Primary
Academies
Dartford Primary Academy
Year 6 Exhibition & Performance
To celebrate the end of their learning journey here at DPA, our Year 6 children prepared for their final line of inquiry, investigating ‘What makes shows successful’.
The children performed their production at the Leigh Academy in front of other members of staff from DPA and for their parents and carers. The children were incredible risk-takers and really brought the production to life! Furthermore, parents and carers were also able to see all of the children’s incredible hard work from this year through the PYP exhibition alongside the show. Throughout the whole production process, the children showed great determination and resilience as they continuously rehearsed the show to make sure it was the very best for their audience. We are incredibly proud of the children here at DPA for their amazing production. They really are stars in the making!
DPA Sports
Our sporting activities have truly come to life this year at DPA. Trust competitions, local football fixtures, kwik cricket, rounders and a host of other competitions have seen children at DPA really show their risk taking and principled behaviours. Every time, our children have shown up, displayed remarkable sportsmanship and in many cases walked away triumphant. We could not be prouder to see the Dartford Primary sports kit and the beaming smiles of all who wear it - pride and achievement in every event.
Theatre Trip
KS2 had the great opportunity of visiting the Orchard Theatre to watch the show Dragons and Mythical Beasts. It was an unforgettable experience for all. The show transported our children into a world filled with captivating myths and legends, enriching our cultural capital at every opportunity and taking advantage of the great local theatre on our doorstep.
Clubs and Activities
Clubs and Activities
This year we have had a plethora of exciting clubs and activities to offer both at lunch time and after school. It was a real delight to see the gardening club harvest their crops last week! Not only has the club grown its own produce, members then prepared their own food to share with their families. True ‘farm to fork’ in our ‘Determined Persistent Achiever’ style.
Hartley Primary Academy
Year 6 Residential, PYP Exhibition and Production
Our Year 6 pupils have been incredibly busy over the last two terms. After working ridiculously hard to complete their SATs they had a wonderful week away with UKSA on the Isle of Wight, sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking and raft building. As always our pupils did us proud and a great week was had by all!
Term 6 has been jam-packed with rehearsals for their production ‘Rock Bottom’ and preparation for the PYP Exhibition. For the PYP Exhibition the pupils worked in small groups to select a theme for their project which they felt particularly interested in or passionate about. Pupils chose topics such as ‘plastic pollution’, ‘gender equality’, ‘Pride’, ‘animal testing’ and ‘The Ukraine War’. They researched and presented their information in a variety of ways, including videos, interviews, slide shows and display boards. The Exhibition was a huge success with parents coming along to enjoy their presentations.
Year 5 Trip to Kidzania
Year Five had a great day at Kidzania London this term! The children got to earn 'Kidzos' by doing different jobs. They could then spend these Kidzos on different experiences. We had pilots, vets, doctors, actors, designers, spies, florists, firefighters, police officers and many more!
NHS 75th Anniversary
The whole school helped to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS by doing 75 of something! Different year groups and classes chose different things to do, including 75 hula hoop spins, 75 star jumps and 75 skips. Poor Mr Dutton had to defend 75 penalties shot at him by Year 6! It was a great team effort and lots of fun was had by all!
Year 2 Pirates
When it’s time for Year 2 to do their SATs we always have a ‘pirate week’ which the children love. The week is full of fun pirate based activities including treasure hunts, map reading, walking the plank obstacle courses and so much more. The highlight of the week is the pirate party on the last day. Children are taken out to do their SATs but they barely notice they are doing assessments because they are having so much fun. This year was no exception and our Year 2 pupils had an amazing week!
Year R Lifecycles
Reception have been learning all about life cycles and have had the wonderful experience of seeing chick eggs hatch and caterpillars transforming into butterflies. The children demonstrated their fabulous drawing and writing skills by creating their own life cycle illustrations to demonstrate what they had learned. Sadly we didn’t get to keep the gorgeous chicks and beautiful butterflies but it was lovely having them for a short while and the children were all fascinated by how quickly they grew and changed.
Cherry Orchard Primary Academy
Year 6 Enterprise
After the SATs, our Year 6 pupils participated in 'Enterprise Week'. They were set a task, in groups, to set up a business and create a product in order to make a profit. They produced a range of amazing products including: bracelets, bookmarks, sweet cones, glitter pencils and so much more. Afterwards, they sold these products to the rest of the school. Lord Sugar would have been very impressed with their business plans and execution of it too! Through advertisement, to both pupils and teachers, hard work and dedication the children raised an incredible sum of £1,002.02 during the day, which is funding their end of year celebration before they leave COPA and start their adventure at secondary school.
