Despite the rising temperatures, the children have been working hard with lots of exciting learning going on.
The Nursery have been exploring non-fiction texts.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atw-nursery-news-10th-july
In Reception, the children been learning about bees and cooking potatoes in Forest School.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-reception-news-bees-potatoes-and-fires
In Year 1, the children have been learning to tell the time on an analogue clock. They have been using clocks to find o’clock and half past times and then completed a variety of time challenges to consolidate the learning. In English, the children orally rehearsed instructions for how to make pancakes and then wrote these instructions into their books. When writing their instructions, the children ensured they used sequencing words, capital letters and full stops. Year 1, are looking forward to making their pancakes next week and can’t wait to try them! In science, they went outside to explore a range of trees and identified them by the shape of their leaves. They made bark rubbings and described the texture of the bark. The children also predicted what would happen when celery stalks were put into coloured water. They used their scientific knowledge to help them with their prediction.
In Year 2 this week the children have had lots of fun in their learning. The children wrote and began to publish their own versions of ‘The Secret of Black Rock’ in English and in Thematic the children have begun making their puppets. The children have been carefully following their designs and using their fine motor skills to sew the puppets together. The children also got to take home their beautifully painted sea creature sculptures as well. Maths was all about measurement where the children have been measuring and comparing length, weight and capacity.
It has been an incredibly busy and productive week in Year 3! In English, the class became authors and successfully published their diary entries written from the perspective of Edward Tulane, focusing brilliantly on using the first person and past tense to bring his journey to life. Meanwhile, we kicked off a new topic in Maths by diving into statistics, where the children compared different ways of gathering and representing data. They were analysing the unique benefits, similarities and differences of tally charts, pictograms, and bar charts. Out on the sports field, the children enjoyed small group cricket matches while sharpening their batting and bowling skills, demonstrating fantastic teamwork and sportsmanship. In science, they set up an exciting water transportation experiment, watching in amazement as flowering plants absorbed colored dye to show how water travels up the stem through Xylem and Phloem. In Thematic, after successfully identifying the major rivers and mountains of the UK on our maps, they studied the famous stone settlement of Skara Brae, investigating why it was built in its coastal location and exploring how human housing cleverly evolved from the Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic and Neolithic ages.
This week, Year 4 have been learning about teeth in their science lessons. They named the different teeth in their mouths and learned about their function. The children have learned about how to keep their teeth healthy and have set up an investigation using eggs to see which liquids damage the eggshell. They will check the results over the next seven days. Year 4 have been writing sentences with fronted adverbials and subordinate clauses about Ahmet – the main character in their reding book, The Boy at the Back of the Class, and have planned their persuasive letter to the king.
In Year 5, the children have been recording their High-Rise Mystery news reports that all their writing over the past few weeks has been working towards. They have pretended to be journalists in the newsroom, correspondents at the crime scene and one of many concerned residents of the Tri estate with key information to share. The children have done themselves proud and each group delivered very impressive performances and used the passive voice brilliantly. In Science, the topic is now Animals Including Humans. The children have been discussing the similarities and differences between animals and humans and beginning to learn about each stage of the human life cycle (which links back to their learning last half term about puberty). Year 5 finished the week with D&T, by building bridges and beginning to design their own. In small groups, we worked together to construct Polydron bridges: truss, suspension, swing, cantilever and draw. It required a lot of team work, careful reading of instructions and resilience when it didn’t go quite to plan. There were cheers as each group was successful!
It has been an incredibly busy and exciting week in Year 6. The children took to the stage for our performances of Who’s Your Mummy? on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening, all while battling a summer heatwave! After weeks of rehearsals, learning lines, practising songs and perfecting their acting, the children absolutely smashed it. They performed with confidence, enthusiasm and plenty of humour, making the audience laugh, sing along and cheer. We couldn’t be prouder of how they supported one another and gave two truly memorable performances. They certainly earned a well-deserved rest afterwards! In thematic learning, the children became Ancient Greek artists as they created their own Greek vases from clay, using the final designs they had carefully planned. They used a range of sculpting techniques, including carving intricate patterns and adding decorative details to give their vases an authentic Ancient Greek appearance. The finished pieces looked fantastic, and the children thoroughly enjoyed bringing their designs to life. In English, the children have completed and published their own endings to Wolf Brother. Using everything they have learned throughout the unit, they created engaging conclusions filled with descriptive language, atmosphere and suspense. It has been wonderful to see the children’s creativity shine through and they should be extremely proud of their finished stories.
During the heat
By way of an update, I wanted to share how we are keeping the children safe when the weather gets too hot. When the children are outside, they are encouraged to use the shade of the trees and the gazebos. Children are also encouraged to take their water bottles outside with them and to drink regularly to stay hydrated. Children are also reminded about wearing their hats and ball games or games with much physical exertion are not allowed. Essentially, children are told to sit in the shade and relax rather than run around. We also have the library open for quiet reading in an air-conditioned space and a spare classroom (which is also air conditioned) where children can sit and draw, build Lego or play quiet board games. We do not keep the children in school so that we can flush the classrooms with some fresh air and allow them to cool down. Please support us in keeping your children safe by making sure they come to school with a sun hat and encouraging them to wear it when outside.
RSPCA fundraising
On Wednesday, the school was full of leopard print and furry ears as everyone joined in with our RSPCA fundraiser. Children were invited to come in dressed as anything with an animal theme. The heat deterred any elaborate polar bear costumes but the children did a good job of marking the event. In an assembly, Miss Carlucci spoke to the children about the work of the RSPCA and how they save so many animals that are being mistreated or in danger. Overall, the school raised in excess of £500 for the important work of this charity.
Croydon Athletics
On Monday 22nd June, a selected group of athletes went along to Croydon Arena for the Croydon Schools athletics meet.. It was a shame that we could not compete in the finals which were cancelled due to the heat but placings and timings were taken from the qualifiers allowing for some results. The whole team ran, jumped and threw us into a 3rd Place overall for the boys and 4th place overall for the girls – well done team, this is an outstanding result. In the small schools/handicap trophy we also did brilliantly with the girls placing 2nd and the boys taking 4th. We had some amazing results in the individual events with Freya winning gold in the high jump; Grace bronze in the 800m; Asher silver in the 75m; Kylo bronze in the 75m and Arthur silver in the ball throw. Well done to the whole team and thank you to parents for your ongoing support.
Swimming news
In other sports news, a group of children competed at Whitgift school in the Atwood Invitational Swimming gala. All the children swam brilliantly with everyone contributing points to a strong second place. Well done to everyone who took part.
Summer Reading Challenge
What better way to beat the hat than finding a shady spot and relaxing with a book? This summer children are invited to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge and ‘Read to the Beat’. You can find out more through the flyer here: https://tinyurl.com/356fv6f2
A comprehensive list of diary dates for next year will be made available in September but in the meantime, term dates can be found on the website here:
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/term-dates-and-opening-hours
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Friday 17th July: Year 6 Leavers’ assembly
Friday 17th July: Last day of term
Tuesday 1st and Wednesday 2nd September: INSET days
Thursday 3rd September: Back to school.
