Wow, what a fabulous storytelling week Nursery children celebrated last week! It was amazing to witness the awe in the children’s faces, as they welcomed both parents and staff to read a variety of books with them. There were fabulous outfits, puppets and even a superworm which added to the amazing tales. We were also lucky enough to take the book of the week ‘Rubbish’ to Forest School, by going on a litter pick whilst exploring the beautiful scenic grounds of Edge Grove.
Reception children are really excited that Spring is on the rise and have been planting seeds in order to use as part of our study on sustainability. The children have also started growing courgettes, tomatoes, sweet peas and french beans. They look forward to sharing their discoveries and observations with you.
After having written a collaborative class letter to Mr. Postmouse’s grandfather, the children in Year 1 were excited to receive a response from him! They enjoyed exploring their inferential skills and ascribing an array of ambitious adjectives to describe this wonderful mouse! Their maths skills continue to impress as the children enjoy partitioning a selection of numbers. The highlight of their week was learning about Neil Armstrong and the infamous “space race”.
In Forest School, “One Small Change” has been a topic we have discussed a lot this week. The children and their teachers have all been thinking about One Small Change that they can achieve as individuals to make an environmental difference. The enormous amount of fantastic ideas and discussions have been heart-warming and humbling. There has been such a wide variety of suggestions such as making eco-friendly cleaning products, taking shorter showers and giving clothes to charity shops or taking part in clothes swaps. Many children have said they will encourage parents to leave a plot of lawn unmown to make a small meadow, and even plant wildflower seeds. Simple suggestions but a very good way of changing the way we all think. Our children have such a lot to teach us!
Year 3 have been fantastic lexophiles this week as they prepared themselves for the final of Edge Grove’s first ever Lexathon. It was a wonderful event, the children all thoroughly enjoyed cheering on the teams and attempting to solve the puzzles themselves. Well done to all of the pupils who took part.
In maths lessons this week the children were looking at money. They created their own shops and in pairs sold items and practised giving the correct change. Towards the end of the week Year 3 used number lines and column subtraction to solve trickier subtraction and addition equations with money.
The children have been using their inference skills to explore the story of ‘Egyptian Cinderella’ in English lessons this week. Year 3 were asked to debate why the ending of the story might not be entirely positive. See if your child can explain the positives and negatives to the ending of ‘Egyptian Cinderella’.
Year 3 had great fun in Humanities lessons this week creating pyramids and sphinxes using playdough. This interactive lesson was a fantastic way for children to learn new facts about Egyptian architecture.
In science lessons the children continued to explore opaque, transparent and translucent materials. They had great fun using torches to investigate whether materials in the classroom were opaque, translucent or transparent.
In the lead up to Easter the children were learning about the Christian celebration of ‘Holy Week’. They used their inference skills to explore the feelings of the disciples at different stages of the Easter story.
Stomachs were rumbling in art lessons this week as the children started to design their own Egyptian cake. We had mummies, pyramids and sphinx cakes. I wonder if any of you will be brave enough to try to create these imaginative designs at home!
In Year 4 maths, the children have used their times tables to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions. They have also converted improper fractions into mixed numbers using their division skills and used mathematical vocabulary to describe the process.
The children have continued to add to their descriptive fantasy stories about Beowulf and it has been pleasing to see many of the devices taught being used throughout the children's writing such as fronted adverbials, complex sentences, similes and metaphors. Some children in Miss Turner's class wrote in pairs and collaborated wonderfully to write a fantastic story.
In science, the children are investigating which liquids evaporate the fastest at room temperature. They have looked at the independent, dependent and controlled variables and have practised drawing a table to record their results. The pupils have been keen to make the test fair and have thought carefully about what needs to remain the same in order to do so. They will monitor the liquids over a period of time. There have been some considered and detailed predictions made.
The cushions made in Design and Technology were very impressive and the children were extremely pleased with their final results.
Pupils spent last week honing their comprehension skills in English as we studied Morpurgo’s use of language. The protagonist Michael in our novel is now marooned on an island with a strange old man who gives Michael food and water but banishes him to live alone. Pupils have mapped the island and found quotations to describe the setting that the author has created.
During the week of studying statistics and how averages are calculated in Maths, Year 5 conducted their own research projects among their peers collecting data, representing it in a graph and calculating averages. They also learnt that different averages are a better representation of specific sets of data, though mean is definitely the most popularly used.
In their science lessons this week pupils in year 5 have been studying the size of the universe. You can see Miss Modha’s class on Edge Grove Park measuring out the relative distances between the planets using a trundle wheel. The pupils then matched facts to the correct planets using their knowledge from previous lessons.
