It has been a great week at Atwood with all the children now firmly established in their routines and lots of wonderful learning taking place.
The children have had another brilliant week in Nursery diving into their new story, ‘Owl Babies’. The children loved exploring a special owl-themed tuff tray packed with autumn treasures like conkers, pinecones, sticks, and leaves. Through the story, they discovered that owls live in trees, hunt for food at night and love to eat worms, mice, and small birds! In maths, the children have been learning about the number 1. To help build their counting skills, they fed their pretend owls 1 worm each and hosted a picnic where every colour teddy received 1 jelly. Nursery wrapped up the week with plenty of singing, enjoying favorite rhymes like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Jelly on a Plate. What a fun-filled week of learning!
Our Reception children have been thinking about what it means to be resilient. You can read more here: https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-reception-news-26th-september
In English, Year 1 started the week editing sentences using their knowledge of ‘what makes a good sentence?’ The children also discovered what a noun is and could give a variety of examples. Year one orally rehearsed their sentences about what they like and then wrote them in their book ensuring they remembered capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. This writing linked with our class book ‘Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly’. During maths, the children found one less of a number and compared numbers (with picture representations) using the vocabulary, fewer, more, same, less, greater, equal to. Our thematic lessons this week enabled the children to name and identify characteristics of our capital city. For example, The Shard and The London Eye. The children also enjoyed sharing their experiences of visiting London with the rest of the class. In science, year one learnt about how body parts can help them with activities. They completed a task (e.g. football, skipping, jumping) and discussed which body parts were most important to help us.
In Year 2 the children have been publishing their own versions of ‘The Lonely Beast’. They have been practicing their handwriting and focusing on using full stops, capital letters and finger space accurately. They also chose adjectives to make their stories more interesting. In maths, the children have been comparing numbers using the symbols for greater than and less than. In their Thematic work the children have been learning all about the six wives of Henry VIII and what happened to them. Finally, as part of their enrichment activities the children have been doing some outdoor art and looking at the work of Andy Goldsworthy. The children have been thinking about circles in nature and recreating them with natural materials.
In their writing lessons this week, Year 3 published their fantastic tense stories inspired by Anthony Browne’s ‘Into the Forest’. Their tales followed a thrilling journey into a mysterious forest to deliver a cake to Grandma, encountering some familiar yet delightfully odd characters along the way. The children have also continued to read The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd. The children have loved delving into Thomas’s world, discussing the unique challenges and excitement of secretly raising a pet dragon! In Maths, they have been building their understanding of place value. Using Dienes equipment and place value charts, the children have been examining the value of individual digits in three-digit numbers. We have also introduced the concept of exchanging, helping us lay strong foundations for addition and subtraction. In Science, year three have continued exploring the human skeleton. The children worked hard to label the major bones in the body and discussed their essential functions: supporting our bodies, enabling movement, and protecting vital organs. In RE, the class have continued their investigation into monotheistic religions, exploring how God is understood and revered across different faiths. In PE, the children showed great progress in hockey, becoming much more adept at controlling the ball using wooden hockey sticks. Meanwhile, in Dance, the children used creative movement to embody the lives of Victorian workhouse children, bringing history to life through performance. A huge well done to all the children who competed in the very first year three Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) tournament! We are so proud of your enthusiasm and determination. Another big well done goes to all the pupils who have been putting in extra effort with their spelling home learning, your hard work is really showing in class!
This week, Year 4 pupils visited the Mithraeum in London. The Mithraeum was discovered in the 1950s and is the ruins of a temple of the god Mithras. The children walked behind the Tower of London to see the remains of the Roman wall that once surrounded the Roman settlement called Londinium. In maths, the children have started learning about place value and have been partitioning 4-digit numbers. In Geography, they have been locating Rome and London on maps and have been learning about famous landmarks and physical features in both cities.
This week, Year 5 have continued their learning about ‘The boy in the girls’ bathroom’ and have performed scenes that they have written. The performed in groups, using lots of dialogue. In Maths, the children have started a unit on addition and subtraction and have focused on adding 4-digit numbers involving exchanges. It has been great to see the children access their prior knowledge to help then in the next steps. In thematic, the children have been learning about the Vikings, and have looked at longboats from which the children now know how to build a longboat.
