Here in Year 3, the weeks are flying past! We had another eventful few days of discovery, including; visiting and walking around Pompeii (virtually), marvelling in the preserved beauty, whilst acknowledging the tragic devastation from Mount Vesuvius (which the Pompeians shockingly called: Their Great Protector). We have also been constructing our own volcanoes, ready for erupting next week!

Due to us all becoming volcanologists and experts in everything volcanoes, we are currently writing our own individual non-fiction texts about the aspects of these natural disasters we are most intrigued by. We have been focusing on extending our ideas to add information and flesh out our sentences and paragraphs to be both descriptive and informative for the reader; using adverbs, conjunctions and subject specific language. Our Gold Book entrants this week have written some expertly constructed and curated sentences...

This week our Gold Book entries are; Freddie and Massimo, please read their sentences and tell me, whether or not you would want to read a whole non-fiction book about volcanoes from these two, because I think these ooze professionalism and technical descriptions from two chaps who obviously know their stuff ....

Freddie - Under the subheading: 'Are Volcanoes Harmful?' 'A volcano erupts with power. Explosions from a volcano can be heard from thousands of miles away. People and animals get poisoned from the hot burning gas. Lava streams burning and destroying peoples homes as if there was nothing there!'

Massimo - Under the subheading: 'What Volcanoes Do.' 'Under our feet is boiling hot molten rock that tries to squeeze through any cracks in Earth's crust. A volcano erupts! Lava shoots out of a volcano. Lava rushes down a volcano!'

Fabulous writing from these two chaps and the class as a whole! I look forward to reading more of their non-fiction texts and being taught even more about these destructive phenomena. Congratulations also to Massimo for working very hard and completing his Grade 1 in piano! Well done.

Thank you also to Amelia and Maddison for their amazing volcanic creations.

Year 4 have all worked hard again this week but there are 4 people to mention in particular:

Eve - she has shown a wonderful tenacity in her work this week but in particular this has shined through in her English when we were writing a postcard home in role as Charlie Small. Eve has managed to capture Charlie's personality and develop her own authorial voice in this piece of writing. With great pride, Eve shared her writing with everyone in class and we all agreed that it was a fabulous piece of writing. It is great fun and well put together. Well done, Eve.

Ivy - She has also been writing in role as Charlie and use the opportunity to write very vivid noun phrases within her postcard. Not only that, Ivy thought carefully about her verb choice, which meant that everything she wrote formed a clear picture in the mind of the reader. Excellent work, Ivy.

Leaf - All of Leaf's learning has moved up a gear since returning to school. Her confidence and determination to learn shines every day. This is reflected this week in all of her learning - it is impossible to choose one particular area. She is writing beautifully, contributing thoughtfully to discussions, thinking carefully about her maths as well as listening closely to the new Spanish challenges we are undertaking. Well done, Leaf. Excellent work.

Tom - Tom has returned to school with a new, efficient style about him which has resulted in him always being ready to learn. He is listening carefully to instructions and is completing tasks quickly and in a well-ordered manner. He is thinking about his presentation and trying hard to ensure that everything is complete and correct before the lesson has ended. Keep up the good work, Tom.

I have two children who have really wowed me this week. Firstly, Oscar is very careful and strategic in his thinking, particularly when facing more complex problems. It is wonderful to hear him explaining his ideas to the class in such detail. This has been particularly beneficial in our Shakespeare unit, where Oscar has been able to develop aspects of characterisation through what the characters say and do, as well as decode some more tricky Shakespearean phrases. He even recalled a new word which he had discovered in his reading and was able to use this effectively in his own writing.

Ayda has also had an excellent week in our Shakespeare unit. She is becoming a much more confident writer and has also been developing characterisation. Here is an extract of her writing about Macbeth:

'Macbeth paced away from the hired thug, looking at the floor like it was going to swallow him up. Grinding his teeth to the beat of his step. Banging his hands on his face faster and faster.'

Bliss is our first entry this week for trying really hard to improve her attitude towards her learning. She's becoming more enthusiastic about taking on new challenges and is gaining confidence sharing her ideas in class.

Our second entry this week is Henry who asked some really challenging questions during our debate on Wednesday, "Should Victor Frankenstein create a second creature as a companion?" His questioning helped make the debate interesting and kept the opposition on their toes!

Start the morning in a positive way!

Breakfast and Homework club is back and taking bookings for Summer Term. Club begins at 7.45am. At the moment we run Monday to Thursday but please let us know if you would require Friday when booking.

Sessions are only £6 per child including a healthy breakfast.

To book a place, contact Miss Presswell at the school office by the end of next week.

finance@sarratt.herts sch.uk

01923 262003

After School Clubs

Next Term we will be offering after school clubs for the first time in over a year! We are so happy to see this resuming and hop to be running a full schedule soon. The first clubs to restart will all be held outdoors.

Here are details of our programme starting in April:

Tuesdays: Boogie Bounce with Laura (Year 3 and Year 4)

Wednesday: Bokeh Juniors Photography Club with Mr Kelly (KS2)

Thursday: Netball with Miss Hier (Year 5 and Year 6)

Friday: Football with 1st Touch (Year 1- Year 6)

A Parentmail has been sent out with details of how to book. each club.

I do hope you are all well. Last week at the family service we especially prayed for the challenges of our school's children and continue to do so.

This week will be Palm Sunday and the recorded service will be via:

https://youtube.com/c/HCSP-Online

Blessed Palm crosses are available from the porch of Sarratt Church and by the Parish Room door in Chipperfield

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend

Every blessing