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Rothley Church of England Academy Newsletter Autumn 1 2022

Welcome Message

Welcome to our Autumn 1 newsletter. Currently, we are preparing for the final parents’ evening appointments today - it has been so lovely to welcome so many of you in this week and throughout the whole of this term.

Thank you so much to all our children and their parents for bringing a really positive energy into the school and making it such a wonderful place to be for everyone.

We have had an incredibly busy first half-term with parents’ evenings, school trips and even the odd themed day so, with no further ado, it is time to hand over to the class teachers to share the amazing things that have been going on this half-term.

Thank you all!

Foundation Stage

The Foundation Stage team are so proud of how well our new children have settled into school. They have been so busy learning our daily routines, settling in and making lots of new friends.

Our topic this half term has been all about Nursery Rhymes, we have had great fun reciting and acting out new and familiar rhymes. Some of our activities have included: painting Humpty Dumpty, creating their own Incy Wincy spider and acting out The Grand Old Duke of York.

As well as these activities the children have been, building models in the construction kits, exploring letters and numbers, using their imagination in the role play areas and most importantly making friends and having fun!

We have begun our Phonics and Maths Mastery sessions which the children are thoroughly enjoying. They have explored pattern and have been learning about the numbers 1 to 3 and how we can represent them in different ways.

They have had a great time in our outdoor learning area, the climbing frame and slide have been a great hit!

In our weekly Collective Worship assemblies they have met our puppet ‘Jack’ who helps us to learn about different stories from the Bible.

Mr Dooley led a special assembly where he introduced our whole school ‘Bee Code’ he even brought a special visitor to help him! The children all have their bee badges and are so excited and proud to wear them.

We are looking forward to another fun packed and busy half term after the break!

Year 1

The children have had a fantastic first half term in year 1!

They have settled into their new classes and routines beautifully and have been keeping busy with their work as well as having lots of fun!

This half term we have been focused on helping the children to transition from an EYFS to Year 1. Our continuous provision has provided the children with lots of opportunities to learn through play and to continue to develop their gross and fine motor skills.

We have practiced our fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills through balancing and construction games using marbles, foam bricks and lollipop sticks. The children have been building their independence this half term completing set tasks throughout the week whilst having adult led group work in writing and maths.

This half term in literacy, our theme has been ‘woodlands fairy tales’. We have recalled familiar fairy tales and stories, including; goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and The Bean Stalk. We have worked on using our finger spaces, capital letters and full stops, as well as applying our phonics sounds. Recently we have been exploring adjectives to describe Rapunzel’s hair and the Gruffalo.

In maths this half term we have been working on place value to 10. We have looked at representing and counting numbers within 10 using our numicon and 10 frames.

We have also looked at comparing and ordering numbers using the inequality and equal to symbols (>, <, =). We have used a range of concrete manipulatives to support our maths work and we have started to build on our reasoning skills as a class e.g. ‘I know 8 is greater than 2 because it has two more’. The children have great mathematical knowledge and are applying their skills to solve problems and discuss their answers.

Science – We have been exploring everyday materials this half term and looking at 5 key materials including glass, metal, wood, plastic and fabric. We have conducted a range of experiments to test if our materials are; waterproof, absorbent, opaque, transparent, and translucent.

We have been working scientifically when identifying and classifying these objects and materials and discussing where we might see these outside of the classroom.

Art – The children have thoroughly enjoyed our art topic this half term. We have been exploring spirals inspired by the artist Molly Haslund. The children have been able to explore their creative side using a range of mediums and techniques.

We have used graphite sticks, oil pastels, chalk, water and pencils to create circle and spiral shapes. We have also explored how to blend colours and apply different pressure to create different textures in our work.

IIn ICT the children have been learning all about E-safety and how we stay safe online. We have been discussing what online means and when we might be online e.g. YouTube, roblox, Netflix.

The children have been discussing when we should ask for permission to go online and who to talk to if we are unsure about something. We have been sharing with each other who our ‘trusted adults’ are. These are people we can go to in and out of school if we are worried, upset or scared about something both online and offline.

Newarke Houses Trip:

The children loved our trip to Newarke Houses to explore toys from the past and apply their knowledge from our history lessons in school. We had a great experience learning about how toys have enhanced over time and got a chance to play with some very old toys and learn all about their purpose.

