Friday 4th March

Dear families,

This week has been another busy but enjoyable one at Shacklewell.

As you can see from the images on Twitter and below, yesterday’s World Book Day was a great success. The children (and teachers) thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as their favourite characters. Children really enjoyed speaking about the books they were reading and sharing these stories with their friends. Across the school everyone learnt about a key author and took part in a range of wonderful craft activities linked to books. Thank you for all of your efforts to help the children have a memorable day.

World Book Day was a fantastic example of the strength of our local community. Unfortunately on a more global level, we cannot ignore the events going on in Ukraine. The Executive Headteacher has written to you all today outlining how we are approaching this sensitive and upsetting topic with the children. We have members of our community who are directly affected by this conflict and so I ask that if you can please think about donating to Save the Children’s appeal for Ukraine.

Thinking about actions we can take more locally to improve children's lives, I would like to remind you about the dangers or idling engines at or near the school gates. We have noticed that Somerford Grove has become increasingly busy at the start and end of the day and this is proving dangerous to families and especially children who are scooting or biking to school. Please think about more sustainable ways of coming to school and if you do have to use the car, please remember that Shacklewell Row is a school street and should not be driven on at pick up or drop off.

We really appreciate all of the kind feedback about what its like for you all to be welcomed back into the school building. It helps the teachers know their work is appreciated. I look forward to welcoming many more of you for Come Dine with Me, Come Learn with Me and many other events this half term.

Have a great weekend.

Rory

It has been an enjoyable week this week in Key Stage 1 with Year 1 hosting the first 'Come Dine With Me' lunch session of the year. Families were welcomed into the hall and had a wonderful time eating their lunch together.

In maths, the Year 1 pupils have been using counters and cubes to explore different ways of representing their knowledge. They now know that 'difference' is found by comparing the quantity of one set of objects with another.

1S also had their first visit to Dalston CRL James Library this week. They had a fantastic time having story time with the librarian before exploring the amazing collections of books - they even borrowed a book to read at home.

In writing, Year 2 have been making their own comics. They started by unpicking the features of a comic and looked at a variety of sentence types that could be included in them. They then drafted what they would like to include in their comics using Keynote.

Year 1 and 2 pupils are both learning about plants in their Science lessons this half term. Year 1 took their Science lesson outside of the classroom, where they explored flowering plants. On a hunt around the playground, pupils noticed lots of early signs that spring is coming, which is very exciting! They spotted buds, tiny leaves and lots of rain-buds! This week, Year 2 explored the difference between bulbs and seeds, observing a variety of both from different plants and sorted them into different categories. They then learnt about what is inside bulbs and seeds and the jobs of each part.

Key Stage 2 have had a fantastic week this week. On Monday, Year 3 pupils had the pleasure of visiting the British Museum, where they took part in a self-guided tour exploring Ancient Egyptian artefacts. They learnt a lot of historical facts that will prove very useful in their History lessons. In Maths, Year 3 have been learning to divide 2-digit numbers. They used dienes and a place value chart, before dividing the whole number into equal groups.

Year 4 have had an excellent week in school. They have explored the application 'Scratch Junior' in computing and built their own programme that shows a car driving down a road and three farm animals having a race. They have used their knowledge of algorithms and commands to ensure the programme runs smoothly. In maths, Year 4 have continued their learning on decimals, focussing on rounding decimals to the nearest whole number and adding two numbers with one decimal place, together.

Year 5 pupils had been eagerly anticipating World Book Day, dressing up and learning about new authors. Author Sharna Jackson, writer of children’s fiction, was their focus for the day. Her book, 'High-Rise Mystery', is a story of murder, curiosity and silliness in which two friends, Nik and Norva, become a detective duo, ready to solve the case. The story and events inspired our Year 5 pupils to create their own book covers for their own stories, incorporating mystery and gore in to it too!

In Music, Year 6 have been loving their glockenspiel lessons and have been working hard to use their rhythm to play in time. They also enjoyed celebrating World Book Day by making their own creative masks.