Inspired by the morning sunrise, I read Wow! Said the Owl, by Tim Hopgood, to the children in our morning assembly. In this book, the owl stays awake to see the daytime and discovers the vibrant colours of the morning - the pink skies of sunrise, the yellow of the sun, the bright blue sky, green leaves on the trees, the red butterflies and orange flowers. In the discussions that followed, I encouraged the children to not only appreciate the beauty of nature around us, but also, in line with this month’s Learner Profile, focus on being thinkers, to look beyond themselves and what they already know.

Let’s all keep looking upwards and outwards and seeing the varied colours of our wonderful world. After all, it is by striving to expand our horizons and knowledge that we are able to learn more of the intricacies and wonders of the world and to enjoy ‘wow’ moments, both inside and outside the classroom.

Claire Boissiere, Head of Years 1-3

Year 1

Hooray for Hanukkah

HOORAY FOR HANUKKAH | This week, as part of their inquiry into celebrations, the Year 1 pupils were excited to welcome Charlotte's mother, Ms Kaplan to speak about the Jewish festival Hanukkah. The festival takes place in November or December each year. Ms Kaplan read a story called Hooray for Hanukkah, which told the story from the perspective of the Menorah, the lamp that is lit for the eight nights of Hanukkah. The candles are lit from right to left by the Shamash candle. As part of the celebrations, Jewish families eat lots of delicious foods (such as donuts and a potato cake called Latke) and play games such as 'Spin the Dreidel' in which a spinning top is spun to win chocolate coins (or gelt). The children loved learning about Hanukkah - thank you so much to Ms Kaplan for taking the time to visit us!

Creating Chairs

CREATING CHAIRS | As part of their inquiry into Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Year 1 pupils were challenged with building a chair for Baby Bear using newspapers, straws, and sellotape. In line with this month's Learner Profile focus, the pupils demonstrated their creative and open-minded thinking skills, reflecting on what was and wasn't working and how they could improve their designs. It was wonderful to see how engaged they were in the task, and also how well they were able to communicate their ideas to other members of the group. All in all, it was a fantastic and fun challenge!

Perfect Porridge

PERFECT PORRIDGE | This week, Year 1 had fun making porridge with Miss Barclay. The pupils mixed together oats, Ready Brek milk and water and stirred the ingredients until cooked. After adding a little syrup, the pupils enjoyed consuming their delicious creation, and like Baby Bear's porridge in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it was just right! The pupils then wrote up their recipe and included their ingredients, utensils and method. Well done, Year 1!

Beach Bear Chairs

BEACH BEAR CHAIRS | Year 1 took to the beach this week to build Baby Bear a chair. They found lots of twigs, branches and logs to create their seats. Some even managed to hold the pupils! There were stools, recliners and benches by the end of the session - all the result of some brilliant team work from our Year 1 thinkers and communicators!

Year 2

Year 2's New Unit

YEAR 2'S NEW UNIT | At the start of the week, the Year 2 pupils tuned into their new Unit of Inquiry focusing on Simple Machines. Miss Fisher set up provocations around the classroom that enabled the children to explore all six simple machines - wheel and axle, lever, pulley, screw, wedge, and inclined wedge - through play. However, she sneakily removed a vital piece of equipment from each provocation, and then asked the children to reflect on what tool or simple machine would make solving each problem easier. This led to some fantastic inquiry work by the children, who came up with creative solutions to each challenge! By the end of the lesson, the children had correctly identified all six simple machines. They are starting to develop an understanding of how these machines make our lives easier, and are looking forward to exploring each of these in greater depth over the coming weeks.

How the World Works

HOW THE WORLD WORKS | Carrying on tuning into their new Unit of Inquiry, How the World Works, Year 2 set off for the Harbour and seafront to find out how people depend on simple machines to perform tasks more efficiently and make their lives easier. Armed with clipboards, the children set off on a scavenger hunt for six simple machines, spotting lots of examples along the way, including pulleys to hoist up lobster pots from the boats and inclined planes as paths or walkways to help mariners get from one height of land to another.

They found the old wheel and axle that was used to open the bridge down at the Harbour, before it was motorised, and plenty of screws that keep the bridge, fence and benches from falling apart. Who knew the invention of such 'simple' machines could have such an impact on our everyday lives?

