Friday, 23rd June 2023

/0 Comments/in , /by

The children in Year 4, spent considerable time planning for their big narrative based on our class book Stitch Head. The class recapped the use of expanded noun phrases, similes and metaphors, fronted adverbials and the use of conjunctions. They created a bank of powerful verbs and also planned some short dialogues to practice speech. We shall start our alternative endings on Monday, writing across 3 days, including lots of editing.

In Maths, the children completed arithmetic papers applying all 4 formal methods and revising their learning on decimal numbers and fractions.

In Science, the class started their new unit of Living things and their habitat and looked at different ways to classify animals and plants, whilst in RE they reflected on the Kingdom of Heaven and came up with an action plan to explain how to achieve their ideal worlds.

In PE, we have been practicing for Sports day and we are looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday, 28th June 2023. Please make sure all children have a sun hat and water bottles.

Please see your Home Learning below:

Home Learning Due in by Tuesday, 27th June 2023
Spelling Set 31- Challenge words

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb
Reading https://readtheory.org/auth/login

Please complete 2 activities and update your reading log.
Study Ladder https://www.studyladder.co.uk/

Please complete the activities in your assigned pod all centred around fast recall activities.

Friday 23rd June

/1 Comment/in , , /by

This week has been filled with many things including having visitors from the NSPCC and Bejiing!

On Monday I delivered an assembly on NSPCC’s Speak Out and Stay Safe focus.  In the assembly the children learnt  about who their trusted adults are; what Childline is; and the importance of speaking out if something is wrong.  On Tuesday morning, Year 6 had a workshop delivered by two of the NSPCC Team about their Speak Out and Stay Safe Programme and the children felt empowered and enlightened because of this powerful message.

On Wednesday a group of children from Beijing, China visited our school and Year 6 spent time with them during breaktime and lunchtime and in the afternoon.  During the afternoon session, they paired up with a student and asked them questions about themselves, their school in Beijing and their life there. Our visitors also found out about Year 6.  They then took part in a maths reasoning and problem solving activity and it was lovely to see our Year 6 children work alongside them on a subject and language they both know so well.

Our children are growing up in a world where they are global citizens and it’s important for them to learn about life beyond Potters Bar and the experience of this visit has given them a taster of this!  The children were a credit to the school;  they were welcoming, engaging, enthusiastic and active participants. The Chinese students gave the children some gifts to thank them for their friendship shown to them on this day.

NSPCC Workshop

On Wednesday afternoon,eight children went and took part in a Netball Tournament.  Miss Pringle said that the children played well as a team in ALL their matches. Their primary objective was to shoot a ball through the defender’s goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring and Caroline, Ela-Maria, Elle, Kian, Max, Sophie, Violet and VJ did just that!!  They returned to school the following day buzzing, coming 4th in the overall competition. Well done!

We have continued with our rehearsals for the production and the children are working on their dances for the songs. There are still some children who have not brought n their costumes.  Please send them into school by Tuesday.  In PE, we have been practising for the Sports Day races. Sports Day is on  Wednesday 28th June  (AM).  Please see more details on sports day arrangements in the newsletter. All children must have a sunhat and a bottle of water.

Today our Year 6 took part in the first of two transition (Year 6 to Year 7) workshops led by the
Hertsmere Schools Partnership. This provision forms an important part of our Year 6’s preparation for
secondary school and the children participated fully in the workshop activities.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

Home Learning:

Please encourage your child to learn their lines for the play.

  1. Click here to listen to some of the songs we are singing.    Songs
  2. Log onto Mathletics (work on problem solving has been set).

 

Summer 2 Week 3 w.b. 19.06.2023

/0 Comments/in , /by

What a great week we have had in Year 1!

 

 

RE

As part of our RE we have discussed what it would be like to live in God’s Kingdom and the children also thought of ways in which we have God’s Kingdom in our school. We then went outside and  planted our seeds of hope. We look forward to nurturing, watering and watching them grow as a symbol of hope for the future.

 

Maths

This week the children have been learning about fractions and sharing into equal parts. We have particularly focused on halves and quarters. The children have enjoyed using the resources in the classroom and working together to explore if cubes and rods can be shared equally or not.

 

 

English 

Year 1 have started their new topic on Bats. We have looked at what they already know about them, and I have to say I was super impressed with their knowledge so far! The children also explored what it was like to be blindfolded and find their way in the dark, much like a bat!

 

 

Science

In Science this week we have continued looking at plants and also explored different trees. The children went outside and looked closely at different leaves and then decided if they belonged to evergreen or deciduous trees.

 

Home Learning

Handwriting worksheet

Mathletics

Wednesdays- P.E. kits for Swimming
Friday- P.E. kits

Reminder – Sports Day is on Wednesday, please remember hats and water bottles.

Have a lovely weekend, I’m looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!

Mrs Poyiadzis

Reception Week Beginning 19.6.23

/0 Comments/in , /by

This week, the children have continued to learn about the importance of loving neighbours, through the story of The Good Samaritan.

