The Chronicle

The children have returned to school this week recharged and eager to learn. Inspired by our adventures on our residential in Normandy, we have carried on finding out more about the Second World War. In English, we started with our new core text – 'The Lion and the Unicorn' by Shirley Hughes. The book tells the story of a young boy called Lenny who is evacuated to the countryside during the War. This week we began looking at the story in more detail, thinking about how the writer uses various stylistic techniques to create a response from the reader. We thought about how she paints a picture with her words and how it allows us to imagine what might happen next. There are lots of library books that the children can choose which link to WW2 if they are eager to learn more. The children approached the work this week with maturity and enthusiasm, and we couldn’t be prouder. Well done, Junior 6!

In 1924 jazz and blues burst into the world of classical music thanks to trailblazer George Gershwin, who composed music full of energy and playfulness of New York City in the 1920’s.

In their lesson, Year 5 watched a film describing the scene created by the music and they were asked to draw a cityscape at the end of this.

Junior 4 have been enjoying sunshine and adventure this week during their exciting PGL trip and what fun they have had!  They enjoyed high energy aeroball throwing on a trampoline, which developed team tactics and improved communication skills along the way. They have stretched their talents in archery with incredible accuracy, control and a very steady hand! Reached new heights in climbing, which developed their perseverance and strength,and had them brimming with excitement! But the ultimate test of nerve and joint decision making whilst plummeting to earth were the giant swings and the zip wires. All Junior 4 have demonstrated personal courage and determination during their trip and they have all developed effective teamwork. Well done, Junior 4! 

Junior 3 started their new topic of zoo animals in French today. They enjoyed listening to and joining in with a lively song about safari animals and then playing some language learning games to learn five animal words. They discovered that nouns in French are either masculine or feminine, quickly identifying that ‘une girafe’ was a feminine word. The poison apple game was a firm favourite with the children, as the boys enthusiastically competed against the girls and everyone wanted to be able to say ‘j’ai gagné’ (I won)!

Next week the children will be having fun with some French phonic sounds before practising numbers and building sentences with ‘il y a’.

Vous êtes incroyables Junior 3!

Junior 2 have had a brilliant start to the Trinity Term. The children are very excited about our Rainforest topic, and we enjoyed sharing some projects completed over the Easter break. In English, we are using 'The Tin Forest' book, and the children have found this book quite magical. 'The Tin Forest' by Helen Ward is a beautiful and poetic fable written about an old man who lives in a Tin Forest, otherwise known as a rubbish dump of unloved things nobody wants anymore. The old man wishes for a better place to live. With his own initiative, will he make this junkyard into a wonderland?

The children have enjoyed participating in PE, practising our throwing and catching, ready for our summer sports, including rounders and cricket. We are very excited about all the learning we will be doing this term.

Junior 1 have amazed us this week with their fantastic work over the holidays creating their own family tree. There were so many bright, colourful and different ways that the family trees were set out and it was clear to see that everyone enjoyed finding out a little more about their own family. This began our history topic of Family and Toys, which links in with our DT topic of Moving Toys. This week they made a ball in a cup game (trickier than you would imagine) and a thaumatrope which gave the optical illusion of a fish in a bowl, a bird in a cage or butterflies flying over flowers. In English, we have a new book focus, 'Handa’s Surprise', where Handa loses and gains different fruits while on a journey to her friend Akeyo. This has already led to a story map, sequencing task and book review this week!

This week, Reception have settled brilliantly into the Trinity Term! They have come back to school full of gusto and ready to shine in the final term of the year. We began our ‘Going on an Adventure’ topic and have started to think about what we have in our local area. We planned for our adventure out into the woods, thinking about what we would need to stay safe and also to help us to explore and document what we could find. The children loved being in charge of the planning and were such responsible ramblers on our adventure. Well done, Reception!