PSHE Jigsaw Competition Winners
Cherry Orchard recently submitted an application to the Jigsaw PSHE scheme's competition to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The application highlighted the steps taken to implement the scheme and prioritise PSHE and mental health within our school and the positive impact this has had on teaching and learning. We also showcased some of the fantastic work completed by our Year 2 students, Millie and Alhaji, who were part of the submission. We are so proud to announce that we had a winning application and will be visiting London's Lyceum Theatre as a prize. We will be taking the children whose work was submitted, along with 16 other students from KS1 and KS2 as a reward for their inspirational and hard work this year.
A variety of items sold during Enterprise Week!
Oaks Primary Academy
Oaks have enjoyed a fantastic Summer Term which has been packed full of trips, sports events, visitors and magnificent opportunities for learning about the world around us. So much of what we do at Oaks happens beyond the classroom with staff providing our pupils with wonderful opportunities to develop as well-rounded citizens and lifelong learners. This happens through our Profile for Success initiative where pupils focus on developing their Learner Profile Attributes, Agency and Action, as well as their contributions to the community, to charity and developing their knowledge around careers. All of these authentic learning opportunities provide our pupils with the values, knowledge and skills to create a better world.
Community
Following Key Stage Two SATs weeks, we were quick to celebrate the Coronation, inviting in parents and families to our royal exhibition, showcasing poetry, writing and art work that the children had designed in the build up to the event. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the childrens’ hard work and bring our community together, something that means a great deal to us. Reception class even designed the new King and Queen’s coronation outfits!
Work has continued this term into designing and bringing to life our outdoor willow classroom. The children of Oaks all got the fabulous opportunity to learn about willow and its benefits to living things.
Pupils looked at natural architecture and had the opportunity to weave willow to create a raised fenceline out of natural materials as well as weave an arch from living willow. It’s been amazing to watch this willow arch come to life over the past few weeks. We can’t wait to officially open the classroom and take our learning outdoors.
Sustainability has been at the core of everything we do this term, with our newly formed Eco Committee taking action into their own hands to ensure sustainability in our community and that our shared guardianship of the planet is at the forefront of our thinking.
The Eco Committee has been working towards their goal of achieving a Green Flag for the school community. In line with taking action to improve the outdoor environment, the Eco Committee has also been using the Energy Sparks platform to make a difference in the school building from writing a ‘Switch Off’ policy to creating posters about food waste at lunch and energy heroes. Oaks narrowly missed out on 1st place in the regional Energy Sparks competition and are proud that their ‘Switch off’ policy is shared on the Energy Sparks website as an example for other schools.
Pupils have really taken the lead on taking action when it comes to energy-saving tips in our school and they have been known to leave letters of praise or tickets on classroom and office doors if members of our school community are not complying!
Charity
Not only have we been making an impact in our local community but we have also never had such a strong link with our global community and our link school in Malawi. We are proud that our whole school community contributed so many items to load a shipping container full of resources and equipment which is on its way to Malawi. Families sent in water bottles, clothes and stationery and our school contributed books and sports equipment. We cannot wait to see the faces of our friends in Malawi when this container arrives! This link is made possible through the charity Starfish Malawi. The reason we donated so many water bottles is that we have had a shared project on Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation.
On the 5th July, Cathy from Starfish Malawi visited Oaks having just returned from a trip to Malawi where she visited our link school. She shared photos and videos of her trip and surprisingly, gifts from our link school. The pupils gifted us their incredible hand drawn posters of the different uses of water, as well as handwritten letters about learning and life in their school. We are in the process of reading these and responding.
What took us by surprise was the beautiful hand-carved wooden board game made for us by the link school community which made its way back from Malawi in Cathy’s case amazingly!
When this was presented to us in assembly, one of our pupils asked ‘Why have they given us such an amazing gift when they have so little?’ The pupils in our link school value this connection and friendship more than we can understand and it has enabled our pupils to develop their international mindedness beyond what we ever imagined.