We discussed the difference between rich and poor toys from the past and how they were made. We also had a chance to look at old grocery shops, seamstresses and cobbled streets.

Year 2

The children in Year 2 have had a FANTASTIC start to the new school year. They have all settled into their new classes really quickly and have been working hard this term.

In maths the children have been developing their understanding of place value in tens and units.

They have used a range of equipment such as base ten and Numicon to help them understand the concept. They have then used this knowledge to identify where 2-digit numbers are placed on a number line and they have then ordered numbers from smallest to largest.

In Literacy this term the children have listened to lots of stories about bears, including ‘Whatever Next’ and ‘The Bear Under the Stairs’. We have used these stories to create our own bear adventures and the children have included lots of interesting adjectives and time words to sequence events.

Our latest text has been the story ‘Tiddler’. The children have focused on using the conjunctions ‘but’ and ‘because’ when writing their Tiddler inspired sentences.

In Mrs Hayman’s class the children have listened to the story a’ Huge Bag of Worries’ about a new teacher and even had a visit themselves from a very strange teacher! The children wrote their own version of the story where the music took them to a different place. We are now using the book ‘Use Your Imagination’ to look at different versions of traditional tales. Are wolves always the baddies?

The Year 2 science topic for this term is ‘Animals including Humans’. The children have learnt about how different animal babies are born, develop and grow into adults. They can now identify the basic needs to ensure survival and have also learnt about how to keep healthy by understanding the importance of exercise, a balanced diet and being hygienic.

In Design and Technology the children have absolutely loved their unit of work on Food.

The children have tasted and prepared a range of different types of fruit, whilst learning about the importance of healthy eating.

They have developed their practical skills of food preparation. This has included chopping, peeling and grating. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to plan their own fruit kebab or fruit salad. It was a real end of term treat to finally make their design. They were all very happy with their end product and enjoyed eating it during our afternoon picnic.

In Mrs Hayman’s we have been looking at mechanisms with wheels and axles, making them out of Lego and K-nex, designing our own. We are now making our own for a story book character.

In their computing lessons with Mr Dooley and Mrs Hayman, Year 2 have been learning about e-safety. Our main focus has been about how it is important to ask permission before using the Internet and identifying trusted adults who can help.

The Year Two team would like to thank you all for your continued support with the homework each week. It is invaluable to help your child at home with reading, learning spellings and the new maths tasks and we really do appreciate it. Have a relaxing and enjoyable half term.

Year 3

What a fantastic start we have had to the year! The children have settled in fantastically to Year 3 and we are very proud of everything they have achieved so far!

In Maths we’ve been learning all about place value and representing numbers from 100 to 1000.

We have used different resources including base 10 and place value counters to show that we understand how many hundreds, tens and ones make a 3 digit number.

We have recently started a new topic on addition and subtraction. We have been applying our knowledge using column addition and subtraction and applying this to different reasoning and problem solving questions.

In Literacy, we have been following the Rainbow Crow on his adventure to the sun to help his friends survive the winter cold. We have used this structure to create our own pieces of writing based on the Turkey Buzzard.

We are also in the process of writing a descriptive piece of writing based on the ‘Volcano’.

In Mrs Hayman’s class the children have listened to the story a’ Huge Bag of Worries’ about a new teacher and even had a visit themselves from a very strange teacher! The children wrote their own version of the story where the music took them to a different place. We are now using the book ‘Use Your Imagination’ to look at different versions of traditional tales. Are wolves always the baddies?

In Science, we have enjoyed our topic about forces and magnets, and have been learning all about what a magnetic field is, how magnets work and how friction can stop objects moving by using a toy car on different surfaces.

In Geography, we have produced some fantastic work with our earthquake topic. We have learnt about how the most powerful earthquake doesn’t always cause the most damage. We have also looked at where earthquakes occur around the world and compared this to volcanoes, as well as learning about tsunamis. .

In Art we have had a fantastic time working with charcoal to create different marks and textures. We have produced some amazing caves using charcoal to create the ‘stone walls’ and the cave drawings.

In Mrs Hayman’s we have been looking at mechanism using pneumatics systems. We have studied toys that use air to move them, they really enjoyed using the rockets! They have used syringes, balloons and pumps to open a box and have designed their own. They are now in the process of making it.