Thomas impressed his peers by creating a real life model of his fictional planet that he created in class using scientific ideas about rotations, revolutions and distance from the sun. Miss Modha had to decide whether or not it was a viable planet based on the pupils’ choices of meeting certain criteria. This was certainly going above and beyond!
In English, personal research into the Soweto Uprising resulted in some powerful imagined diary entries from the event. Research skills are vital in today’s information-rich world where we teach children how to select appropriate material and summarise. Our study of Beverley Naidoo’s Journey to Jo’Burg is reaching its final stages and we have travelled back home to the village with protagonists Naledi and Tiro to discover if their little sister, Dineo, is still alive. We finish the book this week.
Being one of the most commonly tested topics in KS2, Year 6 went over fractions, decimals and percentages including finding fractions/percentages of amounts in their Maths lessons. If the pupils were secure with the skills, then they were also extended to reasoning and mastery, where they were expected to apply skills learnt in ways different to what they are used to thus deepening their understanding of the topic.
In science this week the pupils in Year 6 have continued learning within their topic of separating mixtures. They have learnt how to filter an insoluble solid from a liquid and watched a distillation demonstration.
This week, Cookery club tried their hand at Italian cuisine ! They learnt how to make and knead pizza dough, cook the sauce for the base from scratch and prepare fresh ingredients to use as toppings! They had the kitchen smelling delicious and were very happy with their outcomes!
With ‘Living in the Wider World’ the current PSHE topic across the school, conversations in the Upper School form bases and classrooms have turned to careers. The Year 7s and 8s have started to reflect on future jobs and a changing workforce. We have explored the various economic, political, social and technological factors which have impacted the employment landscape, and have thought about the challenges we currently face, and the types of skills that future workers will need.
This short video created by the World Economic Forum highlights some fascinating insights. Did you know that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by technological advancements? As a result, 97 million new roles may emerge that will be adapted to a new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms!
It certainly seems more essential than ever to draw our seniors' attention to the core skills that they will need to thrive in this yet-to-be imagined world of work: creativity, collaboration and problem-solving to name but three.
We will also be exploring the world of apprenticeships. This week is National Apprenticeship Week (6-12 February 2023) which brings together employers and apprentices across the country with events and activities.
If you are interested, have a look at this letter from the Department for Education, written by Robert Halfon, Minister of State (Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education) and check out the other useful websites for further information too.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk https://vinspired.com – young peoples volunteering charity https://www.ncsyes.co.uk - 15-17 Year olds National Citizen Service https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/ - Explore career opportunities https://www.startprofile.com/ - Explore your dream Job!https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors - Search lots of different job roles
Congratulations to Chase in Year 7 who has topped the commendations charts in the Upper School this week. Jamie in Year 8 was close behind. Keep up the good work everyone!
Year 7 and 8 Linguistic Olympiad - Congratulations to all our Upper School members of the Ignite Fellowship who competed in last week’s Linguistic Olympiad. I was so impressed to see the pupils searching for a host of linguistic patterns which required some major high-level problem-solving, analytical reasoning - not to mention teamwork and resilience!
Do read the article by Alexis C-O in the School Journalists section of the newsletter.
In English, in their study of 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, Year 8 have reached the moment where the promise of utopia has well and truly descended into utter tyranny, with prize boar Napoleon emerging at the top of the hierarchy.
Pupils have fully engaged in some truly excellent discussions on leadership, propaganda and persuasion, and have demonstrated their learning through the creation of their own pieces of propaganda, accompanied by a page long essay, commenting on the justifications of their artistic choices.
Miss Senior was wholly impressed with Benji, Max R, Nefe, Caitlin and Lir whose posters are pictured here and whose commentaries outlined their judicious choices.
In his, Benji notes, "I drew Napoleon inside the sun, to illustrate the connotations that he is the animals' singular shining hope and light".
Max says that in his poster, "The lake and trees represent the promise of freedom, allowing all animals to flourish in the sunlight Napoleon has given them, whilst the slogan reflects the mindlessness of the proletariat."
Caitlin cleverly depicted Napoleon on a throne, to "show how he is put on a pedestal, whilst the hat represents how he is becoming like the humans he once swore were the enemy."
Nefe drew Napoleon in an army uniform, to "personify his leadership," whilst Lir took a grave angle and comments that he drew missiles to "act as a warning to those who might have rebellion or disobedience on their mind!"
The class even added their own verses to Napoleon's poem in Chapter 8, and spent some time analysing each other's poetic choices. Miss Senior was particularly impressed with Rohan's metaphor of Napoleon as the ''guardian of faith", and Emilia's sustained imagery of hope and safety throughout her verse. Congratulations, Year 8, on engaging so well with the themes of the novella and demonstrating your understanding in such an engaging way.
