It has been wonderful to see the EYFS children enjoying and participating in the weekly challenges the lasts few weeks. The challenges have included making scrambled eggs, reading a book in a funny place and yoga poses. But this week’s building a tower taller than you has proven to be very popular. I have loved seeing the imagination and resourcefulness that has been used to build the towers.

Pre-Nursery

This week we have conclude our topic 'On the Farm' by learning all about scarecrows and what vegetables grow on the farm. Through the fun interactive rhyme 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' we explored how scarecrows look after the crops farmers grow by scaring away the birds. By learning the rhyme 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' Pre-Nursery have used large body movements to the chorus along with actions during the verses. Along with learning the rhyme, the children have had the opportunity to make scarecrows, naming body parts we know have fun developing motor skills by digging and pulling up vegetables from the soil.

Nursery

This week in Nursery we have finished off our ‘Minibeast’ topic. We read a story about a slug that wanted to be a snail and from this we created some brilliant snail inspired art as well as learning a new snail poem.

Nursery enjoyed learning about different habitats and have been happily commenting on all the different places they have seen minibeasts.

A fantastic week of learning for Nursery

Reception

It was the final week learning about Under the Sea this week, so we decided to be scientists for the afternoon and conduct our own sink or float experiment. The children loved this and were fully engaged throughout the activity. We really enjoyed seeing their photos and videos of their own experiments. During our PSHE lesson this week, we read the story Inside Outside which is incredibly relevant to us right now and talked about our feelings during the current situation. We loved hearing about what have been everyone’s favourite activities to do at home.

We have finished Phase 3 tricky words, so we had a tricky word review this week and enjoyed making our own sentences. We also learnt to new digraphs ‘ng’ and ‘ai’. We reviewed the Phase 3 sounds and continue to practice reading and writing short words with the new sounds.

We had a revision week in Maths where we spent one day on each topic that we have covered so far this term. We reviewed 2D and 3D shapes, addition, and subtraction. The children enjoyed playing the online games and completing the activities. They went on a shape hunt, used their binoculars to identify the correct shape and played ‘I Spy addition’.

Even while we are still online learning from home this hasn’t stopped our Topic and Humanities lessons exploring different areas, time periods and much more!

Year 1 have been travelling around the United Kingdom in their Topic lessons; developing their map reading skills as they locate various rivers and seas as well as begin to build castles for the Queen! Year 2 have been exploring human and physical features of coastal areas and expanding their vocabulary as they investigate different features and have even started research projects as they compare different coastal areas.

In Key Stage Two, Year 3 have been learning about the Ancient Egyptians; researching artefacts, finding out about the River Nile, intriguing information about the Pharaohs and writing in hieroglyphics! Year 4 have explored various sources of renewable energy and how it can help the planet become more sustainable. This week the children designed and created their own solar powered ovens with some amazing results!

Meanwhile, Year 5 continuing the theme of sustainability have been learning about eco-tourism and created their own eco-resorts as well as found out what it means to be ‘fair-trade’. Lastly, Year 6 are currently busy working on their Trade and Economics projects creating a world map to highlight a country of their choosing and their trade partners - mapping out the imports and exports of their chosen country.

Year 7 have been busy learning about and investigating all things about electrical circuits. Over the past few weeks they have learned about current and potential differential difference in series and parallel circuits and most recently about Ohms law. The children have mastered using a simulator which has enabled them to complete independent investigations.

Year 8 students have been focusing on ecology. They have covered a variety of topics ranging from leaf structure and photosynthesis to food chains and predator-prey relationships. It has been great to see high levels of engagement with the work.

After completing their unit on Metals and Reactivity, Year 9 have been consolidating their knowledge of Acids, Bases and Solutions. The diligence of completing E-Learning work by the students has been outstanding. To complete their current topic, the students were tasked with a project to outline the different separation techniques which are using in a Science laboratory. In groups, the students produced two excellent and professional looking PowerPoints. Well done!

Year 10 Biology students have been learning about the transport system in mammals, studying the components of blood and how the body defends itself from pathogens. In Chemistry, students have been working hard on Organic Chemistry by naming and drawing the structures of molecular compounds whilst also identifying which functional group they belong to.

Year 11 and A-Level students have been working diligently to prepare for their iGCSE and A-Level Portfolio of Evidence. We know how hard you have all prepared for these and we are so proud of you all. Your maturity, dedication and perseverance to your studies are to be commemorated.

We wish you all the best of luck and hope you are looking forward to the next stages of your learning journey.