As COP26 drew to a close, our busy Pre-School pupils were out and about doing their bit for the environment. The eager little Wombles visited Aldenham Golf Club on a litter picking mission, making a positive impact and ensuring that wherever possible their ‘collection’ was recycled. Reception have been reading ‘Owl Babies’ this week and it has as been an absolute pleasure to hear all about their learning from visitors to my office and in the classroom. From sharing knowledge about nocturnal animals to showing empathy for how the babies felt when their mum went hunting, the children have as always made me so proud. Year 1 and 2 have been sharing their Black History Month projects in both class and assembly and it is clear just how much they have been inspired; their confidence when presenting demonstrates the depth of their learning. Year 2 have had a very busy week! They had the opportunity to dress as evacuees and through role play and discussion, they put themselves in the shoes of children of their age who were sent miles away from home in order to stay safe during a time of war. Travelling even further back in time, they stood by as their own models of Pudding Lane circa 1666 burned to the ground. A fresh Autumn wind licked the flames and accelerated the fire just as it did all those years ago. Huge thanks again to Magic Grandad (aka Mr Chaplin ) for helping us to enjoy yet another fantastically interactive learning experience. The Pre Prep held their own Remembrance Assembly Services this week. Age appropriate learning in the days leading up to the 11th November, ensured that our very youngest children had a sense of the solemnity and deep significance of the occasion.
Year 3 - Year 3 have been fully immersed into their topic of rocks, soils and volcanoes by studying ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’ by Phillip Pullman in English. They have rehearsed the scene in the Fire Fiend’s grotto by reading playscripts before beginning to plan and write their own and including stage directions! It was lovely to see some of the children reading their own versions with a partner. The children have furthered their knowledge of the structure of the earth by looking at it in relation to a boiled egg! Did you know that the earth’s crust is thinner under the ocean? They have also explored life in volcanic areas and learnt all about the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010. Year 4 - This week in Year 4 the children have shown real determination when continuing their studies on converting measurements. This is a challenging area of maths to master and the children are working really hard. In English we have started learning about fables. The children have enjoyed performing some of Aesop's well known fables and interpreting the morals. Some of the children have written their own interpretation of ‘The Wolf and the Sheep’. In Science we have been learning about habitats and the different species that live in these.
Year 5 - This week year 5 learned that ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ as they continued to analyse Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in English lessons. The children were asked to describe and discuss the main characters, exploring the complicated interactions between the characters. In maths lessons Year 5 have been looking at ordering fractions, finding fractions of amounts and recognising patterns in fraction sequences. Year 5 became science investigators in lessons this week as they investigated the relationship between mass and spring stretch using newton metres. Ask your child to explain what they discovered during their investigation. In geography lessons the children pretended that they were tour guides, showing tourists around the British isles. Their challenge was to identify physical and natural geographical features. Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed PE lessons this week as they continued to work on their gymnastics skills. This week saw the children focusing on the vault. Pupils were encouraged to develop their creative skills as they started to write their own script based on a fairy tale. After writing it they were then asked to perform it to the rest of the form. Selected children from year 5 and year 6 were asked to show their Black History Month projects this week. Congratulations to Louie who presented his project on ‘Stephen Lawrence’ with great confidence and diction. Well done to all of the children who took part in the Remembrance service on Thursday. It was wonderful to see the artwork, poetry and creative writing that had been produced by the children after discussing the World Wars.
Year 6 - This has been a very busy week for Year 6 as they have been completing their 11+ ISEB English and Maths exams. I want to commend them on the maturity, determination and resilience that they have shown throughout this time. On Tuesday this week a select number of year 5s and 6s presented their Black History Month projects in assembly. We heard from Alex D, Andreas, Noah K, Evie S, and Louie M. A project that really stood out was Ridley H who spoke about his family history and their involvement as part of the Windrush generation. We all are really looking forward to visiting the museum next week where many more projects will be displayed. In addition, Thursday saw the Year 6s take part in the Remembrance service. This was led by Miss McDonald and provided the pupils a time to reflect on all of those that have given their lives for us.
