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Rothley Church of England Academy Newsletter Spring 2 2023

Welcome!

Welcome to our Spring 2 newsletter. What a busy few weeks it has been, it feels like just yesterday when we were putting together the Spring 1 newsletter and thanking you all for the Heart Link Day (we ended up passing the £1,000 mark in the end!).

As I write this, Key Stage One and EYFS have just completed their Easter Bonnet parade – the bonnets were absolutely amazing this year, you have all outdone yourselves again this year.

The ladies in the office are picking the winners this year and I do not envy them picking a winner, you are all winners in my mind (good job I’m not in charge of picking winners – that is a very expensive Easter Egg bill!).

The lucky winners will find out tomorrow afternoon and get their prizes. We also have the Easter Gardens from our Key Stage two classes, these look absolutely amazing too – I have the 9 winners (and their eggs) sitting on a table in my room, ready to dish out tomorrow in Church.

Thank you to all the parents and families for joining in with these annual competitions, they really look great and the children really seem to enjoy parading their entries throughout the school and it is a really lovely way to bring our Spring term to a close.

The Key Stage One and EYFS Church service was truly sensational, and the children's singing was amazing and the children who acted out the Easter story were equally brilliant – possibly future stars of stage and screen!

Key Stage Two’s Easter service is today and I am really looking forward to seeing how they get on – they have a lot to live up to!

All that is just how busy this week has been!

Also this term: we have had the amazing Dogs’ Trust assemblies and workshop where some of our school even went to the rehoming centre to become Canine Carer Cadets; we have had the amazing Year 3-4 play at the Palmer Tomkinson Centre where they performed ‘Dragon Days’, my wife and daughter were able to join me for the Tuesday performance and they absolutely loved every second of it; all this and a million more things have happened this term!

So without further ado, I will hand over to the teachers to find out what has been happening in the classrooms…

Mr Dooley

Foundation Stage

We have had another busy term in school!

Our topic ‘Here Come the Dinosaurs’ has been a massive hit. The children have loved finding out about lots of different dinosaur facts. We have been painting pictures of their favourite dinosaurs and using art straws to create dinosaur skeleton pictures.

In Literacy they have been practicing their sentence writing skills and using their phonic knowledge to do this. They have enjoyed writing their tricky words and putting these into their sentences.

In Maths the children have been learning about odd and even numbers and subtraction. They have been practically sorting the Numicon into odd and even groups and using a variety of manipulatives to work on their subtraction skills.

We have enjoyed listening to a range of dinosaur books, both fiction and non-fiction. In our outdoor provision they have been having great fun in the dinosaur slime! This week they have been making Spring potions and exploring flowers and herbs by cutting and smelling.

The last two weeks of term have been focused on Spring and Easter. We have talked about signs of Spring, learnt the very popular ‘Spring Chicken’ song and they all enjoyed their Spring walk homework. The children have enjoyed listening to the Easter story and why it is an important part of the church year.

In music Mrs Warburton has taught all of the children Easter songs which they have sung during our Easter church service.

The Foundation Stage team would like to wish you all a Happy Easter. We are looking forward to another busy term when we are back!

Collective Worship:

During our collective worship sessions this term, we have been continuing to reflect as a school and within our classrooms: delving deeper into different stories from the bible, celebrating our Christian Values and learning about key events in the Christian calendar.

Throughout the week, we take part in a range of collective worship sessions, all of which are detailed below:

Roots and Fruits:

Every Monday morning the children meet in their phases (Foundation, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) for collective worship to start the week. This is led by a class teacher, using the ‘Roots and Fruits’ assemblies and the focus is on Christian character and distinctiveness.

This term we have focused on the following:

Picture News:

Every fortnight, we have continued to delve deeper into current issues and topics that we might hear about on the news. Teaching the news not only provides great content and stimulus and grips children’s attention, it is also something that the children can impact. It is current, happening now and so their voice is given meaning and purpose. It is our world and we all matter. Picture News gives children a voice and encourages them to use it to impact things they are inspired by or feel passionately about.

Some of the topics that have been discussed in class are shared below:

Picture News is a brilliant tool from which to develop children’s understanding of global citizenship at an age appropriate level and it is a great tool for teaching children about current affairs.