We are excited to continue our partnership over the coming years with Starfish Malawi and are so pleased that the children of Oaks have voiced that they wish to take action further and support this charity next year with fundraising activities. We also hope to hold more Zoom calls as this really brings the connection to life for pupils in both countries.
Careers
This term, we welcomed a number of Primary Futures Volunteers who discussed their line of work and professional journey with Years 5 and 6. The children felt inspired by their work and fascinating life stories. We welcomed Genny Jones (the self proclaimed Confidence Queen) who featured on Britain’s Got Talent as well as Heather Smith, a producer for ITV, who gave the children a behind the scenes insight into producing and the world of television.
At this time of year, we bid a fond farewell to our Year 6 leavers. They have enjoyed an amazing last term, travelling to Mote Park and Margate beach as well as holding their annual Prom and taking part in LAT Sports Day. We would also like to thank St Martin’s Church for once again hosting our Leavers Service; what a fabulous way to finish Year 6 and the academic year!
Molehill Primary Academy
We have had an absolutely wonderful term, packed full of fantastic opportunities for our pupils.
At our annual Safety Day this year we warmly welcomed a team of Community First Responders to our academy. They delivered a First Aid workshop to all of our pupils. The curriculum across the whole day centred around keeping safe and teachers were able to use a range of resources from our National Online Safety programme to reinforce the ways in which pupils can stay safe online. Pupils in Year 5 and 6 have also attended Road Safety workshops and KS1 attended a Stranger Danger assembly too!
Our Sports Days were a fantastic success! We are so pleased that so many of our parents were able to join us to celebrate their children's sporting achievements. We were delighted with the number of adults who also wanted to compete themselves; it was great to see their enjoyment of sport and physical activity shared with our whole school. What fantastic role models they are!
Year 5 were lucky enough to attend Cornwallis Academy for a jam-packed day of science activities and experiments. Children had a fantastic time looking at different food groups and performing tests using chemicals. Next they played at being detectives and analysed fingerprints, footprints and calligraphy to discover 'whodunnit!’ After lunch they learned about the different rocks and looked at different crystal patterns before ending the day using bunsen burners to test different metals and change the colour of flames. It was such a lot of fun and a really lovely opportunity for pupils to get excited about their future.
There have been a variety of events to celebrate and wish a fond farewell to our Year 6 leavers. They've been to Chessington, a Police Open Day and have been working tirelessly on both their Year 6 Exhibition as well as their leavers production - Shakespeare Rocks!
Tree Tops Primary Academy
The Mayor of Maidstone Opens New Coronation Garden
On 9th June 2023 the Mayor of Maidstone came to open our Coronation Garden. Along with the garden, we have also created a science garden to support learning outside.
The Mayor was greeted by Miss White and all the children from across the school. He officially opened the garden and then was taken on a tour around the school by our team captains. Children were encouraged to ask questions about anything to do with being a Mayor and the robes and gold chain that signify the office.
On leaving the school the Mayor and Mayoress told Miss White how lovely Tree Tops Primary Academy is and how polite and well mannered the children are. The Mayoress added that it shows how important our academy is as part of the community and very obvious how much hard work staff put into creating such a welcoming school.
British Council's International School Award programme
Last year, Tree Tops Primary Academy worked hard towards achieving full accreditation from the British Council's International School Award programme. To reach this we created a whole school curriculum for global learning that included taking part in a number of international activities, such as Fairtrade Fortnight, Refugee Week, and the UN's World Children's Day. In March, Tree Tops Primary Academy was presented with the award at a ceremony held by the British Council at the Palace of Westminster that celebrated the international work achieved by the schools that took part in the programme.
The photo shows Mr Holmes, International Coordinator at Tree Tops Primary Academy, Helen Whately, Minister of State (Minister for Social Care) and David Anderson, Headteacher of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School.
30 Days Wild - feel the wild under your feet
We took our feet on an adventure around our science garden before writing a descriptive paragraph about our experience!
Spanish Day
On 22nd June, students in Years 3, 4, and 5 celebrated a Spanish cultural morning where we explored different styles of Spanish dance, music and the history associated with traditions in Spain and Spanish speaking countries. Through this, the students had the opportunity to broaden their cultural appreciation.
The students and staff learnt the lyrics to the song ‘Vivir Mi Vida’ by Marc Anthony. The exposure of contemporary Latin music alongside the opportunity to develop their Spanish language skills provided the students with a wonderful tool for language learning and cultural immersion.