Please enjoy looking at our lovely photos and have a fantastic half-term

Year 3 Team

Year 4

What a fantastic start to the new academic year we’ve had in Year 4! All the children have settled in so very well and have all made amazing progress. Miss Pick and I were also very happy to have met so many parents on parent’ evening.

In Literacy, we have completed our first two pieces of writing this term. One, a city description based on the wordless picture book ‘The Flower Man’ in which the children showcased their incredible vocabulary and ability to create a vivid image in the readers head.

The second, a poem, based on the poem ‘The River’ by Valerie Bloom. The children created their own poems based on a natural occurrence (The Ocean, The Desert, The Jungle, The Volcano or The Mountain). Poetry, especially rhyming poetry, can be a particularly hard thing to get to grips with, but all the children did so well and have produced some fantastic poems.

In Maths, we have covered Place Value and Addition and Subtraction. The children have done incredibly well on this and it has showed in their end of unit scores – they all deserve a huge pat on the back.

In Science, we have been exploring States of Matter. Looking at what constitutes a solid, liquid or gas.

We have had the chance to conduct many fun and rather messy experiments. One of which was exploring Non-Newtonian liquids, made by mixing corn flour and water – a great experiment to try at home.

In DT, we have been putting our sandwich making skills to the test. In this topic, we learnt about the nutritional value of various sandwich fillings and how we could make conscious choices when it comes to sandwich fillings to ensure we are choosing the healthiest options.

We also got to make our ‘dream’ sandwich and try it! Yum!

However, the best day in Year 4 so far has got to have been to Roman Day! The children dressed up as Romans, both fierce and elegant.

On this day, we tackled Roman Numeral Code Breakers, learnt about Roman Religion and culture, made mosaics and even got to try a Roman dessert: Cheesecake! Yummy!

All in all, a fantastic start to Year 4! We are so very proud of the way the children have tackled the challenges thrown at them so far and we can’t wait to see them after half term, ready and raring to go to Dukes Barn!

Year 5

The first half-term of the new academic year has soared past in Year 5. The children have been incredible, getting stuck in to all of their learning, and going above and beyond what is expected of them in many areas.

There are so many areas of learning that could be highlighted here: life cycles in plants and animals in science, strong place value knowledge in maths, exploring the wonders (and perils!) of the online world in computing, and our study of whole-class reading novels such as “The Boy at the Back of the Class” and “Wonder”. H

However, there are three subjects in which the children have truly excelled in.

We started the year getting to grips with different clause structures and writing in coherent sentences using fragments.

This led to some descriptive writing in a forest setting, where children were tasked to make the reader feel something of their choice.

They made forest-scapes to support their writerly choices.

We then moved on to a fascinatingly creative free-verse poetry unit.

Using eight expert texts to teach us what these poems looked and sounded like, we came up with lots of ideas that interested us and wanted to write about. Metaphors, personification, alliteration, rhyme, and rhythm were sprayed onto the canvas as we tried to paint with our language. This unit yielded some outstanding poems, which will be made into a book for the class libraries.

Our art topic this half-term was Typography and Maps. The children – and staff! – loved experimenting with fonts and letters, and how their design can be used to communicate meaning. This really allowed space and freedom for the children to flex their creative muscles.

Art Leader, Mrs Harmer, even came to see one of our lessons and she was blown away by how the children spoke about the subject with each other and how they discussed their choices.

What can I say about geography so far this year? The children have absolutely engulfed themselves in it!

We studied volcanoes through the lens of Hiemaey, which is situated within an archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. We paid close attention to how the physical landscape there has a profound effect on humans.

Thanks to this unit, many children have developed a fervent enthusiasm for the world, maps, countries, and flags. It has been refreshing to see so many excited to learn the names of as many countries as they can as well as the continents and the oceans. Long may this continue!

We have plenty to look forward to next half-term: studying the Mayans in history, an exciting new topic in Design and Technology, programming, writing biographies, and, of course, Hilltop! Have a lovely week off, and see you when we return.

Year 6

When I say the children have had a great start to the year, I mean that they have been FAB-U-LOUS! The children have taken Year 6 in their stride and have not let new challenges phase them. They should be incredibly proud of everything they have achieved so far.

We have zoomed through various mathematical concepts throughout the first term.

