The nursery children have thoroughly enjoyed and experienced an action-packed learning about the rainforest this term.

Firstly, the children are thrilled about the progress their plants have made and are all ready to go home with them this week. Their hard work has paid off.

Next, the news update on our five caterpillars!

We have kept a close eye on them, four out of five caterpillars made it through to the next stage of changing into cocoons last week. This week has been super exciting for us all, as we are delighted to witness the final four make it through to the last stage of turning into beautiful butterflies.

The children were very keen to name the butterflies before saying their final farewell, as they were released into the nursery garden on Wednesday. Keep a look out for our four butterflies, Gabby, Raisin, Polly and Rex in your garden.

Lastly, the RWI phonic sessions continue to be a success. Children will take work sheets to practise their letter formation at home. Please continue to support your child. Thank you!

We have had a truly magical half term in Reception, filled with scientific wonders, fantastic storytelling, and some very proud mathematical moments.

The absolute highlight of our week was witnessing the final stage of our science project. After weeks of careful observation, we watched our class caterpillars successfully transform into beautiful butterflies! On Friday, we took them outside for a special release. There were plenty of gasps and smiles as we watched them flap their wings and fly away to their new homes.

In our writing sessions, the children have channelled this excitement into writing about the life cycle of a butterfly from egg to adult. The children have also written independent captions to describe different jungle animals. Our reading has explored the deep, vibrant rainforest through the brilliant rhymes of Rumble in the Jungle and learned all about patience from Eric Carle’s Slowly, Slowly, Slowly, said the Sloth. We also revisited the classic traditional tale The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

The children loved acting out the story, using their engineering skills to build bridges in the construction area, and practising their loudest “Trip-trap, trip-trap!” footsteps.

In Maths, we have been working hard on our mental fluency and part-part-whole relationships. The children have been using double-sided counters and tens frames to master their number bonds to 5 and challenge themselves with number bonds to 10. We have been practicing spotting pairs that make a whole, recognising that if we have 7, we need 3 more to make 10, or if we have 4, we just need 1 more to make 5.

Year 1 has worked very hard this half term.

In RE we have been learning about Humanism and the great values within it. Our Science lessons have been focusing on the different types of trees and learning the difference between Wild and Garden flowers. In RWI the children have been practising their phonic sounds in preparation for their upcoming Phonics Screening .

To finish off the term, they have drawn and then painted a self portrait then decorated it using mixed media.

Year 2 had a wonderful visit to the beach, albeit a bit wet in the afternoon!

They made some fabulous stone art in the style of Jon Foreman and sand sculptures. Their behaviour was impeccable. In RE we have been looking at Humanism and learning about The Golden Rule and thinking about how this applies to a Humanists everyday life.

In Science the children have been learning about Earth and Space. We have explored how shadows are made, facts about planet Earth and the Sun.

This half term in Year 3 we have been writing about our last reading book, Toro Toro.

We have thoroughly enjoyed learning about Spanish culture, due to the book being set in Spain. We have also tackled our Maths lit and lang. We had a trick problem that involved needing to get multiple people across a river safely…but there were a few rules we had to follow in order to get across.

We are currently enjoying art week and drawing our portraits. Year 3 have really given it a go and we are proud of the effort they have put into, not only art, but this whole half term! Well done everyone!

Our Year 3/4 pupils have been tackling the Four-Colour Cube Challenge, inspired by Erno Rubik.

This task combined Maths Literacy with logical thinking as students worked to build a large cube where every face displayed four different colours. Throughout the challenge, the children developed step-by-step methods to place each red, blue, green, and yellow cube correctly.

They showed perseverance; when a face had two of the same colour, they didn’t give up—they adjusted their strategy and tried again! Well done Year 3/4!

We have had an incredibly busy few weeks in Year 5!

In RE, our thinkers have been exploring Humanism, diving into how people can lead happy, moral, and meaningful lives based on reason and empathy.

Meanwhile, our young scientists have turned into biologists, investigating the fascinating world of living things. We’ve been looking at how different organisms are classified and how organisms adapt to their environment.

Finally, we’ve been stretching our brains in maths by mastering the art of conversion. The children have become absolute pros at switching between different units of measure, confidently swapping kilometres to metres and minutes to seconds . We are so proud of their hard work and curiosity—keep it up, Year 5!