Christian Values:

This half-term, Mrs Ellaway and Mrs Meadows have been delivering whole school assemblies on the Christian Values of ‘Friendship’ and ‘Courage’.

The children have learned about the Christian perspectives of both values and how Jesus teaches us to show them in our daily lives.

During the 4th assembly in our ‘Friendship’ sequence, we welcomed parents and carers to Rothley Church to watch a class-led Collective Worship. 2HW performed a class assembly and invited the other children and adults in Year 2 to watch. Led by Mrs Walton, the class explained their thoughts on Friendship and how this links to God’s teachings and messages. The class did a superb job and definitely made everyone proud!

The children who received the Red Glitter Christian Value star for Friendship were:

Recently, Mrs Meadows delivered her first few value assemblies on ‘Courage’ and we look forward to learning more about this value when we return after the Easter break.

It will be Mrs Greenhill's class who will be delivering a collective worship assembly in the school hall for Courage on Thursday 27th April – time to be confirmed..

Year 1

This term the children have really impressed us with their hard work and motivation. We have been really busy producing some fantastic work! The children deserve a well-rested Easter break!

Literacy – This half term in Literacy, we have focused on narrative writing and the ability to retell a story. The children were inspired by the story ‘The Way Back Home’ by Oliver Jeffers and have written some amazing sentences using verbs, adjectives and time adverbials.

We also took time to learn about, the importance of up levelling our vocabulary to ensure, we keep our writing exciting for the reader. Additionally, we have explored the prefix ‘un’ and the suffix ‘ing’ to help us use these correctly in our work. Throughout all of our writing, we have been practicing our capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Most recently, we have independently retold the story ‘How to Catch a Star’ by Oliver Jeffers.

In Maths this half term we challenged ourselves to explore numbers to 50. To support us in this, we used Base 10 equipment to help us easily identify the tens and ones in a number.

We then moved onto our new topic of Length and Height where we identified if an object was taller or shorter than a given object. We learnt how to measure an object using cubes, counters and paper clips. To continue this exploration, we transitioned to using rulers and cm to measure objects. This allowed us to compare objects using accurate measurements.

We then moved onto looking at the weight and mass of an object using balancing scales. Children compared the weight of different objects using the language lighter and heavier. We used cubes to calculate the weight of different objects we found around the classroom.

In Science we have been looking at seasonal changes, focusing on the transition from Winter to Spring. The children have watched clips to help them observe the changes and have created a seasonal wheel showing things they would see in each season. We explored the months that make up each season and stated which season we preferred and why.

In Geography we have been exploring and describing different types of weather. We identified how the weather changes throughout the seasons and looked at different climates around the world. We set our classroom up like an aeroplane and visited different countries to explore their climates! The children were really excited and learnt some brilliant facts! We also discussed why countries closer to the equator were hot and why countries that were further away from the equator were cold. Additionally, we looked at the similarities and differences between Antarctica and the Sahara Desert and explored why they are both classified as deserts.

This half term we started our new topic in DT ‘Preparing fruits and vegetables’. The children explored different fruits and vegetables identifying its features along with where and how they have grown. We learnt about the different food groups and how they combine to make a healthy, balanced meal. We then further investigated fruit and vegetables and applied our new skills of cutting, grating and peeling. Furthermore, we had a chance to design our own fruit smoothies, where we were able to demonstrate our new skills to produce our final product.

In R.E we have continued learning about Judaism. The children have reflected upon some important messages they would like to remember every day and have explored some festivals in more detail.

We looked at some foods that Jewish people prepare on Shabbat and special objects that they have on their tables. We also explored the festival Chanukah and discovered the game of ‘dreidel’, we made our own ‘dridels’ and played the game in class.

What a fast-paced term. We hope you all have a great Easter!

Year 2

Despite it being a short half term, we have had lots of fun and been very creative with our learning.

In maths the focus for learning has been on multiplication, division and fractions. The children have worked really hard on this unit and have shown an excellent understanding of the link between the different elements.

They have enjoyed using practical equipment to understand the process of grouping and sharing. They have also completed a unit on measuring using metres and centimetres.