We have mastered place value, we have multiplied and divided by 10, 100 and 1000 (Beyonce’s ‘to the left, to the left’ proved very useful), we have tackled tricky percentage questions including: findings percentages of amounts, finding totals with percentages taken away and even working backwards to find original amounts (Mrs Brewis is not a fan of the trickier challenges!)

More recently, we have been perfecting our use of column method to solve addition and subtraction number problems. I honestly don’t know how we get it all done!

In English, we have covered various grammatical concepts including: formality, word classes, clauses, sentence structure (subject, verb, object), prepositional phrases and imperative (or bossy) language. This grammar has been intertwined within different styles of writing.

So far, we have written a setting description, jam packed with figurative language and complex sentence structures. This week, we have completed a recipe based on our fabulous brownie creations. This has really tested the children’s ability to write with a mixed register of informality (chattiness) and formality when needed.

Elsewhere in the curriculum we have been discussing whether Christianity and Science can work together in RE, deciding whether we believe the story of the Trojan Horse in History and learning all about our rights, rules and responsibilities in PSHE. We’ve also managed to throw some cooking in there too!

More recently, we enjoyed a trip out to the Warning Zone where we learned all about risks, peer pressure, anti-social behaviour and consequences, alongside e-safety.

The children already had an excellent understanding of these concept and they certainly were a credit to our school during the visit - all the volunteers at Warning Zone commented on their brilliant behaviour and their eagerness to get involved.

This term, Year 6 were tasked with creating two displays – one detailing the work of James Dyson (for D&T) and another exploring the emotion of anger (for PSHE).

6JR spent some time researching the life of James Dyson and his various works and created a class display, complete with sketches and sound buttons of information. 6EB spent some time discussing the emotion of anger and they then wrote some personified poetry to display their thoughts. Both displays have been extremely impactful in celebrating other areas of the curriculum.

Over the past few weeks, we have tackled our first round of practice SATs. All of our Year 6s showed such a fantastic attitude throughout and gave us a really promising starting point from which to keep learning and improving. I think they have definitely earned their half-term break!

A big well done to you all.

Little Bunnies

We have had a fabulous first term in Little Bunnies and the children have all settled in really well. The children have been busy making new friends and becoming familiar with their new environment.

All of our activities have been focused around our topic ‘All About Me’. We have been learning all about our likes and dislikes and the children particularly enjoyed tasting different foods.

We have been exploring our feelings and emotions through a range of creative activities including painting and singing songs. We have had lots of role-play opportunities for the children to explore too including a Doctors Surgery, Farm Shop and Ice-Cream Parlour.

The children have enjoyed spending time in our outdoor area. The mud kitchen and water play have been very popular and so have the climbing frame and obstacle courses.

We have celebrated Harvest by learning a new song and learning about Harvest Festivals around the world.

We are really excited for more fun and learning next term!

PTFA

Hello to friends old and new, and particularly those who have joined the school since the summer!

What is the PTFA? We are the Parents, Teachers and Friends of Rothley Academy who run fundraising activities that directly contribute to the improvement of the school. If you have an involvement in the school you are automatically a member.

We held our first event this term running a stall at the recent film night run by the Rothley Community Library. Thank you to everyone who supported the PTFA by buying refreshments or volunteering, we had a great evening and raised £176.57.

We held our AGM on Tuesday 27th September when the last Committee stood down and we thank the following for their hard work for the PTFA:

  • Siobhan Thomas – Chair
  • Kate Burgess – Treasurer
  • Hollie Godbold – Secretary

As a result of their efforts in fundraising you helped us raise over £10,000 and enabled the following to be provided for the school in the last year – the music garden, Santa gifts for Foundation pupils, playground equipment, year 6 leavers celebrations and SATs breakfasts.

At the AGM a new Committee was voted in which comprises:

  • Rebecca Walker - with Oliver in Foundation - Joint Chair
  • Wendy Lewis with James in Foundation – Joint Chair
  • Cheryl Tipping with Isla in Foundation and Aria in Yr 5 – Treasurer
  • Lindsay Page with Ruby in Yr 4 and Lily in Little Bunnies – Assistant Treasurer
  • Kathryn Cook with Florence in Yr 1 - Team Secretary
  • Laura Weller with Thomas in Yr 1 - Team Secretary
  • Emma Millward with Olivia in Yr 1 - Team Secretary
  • Miss Farrelly - Teacher Representative
  • Mrs Z Faulkner – Teacher Representative

We will be meeting as a new Committee for the first time before half-term where we will be looking at suitable fundraising on behalf of our children and the school – so please look at announcements around school for details of PTFA events! Ideas for other events are always welcome!

