St Mary's Newsletter

Nursery really enjoyed our Science Week activities, we read lots of great books about problem solving, encouraging the children to ask questions.  Our books included: Ada Twist Scientist, Magnolia and Apple and The Girl Who Planted Trees.  If you would like to borrow any of these to read again with your child, please do ask a member of the team.

We used the changing weather to explore rain, sun and shadow. We also went on nature hunts around our garden area, noting the first signs of Spring and finding out more about the minibeasts we found.  We have also been busy learning how to drill, screw and sand wood to create our new Cube resource.

In maths we have been finding out all about odd and even numbers, using lots of different manipulatives to deepen the children’s understanding.

In RE we are continuing our unit around the Easter story and have been learning why the cross is a special symbol for Christians. We created our own pictures of Jesus’s cross.

In English we have been doing lots of writing around the story ‘Where can an Elephant Hide?’ and have written letters to Morris the elephant suggesting different places he could hide. 

Year 1 have been investigating and writing dinosaur poems about various dinosaurs. In maths we have been investigating equal groups and arrays and learning how to share into equal groups.

In science we have completed our animals topic by comparing animals from the different animal groups as well as those in the same animal group.

In RE we have been investigating the Easter story, thinking about the Resurrection in more detail and how we are like Jesus. In phonics we have been working through digraphs such as ew, u-e and oi and oy.

In ICT we have been using JiT5 to create animations about animals and people.

The children continue to learn about Haringey in our topic, ‘Our Local Area’. We have been comparing our own borough with a town in Kenya called Thika. We will research both areas before comparing similarities and differences.

In our English text, ‘Cops and Robbers’, the children have innovated the setting and characters. Next, they will write their own story following the structure of the original text.

In maths, we have been working on measurement. First, we weighed items in grams and kilograms and then we measured water in millilitres and litres.

In science, we we have focused on food chains and in RE, we are discussing the Easter story and what the symbols of Easter mean to Christians.

In English we have been exploring the Easter story from different characters’ perspectives. We have been writing diaries in the first person and imagining that we are Judas and Jesus.  We are using our inferring skills to map the emotions of Jesus throughout the Easter story.

In our descriptive writing, we are using expanded noun-phrases and similes to describe characters.  We also ‘hot-seated’ the characters so we could explore and understand each character’s decisions.

In maths we have continued learning our 3, 4 and 8 times table and have been applying our knowledge to solve word problems.  We have been multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit – without exchange and with exchange. We have also been using different representations to help us solve sums, including the column method.

​In RE we are finding out about the women and the roles they played at Jesus’ Crucifixion. We looked at different representations of art and what they mean.  We also explored why Peter denied Jesus and his reasons.

In English we have started our unit on poetry and have enjoyed looking at Valerie Blooms’ ‘The River’, identifying how she so cleverly used the poetic device of personification to excite her audience.

For science, as we continue our learning on ‘Living Things and their Habitats’, we have been conducting some observational drawing of living things within our local garden and linking our learning to the works of artist Alice Melvin.  

In maths we have been enjoying online ​timetable revision using chrome books and iPads and exploring various times table games to help build and embed our knowledge and understanding of key concepts. 

In English, we have been working on our persuasive writing techniques, applying the skills and vocabulary needed to persuade the reader by creating holiday brochures. We are getting really good at this!

In maths, we explored volume and capacity.  We looked at comparing and estimating volume of 3 dimensional shapes and how our work in this areas relates to capacity. We are also exploring fractions again and will be adding and subtracting various types of fractions this week.

Our science investigations this week were focused on finding out how day and night are formed.

In history, we are learning about early Islamic civilisations and are finding out how and why ancient  Baghdad was built as a round city. Mr Bruce helped us to visualise what a ring of fire might have looked like that persuaded the Caliph Al-Mansur to build a round city.

Most of Year 6 are spending the week in PGL Osmington Bay, taking part in a range of activities, from team-building to archery, and high-ropes to giant swing, all on the beautiful Dorset coast. They have had the most incredible weather and will be returning just a little bit taller, having challenged themselves and shown much courage and resilience. A smaller band of children remained in London where they had a great time, visiting the Museum of London, the VR Interactive Van Gogh exhibition as well as taking part in art and cookery activities.