To further enhance their cultural experience, we learnt different dances in line with Spanish culture and focused on their lively rhythms and expressive movements. Through participating in dance, the children were able to physically and emotionally connect with the vibrant spirit of Spanish culture.
At Tree Tops Primary Academy we are passionate about promoting cultural diversity and aim to instil a love for learning about different traditions and customs. Through our cultural morning, we broadened students' horizons and created memorable experiences for our learners.
Langley Park Primary Academy
Coronation
On Friday 5th May, the children came together to celebrate the King’s Coronation in true Langley Park fashion. We heard a beautiful rendition of "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from the choir who then led the whole school in singing "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus along with Makaton. The local residents must have heard the huge round of applause from the children following the performances as they were just so good! We then enjoyed homemade scones in an array of flavours.
The afternoon was nicely rounded off with lots of games and what could be described as a Langley Park "flash dance" to the Macarena and Cha Cha Slide. The fact that the children ended the afternoon chanting "we want more" indicates how much fun they had! Not only did we have some wonderful whole school celebrations but a small group of children attended a special event held by Maidstone Borough Council with the Mayor and Mayoress of Maidstone in attendance.
The children who went had the opportunity to design their own crowns and watch a performance. The most special part of their visit was that they sat to have lunch with the Mayor and Mayoress and were part of the official photographs from the event. The children who went certainly made our school proud! Our wonderful PTFA purchased a wooden medal for each child in the school to commemorate this special moment in our history. We were truly appreciative of this kind gesture and thoroughly enjoyed them joining in with our celebrations that afternoon.
Year 6 PGL
Year 6 PGL
In the week beginning 12th June, our Year 6 pupils embarked on the PGL trip to Windmill Hill in Sussex and what a trip it was. There were so many opportunities for the children to work collaboratively, show resilience and become risk takers. The children had a very comprehensive menu of activities throughout the whole week from aeroball, fencing and abseiling to problem solving games and the giant swing. What an amazing experience to have had before moving on to secondary school.
Sports Day
The LPPA Sports Day was held on Friday 30th June. The day started with EYFS and KS1 taking part in multi skills activities and running races. We had some of our wonderful Year 6 helping them take part and creating an exciting and supportive atmosphere for our youngest learners. At lunch, we then had a community picnic during which our families came together to have lunch with the children. We also had a visit from a couple of ice cream vans for those with a sweet tooth! We then recommenced the Sports Day with KS2 races and multi skills activities. There was certainly a healthy amount of competition between the teams and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Particular highlights were the parent and teacher races. The children were beside themselves with excitement seeing the adults race!
Paddock Wood Primary Academy
Coronation Event
Our Summer Term started with lots to celebrate and all the classes enjoyed our Coronation Event. We decided to focus on King Charles II and his life through the decades, with the children learning songs and dances to celebrate each stage of his life - with reminders about some of the more interesting fashion choices! Our parents and carers came, despite the threat of rain and we all enjoyed starting the Coronation weekend with a bang.
Curriculum Visits and Experiences
Since then we have been busy with many curriculum visits and experiences. Our Year 6 link with Tonbridge School means that they have been there to explore Chemistry. They worked in groups to learn about chemical changes and were able to work the labs for the morning and afternoon. Year 3 went to the Detling Showground for the Living Land event, Year 2 went to the Himalayan Gardens, EYFS to Hemsley Conservation Centre, Year 1 to Hever Castle, Year 5 did their Residential to Plas Pencelli and Year 4 went to Kew Gardens. Year 6 have ended the year with multiple day trips to places such as: Bedgebury Go-Ape, Chessington, Folkestone and The Globe Theatre. All these experiences have given the children plenty to enjoy and enhance their learning.
Sports Day
Our House teams competed for the House Cup during Sports Day and the children demonstrated resilience and great team spirit to support one another and their school team; we were so lucky with the weather and it was wonderful to have so many parents, carers and friends to cheer them on.
This academic year is fast coming to an end and we are looking forward to our Year 6 Exhibition. This year its focus was on careers and the children are working hard to ensure that they share their learning, ideas and hopes for the future.
Horsmonden Primary Academy
The Summer Term at Horsmonden has been busier than ever with trips, visitors, whole school events and the long awaited Year 6 production, The Greatest Show.
