What a fabulous day we’ve had at Perlethorpe learning all about the Vikings. We visited a Viking home; trying on armour, playing a traditional Viking game, and grinding grain to make flour. In the afternoon we did den building and ended our day in the play area.
Today was Year 6’s first day at Into University. Children were introduced to their focus week before being placed into their groups. Using the focus of WW2, children then completed four tasks relating to important aspects such as rationing, morse code & VE Day. The afternoon saw the start of the secret mission – shhhh!
This afternoon, Year 3 have been learning how our muscles work. We made a model of our arm to show how the bicep and tricep work together when we bend and straighten our arm.
Our Year 5 guitarists travelled to Ilam Hall for their Music Camp residential. They engaged in all activities with great energy and enthusiasm. They enjoyed playing in the monster band, musical orienteering and the fabulous (if a little wet) night walk.
Our school is committed to promoting British Values and ensuring all of our community feel welcome and respected. As part of the Picture News Big Celebration Assembly, our pupils celebrated people’s differences. Through their discussions of mutual respect and tolerance, they shared ideas of how we can all support each other. Our pupils also gave some lovely examples of what they do in school to support other pupils.
At the start of term, our year 6 pupils were very busy preparing for the House Team election campaign. Their speeches were full of inspirational ideas, with a clear view of how they would like to help improve of school. All of our candidates spoke with passion and enthusiasm. As ballot cards were filled and votes counted, a buzz of excitement filled the hall.
Well done to our newly elected Year 6 House and Vice Captains. They will lead our: Green Team, Pupil Wellbeing, Community Ranger and No Outsiders teams. We look forward to working with them over the year.
The No Outsiders had their first meeting today in our beautiful library. We discussed poetry and ensuring everyone feels welcome at Southwold in preparation for World Poetry Day.
As part of the Urban Nature Project Explore project, Year 6 visited Wollaton Hall yesterday to participate in a range of outdoor activities examining the diverse range of living things. Children completed a botanical garden survey using quadrats before engaging in a water investigation at Wollaton Lake. This involved pond dipping and identifying different species. Our pupils are now part way through achieving their Crest Award. An excellent day; well done all.
This afternoon, class 3 have been artefact detectives. We were lucky to have artefacts from Wollaton Hall. We answered the questions; What is the artefact made from?, What was it used for?, Who used the artefact?, What does the artefact tell us about Viking life?,
We even got chance to try on a Viking helmet – it was very heavy!
Today our pupils enjoyed their first instrumental lesson of the year. Pupils have been introduced to a new brass instrument – the trumpet! They started by learning how to place their lips on the mouthpiece and breathing techniques. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning about the wind instrument.
We would like to introduce our newly formed pupil leadership group, our school ‘Attendance Champions’!
Every week they will meet with our Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Taylor, leading attendance across the school. The children will decide on suitable targets for classes to achieve and rewards that classes can earn, which will be shared weekly in our whole school assembly, as well as our attendance champions sharing and promoting with their classes.
We know that ‘Moments Matter’ and every child deserves to get the best from their time at school.
Today in Science we have been investigating the question, ‘Do people with longer arms throw further?’
We measured the length of our arm then threw a bean bag and measured the distance of our throw. We found out that the person with the longest arm did NOT have the longest throw.
Reception class have enjoyed their first week in school exploring their new environment, enjoying a PE lesson and staying for their first school dinner. What a great start!
This morning Tiny has challenged Year 6 to find a six digit number. However, Tiny was clear it was a very specific six digit number. Children used their logical skills as well as their digit cards to experiment. Children really didn’t like making incorrect guesses but they showed fantastic perseverance to tackle the challenge!
A lovely first session at Forest School with Ms Turner-Jones. This year, Year 6 are looking at survival skills and children were challenged to filter some dirty water. Other tasks included a bug hunt, wood whittling & den building. Of course, the session was ended with a fire and s’mores!
As part of our history hook day, we looked at a range of photographs that had missing sections. Children used their investigative skills to think about the missing sections. Next, the whole photograph was revealed and children wrote about what each section displayed.
“This is our last visit as part of this project, and we have loved every minute. The behaviour and interest from the pupils have been excellent throughout and they have been a pleasure to work with. It’s so lovely when they come back week after week, keen to get involved, spotting insects, frogs and snails, tasting herbs and lettuces and really enjoying the experience. The group of parents have been invaluable and we hope, with their help we have set you up for a wildlife friendly school.”
Many thanks Andy Beth and Cain
Another super afternoon with pupils and parents. Today we weeded and prepared the planting beds in the Early Years playground. With the help of the pupils and staff we have planted herbs and flowers that are good for wildlife and tasting! The children love watering with the hosepipe!
We completed the bamboo screening and weeded in the allotment- lots of lettuces are ready to pick!
Well done to our fabulous children who were recognised for the achievement, behaviour or kindness award this term.
We are so proud of their achievements.
Congratulations and continue to be amazing!
Congratulations to our pupils, who received the Always Award for their consistent positive behaviours.
They had great fun learning scooter and skateboard skills and tricks! We were so impressed with their resilience, perseverance and collaboration.
Well done everyone 😊
Key Stage 1 had a great end of term visit to Wollaton park. The weather may have been hot but the children stayed cool in the shade of the trees and explored many different activities as part of ‘Forest Schools’. They had a treasure hunt for the Forest fairy’s rings, climbed trees, made treasure bracelets from natural materials, created animal footprints with clay, found minibeasts in their natural environments and made fairy houses using sticks and mallets. A great day was had by all.
During the week, all classes participated in Money Week and the investigated the ‘Five Big Questions about Money’ from Lifesavers. Our pupils met Milo and read his story.
In EYFS, pupils talked about whether to save money or spend it. They looked at different coins and notes so they could see what they felt like. They even set up a class shop and enjoyed using money stamps to create our own savings books.
Class 3 pupils thought about what they could do with £5.00, answering the question, ‘How does money make us feel?’ They had some lovely answers including buying something for a friend and giving it to charity.
Key Stage 2 had a fabulous time at Bluecoat Wollaton this morning, taking part in the Go for Gold fun run. We were so impressed with everyone’s positive attitude and energy!
Today our pupils helped to create our ‘Beebay’ with a variety of habitats for wildlife to enjoy.
The children also planted shrubs to create a green wall on our school grounds.
Our horticulturalists were very impressed with their collaboration, resilience and care for nature.
Congratulations to Little John, who won the House Cup again this term.
The team members have shown immense collaboration to earn the most dojo points.
Well done Little John!
This morning, Year 6 had their final Transition workshop – this time with Into University. After a brief recap of their Into University journey since Year 4, the focus changed to moving up to secondary school in September. Children completed four activities including giving advice, timetabling and skills. After their recent visits to their secondary schools and the recent workshops, children are excited for September!
EYFS had a great time at their stay and play. Mummies and daddies enjoyed it too . We also enjoyed being outside using all the scooters, bikes and climbing.
It was lovely to see so many parents engaging in their children’s learning today at the Year 3 and 4 project exhibition. We were particularly impressed with your Roman army testudo (tortoise) formation!
This week Key Stage 1 finished their topic all about castles, as part of our Creativity Collaboratives project with a great visit to Bolsover castle. The children had the chance to see parts of the old ruins of the castle, look out over the battlements, see rooms as they may have originally been used and dress up in traditional clothing. What a great first hand experience for the children to have to enhance their learning.