In PE the children have been playing ‘Hit-Catch-Run’ which has improved their skill of accuracy when using a racket and ball. They have also been able to develop their ability to work in a team.

The children have LOVED being scientists in their lessons. They have had the opportunity to conduct several experiments, such as finding the most suitable material to use for an umbrella for Ted.

They have learnt about how to plan and set up a fair test and to gather and interpret results. As part of our Science Week celebrations, the children had the chance to conduct extra experiments. They worked as a whole class to find the most suitable biscuit for dunking. They worked in groups to construct a bridge to hold a weight. The children were very enthusiastic and competitive when testing to see whose bridge could hold the most cubes. It was wonderful to see them apply their prior learning from our DT unit last term on structure when designing their bridge.

In music the children have been learning about pitch and they created their own graphic scores around three different pitched notes.

In history the children have been studying the Tudor period. They have looked at Tudor houses and compared them to our modern homes as well exploring the function of Tudor kitchens and the types of meals they ate. The have really enjoyed this unit due to the local link of Bradgate House. Hopefully they will have lots of information to share with you the next time you are walking through Bradgate Park.

Year 2 enjoyed visiting the church earlier this term to watch Mrs Walton’s class assembly all about the Christian value of friendship. The children did a wonderful job and we were very proud of them.

It was great to see the effort the children put in to our Dare to be Different day this week. It was a wonderful opportunity for children to celebrate the differences of their peers.

We hope you all have a wonderful Easter break. Seeing the children in their Easter bonnets has certainly put us in the mood for Spring!

PTFA

Following the busyness of the events the PTFA ran in the lead up to Christmas we have had a quiet start to 2023. A big thankyou to all who contributed and helped in any way with the Christmas events – the 4 discos, the stall at the Rothley Christmas lights switch on and the visit of Father Christmas around the village with the Round Table. The events enabled us to raise a net profit of £1773.76.

Our first event March 2023 has been the flowers and raffle tickets which we sold to celebrate Mother’s Day. It was lovely to see so many children leave school on Friday 17th March with spring flowers for their Mums and carers.

We sold over 700 raffle tickets and 200 spring bouquets raising a net profit of £729.29. Our Co-Chairs Rebecca and Wendy enjoyed being able to attend a whole school assembly to oversee the first tickets being drawn whilst the remainder were drawn around the school.

It was great to see so many local businesses donate prizes for this and we hope that the successful Mums have enjoyed their raffle prizes!

We are now looking at holding an event to celebrate Father’s Day which may involve make your own pizza kits and another raffle but watch this space! Our next event will be the Easter cake sale being held straight after school on Friday (31st March), the last day of the Spring term.

We look forward to working with school on ideas for items and experiences that will enhance our children’s education that can be purchased from our fundraising. We have already recently spent some funding on the purchase of Coronation gifts for all the children to celebrate the historic event of King Charles III’s Coronation in May. It is becoming a PTFA tradition and so again this year we will be contributing towards the Year 6 SATS breakfasts. We wish you all well Year 6 - you can do it! We will also be contributing towards the Year 6 leavers events at the end of the summer term – we can’t believe it’s nearly that time already but our Year 6s will be missed!

Lottery

Since September we have raised just over £700 through the school lottery. This is a weekly lottery run by the PTFA from which we receive 40p from every £1 ticket sold. The income we receive from this is an important source of continuing funds for our PTFA and school. There is a weekly prize for the lottery within the school of around £20 - £25 depending on the number of tickets sold.

Larger prizes are also given out from time to time, there is a large jackpot of £25,000 and in April there will be an opportunity to win an annual Merlin Family Pass which will give free entry to 4 to attractions such as Sea Life Centres, the London Eye, Legoland, and Alton Towers. More info about the school lottery can be found:

Or feel free to speak to anyone on the PTFA Committee.

We will always welcome new PTFA Committee members. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 25th April at 7pm to which everyone is welcome! For more information see the Rothley PTFA Noticeboard facebook page or email: ptfa@rothley.leics.sch.uk Volunteers for events are also required but a cry for help will go out prior to each event!

