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Well—it has certainly been a hot one this week! We wanted to start this newsletter by extending a massive thank you to all of our families for your incredible support, flexibility and quick adjustments as we’ve navigated this heatwave together. Your efforts in sending the children to school with extra water bottles, sun hats and plenty of sunscreen have made a world of difference. Looking ahead, the forecast indicates that temperatures are meant to become cooler next week, which I’m sure many of us will welcome. Rest assured, we will continue to closely monitor the weather conditions and communicate any necessary updates or adjustments to our daily routines to keep our children safe, comfortable and ready to learn.

Our week began with a wonderful celebration of learning, with our Arts Fortnight showcase. We have been absolutely blown away by the children's creativity and passion, which shone through in everything from their striking visual artwork to their thoughtful writing. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, it was wonderful to see the children’s excitement as families explored the vibrant displays. The children were bursting with pride and confidence as they shared their hard work with you. We are now busy preparing to move these fantastic pieces into displays and the children can't wait to see their achievements proudly featured around the building.

Despite the high temperatures… the show (rehearsals) must go on! Excitement is building as Year 6’s performance of Hercules hit full stride! It has been an absolute joy to watch the children truly bring their characters to life with such energy. The whole class is putting an incredible amount of effort into mastering their lines, songs and dance moves. We are so grateful for all the brilliant support you are giving them at home with their practice. We can’t wait to see the final production come together, and we know you are just as excited as we are!

Today, we welcomed a wonderful array of outfit choices, as we held our bring a teddy non uniform day in support of our summer fair next Friday. The children looked very summery! Thank you all so much for your continued support, if you have any further teddy donations we will also be happy to receive these throughout next week, the teddy tombola is always rather popular at the fair so the more donations the better!

Speaking of which, we can’t wait to welcome you all to our annual Summer Fair next Friday, 3rd July! This year, we’ve shifted the event to a Friday afternoon, a direct result of the feedback and ideas you shared in our parent survey earlier this year. The fun kicks off at 3:30pm and runs until 5:30pm. To help our usual afternoon dismissal run as smoothly as possible, we kindly ask that all families collect their children first, then re-enter the school grounds via the main office.

The Summer Fair is not the only exciting event happening on 3rd July! This is also the day our children from Reception to Year 5 will find out who their new teachers will be for the next academic year during our "Meet the Teacher" assembly and session. It is always a wonderful experience where the children visit their new classrooms and begin building relationships with their new teachers. A letter will also be sent out to families on this day to share the eagerly awaited news with you all. 

We certainly have an amazing week ahead of us. But before that begins, I wish you all a wonderful weekend! We look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday.

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

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

In Nursery this week, our little learners have been exploring healthy and unhealthy foods. While the children all agreed that burgers are delicious, they concluded that they aren't the healthiest choice, deciding instead that fruit is the way to go! Following this, the class began creating a shopping list for the fruit salads they will be making next week. To beat the scorching weather, the children have also been enjoying plenty of water play in the, including dipping their feet in tuff trays to stay cool while playing outside.

Our Reception children have been making the most of the sunshine this week! To keep cool, the class used their problem-solving skills to design and create their own hand fans. We had some fantastic critical thinking on display: William noted that “lolly sticks are perfect for a fan because they are stronger and make more wind,” while Raina made hers extra effective by joining three paper fans together. In maths, the children have been exploring positional language. Inspired by the story Rosie’s Walk, they have been developing key vocabulary to help them confidently describe where different objects are.

Excitement levels were sky-high in Year 1 as the children discovered their final core text! Following a fantastic "hook" lesson, the children went on a treasure hunt around the school. Working collaboratively, they solved rhymes to find the next clue cards, which eventually led them back to the classroom—where they discovered the book cover for The Lorax hidden under their chairs! In maths, the children continued exploring position and direction. They had a wonderful time using the Bee-Bots, applying their knowledge to program a sequence of instructions and guide the robots to specific shapes.

Year 2 has been completely captivated by their new English story, Chandra's Magic Light. To launch the book, the children stepped back in time to experience what life was like before electricity. After realising just how tricky it is to read in the dark, they dove straight into the story and did a fantastic job retelling it in their own words! In maths, the children wrapped up their statistics topic with a hands-on final challenge. The children held a class vote on their favorite sports and brilliantly showcased the results using tally charts, block diagrams and pictograms.

Year 3 dove into their wonderful new book, Sophia Valdez, Future Prez, this week. The class was bursting with excitement to retell the story of how Sophia goes on a mission to clean up a local landfill after her beloved Abuela gets hurt. Celine even shared that if she were Prime Minister, she would have stepped in to help Sophia straight away! In maths, the children have been working incredibly hard learning all about angles and can now confidently identify right, obtuse and acute angles. 

In Year 4, enthusiasm and empathy were at an all-time high as they started their new text, The Girl Who Stole an Elephant. The children engaged in a deeply thoughtful debate about whether the main character, Chaya, was a bad person for stealing the Queen’s jewels to help a sick boy. David noted that while she made a bad choice, her intentions were good, while Mishael predicted there must be a deeper reason behind her actions. 

This week, Year 5 has been making fantastic cross-curricular connections. While reading their core text, Windrush Child, they linked the story to their geography topic on post-war migration. The children learned about how the Caribbean community arrived on the Empire Windrush to help rebuild the UK after World War II. They had incredibly mature discussions about why the UK was a desirable place to live, as well as the difficult discrimination these migrants faced. In maths, the children put their resilience to the test, working hard to solve tricky real-world word problems using negative numbers.

In Year 6, it has been an incredibly busy week as the children have been working hard rehearsing for their highly anticipated end-of-year production! They have been dedicating so much energy to learning their lines, practising songs, and perfecting their stage presence, and it is already shaping up to be a spectacular show. Alongside their fantastic efforts on stage, excitement is really building in the classroom as they begin to look forward to all the wonderful things planned for their final few weeks. From the glamour of the upcoming prom to the special memories they will share during their leavers' assembly, they are certainly ready to make the absolute most of their final days at primary school.

• Tuesday 30th June 2026 - Year 4 Tower of London Trip

• Thursday 2nd July 2026 - Year 5 Planetarium Trip 

• Thursday 2nd July 2026 - Year 2 Library Visit

• Friday 3rd July 2026 - Summer Fair from 3.30 - 6pm

• Tuesday 7th July 2026 - Sports day - Reception - Year 6 

• Wednesday 8th July 2026 - Year 3 Trip British Museum

• Thursday 9th July 2026 - Break the rules day - Please see flyer

• Thursday 9th July 2026 - Year 1 Library Visit

• Friday 10th July 2026 - Water Fun Day

• Monday 13th July 2026 - Dress Rehearsal Year 6 performance

• Tuesday 14th July 2026 - Nursery Sports Day 10am Winns Common

• Tuesday 14th July 2026 - Hercules End of Year Production to Parents Year 6 - 4.30pm

• Wednesday 15th July 2026 - EYFS Danson Park Trip

• Thursday 16th July 2026 - iRock Concert

• Thursday 16th July 2026 - Reception Library Visit

• Thursday 16th July 2026 - Year 6 Leavers Disco

• Friday 17th July 2026 - Nursery Graduation 11.15

• Friday 17th July 2026 - Gymnastics End of Term Performance for parents

• Monday 20th July 2026 - Year 6 Leavers Assembly 2pm 

• Tuesday 21st July 2026 - Last day of term - 2pm collection