!" The children have really embraced this concept and can now confidently explain that items don't have to be identical to be counted together. For example, a tennis ball, a football and a beachball still make 3, because it's all about counting "1 and 1 and 1!"

Year 1 has been acting out verbs in English to deepen their understanding of their meanings. The children created their own freeze frames acting out verbs such as ‘touched’, ‘held’ and ‘looked’ before putting them into simple sentences to describe Beegu’s actions, such as ‘Beegu kicked the red ball’ and ‘Beegu held a small plant’. The children have also been applying their new NCETM learning by using a Rekenrek. They learned new phrases to support them, such as ‘1 push X’, where they subitise a group before moving them over.

This week in Year 2, the children had a wonderful trip to the local library. They were lucky enough to listen to two stories read by the librarian and took on a challenge to find a book linked to their core text, Paddington. The children found lots of fantastic stories, and Ajsi even compared ‘Winnie-the-Pooh Meets the Queen’ to Paddington’s adventures. In maths, the children have been working hard on learning their 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Despite finding it tricky at the beginning, they persevered brilliantly!

This week, children in Year 3 have been working really hard in English. They have been using their knowledge of their core text alongside their grammar skills to uplevel their sentences, using past-tense verbs, prepositions, expanded noun phrases and conjunctions. During whole-class reading, they learned many facts about insects. Huxley could confidently explain key vocabulary from the text, such as 'exoskeleton', and Nicholas shared that spiders are not insects because they have more than six legs.

Year 4 have also been refining their writing skills in English by thinking carefully about their word choices when describing a character. Celine mentioned how much she loves the new poem Miss Emslie taught the class to help them remember how to round numbers. The rest of the class have been thoroughly enjoying their history lessons on Ancient Greece, sharing that Mount Olympus is where Zeus lives.

Year 5 have been researching interesting facts about Salva Dut in preparation for writing a biography. They explored who he was, where and when he was born, what his achievements were and how he has inspired others. David explained that Salva got sick from drinking dirty water as a child and ended up in hospital, but when he grew up, he created the charity 'Water for South Sudan' to help the people in his home village.

Year 6 enjoyed their geography lesson this week looking at different ecosystems around the world. They learned that a large-scale ecosystem is called a biome, such as a rainforest. They then explored the different layers of the rainforest and why each layer is vital for life. The children are thoroughly engaged with the Amazon topic and are making fantastic links to both their core text and their science learning on living things and their habitats.