Atwood Newsletter 26th September 2025

It has been a busy week with a special author visit and our lovely new library to celebrate.

In Nursery the children have been reading ‘Owl Babies’ and learning about where owls lie. You can read more here:

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atw-nursery-news-26th-september

In Reception, the children have been sharing all about their families along side lots of other new adventures. You can read more here:

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/eyfs/atw-reception-news-so-much-families-and-the-composition-of-numbers

This week, Year 1 were excited to begin their reading cafe and welcomed many parents and carers in to read with the children. It was a great success and they can’t wait until their next session. Make sure you add Tuesday 7th October to your diary! During English lessons, the children started a new book called ‘I Want My Hat Back’. In their first lesson, the children discovered a mystery object and used adjectives to help work out what it was. It was a hat! They also had a go at making their own red hat. This week, the children also learnt many different words for happy, sad and cross and then used these words in their role play. In maths, the children used a variety of objects to count on and find one more of a number. They also used these resources to count back. During science, the children labelled a diagram of the body and discussed the role of these body parts. In geography, the children extended their learning about human and physical features by identifying examples in Sanderstead. Did you know the school is a human feature?

This week in Year 2 children have been retelling the story of the Lonely Beast. In Science they have been thinking about a healthy balanced diet and the children designed their own balanced meal. In Thematic they were learning about Henry VIII’s six wives.

This week, Year 3 have been continuing to read ‘The Boy who grew Dragons’ and they even tasted some dragon fruit, which felt like kiwi because of the seeds and tasted a little sweet. The children have also started their learning in English on Dinosaurs, working to creating a non-chronological report following instructions to mould dinosaurs out of clay. It was such fun! The children have also been practising using possessive apostrophes in English and learning about categorising animals as herbivores, omnivores and carnivores learning some new exciting terminology such as carnassial to describe and identify the features of these animals! In maths they have continued to work on place value to 1,000 adding and subtracting 100!

This week, Year 4 have retold the legend of Romulus and Remus telling us how it is believed that Rome first came about. They have also compared landmarks in London and Rome and identified why the Romans decided to make London the capital city of Britain! The children then went even further back in time and looked at the playscript of ‘Tyrannosaurus Drip’, identifying features of a playscript and using prosody and a variety of voices to make the characters seem as realistic as possible!

In Year 5, in RE the children have been studying Sikhism and learning how Sikhs care for their world in preparation for their visit to the Croydon Gurdwara next month. In Maths, the children have been learning addition with exchanging. In English, they role played a dramatic scene from the book ‘There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom’ to support them writing a narrative to include relative clauses and accurately punctuated speech. In whole class reading the children have been studying ‘Black in Time’. The children have been learning about some incredible Black Britons from yesterday to today. The children learnt about Sislin Fay Allen – Britain’s first black female police officer who began work at Fell Road police station in Croydon in 1968! The children also had a workshop with Susannah Lloyd where it was discovered Mrs Weir is probably a badger-operated human!

This week, Year 6 have been getting their first taste of SATs. The children have spent the week working their way through some practice papers so that they can get a feel of what they will be doing at the end of the year. This also serves as a valuable opportunity for the teachers to identify areas of strength and other things that need working n. All in all, the children have given a very good account of themselves showing excellent focus and application.

The New Library

On Tuesday, we opened our newly refurbished library with the help of visiting author Susannah Lloyd. You can read more about the day here:

https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/news/atwood-library-grand-opening

A Plea from Reception

Reception are requesting any donations of plastic play food items to enhance their outdoor roleplay area? We would like plastic food, plastic cutlery/utensils and bowls/plates/cups etc. Please could donations be dropped into the school office or directly into Reception. Thank you.

Sports News

This week, our girls’ football team played their first matches. In a tough double header, the girls worked extremely hard against a very good Forestdale team. Despite their best efforts, the girls lost the first game and the second game 2-0 Nevertheless, given that for many of the girls this was their first ever match they did a great job and we are proud of them.

Appreciate your Teaching Assistants

Today is National Teaching Assistants’ Day. This is a day to raise awareness of the important work that teaching assistants do in school and to acknowledge the contribution they make to great learning every day. At Atwood, we know that we are lucky to have a dedicated and talented group of teaching assistants in our school. Every day, we see countless examples of teaching assistants going the extra mile for the children at Atwood. They are always there for the with a kind word skillfully supporting and encouraging children to achieve success in their learning. For all their work, we are truly grateful.

https://www.nationalteachingassistantsday.co.uk/