East Hoathly Church of England Primary SchoolAuthor: Andrew Huggett
Full Reopening for All Children on 7th September 2020
Recovery Curriculum
Coming Back to School
Wellbeing Award for Schools
We are pleased to confirm that East Hoathly school has achieved the Wellbeing Award for Schools. This award celebrates all that the school does to promote positive mental health and support the wellbeing of everyone in the school community. The report demonstrates some of the school’s specific strengths, including support for staff, development of the Thrive Approach, the ethos of care within the school and the teaching of mental health and wellbeing within the school.
The award is valid for three years and we will be looking to continue to develop the work being done in school during that period.
Mindful Moment
Staying Safe Outside Your Home
School Reopening Letter V3
Government abandons plans to reopen primary schools to all pupils in England before the summer holidays.
Dear Parents/Carers,
Gavin Williamson has abandoned government plans to reopen primary schools to all pupils in England before the summer holidays.
Instead, the education secretary said schools will be asked to take in whatever children they can while sticking to the rules on maximum class sizes of 15 pupils and social distancing.
I will be working with the leadership team and Governors to look at best and fairest way of organising the remaining weeks of this year for our pupils, whilst still keeping everyone safe.
We will research any new guidance, adapt our action plans/risk assessments and will be in contact with our plans as soon as possible.
We would all like to thank you for your continuous support and patience.
James Procter
School Reopening Letter V2
School Reopening Photos
Reception
Year 1/2
Year 3/4
Year 5/6
Education Guidance from Public Health England
New AMAZE Support for Parents
Amaze has a brand new section on our website all about Coronavirus and children and young people with SEND in Sussex.
The Amaze SENDIASS team worked closely with the local authorities in East Sussex and Brighton & Hove to get accurate information about the way services are running during the pandemic and give advice about some of the complex questions and decisions that parents and carers may need to face. The sections include education, health and wellbeing, social care and safety, money and essentials and getting support from Amaze. We’ve also got a section just for young people that focuses on their needs and worries.
The new SEND Coronavirus advice section is here: amazesussex.org.uk/
School Reopening Letter V1
Safe Reopening Arrangements
Dear Parents and Carers,
We hope you are all well. Thank you for your patience & understanding whilst we have been working on the arrangements for how we will potentially reopen the school.
Please refer to this letter detailing the measures being taken at East Hoathly School to ensure, as much as possible, a safe reopening could occur from June 1st 2020, provided the government confirm their 5 tests have been met.
We appreciate that this letter contains a great deal of information, but please do read this carefully so that you are aware of the measures being taken in school to keep pupils, parents, staff and the wider community safe.
The detail in this letter is applicable for the first phase of the reopening, only. Subsequent information about any changes that we need to make following further government guidance will be sent out in the same format, with changes clearly highlighted. You will see the letter is called ‘Version 1’ and any subsequent letters will be numbered so it is clear for you to see changes or updates. Click here for the full action plan.
Also available is a guide for children aimed at preparing them for the changes they will see in school, allowing them to be part of the risk assessment for opening and ensuring they are clear on boundaries before they come into school. If you are choosing to send your children to school, please share this with them to help them understand what school will be like. In addition, there are a number of stories and animations that are great for helping children to understand the pandemic which you may find useful to share:
- nosycrowcoronavirus.
s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ Coronavirus_ABookForChildren. pdf - nursedottybooks.com/
dave-the-dog-is-worried-about- coronavirus-2/
We ask that you email the school office by Monday 25th May to let us know if you are planning to send your child to school in the week beginning 1st June so that we can prepare for numbers and registers.
Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any questions or concerns about the potential reopening of the school and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We hope you have a lovely half term,
Mr Procter and Miss Lewis
School Reopening Update
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you and all your families are keeping well and staying safe during these challenging times.
The Government have said that schools may reopen as early as the 1st June to Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children if we are able to do so.
I just wanted to reassure you that although we all want your children back in school as soon as possible, we only want this if it is safe for your children, your families and our staff. Yesterday we received more guidance from the government and we are in the process of planning how we can open safely to those year groups in the coming weeks.
I also wanted to let you know that when we do open to those year groups, it will be up to you to decide whether you wish to send your children in or not. You know your family situation best and if you decide to keep your children at home, we will support that decision. We will keep you updated with all our preparations for making sure the school is as safe as possible so that you can make an informed decision.
