Let’s look at the learning from this week … 

In Nursery this week, the children thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the library, where the librarian read the story ‘The Kitchen Disco!’ and everyone had the chance to choose and share a range of exciting new storybooks with their adults that came. There has also been lots of excitement in the outdoor provision as the children noticed that their peas and tomatoes have finally started to grow! To beat the heat, the class kept cool by freeing plastic sea animals from blocks of ice using hammers and pipettes. Looking forward to next week, they have also been busy practising a special song to perform for family and friends at their upcoming graduation.

In Reception, creativity has been flowing through as the children innovated their own traditional tales by choosing a main character, a villain and a story setting. Sofia’s villain was called ‘The big smelly spider web man’ while Arlia invented a ‘small evil zombie’, and it was wonderful to hear them use their oracy skills so confidently to share these characters with their peers. In maths, the class continued this creative streak by making up their own addition number stories. William even included his teachers in his story! 

Year 1 showed fantastic sportsmanship and kindness during Sports Day this week, fighting through the heat to ensure everyone had a brilliant time! They also enjoyed their final library trip of the school year! Back in the classroom, the English focus has been on preparing to write persuasive letters to the Once-ler. The children took part in a lively class debate about whether deforestation is good or not and they did an amazing job learning how to write rhetorical questions. Molly asked, ‘How would you feel if someone destroyed your home?’ while Rujta wrote, ‘Did you know trees give us oxygen?’

Year 2 has had an incredibly busy week, starting with a sunny trip to Rockliffe Gardens. The children had a fantastic time on a scavenger hunt linked to their science learning about plants, finishing off the trip with plenty of fun playing on the grass! In maths, they have been applying their knowledge of movement and turns to describe how different characters navigate across a square grid. They also gave their absolute best at Sports Day, making Miss Roper incredibly proud of their efforts!

Year 3 took a fantastic trip to the British Museum this week to support their history topics. They loved exploring ancient artefacts, including sculptures and paintings from Ancient Egypt, and they demonstrated our Rockliffe Manor values beautifully throughout the day. They also brought incredible sportsmanship to every single activity on Sports Day! Back in school, the children have been busy analysing and labelling the key features of a recount in preparation for writing their final pieces next week.

Year 4 children have been speaking passionately about their learning this week. In maths, they have been mastering coordinates. David explained that the x-axis always comes first and the y-axis always comes second, remembering the rule to go 'along the corridor and up the stairs'. Mishael shared that in English they have been learning about complex sentences and confidently gave an example of a sentence using a relative clause. Meanwhile, Ikechikwu particularly enjoyed learning how to say the names of different vegetables in French.

Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed competing and supporting one another at Sports Day, showing great collaboration and sportsmanship throughout the entire event. On Wednesday, they headed out for their swimming lesson, and it has been lovely to see just how much their confidence and skills have improved! In English, children have been identifying the features and purpose of an internal monologue, leading to a wonderful class discussion about their own internal dilemmas, echoing those of the main character, Leonard.

Year 6 have continued to pour their creativity into preparations for their upcoming end-of-year performance, rehearsing constantly in the mornings and creating props in the afternoons. On Thursday, the children were met with an incredibly useful transition meeting with Layla in year 4’s Dad, where they asked some questions about the move to secondary school. River asked about the GCSE exams to become a vet in the future, while Holly noted that in secondary school you have different teachers for many different subjects, and science splits into biology, chemistry and physics!

Branches have delved deep into the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the three bears this week, they listened to the story carefully, retold the story using a story map and even had a go at their acting skills of retelling the story with finger puppets! In RHE the children explored sun safety learning how to protect themselves when it is hot outside. All of the children also had a fantastic time at sports day!