Dear Grazebrook Families

It has been a fantastic and very busy half term packed with learning celebrations, trips and new learning. Last week saw our Year 6 pupils demonstrate incredible focus and responsibility as they tackled their KS2 SATs. We are very proud of the children's positive, can-do attitude and all their hard work this year. 

We are also proud of the kindness shown by all the children and adults across the school in supporting the Year 6 children to do their best. A special thank you to Mr Cook and Ms Jean for preparing and serving a special SATs breakfast each day to ensure the children were ready to do their best each morning and to Mrs Cabey, Ms McLaughlin and Ms Azevedo for keeping the children calm and confident throughout the week. 

We would also like to say a big thank you to our staff and families who gave up their Saturday morning to run alongside our Year 4, 5 and 6 children at the Hackney Schools' Challenge on Hackney Marshes. The children had a brilliant time and were role models of our Grazebrook value of collaboration.

Looking ahead to our Summer 2 curriculum, our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) topic is Safety and the Changing Body which includes Relationships Education. We are now using a scheme called Kapow to deliver these lessons, rather than Jigsaw. If you would like to find out more about your child's PSHE learning this half term, we will be holding parent/carer information sessions after half term. The details of these can be found below: 

Year 3 & 4: Monday 2nd June at 3.45pm in 3G

Years 1 & 2: Tuesday 3rd June at 3.45pm in 2B

Years 5 & 6: Thursday 5th June at 3.45pm in 5B

Summer 2 also means Sports Days. Once again, we will be holding three separate events, one for our Nursery children at Clissold Park on 25th June, one for our Reception children at Clissold Park on 23rd June and one for our Year 1 to Year 6 pupils at Finsbury Park Athletic Track on Thursday 12th June. Please look out for letters with full details of the events on MCAS and our website which will be shared later this week. House (Team) Colours will be displayed in your child's classroom window.

Finally, a reminder that school finishes at the usual time of 3.30pm on Thursday 22nd May. After School Clubs, Wraparound and Our Space will run as normal on this day. Summer 2 begins on Monday 2nd June at 8.55am (with breakfast club from 8.00am). 

The Nursery children have been learning about what a plant needs to grow. The children did lots of planting and watering then observed their plants growing. They used different media to draw, paint and create artistic and scientific representations of their plants and flowers. The children also received a very special package earlier this month - some eggs! These were placed inside an incubator and after a few days, the children were able to watch chicks hatching and then look after them before they went to live on a farm. 

The Reception children went on an adventure to the Woodberry Wetlands to learn about the animals that can be found in our local area. They were able to bird watch, pond dip and go on a mini-beast hunt. Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us for the trip. 

Year 1 have been exploring length and mass in their maths lessons. The children have been very hands-on during this unit where they have used metre sticks to measure objects around the classroom and decide whether they are longer or shorter than a metre. They have also been using balancing scales to weigh objects in the classroom using non standard units such as cubes. 

In geography lessons, the children have been learning about the United Kingdom. Once again, we have been so impressed by the children's amazing collaboration and creativity showcased by their home learning projects. 

In Year 2,  the children have been developing their emotional awareness and resilience, exploring the importance of health and wellbeing in their everyday lives. They recently took part in an art workshop as part of their summer project, Know Yourself, Grow Yourself, where they identified their strengths and the qualities that make them unique—all while engaging in creative crafts making a colourful piece of art to take home.   

Year 3 turned their classrooms into angle measuring workshops. This involved seeing what angles we could identify in masking tape covered tables. We also drew on the tables and found parallel lines in our names!

For Year 4's Know Yourself, Grow Yourself workshops, they created self-affirmation squares which will be joined together to celebrate the children's strengths and uniqueness.

Year 5 have enjoyed making connections between their RE and DT learning this week. They were amazed to successfully create their own yeast water using just flour, water, and grapes. Throughout the week, they’ll continue feeding their starter daily, leading up to baking their own bread — seasoned with carefully tasted and selected herbs. 

Year 6 is currently looking at ‘The Arrival’. This is a book of illustrations without words, a silent graphic novel.  The children were analysing the images using inference skills and their knowledge of the world to explain the theme of ‘migration’.  They had lots of opportunities to discuss what they were seeing and why these events might be happening.

Year 4 started the term with an incredible showcase of their knowledge of the Anglo Saxons. Year 5 followed with an Ancient Greek extravaganza where they taught us lots of facts about life in the city states of Athens and Sparta. They helped us to understand the way in which Ancient Greek society has shaped modern life. 

Children from across Year 2, 3 and 4 took part in tennis tournaments at Clissold Park earlier this term. The children showed fantastic collaboration and determination in their matches and came home victorious with medals and certificates.