We would all like to thank you for your continuous support in helping your children to learn from home. I hope you all continue to remain safe and well and we look forward to welcoming you all back when it is safe to do so.
Yours sincerely,
James Procter
East Hoathly School Assembly – Rev Phil “Easter Hope”
Possible Reopening in June
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am sure many of you will have seen or heard the Prime Minister’s message to the nation yesterday, encouraging people to return to essential work if they are not able to work from home.
In the same speech, Boris Johnson suggested that primary schools could potentially reopen to children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 from Monday 1st June, after the half term break.
We will need more detail from the government about how it plans for schools to operate during any phased return and we plan to communicate this to you as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
James Procter
East Hoathly School Assembly – 6th May 2020 Lockdown Special
Children’s Guide to Coronavirus
What Key Workers’ Children Did at School
The sun shone and there were Key Workers children at Chiddingly School this week.
The children started their Thursday with breakfast club and the spent an hour on online work on the laptops.
All the staff and children then took half an hour with a workout in the hall following ‘Joe Wicks’ with his daily online PE session. It was tiring, but a great start to the day. Everyone then worked hard for over an hour with their set work from their class teachers.
We then all went painting and drawing. Easter cards, dinosaurs, birds and portraits. We explored paint and chalk pastels before heading out to the sunshine for lunch.
After lunch there was time to explore the trim trail and then explore the garden. The children started by weeding and cutting back dead herb growth from the flower beds. We collected the dried herb stalks to be good kindling for fire lighting for future forest School sessions.
The children tried tasting a few of the herbs growing. The gardening escalated and by the end of the day they had weeded a whole flower bed, dug up roots, shrieked at massive spiders, spotted tiny snails, made muddy holes and replanted lots of plants which were kindly donated to the school in January.
It was a great afternoon of engagement, learning and fun.
Children with Speech & Language Needs
Dear Parents of children with speech and language needs,
To support your children’s speech, language and communication needs, Speech Link and Language LInk have fast tracked the launch of their new Parent Portal to help with this. The site will be live from Friday 20th March and will provide parents with FREE speech and language advice, resources and activities.
Parents can be reassured that the support for their children, who have SLCN, doesn’t have to stop once their school closes.
The site can be found at https://speechandlanguage.info/parents
Education for Children of Key Workers
Dear Parents/Carers,
We have now received further guidance from the government around which children will still have education provided for them.
Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.
Please, therefore, follow these key principles:
- If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
- If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then educational provision will be available for them.
- Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.
- Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults.
- Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to care for children wherever possible.
The first question that must be considered when making a decision about where your child should be as of Monday 23rd March
is outlined by the government. They are recommending that:
If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be. We ask that you consider this carefully so that no child, adult or family is put at risk.
The list of ‘Key Workers’, as defined by the government, is as follows:
Health and social care: This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.
Education and childcare: This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.
Key public services: This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.
Local and national government: This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.
Food and other necessary goods: This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).
Public safety and national security: This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.
Transport: This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.
Utilities, communication and financial services: This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.
We appreciate that this is a concerning and rapidly changing landscape and so will aim to keep you as updated with school arrangements as we can. Please inform your child’s school office if you are not receiving emails. Updates will also be posted on all schools’ websites.
If your child is eligible for Free School Meals (not including the Key Stage 1 provision), please contact your school to indicate whether you would like this service to continue throughout this closure period. We are liaising with Chartwells (our catering provider) about their plans to be able to provide food packages which can be delivered to you.
The arrangements for Chiddingly and East Hoathly are: If your child currently attends one of these schools and you require provision for them, these children will all be based at Chiddingly School. Please ensure they arrive at school for 8:50am and are picked up no later than 3:15pm. There will be a catering team on site if your child requires a hot meal and you should inform staff as soon as possible if this is the case. School uniform is optional during this closure period.
The arrangements for St Mary the Virgin are: From Monday 23rd March – Friday 27th March, the children who require provision should attend the school from 8:50am and should be picked up no later than 3:15pm. Please note, there will be no catering team on site so your child will need a packed lunch. The continunation of this arrangement very much depends on the advice we receive from Local Authority. The likelihood is that, over the coming weeks, children from smaller local schools will be asked to attend another larger school in the locality and we will keep you as up to date as we can with details of this. School uniform is optional during this closure period.