Trips
EYFS, Year 1, Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6 have all been out on trips linked to their inquiries this term. The highlight has to be the Year 6 residential to PGL Windmill Hill. All children were challenged to be open-minded and risk takers as they took to the zip wire, abseiling, climbing, and high ropes. We are thrilled with the way they conducted themselves and were very proud of the way they lived and breathed our learner profile attributes.
Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla
We gathered one dreary Friday afternoon to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla and were determined not to let the weather dampen our spirits! The whole school community joined together to celebrate this momentous occasion and the children entertained us with singing, dancing and music.
Sports Day
Sports Day was another highlight where we saw the whole school come together to compete in races such as sprinting, relay, javelin and shot put for KS2. The atmosphere was fantastic with everyone cheering on their houses as well as celebrating individual victories. Even the parents and staff got involved with some very competitive sprinting, wheelbarrow and 3 legged races!
Allotment and Pond Project
Work has now commenced on clearing the old swimming pool ready for our allotment beds to be constructed as well as creating our new pond. Both projects are being funded by the Trust as well as money from our Year 6 legacy and we are incredibly grateful for the significant investment in Horsmonden to improve our outdoor education offer.
Take a look at our pond design, which has been drawn up by award winning Camillia Taylor, from The Garden Taylor. We are so fortunate to have someone on board with such a wealth of experience of garden and landscape design who has just won Silver Gilt at the Chelsea Flower Show!
Eastcote Primary Academy
What a fantastic summer term we have had so far!
Reception Class visited Woodlands Farm. We met the biggest cows I’ve ever seen!
Year 6 stayed at Carroty Woods for four days. The children conquered their fears by rock climbing, canoeing, BMXing and staying away from their parents for three nights. We are very proud of them.
The whole school took part in Sports Day. The children competed for their house with such enthusiasm.
This term we have also visited: Deptford Creek, The Ecology Park, Charlton FC, The Houses of Parliament, the Royal Festival Hall (to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra), Danson Watersports for canoeing and sailing and Chatham Winter Sports Centre for tobogganing and skiing.
To celebrate the King’s Coronation we held a school fun day which included a silent disco, inflatables, fish and chips and an entertainer.
Reception class at Woodlands Farm
Students at Charlton FC
Students getting their feet wet!
Watersports at Danson Park
Peninsula East Primary Academy
We have had a very busy Summer Term full of fantastic opportunities for the children to explore beyond our village community.
Year 4 had a wonderful day at Howletts Zoo, seeing a variety of different animals and despite the heat on the day, many of the animals were out and about enjoying the sunshine. The children learnt many facts about the animals they saw and were able to continue their learning through their inquiry back in school.
Year 5 explored Kent Life and linked to their inquiry learning, joined some workshops about Vikings. They learnt about Viking trade across the world and about some of their battles. Good fun was had by all and the children even managed to fit in time for a tractor ride and ice lollies. Year 3 were able to visit Maidstone museum to look at their collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts and learnt lots of interesting information linked to a previous inquiry about the Egyptians. Year 1 and Nursery were able to visit the local Fenn Bell zoo and had hands-on experience with lemurs as well as seeing all of the other animals. The children were so excited on the day and came back full of what they had seen and learnt about.
Year 6 enjoyed their time away camping at their residential trip to Lower Grange Farm. Whilst camping did make some of the children a little anxious when it came to creepy crawly visitors in their tents, they enjoyed a variety of different activities, including: wall climbing, bag jumping, archery and much more. The children particularly enjoyed having a campfire with marshmallows in the evenings and spending fun times with their friends. They all came back completely exhausted, as did the adults from school, but this was the result of all of the fun they’d had during their time away.
We feel that it is really important to learn about diversity and how to combat racism within our society. We held a PANDA anti-racism workshop for our Year 5 and 6 children as well as inviting their parents to join them in taking part. We were pleased that our parents were involved in this and they took away how they could speak about racism in a child appropriate way at home. Our children asked some really thought-provoking questions and learnt about the different ways we can tackle racist behaviour.
At the end of the term we looked forward to watching the Year 6 production of ‘Shrek The Musical’ on the performance stage at our local Haven holiday park. Our children not only get to perform on a real stage but also get to learn some of the more technical aspects with lighting and sound. It was a truly spectacular show! Each year group have completed their Haven Heroes projects about the environment and global sustainability too and will visit Haven for a fun activity in the last week of term. What a wonderful way to end the year.