Congratulations to Zara and Isaac in Year 5 who both took part in the Hertfordshire Schools Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning. Both of them ran extremely well in a field of over 100 runners. Zara finished extremely strongly to end up in 9th place overall and has been selected to be part of the Hertfordshire team to compete in the National finals. Unfortunately she is away on the day of the finals on the school ski trip but to make this team is a huge honour. Well done to both Zara and Isaac for having the courage and determination to sign up to such a massive event.
We had a great week of fixtures last week and you can read the match reports here.
You can also hear from Daniel G below who has written about what happens in ‘off-games’:
By Daniel G (School Journalist), Year 6
Do you ever wonder what happens when you sign your child up for off-games whilst they recover from an injury because it’s important to let an injury heal to prevent further damage? Well if pupils are signed off, we do prep or read a book in the library (although the off-games sessions are not always held in the library and the room varies from time to time). In the summer we go outside and watch the other teams training or watch a match.
We are proud to announce the following scholarships:
Amelie in Year 6 has been awarded a Drama scholarship to St Margret’s School
Sophie in Year 6 has been awarded a Music scholarship to St Margret’s School
Albert in Year 8 has been awarded a Drama Exhibition to Berkhamsted School
Huge congratulations!
Haileybury Choral Day
A huge well done to the Chamber Choir for being excellent Edge Grove ambassadors at Haileybury last Monday.
Edge Grove pupils highly impressed the Haileybury music department with their energy, focus and independence… and of course singing skills! Miss Saville had a wonderful day accompanying the choir at this exciting event. The day consisted of: a Les Miserables workshop where pupil’s observed senior students from Haileybury during an open-rehearsal in advance of their show week, a choral workshop where they pieced together ‘Run’ for the finale of the concert and lastly a chance to perform in the beautiful chapel.
Alice the MusicalRehearsals are in full swing now for the upcoming Year 5 & Year 6 musical! Songs are being taught and we are highly impressed with the pupils' retention and independent work they are clearly putting in at home.
Many scenes have now been staged and it is all beginning to come together. Ms Harkin and her team of Year 5&6 form teachers are busy preparing the magical array of props which come with this wonderful, wonderland show!
MatildaMatilda rehearsals are getting better and better each week as this wonderfully written show is put together. The cast are remarkable with their energy and commitment each week and rehearsals are proving to be extremely productive with the extra hour until 6.30pm. We have noted parents who are coming to pick-up early to gain a sneaky cheek-peek! The more the merrier as it is lovely to be able to share the rehearsal journey with you all prior to the finished production in May!
Prep ChorusMiss Saville’s Prep Chorus are currently learning new material in preparation for the Spring Highlights Concert after half term. The energy from pupils in Year 4-5 is amazing and they always attend each week with enthusiasm, focus and a great willingness to learn.
Music PlatformWell done to everyone who took part in the Music Platforms last week. These are a great opportunity for pupils to practice playing in front of a live audience and they all did so well. We are very proud! You can read a report from one of our Edge Grove School Journalists here.
ISA Shakespeare Monologue CompetitionWe are inviting pupils to take part in this fantastic competition from the ISA Arts. Please submit entries to Ms Neale on lneale@edgegrove.com by Monday 20th February. For more details please contact Ms Neale.
Design and TechnologyYear 4 is finishing their character cushions. They have worked very hard and created some great designs. They have learnt some new stitches, how to use applique and embellish their designs.
Year 8 Artificial Intelligence
Year 8 pupils are currently working on projects exploring artificial intelligence. The pupils have been studying how machines can be programmed to ‘learn’ and have been dreaming up ways to use this technology in the future. The variety of applications they have found is astounding, and includes predicting famines in the world, creating an AI referee for football matches, finding recipes from foodstuffs thrown into a bowl and gauging a person’s mental health from their internet searches.
The pupils aren’t creating the programming for these solutions, but are instead performing the feasibility studies, learning methods, data processing and system validation rules.
They will be presenting their projects to their classes after half term
Safer Internet Day
Tuesday 7th February is Safer Internet Day. This year's theme is ‘Want to Talk About it? Making space for conversations about life online’.
Our pupil digital leaders will be taking charge of the day by leading discussions in their form groups and lessons about what we do online, and will be asking questions about screen time, favourite online activities, sharing good advice and most importantly, where to go for help if something doesn't seem right.
This is a great opportunity for all of us to make sure we are having conversations about life online, and although we may not understand or share interests, it's always a good idea to be open to having the discussions.
If you would like more information about online safety or have any concerns, please do contact Mr Kay, Head of Digital Learning (ikay@edgegrove.com) or any member of the safeguarding team.
