What Learning Adventures have we been

on this term?

Term 1 Adventures

We have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming the children back to school this term, particularly our new nursery and reception chil-dren who have settled so well in to school life. As ever, it has been a busy term with lots of fantastic learning going on across the school. The children have been focused, determined and full of enthusiasm and we’re all really looking forward to what term 2 will bring. Nursery Nursery have had a great start to the academic year. We have been so busy learning through play both inside and outside. We have

been developing our sharing , taking turns, working together and being kind to each other skills and become excellent at be-ing Have a go Heroes - having a go at new things. We have also been trying really hard to keep on suc-ceeding becoming Keep It Up Cap-tains. Nursery have experienced ballet, gymnastics, Forest School

and drama too. It has been such a wonderful start.

Discover:Learn:Become

The Adventurer October 2018 ssue: 27 www.stokeparkschools.org.uk

Dragonflies This

term Dragonfly Class have

learnt 'All About Me'. We

have enjoyed learning about

the children's likes and inter-

ests and we have learnt about

how to interact with each

other, showing caring behav-

iour.

The children have done some incredible work, acting out Owl Ba-

bies and learning the story off by heart. The children have learnt a

range of Phase 2 sounds and are practising to segment and blend

them.

We have also studied numbers and shapes and the children

showed their fantastic learning on our school shape hunt. They are

quickly learning their shape names and how many corners and

sides each shape has.

We have loved their

thoughts and ideas

that they have

brought this term

and I look forward

to more super

learning in Term 2.

Keys to success

This term we were fortunate to have a visit from Mrs Maynard’s husband, Lloyd, to talk to us about his job as a barrister. The children were fascinated to hear all about what barris-ters do and asked some really interesting questions. They enjoyed hearing why barristers wear a gown and wig and why they have a pocket on the back of their gowns. Lloyd explained that he felt the key to success was ‘improving’. He encouraged the chil-dren to always try and do better than the day before.

Mr Bailey’s music lessons

Year 6 have been very fortunate this term to receive some music lessons from Mr Bailey, the new head teacher at Trinity Academy. Pu-pils have begun to practice the cornet or trombone and are managing to create a solid sound which they can hold for 4 beats!

These sessions will continue next term.

Welcomes and Goodbyes

This term we are very pleased to have welcomed several new members of staff to our team.

Mrs Daniels—Year 3 class teacher

Miss Hay—Year 4 Teaching Assistant

Mrs Annear—Finance administrator

We’ve also welcomed back Mrs Sage who has returned from maternity leave and said a temporary farewell to Mrs Dennison who is awaiting the arrival of her baby.

In other news….. Healthy Schools We are continuing to work towards becoming a healthier school. Our Healthy School Ambassadors have been working hard coming up with ideas and consulting their peers about changes we can make. We are in the final stages of putting together a food policy, which will be sent out at the beginning of next term. Wake and Shake A huge thank you to all the pupils and parents who have been attending our wake and shake sessions every Monday and Friday before school. They are a great way to get moving and grooving and it has been lovely to see all the children and parents joining in. Next term some of our Year 6’s will be helping Miss Donlan to deliver the sessions. School Council This term, pupils from each class have been writing their applica-tions to become a School Councillor. Each class have voted for who they believe will be best at representing them during the School Council meetings to ensure all pupils have a voice. We will be star-ing on our first project next term. Mobile phones A polite reminder that mobile phones should not be used on the school site, this includes the playground and main entrance. PTA Halloween Disco A big thank you to the PTA for organising another wonderful Hal-loween disco. The children had a blast and all looked fantastic in their costumes.

Hazel Class

Hazel Class have had a brilliant start to the year. As part of our 'Dangerous Dragons' topic, we have been on adventures around the school, looking for the foot-prints and scales of dragons. We also held our own Medieval banquet in the classroom and learnt a Medieval dance routine. Last week we sealed the lid on our topic with an amazing trip to Cardiff Castle. In Maths, we have done a lot of work on place value, which will be a great platform to investigate more number problems as the year continues. We have enjoyed learning to weave in D&T with Mrs Winkworth and investigate rythmn in our Music learning. I have been so impressed with the pieces of work children have brought in from home - suits of armour, flags, facts sheets ... the list goes on! I have also felt very proud of the increasing number of children who have received Good and Oustanding behaviour. Well done Hazel Class - keep up the good work!

Cedar Class

This term Cedar class have been learning about danger-ous dragons. We couldn’t be-lieve it when we had a visit from a dragon in school!