New PTFA Committee members will always be welcome. If you are interested please contact: ptfa@rothley.leics.sch.uk

Volunteers for events are also required but a cry for help will go out prior to each event!

Christmas Cards

This has been popular in the last few years and we always so impressed with the effort that goes into them!! The children are busy designing their Christmas cards and we hope to send proofs home very shortly after half term so that you will be able to order cards, mugs, wrapping paper and tags.

School lottery

The PTFA continue to run the school lottery which has a lot of support. Our PTFA receives 40p from every ticket sold. 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 this term a Harry Potter Double Prize Bundle.

To find out more about follow the button below or feel free to speak to anyone on te PTFA Committee.

Future Events:

School Disco - After the difficulties of the last couple of years we are working towards the children having a School Disco before Christmas.

We know that this has always proved very popular! Watch this space!

In conjunction with Leicester Round Table Father Christmas will be visiting the village on his sleigh on Saturday 10th December, with part of the proceeds going to the PTFA.

We are also intending to run a stall at the village Christmas lights switch on to be held on Thursday 1st December.

So keep an eye out for more details of these events. We will be sending out information via the school.

The Committee runs a Facebook page (Rothley PTFA Noticeboard) and we will be populating the PTFA on the school webpage very shortly!

Collective Worship

This term has included some excellent collective worship opportunities which have been enjoyed by all throughout the school.

We have made some changes to our collective worship schedule this year to ensure that each child gets the opportunity to reflect on what they learn. Our Monday morning assemblies are led by a teacher from each Key Stage and the children then spend some time on Tuesday completing a reflection task based on what they have learned. This ensures that what they have heard is translating into the classroom environment and that collective worship is celebrated more collaboratively.

We still have alternate collective worship every Wednesday for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 led by a visitor from the church (either Reverend Gladstone or Professor Wilson). Whenever a Key Stage does not have a Wednesday morning assembly, they spend time in class discussing a ‘Picture News’ topic which explores a current news story, an image or a thought-provoking question.

Every Thursday we now get together as a whole school to celebrate our current Christian Value – it has been so wonderful to have every year group together to learn about how these Christian Values can translate into our everyday lives. On a Friday, the children receive a weekly singing session to build up our bank of collective worship songs.

Roots and Fruits

As always, all children meet every Monday morning in their phases (Foundation Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) for collective worship to start the week.

The class teacher and Mrs Barrs lead on the ‘Roots and Fruits’ assemblies that focus on Christian character and distinctiveness.

This term we have focused on the following

EYFS:

  • The Creation (Genesis 1)
  • Noah Trusts God (Genesis 6-9)
  • Joseph's Brothers Say Sorry (Genesis 37-47)

Years 1 and 2:

  • Jesus Serves His Friends (John 13.1-17)
  • Queen Esther Serves Her People (Esther 4,5)
  • The Jealous Brother (Genesis 37.1-35)

Year 3, 4, 5 and 6:

  • The Yeast (Matthew 13.31-32)
  • The Lost Sheep (Luke 15.4-6)
  • The Loving Father and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11-24)
  • Jesus Meets the Centurion (Matthew 8.5-10

We took the opportunity, after Queen Elizabeth’s passing, to spend a few weeks focusing on her lifetime achievements and reflecting on the royal family and our new King.

Picture News:

As always, we have continued to be innovative with the delivery of collective worship with our Picture News assemblies.

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

We are always amazed by the ideas and viewpoints that the children manage to come up with and Picture News is a brilliant tool from which to develop children’s understanding of global citizenship at an age appropriate level.

Christian Values:

This half-term, Mr Phillips has been delivering whole school assemblies on the Christian Value of ‘Generosity’

The children have learned about the Christian perspective of generosity and how this relates to the idea of God’s grace.

During the 4th assembly in the sequence, we welcomed Mrs Asquith’s parents and carers, 4AP and the Rothley church community into the church to see what the Year 4 children had learned about the value of Generosity. Led by Mrs Asquith-Wilson, the children performed a play detailing their thoughts on Generosity and performed a wonderful song to conclude their assembly.

