Before she hung up her whiteboard pen to go on her well-earned maternity break, Mrs Cotton sent us some wonderful images of learning in Attenborough. There were too many to cram in one issue. So next week keep an eye out for some more pictures of Attenborough at work ... Check out Mrs Cotton's captions to get all the details

We conducted a range of experiments. What you can see in the photos are pupils experimenting in how to separate materials. They learnt that there are four ways to separate materials: evaporation, filtering, magnetism and sieving.

The Kingdom of Benin

In this lesson the children explored the changing fortunes of the Oba of Benin in the 1890s. Working in pairs, the pupils were given an envelope containing events surrounding the attack on Benin by British troops. Instead of them telling the story, they read the events to each other using the dated cards and placed them on a 'living/fortune graph'. The real thinking occurred when the pupils had to move each strip of paper to represent each event, up the vertical axis if it was good or down the vertical axis if it was bad. 

Above: Our class assembly on Benin. Below: All Hail Macbeth! Thane of Cawdor! Pupils explored playscripts, performed and wrote their own.

This week we bring you a bumper edition of 'Reception Round up.' We perused the photographic files of the Reception team and found pictorial evidence of some fabulously loving Valentines, animal examinations in the vet's corner, identifying tricky words, making bugs from leaves and string art. Busy times with our youngest learners. 

Neurodiversity is a term that seems to be everywhere these days. And increasingly, kids and young adults are using it to describe themselves. But what does it mean to be neurodiverse, and where does the term come from?

In short, it means that there are many differences in the way people’s brains work. There’s no “correct” or “incorrect” way. Instead, there is a wide range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world, and these differences should be embraced.

The term neurodiversity was coined in the 1990s to fight stigma and promote acceptance of people with autism. But it also includes other conditions that involve neurological differences, such as ADHD and learning disorders like dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Here at St Stephen’s we are already supporting our many neurodiverse children In so many ways and once again we are joining the thousands of other schools and millions of children all over the world in celebrating the benefits of different minds and diversity of thinking. 

Neurodiversity Celebration week aims to encourage a shift in focus away from our perceived weaknesses towards the many strengths and positive aspects that being Neurodivergent brings.

This year they're bringing you more panel discussions than ever before, with inspirational speakers from a range of backgrounds and professions. The discussions will all be focussing on key neurodiversity topics, and aim to educate while inspiring conversations about neurodiversity.

The wide range of events aim to educate and encourage conversations around neurodiversity, providing a safe space where you can join thousands of people in celebrating different minds.

All events are free of charge and open to all. Please do sign up to as many events as you like and share with your networks, so we can all join together in celebrating different minds!

Use the link below to sign up.

https://25478031.fs1.hubspotusercontent-eu1.net/hubfs/25478031/NCW%20Interactive%20Event%20Schedule.pdf?utm_campaign=NCW%202025&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--5d8BG0IUgf4TZ-g1DSu8KOPGcZT4r1JZtt3ou1OTjN6eMp2uHMji_anUYQsIoMnO04uyKvxCDxUx0E9ySlc8SIftaoxx8g1P3L1Gl0IfXy5ax17e8Bx3Y5Qj74_HXNWUro0at&_hsmi=103591616&utm_content=103591616&utm_source=hs_email