Meanwhile we wish everyone a Happy Easter and a great Easter holiday!

Wendy Lewis & Rebecca Walker, Joint Chairs of the PTFA

Year 3

What another fantastic half term we have had! We are so proud of all the children who took part in the Dragon Days production. The Year 3 singers were absolutely fantastic and they should be very proud of themselves for taking part in such a wonderful show!

In Maths this half term we have been working hard with our fractions work and have done a superb job comparing fractions, understanding what a unit fraction is and working out equivalent fractions. We have started our new topic of mass and capacity, learning about g and kg and l and ml.

In Literacy we have created some fantastic pieces of writing based on the ‘iRobot Dog’.

We have discussed how we can write a persuasive information text to convince people to buy our inventions!

We have considered different conjunctions to use for the greatest effect in our writing.

In Geography we have learnt about the sunshine state of Florida and why tourists are tempted to visit the Magic Kingdom.

We have used map work to locate countries around the world where tourists to the Magic Kingdom have travelled from. We are also learning about the places of interest in Florida, such as Cape Canaveral.

We have had a fantastic time in D.T working with textiles to create a superb purse or wallet. We have used our sewing skills to sew together different pieces of fabric, attach a button and sew other decorations on to our projects. The perseverance the children have shown with this has been phenomenal!

We also challenge ourselves to the science homework this term too!

Well done for all your amazing work this half term Year 3! We hope you have a relaxing and lovely Easter break!

Year 4

Wow, what a term we have had in Year 4! Of course, the highlight was our very successful Dragon Days performance. Every single child shone on stage and we are so proud of what they achieved together as a team. Thank you to everyone who came to watch the performances.

In literacy, we have been tapping in to our imagination by writing a narrative based on the story Maleficent: The Dark Fae.

We have enjoyed gathering lots of ambitious vocabulary, which we then implemented into our independent pieces of writing based on our chosen stimulus: How to Train your Dragon or The Moors. Both Miss Pick and Mrs Asquith have been blown away by the excellent pieces of writing that have been produced!

In Maths, we have been focusing on fractions and decimals. This can be a really difficult topic, but the children have thrown themselves into the learning and have done brilliantly. We have used practical resources such as counters and cubes, alongside bar models and pictures to help us grasp tricky concepts such as converting improper fractions into mixed numbers.

As part of our sustainability Geography topic, we visited the Brackenhurst University campus in Nottingham to learn all about the importance of renewable energy. We went orienteering, explored a Victorian garden, found out about the number of air miles it takes to get various fruit and vegetables to us (and the damage it causes the environment) and even created our own wind turbines to try and generate electricity!

In Art, we have enjoyed the topic of ‘exploring patterns’ which has enabled us to test out a variety of creative skills.

It is incredible how much we’ve managed to squeeze into this term! The children have definitely earned a restful Easter break and we look forward to welcoming you all back in the summer term.

Year 5

Yet another half-term has rocketed past in Year 5. Please have a read through all the wonderful things we’ve been getting up to at school.

In English, we started a new way of teaching spelling, which is based on phonics. We have seen a marked improvement in spelling, especially in their writing, already.

We have completed two large pieces of writing this half term: a balanced argument based on a topic of the children’s choice, and a narrative based on a short animation called “The Present”. Our children are really finding their writing identities and working incredibly hard to think about the reader with language choices and sentence structure.

In history, we have been studying the Ancient Greeks, who were a vastly advanced civilisation, responsible for many things we still use today: language, mathematics, astrology, philosophy, and democracy.

We have learned about how the Greek empire was split into citadels, who often fought and traded with each other, and sometimes even united to battle their fiercest rival – Persia.

In design and technology, we have been researching and planning a pizza to be served at a family event. This focused on seasonality and different cuisines from around the world to infuse into the tastes we weave into our pizzas. We had a brilliant tasting session where we sampled some delicious – and quite quirky – toppings (including a pizza with grapes on it!). Say what you want about whether fruit belongs on pizza …

In science, we celebrated National Science Week with a fascinating experiment on the dunkability of a range of biscuits. We created a hypothesis and made predictions as to which biscuit-y treat would survive the most amount of dunks in a cup of temperate water: the classic Rich Tea biscuit was the clear winner! We enjoyed a fantastic assembly from Mr Clark, who taught us about a range of famous and diverse scientists, and what sort of careers science could lead you to.

