Principal's Update February 2023 SHIRELAND TECHNOLOGY PRIMARY

Nursery

Theme:- Frozen

The Nursery children were excited to arrive in class and see that it had transformed into a winter wonderland as part of our ‘Frozen’ theme. To kick start our theme, the children went on a winter walk around school. Nursery learnt about: freezing and melting; ways to keep warm; hibernation; and Polar animals. The children also enjoyed visiting our incredible immersive room to experience the Polar regions.

During National Story Week we used our new ‘Now Press Play’ earphones (our newest technology resource which was partly funded from the Friends of STP fundraising efforts, including the Christmas Fayre) and acted out different traditional tales taking on the role of one of the main characters. This half term, we also completed Online Safety activities and learnt that when we feel sad, worried or scared we must Tell A Grown up (TAG). Finally, we made our own tickets to visit the ‘cinema’ and watch a short film based on one of our books we’ve been reading in class – ‘Lost and Found’. The children took great delight in making boats out of construction blocks outdoors, just like the boy did in ‘Lost and Found’.

Reception

Theme:- Toy Story

This term has provided a range of wonderful learning experiences for Reception children. Through studying robots, old and new toys, how toys work, and making traditional toys, children have gained an appreciation for the evolution of toys and how they interact with the world. Pupils have been able to explore the creative possibilities of robots and the potential of traditional toys, while also understanding the engineering and design behind them. We had an exciting visit from ‘Snowball’, a humanoid robot, who walked, danced, spoke and moved in variety of ways to show children the magic of technology. They were enthralled!

Year One

Theme:- United

This half term we have been learning about what makes Great Britain; the places, the food, the music, the culture and the history. It has been a very creative half term where children have used their design and technology skills to prepare and bake their own ‘British’ shortbread. We have also been developing our art skills, using papier mâché to create our own 3D maps of the United Kingdom.

In R.E we have been learning about Islam and its teachings. After learning about ‘The Prophet and the Ants’, the students created their own ‘bug hotels’ as a way of caring for creatures big and small in our playground.

Children have also been doing lots of writing. We were blown away with some fantastic character and setting descriptions inspired by the story ‘Beegu’ and have just finished innovating and rewriting the story of the ‘Paperbag Princess’.

Year 1 Music Focus Day

Earlier this month students used a variety of percussion instruments to create their own compositions during our Music Focus Day. After creating a range of sounds using body percussion, the children were able to learn basic notation and rhythms and perform these using tambourines, claves and even boom-whackers! We ended the day with a performance of ‘Hakuna Matata’ from The Lion King using the boom-whackers. We definitely have lots of talented musicians in Year 1!

SCA Reading Mentors

We continue to build our relationship with our partner Secondary, Shireland Collegiate Academy and this new venture is just wonderful.

We asked if we could initiate a reading mentor system that will help all pupils involved. ‘Big Shireland’ were brilliant and immediately identified a group of Year 7 pupils who have now been ‘trained’ at our school on how to support young children in learning to read. The new ‘reading mentors’ are now coming to STP weekly to work alongside staff and selected pupils in Year 1 to help them with their reading. Our Year 1 pupils are enjoying having a mentor to look up to, and our Year 7 mentors are developing in confidence with every session. What a success!

Year Two

Theme: - Roll-up, Roll-up!

In the Year Two theme ‘Roll up, Roll up!’ our children have been learning all about fun of the fair! They have researched fairgrounds of the past and compared them with those we have today. They also enjoyed learning about the Frost Fair, tasting different funfair snacks and created their own fairground watercolour artwork, inspired by artist L. S Lowry.

They’ve also developed their Design and Technology skills by designing and building their own model carousels as part of a group – complete with electrical circuits to make them rotate! We are so proud of their creations. In Science, the children enjoyed learning about materials and conducting several experiments to investigate their properties.

We have also been very busy in our writing lessons and the children have worked hard to complete three writing outcomes this half term! The children wrote their own rollercoaster shape poem, based on their experiences of ‘riding a rollercoaster’ in our Immersive room! They also wrote ‘disgusting’ fairground snack recipes as well as a fantasy story based on ‘Leon and the Place Between’.

Conductive Music – Combining Science, Technology and Music

The children in Year 1 and 2 enjoyed participating in a ‘Conductive Music’ workshop for the whole day. The project is London based but they came up especially to work with us. It really helped our pupils to see the links between subjects and how you need to understand knowledge and develop skills in each one to really gain a deep grasp of key concepts.

Pupils learnt about circuits and how the electricity can be used to make music using devices. The electricity can pass through items such as pencils... or even our bodies!

A great day of practical science and music; experimenting and developing skills across multiple subjects! Thanks to Sandwell SIPs Music who invited us to be part of the project.

Year 3

Theme:- It’s not Fair!

This half term the Year 3 children have been learning all about where their food comes from. They have looked at how far fruit and vegetables have travelled to get to their plates – some travel over 11,000 miles! Children gave their own ideas about how they could reduce food miles by buying local or growing their own. During the term, the children learned all about the Fairtrade movement and how it helps to give a decent wage and lifestyle to farmers across the world. Finally, children made comparisons between two places overseas, (Panama and Sierra Leone) alongside the UK.

We have also written reports about Fairtrade too and the children’s formal language and extensive vocabulary was impressive!

Year 4

Theme:- Romans

This half term Year 4 have been learning about the Roman Empire and the Roman rule over Britain to help us answer our key driving question ‘What did the Romans ever do for us?’ Primarily, the theme is History focused, but it also included Geography, Art, PSHE and Computing. Using historical sources, pupils explored why the Roman Empire became so vast. We also explored what life was like in a Roman town, focusing on lifestyle, religion, and engineering. We also utilised our brand-new immersive audio resource - Now Press Play headphones (partly funded from the Friends of STP fundraising including the Christmas Fayre). Through this immersive audio experience, pupils learnt about the Roman Army, the warrior leader Boudicca and the resistance she led against the invading of Romans in Britain.

CBSO Visual Arts Workshop

This half term, Year 4 took part in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s (CBSO) Visual Arts Workshop. As part of The Planets Creative Project and linking Art and Music, pupils created their own artwork using fabric crayon and dye wax resist. We were able to discover the vividly colourful effect of wax resist on fabric and looked at the Science behind this. Children used fabric crayons and water-based craft dyes. Check out our fantastic work below. This really did spark their imagination and creativity.

Year 4 Residential; Kingswood Activity Centre

There is no doubt that residential school trips create memories that last a lifetime. Our very first residential provided our pupils with a mix of challenging, creative and skill-building experiences. We joined Year 5 and 6 pupils and staff from Holyhead Primary Academy (one of our other Trust schools).

Staff and pupils loved every minute of it; from climbing and orienteering to archery, the zip wire and shelter building. They were a model class who represented the school name with impeccable behaviour and had a real sense of teamwork, responsibility and a genuine care for each other to do well and succeed. Every child tried their very best with each challenge they faced, and we could not have asked for more from them. It was lovely to hear comments from the Kingswood staff about how well our pupils represented our school.

Shireland Technology Primary Celebrates Win for Forestry Project with Asda Foundation

Shireland Technology Primary celebrated a fantastic win in the Asda Foundation Green Token Giving competition, having been awarded a £500 prize!

The funds are being used to establish the forest school which we hope will be launched in the Summer and will provide our pupils with a unique and enriching learning environment, where they can explore nature, learn about the natural world and develop valuable outdoor skills.