As the signs of spring are becoming more frequent, we reflect on just how fast the weeks are flying past! We are next week, approaching the end of the Spring 2 term, and there is so much to share from across the school. 

This week, we enjoyed two sharing assemblies where Year 1 and Year 5 beautifully showcased their learning from the term. With an oracy focus of presentational talk, it was fantastic to see the children's progress in learning, topic coverage and enthusiasm for the wonders that this half term has brought. Year 1 were proud to share their global outcome of building intergenerational relationships with the residents of Puddingstone Grange and brought joy through their musical performance.  And in a similar fashion Year 5 shared their adventures from last week, whether they were in school or on school journey. The children shared their favourite moments of their activities and had beaming smiles while reliving it. Both classes presented themselves so well and we are proud of their achievements this half term. 

On Thursday our IROCK assembly transported us all to a thrilling rock concert. It's always an amazing sight to witness the entire school and the families of our rockstars come together to cheer on the talented musicians. From our youngest bands to our oldest, every child who performed showed confidence and passion. Standing up in front of the whole school is no mean feat and we are so proud of the musical styling of our children. Keep an eye out for further information regarding our summer IROCK concert which will be sure to blow our socks off again! If you are interested in this musical tuition for your child, please call the office for more information. Thank you to all who came and cheered on the children.

And as we wrap up this exciting week, a huge thank you goes out to the members of the Friends of Rockliffe who worked tirelessly to make our Mother's Day stall a success. The thoughtful gifts that were on offer are sure to make this Sunday extra special for many lucky mums, nans, grandmas, and other special female relatives. The sale is a testament to our amazing community. Thank you to all who supported and the final amount raised will be shared next week.

As always, thank you for your continued support. We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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

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

Nursery has had an exciting week learning about police officers and how they help our community. The children have been role-playing and even creating their own handcuffs, applying their new knowledge in imaginative ways. It has been wonderful to see their communication and language skills develop, especially for those children joining in January who are beginning to come out of their shells.

In Reception, the children have been busy learning their bee song while also exploring 3D shapes in maths. They used their creativity to make telescopes out of paper (cylinders) and had a fantastic time using them to search for different 3D shapes around the classroom. The children were amazed by how many they could find and had great discussions about whether the flat screen was truly 2D or 3D!

Year 1 wowed us all with their learning showcase assembly this week! It was a fantastic celebration of their learning, highlighting their global outcome of building intergenerational relationships with the residents of Puddingstone Grange. Families thoroughly enjoyed watching their children present their work and particularly loved the musical performances! To end the week, the children visited the library, where they were excited to choose new books to bring back to school

In Year 2, the children have begun writing their final English piece—an alternative ending to their core text, Starbird. It has been inspiring to see them truly step into character, applying key writing techniques such as the power of three, similes, and exclamation sentences. In maths, they have been exploring volume and capacity, using millilitres to measure and compare different containers.

Year 3 has been preparing for their final English outcome and have shown a deep understanding of their core text, Hidden Figures. Their independent writing has been impressive, with children confidently using technical vocabulary in their newspaper reports on Dorothy Vaughan. It has also been wonderful to see them draw on prior learning to develop unique and insightful reports.

Year 4 has been making great progress in maths, tackling the challenges of adding and subtracting fractions. They have confidently worked with mixed numbers and improper fractions using number lines and bar models. Their understanding was put to the test with explain-it and error-spotter questions, and we were all incredibly impressed with their knowledge!

Year 5 has worked hard this week in maths, focusing on rounding numbers to one decimal place. They have used their reasoning skills to explain the importance of place value when rounding—for example, knowing that when rounding to the nearest tenth, the hundredths place must be considered. In English, the children have been experimenting with hyperbole, with some fantastic examples such as, "The train took an eternity to arrive in Devon!"

In Year 6, the children have mastered their unit on coordinates and are now much more confident with transformations, including translations and reflections. They have particularly enjoyed finding missing coordinates of reflected shapes along both the x and y axes. The class has also enjoyed learning how to calculate the mean, understanding the process of adding values together and dividing by the total number.