In literacy, we decided to cre-ate ‘how to catch a dragon’ instructions and wrote our own version of the story of St George and the Dragon. Next we travelled back in time to the medieval ag-es. We dressed up as people who would have lived in a castle and found out about their different jobs.

We loved eating food at our medieval banquet. Our trip to Cardiff Castle was a brilliant end to a great topic. We even met a knight who trained us up to become brave dragon fighters.

Sport, Arts and Enrichment News

Gymnastics

Football Year 5 and 6 football club travelled to St Bedes to play in the first of sev-eral tournaments that will take place during the school year. Through-out both games they had a determined and well organised defence that other teams found tough to break down. As a team they showed bril-liant spirit and supported each other. They played two games, losing one and drawing the other, above all they showed lots of potential and were great representatives of the school. Well done to Liam O, Rylee E, Demario, Liam M, Cameron, Rhys, Niyaz, Libby and Leo N J Spanish In our Spanish classes pupils have been enjoying their different topics. Year 3 have learnt to describe hobbies, whether they like them or not, and the days of the week. Year 4 have been working in groups to learn different musical instruments and describing different types of music. Year 5 and 6 have learnt how to give and receive directions and instruc-tions, name locations and look at the differences between Bristol and Toledo on a map. Ballet In ballet, KS1 have been learning to listen to the music and move with the beat, exploring different feelings depending on the tone of the mu-sic

All children throughout the year groups in gymnastics have been focusing on practising their floor skills this term. KS1 have been persisting at balancing and rolling. They have thought about all the different body parts that can be used for balancing. Whereas KS2 have progressed on from rolling to floor skills using apparatus to practise bridges, headstands, handstands and round-offs, using the crashmats, springboards and benches.

Chestnut Class

We have had an exciting half term in year 6. Pupils were given the oppor-tunity to design graffiti tags for the shutters on Gainsborough Square. A lo-cal graffiti company - Graft - taught us how to use the resources and the evolution of graffiti over time. Later in the term, Year 6 were given the unique opportunity to learn brass instruments with Mr Bailey, the headteacher of the new Trinity Academy. Chestnut class have also had visitors run an energy workshop, in which they explored and discussed ways to reduce their impact on the environment. Some pupils even won prizes for coming up with some fabulous energy promises! In maths, we have been studying place value and calculation. We have just started exploring fractions which we will continue in term 2. In literacy, we have been exploring Greek myths and have created our own myths. Year 6 have enjoyed reading and writing about the fascinating but gruesome mythological creatures of Ancient Greece. Enjoy half term, we look forward to seeing you in term 2!

Elm Class

Birch class have had a fantastic start to year 4! We kicked off the year learning all about the Ancient Egyptians where the children learnt about how bod-ies were mummified- the children even made their own canopic jars.

We continued the journey writing stories about the Egyptian Cin-derella and finally wrote a story all about the coming of spring- the children blew me away with these stories! In maths Birch class have done some fantastic work with measure-ment and were particu-larly skilled with their ap-proach to perimeter. Finally, the children have carried out some spectac-ular science experiments and have discovered fea-tures of solids, liquids and gases.

Birch Class

We have had a great first term in Elm Class and the children have certainly shown resilience and hard work during a time of change. In maths, the children have covered place value and learnt new strategies for completing addition and subtraction problems. The children have been working on discussing their thinking and ex-plaining their strategies with their talk partners. In English, the children have been doing lots of writing and skills building. They have written Egyptian stories based on Egyptian Cin-derella, written instructions on how to mummify a body and Spring adventure stories based on the story of Winter’s Child. In topic, the children have learnt all about the Egyptians including about Tutankhamun and why the River Nile was so important. Chil-dren completed various experiments in science including using fiz-zy drinks to weigh gases. All children have been learning new floor skills in gym and enjoying taking part in their chosen clubs on a Wednesday. We all enjoyed a performance by the drama group this week showcasing the play

they have been working on. I have been so impressed with the amount of children who have been re-searching at home and completing homework, they have enjoyed sharing this with the class.

Oak Class

Wow! What a busy Term 1 it has been for Oak Class. In literacy, we have delved deep into Ancient Greek myths, as we have learnt about Theseus and The Minotaur and all about Hercu-les.

In maths, it’s been place value crazy! We have learnt all about num-bers up to 1 million and how to solve multi-step addition and sub-traction problems. In topic, we have created our own Ancient Greek pots, learnt about Ancient Greece vs modern Greece, created our own Olympics and made our own Horiatiki Greek salad (with olives!).

Even though these lessons have been tricky at times, the children have really persevered throughout and I would like to thank you all for your continued determination to succeed. Have a fantastic restful half term Oak Class, see you next term!