We would ask that you continue to refer to the government’s advice that children should be at home where it is at all possible, and that you regularly review your situation regarding your child(ren).
Staff across the Federation are working extremely hard to ensure that we play our part in fighting COVID-19 and it is a difficult time for all. Thank you for your continued support, understanding and patience at this time.
Stay safe and we look forward to welcoming you all back to school soon.
School to Close after 20th March
We are writing to inform you that we have been instructed to close the school due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) to the majority of pupils. The school will be closed at the end of Friday 20th March and most pupils should not attend school until further notice. We will let you know when the school is fully reopen via a message through ParentMail and on the school websites.
The pupils who the government have said could attend school are listed here:
- Children of ‘Key Workers’ who need to be at work to support the country’s fight to tackle the Coronavirus – please note we are awaiting a full list from the Government but this is the information we have so far:
- NHS staff
- Police officers
- Supermarket delivery drivers
- Vulnerable children – please note we are awaiting a full list from the Government but this is the information we have so far:
- Those with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP)
- Those who have a Social Worker
If you, or your child, are in one of the listed categories, please could you inform us as soon as possible and by 9am on Friday 20th March whether you will be sending your child into school so we can plan ahead for this.
Please refer to the letter sent out on Wednesday 18th March regarding pupils’ activities and work set over the closure period.
Staff emails have been set up specifically for the closure so that you and children can contact staff during this time. Staff will be accessing their emails during school hours. These email accounts will be deleted when the school reopens.
The staff email addresses for the closure period are as follows:
| Reception | Miss Denney and Mrs Smith | eh-reception@pioneerfederation.co.uk |
| Year 1/2 | Miss Williams, Mrs Pattenden and Miss Hillier | eh-year12@pioneerfederation.co.uk |
| Year 3/4 | Mr Lulham, Mrs Pattenden and Miss Roberts | eh-year34@pioneerfederation.co.uk |
| Year 5/6 | Mrs Healy and Mrs Thompson | eh-year56@pioneerfederation.co.uk |
| Inclusion Manager | Mrs Levey | senco@easthoathly.e-sussex.sch.uk |
| Thrive | Mrs Smith | eh-thrive@pioneerfederation.co.uk |
Wellbeing and Support
Safeguarding continues to be a priority, especially when the school is not open to pupils. If you have any worries related to welfare or safeguarding issues, please contact us using the email addresses above.
There are a number of organsiations that can support families in a variety of ways:
- www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies/familysupport
- www.eastgrinstead.foodbank.org.uk
- www.hailsham.foodbank.org.uk
- www.eastbourne.foodbank.org.uk
We appreciate that a closure is going to have an impact on you and your family and it’s a far from an ideal scenario. We will keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops. Please continue to check the Coronavirus tabs on each website. If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via the Office email, as usual.
Please use NHS 111 online if you or your child feels unwell and you want to know what to do next. For government updates: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
Thank you for your continued support.
Stay safe and we look forward to welcoming you all back to school soon.
Possible School Closure
Dear Parents/Carers,
If we need to close the school due to the Coronavirus, we would like to provide clarity now about how we plan to support pupils in their education during the closure period.
Your child’s learning is important to us, so, during the closure, we’ll continue to support pupils as follows:
- You will find work set for them on the class pages on the school websites. See specific details below for each class.
- There will be staff emails set up specifically for the closure so that you and children can contact teachers during this time. These email addresses will be sent out soon. Staff will be accessing their emails during school hours. These email accounts will be deleted after the closure. If we don’t hear back from you, we will assume that you are giving your consent for email correspondence during the closure period.
- Leahy & Mrs. Levey (the Federation Inclusion Managers/SENDCOs) will also be available to contact through their emails: sleahy@pioneerfederation.co.uk & senco@easthoathly.e-sussex.sch.uk
- Each child will receive an exercise book to be used to record work in.
Nursery
There will be a weekly updates for activity ideas and websites on the Nursery website.
Reception
- Each week, the Reception teams will upload a weekly planner of activities to the website for you to complete with your child. This planner will be updated on a Friday for the following week. We have suggested a timetable with daily activities, however these can be carried out in any order and whenever you have time to complete them.
