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Message from Mrs Cook
Message from Mrs Cook
Happy Friday! We are now two weeks into the summer term, though the recent weather certainly wouldn't lead us to believe it! Yet, despite the grey skies and the rain, our school has been a remarkably vibrant place to be. With weekly themes ranging from blooming flowers in our art to the rolling waves of Ocean Day and the exciting kickoff of the World Cup, it has been an absolute pleasure to see the children thriving in their learning and coming into school with so much enthusiasm each day.
Our much-anticipated Arts Fortnight is now officially in full swing, and the school is blossoming with creative energy. It has been a wonderful joy to watch the children explore the "Art in Bloom" theme with such passion and imagination. Walking through the school, you can already see the brilliant ways they are interpreting the theme, experimenting with different textures, vibrant colours and unique techniques. We can’t wait for the transformation of our school into a stunning gallery of their work, and the children are incredibly eager to see their creativity come to life. We would also like to offer our families the opportunity to celebrate these wonderful outcomes. On Monday 22nd June, we are inviting you into the classrooms at the end of the school day for our Arts Fortnight showcases, running in all classes from Reception to Year 6.
On Tuesday, Miss Roper held an assembly all about World Ocean Day, focusing on this year’s important theme and how we can all do our part to protect our seas. The children learned that safeguarding our oceans relies on all of us taking small, daily actions; whether that is reducing our plastic use, recycling carefully or picking up litter. During the assembly, we discussed how even though we are each just one person, our collective efforts can create a massive wave of change. It was an inspiring reminder that when we all work together, we truly can make a big difference in looking after our planet.
The 2026 Men’s World Cup officially kicked off this week on the 11th June, and the excitement is already building! To celebrate the 23rd edition of this global tournament, our children took part in an assembly led by Miss Lambert. During this time, they explored the teams, groups, and star players competing over the next five weeks. From seasoned legends to rising stars, the children loved learning fascinating tournament facts and discovering more about the diverse host nations and qualifying countries. Whether you are keeping score at home or filling out a family wall chart, we hope you enjoy sharing the excitement of the games together!
We are delighted to share that Rockliffe Manor has been selected to participate in an exciting project with the independent charity, National Numeracy, called the National Numeracy Schools & Families Programme. This initiative is all about encouraging children and families to enjoy maths together and building confidence in everyday maths skills. As part of this project, your child will be coming home weekly with a Maths Scrapbook containing a different fun, hands-on activity for you to explore together, ranging from measuring autumn leaves to playing number bond games. The goal isn't just to complete a task, but to help your child develop a lasting love for the subject by seeing how maths is all around us in the real world. You don't need to be a maths expert to help; simply talking positively about maths and praising your child's effort and perseverance will make a massive difference. For more information, please see the letter that has been sent out today. We are so excited to see the wonderful, creative ways our families engage with these weekly activities!
As we move closer to the end of the academic year, we would like to remind parents of the importance of good attendance. Every day counts, and consistent attendance has a direct impact on your child’s learning and progress. Let’s continue to work together to ensure the best outcomes for every child.
Please be reminded that Friday 19th June is an INSET day and therefore the school is closed to all pupils.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday.
With very best wishes,
Mrs Cook and the Rockliffe Manor team
Learning this week
Let’s take a look at some learning from this week:
In Nursery this week, the class have been super excited to explore their creativity for Arts Fortnight, spending their time creating beautiful flower images through printing techniques. They have been using some unusual items such as sweet peppers for stamping and painting on the stems, seeds and leaves to bring their flowers to life. The children also disassembled real flowers before putting them back together again to create an entirely new flower, which the adults then laminated to create a wonderful keepsake.
Over in Reception, the children have been working hard on doubling numbers using a range of counters and concrete resources. It was wonderful to see the children building on their knowledge of doubles when writing out number sentences to represent what they had calculated. The children have also really enjoyed their art this week, exploring the work of Vincent Van Gogh with a particular focus on his famous sunflower piece. The class began using a range of new techniques, such as representing shapes and shading, when completing their own observational drawings of sunflowers.
Year 1 have been equally excited to take part in Arts Fortnight this week, using a variety of techniques to build up the skills needed for their individual masterpieces. Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's cherry blossom artwork, the class recreated similar vibrant colours through clever colour mixing. They also explored different ways to manipulate tissue paper, using these new skills to create their own textured cherry blossoms. In English, Year 1 used the Kind Garden Sprite from the Spiderwick Chronicles as inspiration to explore our outdoor areas, using their imagination and senses to design their very own sprites.
