Reception have started cricket lessons and  are being introduced to a variety of new cricket skills that focus on building coordination, teamwork, and basic techniques. They will  learn how to hold a bat properly, practice hitting soft balls, and develop their hand-eye coordination through fun, simple drills. The emphasis is on encouraging movement and balance, helping children learn how to bowl underarm and understand the importance of running between the wickets. Through games and group activities, they also begin to grasp the concept of teamwork, learning how to work together to field the ball and communicate with their teammates. The environment is playful and supportive, allowing young children to enjoy the sport while developing essential motor skills and social interaction.

It has been a very eventful week in KS1 this week. We started with assessments in year 2 to show how much we have learned so far in the year, the teachers are very proud of what we have achieved and we know what are going to focus our learning on in the coming months before we progress to year 3. 

As well as this, we have been enjoying our DT topic of building structures in the afternoons each day this week. We started by looking at different 3D shapes to see which of them was the most stable using plasticine to make different shapes and see how well they would stick to a raised surface. This was a lot of fun and we recorded our findings in a table, showing a very scientific process in our learning. Next, we had to investigate which of the structures was the strongest and as a class we tested how many books a cuboid, triangular prism and cylinder would hold. We were surprised to discover that it was the cylinder which was the strongest, so we experimented making cylinder of different widths and heights. 

Finally we had to use all the knowledge that we had gained in order to design and make a chair using paper and tape. Together, we created design criteria and drew out our different designs for what the chair would look like before making our cylinders and building the chair by taping the different pieces altogether. It was a lot of hard work and we found it tricky to work out how to make them stand up. But we showed a lot of perseverance, tried our best and most importantly had a lot of fun. 

Year 5 children have had a great start to Autumn 2 and consistently bring in research and art project homework, that helps to supplement their learning in a a creative way.  Their keenness to learn the new topics in the curriculum and be curious about the world around them, from learning about  life cycles, the Ten Commandments and features of mountains to expanding and consolidating their understanding of fractions in maths, is wonderful. 

The Year 5 team are very proud of our children's achievements and after speaking with so many parents this week, we can tell that they share in our pride.