The children who received the Black Glittery Christian Value star for Generosity were:

  • Foundation Stage: Eliza. Penelope. Millie, Stanley. Charlie and Willow.
  • Year 1: William, Jessie, Vinnie, Isabella, Orin and Harry.
  • Year 2: Gabriella, Daisy, Georgia, Tilly and Johnny.
  • Year 3: Otto, Scarlett, George. Betty and Ralphie.
  • Year 4: Logan, William, Sophie and Rowan.
  • Year 5: Lottie, Toby, Finn and Bella
  • Year 6: Abraham, Joe. Remy and Cora.

This past few weeks, Mr Clark has already started the next value of Truthfulness. We are currently 2 assemblies in and are looking forward to the next instalment from Mr Clark.

It will be Mr Phillips’ class who will be delivering a collective worship assembly at Rothley Church on Thursday 3rd November – time to be confirmed.

Sport @ Rothley

It been a very exciting half term for Team Rothley!

This term, Team Rothley has competed in a number of exciting sporting tournaments. Children have been extremely enthusiastic about signing up for sporting events which has been fantastic to see and has meant that we have been able to make sure all the children are given the opportunity to take part in tournaments!

League 2 Football

Through Mr Palmer’s FCS Sports, some children in Year 5 and 6 have been competing in a Football League in which they have taken part in eight games and absolutely smashed it! Below are the dates and scores of the tournaments:

Safe to say, Rothley’s Football Team have made us very proud! Well done!

The Rice Bowl

Once again Team Rothley have entered the county and city cup: The Rice Bowl.

This is a very prestigious competition that has been running in Leicester and Leicestershire since 1935.

The school have entered the competition twice and reached the quarter final both time - 2020 and 2022.

We aim to go a few stages further this year and reach the finals - which is usually played at The King Power Stadium.

The first round tie was played at Wreake Valley against Knighton Mead where Rothley came out victorious with a dominate 15-0 win. Goals from: Jaxon (3), Jacob G (2), Fraser W (2), Darcy W, Thomas G, James E, Remy H, Zach H, Zach E, Taylor and Seb S.

Our 2nd round game will be an away tie against Redmile CofE on November 1st

FCS Inclusive Sports

Through Mr Palmers FCS Sports, even more children have had the opportunity to partake in sporting events at varying levels.

On the 19th September, some children from Year 5 and 6 were selected at random to compete in a one-off football tournament. They did extremely well and made team Rothley proud!

On 3rd October, some children from Year 1 and 2 took part in a Multisports Tournament. KS1 tournaments are fantastic for getting children enthusiastic about sport from the word ‘Go!’, so it was great to see so many children excited to partake and so many parents willing to get involved with it! The children had a great time and learned some new skills while they were at it! Well done everyone!

South Charnwood School Sport and Physical Activity Network

Through the SSPAN South Charnwood Network some Year 5 and 6 Girls competed in the Danone Cup League on the 4th October.

The girls played extremely well, so well in fact that they won every match they played! They played their final match against Gaddesby Primary in a very adrenaline fuelled game which ended in a 1 – 0 Rothley victory! This means the girls will go on to the next round of the League and compete in the final later this year!

Next term, we have a huge amount of Sports Tournaments on offer, here are some of the tournaments you can expect to hear about in Autumn 2:

  • Inclusive Football for Year 3
  • League 2 Football (26.10.22, 02.11.22 and 09.11.22) – Year 5 and 6
  • Girls Football Finals – Danone Cup – Year 5 and 6
  • Sportshall Athletics – Year 5 and 6
  • Inclusive Hockey – Year 3 and 4

Music @ Rothley

Curriculum Music

We have made a fantastic start to our curriculum learning this term!

Everyone has been learning about pulse and rhythm, performing various songs and compositions in time with each other and accompanying pieces of music.

Years 2, 3, 5 and 6 have been learning to read standard notation, with Year 6 also learning to read music on a stave. Many of the children across the school have also enjoyed playing our fabulous new instruments, bought with the money fundraised at our Summer Proms concert. It’s very exciting!

Year 4 have made a brilliant start to the ukulele and can already play a number of songs. They know how to hold their ukulele properly and can play it using various techniques. After half-term, we will begin to learn some chords and compose some of our own songs!

