What fantastic weather we have had this week for the start of the summer term.  It has been just right for introducing our new topic of "Green and growing".  It was lovely to welcome all the children back into school and hear all about their holiday adventures.  I apologise for not sending the Proud Peacock sheets home at the end of last term.  You should find them in the book bags today. Please share any achievements from home so we can celebrate them together in school and add them to our Proud Peacock display board.

This week we have introduced our new class story of "Jack and the Beanstalk".  In Drawing Club we drew some fantastic pictures of the giant and thought about some exciting adjectives to describe him.  In science, we started thinking about what things a seed needs to grow.  We planted seeds in lots of different conditions and now we have to wait and see what happens to them.  Maybe we will grow our own beanstalks!

In maths, we have been exploring doubles. Playing games with 2 dice or dominoes are a great way to help your child become more confident in spotting doubles.

We have really been enjoying our weekly balance bike sessions.  The children are really growing in confidence as they learn the skills to enable them to balance and control the bikes.  In PE, we have started a new unit on ball skills.  This week we learnt to roll and track a ball which is a vital skill for sports that involve fielding.  Anyone for cricket?!

I hope you enjoy the bank holiday weekend and the sun keeps shining.

This week in English, we began our new book 'Vlad and the Great Fire of London'. We have started to look at poems written about The Great Fire of London. In groups the children had one of these poems and needed to identify three different features within them. The features we explored were similes, personification and rhyming.

In maths, we have been focusing on the 2 times table. Children have been counting in 2s and spotting patterns. They have also been writing the calculations to match, for example 6 x 2 = 12. Using this knowledge we then looked at dividing and children identified how multiplication and division are linked before solving division calculations. At the end of the week we began to explore doubling and halving.

In history this half term we are learning about how schools have changed. We looked at lots of different photos of schools throughout the years, ranging from 1900 to 2025. We even looked at some photos of our school in 1900 and the 1980s. The children looked for clues in these old photos and used them to arrange the photos from oldest to most recent.

In D.T. our topic is Mechanisms: Wheels and Axels. The children explored how wheels work and found items that had wheels.

Timetable

Monday: Wellies and appropriate clothing for outdoor learning.

Tuesday: Swimming, please bring in swimming kit and towel.

Thursday: PE kits.

It was lovely to welcome the children back this week, keen and ready to learn after the Easter holidays.

In maths, Y3 children have been learning to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator. They have gained a good understanding of this concept and are able to explain their calculations.

In maths, Y4 children have continued with their work on decimals from before the holidays. Place value column grids have been essential to support their learning this week. We have been looking at how to write hundredth as decimals, partitioning numbers to 2 decimal places and dividing 2-digit numbers by 10 and 100.

In science, we started our new topic of 'Sound'. The children were able to share their ideas about what sound is and how we hear different sounds. We decided to see what sounds we could hear around different parts of the school. The children sat quietly in a variety of places and made notes about what they could hear. They then thought about how these sounds were made.

In geography, we have continued with our topic of 'Rivers'. This week, the children were using atlases to find the longest rivers in different continents and marking these down on their own maps. We also looked at the routes different rivers take in the UK.

At the end of the week, the children read chapters 2 and 3 of our new class book; The Street Child. The characters in the story were on an emotional rollercoaster as they were kicked out of their home with nowhere to go and not a single coin. We explored how the author has shown these emotions in their writing. Once again, we have been practicing recognising and writing expanded noun phrases. Writing in a descriptive and interesting way is a skill we continue to work hard at. One example of an extended noun phrase we came up with was: The viscous, grumpy man stomped across the empty room.

This week in English and maths, the children have been revising and revisiting many of the key topics we’ve covered throughout the year. In English, this has included grammar, punctuation and spelling – all essential elements that will help prepare them for their upcoming SATs tests. Alongside this, we’ve had plenty of reading practice to continue developing our comprehension skills. In maths, we’ve been consolidating our understanding of various topics, making sure we feel confident in applying what we’ve learned.

In PE, the children have been lucky to receive coaching from a tennis specialist, who has introduced them to the basics of racket skills and technique. They’ve also been practising the forehand serve in badminton, building both skill and confidence in this fast-paced game.

In history, we’ve been exploring the arrival of the Vikings in Britain – learning when and why they came and how they followed on from the Anglo-Saxons and Romans.

In art, the children have been inspired by the work of landscape artist Kitty Jones, who often creates her pieces outdoors in natural surroundings. They’ve enjoyed experimenting with similar techniques and developing their own creative responses.

Please see below information within the community but independent of the school