In English, Year 6 have finally finished their dystopian diary entries based on a character trying to escape a dangerous city. They have worked hard to develop their writing by using technical vocabulary, embedded clauses, subordinate clauses and lots of ‘show, not tell’ to create tension and help the reader understand how the character was feeling.
In Maths, the children have been learning how to add and subtract negative numbers and applying these skills to a range of problem-solving activities. The children have worked hard to explain their reasoning and apply their understanding to different mathematical challenges. In Thematic, year six have been designing the front covers for their new Ancient Egyptians topic books. The children have explored different art mediums and techniques to create detailed Egyptian portraits, paying close attention to features and fine detail. They are looking forward to continuing their learning about this fascinating civilisation over the coming weeks.
Attendance
The Department for Education published updates to its guidance for schools which came into effect in September 2024 and recently updated in July 2026. It is entitled “Working Together to Improve School Attendance” It offers a clear outline about absence procedures and Government regulations concerning pupil attendance. There are 365 days in a year, but only 190 school days. This leaves 175 non-school days to spend on holidays, family time, visits and other appointments. Unbroken attendance at school is important for learning. Education is also about more than just learning: it’s about opportunities, experiences, people, play and community.
We appreciate there may be times when absence is unavoidable and acceptable. More information about our approach to exceptional circumstances can be found on our website here: https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/attendance-2
Research clearly shows the link between regular attendance and educational progress and attainment. We are committed to encouraging and supporting parents in ensuring their children achieve maximum possible attendance and that any problems which may prevent this are dealt with promptly. In line with our attendance policy, please be aware that if parents/carers take their children out of school without authority for 5 days or more (these don’t have to be at the same time), they may receive a penalty notice. Currently the amount payable under a penalty notice is £80.00 per parent/carer per child if paid within 21 days. Thereafter, the amount increases to £160.00 if paid between 21 and 28 days. If the penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, the Local Authority will consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per child so a family of two parents and two children will receive 4 penalty notices.
Toys and squishies
Please can I remind all parents that children should not be bringing toys in to school. At the moment, we have a number of children bringing squishies and Needohs to school. Aside from the risk of them bursting in school, toys can end up getting lost, broken or (sadly) stolen and this always causes upset. If your child needs a focus toy to help them with their learning in class then the school will provide one after consultation with the inclusion manager. Please remind your children to keep their toys at home.
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Premises Update
During the summer break there is always plenty to do to ensure the school is a great learning environment. This summer, we completely refurbished our two reception classes in the summer holiday this year, changing the lights, the flooring and redecorating throughout so that our youngest children had their first day of school in a room that smelt of fresh paint! At the same time, we chose to have a rethink on the furniture that was in these classes and, as part of that, we procured a whole new set of chairs for our newest pupils! These works in our reception classes bring those spaces up to the standard of the nursery class which we improved in a similar way at this point last year. In addition to this, we have been working hard to improve the heating systems as it’s much easier to get this done during the summer holiday than in the winter. We are confident that the Year 6 classes will have much improved heating this winter, which will certainly aid the children’s learning and keep the staff who work in these rooms as warm as everyone else. We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Figueroa, our caretaker, who has gone “above and beyond” the summer holiday to make sure that the children return to a sparkling learning environment. He really is an asset, who exemplifies the Pegasus value of ‘We care’, and we’re lucky to have him. The capital investment made by Pegasus at Atwood since the school joined the Trust now exceeds £400k and the school looks amazing and fit for the future. We hope to have a ‘virtual tour’ on the website soon so that the rest of the community can see inside our wonderful school.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Please check these dates as the list is regularly updated.
Wednesday 30th September: Year 3 Crystal Palace Park trip.
Monday 5th October: Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 7th October: Parents’ Evening
Wednesday 7th October: Year 6 to Natural History Museum.
Friday 16th October – Show Racism the Red Card – Wear Red day
Thursday 22rd October end of half term
Tuesday 3rd November – First day back to school
Thursday 5th November: FOAP Fireworks display
Thursday 5th November: Year 1 Science Museum trip.
Friday 6th November: Magenta Class assembly
Friday 13th November: Indigo Class assembly
Friday 20th November: Cyan Class assembly
Friday 20th November: Year 4 Roman Workshop
Friday 20th November: Year 2 Hampton Court Palace trip
Friday 27th November: Amber Class assembly
Wednesday 2nd December: Year 1 church visit.
Friday 18th December: End of Term
Monday 4th January: Back to school
