Dear Parents and Carers, 04/03/2021
Happy World Book Day! I hope you all find time to do some reading for pleasure today. World Book Day vouchers will be sent home with the children on Monday and can be redeemed for one of the following books:
We are so looking forward to welcoming everybody back to school on Monday. Do please check the drop-off and pick-up information sent out on Monday and subsequent information sent out by teachers or key stage leaders about what your child/ren should bring with them.
School Street
Please remember that you will not be able to drive into Carrington Road at drop-off or pick-up times from Monday. Do contact the school office if you feel you can help with the barrier at the end of Carrington Road to ensure that the safe and happy environment that the school street status brought last term is maintained. Some wonderful and dedicated volunteers previously put out and monitored the barrier but due to work commitments, not all will be in a position to continue so we do urgently need some new volunteers.
Asymptomatic Lateral Flow Tests You may have heard in the news that households, childcare and support bubbles of pupils are able to access twice-weekly asymptomatic lateral flow tests. Whilst this is correct, they cannot be accessed through school but can be accessed:
- through your employer if they offer testing to employees
- at a local test site
- by collecting a home test kit from a test site
- by ordering a home test kit online
All home test-kit results need to be reported to NHS Test and Trace.
ECOSIA – Plant trees whilst you search the web
Ecosia is a web browser, like Google, that uses advertising revenue from your searches to plant trees where they are needed the most around the world. This is such an easy way to support our planet – please have a look, try it and spread the word!
See some of the lovely learning that the children have been doing over the last week…………
Nursery
Rainbow class made a healthy vegetable stir-fry to end their topic of ‘Chinese New Year’ – here is Nola preparing her stir-fry which her whole family enjoyed, alongside her wishes for her Chinese wishing tree and her mark making. Alex carefully chopped his vegetables at home and the children in Nursery worked together to chop and peel their vegetables too. The children sat together to try their stir-fry and said it was “yummy!” In Phonics, the children have moved onto oral blending and segmenting and played ‘I spy’ sounding out different objects from around the Nursery and home. They had to listen carefully and blend the sounds together to see what word it was. Here is Sammy with a fantastic selection of different things that he had spied from around his home. The new topic in Nursery is “Amazing Author’s” with this week’s focus being Rod Campbell and his story ‘Dear Zoo’. The children had lots of fun creating the different animals from the story – here are Alex and Himari’s wonderful representation of the Lion.
Reception
Giraffes and Zebras have had another busy week! Beth and Hania have been finding pairs of objects everywhere and Ching Yeung has been using his ten frames to combine two groups and make altogether totals. Emilia made unleavened bread as the children learned about the Last Supper and our Rainbow Challenges this week had a Welsh feel, in celebration of St David’s day. Alfie made welsh cakes and Haya designed and made a daffodil. Jay and Christos created fantastic vegetable print art when learning all about underground vegetables and Grace and Sinai did some amazing writing based on, ‘The Giant Turnip.’
Pandas
Ellie and Anthony’s favourite book characters and Anthony and Isaac’s animal collages. Iris, Atticus and Isaac’s posters about mammals.
Penguins
Penguin class have enjoyed building characters for their myths this week. Noah made an amazing Minotaur out of Lego whilst Ved drew detailed characters and painted a setting. We learnt about twisting with a rubber band when tie-dyeing, Gideon made beautiful examples by selecting great colours.
Dolphins
Year 2 have been learning about Greek Myths. The children rewrote the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and had great fun making their own Myths – designing the set, creating the characters and they will be filming their stories. In art, they learnt how to tie-dye. Here are some lovely examples of our learning from Casper, Aiden, James, Lucas, Maya and Amelia.
Kestrels
Violet and Jack used persuasive language to advertise ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ in their great film trailers.
Eagles and Owls
Year 5 have been busy creating Greek mythical creatures, comparing Athens to Sparta, researching scientists and creating art inspired by Mondrian.
