Top tip - How to wash your hands properly

This week, the Safety Group explored the importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of germs. Using glitter to represent germs, the children tested washing with water alone and saw how germs can remain on hands. Can you spot which hands still have blue “germs” after washing with just water?

Here is a song they have been singing around school to remind children how to wash their hands properly https://youtu.be/S9VjeIWLnEg?si=-YZBZS8p1RVkO6x8

Parent Carer Needs Assessment Survey

If you are caring for a disabled child up to the age of 16 years old, we want to understand your experience of requesting a Parent Carer Needs Assessment. Your responses will help highlight what is working well and where improvements may be needed. 

📋 Parent Carer Needs Assessment (PCNA) Survey

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school this week and hear all about their adventures over the Christmas holidays.  Thank you very much for all the kind gifts and cards. They were very much appreciated.

The colder winter weather has fitted really well with our new topic "The lost penguin". The children discovered a lost penguin in the milk fridge.  They had some really good ideas of where he might have come from and why he might be hiding in the fridge.  We created some fantastic posters asking if anyone knew anything about him.  In the meantime we have decided to take care of him in our classroom.  I'm sure he enjoyed the excitement of the snow day today!

Our timetable will remain as last term with PE on Thursdays and outdoor learning on Fridays (weather permitting).  This half term we will be studying gymnastics in PE.

Reading books and library books will continue to be changed on a Friday and orange phonics books will also be updated on a Friday.  I appreciate we have not been able to do this today but we will catch up next week.

Stay warm and see you on Monday!

It has been lovely to welcome the children back into school refreshed and ready to learn. All the staff that work in Skylarks would like to just say a quick thank you for all the thoughtful cards, gifts and words of thanks that we received before Christmas. They were really appreciated.

Here is a quick overview of what this half term will look like in Skylarks.

In English, we will be finishing our work using the text, Hermelin the Detective Mouse. Children will begin to learn about the features of letters and how to compose one.

In maths, we will be moving onto 'shape' and then back to 'addition and subtraction' but this time with larger numbers.

In geography this half term our exploration question is, 'Would you rather live in a hot or cold place?' Children will explore the continents, the North and South Poles, the Equator, local weather and do some comparison between the UK and Kenya.

In D.T, we have an exciting textiles unit where the children will be making a puppet of a character from a story.

In computing, the children will be learning all about digital imagery. They will have a go at taking clear images, editing them and creating digital collages from these.

In RE we will be exploring the question, 'What is the good news that Christians believe Jesus brings?'

In science, children will be learning about everyday materials and will be completing investigations to explore each material.

In PSHE the topic focus is on the children's dreams and goals.

PE will continue to be on a Tuesday (outdoor) and a Thursday (indoor). Our focuses this half term are on ball skills and dance.

Outdoor Learning will still be taking place on a Monday afternoon so please ensure your child has a warm coat etc to keep themselves warm during these colder weeks.

Timetable

Monday: Wellies and appropriate clothing for outdoor learning

Tuesday & Thursday: PE kits - please can those with longer hair have their hair tied up ready

It was lovely to see the children back in school after the holidays and hear about all the exciting things and times they had had over Christmas.

In English, we will be continuing using the book 'Leaf' as inspiration for our writing. The children will be learning how to write a report using technical vocabulary all about polar bears. We started that this week, with the children watching a documentary clip and then writing sentences for their own voice overs.

In maths, our focus is on the formal methods multiplication and division for the first few weeks. Secure times tables knowledge will help tremendously with this, so the children should keep up their TTRS practice.

Our science topic this half term is teeth and the digestive system. Children will learn about the importance of the digestive system. They will learn the names and functions of each part of the system and be able to identify the different types of teeth in humans and their purpose. They will extend their knowledge of food chains by constructing and interpreting a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

In geography, our question is 'Why are rainforests important to us?' The children will be learning about biomes and where these are in the world in relation to the equator, using atlases to find the Amazon rainforest, being able to describe the characteristics of each layer of a tropical rainforest, learning about the lives of the indigenous peoples who live there and looking at why rainforests are important and the threats to their survival.

Our PE topics this half term are gymnastics (Tuesdays) and Tag Rugby (Thursdays). Please could the children ensure they have warm outdoor kit for Tag Rugby please.

In art, the children will be exploring the work of Claes Oldenburg and creating their own dropped ice cream cone sculpture.

In French, our topic is 'Food'. The children will be learning how to order food in a French cafe, as well as learning how to read and say amounts of money.

The children will have homework as usual, with the timetable shown below.

Firstly, I would like to thank all parents for the incredibly generous gifts and cards given to myself and other staff members at the end of last term. It was all very kind of you and it is truly appreciated.

English
This half term, we will continue our work on newspaper reports, which we began last half term. During the first couple of weeks, the children will finish these reports before moving on to our next book in due course.

Maths
We are now moving on to division. Over the next couple of weeks, the children will practice short division and then progress to long division. This will complete our topic on the four operations.

RE
In RE, we are exploring Christianity, with a focus on Jesus’s teachings. The children will consider how to live a moral life and reflect on what Jesus might do in certain moral dilemmas.

PE
This half term, PE will be on:

• Tuesdays: Tag rugby (please note that the field may be wet and muddy; children will go home in their PE kits and uniforms will be sent home)

• Thursdays: Gymnastics (please ensure kits are returned for this session)

DT
Our topic is playgrounds. The children are designing and creating their own playgrounds. In the first week, they worked through the design process, coming up with five pieces of apparatus and considering linking structures that are both equal amounts of fun and safe.

PSHE
Our focus this half term is dreams and goals. Children are thinking about what they want to achieve in both the short and long term. This week, they reflected on their strengths, areas for improvement and set personal goals for home and school.

Geography
We are learning about desert environments, focusing on what it would be like to live in a desert, with particular attention to the Mojave Desert in America and the human and physical geography found there.

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