End of Spring Term newsletter

Happy Easter & Thank you...

We would all like to say an enormous thank you for your continued support over this term. It is always the one where we see significant progress in all pupils and they show their true potential. We know this will continue to grow in Summer term along with their maturity and determination to succeed in life.

We have had a very busy term and an even busier one to come. Look out for updates on all parent events and sessions and for your child's learning in their knowledge organisers. We were overwhelmed with the response to the homework we sent home and will look forward to seeing what the pupils produce in summer term too.

Mrs Trickett/ Mr McClure

Overall attendance this year: 92.5%

Overall attendance Spring Term: 94.2%

Spring 2 attendance:

wk 1 - 93.8%

wk 2 - 94.55

wk 3-94.6%

wk 4- 93.4%

wk 5- 93.1%

wk 6 - 94.5%

The overall attendance league winners were class 4 and they will receive a McDonald's Lunch in the first week back.

Let's take a look at what your children have been up to...

EYFS

This term F1 have been busy experimenting and observing, focusing on science. The children have been learning about the life cycles of frogs and butterflies. The children enjoyed creating their own life cycles and researching using the ipads, computers and books. The children also enjoyed taking part in science week and building a variety of bridges, to help the billy goats cross over to the grass. The children experimented with a variety of resources to create their final bridges.

Year 1

We have had a very busy half term!

Our focus texts in Literacy were ‘Mr Wolf’s Pancakes’ and ‘The Shopping Basket’. The children loved learning all about recount writing and practising using their phonics skills to write their very own retell of making pancakes in class on pancake day, and going on our local school trip to the Asda.

In maths, we have been learning about fractions, measurements, time, capacity, volume and money. The children enjoyed weighing their items after their shopping trip to the Asda, comparing different weights with our key vocabulary for the lesson.

In DT, we have been making our own bird feeders. We learnt the skills of how to saw wood for the perch, drill a hole in wood for the perch, glue our wood pieces together, and even create our own design and paint it onto our bird feeders! We used our measuring skills that we learnt in maths to correctly mark each place to saw and drill. We had so much fun!

In Science, we have been focusing on insects and their environments. We enjoyed a mini beast hunt around school to identify different types of mini beasts and where they might live. The children have also carried out an experiment, testing out which environments woodlice refer to live in.

In PD RSHE, we have been focusing on how to keep safe inside and outside of school. We have spoken about how we can keep safe ourselves, as well as how we can keep other people around us safe. As well as this, we have also looked at keeping safe on the internet and what to do if we do not feel safe.

In PE, we have been putting our skills to the test in games involving throwing and catching. Great work class 1!

I am so impressed with the children’s hard work this half term and I cannot wait to see what the summer term brings! I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter holiday!

Miss Bud

Class 1/2

What a MARVELLOUS March in Class 1/2

Our focus text in Literacy has been ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs’. The children have loved writing their own food inspired weather reports and performing these to the rest of the class in the style of news reporters.

In maths, we covered have measures and money. We have learnt how to tell the time, calculate the mass of objects, identify the volume of liquids and recognise the value of coins and notes. I have been really impressed with how the children have then applied their learning to problem solving and investigations in these areas of maths.

Our driver topic has been DT. We were set a challenge from the RSPB to create our very own bird feeders to keep birds fed over the colder months. The children were up for the challenge and gathered lots of new skills to create their very own bird feeders. We have drilled, sawed and glued the wood for our bird feeders and finished them off by adding a colour design.

In Science, we have been continued our learning on living things and their habitats. The children have made lots of scientific observations, including observing woodlice to see which habitat they would choose when given a choice.

In PD RSHE, we have been focusing on living in the wider world. The children have looked at groups which they belong to, rules we must follow in our wider world and the meaning behind democracy.

In PE we have really enjoyed learning to play Bench ball and developing sending and receiving ball skills.

I can’t wait to see what next month has in store for us!

Mrs Brusby

Class 2

March has been a busy and fantastic month for Class 2!

Our focus text in Literacy has been ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs’. The children have loved writing their own food inspired weather reports and performing these to the rest of the class in the style of news reporters.

In maths, we have been focusing on our test style technique, with a particular focus on the four operations. The children have really impressed me with their use of different method to solve problems.

Our driver topic has been DT. We were set a challenge from the RSPB to create our very own bird feeders to keep birds fed over the colder months. The children were up for the challenge and gathered lots new skills to create their very own bird feeders. We have drilled, sawed and glued the wood for our bird feeders and finished them off by adding a colour design.

In Science, we have been continued our learning on living things and their habitats. The children have made lots of scientific observations, including observing woodlice to see which habitat they would choose when given a choice.

In PD RSHE, we have been focusing on living in the wider world. The children have looked at groups which they belong to, rules we must follow in our wider world and the meaning behind democracy.

Alongside this amazing learning, the children have been busy preparing for their SATs tests coming up in May. I have been so impressed with the children’s hard work and dedication to this.

I am looking forward to some more exciting learning together next half term!

Miss Corradini

Class 3

Wow! Spring 2 flew by! We had another great half term in Year 3.

We were lucky enough to be chosen to take part in the Primary Enterprise Challenge Day where we got to design a new play area for our school field. The children worked collaboratively in teams on their designs then made a pitch to the judges about their chosen designs. We have one team that have gone through to the finals at the Metrodome on the 21st of June. They will compete with their design against the other Primary Schools in Barnsley. We really hope they win as the prize will be our very own Treehouse for the school field. We have based our literacy around this and wrote advertisements for a Treehouse and a persuasive formal letter to Mr McClure to ask him to buy us one if we don’t win.