High Halstow Primary Academy
Year 6 Carroty Wood Visit
Post SATS, Year 6 looked ahead to their residential visit to Carroty Wood. It was a jam packed itinerary including: pedal karting, geo-caching, rock climbing, the high ropes, swimming and the infamous muddy low ropes. The time away from the usual school setting did not disappoint with many pupils,(and staff members), achieving things they did not think would be possible before the experience.
Sports Day and MYG Events
The Summer Term is always filled with sporting events. The academy participated in several Mini Youth Games events against other Medway schools including kwik cricket and athletics. We have had many successes and personal bests to celebrate!
Additionally, all pupils took part in our annual Sports Day at the village recreation ground. Parents and extended family members joined us to cheer on the different House teams throughout the day. Pupils were able to demonstrate skills they have been developing over the year and they tried some new activities in a range of running, jumping and throwing events. Some pupils then took part in the finals of the running races, gaining further points for their teams. At the end of the day, after all of the points had been totalled, the Redshanks were crowned champions for a second successive year! Awards were also presented to pupils who demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship behaviours during the day.
The Hundred of Hoo Academy
Coronation Celebrations
On Friday 5th May, children across the school got into the spirit of King Charles III's Coronation by wearing red, white and blue, singing the official coronation song and creating artwork based on the special day. In the lead up to the special day, children in Key Stage 1 created artwork for Hoo Parish Council which was turned into bunting and displayed around Hoo village.
At lunchtime, we came together for a street party style lunch with all children eating outside with Union Jack flag placemats and being treated to some specially-made Union Flag biscuits.
Our wonderful PTA created Coronation bookmarks and bought special pencils and chocolate for every child in the school which was then presented in a Coronation mug donated by the Parish Council.
Year 6 Performance
This year the students in Year 6 have written and produced their own leavers performance called “All Through The Years”. Not being satisfied at simply performing something which was created by somebody else, our fantastic pupils showed tenacity and resilience as they found out how challenging this could be! They reflected on life events across the school as well as events which happened in the wider world and included songs and acting as well as encouraging a few laughs from the audience and, of course, tugging on their parents’ heart-strings. This action completely encompasses the aspirations of Hoo pupils in a nutshell.
Sports Day
On Tuesday 4th July, despite the weather trying to put us off, we held our annual Primary Academy Sports Day! With the building work meaning that this was unable to be held on the primary field, we were fortunate enough to be able to have access to the secondary field.
It was not only the field that the secondary academy provided, with the PE department and the fabulous sports leaders helping to ensure that the day ran smoothly.
All students who took part showed incredible sportspersonship, cheering on their team, congratulating their opponents and living Jaime Escalante's quote of, "Life is not about how many times you fall down, it's about how many times you get back up."
Marden Primary Academy
Marden has had a momentous year in terms of inspections and visitors with PYP pre-authorisation and Challenge Partners in Autumn, OFSTED in Spring and finally PYP verification last week. Once again, we have risen to the challenge. By we, I want to clarify, that I mean everyone. From teachers, to parents and governors, but not least of all, our wonderful children. I am so thankful for all of the parents who were quizzed on the inspection and everyone did us proud. We have passed with flying colours, achieving 12 commendations, which are only given for areas that you are not expected to be achieving. We can shortly publish that we are officially an IB World School. This journey has been a hard one, but one that has transformed our curriculum offer at Marden and I am sure you agree, it has been worth the work.
It was truly wonderful to see so many parents and carers at Marden Father's Day. Enjoying the scavenger hunts, quick cricket and ice lollies in reception! Thank you for coming, I know it means an awful lot to your children and we thoroughly enjoy hosting all of our visitors.
Year 5 had a fantastic time on our trip to the Centre of Experimental Archaeology this term! The weather was great as we had talks about the First World War, focused on what soldiers experienced and had to wear, as well as what life was like on the Home Front. Our day culminated with a walk through a life-like trench system (and all its features), enabling us to understand what soldiers would have been living in under the constant threat of battle.
Bearsted Primary Academy
First BPA Inter-School event - Dragonball
On 3rd July 2023, a group of our Year 4 pupils represented Bearsted Primary Academy at its first sporting event: Dragonball. The children had a fantastic time and represented the school wonderfully. We were all so proud of their determination, drive and incredible sportsmanship towards the other schools. Our pupils were always the first to shake hands following a game and they were both gracious winners and losers. Even though the event was a chance for the children to have fun and learn a new game, we were blown away with their performance, playing a game they only had a few weeks to learn:
Game 1 - Win (3-1)
Game 2 - Loss (1-3) - This was an all-year 6 team!