Year 6

Wowee – what a term it has been! The last full term before our Year 6s take on the challenge of SATs. This means we have packed a lot in, and when I say a lot…I really do mean it!

In maths, we have rounded off all of the Year 6 maths units, ready for revision when we return after Easter. Once again, the children have coped fantastically with the pace in which we have gotten through these topics and we are very confident that they will be able to put this knowledge to good use when they encounter their SATs papers.

We started this term by looking at coordinates and translation: plotting points within 4 quadrants, translating and reflecting shapes across the x and y axis. We then moved on to looking at the area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles and rectilinear shapes – including a very interesting decorating challenge in which the children had to work out how much carpet and skirting board was needed to decorate a room.

More recently, we have tackled ratio, time, statistics, charts and circles…if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also managed a unit on finding the mean (average) of given data. Phew…

In English this term, we carried on our work in spelling, punctuation and grammar and have covered the following: subjunctive form, word classes, main and subordinate clauses and relative clauses. These concepts were then woven into our written pieces.

At the start of this term, the children were tasked with writing a persuasive advert on an object of their choosing. We had some excellent adverts detailing the benefits of the Dyson Airwrap, the multiple functions of the RAK Hammer, the ergonomic design of the 3-in-1 Breakfast Maker and much, much more! The children did an absolutely fantastic job and left myself and Mr Richards seriously wanting a 3-in-1 Breakfast machine in our own kitchens!

More recently, we have been working on a letter of complaint and we have been working on the tricky balance between formality and characterisation. The children were encouraged to do A.F.A.R.T throughout their writing (it sounds strange…I know…but there is a reason for the acronym!) They achieved this brilliantly in their class guided writes, so much so that Mr Phillips popped in to congratulate us all on our excellent farting and wonderfully perfumed classrooms! After the Easter holidays, the children will be typing up their completed letters, ready to display in their ‘posh’ books.

Within our latest Art unit, the children have had the opportunity to develop their sense of self through the completion of self-portraits. We have been using the artist ‘Mike Barratt’ or ‘EMELBI’ (as he is otherwise known) as a stimulus and guide for our own pieces.

The finished products are absolutely fantastic and we cannot wait to display these within our school corridor. In amongst all of this, each class has worked their way through a guided reading text, delving deeper into its contents and getting to grips with different author styles.

Mr Richards’ class read ONCE by Morris Gleitzman, a story about a Jewish boy named Felix who lived in Poland and is on a quest to find his book-keeper parents after he sees Nazis burning the books from his Catholic orphanage.

Mrs Brewis’ class read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, the story of a girl who must work with the laws of the universe and trust the love of her family if she is to set her world right. In Year 6, we are incredibly privileged to get the opportunity to read such quality texts and I know that both of these books were enjoyed by all.

This term, we had the opportunity to celebrate World Book Day and this year, we focused on the skill of illustration. In Year 6, we spent the day creating artworks in the style of our visiting illustrator Sarah Coleman: we brought well-known and well-loved quotes to life through the use of watercolours. Sarah was kind enough to leave us with some examples of her work within the text ‘Only If You Dare’ – a collection of page-turning, child horror stories. We had a fantastic day exploring colour, lettering and all think illustration!

I think all the children have earned themselves a wonderful, restful Easter break and we look forward to welcoming them back in two week’s time – ready and raring to go, to smash these SATs!!

British Science Week

Little Bunnies

The Little Bunnies have enjoyed lots of activities this term focused around our topic ‘Down on the Farm’.

Our role-play corner has been a Garden Centre and the children have been busy potting plants and growing flowers to sell.

We have read lots of lovely stories and retold these using puppets and props. In Maths we have been looking at shapes and patterns in the environment and creating our own repeating patterns in lots of fun ways.

Outside we have enjoyed lots of exploratory play including mark-making in wet and dry sand, designing water channels and building and balancing with large construction equipment.

We have been learning about Easter and particularly enjoyed singing Easter songs and lots of lovely Easter craft.

