Moulton CEVC Primary School Parent Portal

A message from Mrs Shipp

It's May! We now have less than one term of this academic year left - time has flown by.

We welcomed the Open The Book team into school on Monday. They told the story of Moses. Thank you so much to Jude (Y5), Mia (Y5), Dalton (Y5) and Matilda (Y5), who helped re-enact the story. On Tuesday, I continued with Moses, and we talked about the commitment needed from the Pharoah's daughter, and from Moses. I was really impressed with how much information the children remembered from the year before. Reverend Chris came into school on Wednesday, and he told the story about Ruth and Naomi. On Friday, Elizabeth, Erin and Omya (Y6), led our collective worship: they spoke about physical health and mental wellbeing.

On Saturday 18th May, there will be a coffee morning in aid of Christian Aid between 10am and midday at Gazeley Church. I will hopefully be there. If you are able to support the event by stopping by for a drink and a cake, or if you are able to make a cake, it would be very much appreciated. Please spread the word so that we can raise more money for Christian Aid.

If you have any of our spare clothes at home, please could you return them. We find ourselves short when supporting children with toileting accidents. Thank you!

Unless your child has been advised by a medical professional, please do not send sunglasses in with your child. They are tricky to manage, and not always safe when children are running around. A cap is our preferred way of shielding your child's eyes from the sun.

Our Standards and Excellence Partner from the Local Authority visited us last week. She was really impressed with our children's behaviour and learning. Many of our pupils spoke to her about their work with confidence and eloquence - I was beaming with pride.

We have been gardening at lunchtimes this week. So many children in our school love gardening. If your child has a birthday or another treat time coming up, I would definitely recommend buying a small gardening tool set as a gift. Our younger children asked me lots of questions, and took great care of the many minibeasts we found. It was so lovely to see children from different year groups working together. I think we will soon need a worm house!

Our Y4 pupils did their science outside in the pond area this week. Mr. Turner was really impressed with how safely and sensibly each group worked - well done to our Y4 scientists!

Special Mentions...

It was super to see Laurence (Y1) showing excellent manners and respect for others' property this week - well done! Oscar (Y3), Alf (Y3), Max (Y3) and Aiden (Y3) have shown themselves to be compassionate and caring friends this week - thank you and well to all four boys. It was lovely to see Jessica's (Y3) confidence this week when we were gardening at lunchtime - well done! Kian (Y3) has also shown lots of confidence this week - bravery too - well done! All of Y1 impressed me when I taught them yesterday, especially with their sensible play on the field, lining up, and transport knowledge - well done! One of our Y4 pupils performed at the Cresset Theatre, Peterborough, with her Stagecoach Group - well done! (Photo below). Two of our pupils volunteered to be race marshals this week - we are really proud of their commitment to help the community. (Photo below) I was delighted to see Amber's (Y5), beautiful handmade programme for a recital - Barbara, our instrumental teacher, was really impressed.

I hope that you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend, and that you enjoy the final matches of The Championship, if you are a football fan. See you on Tuesday!

Year 3

This week’s learning has seen the children consolidate all their fractions work. A good number of children progressed in times tables this week – please continue to do any practice you can at home. The children have written persuading visitors to Colchester Castle, continued learning about homophones (see if they can tell you any) and completed whole class reading and comprehension on ‘The Iron Man’. They loved the first chapter so much, most continued reading the book on their iPads during our SQUIRT session today.

In other learning, book trailers are nearing completion in computing, cross-stitching was carried out in DT, where money comes and careers were explored in PSHE, and we planned a ‘forces’ investigation in science.

We saw the week out with an animated discussion about why Oliver Cromwell banned horseracing. Year 3 showed some Royalist tendencies as they were outraged at this thought as part of our topic about Newmarket. Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend, come rain or shine! The Year 3 team.

Year 4

‘This week we have been exploring hundredths and decimal values in maths. In English, we’ve continued to enjoy the Widow’s Broom and also looked at a poetry text called Cloud Busting which deals with issues of friendship. It has been exciting for us to have an opportunity to do pond dipping in smaller groups and see a whole range of pond life. This has benefitted our Living Things and Their Habitats topic. Our PSHE class theme has focused on achievement, which links nicely to the school’s value of commitment. We shared with one another the things that we’ve achieved.

In Computing, we looked at how the internet is arranged and what we would accept or block. Finally, for a brilliant Friday finish, we continued to interrogate evidence around the questions of ‘Who was responsible for the sinking of Titanic?’

On another note from me, please make sure that your child is reading at least five times per week. This is our minimum expectation at school. Children can write in their own reading records too. Within these five reads, please make sure that you are listening to your child read.

Have a restful long weekend

Mr T

Year 5

We’ve had another busy week. In English, the children have planned and written a recount about a visit to a workhouse. Mr Coldwell has been so impressed with what the children have produced. In Maths, we have reached the end of our calculating with fractions by learning how to add mixed numbers.

In Science, we learnt about bird and reptile life cycles. We looked at the similarities and differences and thought about why mammals have the ‘neediest’ offspring! We had a very interesting discussion in PSHE on Thursday about the dangers of smoking and vaping. In History, we looked at what Britain was like when Victoria became Queen in 1837. The children had remembered lots about her early life from our previous lesson.

Our swimming instructors Jane and Corinne continue to be impressed with out behaviour and attitude. Some of our deep end swimmers are having a go at the Gold Award next week – there is a note in the reading record if it is your child! Congratulations to the children in Jane’s group who have already been awarded their first certificate. It’s lovely to see your water confidence and skills growing!

Have a lovely long weekend – see you on Tuesday!

Miss Rutter, Mr Coldwell and Mrs Marsh

Year 6

As we are nearly in SATs week, we have had a very revision-focused week. In maths, we have focused on fractions, decimals, percentages, ratios and interpreting remainders.

In English, we have been focusing on revising the grammar curriculum and reading skills.

In geography, the children have been exploring why rainforests are located in the places they are found.

In PSHE, we have been discussing the idea of consent, in terms of personal space boundaries and knowing that 'no' is a word they are able to use if peers or others encroach into their space.

For SATs week, we are asking that all pupils are in at 08:05, please. We would like to give pupils a snack and a pep-talk before starting the SATs tests. If you cannot make it in by 08:05, we would ask that your child is at school NO LATER than 08:30. We want to be prompt, and begin the process as swiftly as possible.

Next Thursday at 15:15, I am inviting you in to look at what is expected of your child during the week. You will be receiving the slides via email, in case you are unable to make it. For those parents who have older children who have been through the process, you will know the routines.

Homework is a task on spag.com and a maths revision task.

Kind regards

Nuala Gilmore

When are SATs 2024?

The KS2 SATs dates fall as usual in the second week in May, so SATs in 2024 will be administered from 13th to 16th May 2024.

Monday 13th May 2024: Spelling, punctuation, and grammar (Grammar/Punctuation Test) – 45 minutes
Monday 13th May 2024: Spelling, punctuation, and grammar (Spelling Test) – 20 minutes
Tuesday 14th May 2024: Reading Paper (English) – 60 minutes
Wednesday 15th May 2024: Maths Paper 1 (Arithmetic) – 30 minutes
Wednesday 15th May 2024: Maths Paper 2 (Reasoning) – 40 minutes
Thursday 16th May 2024: Maths Paper 3 (Reasoning) – 40 minutes