Game 3 - Win (4-1)
Game 4 - Draw (2-2)
Game 5 - Win (3-2)
Well done Team Bearsted!
Learner Profile Attributes & Approaches to Learning
Over the last two modules we have been working hard to embed the approaches to learning here at Bearsted Primary Academy. Each week pupils have been set a task that focuses on the AtL and gives them an opportunity to embed this at the whole class and individual levels. This whole academy project has culminated in pupils identifying links between the AtLs and LPAs.
Embracing Art
Art learning is a huge part of the Nursery day and we love it!
Art falls under the EYFS curriculum area of 'Expressive Arts & Design'. Our young learners are encouraged to be independent and to freely access a wide range of resources and materials which allow them to express themselves.
They love experimenting with paint, glue and anything that is sparkly and brightly coloured and can transfer their skills when using IT. It is wonderful to see what our Little Bears create and how proud they are to show us what they can achieve. We enjoy seeing the process that art can take, and watching our children take risks and re-assess and evaluate what they are doing for each step of the way.
In Reception, pupils have had many opportunities to weave art into our inquiry; starting with looking at the seasons and the cycle of change that trees go through throughout the year. We created these trees using cut out corrugated card and various materials such as tissue paper, wool and cotton wool. In Computing, using the iPads, we created some digital art using a paint tool. Here are some examples of our creations, including symmetrical butterflies and the butterfly lifecycle.
In Year 1, we have looked at developing our painting skills and thought about the effects created by using different types of paint and brushes to create texture and detail. We looked at Vincent Van Gogh's famous painting of sunflowers and we chose the type of paint that we thought would be best to recreate it with. Our first attempts needed a bit of refining as we didn't mix the colours very carefully, or look very carefully at the original picture. There were a lot of extra stems! We conferenced with our teachers and evaluated our work and then we had another go.
In Year 3, one of the highlights of the year was the captivating study of portraits and shading. Our budding artists learned the art of capturing the essence of a person's character. They skillfully observed light and shadow using shading techniques to add depth and realism to their portraits. Another milestone was the study of perspective drawing and writing. Pupils discovered the power of perspective in creating the illusion of depth and distance. With precision and creativity, they brought their two-dimensional artwork to life, infusing it with depth and dimension. In the footsteps of the renowned artist L.S. Lowry, our Year 3 artists embraced the charm of cityscapes and industrial scenes. They explored the unique style that made Lowry famous, with his stick-figure-like characters and bustling urban landscapes. Our students captured the essence of Lowry's work, creating their own art in his distinctive style, immortalising moments in time that reflected their surroundings and experiences.
Embracing Art (cont'd)
Year 4 pupils explored expressionism and self-expression as part of their inquiry-based learning and had a go at creating their own collages that express themselves as individuals. More recently, pupils have been studying the two different types of cubism: analytical and synthetic. They have been exploring how to bring different views of subjects and objects together in the same picture, resulting in artwork that appears fragmented and abstract.
The National Fruit Show visit
Year 2 had a very exciting visit from The National Fruit Show education team. They showed us how apples are grown and the process that they undertake to get onto our shelves. We were shocked to learn that there are 14 stages, each one involving many people to ensure that the customer receives a good quality product. We had the opportunity to press apples to make our own apple juice and we all tried something new, including apple crisps and fruit bars. We were shocked to learn that they were produced within 5 miles of our academy and how aware of their environmental impact the farmers are, ensuring that nothing goes to waste and even the packaging is environmentally friendly. Afterwards, we got to explore each stage on the VR headsets and watch the individual processes for ourselves.
Factory of the Future
STEM had us all hooked in year 2 with their ‘Factory to the Future’ live science lesson like no other! We were able to work together with Matt, the engineer, and Nao, the robot, to create a net zero factory using the latest green technologies.
We had to make several decisions during the show and each decision helped the factory to work towards achieving 100% net zero. The decisions taken included location of the factory as well as the building materials used to build the factory. At the end of the live show we had the opportunity to ask Matt and Nao questions and find out more about engineering.