- We have tried to include activities using resources that you are likely to have at home. We will also supply each child with a small home learning kit to support these. There are a range of activities to include daily household resources and clips of short learning, and all of these activities are designed to be short and manageable.
- Please use your home learning book to record any written tasks. We look forward to seeing these as soon as we can. Feel free to email us photos or messages to the class email address and we will respond between 8.40-3.15, Monday to Friday. It would be great to receive a weekly update from the children so we can share their home experiences!
Year 1-2
There will be weekly PDF files to cover learning in Maths and English which will be put on the class pages on the website. From these, daily tasks will be set which will be linked to Purple Mash or work to be completed in their exercise books. The tasks will be across the both Year 1 and 2 grouped in challenges from cool to spicy for the children to access.
There will be ‘2Do’ challenges on Purple Mash and a home learning task sheet which will cover other subjects.
Year 1: Phonics tasks will be sent home alongside the sound mat and common exception words which the children are working on daily. You will find these in their exercise books and they will also be on the website. Please have a go at a section a day and practice reading and spelling a few common exception words each day.
Year 2: SATs question sheets will be sent home in their exercise books which help the children to revise all the learning they have covered so far and keep their new knowledge fresh in their heads. The children can do 10 mins a day on these sheets; please remember the children can use objects to count and draw their learning if they are stuck. They will also have a common exception word sheet for them to continue spelling and reading the words.
Year 3-4
- A document with suggested activities for curriculum areas will be uploaded to the class page on the school website. Children should choose 2 activities for each area of the curriculum to complete at home over a three week period. These can be brought back into school (once the school reopens) for sharing with their teachers and other children.
- Maths will continue to be set through MyMaths with a task being uploaded daily. There are also plenty of ‘lessons’ that can be accessed for assistance if the children are finding a task difficult to complete at home. Children should continue to practise times tables regularly (at least 3x weekly) and the times table challenge that the children use in class will be uploaded to the class page on the website.
- For the first two days of a school closure, Literacy will be set through ‘2Dos’ on PurpleMash and extension tasks will be uploaded onto the class pages. After this, a weekly powerpoint will be uploaded detailing grammar and a writing task to be completed over a week. All Literacy work completed should be put into the exercise book that we have sent home with the children, or they can be emailed into the class teacher for some feedback.
- Spellings patterns that would be the whole class focus are already on the website for the rest of Term 4 and children should continue to learn their weekly spellings. There are a variety of resources on PurpleMash under English – Spelling Resources and these are then listed by year group.
Year 5-6
- A suggested daily timetable will be provided on the website class page.
- A document with suggested activities for curriculum areas will be uploaded to the class page on the school website. Children should choose 2 activities for each area of the curriculum to complete at home over a three-week period. These can be brought back into school once the school reopens for sharing with their teachers and other children.
- Maths will be set via MyMaths the expectation is to do a daily lesson and the task and aim to achieve a green percentage score before moving on. Pupils should also complete arithmetic practise on MyMaths – this is on the home screen.
- Literacy will be set via a weekly PowerPoint uploaded to the website class page detailing a writing task to be completed over a week. All Literacy work completed should be put into the exercise book that we have sent home with the children. There is also a separate grammar & punctuation PowerPoint on the website class page, of which children should use to complete one of the activities a day.
- Daily reading tasks will be based on ‘The Explorer’ – on the website class page you can find PDF of each chapter and accompanying questions.
- Pupils should also continue working their way through the Year 5&6 statutory spelling list – recognising patterns, understanding definitions and using them within a context.
- Pupils can also use the back of the exercise book provided to keep a journal, giving them the opportunity to share how they are feeling, how they are keeping healthy, what you have achieved each day, what are you grateful for, what problems have you solved today etc.
- Year 6 – continue working through their CGP books regularly and you can also find a link to previous SATs papers and answers on the website class page.
If you need reminding about the logins for any of the programmes mentioned, please see your child’s Class Teacher as soon as possible.
The links below also have a range of free resources:
We appreciate that a closure will have an impact on you and your family and it’s a far from an ideal scenario. We will keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops. Please continue to check the Coronavirus tabs on each website. If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via the Office email, as usual.