Musician of the Month

In September we learnt all about Stevie Wonder and enjoyed listening to a variety of his songs. We learnt about the different genres of his music and compared his soul-style music to ‘The Queen of Soul’, Aretha Franklin, who was one of our musicians of the month last academic year.

October is Black History month and we have been listening to the beautiful sounds of Tracy Chapman.

A lot of the children already knew some of her music as it seems to be popular with parents so it was lovely to hear them singing along! Tracy Chapman didn’t really become famous until she performed at Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute concert in 1988 (standing in for Stevie Wonder at the last minute!), while Mandela was still in prison.

We talked about why he was and still is such a hugely important and inspirational person and how he fought bravely but peacefully for racial equality, despite the risks to his freedom.

Extra-curricular Music

Our Young Voices rehearsals are well under way with our Year 5/6 choir and they have made a fantastic start, despite some very tricky songs this year! We have 63 singers this year, more than ever before!

Miss Godfrey’s Year 3/4 choir has also started and they did their first performance in our KS2 singing assembly last week. They sounded amazing and it was lovely to see how confident they were performing to an audience. A massive well done!

Next half term, during Thursday lunchtimes, Mrs Johnson is starting a Year 5 Ukulele Club for any children who would like to carry on their learning from Year 4. Mrs Warburton is also starting a Year 6 Steel Pans Club, an instrument we have just purchased for the first time. It is sure to be lots of fun and interesting to learn about the music of another culture.

Diversity Across the Curriculum

As always, we have been celebrating differences and diversity in our curriculum since returning to school in August.

This is the tie that binds our curriculum.

Year 1, In R.E, have been learning about what it means to belong to a faith community and how diverse this can be for a range of religions, faiths and beliefs. We have discussed similarities and differences between a Christian baptism and welcoming a new baby in Islam.

People feel happy because they have friends who have different religions." Alba Year 1

Year 1 have also looked at Christian wedding ceremonies and Jewish wedding ceremonies. The children have been learning new terminology and understanding that everyone belongs and that this can be shown in many ways.

We have learnt that people have different religions and belong to them and that's good." Harry Year 1

In Literacy Year 3 have been studying the story of the ‘Crow’s Tale’ which tells the story of the Rainbow Crow, whose appearance is suddenly altered after he rescues the rest of the animals by carrying a stick of fire from the sun.

We learnt about the moral of the story, which was that it does not matter what you look like on the outside, it is what is on the inside that matters and that our own personalities which are all unique, help to make the world so diverse.

It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, it matters what you are like on the inside - that's what makes you a good person! "Grayson Year 3

During this term, Year 4 have accessed a diverse curriculum, particularly within our literacy and PSHE lessons. In PSHE we have explored the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child.

We have learnt how important this document is, to ensure all children receive equal rights and safety, no matter their gender, race, religion or background.

Every child has an equal right, no matter how different they are. Everyone is unique in their own way and we should show respect for that." Ollie Year 4

Over the past few weeks in literacy, Year 4 have explored the poem ‘The River’ by Valerie Bloom, a Jamaican poet, who grew up in a small town surrounded by Mountains. Her upbringing inspired her poetry, and Year 4 have thoroughly enjoyed creating their own rhyming poems based on their chosen natural occurrence.

As always, all children have demonstrated excellent respect for those around them, recognising that diversity is something to be celebrated.

During this term, both Year 6 classes have been tackling complex issues (encompassed within diversity) throughout our guided reading novels.

6JR have been reading ‘The Island at the End of Everything’ which explores themes of segregation and prejudice.

6EB have been reading ‘Ghost’ which explores themes of culture, class and race. Both books offer a complex insight into the lives of those battling to fit in and find acceptance.

More recently, we celebrated Black History Month through the song ‘Glory’ by John Legend and Common.

Through the lyrics, we explored the impact of people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King within black history and we celebrated the progress that ensued because of the actions of those brave individuals.

From the song lyrics, it is evident that racism is still happening and we all need to work together to eradicate it." William Year 6

The powerful song and music video can be found by following the link button below:

Once again, all the children in Year 6 have demonstrated humility and respect for others through our work on diversity.

Term dates:

Created By
Mr Richards
Appreciate