Love of neighbour involves the whole of creation. It means working for a just society. It includes love for the poor which results in active support of our neighbours locally and globally. Love of neighbour means concern for truth and justice in this service of the Common Good.

The children discussed who their neighbours are. How are they the same or different? How do they help us? How do we help them?

They then had fun role-playing, painting, retelling and rewriting the story themselves.

In English, the children have been focussing their learning around the themes in the book, The Bad-Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.

Again, they enjoyed acting out the story through role-play and small world.

They also talked and wrote about the things that make them feel bad-tempered!

On Wednesday, the school played host to some very exciting visitors- some children from Beijing in China. They popped into Reception class to say hello to the children and to look around the classroom and outside learning environment.

Please remember to supply your child with a sun hat, water bottle and apply sun cream before school, in order to keep them safe and protected from the sun. The warm weather has been wonderful and the children are really enjoying their time outdoors at the moment.

Thank you!

Enjoy the weekend,

The Reception Team

Summer 2 Week 3

/0 Comments/in , , /by

We have been busy honing our estimation and measuring skills in Maths this week – measuring activities have been set on Mathletics to support this learning.

After finding a bee and observing them in the school gardens, we have decided to plan non chronological reports about Honey Bees in our English lessons. We are enjoying finding out about these amazing insects – please see the home learning task.

We have drawn these beautiful insects in Art.

We have also been keen gardeners this week, tending to the vegetable patches, watering our plants and sowing spring onions.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle

Home learning

Science/English – Please find 5 -10 fascinating facts about honeybees and bring them to school to share. You might like to use some of these websites to help you https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2023/04/why-are-bees-important/

https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/bees?utm_source=Grants&utm_medium=PaidSearch-Brand&pc=AVN014007&&&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIupGxnLXZ_wIVBOztCh0dOADEEAAYAiAAEgK-vfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9zUsEIn8lg

Maths – Please complete the mathletic activities set.

Spelling – honey, nectar, queen, worker, busy, hive, pollen, flower.

 

 

Friday 16th June 2023

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Healthy Eating Week

 

The big message for this week is Healthy eating for Everyone!!

Our sports leaders: Alfie, Kian, Sophie and Vihaan, have been very busy this week assisting all classes with their hydration points in their classes.  They have been preparing each morning water that has contained many different ingredients: strawberry, lemon, lime and mint.  Today, they carried out a whole school survey on the most popular flavoured water and the result was ‘strawberry’.  Alfie announced this good news to the whole school this morning in assembly. From this survey, the sports captains will be preparing strawberry flavoured water for Sports Day on Wednesday 28th June.  On top of that, they have visited each class and assisted with cutting up their fruit for the class to sample and also assisted the class teachers during their PE lessons where the focus has been on Sports Day. [This insert has been written by Sophie]

Well done to each of them for their time, enthusiasm and hard work!

In English the children completed their healthy eating explanation text on the areas of: fibre, stay hydrated and five-a day.

We have continued with the production and have made more props!  The children have painted beautiful jungle flowers which will be added to our scenery. The children are learning their parts (spoken and vocal parts). A gentle reminder: can all costumes be in school by Monday 19th June as we would like the children to practise the scenes in them from Monday.

In Maths the children have looked at expressions and equations and were fantastic in solving these and in RE we have continued our work on parables.

Home Learning:

  1.  As part of the Healthy Eating Week focus, we are inviting the children to take part in the Aldi Competition answering the question:

How can we inspire people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food?

The children have been asked to design a lorry to inspire people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food. They have been given a template to use.  Please can this sheet be handed back into school by: Tuesday 20th June.  Thank you.

2. Please encourage your child to learn their lines for the play.

  1. Click here to listen to some of the songs we are singing.    Songs

 

Year 5 – 16/06/23 | Healthy Eating Week

/0 Comments/in /by

This week was Healthy Eating Week. Over the course of the week, we have tasted different flavoured waters each day: strawberry on Tuesday, lemon on Wednesday, lime on Thursday and mint today. We also learnt about wholegrains, then tasted wholewheat wraps and wholegrain cereal, which both proved extremely popular! Today was extra exciting because we tasted a plethora of weird and wonderful fruits. Thank you to everyone that contributed to our fruit bowl – we had a feast! Each child gave each fruit a mark out of 5, which we then turned into an average for each fruit and used the data to draw a bar graph. Have a look at the results!

Yesterday, we combined our recent Art and RE learning to do mixed media paintings of our interpretations of the Kingdom of God. It was a beautiful way to spend a sunny afternoon, and their artwork was fantastic!

Home learning

Your home learning is to design a lorry that inspires people to enjoy healthy, sustainable food.

Your design will be entered into a competition and the prize is having your design used on a real Aldi lorry!

The three winners (one from England, one from Wales, and one from Scotland) will also win a £100 Aldi voucher and an exclusive goody bag of Team GB and ParalympicGB items. The winners’ schools (or a youth groups/community organisation to be agreed with Aldi, Team GB and ParalympicsGB, if the winner is home schooled) will also receive £1,000 in Aldi vouchers to spend on kitchen equipment and produce!

