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Wow… look at what our architects and engineers have transformed using crates, tubes, cardboard and crates into an incredible world of transportation and adventure! 🚂 From choo-choo trains to zooming airplanes, and even a cosy café for pit stops – their creativity knows no bounds! ✨

The playground turned into a bustling city today, complete with houses, slides, and yes, even a rollercoaster (because why not?)! 🎢

It’s amazing to see how a simple cardboard box can become anything in the hands of these imaginative minds! 🌟 Who knew recycling could be this much fun? 🎉

Our Green Team Ambassadors have been busy planning for Walk to School Week.

They have launched the event in assembly, inspiring all pupils to take part in the event. They discussed the benefits of walking to school for to improve their mental and physical health, local environment and the planet.

Our children are looking forward to taking part and making a positive contribution to help reduce pollution. Whilst exercising to feel happier and healthier!

This is an event for everyone in the family. Don’t forget to complete your child’s weekly diary and get walking, cycling or scooter!

Thank you so much to Steve at MiRiCal Emblems Limited for his generosity and kindness.

Steve kindly purchased and printed our new waistcoats for our Opal Play Leaders and Play Team

Don’t they look great 🙂

In Early Years we are starting to brush our teeth. We listen to a tooth brushing song for 2 minutes and follow the instructions making sure we clean all our teeth. We have talked about the importance of having clean hands before we start and washing our brush afterwards. It is great fun!

Year 6 have been busy programming using Crumble kits this afternoon as we started our new Design and Technology project. We managed to power sparkles (lights) and motors with our algorithms (as well as lots of perseverance and resilience)!

Class 3 had a wonderful day commemorating the 80^th anniversary of VE Day. We began by completing a reading activity then listened to some songs of the era. We watched the events of the day on BBC Newsround.  Later we looked at commemorative plates from previous VE Day anniversaries and then designed and made our own which were amazing!

Rainbows really enjoyed welly Wednesday with lots of extra activities: potion making, the hammock, tree painting, using mallets to build a hedgehog house and the slack line.

This afternoon we have had a visit from MHST our local Mental Health team to talk about SATs stress and how to cope with it. The children were given excellent tips like, getting a good night’s sleep, eating a hearty breakfast, sharing our worries with trusted friends and adults. We discussed our Stress Buckets, what fills them and how we can turn on the taps and empty them. If anyone is experiencing any worries please come and talk to the Year 6 Team.

🌟 What an incredible first day at Opal Play! Our children let their imaginations soar as they transformed our space into a world of endless possibilities! 🎨

From master architects building cosy dens to chefs whipping up pretend culinary delights in our play kitchen – the creativity was off the charts! 🏠 👩‍🍳 The playground buzzed with giggles and teamwork as budding engineers crafted their own cars and artists brought their visions to life through colourful drawings.

The best part? Watching friendships bloom through collaborative play and seeing those determined faces tackle new challenges with such enthusiasm! 🌈 These magical moments of pure joy and discovery are what make early learning so special. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures bring! ✨

This morning we launched our summer project – who would you put on a banknote? Children had to consider who they would put on a new banknote, anti-forgery techniques and different denominations. The class also started their summer read – The Boy at the Back of the Class. We read and discussed the first chapter before listing information about the main characters.

In Religious Education, Trekkers looked a little more at spring. We had some pictures of baby animals and a mummy animal. We matched them up, which was tricky moving our fingers with the pictures on the board. We also looked at the life cycle of a butterfly, putting them in the correct order – egg, caterpillar, cocoon and butterfly. We then cut out the pictures and made our own life cycles.

Today the Trekkers practised making big marks in paint. We did straight lines, circles, some made triangles, we did faces, and lots more. We had lots of fun when we realised it was ok to get messy hands. We also spoke about the colours we made as we mixed the colours together.

Reception loved doing an Easter egg hunt in Forest School. They followed clues to find the treasure. They had to tick off the pictures when they found them. Everybody then had a chocolate Easter lolly. It was great fun!

Today Key Stage 1 had their project exhibition. We heard children speak about the different things we have been learning and looked at a montage of all their work.

We’ve made a coastline using blocks for our project in geography. The children had to make a coastline with some key physical features, such as, a beach, stack, arch and sea.

We made paper aeroplanes in History after learning how humans took flight and experienced real life aircraft at Newark Air Museum.

For our Design and Technology project, we made some fruit kebabs together. The children displayed knife safety skills and chopped fruit into small chunks.

We are all very proud of the children and are extremely pleased with how far they have come this term, keep it up Key Stage 1!

A lovely Spring Term Project Exhibition in Year 6 this morning. Children shared their writing from this term. After that, children and adults worked in two teams in a Victorian timeline race. Finally, everyone created their own Victorian cup & ball game.

Yesterday our fabulous catering team cooked us a special celebratory Eid menu. We enjoyed chicken biryani, sweet potato curry, flatbreads, vegetables and vanilla cardamom muffins. How very lucky we are to have such an amazing catering team!

Year 6 children visited our local area to assess the impact of an increasing population. They made observations and collected vehicle and litter data to using tally charts. After, they worked in groups to analyse their data and produced a report to share their results and conclusions. The children were able to clearly articulate the impact on the environment.

Our final Forest School today! 😢

We have absolutely loved the last 5 weeks.

This afternoon we built a nest for a bird, did fire striking, threaded beads on to necklaces and finished the afternoon with hot chocolate and s’mores. 😋

Thank you, Ms Turner-Jones.

This morning Year 1 and Year 6 shared their library sessions. The younger children loved listening to the older children read them their stories. At the same time, Year 6 children enjoyed listening to the Year 1 children practise their developing reading skills.

This morning, Year 6 completed their geography fieldwork. Children were tasked to see the impact of population increasing in our local area. They did this by completing a vehicle tally chart and a litter tally chart. After this, children produced a report of their results and conclusions.

Class 3 and 4 had a fabulous time at Creswell Crags. We did Stone Age art, survival skills and exploring inside a cave. The Creswell Crags leaders were so impressed with the children’s knowledge!

What a lovely afternoon Reception had at forest schools. We climbed trees, went on the swing, made slides and see saw, used two buckets to make some weighing scales and of course plenty of bug hunting.

Year 6 pupils have made a fantastic start to their sculptures: manipulating wire to make a posed figure, creating a clay base and layering mod roc to shape them and increase stability. They will be decorating them to improve their aesthetic appearance. But we’re sure you’ll agree that they look great already!

We are so proud of our Year 5 pupils for completing their Level 1 or 2 Bikeability certificate. The children learned how to be safe and good techniques for cycling, such as turning and signalling. Once they had mastered these skills, they applied them to cycling safely on the road.  Congratulations to all!

Year 4 pupils really enjoyed their morning at the Great Orchestra Experiment at the Royal Albert Hall. It was wonderful to see our pupils excited to form part of an orchestra. They displayed great musical talent as they played the trumpet. We are incredibly proud of our amazing pupils.

Year 6 have completed the first stages of their sculptures this week: manipulating wire to make posed figures, building a base and layering with mod roc to shape them and increase stability. We still have the decorating stage to go, but think they are looking fantastic already!

Reception have been learning about number bonds to 10. They have been finding different ways to make 10. They have enjoyed using numicon to help them. Lots of children then wrote the number sentence on a whiteboard. Great job by our reception children!

Over the last few weeks, Class 3 have been learning about the Beaker people and their pottery. The Beaker people came to Britain at the end of the Stone Age period. We have developed a range of skills working with clay to produce these amazing Beaker style, coil pots!

Reception had a great time doing their outdoor learning. They looked at different leaves, did some bug hunting and even climbed a tree.