In English this week the pupils have been continuing learning about Shakespeare and they have been rehearsing parts of the Twelfth Night. Attached you can see a photo of Risha and Bryony acting out Act 1 Scene 4. In Science this week the pupils have been drawing Sankey diagrams to show energy efficiency and have been calculating the efficiency of everyday appliances. Noah in Year 6 had the honour of attending the Letchmore Heath Remembrance Service on Sunday and lay a wreath on behalf of the School.
Over the summer holidays Blake L in 6L had the opportunity to play at Brighton football club against their academy side. They played incredibly well and beat the academy side 7-5. Well done Blake!
On the 11th November, as part of our school Remembrance Day, some members of Year 8 had the opportunity to craft a poppy from wire and fabric. After a moment of reflection, these were then planted outside the Jubilee Building in the Head's Courtyard, close to the Garden of Remembrance, to serve as a visual reminder of our appreciation for those who have lost their lives in war and whose lives have been impacted by conflict.
Congratulations to Rex who won the Monaco Karting Championships 2021 at Rye House last week. It was very close on points which meant Rex had to win last week's race to win the entire championship and he did it!! Well done Rex!
On Friday night we had four Year 5 and four Year 6 boys taking part in the Merchant Taylors' School Rugby Week Barbarians festival. The boys were met on arrival by MTS boys and staff and were put into separate teams and taken through their paces in a training session. The teams then played against each other before forming a guard of honour for the MTS 1st XV for their game against Blue Coat School. It was very exciting to see three Old Edge Grovians playing for the MTS 1st team! This was an extremely enjoyable evening and hopefully we will be able to take more pupils next year to enjoy this great occasion.
We also had another great week of fixtures last week. You can view all the Match Reports here.
In Art, the Year 3 pupils have explored the shape and form of their cave drawings using pastels, I am excited to see how they apply these to their final pieces of Artwork. It has been wonderful to watch Year 3 explore the artwork from this period with such enthusiasm. Our Year 4 continue to develop their use of wax and watercolour, understanding why there is a barrier between the two media applications, through their Hundertwasser investigations. Year 5 have been busy exploring the Aboriginal mark making through their maps and seascapes, with some even beginning the selection of their native Australian animal selections to add. Year 6 have worked on the additional layering to their Angie Lewin landscapes, carefully refining their intricate plants, whilst preparing a printed background. For the last few weeks the Art rotation and elective have been researching and creating Neurographical Art and produced a range of interesting artworks and discussions. This week we seized the opportunity to collaborate with Mrs Broadis and produced individual Poppies to present in the school grounds. While our Art Scholars have been refining and developing their final artworks, demonstrating an outstanding level of skill and resilience. Well done to all, your endeavours are outstanding! In Drama, the Year 3 and 4 pantomime rehearsals are in full swing and we have now blocked the show. That means in rehearsals we can focus on the delivery of lines, characterisation and learning new songs and adding in some great dance moves!
Year 5 have been busy writing their own fairy tales scripts and I am looking forward to them performing them in their class in the next few weeks. Due to exams Year 6 have not had a drama lesson this week but next week they will continue their unit based on superheroes. For the last few weeks the drama rotation and elective have been looking at The History of Theatre and looking at all the different genres of theatre. The last two weeks the focus has been on Shakespeare. They have been looking at the witches scene in Macbeth and the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet. The children in the rotation group have been using the key features of Greek theatre and the chorus to perform these scenes in the most entertaining and interesting way. The children in the Elective group have been performing the Prologue with elements of Soap Operas and have been very entertaining! They then have gone to look at Act 1 Scene 1 which has the infamous line... ‘Do you bite your thumb at us, Sir?'. Photography Module and Elective have both been doing their final edits to their distorting photographs and the end results are a little bit wacky. The Elective group also had some time to do a little bit of free editing to show what they have learnt so far. Great work this week from Freddie, Max C and Max R.