The Chronicle

In English lessons this week, Junior 6 read the opening chapter of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. They looked at how Pullman succeeds in hooking the reader in from the very first line which quickly introduces the reader to a different universe. The children discussed the purpose and features of a good opening to a story. They analysed a model text of a portal story, where the scene is set in another world. Junior 6 then bravely set out to create their own portal story. The Junior 6 staff are really looking forward to being introduced to the new worlds created by these imaginative young writers and reading about their personal daemons!

Our wonderful Junior 6 have worked very hard this term. We hope they all have a fantastic Christmas and look forward to seeing everyone again in January.

As we are in a time of Advent, Junior 5L have been preparing for Christmas. They have decorated their tree and brought in their gifts for the class Secret Santa. We have been learning all about Advent through assemblies and RE lessons. Pupils have been learning about the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus and they have identified the similarities between these two events. In French, the children have been learning about Christmas Eve (La veille de Noël) as that is when the celebration meal takes place in France. Pupils have sung French Christmas songs for their pen-pals and are looking forward to seeing the recording of their pen-pals singing to them.

Junior 4 have been investigating the properties of non-Newtonian fluids. They compared the properties of water with a non-Newtonian fluid - in this instance a mixture of water and cornflour known as oobleck. Pupils were amazed to see a 200g weight floating on the top of the oobleck after they had watched the same weight splash into a bowl of water. They loved feeling the difference with their hands by gently prodding the oobleck and then grabbing it and squeezing it. In Drama, they have also been working on their concentration with lots of outdoor learning games.  Well done, Junior 4!

The spirit of Christmas is certainly alive in the Junior 3 classrooms with cheeky elves and Christmas craft activities keeping the children very busy. However, staff are also making sure the children continue with their learning, ensuring they are happily working away in class! This week, we have concluded our investigations in Science, experimenting with the magnets to discover how two magnets can attract or repel. Our Maths lessons have been alive with the sounds of our times tables practice – we have been practising 3s and 4s whilst learning our 8s. Please keep learning them Junior 3! Kenya has continued to be our theme in Geography and English lessons. Everyone worked together to produce posters about the Masai tribe followed by factual writing. Well done, Junior 3, you have had the most incredible half-term!

This week has been an amazing week, full of festive joy in Junior 2. Our classes performed their Nativity The Magical Christmas Jigsaw, after weeks of preparation and rehearsals. The teachers were proud, the parents were amazed and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We thought their singing, acting and enthusiasm made the production one to remember. Well done, Junior 2!

After a wonderful Nativity production, Junior 1 have continued to learn about the story of Christmas and spent their English and RE lessons writing out the story of Jesus’ birth in a booklet. This helped them to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and be able to recount the events in the correct order. History saw them learn about Saint Nicholas, who he was, how he became a saint and how his name changed over the years in different countries. Art has become all Christmassy, with cards, decorations, calendars and wreaths beginning to be made, all ready for our last few days in school.

What a week we have had in Reception - it has all been about preparation. From finding out all about Advent and 'getting ready' to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to practising our own version of this wonderful story - as we stood on stage in costume and performed our dress rehearsal to the school. It has also been a busy week of Christmas crafty bits and bobs, as well as our wonderful trip to the Theatre. We all enjoyed the fantastic stage performance of The Smeds And Smoos - although it is fair to say that many enjoyed the trip on the bus just as much! Well done, Reception!