Year 2 have been incredibly busy with their Arts Fortnight learning this week! The children have been looking at different flowers and generating amazing descriptive language to describe a foxglove. The children wowed Miss Roper with some beautiful independent writing, using expanded noun phrases such as "the pink, charming flower stood tall looking up to the moon." In addition to their creative work, the children have worked extremely hard in their assessments this week, particularly in reading—great job, Year 2!
In Year 3, the children have worked diligently in their assessments, showcasing a real excitement to demonstrate everything they have learned so far this year. As part of Arts Fortnight, the class also created beautiful flower drawings by skillfully blending two different colours on the petals. Tillie, in particular, was incredibly proud of her artwork and took great delight in visiting other classes to share her finished masterpiece.
Year 4 have thoroughly loved the first week of Arts Fortnight, putting their artistic skills to excellent use by creating observational drawings of real flowers. A real highlight was seeing them use tracing paper to copy their drawings, creating a unique new design by rotating the image around a central point. In English, they used their senses to describe different seasons and discussed how to create a specific mood or atmosphere by using clever "show, not tell" descriptive techniques.
Year 5 have enjoyed performing their favourite poems in front of their peers this week, after exploring a wide range of poetry to find the piece that resonated with them most. They have also enjoyed their art lessons, focusing on observational drawings and experimenting with different watercolour painting techniques in preparation for their final piece; Holly shared that "bleeding is my favourite technique because it calms me down." In addition to their creativity, the children tried really hard in their tests this week and should be very proud of their efforts.
Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed their art lessons this week, heading out into the nature garden to take photos of plants to use as inspiration for their paintings. In English, they have been generating figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, to describe a setting. They then used these fantastic ideas to write vivid and imaginative descriptions, carefully choosing their vocabulary to create a clear picture for the reader.
Birthdays, Merits & Attendance
Reception - 93.7%
Year 1 - 92.3%
Year 2 - 94.5%
Year 3 - 97.5%
Year 4 - 97.5%
Year 5 - 97.6%
Year 6 - 96.2%
Total - 95.6%
Emily - Year 6
Isabel - Year 3
Ikechukwu - Year 4
Ikenna - Year 4
Cara - Year 2
Reception - Willow
Year 1 - Beth
Year 2 - Raphael
Year 3 - Kairo
Year 4 - Layla
Year 5 - Riley
Year 6 - Jake
Dates for your diary
Monday 15th June 2026 - Platform Cricket Intercompetition
Tuesday 16th June 2026 - New Reception Stay and Play Group A 10.30 - 11.30
Wednesday 17th June 2026 - New Reception Stay and Play Group B 10.30 - 11.30
Thursday 18th June 2026 - New Reception starters stay and play
Friday 19th June 2026 - Inset Day - school closed to children
Monday 22nd June 2026 - Arts Fortnight Showcase - from 3.15
Wednesday 24th June 2026 - Year 5 & Year 6 BrightSparks Concert
Thursday 25th June 2026 - Year 6 Chessington World of Adventures
Friday 26th June 2026 - Year 1 Beach Trip
Friday 3rd July 2026 - Summer Fair from 3.30 - 6pm
Tuesday 7th July 2026 - Sports day - Reception - Year 6
Messages from the office
No Nut Products
Beachwood
Lego/ Duplo
PE Kits
Scooters in Playground
Uniform reminder
PreLoved Uniform
School Policies
School Day End
Term Dates 2026/2027
Please be reminded that we are a No Nut School - We have children with severe allergies to Nut products.
If you would like to show your interest please contact the office where we can give you further information.
We would like to increase our resources and maybe have a Lego/Duplo station at playtime. If any of our parents have Lego or Duplo that your child no longer plays with we would appreciate any donations.
PE Kits - can we please remind you that all children should bring their PE Kits in to School. The children will need a pair of shorts, T-shirt and socks.
Due to incidents in playground with scooters, can parents please ensure that your child does not ride on the playground and other areas of the school. Children to not to be riding passed the school gates, Many thanks.
School Uniform - can we please remind you that all children are requested to wear school colours - Not Hoodies. Can you please ensure that your child's name is in the uniform so we can return all lost property. Also now that the colder weather has begun your child should come dressed accordingly - Coats,Jumpers or Cardigans and appropriate footwear.
We have a uniform rail outside the office, If you have any preloved uniform that could help fill our rail we would greatly appreciate this.
All of our school policies can be found on our school website School Policies
Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy
As of Monday 13th April 2026 the school day will finish at 15.20.
Community Information
School Information
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." - Oscar Wilde
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