The Little Bunnies Team would like to wish you a very happy Easter.

Sport @ Rothley

It’s been another great half term for Sports here at Rothley! This term we have participated in; Key Steps Gymnastics, Cross Country (KS1), Orienteering, Cross Country (KS2) and even a Dodgeball County Finals Tournament AND a Gymnastic County Finals Tournament!

Gymnastics and Gymnastics Finals

Our 3 Rothley gymnastics teams worked extremely hard training and learning routines during Miss Pick and Miss Farrelly’s gymnastics club. Their commitment and determination was rewarded at the Key Steps Gymnastics Competition where two of our teams achieved silver medals and our Year 4 team achieved gold!

This meant that our Year 4 gymnasts went on to represent South Charnwood in the County Finals. A HUGE well done to all teams involved!

Cross Country

Children from across the school competed in Cross Country races against 7 other local schools. All the children did extremely well and did Rothley proud.

Orienteering

In March, 16 children from year 6 went to Melton to compete in an orienteering competition.

Out of the 8 pairs, we had a 2nd place! Elliot P and Elliot B! This was out of a massive 140 pairs!

As always the children were fantastic and competed in the right way!

Dodgeball County Finals

A virtuoso team of Y5s and Y6s represented our school at the county dodgeball finals on Wednesday 29th March, after winning their qualifying event a few weeks ago.

This meant that we were part of the best seven schools (out of about 250) in all of Leicestershire and Rutland. Though we did not win the finals, we played incredibly well as a team. Considering we had to play every match with one less player than everyone else, we did exceptionally well - and even managed to beat the overall winners. Huge congratulations to all those who represented our school so fantastically.

Tri-Golf

Unfortunately, Tri-Golf was postponed this term due to weather conditions. A new date of the 4th May has been given, so we will keep you updated as to the information on this.

Upcoming tournaments

  • Tennis Festival (Year 4) 24.04.23Girls
  • Netball (Year 5 and 6) 05.05.2
  • Netball (Year 5 and 6) 08.05.2
  • Girls Football Festival (Year 3 and 4) 12.05.2
  • Girls Cricket (Year 5 and 6) 16.05.2
  • Cricket (Year 5 and 6) 22.05.2
  • Boys Cricket (Year 5 and 6) 23.05.23

Music @ Rothley

Music in the Curriculum:

This half term, EYFS and KS1 have been learning about pitch and have created their own compositions using graphic scores. Year 3 and 2/3SH have finished their learning on the ocarina. They have worked so hard over the last term and a half and have a good understanding of rhythm and pitch- they should be really proud of themselves!

Year 4 have been learning about music from The Carribbean. They learnt a Bob Marley song on their ukuleles and a have started to learn about standard notation on a stave, using the music of Trinidad and Tobago- steel pans. Years 5 and 6 have continued their learning on GarageBand as part of Music Technology. They are fantastic at reading notation and have bee composing their own score following Loop Sequencing Notation.

Musician of the Month:

In March, we have been learning about American composer, Florence Price. We talked about the prejudice she faced as a black woman wanting to be a composer in a time of racial and gender inequality but how she was determined to fulfil her dreams.

In 1933, she became the first black woman to have her work performed by a major orchestra and often included African rhythms and melodies as part of her compositions. What a trailblazer! We also used this opportunity to learn about instruments of the orchestra and the orchestral families they belong to.

Year 5 Amherst Debating Day

Out of school Achievements!

We have 2 additions to our out of school achievements section this term!

Anastasia in Year 4 competed in the East Midlands acrobatic championships again this month and came second with her partner.

This was out of 14 pairs at Grade 3 gymnastics. This means that Anastasia moves onto the next round of Regional competitions next

We are all hopeful she can better her 6th place Nationally at the end of the season!

Amazing work! We are all so proud of you here at Rothley.

We have 4 fantastic cheerleaders in year 4

Ellie G. Ruby P, Evie Ds & Georgia HH - competed in a cheerleading competition in February and were absolutely amazing! The girls came 1st & 3rd in their performances over the weekend!

Well done girls you have done Rothley and your families very proud.

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