The Chronicle

Junior 6 have been exploring ‘First World War Gas Masks’ with Ms Holmes. Following on from a world-wide mask-wear through Covid, it proved a fascinating look into how easy we have it these days. Pupils have been creating a double page sketch book exploration on the types of masks used and who used them. Mr Luis, our caretaker was in the Falkland Islands towards the end of the 1982 war and brought in his own ‘chemical warfare’ mask and kit to show the students. Oddly, no one wanted to try it on.

Over the past two weeks in English, the children have been dreaming up, designing and writing about their own Flanimals (fantastical and ridiculous made-up creatures!) Using their curious critters and a glossary of their own made-up words, Junior 5 went on to inspire us by writing up a non-chronological report. In this report, they told us all about where we might find their imaginary animals and what they eat for their dinner. This week, the children have written sets of instruction for how to look after their Flanimals. The creative writing ability on show in J5 never fails to impress us; keep working hard children!

This week in J4R (and next week in J4S) the children have been studying 'States of Matter' in Science and as part of this, have been excitedly predicting which type of chocolate will melt the fastest - either white, milk, or dark. We have looked at all the variables and after planning a fair test, we finally got to do the testing - and it was scrumptious too!

This week Junior 3 have been busy perfecting their division skills. We have looked at many ways to divide 2-digit numbers, including partitioning and numbers that involve a place value exchange. We have used place value counters to support our conceptual understanding, before moving onto more formal written methods. We loved thinking up our own scenarios for an alternative name to ‘bus stop method’ including a ‘chocolate box method’ and ‘treasures in a pyramid method’. We have also explored the division of numbers that give rise to a remainder and found our double-sided counters were perfect for the job.

In History we have been ‘cruising’ up and down the River Nile, considering what role it played in the development of one of the world’s most famous ancient civilisations. We found out that the Nile provided so much for the Ancient Egyptians; it is probably fair to say that it was their most valuable treasure. We would love to go and visit it ourselves one day.

Junior 2 have had another jam-packed week of immersive learning. In Maths we have finished our topic on multiplication and division, and will be moving onto statistics next week. In English, we are focusing on using subordination in our sentences and remembering to use full stops and capital letters. Our teachers were so impressed with the writing of our own version of The Magic Paintbrush -  everyone is making super progress. In Geography, we have been comparing our school with schools in China, writing letters to imaginary pen friends and following webcams around in various parts of China. The webcam attached to the front of a tram in Hong Kong was highly amusing. Our Science lessons this week, saw us becoming Master Chefs! We thoroughly enjoyed making and tasting our own pizzas. Junior 2, you are working so hard, have a restful weekend ready for another week of exciting learning next week. 

We started our week off by carrying out an investigation in Science to see which material will keep us the warmest for the longest. We tested cotton wool, cotton material, wool, fleece and bubble wrap to see which would keep water the hottest for the longest. We found out that the best material to keep us warm was the fleece, or cotton wool, but we thought cotton wool might not be the best to make clothes out of! In History we managed to finish our models of a Viking Longboat, ensuring that each one had a large sail and some shields on the side for protection. In Computing we have been learning how to write algorithms and can now give Daisy the dinosaur a set of instructions to follow using a programme on the ipad.

This week Reception have applied their new-found measuring skills to make their own play dough. They have then used this to create their own jungle animals. No need to buy play-dough at the shops for Reception anymore! Reception have also continued to develop their descriptive language in literacy and have been learning to write about the animals that they might find in the jungle.