Please use NHS 111 online if you or your child feels unwell and you want to know what to do next. For government updates: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely,
James Procter
Executive Headteacher
Coronavirus Information
Recommended Reads – Where’s Wally
World Book Day
On Thursday 5th March, East Hoathly celebrated World Book Day. There was an incredible range of characters in the school and it was lovely to see Elsa chatting with the Cat in the Hat, Woody playing with Spiderman and Tracy Beaker working with Horrid Henry and the Fantastic Mrs Fox.
The children took part in different activities linked to World Book Day. Reception created a finger puppet version of their characters after making bookmarks and role playing as their characters.
Year 1 and 2 had fun roleplaying as their characters and create a character profile of who they were dressed up as. The children searched different themes in stories, for example which stories had witches in them. The children also used their character’s names to come up with an acrostic poem.
Year 3 and 4 designed bookmarks and enjoyed creating character profiles for who they dressed up as. The children also had fun playing ‘Guess Who?’ by putting a book character’s name on their head and asking yes or no questions to find out who they were.
Year 5 and 6 analysed their character’s stories and talked about the art and themes of their books. They took turns hot-seating as their character and answered questions about the story they came from. In science, the children learnt about Marie Curies and looked into the biographies of scientists.
The staff even joined in with the theme of ‘Women Who Changed the World’ and it was really interesting to learn about Anne Frank, Coco Chanel, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks, Sacagawea, Jane Austen and Amelia Earhart and how they changed the world.
Recommended Reads – The Young Bond Series
PALs Assembly
On Thursday, all children from East Hoathly gathered for a PALs assembly in the church. They took their work books, sat next to a learning partner from a different year group and shared pieces of learning they were really proud of.
Darcy reflected on her work from the start of the year, “At the start of my book, it wasn’t neat but towards the end I have worked really hard to improve that.”
Delilah in Year 2 said “my answers have longer and more information.”
Sara in Year 2 and Alfie in Year 5 were looking through Alfie’s topic book and Sara commented “I like Alife’s Australian picture because of the colours and patterns.”
Alongside sharing work, the children also discussed the term’s collective worship theme; justice.
Holly L in Year 5 talked about how justice can link to Fairtrade. “We learn about fairtrade and how it means items are fairly sourced.”
Charlie in Year 2 spoke about how he can show justice when playing football with his friends. “I can show justice by making sure the teams are fair.”
International Day 2020 – Australia
On Tuesday 11th February, the entire school came together dressed in green and yellow to celebrate Australia for their International Day. Throughout the day, the children worked in groups trying different activities.
Reception and Year 5 and 6 made their own Lemington cake (a traditional Australian dessert), created boomerangs and listened to traditional aboriginal music made with digeridoos. Years 1, 2, 3 and 4 worked together and created some beautiful aboriginal art, made rain sticks and triagramas to show the different habitats of Australia.
After an Australian themed lunch, the children celebrated their learning in the church with each other and their parents. Thank you to all who joined us for this celebration!
e-Safety Day
On Wednesday 12th February, East Hoathly celebrated National e-Safety Day! We had an assembly dedicated to Online Safety then the children, in their individual classes, had a workshop from Andrew Gunn, an ICT and e-Safety expert.
Mr Gunn said that there are good things about being online but sometimes very dangerous things, some apps like Whatsapp and Snapchat have age restrictions to keep you safe online. Mr Gunn also said that it isn’t good to be on the internet before you got to bed because of the blue light—it can be a struggle to get to sleep. – Holly L in Year 5
Year 5 and 6, additionally, had e-Safety Ambassadors from Kings Academy Ringmer come to talk to them about Online Safety. They showed the children a video to allow them to understand the importance of being safe online.
Forest School Update 7th February
Year 1 and 2 have been doing forest school this term with Mrs Smith. They have had the most amazing time, and have got extremely muddy at times! During their time in the woods they have been making dens, playing in what they called a dinosaur toilet and exploring all things nature. There learning during their time in the woods has been great linking to their topic plants, with Dennis in Year 1 saying ‘I have found a root’ and Delilah Rose in Year 1 clearing leaves to discover new stems coming through, we think they might be bluebells!
