It’s been another busy week for us here at Rockliffe Manor, so many enriching experiences and wonderful learning opportunities. I had the privilege of supporting the Year 6 SATs this week, and can honestly say I could burst with pride for the effort, determination and resilience the children have shown. This week we also welcomed ECT’s (Early Career teachers) from Woodhill and Foxfield to Rockliffe Manor and it was great to showcase the amazing teaching and learning here at Rockliffe. I feel very proud to be part of such an amazing school.

On Monday we began with an assembly on the value of responsibility, throughout the assembly we explored our duty to ensure our school environment is cared for. We considered how through responsibility for our school we must also show;

Respect: We should respect our school, its facilities, and the hard work put into maintaining them.

Cooperation: Working together, we can achieve so much more. We can work together to keep our school tidy.

Ownership: We must take ownership of our school by treating it as if it were our own home and taking care of it.

Integrity: We should always do what is right, even when no one is watching. This means not littering, avoiding vandalism, and reporting any damage we come across.

It was fantastic to see the children really taking these messages on board and seeing how helpful they have been in response to these messages. Well done Rockliffe Manor! 

Next week, some of our Year 3 and 4 children will have the opportunity to take part in The Blackheath Rugby Festival. This will be an amazing opportunity for our children to represent our school, and we know they will consistently show our values. This event will not only allow them to showcase their skills but also to build teamwork and sportsmanship. We are confident that Year 3 and 4 will make us proud with their dedication and enthusiasm.

Also, a reminder for next week: our class photos are scheduled for Wednesday 22nd May. Please ensure your children are in full uniform and ready to smile for the camera! This is a wonderful opportunity to capture memories that will be cherished for years to come, your child will receive a QR code that will take you to the website to order the photos. 

And today, we ended the week with a fantastic sharing assembly from Year 2. The children spoke us through their learning for the half term and were so articulate and confident in their delivery. The children wowed us all with their incredible knowledge of how plants are created as well as telling us all about the different continents and oceans. A huge well done to our year 2 children and wonderful teachers! We are very excited to see Year 3’s assembly next week. 

So many amazing things happened this week, and so much more to come next week - I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you back on Monday.

With very best wishes, Mrs Cook and the Rockliffe Manor team 

Let’s look at the learning from this week …

Nursery this week have been enjoying making their creative final outcomes for their growing display. The children have been busy using materials such as seeds, beans and grains to create flowers and plants that they have been growing in the garden. The children also really enjoyed creating paper mache fruits and vegetables, to reflect what they learnt about in their core text 'Oliver's Vegetables’. 

Children in Reception this week have been working very hard to create and write the beginning of their own stories. We began the week by exploring what characters are and then decided who would be the main character in our story. The children then had a discussion about what setting they would choose for their story and why. We finished off the week by selecting what problems our character would experience in the story and how this would make them feel. Everyone is eager to write it up next week!  

Year 1 has shown great empathy towards an environmental issue. In geography the children have explored how humans are impacting the environment. The children learnt that plastic is harming marine animals. Harley’s response to the images of sea creatures trapped and tangled in fishing nets was, “If the turtle could talk, it would say help me please!” He went on to say, “If I was Dougal, I would literally go in the ocean and rescue the animals.” It is heartwarming to hear children so young being sensitised by environmental concerns.

Year 2 has shown great effort in their sharing assembly. They spoke passionately about their learning across the various subjects. They sang beautifully and confidently! Additionally, the children have really enjoyed their DT project of designing and making their beautiful headdresses. They showed great creativity and were proud to show them off to their families! 

Year 3 this week have become architects creating their own bridges in DT. The children worked hard to ensure their materials were sturdy and their design ensured the bridge could stay upright. Just walking through the class showed such engagement that was great to see. Have a look at our school’s twitter account to see their amazing creations!

Children in Year 4 have been busy this week finishing their learning of decimals in maths. The children recalled their rounding knowledge from the beginning of the year and used that to round decimals to the nearest integer. The children worked so hard and it was lovely to see how the children worked together to answer the questions. The children have also started to plan their final outcome in English, a newspaper on the sinking of the Mary Rose, they are wowing Miss Roper with their knowledge of the Tudor ship. 

In year 5 this week, they had fun looking at primary sources from World War 2 that belonged to Mr Smith’s grandad. They then used these to make rubbings of and describe in their history books. As well as this, they also used the computing unit of work on Google Docs to create a report on D-Day to present to Year 4. 

In year 6, they have done us extremely proud in their effort towards the SATs this week. They remained calm, focused and gave it their all. Shortly after the last assessment the children turned their focus to the end of year production, and the dramatic flair they brought was truly impressive. It's been a joy to watch them grow not just academically but also creatively. This production is shaping up to be a memorable one! 

Here are some of the tweets that can be found on our Rockliffe Manor Twitter page this week

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• Monday 20th May 2024 - Year 6 Library Visit

• Tuesday 21st May 2024 - Year 3 & 4 Rugby Tournament

• Wednesday 22nd May 2024 - Year 5 Rugby Tournament

• Wednesday 22nd May 2024 - Year 6 visit to Foxfield

• Wednesday 22nd May 2024 - All Class Photos

• Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Reception Library Visit

• Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Nursery & Reception Trip to Maryon Wilson Park

• Monday 27th May - Friday 31st May 2024 - School Closed Half Term

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. 

Every Tuesday morning from 8:50am, Rockliffe will be holding a Coffee morning in the Music Room. Please feel free to pop along and join us. Friends of Rockllife joining to start the planning for events. All welcome

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. Also now that the colder weather has begun your child should come dressed accordingly - Coats, Jumpers or Cardigans and appropriate footwear.