Seals
In art, year 6 looked at Anime and created their own artwork – here are Alice and Liva’s pieces of work. In English, Year 6 have been looking at the characters Bilbo (illustration by Jude) and Smaug. Science – Year 6 researched how plants adapt to their environment – here are Amy, Chaise, Grace, Mia and Nahla’s pieces of research.
Otters
Samuel and Ethan’s science and Allegra and Alexa’s RE.
Values Champions
Giraffes: Toby and Melody for showing the value of community by always passing on their smiles and enthusiasm to encourage their friends.
Zebras: Gabriel and Kathryn for showing the value of community by always smiling online and cheering their friends up.
Koalas: Izzy and Sonny have both shown the value of aspiration through their outstanding effort in phonics and having a positive attitude towards learning.
Pandas: Ellie for showing the value of aspiration in all of her school work; her science and PSHE posters in particular, have been delightful and full of good ideas. Also, Oliver and Ava for showing the value of community in working collaboratively and being cheerful members of the class.
Penguins: Hugo for showing the value of aspiration by being ambitious with his learning and working efficiently at home. Tallulah for showing the value of aspiration by being creative with her English and putting so much effort into her learning.
Dolphins: Kayson for showing the value of aspiration – he has contributed well during class meets, focusing and answering questions from which all can benefit and completing some lovely work in all subjects. Leon, also for showing the value of aspiration by working consistently well whilst being at home and producing beautiful work showing care and pride in his learning.
Lions: Paddy for showing the value of aspiration, showing perseverance with his skipping challenge and working to improve and get better. Sophia for showing the value of community, taking responsibility for her learning and asking useful questions when she is not sure about something.
Leopards: Sophia R for demonstrating the value of community by respectful listening to the ideas of others and Alfie for showing the value of aspiration by showing great perseverance with all his school work.
Falcons: Isla R for showing the value of aspiration by working extremely hard on her fraction work and completing the whole worksheet during Wednesday’s lesson and Luka A for showing the value of community by showing excellent communication skills during online lessons. The class always love listening to him describe his dinosaur of the day.
Kestrels: Rose for showing the value of aspiration by demonstrating perseverance and courage when completing Grammar work on Tuesday and Dexter for also showing the value of aspiration by being resilient when completing his work at home and always being willing to share his work with the class.
Owls: Sammy for showing the value of aspiration by trying hard and pushing himself with his online learning and choice of reading material. Juliette for showing the value of community by being a good team player and considering others.
Eagles: Caitlin for showing the value of aspiration by persevering with her home learning, especially maths and Dayana for showing the value of aspiration by persevering with her home learning and working hard in every subject.
Seals: Grace for showing the value of aspiration by consistently putting a lot of effort into her learning and producing high-level pieces of work. Jude for showing the value of aspiration by focussing on his learning and being motivated and enthusiastic to learn.
Otters: Allegra for showing the value of aspiration by demonstrating a very mature attitude to her learning throughout lockdown and the value of community by encouraging others through sharing positive and uplifting messages on the stream. Samuel also for showing the value of aspiration by trying hard with his work, especially in science this week.
Easter Workshops
English as an additional language (EAL).
Richmond College have set up sessions for EAL parents and carers of pre-school and KS1 children looking at how to support children’s learning of English at school. The sessions are run by a former primary deputy head and are free to enrol onto for Richmond residents by clicking onto the website:
https://www.rhacc.ac.uk/course/support-your-pre-school-and-key-stage-1-child-english-lbrut
They also have courses for parents of KS2, 3 and 4 pupils
Online poetry activity for children and families
Orleans House Gallery and the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust have worked with poet Adam Kammerling to create an art and poetry activity for families to complete at home. Visit our website and either watch the videos or follow the written walkthrough to design your own grotto and lots of things to go in it, before turning these ideas into a simple poem.
Dolphins
Year 2 have been learning about Greek Myths. The children rewrote the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and had great fun making their own Myths – designing the set, creating the characters and they will be filming their stories. In art, they learnt how to tie-dye. Here are some lovely examples of our learning from Casper, Aiden, James, Lucas, Maya and Amelia.