In maths, we focused on fractions and then measures. We spent time looking at capacity, weight, time, and length, with a focus on perimeter.

Our subject driver last half term was DT. We worked hard measuring, sawing, drilling, and gluing to produce our own functional catapults. The children really enjoyed this topic and were keen to get stuck in as they had a lot of skills under their belts from last year and were confident using the tools. The children really enjoyed testing their catapults and aiming for a target.

In science we looked at animals and humans. We focused on predators, their prey, and producers. We looked at different food chains and tried to work out where a human would go on a food chain. We all had different reasons for where we put them. We looked at the digestive system and enjoyed a really gross experiment looking at the functions of each of the organs. We then looked at our teeth and conducted an experiment which looked at how sugary drinks can cause damage to the enamel on our teeth over time. The children will be excited to see the results when they get back to school. It is pretty alarming!

In RE we looked at question 5, What can be learned from the lives of significant people of faith? We are now just focusing on just 3 religions until the end of the year, Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism. This will hopefully, allow for the children to know more and remember more. We looked at Gandhi and how he fought for change with his peaceful protests. We learnt about Guru Nanak and Guru Angad Dev and then looked at Buddha and how he achieved enlightenment through the 4 Noble Truths and the Eight - Fold path. The children have really engaged in this question and have enjoyed finding out about the important figures in Religious History.

In RSHE we looked at rules and the consequences of breaking rules. We learned about democracy and the chance to have our say through a vote. We then looked at community and the groups within that.

Our PE lessons taught the children the skills and rules for Dodgeball. They enjoyed applying what they had learnt at the end of the term in a Dodgeball match.

Hopefully, we are all rested now and ready to really knuckle down for the last term in Year 3.

Class 3/4

Class 4

What another great term Spring 2 has been from Year 4. This term, our driver subject, which was DT, had all students engaged in making a catapult. All students really enjoyed measuring, drilling and sawing accurately to create a catapult which students could test out. We had to design a product which could fire at a target precisely so that it could one day be seen on the shelves at Smyths.

In Literacy, we produced some excellent writing outcomes with two pieces being produce, one focused around a narrative and the other being an informal letter. The narrative was centred around Leon and the Place between. Students were very creative and were able use their imagination about the contents of the circus tent and where the box took Leon. Some of the descriptions were very detailed! Our second writing piece saw an informal letter as the role of Shackleton, who had embarked on a journey to Antarctica. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all plain sailing, and the letters gave fantastic recounts of some of the important events.

Within PD/RSHE, we have been learning about Living in the wider world. Students were able to inform me of local communities, rules, laws, and the responsibilities that we all have. As we analysed rules and laws, many of the students were able to link to our previous learning and linking to pollution and the laws that different countries have. We then extended our knowledge by learning about democracy, and we had votes for which group we would want in charge of our class. Students were very mature and gave some excellent ideas as to why they should be in charge. Maybe one day, we will have some future leaders from Year 4.

In RE, we have been looking at ‘Question 5- What can we learn from the lives of significant people of faith?’. Our class have really engaged with this question and were very curious to find out about different key individuals that different religions have. In science, we have looked at animals and humans. Students were engaged in this throughout the term as they analysed the structure of the human body and learnt the key functions of our major organs. This led into our investigation around the food that makes up the diet of humans. Students were able to compare baked beans and articulate the positive or negatives of different brands of beans.

We really can’t wait for Summer 1 2 where we are going to be studying History for our driver subject, I know class 4 really enjoyed history last time.

Class 5

Class 5/6

This half term, Year 5/6's topic has been DT - Gone with the Wind! We have absolutely loved creating our own motorised windmills designed for our EYFS outdoor provision. Our Year 6's have been incredible whilst practising for SATs and both our year 5s and year 6s have shown incredible progress across Reading, Writing and Maths. In particular, we have written letters of complaints around our chosen literacy book: The Island. Children were able to use fantastic vocabulary and formality to express their concerns! Children have especially loved our PE topic of dodgeball and showed their competitiveness as well as sportsmanship and teamwork! We also came to the end of our term of Earth and Space in Science where Year 5/6 have amazed me with their knowledge!

Class 6

Upcoming learning

Physical Education

Religious Education

Science

Driver: History

Upcoming Events

• Wednesday 19th April - EYFS/KS1 - Pro Ride Begins
• Thursday 20th April - F2/Y6 Height & Weight Checks
• Friday 21st April - Parent Coffee Morning - 9am - Curriculum focus
• Friday 21st April - PM - Y5/6 Athletics event at Dorothy Hyman
• Friday 28th April - PM - Y5/6 Girls' Football knockout at Dorothy Hyman
• Monday 1st May - SCHOOL CLOSED - MAY DAY
• Friday 5th May - Y3/4 Dodgeball tournament - Dorothy Hyman - PM
• Monday 8th May - SCHOOL CLOSED - King's Coronation Bank Holiday
• Tuesday 9th May - Friday 12th May - Y6 SATs week - Free Y6 breakfast club from 8am - ALL Y6s MUST ATTEND
• Friday 12th May - Y6 End of SATs party/ Water Fight - TBC
• Friday 12th May - PM - Y3/4 Athletics @ Dorothy Hyman
• Monday 15th May - Friday 26th May - Y2 SATs weeks - ALL Y2s to be in each day
• Tuesday 23rd May - Milefield V Churchfield Football match @ Milefield Y5/6 Kick off 2pm
• Friday 26th May - TTRS Competition HCAT
• Friday 26th May - PM - KS1 Athletics at Dorothy Hyman
• Friday 26th May - 3.15pm - School closes for half term
• Monday 5th June - School re-opens for Summer term 2