Once you have finalised your design:

  • draw your design clearly and neatly on to the entry template that was given out today
  • don’t forget to design the back of the lorry on the back page
  • enter your personal details on the second page
  • return your completed entry to me on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Miss Donatantonio

Reception Week Beginning 12.6.23

/1 Comment/in , /by

Another week has flown by!

This week, Reception have taken part in the national Healthy Eating Week, alongside the rest of the school.

This year’s Healthy Eating Week had five themes to help everyone eat well: focus on fibre, get at least five day, vary your protein, stay hydrated and reduce food waste!

The children have learnt about the importance of hydration (especially important in hot weather like this week!) and enjoyed sampling the different flavoured water every day. The children tried fresh orange, lemon, lime, mint and strawberry water over the course of the week, with strawberry water being the definite favourite!

The children learnt about the importance of eating fruit, vegetables and fibre. They made their own healthy plates and absolutely loved tasting the exotic fruit that they brought in; thank you all so much for you generosity! We still have some left over which we will eat on Monday!

In English this week, we have been focussing on the story The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson.

The class were shown a short clip from the current television show ‘Spy in the Ocean’ and absolutely loved it! Many children went home and watched it with their families after. It airs on a Sunday, early evening, or you can watch it on iPlayer here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001mp18/spy-in-the-ocean-series-1-1-deep-thinkers

In maths sessions, the children have been learning about addition and all the associated maths language that goes with it. They had fun making their own addition game and sharing it with their learning partner!

For one of our transition into Year 1 sessions, Reception went into their new classroom on Tuesday afternoon, with Ms Pemberton and Ms Gymer, where they had a maths lesson and a story. The children also had a chance to talk about anything that they were feeling worried about. They will be doing lots of transition sessions over the forthcoming weeks, in order to get them ready for Year 1.

Today, the children were organised into their houses for the very first time and had a sprinting event practise on the field in preparation for sports day!

We will be practising different events next week too. If your child normally wears shoes rather than black trainers to school, please supply some suitable footwear that they can change into. If you child normally wears a trainer type shoe, you do not need to send additional footwear in.

Thank you!

Have a wonderful weekend,

The Reception Team

Summer 2 Week 2

/0 Comments/in , /by

As part of Healthy Eating Week we tasted different flavoured water to encourage us to drink more and stay hydrated. We understand how important it is to stay hydrated and this has been a fun way to make our drinks taste delicious. The most popular flavoured water in Year 2 was mint but the overall school favourite was strawberry.  Thank you to all the children who sent in different fruits and to the Sports Leaders, who  helped to cut all of the fruit for us.  We enjoyed trying new fruits!

On our class trip to Knebworth House we learnt about different seed dispersal, how vegetables grow and that herbs can be used for cooking and medicine. We also learnt about different trees and planted sunflower seeds. After our workshops we had great fun in the Adventure Play Park.

Home learning

Science -Read the letter attached and complete the template (sent home today) by Monday 19th June Home Learning

Spelling – ‘dge’ Please learn and write these words into your handwriting books. 

badge, edge, fudge, bridge, judge, smudge, dodge.

Maths – Timetable Rockstar’s – please revise the 3 and 5 timetables.

Have a great weekend

Miss Pringle

 

 

 

Summer 2 Week 2

/0 Comments/in , , /by

This week was Healthy Eating Week. Each day, we tasted different flavoured water to encourage us to drink more and stay hydrated. The children made posters to tell others about the importance of drinking. The most popular flavour water in Year 3 was mint and the overall school favourite was strawberry. On Monday, for Design and Technology, the children made their healthy sandwiches. It was great to see children adapting their plans to use wholemeal or brown bread and adding extra salads to make their sandwiches healthy. They then evaluated their sandwiches, thinking about what went well and what they would change next time. Thank you to all the children who sent in different fruits and to the Year 6 children who  helped to cut all of the fruit. The children enjoyed trying new fruits! The next food group we learnt about was protein and how we can vary the protein we eat. We also learnt about fibre and why it is important and identified food that contain fibre. Then we learnt about foods waste, the children have taken home a survey about food waste, please complete this and send it back.

In Maths, the children have been learning about tenths and how we record tenths as a decimal. The children were given the challenge of making a stick man, a tenth of me. The discussion between partners were great and they worked well to make a stickman of the correct height. Then the children lined up 10 stickmen to see if it was the same height as me and they were!

In English, the children have been using the skills they have learnt over the past few weeks to write adventure stories. I have enjoyed reading each one! They have captured the element of excitement in their stories and all of the stories make you want you to read on. They have included fronted adverbials, conjunctions, prepositions, similes and metaphors.

On Wednesday, Year 3 lead the class mass to celebrate their FIrst Holy Communion. The children sang and responded beautiful and their behaviour was excellent. Well done to the readers and the children who did the offertory procession. It was lovely to see some many of you there.

Home Learning

Spelling Edshed – difficult, important, length, perhaps, position, pressure, question, strange, special, purpose

 
Maths Practise 8 times tables.

 
Science Read the letter attached and complete the template by Monday 19th June Home Learning

Complete the food waste worksheet and the healthy eating booklet.

 

 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Carey