Junior Strings Initiative

JUNIOR STRINGS INITIATIVE | Year 2 had a lovely Friday surprise when they met Mrs Ritchie, who is the violin and viola teacher for our Junior pupils. Mrs Ritchie will be leading the Year 2 violin/viola initiative this term, and played the class a piece from Jamaica called Mango Walk, to inspire and enthuse the children. She played high and low sounds, and the pupils pretended to be elephants and mice! Initially, Year 2 will have instruments in school only, and once they have learned how to care for them, they'll be able to take them home, bringing them back in every Friday for their lesson with Mrs Ritchie!

Year 3

Creating Circuits

CREATING CIRCUITS | The Year 3 pupils have been very excited to launch into their new Unit of Inquiry. As part of the tuning in process, the pupils were set an investigative challenge. They were given a bank of resources and then tasked with deciding what they wanted to do, and then finding a way to do it. The children displayed this month's Learner Profile attribute of being thinkers as they set about trying to light up light bulbs, harness motors, and make buzzers buzz using their existing knowledge. By the end of the lesson, each group had created a circuit and, through discussion, established that electricity only flows one way and that plastic is a 'bad road'. This is a brilliant basis for further inquiry. Well done, Year 3!

Year 4

Mathematical Models

MATHEMATICAL MODELS | The Year 4 pupils have been working on bar models. The class were presented with addition and subtraction worded problems which they then had to represent and solve using the visual bar modelling method. The pupils did a fantastic job at solving the problems, and showed themselves to be marvellous mathematicians. Great work, Year 4!

Year 5

Know, Wonder, Learn

KNOW, WONDER, LEARN | The Year 5 pupils are now fully immersed in their new Unit of Inquiry, focusing on Scotland. Over the course of this half term, the pupils will be delving into the past, present and future landscape of the country through art and other in-depth investigations. The first stop on the pupils' learning journey was the tuning in process, which involves finding out the prior knowledge of the class and, more importantly, what they would like to find out. The pupils structured their thoughts into three categories - know, wonder, and learn - and produced some excellent posters.

After the weekend, the pupils will progress to the next phase - finding out - and will be looking at everything from Palaeolithic and Neolithic settlements to devolution and life in the 21st century. The pupils look forward to sharing their findings with you in due course!

Building on the Beach

BUILDING ON THE BEACH | Last Friday, as the tide came in and the sun came down, the Year 5 pupils were challenged with building a channel for a tennis ball to travel up. Some of the groups even managed to create channels with bridges and bends. Great work, Year 5!

Year 6

NGO Knowledge

NGO KNOWLEDGE | This week, the Year 6 pupils started their inquiry into Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) by thinking about human needs and who may help people if these needs are not met. The pupils worked collaboratively and used a large piece of paper to come with ideas. There were some great discussions! They have now teamed up to work on projects based on their chosen NGO, and look forward to sharing their findings with you in due course!

Grappling with Graphs

GRAPPLING WITH GRAPHS | This week, the Year 6 pupils have focused on graphs. The pupils have learned how to find the mean, mode, median and range, deciphering line graphs and using tables to gain information. In addition, they have honed their times table skills by using games such as 'Hit the Button' and 'Around the World. It has been fantastic to see the pupils grow in confidence with in applying these foundational concepts.

Fabulous Fixtures

FABULOUS FIXTURES | This week, the Year 6 pupils enjoyed hockey and football matches against Clifton Hall. Very well done to all the players, especially the goal scorers, Cara and James, as well as Olivia R who was named girl of the game.

Other News

Learning about Listening

LEARNING ABOUT LISTENING | This week, the Peer Listening Team continued their training with a focus on confidentiality. The pupils worked through different issues that they may encounter in their roles as peer listeners, and then sorted these into three categories: always tell a teacher, sometimes tell a teacher, and keep private. The pupils demonstrated an excellent understanding of confidentiality, and now understand that sometimes confidentiality involves passing information on to an adult. Well done to all involved!

Stunning Skies

STUNNING SKIES | There have been some simply stunning sunrises and sunsets this week. Thank you so much to all those in our school community who have shared their photographs with us.