PYP Inquiry

Little Moles

This module Little Moles have been investigating the transdisciplinary theme 'Who We Are'. The children have shared their family unit and discussed the things that make them unique. We have looked at similarities and differences and made sure that we celebrate all of the children's choices, characteristics and cultures. The children have learned about our bodies, our senses and thought about the way our actions may affect others. We have explored our environments making sure to be risk-takers and give everything a try while we develop our communication skills and work with other children to build, climb and create using a variety of materials. The world map had been a focus for us as we looked at lots of different countries and shared our nationalities. We listened to different languages, learning a Spanish song and greetings in the different languages from children in the nursery. The children have experienced new foods from around the world and have transferred these inquisitive tastes to our lunches being open-minded to try new things.

Kangaroo and Koala Class  

It has been a fantastic start of the year. I am delighted that all children settled in exceptionally well in their first year of 'big school'. Their enthusiasm, engagement, and commitment to their learning have been truly commendable. It is evident that they have formed positive relationships with their peers, teachers, and the wider school community. Our current learning focus centres around the central idea of "Unique Identities Influence the Choices Humans Make." Through our core text, "All Are Welcome," we have guided the children on a fascinating inquiry journey aimed at exploring various lines of thought, including: Who I am, how different strengths and characteristics make me an individual and human relationships, including friends, family, and community.

Through this exploration, we developed a deep appreciation for the uniqueness and value of every individual. We encouraged them to embrace both the similarities and differences between themselves and others, fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment. Additionally, we aimed to nurture vital social skills, such as taking turns, sharing, active listening as well as recognising, naming, and positively dealing with their feelings. The children created self portraits and have practised name writing as part of our Art focus of identity.

Key Stage One

This term, Key Stage One have been focusing on the theme 'Who we are' through studying the central idea 'Our identity can be affected by our values, beliefs, health and spirituality.' The children have enjoyed learning about what makes them an individual and how special it is to be them. In Science they have learnt about the parts of their bodies, the senses, how they are similar and different to their peers, how they grow and change and the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They have also enjoyed learning about each others' families and exploring how to have positive relationships with others, recognising the emotions of their friends and family members. The children enjoyed their visit to St Martin's church and learning about the symbols, traditions and beliefs that are important to Christians. We have been impressed by the children's locational knowledge this term. They have enjoyed learning about the features of our local area and which of these are physical or human in Geography terms. They have also learnt about continents and oceans of the world and thoroughly enjoyed our cultural day. The children have also really enjoyed studying our key text 'The name jar', learning about the life of a little girl from Korea. The children have shown a keen interest in the history of Molehill and Shepway and this learning linked perfectly to our 'Molehill turning 70' celebrations. The children also enjoyed taking part in our Victorian day and agreed school is much better now! 

Lower Key Stage Two

This term, Year 3 and 4 have had the transdisciplinary theme, ‘Who we are’, with the central idea, ‘Cultures and communities can share knowledge and values.’ Our core text, Stig of the Dump took us on a journey back in time to the Stone age, where, through our History lessons, we discovered what life was like for people in the Stone age and how people evolved and adapted from the palaeolithic to the neolithic era. We created our own cave paintings in our Art lessons, firstly experimenting with different ways and colours to create a background for our pictures. A Geography field trip in our local area brought us to Grace Community Church, where we were fortunate enough to have a fantastic and informative talk from Mrs Keith about the importance of Community, linking perfectly to our lines of inquiry.

In Science, Year 3 learned about nutrition and what humans need to survive, which linked to our Stone age survival kits we had created in History. We couldn’t learn about nutrition without having a taste lesson, so we tested and determined our favourite type of bread and, inspired by our learning about Rosh Hashanah in RE, we learned how to make our own version of Challah bread. This was certainly a highlight and a delicious end to the term.

Upper Key Stage Two

This term, years 5 and 6 have been investigating the central idea: 'Our beliefs, values and culture are what make us human.' Classes have been investigating different cultures from around the world, which was embodied by our Cultural Day as an Academy, where we focused on cultural foods and traditions. Further to this, we have been looking at beliefs about God and how different beliefs are formed and maintained in religions. Our learning has been supplemented by the book 'A Kind of Spark' which depicts the story of an autistic girl who campaigns for her beliefs of what is right and wrong in her local town, highlighting the injustice that is prevalent in their society about those who are seen as 'different'. The children have thoroughly enjoyed stepping into the role of the main character and discussing what they believe and feel and recognising how this has shaped who they are.

STEAM 2024

This term year 5 attended the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) event hosted by Thorpe Park.  The children had a fantastic and inspiring day full of educational fun.  Pupils participated in varied and exciting STEAM activities and were awarded stamps for each one they participated in.  Stamps were then exchanged for rides at the park.  The activities complemented and expanded on skills from the National Curriculum and demonstrated their application in real-life contexts.  They also had the opportunity to meet a special guest 'Titan The Robot'.

Number Bond Challenges

This year, years 1, 2 and 3 have been embarking on a new challenge each week with their number bonds. The children are testing themselves on their number bond knowledge and striving for the best by improving on their scores each week, to allow them to progress to the next test. 

This initiative has been a success across the Academy and has seen many children celebrating their accomplishments with their peers, teachers and parents. 

At Leigh Academy Molehill, number bonds are a key part of our mathematics curriculum as they build the foundations for addition and subtraction. Hence, we practise these in classrooms everyday and are consistently revisiting the knowledge in all year groups and using it on a daily basis. With this in mind, we feel it is important to create an even greater focus on these skills to ensure that we are building children’s knowledge and setting them up for the greatest success in later life. 

Please continue to practise number bonds at home with your children, to allow them to celebrate their achievements with you and continue their success. There are some simple tasks which you could do at home with your child to help them practise their number bonds, as the more practise, the more fluent your child’s mathematics will become. These are as follows: 

• Give your child ten counters (Lego bricks, pasta shapes, buttons, sweets) and ask them questions such as: What do you add to 3 to make 10? What do you add to 2 to make 10? Encourage them to use the counters to work it out.

• Print or make number cards and ask your child to match them up into number pairs or number bonds (this can be done as a game of Snap). 

• Write a list of ten numbers then time your child to see how long it takes them to write down the other number that makes up each pair (2 and 18; 5 and 15; 4 and 16). 

• Use online games such as Topmarks: Hit the Button, Topmarks: Daily ten, White Rose 1 minute maths (a free app), Bingo addition, tens frames interactive activities , Curious George Museum of ten and many more to test recall. 

Design and Technology - Making Scones

As part of the DT curriculum and linked to British culture during our cultural day, Year 5 spent an enjoyable lesson tasting a variety of scones. The overwhelming favourite was plain scones. The children analysed the nutritional value of these and then developed their cooking skills by preparing and baking their own scones.