Class News

Ducklings

Duckling class have had a busy term 2. We have been busy exploring our central idea, " Our characteristics, interests and experiences make us who we are." We have been focusing on families and traditional family celebrations around the world. We learnt all about Diwali, a Hindu celebration, also known as "The festival of light." It is a celebration of life and a special time to spend with family members. We are becoming very confident in using different tools like scissors and staplers and used these skills to make Diwali crafts, our favourite was the paper lanterns. We have also enjoyed listening to the story of Rama and Sita and made our own story map to retell the story.

We have been learning all about The Christmas story and how we as families will celebrate over the Christmas period.

During the end of term 2 Ducklings and Robins class worked together to produce a magical Christmas performance, " A miracle in town," explaining the meaning of Christmas. The children worked really hard to learn their lines and remember all the words and actions to the songs. It was amazing to see the childrens enthusiam during the performance.

Karen, Jody and Amy are all proud of your achievements this term.

Reception - Robins

What a wonderful second term we have had! We have been exploring our Cental Idea, 'Being a part of a family, friendship and school community gives us a sense of belonging'. We have started noticing little things we can do to help the people around us feel like they belong, becuase we recognise that it is really nice when we feel special to others.

Please have a look at our wonderful homework contributions this term! We have thoroughly enjoyed sharing these with people at school and have so much we can speak about.

Miss Moroney, Mrs Brown and Mrs Carter are all very proud of you!

We were also very lucky to be visited by Nicola and Frog from the Glow Illuminations Workshop. We have helped to create some very eye-catching pieces of work that can be found at Cobtree Manor in Maidstone. Here are some photos of us producing some work:

And finally, we had the opportunity to watch Jack and the Beanstalk performed in our school hall by the Hobgoblin Theatre company and it took our breath away! The actors very kindly then encouraged us to learn how to act and perform and we had a fantastic morning.

Year 1 - Sparrows

Sparrow Class have had a very busy term beginning their new inquiry: Communities are improved when people work together. They have participated in community workshops, ventured out on an autumn walk and hosted their grandparents with (class-made!) biscuits. Next term, they will be continuing with this inquiry to find out how they can help in their community.

Sparrow Class have also been exploring what it means to be an inquirer and decided that with their love of learning and curious minds, they show this Learner Profile Attribute in many different ways.

Year 2 - Blackbirds

Blackbird class have had a wonderful term and have fully immersed themselves into their new inquiry: People can use the visual and performing arts to evoke feelings. They have spent a lot of time constructing wonderful pieces of writing around our class text - The Bear and the Piano. It has been great to see the children using a variety of Year 2 skills within their narratives. Blackbirds have really understood how ' the arts' can make you feel different ways and this was truly portrayed in their wonderful Christmas production of 'The Snowman'. The children learnt how different tempos, genres and volume of music can influence the way we feel. They noticed this especially at the end of their production where many members of the audience felt emotional when the snowman said, " Goodbye"!

Blackbirds were able to take away fantastic acting skills from their wonderful school trip to the Hazlitt Theatre to watch Sleeping Beauty. There were many moments during the peformance that made the children laugh, smile and jump for joy! It was fantastic for the children to spend some time in a grande theatre and see a real life theatre show in action!

Finally, this term Blackbirds took part in a Glow Art work shop. They worked closely with artists named Nicole and Frog who specialise in glow in the dark art and sculptures. The children were extremely lucky to be able to design and help create glow in the dark glow worm sculptures that are currently part of the The Glow Light Trail at Cobtree Manor Park. I personally went myself to see the children's work and it was extremely magical and I would highly recommend going if you get the chance. I would like to thank the children for all their hard work this term especially their resilience through many different bouts of illness. Well done Blackbirds and I hope you have a wonderful and well-earned Christmas break!

Miss Clark & Mrs Cooper

Year 3 - Woodpeckers

We have had a fun-filled term in Woodpeckers! As well as our fantastic learning, we have been rehearsing relentlessly for our Christmas performance 'The Nutcracker'. Various learner profile attributes such as being principled, a communicator and a thinker have been shown throughout the process. Woodpeckers had an opportunity to visit one of the Leigh Academy Trust secondary schools, Mascalls Academy. Here we participated in a workshop with sixth form students and learned a small sequence, thinking about our performance skills such as, spatial awareness, projection of movement and how we connect with other dancers on the stage. We were able to transfer these skills and reflect on how we can apply them to our Christmas performance.

