Year 3
What a fantastic, and tiring, week it has been in Year 3! The children have continued to impress us with their enthusiasm, curiosity, and determination. It’s a joy to see their confidence grow.
We’re holding steady at 76% of the class achieving Star Reader status. Our goal is to reach at least 85%, which would put us in the running for a visit from the one and only Bookster Bear.
English: We ended the week with a writing marathon, creating our own Marvellous Medicine instruction texts. The children have been applying all the key features of instructional writing - imperative verbs, time conjunctions, and precise adverbs. The results were truly magical (and occasionally a little mischievous)! It was wonderful to see such imaginative thinking coupled with excellent writing technique.
Maths: We’ve been consolidating our understanding of addition and subtraction using the pictorial method. This approach helps children visualise number relationships and build fluency. They’ve shown great focus when tackling word problems, applying their strategies with growing independence.
PSHE: This week, Miss Spinks delivered an NSPCC session, helping the children understand the charity’s important work and how it supports young people.
Discussions centred around trusted adults and knowing when and how to seek help. A valuable step in developing their awareness and personal safety.
Science: We have loved learning how to classify living creatures by their skeleton type — endoskeleton, exoskeleton, or hydrostatic. We also labelled some of the key bones in the human skeleton, discovering how they work together to support, protect, and move us. The children showed great curiosity.
Geography: We travelled (virtually!) to Costa Rica and Italy to investigate where some of our fruits and vegetables come from. The children researched each country’s physical features and climate, completing detailed information tables in pairs with care and accuracy.
PE: This week’s PE session was packed with energy and fun as we developed our ball skills and agility through rugby-inspired running games.
The children continued to explore the theme of reconciliation in RE with Mrs Chittock and we had fun following classroom instructions in French.
We’re excited for the Harvest Festival visit to the church next week — always a special highlight of the autumn term. And with a four-day week ahead, the prospect of half-term holiday and Halloween, the children are bubbling with anticipation!
The Year 3 team
Year 4
Hello all, we've had a great week, and the children have worked really hard considering how tired they are.
Our learning this week;-
Maths - The children have used the expanded column method for addition and subtraction and really enjoyed doing a page of mixed calculations. With Mrs Murray the had an assessment on perimeter and length and then any necessary recapping with happen next week.
English - We have innovated our text to Mama Grendel and have created our monster for our invention. Whilst with Mrs Murray the children had a reading comprehension about tigers linking with their Science topic.
Topic - We looked at the reasons why the Anglo-Saxons converted from Paganism to Christianity.
RE - The children looked at the story of Zacchaeus and how he changed after being saved by Jesus.
Science - in pairs the children had an assessment using books and ipads to research each question. All about living things and endangered animals.
Computing - Using Probots to make different shapes on the floor.
Art/English - step by step drawing of a Monster!
May I please ask that your check if your child has a bag to put their 'field' shoes in. The corridor is starting to look untidy as many children are just placing their shoes on the floor rather than in a bag and hanging it on their peg. There is also a risk that a shoe could be lost that way!
Next week the children will be going to Church on Thursday for our Harvest Festival, so please ensure they have a warm coat because even if the day isn't cold, the church will be!
Date for your diary - Friday 21st November, trip to West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village. More information to follow.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Chittock and the year 4 team
Year 5
Our talk with Dr Matthew Bothwell was postponed on Monday - he fell off his bike and broke some ribs - but fear not, he will be visiting us on Monday, 3rd November.
In Maths this week, we continued using the short column method to add. We have been adding numbers with up to 3 digits behind the decimal point, making sure to line our numbers correctly. We also had a go at solving some addition pyramids. We then started looking at 2D shapes. We've recapped some key terminology and classified 2D shapes based on their properties. We were great at recognising pairs of parallel lines, but were less accurate with lines of symmetry so we spent more time focusing on that today. In English, we have planned and written our own UFO recount linked to the Roswell UFO. The children worked hard to add detail to their recounts and include all the sentence types we have been working on recently. Today, we learnt about what really happened at Roswell - spoiler: it wasn't aliens!
In Science, we learnt about gravity. We learnt about what it is, the impact it has on Earth, what can lessen and increase the effect of gravity and even how you can escape it. One of the key misconceptions is that gravity only exists on Earth - it exists between any two objects that have mass!
In RE this week, children looked at lessons from the gospels and ranked them on how important children felt they were. There was lots of brilliant discussion. On Tuesday, we started making our DT pop-up books about space. This is a project we will be continuing next half term. The children have made a brilliant start and I am so excited to see their finished books.
Next Thursday is our Harvest festival at church. Please make sure your child has a coat with them - the church is a very cold building! Remember, next Friday is a PD day!
Have a great weekend,
Miss Rutter, Mrs Grosvenor and Mrs Marsh
Year 6
It’s been another very busy week in Year 6!
In English, we have been analysing a range of war poems, focusing on identifying key poetic features and discussing how poets use language to convey powerful emotions and imagery.
In maths, the children have been blasting long division! They’ve worked hard to understand each step of the process and have even discovered that long division really can be a thing of beauty once it all clicks.
In History, our learning has centred on how the role of women changed during World War One. The class showed great curiosity and maturity when exploring how society began to shift during this time.
In PE, the children have been continuing their work on invasion games, developing their teamwork, communication, and tactical skills.
Yesterday, we also welcomed Helen from the NSPCC, who led a workshop on the Speak Out, Stay Safe campaign. We were so impressed with how respectfully and thoughtfully the class engaged with this important but sensitive topic.
Home Learning:
This week, the children have been asked to practise their long division skills. I have also sent home the half-term homework project, which is not due until the first Wednesday back after the break.
Nuala Gilmore
Deputy Head
