This week has been packed full of excitement with numerous trips, visits and even an overnight camp!
The Nursery children have been thinking scientifically when playing with water this week.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atw-nursery-news-3rd-july
In Reception, the children have been exploring minibeasts.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-reception-news-superworm-butterflies-and-froglets
This week, Year 1 have been working on fractions in maths. They folded circles, rectangles and squares in order to find a quarter of them. They then shared different quantities of cubes in order to find a quarter. In English they finished researching lion facts and made posters to share their favourite lion facts. In DT, Year One tasted a variety of fruits grown in the UK and Africa in preparation for their cooking project next week. They then picked one, two or three of these fruits and designed what their fruit topping would look like on their pancakes. At the end of the week Violet Class shared their Africa learning with their parents and the rest of the school in their class assembly.
Year 2 had an exciting visit this week for their seaside workshop. They learnt all about what seasides looked like in the past and the sort of pastimes that entertained people when visiting the seaside. The children also began retelling their own versions of their new book, The Secret of Black Rock. In their thematic lessons, the children made their own sea creature sculptures after drawing what they thought they would look like. Such a fun and busy week!
It has been a busy and exciting week for Year 3. The week kicked off with a fantastic trip to RHS Wisley on Monday, where the children brought their science learning to life by exploring seed dispersal, planting their own rainbow chard seeds, and sketching intricate cacti while identifying the key plant parts needed for photosynthesis and pollination. They also learnt about the world’s largest and tallest trees, working together to form giant human circles to represent their massive size. Back in the classroom, the pupils dived into English by drafting dramatic diary entries from the perspective of Edward Tulane, using powerful descriptive vocabulary to capture the terror of the awful storm on his adventure. Meanwhile, in maths, they continued to master the topic of length, showing great resilience as they added and subtracted measurement values using the expanded column method.
This week, Year 4 have started a new book, ‘The Boy at the back of the Class’ by Onjali Rauf. They have been looking at using fronted adverbials in their writing and in maths the children have learning to plot and read points on a coordinate grid. However, the highlight of the week has been the exciting build up to Camp Atwood. Some children have been learning to put up tents and tonight the children will stay on the field. There is much excitement so let’s hope that the children manage to get some sleep.
This week, Year 5 have been finalising their news reports based on our High-Rise Mystery book. In maths, the children have continued their work on measurements and have started looking at capacity. In science the children have dissected a flower to understand the reproductive parts of a flowering plant. The children had a wonderful day on Thursday when they visited the Tower of London. The children got to see real-life beefeaters, ravens and the infamous ‘traitor’s gate’. We had a tour from Lady Katherine Grey herself who was extremely impressed with our knowledge.
Year 6 have been rehearsing for their upcoming production. The final touches are being added to props and staging and the songs are being polished ready for the show. The children have also been out visiting their secondary schools for induction days this week. If you’d like to read more about their recent trip to the Isle of Wight you can visit here.
https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atw-school-journey
Staffing for 2026
At this time of year, we always have to say goodbye to a few members of staff and look forward to welcoming new people to our Atwood community. This year we say goodbye to Ms Docherty, Ms Newton, Miss Goodey. Miss Docherty is leaving to pursue her dream job as an Inclusion Manager in another school. However, we are delighted that she is going to still be doing one day a week at Atwood. Ms Newton is leaving teaching to follow her passion for editing and publishing. Miss Goodey is relocating to Essex where she has bought a house with her fiancée. We are thankful to all of them for their service to Atwood and we wish them all the best in their new roles.
We are pleased that, following a successful recruitment process, we have been able to secure the services of a number of experienced teachers. We have Ms Rolfe joining us from Whitehorse Infants where she has been working for the trust for the past 10 years. We are joined by Miss Richardson who has spent the last four year working for the trust at Cypress Upper School. We are also pleased to have employed two experienced early years teachers to work in our Nursery and Reception classes. Miss Fernandez will lead our expanding nursery and Mrs Curniffe will join our Reception team as our Early Years Lead.
All classes and teachers will be announced when the reports are sent out next Friday, as usual.
Friends of Sanderstead Library Time Capsule
During the summer, the friends of Sanderstead Residents Association are installing a sundial near the pond in Sanderstead to celebrate 100 years of the association. They are planning to bury a time capsule under the sundial and are asking local school children for contributions that may be included. The children are invited to submit a small piece of writing or maybe some pictures that describe what their life is like in2026 and what they think their world might be like in the future. We will share these with the Residents’ Association and they will chose some suitable pieces to be buried in the time capsule. Submissions will need to be with us by Friday 10th July.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Tuesday 7th / Wednesday 8th July: Year 6 Production
Friday 10th July: Atwood Invitational swimming gala
Friday 17th July: Year 6 Leavers’ assembly
Friday 17th July: Last day of term