If there are any pupils who have not yet registered for residential next academic year and are interested please do so as soon as possible, any questions please speak with Keiana.

This term has been very busy for year 6!

Pupils have worked incredibly hard revising for their SATs exams and have done an incredible job. Pupils were so focussed during their tests and gave 100% effort. After SATs we were able to celebrate the pupils successes, by having a morning filled with inflatables! The children had an incredible time. Next term is a very busy term in year 6 including high school transition activities and production practices.

Amazing work this term year 6!

The children in SEU 1 have had a truly wonderful and action-packed term!

We kicked off our achievements with the Mini London Marathon, and the children absolutely loved participating! Whether running or walking around the course on the school grounds, their enthusiasm was unmatched—most of them were so keen that they completed more than one lap!

In Shared Reading, our classrooms have been filled with wonder as the children were absolutely captivated by stories like The Smartest Giant in Town, Rumble in the Jungle, Slowly, Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth, and Horton Hears a Who.

We’ve also been busy mathematicians! Some of our children have been mastering their numbers to 20, while our Year 2s have been diving into the world of graphs.

Finally, Art Week was a massive highlight. The children poured so much effort and focus into creating beautiful portraits. It was wonderful to see such high levels of engagement and determination from everyone.

Well done, SEU 1!

Our wonderful SEU2 children have been deeply engaged in our sensory shared stories recently, exploring the vibrant worlds of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Monkey Puzzle.

In creative arts, they have been experimenting with a wide variety of materials and textures to bring these stories to life, creating their very own textured monkeys and goats. This has been enhanced by sensory messy play incorporating both wet and dry textures alongside beautiful scents, encouraging the children to explore the world around them using their senses of touch and smell.

Alongside these creative explorations, we are incredibly proud of the daily communication progress the children are making. During playdough sessions, they have been using their communication coreboards to build on their requesting skills, we are supporting children in asking for “more” and “open,” as well as choosing different “colours.”

Speech and Language Therapy targets have also been seamlessly integrated into our continuous provision, ensuring learning happens naturally through play, while both staff and children have thoroughly enjoyed engaging in daily Intensive Interaction sessions to build deep connections and meaningful communication skills.

The children in SEU3 have had a fantastic three weeks working on their personalised sensory diets, which are greatly supporting their emotional regulation.

Alongside this, we have been practicing crucial fine motor skills, showing massive progress in cutting, pen and pencil grasps, and manipulating therapy putty. In art, the children have been creating beautiful portraits that incorporate patterns into the backgrounds.

Our science sessions have taken two exciting directions: some children have been categorising minibeasts to discover what features make them an insect, while others have been exploring different plants and learning about the ones we can eat.

Communication has been a major theme, with all children successfully using their individual aids to request items and activities. We have also been learning a Makaton sign of the week, and the children have done brilliantly mastering the signs for fruit, stop, go, toilet, book, eat, and good morning.

Currently, we are working on lots of different styles in music from Disco to Bhangra using a range of different instruments.

Choir have been working on new material with Abbi and Band club have been learning the basics of Ukulele playing with Amie. If you would like your child to have instrument lessons, please fill in this form Once there is a space on your child’s chosen instrument, a payment will appear on your MCAS.

This term we have done photo editing at the school and introduced the children to digital literacy, composition, and online safety.

It helps students understand how images are constructed, modified, and evaluated.

Core Concepts Taught:

• Basic Manipulation: Learning to rotate, crop, resize, and flip images.
• Colour & Filters: Using digital tools to adjust contrast, change colours, and apply creative filters.
• Composition & Retouching: Exploring how to remove, duplicate, or add elements to an image using cloning tools.
• Digital Ethics & Safety: Discussing the impact of editing, how to spot “fake” or heavily manipulated images, and the importance of responsible sharing.

Recommended Tools for Schools:

Because primary students are learning foundational skills, schools generally avoid complex, professional-level software like Adobe Photoshop in favour of accessible, user-friendly editors:

• Paint.net: A free, straightforward image editing application for Windows.
• Pixlr: A browser-based editor that works well on school Chromebooks.