Newsletters

Upper School Playground 

As we have more pupils this year, we’ve noticed that there’s a lot of congestion in the playground at pickup and drop-off times. Whilst we love having parents on site, we have noticed that there’s not enough space in the playground for you to congregate for extended periods.  Please can we ask that you drop your child at the gate, or the entrance to their classroom, and leave them to independently unpack their belongings and follow the classroom routines.  

Whilst the playground equipment is supervised during playtimes and clubs, we do not have supervision at after club pickup.  We have noticed that, on occasion children are cycling around the playground or using the equipment dangerously, sometimes running in and out of the classrooms. This is when accidents are likely to happen. In future, we'd be grateful if your child is attending a club, if you could wait at the gate where the staff member in charge will deliver your child to you as we will already have their belonging ready with them.

Year 3 News 

Our very first year 3 class are off to a flying start!

We are delighted to be in our new classroom and the children have settled in beautifully to the new routines of Key Stage 2.

We have had a very busy week in class and have been learning lots of new vocabulary to do with our topic, ‘Prehistoric Rocks’. The children worked in teams to identify six different rocks and used their observational skills to sketch and shade their samples. We have also been learning about the conditions of life in the Stone Age and have been identifying threats and assets to early humans. Did you know that humans tamed wolves to help them in the Mesolithic era?

On Tuesday, the Year 3s had their most exciting lesson yet: swimming! They were brilliant and really impressed us all with their independence and organisation.

In dance this week, the children were embodying woolly rhinoceros and stretched all the way across the new hall before completing a charge to either end.

I am so proud of all of the children in Year 3 and can’t wait to see what this term brings.

Keep up the fantastic work, Year 3!

Year 2 News 

 The children have been settling into their new year group and we have been practising our agreements and focussing on being independent and organised. We have continued to learn about islands and what features we might find on them. We made our own beautiful islands with tissue paper to show the different physical features we might find.  The children will be using these islands in the weeks to come using wonderful adjectives and similes to describe them! We all think they look fantastic!

In Numeracy we have been learning about place value and base 10. We had a challenge for the children and they needed to first work independently on representing the numbers using cubes and then we had a group challenge where the children needed to work in a team! The first to finish was the Isle of Scilly (with the Isle of Man and Isle of Wight in close second and third)! Our ‘Fast Finishers’ board is now complete and the children have been excited to take on more challenges (once their work is complete!) which include literacy, numeracy and thinking out of the box tasks! Furthermore, we are all very proud of our ‘We are Year 2’ display board.

Year 1 News 

What a wonderful start to the year we have had in Year 1! The children have been very busy understanding their new routines and learning how to be even more independent than they already were in Reception. We have been extra impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and hard work in their new classrooms as they navigate their new environments. They signed a class charter, and made time capsules to send to themselves at the end of the school year, filled with hopes and wishes for the next few months.  

Our starting topic is Ourselves. We began by looking at the different parts a human body is made of. They enjoyed singing songs, and playing Simon Says, before creating an outline of their bodies in teams, labelling as many parts as they could using their phonic sounds. They were very knowledgeable about their internal organs and their jobs too! The children also looked at various portraits by famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as a portrait of the late Queen. They then used mirrors to draw self-portraits, and practised paint mixing to match their skin tones.  

The children have also enjoyed reading and writing about special people in their lives, from kind dads to mummies that cook for six every evening and grandpas that jump out of airplanes! They have also been starting to learn to use lead ins and lead outs in their handwriting sessions, and feeling very proud of their letters so far.  

There have been many firsts this week. First computing sessions, and first violin groups. We can’t wait to see the marvellous work the children will produce over the next few weeks and to share it with you all.  

Reception News 

Over these past two weeks Reception have been exploring their new environment, making friends and getting to grips with the schools routines and expectations. The children have been discussing and using their phonic knowledge to write about the things they are excited to experience this year, something they wished people knew about them, their families, and what makes a house a home.

The class have been developing their fine-motor skills by moulding clay into the shape of their initial. Reception have been exploring aboriginal artwork through our story ‘The Koala Who Could’. The children traced around their hands and filled them with their own individual patterns, we then combined them to create a collaborative art piece. The children have also been using junk modelling to create an imaginary home.

The children have explored number by sorting socks into pairs, discussing odd and even numbers, quantity and grouping. The children have also engaged in STEM challenges such as constructing structures using a range of materials.

Watching the children grow in confidence and enthusiasm these past weeks has been a joy, they should be so proud of themselves!

Nursery

It is wonderful seeing the nursery children enjoying their new classes and environments.  Our new children are settling in well and are busy exploring everything on offer and getting to know their new friends and teachers.  It is lovely seeing all our nursery families again and we were pleased that many of our new parents were able to join the Welcome Drinks this week. We look forward to seeing you all at future events too.  

The children are learning about sharing and turn taking in the nursery. Like other nursery expectations this is being reinforced by positive feedback when children are sharing and turn taking, reminders of promises such as 'We take turns' and 'We are kind', intervening during interactions when needed - encouraging children to think through a problem, setting up activities which involve sharing, and reading and talking about sharing stories. Games involving turn taking such as board games and outdoor games accompanied by turn taking language are also effective ways of teaching children to wait for their turn (self-regulate) and help them understand and enjoy the sharing experience. 

Wishing everyone a pleasant long weekend. 

 

Salima 

Upstairs Nursery News

What busy first 2 weeks of term we all had Upstairs! The children have settled well into their new environment, have quickly learnt the routines, and have started to form friendships. It has been wonderful getting to know them and finding out about their interests, likes and dislikes.

The children enjoyed celebrating what makes them special by creating their own self-portraits using various art techniques to represent their features. The Picasso inspired ones revealed their awareness and knowledge of 2D shapes, as they have carefully arranged them to make their picture.

Our cooking session was a big hit! We made healthy face pizzas and practised our one to one correspondence as we counted the vegetable toppings.

The children had lots of fun joining in with their first Dance, Spanish, Music and PE sessions. They demonstrated active listening skills and enjoyed opportunities to creatively express themselves in different ways.

We look forward to more fun-filled weeks ahead!

Downstairs Nursery News

Our topic this term is ‘All About Me’. This week the children enjoyed using a mirror to look closely at their features and recreated their faces on paper. The children have shared family pictures and talked about special moments with their families. They also had the opportunity to bring in their favourite toys and talk about them with their peers during ‘show and tell’. The children explored their body parts through music and dance by stretching and moving in a variety of ways.

During child led play, the children have explored a variety of stimulating and engaging experiences of which soft play, messy play and imaginative play have been particularly popular!

We have also explored our class promises through circle time activities encouraging children to use ‘gentle hands’, ‘kind words’ and to do ‘good sharing’.

The Downstairs Team