Kestrels
Violet and Jack used persuasive language to advertise ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ in their great film trailers.
Eagles and Owls
Year 5 have been busy creating Greek mythical creatures, comparing Athens to Sparta, researching scientists and creating art inspired by Mondrian.
Seals
In art, year 6 looked at Anime and created their own artwork – here are Alice and Liva’s pieces of work. In English, Year 6 have been looking at the characters Bilbo (illustration by Jude) and Smaug. Science – Year 6 researched how plants adapt to their environment – here are Amy, Chaise, Grace, Mia and Nahla’s pieces of research.
Otters
Samuel and Ethan’s science and Allegra and Alexa’s RE.
Values Champions
Giraffes: Toby and Melody for showing the value of community by always passing on their smiles and enthusiasm to encourage their friends.
Zebras: Gabriel and Kathryn for showing the value of community by always smiling online and cheering their friends up.
Koalas: Izzy and Sonny have both shown the value of aspiration through their outstanding effort in phonics and having a positive attitude towards learning.
Pandas: Ellie for showing the value of aspiration in all of her school work; her science and PSHE posters in particular, have been delightful and full of good ideas. Also, Oliver and Ava for showing the value of community in working collaboratively and being cheerful members of the class.
Penguins: Hugo for showing the value of aspiration by being ambitious with his learning and working efficiently at home. Tallulah for showing the value of aspiration by being creative with her English and putting so much effort into her learning.
Dolphins: Kayson for showing the value of aspiration – he has contributed well during class meets, focusing and answering questions from which all can benefit and completing some lovely work in all subjects. Leon, also for showing the value of aspiration by working consistently well whilst being at home and producing beautiful work showing care and pride in his learning.
Lions: Paddy for showing the value of aspiration, showing perseverance with his skipping challenge and working to improve and get better. Sophia for showing the value of community, taking responsibility for her learning and asking useful questions when she is not sure about something.
Leopards: Sophia R for demonstrating the value of community by respectful listening to the ideas of others and Alfie for showing the value of aspiration by showing great perseverance with all his school work.
Falcons: Isla R for showing the value of aspiration by working extremely hard on her fraction work and completing the whole worksheet during Wednesday’s lesson and Luka A for showing the value of community by showing excellent communication skills during online lessons. The class always love listening to him describe his dinosaur of the day.
Kestrels: Rose for showing the value of aspiration by demonstrating perseverance and courage when completing Grammar work on Tuesday and Dexter for also showing the value of aspiration by being resilient when completing his work at home and always being willing to share his work with the class.
Owls: Sammy for showing the value of aspiration by trying hard and pushing himself with his online learning and choice of reading material. Juliette for showing the value of community by being a good team player and considering others.
Eagles: Caitlin for showing the value of aspiration by persevering with her home learning, especially maths and Dayana for showing the value of aspiration by persevering with her home learning and working hard in every subject.
Seals: Grace for showing the value of aspiration by consistently putting a lot of effort into her learning and producing high-level pieces of work. Jude for showing the value of aspiration by focussing on his learning and being motivated and enthusiastic to learn.
Otters: Allegra for showing the value of aspiration by demonstrating a very mature attitude to her learning throughout lockdown and the value of community by encouraging others through sharing positive and uplifting messages on the stream. Samuel also for showing the value of aspiration by trying hard with his work, especially in science this week.
Easter Workshops
English as an additional language (EAL).
Richmond College have set up sessions for EAL parents and carers of pre-school and KS1 children looking at how to support children’s learning of English at school. The sessions are run by a former primary deputy head and are free to enrol onto for Richmond residents by clicking onto the website:
https://www.rhacc.ac.uk/course/support-your-pre-school-and-key-stage-1-child-english-lbrut
They also have courses for parents of KS2, 3 and 4 pupils
Online poetry activity for children and families
Orleans House Gallery and the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust have worked with poet Adam Kammerling to create an art and poetry activity for families to complete at home. Visit our website and either watch the videos or follow the written walkthrough to design your own grotto and lots of things to go in it, before turning these ideas into a simple poem.