Abbey House Museum
To enhance their history learning about old and new toys, Year 2 visited Abbey House Museum. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring life in the past, discovering how things have changed over time and examining historical artefacts.
Walking through the Victorian street was particularly exciting and helped the children imagine what life might have been like long ago.
During a workshop, the class compared toys from the past with modern toys and learned how older toys were often made from very different materials than those used today.
Help at home
Chat to your child about this doll.
What is it made from?
How old is it?
How is it different to a modern doll?
Topic – Trip to Abbey House Museum
Year 1 had a brilliant day out on our school trip. We visited Abbey House Museum as part of our history learning about old toys and we had so much fun exploring and discovering how children played in the past.
We loved walking down the Victorian street, visiting the school room and even stepping inside the jail (don’t worry – no one stayed there!). Dressing up in Victorian clothes was a big hit and helped us imagine what life was like long ago.
We also took part in a fantastic workshop where we saw lots of old toys – some were 200 years old! We even got to play with some of the toys which was really interesting and made us think about how toys have changed over time.
It was a fun-filled day and the children represented St James’ CE Primary impeccably.
Help at home:
Have a chat about toys from the past. Can you look at photos or talk to family members about what toys they played with when they were young? You could even compare an old toy with a modern one and spot what’s the same and what’s different.
Science – thermal insulators
In science, we’ve been testing materials based on their ability to insulate heat. We did this because we received a letter from King Charles asking for a hot cup of tea. We tested three materials: tin foil, fabric and polyester wadding.
During the testing, we worked safely and sensibly, ensuring we recorded results accurately. Once we had completed the testing phase, we presented our results in the form of a line graph.
There were many scientific elements of this lesson that were important to consider: independent, dependent, controlled variables, working safely and ensuring we tested fairly.
Help at home – speak to your child about the experiment they carried out. Can they tell you which variable was the independent/dependent/controlled variable? What did they find? Can you replicate the experiment at home?
Writing – battling those Rotten Romans … a gruesome recount!
We’ve loved writing our recounts of our battle against the Romans on the Chromebooks. Hopefully you enjoyed reading them when the children brought a copy home on Friday.
It was great for the children to be able to edit their writing further when writing on the Chromebooks. The joy that filled the classroom when the children found out they would be typing their recounts was palpable.
As well as editing our writing, the Chromebooks helped us to fix spelling mistakes and we learned how to write a capital letter using the shift key and move down a line by pressing the enter key.
There was a glow of teamwork as children helped each other out and a huge sense of pride as their recounts flew off the printer.
Dinosaur Roar
We’ve enjoyed listening to ‘Dinosaur Roar’ during our story times in Nursery this week. We talked about the different parts of a book, including the front and back cover, the title and blurb.
“Dinosaur weak, dinosaur strong, dinosaur short or dinosaur very, very long”
We looked at the illustrations and talked about the meaning of the different words in the story. We also used our funky fingers to cut some dinosaurs out and stick them to our class story map. We will use next week as we continue our learning using this story.
We’ve also played lots of Dinosaur Bingo taking turns and using our great looking skills to spot and match the dinosaurs.
Help at home
Independence is an important skill for all of the children in Nursery. Being able to put on their coat, fasten it and go outside is a significant achievement. We support the children to do this independently at Nursery. Practicing these skills at home, maybe on a weekend when you have a little more time, will support the children’s development considerably.
Attendance, Reading Records and Packed Lunches
A quick snapshot of some big wins and quick prompts for Year 5…
I want to express how pleased I am with Year 5’s attendance over the last few weeks. A massive well done to everyone for arriving to school at the correct time – we even managed to win the school attendance award last week!
A reminder for reading records…
Year 5 weekly reading record checks have been high in quantity on average this year. This is just a quick reminder to keep bringing them in once per week, signed by an adult. The children are doing really well with their home tasks and it really helps us out at school (e.g. finding new vocabulary for our writing). Well done to those who always bring in their reading records – I love seeing them!
Packed Lunches
I have noticed a few packed lunches (and playtime snacks) that don’t follow our packed lunch policies. I appreciate that children have specific likes to foods and drinks, so I’ve attached the packed lunch guidance below to help mix and match lots of food groups. Please make sure that children have water in their water bottles.
Thanks everyone for your continued support.
A Visit From Reverend Peat
This half term, we have been doing some RE (Religious Education) learning on Monday afternoons.
Our topic is all about special places. We have been thinking about why a church might be special and who it might be special for.
To help us, Reverend Peat came in to speak to us about what happens inside a church. He started by helping us think about how a church might be different from our homes. We then looked at different features of a church and really enjoyed the photos of the stained glass windows. 
We really enjoyed Reverend Peat’s visit. We asked some questions and told him things we knew about church.
I know that Jesus died on a cross and there are crosses in churches. Layla
Why do you ring the bell? J
I can hear the bell ring from my house. Blossom
Is it nice inside the church? Oria
Help at home: Can your child talk about their special place? They might like to draw or make their special place as we would love to see this!
Mouse trap
Year 2 had a fantastic time in their PE session, practising key fundamental movement skills through a fun and active game of Mouse Trap. Working in groups of three, the children collaborated to trap the ball between two players, experimenting with different-sized balls and negotiating space safely and sensibly. They showed great creativity by suggesting and trying out their own adaptations to the game. The session ended with lots of excitement as the whole class joined together for a giant Mouse Trap, showcasing teamwork, coordination and enthusiasm throughout.
Help at home:
Next week, is our visit to Abbey house. The children have been watching this video in our topic lesson to familiarise themselves with what to expect.
What are you most looking forward to seeing at Abbey house?
Reading records
It has been great to see that children are reading at home with an adult and having their reading records signed. Some of the work completed in reading records is fantastic! Children have been really creative and have been completing pieces based on the work we have been doing in class; demonstrating their enjoyment of the texts covered in school.
Here are some examples of work completed in reading records over the last two weeks:
Help at home – please aim to hear your child read at home on a weekly basis.
Fruit Salads in Food Tech
Today, Year 2 made delicious fruit salads in Food Technology. We practised washing fruit, using knives safely and keeping our fingers safe with the claw grip. We worked carefully and followed instructions well.
It was great to see the class enjoying their hard work, yum!
At home, children can help by washing fruit, mixing ingredients, or helping to make a healthy snack with an adult.