Class News

Year 6 - Chaffinch Class

Year 6 have begun term 5 with our new central idea 'Societies can learn from the legacies of Ancient Civilisations'. Inspired by our class text, The Rabbits by Shaun Tan, we have begun to delve into the growth of the British Empire and the effects this had on both the British people, the new colonies and the original indigenous populations. We have shown empathy by understanding what life would have been like for the indigenous people and have shown this by writing from their perspective. 

We have focused on ensuring we are excellent digital citizens; we understand that every online action leaves behind a digital footprint which can have consequences in the physical world. As a class, we acknowledge the prevalence of being online in the modern world and the role it plays in our lives. However, we understand the negative impact it can have and have worked together to understand how we can use technology safely and what to do should we encounter something we are unsure about. 

Since the beginning of the year, Year 6 have worked tirelessly in preparation for their end of key stage statutory assessments. No stone has been left unturned and it is commendable how much effort the children have put it to ensure that they are ready to showcase their considerable knowledge. We are so proud of the resilience and dedication to self improvement; we cannot wait to see how well they can achieve when SATs begin today, the 13th May. 

Year 4 - Blue Jay Class

Year 4 have been incredibly busy (as always). We are continuing to focus on our multiplication skills and it has been brilliant to see the progress so many of the children are making. Our Soundcheck scores are gradually improving and we are loving using the BBC Supermovers videos to sing and dance our way to knowledge. Keep up the hard work Blue Jays!!

As part of our inquiry into The actions of individuals can have significant implications for the lives of others, we have started to consider who can make an impact and how and why they might do this. We are using the text 'The boy at the back of the class' to discuss this. This text also has real ties to our past central idea about migration and refugees where we focused on reasons people and civilisations may have chosen to migrate. This is bringing our thinking to the present time. We have learned a significant truth about our book's main character, Ahmet: Ahmet isn't strange at all. He's a refugee who has run away from a war. A real one. With bombs and bullies that hurt people. Our discussions have been very thoughtful and we have been making great references to the text when giving our ideas and reasons to support our ideas.

Year 3 - Woodpecker Class

This module, Woodpecker class have taken a trip back in time to the Anglo-Saxon era. We have learned all about why the Romans left Britain and what happened in the subsequent 700 years! The children have loved learning about the melting pot that was Britain at the time with invasions from Anglo-Saxons, Jutes and Vikings!

We have learned about how these different cultures have influenced Britain throughout history all the way to modern day Britain. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this central idea and have been so engaged.  We have made some Anglo-Saxon style brooches trying to mimic the intricate styles and designs. As well as that, we have looked at an Anglo Saxon recipe for 'bread' and updated and modernised it with some more modern ingredients. This all links with our central idea of Systems of government can impact on citizens’ wellbeing, safety and prosperity as there were so many different governments and rulers during this period of History. The children continue to demonstrate their flair for languages, this module we have been learning some animals in Spanish and how to construct the sentence; I am a ...

We were fortunate enough to get a box of Viking artefacts from Maidstone Museum that has helped to bring our learning to life and sparked some interesting discussions and thoughts

Year 2 - Blackbird Class

It has been all things gardening and science in Year 2 for the past few weeks! We have been trying to make the most of the sunshine and getting outside to sow our own sunflower seeds. Before this, we had to understand what conditions the seeds needed in order for them to grow into beautiful sunflowers, this is warmth, sun,  water and nutrients. After this, we predicted how tall our sunflowers are going to grow, we used our mathematical skills to determine which measurement would be most appropiate for measuring sunflower seeds.  We will keep you posted on how our sunflower seeds are growing!

Our book this term is 'Claude in the City' and we have been incredibly excited to find out what adventures Claude will encounter. We decided to use our thinking and creativity skills by adding our own twist to the ending of a scene, we got into groups and re-enacted the scene which helped us to remember what action-packed journey Claude had. This has given us lots of knowledge ready for our piece of writing.

Blackbird Class wanted to do something to help our community, from reading the book 'Duffy's Lucky Escape' we were made aware of the importance of keeping our oceans clean to save all of the species that live in the water. We realised the negative impact litter has on living things so decided to take action and pick up litter around the local park. We could not believe how much litter was left! Make sure we keep our local areas clean everyone!

Year 1 - Sparrow Class

Our Year 1 adventurers have been on a fantastic journey this term, learning how to be healthy superheroes as part of our central idea ‘Making balanced choices can contribute to a healthy lifestyle’. In our science inquiries we have been learning about the human body and how to keep it healthy through exercise and healthy eating.  Inspired by the our class story "I Don't Like the Colour Green" by Lynne Rickards, Sparrows became brave taste testers, trying new fruits and vegetables. They used all their senses – sight, touch, smell, and of course, taste! – to create incredible descriptions that blossomed into fantastic shape poems. This yummy exploration led them to the kitchen, where they learned how to whip up delicious and healthy fruit smoothies. They even practised their cutting skills and carefully wrote down the steps in their very own recipes, ready to recreate their colourful smoothie creations at home!

In Maths, we've been zooming through multiplication, becoming counting champions for 2s, 5s, and 10s. We've used playful examples like pairs of socks and wiggling fingers and toes to make learning extra fun. Sparrow Class have also begun gearing up for sports day by developing their athletic skills in PE, particularly their throwing and catching, running and jumping where they have continued to learn about balance and the all important ‘soft knees’ when landing. 

In the upcoming weeks Year 1 will be starting their final inquiry into the arts with the central idea of ‘The Arts can help people develop their creativity and imagination’. We can’t wait to see the children express their creative imaginations!

Reception - Robin Class

We have had a very busy start to Module 5. We began our new inquiry, ‘All living things go through processes of change’. We started the term by learning about oral hygiene and why it is important to look after our teeth. We even had a role play dentist in our classroom!! Following on from this, our learning has been based around the books ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, ‘Sam Plants a Sunflower’ and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.  We have been learning about life cycles and have created our own books on life cycles. We started learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar and its metamorphosis into a butterfly and then applied this learning to the life cycle of a sunflower. We have planted our own sunflower and bean seeds and can’t wait to watch them grow! We have been developing our acting and performance skills by re-enacting the story, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ Check out our different expressions!

In phonics we have started to learn the Unit Three sounds. The children are making  great progress with their reading. We are now focusing on independent sentence writing. In maths we have been learning to identify and order numbers to 20, compose and decompose numbers to 10 and make different arrangements with 2D shapes. 

Nursery - Duckling Class

We have started  the module by introducing a new inquiry " The Earth's natural cycle affects how people live." Through engaging activities and discussions we have been delving into how the natural world can shape our daily lives. Our spring exploration began with reading the story "The very hungry caterpillar" by Eric Carle, this is a wonderful story about a little caterpillar who eats lots of different foods and grows bigger and bigger. Eventually the caterpillar spins a cosy cocoon and after a while transforms into a beautiful butterfly.  After reading the story the children were very excited to learn that we had some very special visitors - five very hungry caterpillars! The children have been observing the caterpillars closely whilst learning all about the life cycle of a butterfly. During maths we have using the theme of butterflies and caterpillars by engaging in fun number and quantity games. We did this by matching a number to the correct amount of butterflies. This is helping the children to develop their numeracy skills. The children have also been expressing their creativity through using different coloured paints to represent butterflies and caterpillars. It has been amazing to watch our creative area display board come alive with different shapes and colour.

As we continue to explore what spring looks like around the nursery setting, we are looking forward  to see how our caterpillars will change over the next few weeks and look forward to sharing with you what will happen next in our caterpillars' adventures.