This week Year 4 have been focusing on the USA.

We’ve learnt about the native Americans, the physical features of the country, made our own dream catchers, totem poles, american muffins, experienced line dancing, designed our own american 100 dollar bill  and in RE researched the life of  St Kateri who was made a saint in 2012.

This afternoon the children did PE with coach Dugan and worked in teams using the ball skills that they have been developing.

It was lovely to see so many parents from Year 4 this morning at our Harvest Assembly and in class afterwards allowing the children to share their  work with you.

We would like to invite you into the classroom on Tuesday 6th November when the children would like to perform to you some of the tunes that they have been learning on the recorder.

Have a wonderful half-term!

Mrs McNamara and Ms Varga.

It has been a remarkably busy week to end a jam packed half term. With all we’ve done, it’s hard to believe it was only 8 weeks ago we started this new school year.

This week we celebrated One World Week by learning about Brazil. The children brought in a range of impressive home learning to show what the found out from their research. We focused heavily on the geography of the country and made interesting comparisons to our ongoing geography location, Scandinavia. Year 5 not only identified how they were physically different but also compared their human geography.

In addition, Year 5 looked at deforestation; an important issue facing the Amazon. The children were able to identify the effects of human actions on this landscape. One way we did this, was through an experiment involving examples of land with vegetation, and one without. By pouring on water to simulate rain, it was possible to see the land erosion and the contamination of the water that exists when man removed all vegetation.

In art, year 5 created  pictures of the famous Rio landmark, Christ the redeemer. These were created through mixed medium. The background used water colours whilst the statue itself was drawing with different shading pencils. I’m sure those of you who saw them at the celebration morning today will agree that they are amazing.

For a sweet treat, brigadeiros were on the menu this week as the children made the common and popular children’s confectionery from Brazil. There were a lot of chocolate smeared faces walking out of the door on Thursday!

As we are a fair trade school, we explored it’s impact in Brazil. We learnt about coffee farmers and the safety being a fair trade farmer provided. The children were quite stunned to hear how much the farmers earned.

A real highlight of the week was welcoming parents into class. Firstly, for our mass on Wednesday. The children were reverent throughout and reflected beautifully on how we treat our planet. Thank you to father Shaun for leading us in celebrating and reflecting on this important issue. We would also like to thank Michael, our seminarian. He put in a lot of time to make sure the mass and children were prepared. We are very lucky to have him as part of our school and parish community.

Finally, celebration morning. It was great to see the children share their learning with you and take you on in a Brazil themed quiz. We had some very proud looking year 5s as they discovered they were victorious and we were quite surprised at how many parents I could see cheating!

The children have worked incredibly hard this half term and deserve their well-earned rest, There is no home learning over the break.

Have a wonderful half term

Mrs Lines and Miss Clapp

Wow, what a week it’s been! Today has been unforgettable. From a special assembly in the morning and creating Pope Paul VI peace art, to making Vatican flags and culminating in the grand finale of the release of 12 white doves, our memories of celebrating when Pope Paul became St Paul will stay with us forever.

Also this week, we welcomed Mrs Dain, a resident of Potters Bar who lived during WW2. She consolidated our learning of the reasons for the outbreak of the war, and shared stories of her experience. It was captivating to hear her speaking with so much passion and vigour. In science, the children carried out investigations they had planned the previous week looking into what affects brightness in an electrical circuit.

One World Week Home Learning – due Tuesday 23^rd October 2018

Next week is One World Week and, in Year 6, we are going to be studying Poland. We will be doing lots of fun and interesting activities, including creating folk art, cooking Polish food and learning about Poland’s situation in WWII.

For home learning this weekend, you are asked to do a research project on a famous person. Two of the most famous Polish people in history are Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer, and Marie Curie, the scientist. Choose one of these people, research their life, then decide how you are going to present what you’ve found out. Your home learning needs to be hand-written and must answer the following questions:

• What is this person famous for?
• How has this person influenced our life today?

I will make a display of your learning, so ensure it is visually appealing as well as informative.

I look forward to seeing what you produce!