Though they have also linked their learning in the forest to their English work Max M in Year 2 wrote:
“Once there was a mole who went on a food hunt. He first went to holey berries. Next he went on a twig, a rasbre-leef and he also ate blackberries and pomegranate seeds. The he went pop and anuver mole then the same thing happended!”
Thank you so much to the adult helpers who have with us to forest school in all weathers, without you this amazing learning would not have been possible!
Reception’s Fire Station Visit
On Wednesday, Reception from East Hoathly and Oak class from Chiddingly hopped onto the coach for a trip to Uckfield Fire Station.
The children were very excited for their first trip on a coach and the children had great fun spotting different objects from their windows.
When the children arrived, the first thing they noticed was that the fire station was covered in foam and quickly found out that the firefighters had been training that morning. The children went inside to the special firefighter cloakroom and learnt all about what firefighters do.
The most exciting part of the morning was when the children got to go into the fire engine and spray the hose!
Reception were brilliantly behaved and thoroughly enjoyed their experience! Well done! Thank you to all of the adults who came along and supported the trip!
Wellbeing Week
Recommended Reads – Riding Skills
Recommended Reads – The Beast of Buckingham Palace
Gymnastics Workshop
All the children took part in a gymnastics workshop run by Gymnasts from Fun Abounds Gymnastic centre in Uckfield. The children learnt and practiced a range of skills and movements singularly and in groups and pairs. They also watched videos of the types of movements and routines that competing gymnasts often complete.
Kallie in Reception said, “I got really good at doing a rolypoly – you had to really tuck your head in your legs.”
Recommended Reads – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Reading
We have a developed a dedicated reading time during our school day. From 1.05-1.20pm each day, all children across the school (and lots of the grown ups!) will be spending time enjoying a book. This time allows the children to have a calm and peaceful start to the afternoon and also provides opportunity to develop their love of reading. Some children might be sharing a book with a partner, some might be reading with an adult and some will be reading independently.
Recommended Reads – Wave Me Goodbye
Reception’s Motorbike Visitor
Reception started their new topic with a very noisy visitor! On Tuesday they were greeted with a loud horn and the revving engine of a motorbike!
The children looked at and even got to try on all of the safety equipment and clothes that bike riders wear, including a helmet and jacket and talked about the safety features such as padding and non-slip sections.
Then, was the best bit of the whole morning, they got to inspect the motorbike, we counted the number of lights, looked at the numbers and letters on the number plate and then found the warning horn! Some of the children were brave enough to sit on the motorbike and make the engine roar.
Kallie says “I liked going on the bike and the noisy beeping, the jacket has got special pads in to keep Mitchell safe and stop him from getting hurt.”
Forest School Update 10th January
During the last week of Term 2, the whole school took part in a festive forest school session on the school field over 2 days.
All of the children, staff and parent volunteers had a great time making Christmas decorations and wreaths from natural materials, exploring our creativity, developing new skills and using our growth mindsets to overcome the challenges that learning something new presents us with.
It was a wonderful opportunity for us to connect as a group and fully embrace the outdoors as a learning environment. Having the whole school on the field in December meant the we had to develop our resilience in terms of the weather; it was cold, wet and very very muddy, which meant lots and lots of fun, jumping, splashing, slipping, sliding and painting ourselves in mud!
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Recommended Reads – Little Bear’s Friend
Christingle
Thank you for coming along to the Christingle service! It was a delight to hear the children sing and read the prayers with such confidence! It was a beautiful service as always! Miss Lewis commented that “it is the best Christingle we’ve done yet!”
Thank you for your donations, the money will be counted and sent to the Children’s Society in the New Year.
Well done and thank you to the adults who organised the service and a special thank you to Mrs Dobbs, who organised the Year 4 children to sing in Latin.
Forest School Update 20th December
This week, the entire school took part in some very muddy Forest school! Everyone had a lot of fun in the mud and enjoyed making Christmas arts and crafts. Thank you to all of the volunteers who helped and a big thank you to Mrs Smith for organising the best Forest School yet!
Gingers Dance Workshops
Reception & Year 5 & 6’s Carol Service at Lydfords
On Monday 16th, both Reception and Year 5 and 6 classes walked to Lydfords Care Home to sing some carols to the residents.
The children sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’, ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Away in a Manger’. The residents enjoyed listening to the children singing and they enjoyed seeing the teachers joining in too.
