At Britannica we believe that it is really important to give our children exciting and interesting learning experiences. Children should have the opportunity to share what they want to find out, be able to lead on their learning and have be able to apply their knowledge to the world around them.

This has been a particular focus in Maths for Year 6 as they contextualise their learning and apply what they have learnt to real-life contexts. This was evident in the lead up to Pi Day when the children tackled problems published by NASA in their series called “Pi in the Sky”. Year 6 were excited to learn about our universe and some of the calculations that they were capable of doing. While these questions seemed initially quite complex, we deconstructed what the question was asking us and found that we had all the required formulae and know-how. These activities gave them a deeper appreciation of how Pi is used for interstellar calculations.

Using and applying our learning and knowledge to real-life situation is also evident in our other Primary year groups: Year 1 Science lessons have seen the children continuing to log the growth of their bean plant, and identifying and comparing various wild flowers picked from the local area. Whilst in art the children learnt about shading and line drawing techniques to help them to draw the wild flowers.

Year 2 have also been considering the world around us and as part of their Science learning identified and classified litter into recycling groups based on their materials. They also explored how important recycling can be in caring for and restoring our planet during Earth Day on Thursday. In Art, they used oil pastels and coloured pencils to recreate artwork containing insects; focusing carefully on adding lots of detail.

Year 3 have taken a look back to prehistoric Britain and the Ice Age and learned why scientists believe the Ice Age happened and the impacts that it had on animals and the earth at that time. They have also spent time explaining how we know about the Stone Age by examining different artifacts.

Year 4 have started their learning about sustainability and have investigated what things affect the sustainability of our planet. They have also been studying Slam Poetry in English and researching different topics that they can write and perform a poem about.

Meanwhile, Year 5 have been eagerly sharing with each other what they want to find out about in their new Science topic – Living Things and Their Habitats, and already begun to research some of these areas.

Wishing you a restful weekend.

Katherine Mustoe

Vice-Principal and Head of Primary

KS1

KS2