Miss Brandon has been incredibly impressed with the homework that has come in this term, the thought and effort that has gone into these are brilliant! Thank you for all of your

The focus on the homework this term has been on The Stone Age and how they retrieved their source of nutrition from their diet. We discovered the paleo diet and decided to design a meal that includes the five sources of nutrition, these being carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, dairy and fats. We took our learning further by researching the different tools that the hunters created to hunt the animals for their food. We have enjoyed this term and are looking forward to finding out about our new central idea next term.

From Woodpeckers, we are wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Year 4 - Blue Jays

This term, Blue Jays have really enjoyed preparing for and performing our Christmas performance of Aladdin. Everyone worked hard to learn their lines and the acting skills were excellent. Blue Jays showed lots of our Learner Profile Attributes by being open-minded, risk-takers and great communicators.

This linked really well to our inquiry into 'How stories are told'. We have found out about different versions of the story as well as writing our own Aladdin story.

In Science this term, we have been investigating the human digestive system including different types of teeth and the jobs they do. Christmas has been a great inspiration for our English skills this term. We have really enjoyed reading 'The Christmasaurus' and have used it to give us ideas for a diary and a comic strip. Finally, we have used our research skills to find out about Christmas traditions. We made notes and used them to create a leaflet all about Christmas.

Somehow, we have still found time to practise the songs for Young Voices and we are very excited about our trip to the O2 in January.

We would like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Christmas holiday.

Year 5 - Kingfisher

Kingfisher class have had an absolutely fantastic, packed term 2. They have worked incredibly hard on their Central Idea, People's access to their rights vary around the world and have made connections with this and the book we have been focusing on - Holes by Louis Sachar. Kingfisher class looked at how human rights developed and looked at different crimes and punishments from the Tudor era. They compared these punishments with those that happen today across the world and will be looking into the progression of rights through the Victorian age early next term to conclude this Central Idea before we move onto our next one, Geography can impact the location of human settlement.

Earlier this term, we had the opportunity to go to Mole Hill Primary School to experiment with LEGO and coding. Pupils had to build their vehicle and then programme it to move however they wanted.

Kingfisher class worked extremely hard on learning lines and perfecting their Christmas performance, which was absolutely amazing and well worth waiting for, despite the snow delaying it!

We also buddied up with Robin class and did some joint reading, which was enjoyed by all.

Kingfisher class have had a fantastic term and we are very excited to continue our hard work next term.

Using the words from their Christmas performance, "We hope your holidays are filled with fun and richness, so from us to you: Merry Christmas!"

The work on display based on our class text, Holes

Lego and coding session at Mole Hill Primary School.

Year 6 - Chaffinch

Year 6 have had an incredibly busy Module 2, focusing on their central idea 'Peaceful resolutions to conflict can improve quality of life'. Through our text - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - we have made links to conflicts (past and present) and the impact it has on people's lives. Chaffinch has looked into the way war has been resolved - peacefully and otherwise - and shared their opinions on the actions of leaders of the past. We look forward to our next central idea - 'The choices governments make can influence the lives of future generations'.

We have engaged with the arts this term by performing our pantomime - 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. The children put on a fantastic show for their peers and parents, demonstrating outstanding stagecraft and spreading joy and the Christmas spirit. The children worked collaboratively to ensure they put on the best performances they could, even down to helping each other learn new parts on the day due to absence!

We were lucky enough to be visited by local Magistrate, Alvin Shaw. By sharing his knowledge of the justice system, Alvin aimed to impress upon the children the need for good choices and hopefully inspire the next generation of lawyers, magistrates and judges! It was very insightful and we all learned a great deal.

Having worked exceptionally hard this term, Year 6 thoroughly deserve their two week break and I look forward to welcoming them back into class in January. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

PE

Term 2 has been exceptionally busy in PE. We have been focussing on fundamental movements through gymnastics. KS1 have been learning to jump in a variety of ways on and off the equipment. Ducklings and Robins were very fortunate to have Kai, from Superstars, join them for a lesson. Yr 3 & 6 have continued with their swimming sessions and are improving weekly. Four pupils from Yr 6 represented Oaks at the LAT Primary Swimming Gala and came sixth out of 15 schools which was a huge achievement. KS2 have been producing some fantastic work linking elements to form a sequence demonstrating symetrical and asymetrical balances. I am so proud of all their hard work this term.

Yr 5 & 6, please also remember to sign up for the two day Bikeability course which we are running in May next year.