We were very fortunate that the firefighters from Garston station were able to visit pre school this week - what a treat and a real surprise for the children! Their little faces were pressed up against the fence in a neat row as they watched the big red engine ease its way into the car park. Then the very patient team provided a close up inspection of the equipment they use and answered some excellent questions from their attentive audience. This being Pre-School, they also graciously listened to a rendition of ‘Let it Go’ from one eager pupil!
It was Reception’s turn to present news about their learning in Sharing Assembly on Friday; The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle was their key text. A group of pupils from each class confidently told us about the life cycle of a caterpillar, correcting me when I missed the picture of an egg sitting on a leaf. We followed their beautiful story maps which charted each stage of the book and marvelled at a beautiful creation of a symmetrical butterfly.
As Year 1 delve further into their Topic this term, we are starting to see some excellent and very historically accurate castle models being brought into school that have been made at home. I am always so thankful for the time and effort parents put into Flipped Learning and cannot emphasise enough the positive impact it has on learning.
Year 3 have been working brilliantly to plan and write their own version of ‘Stone Age Boy’. They carefully chose adverbial openers to use in their writing to make their stories more detailed and interesting. Some children were then able to share their stories with the rest of the year group. In maths, the children have continued to explore place value and were challenged to demonstrate their reasoning skills by applying and explaining their understanding. Our focus in topic this week was prehistoric human achievements. We had some lengthy discussions about what was the most important achievement; do you think it was learning to use fire or inventing the wheel?
This week in Year 4 the children have shown themselves to be accomplished mathematicians. Learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. Not only this but they have also begun to explore negative numbers in real-world situations and applications. In English the children have been writing persuasive letters to Miss McDonald and also adverts for the most glamorous hotels. Year 4 have impressed us with their verbal agility and prowess. In science the year group have been expanding their knowledge on forces and are working towards completing their first scientific experiment of the year. Next week we look forward to writing up the plans for the exploration of forces. The week may have begun with heavy showers but this has not stopped Year 5 from taking part in yet another engaging week at Edge Grove. The children were surprised to find that their music teacher had been replaced by Miss McDonald! Who knew that our head teacher had a secret drumming talent? In maths lessons the children were challenged to find the highest common factor and the lower common multiple. I wonder if they can share this knowledge with you at home. English lessons continued with the children looking at ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Year 5 have used Narnia as a source of inspiration for their own fantasy setting. These settings have included alien planets, clouds, space and descriptions of life under the ocean. In MFL lessons the children extended their French vocabulary further by learning the French for various family members. In library and reading sessions the children have been listening to the story of ‘Twitch’. This story describes the life of a young bird watcher who stumbles across a convicted robber hiding out in his local woodland area. The children were then asked in Drama lessons to act out various scenes from the story. In science lessons the children explored the heart. They were encouraged to label the various parts and to describe their functions. In P.E lessons the children continued to enjoy the new swimming pool, practising their technique for front crawl. History had a modern twist this week, with the children exploring anachronisms. Suggestions for examples of this were: Queen Victoria doing a tiktok, Cleopatra eating a Big Mac and Beyoncé texting Harriet Tubman. In Year 6 in Science the pupils have been continuing their plant reproduction topic by looking at the differences in wind and insect pollinated flowers, how seeds are germinated and the different methods of seed dispersal. I have been very impressed with their knowledge of this topic. In IT, Year 6 have been developing their Google Slides skills this week, by creating interactive quizzes which use animations and hyperlinks.
And in Geography, we have been learning about the global food trade. The pupils have brought in food packets from home to see where the different things they eat have been made and imported from. The pupils are going to plot Miss Miller’s shopping list on an A3 map to show how many different countries are represented in one weeks food shop.
Year 7 Baccalaureate lessons this week involved various games and activities exploring the skills, virtues and qualities of effective leaders. Could they define particular attributes without using a number of keywords?
In the English classrooms, Year 8s have been studying the themes and language of World War 1 poetry. They have become adept at identifying structural and linguistic devices employed by the poets. 8Red were faced with a challenge: a ‘crunched’ version of Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth. Given the option of either creating their own poetic phrases or assembling the poem in its rightful form. The children opted for the latter, racing to be the first group to complete the task! Next week, we look forward to seeing the pupils compose their own poems on the theme of conflict and war.
The Year 5-8 Assembly this week was led by our Head of English, Mrs Jane Broadis, who invited some of our pupils to introduce novels they are currently reading. Congratulations to Shona, Summer, Daniel, Ediz and Evan who spoke with enthusiasm about their favourite reads.
It has been fabulous to return to normal school life with a host of sports fixtures already having been played and a very busy term ahead of us. You can view all the Match Reports here.
This week in the Music department Year 6 have been developing their rhythmic skills and learning about musical note values. They did an excellent job reading the notation which Miss Saville challenged them with and put their understanding into practise by clapping them to the accurate rhythms. The enthusiasm to do it as a solo was excellent! Year 4 had an exciting guest in their lesson this week. Dave McCullum (our peripatetic Brass teacher, (BBC) gave students an excellent opportunity to learn more about brass instruments and how the sound and notes are created. They found it highly amusing when he played tunes which they recognised such as the Coronation Street theme tune, Star Wars and Indiana Jones! Mr McCullum has previously played for the BBC and Philharmonic Orchestra! It was another great week of rehearsals for the Year 3 & 4 choir who are perfecting their Harvest Assembly performance, as well as the Prep Chorus and Chamber Choir. Big band, Wind band and Junior rock band also are also sounding brilliant. *Exciting News!* Our 'Cello tutor, Mrs Stephenson is performing this week at the Royal Festival Hall. The orchestra is playing the famous Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra which our pupils should know! Here is a lovely short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdziw4tI9o And details of the concert can be found here: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/classical-music/sunrise-santtu-conducts-strauss?eventId=718900 Here is an interesting introduction to the 'cello by Mrs Stephenson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcqzPoMza7c
This week in module photography the Upper School were completing their edits using colour select tool. Great work from Emilia, Mirabelle and Caitlin this week, their final photographs look amazing and I look forward to what they produce in the coming weeks.
Photography elective have been laying photographs last week and this week, they have started off with just 2 layers and then upgraded them to a max of 6 layers, the final photographs will appear in next week's newsletter.
Saracens Women welcome league rivals, Exeter Chiefs Women to StoneX Stadium on Sunday 10th October, 2pm KO, for Round 5 of the Allianz Premier 15s. Both teams are packed full of international stars and it promises to be a thriller of a fixture! You may even get to see our very own Kat Evans in action! Saracens have a limited number of complimentary tickets available for the match and they would love your support. To claim your complimentary ticket, please visit https://events.saracens.com/selection/event/date?productId=101487913940&advantageId=101535480797 , select the number of tickets from the ‘Schools and Club offer’ drop down (max 6 per booking) and enter code BSC01010.
Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis so don’t delay!