Year 3
What a whirlwind week it has been for Team Year 3!
This week, the children completed their innovation texts: non-chronological reports about elephants. They have focused on composition, vocabulary and handwriting, they have used ambitious language, woven in facts they researched independently, and demonstrated growing confidence in structuring an information text. We’ve also been focusing on clear, joined handwriting. Our grammar spotlight was on the present perfect tense, using has/have + past participle - sentences like “I have finished my dinner” or “she has brushed her hair”. We covered the new spellings, too.
Year 3 have now completed their unit on multiplication and division. This week they particularly enjoyed investigating the 8 times table, including multiplying and dividing by 8 and exploring relationships between the 2, 4 and 8 times tables.
The Year 3 scientists explored fossilisation to describe how fossils are formed. The children sequenced the stages brilliantly, asked thoughtful questions, and made detailed observations that will take us confidently into our next lesson.
In history, we explored the three stages of the Stone Age: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. Through the lens of shelters, the children examined how early humans moved from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled farmers. They discussed how homes changed, what they were made from, and how communities worked together.
In preparation for next week’s prehistoric artwork, the children used natural tones to create textured cave-style backgrounds. With Miss Spinks, the children reflected on their goals and achievements, thinking about aspirations and the steps towards them. In computing, Year 3 refined and recorded their algorithms, using loops to programme Pro-Bots to draw regular shapes. We were delighted to welcome Mrs Grosvenor for a tag rugby session. The children focused on defensive strategies.
Have a super weekend — we fully expect to hear tales of Advent calendars, seasonal excitement, and possibly a mischievous elf or two on Monday morning!
Year 4
The children have coped marvellously in Mrs Chittock’s absence this week – the learning has most definitely continued. We are incredibly grateful for the flexibility of the staff team and the adaptability of the children. We look forward to welcoming Mrs Chittock back on Monday.
English
In English, the children have been practising the skill of boxing up – an important strategy for planning their writing. They will be using this to help structure their non-chronological reports about Viking settlements next week.
Maths
In maths, the children have had a varied diet of learning, including work on area, subtraction fact families, and completing an assessment for Mrs Murray. Keeping up with Times Tables Rock Stars at home is enormously beneficial as the children continue developing their multiplication and division skills.
Art
In art, the children took part in the annual Year 4 tradition of making the Advent wreath – always a highlight of the season!
French
In French, the children impressed Miss Murphy with their knowledge and ability to describe different food groups in French.
Science
In science, the children have been designing circuits and making predictions about how they will work. These will be tested next week.
Computing
In computing, the children continued creating their Anglo-Saxon houses on Sketch. These look really impressive!
Wishing you all a super weekend!
Year 5
In English this week, we have been looking at vengeful letters! The children read a letter that Tostig sent his big brother Harold after he was exiled. Tostig may have been a terrible Earl of Northumbria, but he does have a lovely vocabulary and wrote a letter where there was lots for us to infer from! ?? On Thursday, children learnt a new sentence structure: emotion - consequence sentences. Hopefully, they will be able to include some of these sentences when they write their own vengeful letters next week. Don't worry – we're sending all of our letters to Harold Godwinson! You are all safe from our ire!
In Maths this week, we have been short dividing! We always leave division to last as it is so different to the other calculation methods. You start on the wrong side, with the largest digit, the answer appears at the top, and you have to use your table knowledge in ways you've never thought of before! Children have all given short division a really good go – even when they found it tricky. They have used resources well to help them when it gets tricky. Some of us even had a go at dividing a remainder down into a decimal. Leaving remainders is so Year 4.....
In History this week we reached battle 2 - The Battle of Stamford Bridge (nothing to do with the football ground!) This battle followed the previous one very quickly – there were just 5 days between them. In that time, Harold Godwinson heard about the Viking invasion and marched his army 185 miles! Not bad going given most of the army would have been on foot! The Battle of Stamford Bridge was a resounding victory for the English forces. But unfortunately for Harold, 2 days after this battle, William set sail for the south coast. Harold is again going to find himself at the wrong end of the country!
Mrs Marsh was so impressed with the children in French this week. She praised their positive attitudes and engagement, which was lovely to hear. In RE this week, we looked at one of the 5 pillars of Islam: the Shahadah. Children thought about the importance of the first words a baby hears, and read the story of Bilal, the first Muezzin. We used the story to rank things that really mattered to Bilal, and things that didn't matter at all to him. We had some quite interesting discussions!
Our reading push continues. Children must read 5 times a week to avoid completion club on Monday. A sixth read will get them Star Reader status (and help us to claim Bookster Bear!)
Have a great weekend,
Miss Rutter, Mrs Grosvenor and Mrs Marsh
Year 6
What a busy and productive week it has been in Year 6!
Maths:
We have been focusing on adding and subtracting fractions. The children have had lots of practice converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions, as well as finding the lowest common multiple to help them calculate accurately. This weekend’s home learning will consolidate these skills, which we have been practising throughout the week.
English:
In English, we have continued to develop our reading skills and have been working hard on writing our own flashback texts. We also spent time analysing Pie Corbett’s City Jungle, exploring the imagery and techniques used to bring the poem to life.
History:
Our history learning centred on the Treaty of Versailles and its long-term impact. We discussed how its legacy may have influenced the way some Germans viewed the Nazi election promises during the 1930s.
Science:
In science, the children thoroughly enjoyed exploring electrical circuits, experimenting with how to make buzzers work effectively by creating complete and reliable circuits.
Computing:
This week also involved some exciting code-breaking activities in computing, encouraging logical thinking and problem-solving.
Careers Education:
Today, we were delighted to welcome Mrs Franks, who spoke to the children about her career journey and the steps she took to reach her current role. We offer our huge thanks to her for giving up her time—her talk was inspiring and incredibly valuable for the children. We were so impressed with the relevant and considered questions the children asked.
Celebration:
Finally, a very proud well done to the girls who represented our school in the Football County Final. You played with spirit, courage and tenacity. Thank you for being such wonderful representatives of our school!
Have a super weekend
The Year 6 Team