This is an example of how the children are developing their knowledge of their local community and increasing their knowledge about cultural capital. We hope to visit Lydfords again later in the academic year!
Sports Crew and Play Leaders
8 children – mainly Year 5s have recently been trained to deliver games at break times & lunchtimes in a fun, safe and enjoyable manner for all children. They have all demonstrated a Growth Mindset to enable them to challenge themselves and support each other throughout their training (often referring to the 6Bs) to help them to succeed.
Mr D says that they could be the best group of Play Leaders that he has trained over the past 12 years and was full of positivity about the children. They were polite, respectful, focused, keen to learn and were great ambassadors and role models for the school.
In fact he said they were ‘Outstanding’ – a huge accolade.
Santa Visit!
Santa took time out of his very busy schedule to pop into East Hoathly school and Nursery and give them some yummy treats!
The children were very excited to see Santa and were incredibly thankful for the treats he gave them. Some of the staff were quite excited as well!
Thank you Santa for coming down from the North Pole to see us before your busy night! Thank you to our FPTA for supplying those lovely selection boxes and for supplying the Christmas crackers for the school’s Christmas dinner!
Chiddingly Christingle Service
Thank you and well done to the children from East Hoathly and Chiddingly schools who read Bible readings and prayers at the Christingle service at Chiddingly Church on Sunday evening. Sienna, Jesse, Jake, Dylan, Jake and Freya did a fantastic job. So many of the congregation commented on how brilliant they were.
It was lovely to see a number of other children from the schools attending the service too. What a lovely way to start the Festive season!
Uckfield Late Night Shopping
A huge thank you to all of the children who attended the Federation Choir’s late night shopping performance in Uckfield on Friday. We took the biggest choir of the night and had the audience joining in and clapping along!
Miss Lewis was extremely proud of all the children! Thank you, too, to the many staff members who came to support the choir.
The performance was broadcast live onto Uckfield FM and you can listen back here:
We received the following message from the organisers of the event:
“Thank you all for the tremendous amount of time and commitment from the staff and pupils both prior to and on the evening.
From my experience, over many years, it was also the highest number of children on stage and also the number of people who were standing in Post Office Square, at least 2500 and more over the evening.
Fortunately, the rain mostly stayed away and it was a relatively warm evening for December. Thank you once again for making Friday night so special.”
Year 3 and 4’s Trip to Hever Castle
Year 3 and 4 from East Hoathly and Willow class from Chiddingly went on a trip to Hever Castle, as a part of our topic – the Tudors.
After a very excitable coach journey, we set off and explored the castle. We looked at all its features including: silver armor, sculptures (some of the sculptures were dogs). There were tapestries and paintings, there was also a moat with swans and there was a big maze that we completed. Also there were swords and other weapons and we even got our photo taken with Anne Boleyn.
Later, we had lunch in the Think Tank. Then there was this Tudor house that you could play inside. It had lots of fun games and challenges. It had the biggest slide I’ve ever seen! In the garden there was a zip line and swings it was so fun.
Written by Jack Calpaldi, Year 4.
Big Sing
Year 5 and 6 travelled to Eastbourne to take part in the Big Sing.
It is an event the children look forward to every year. They love practicing and performing the songs and every year, there is always something different! Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos of the children on stage, but we managed to get one of the children exploring backstage.
This year the children sang some traditional songs, like ‘silent night’ and ‘white Christmas’. A firm class favourite this year was ‘I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!’ We have not worked out how Santa would fit one in his sleigh yet, but we will let you know what we come up with!
Well done everyone! You sang beautifully and you looked incredible on the stage!
Wellbeing Day
Wellbeing Posters
FPTA Christmas Fair
The East Hoathly FPTA held their annual Christmas Fair in the village hall and what a fair it was!
There were a range of activities for children and adults to have a go at, like ‘drop the penny on Rudolph’s nose’, Christmas arts and crafts and ‘Christmas Pong’ – where you had to throw ping pong balls into cups to win a marshmallow snowman.
The children got to sign up to read a story with Santa and they could have their faces painted.
The highlights of the evening were the Christmas sing along and the announcing of the raffle winners! It was incredible to see so many prizes being won! Thank you to those businesses who donated prizes to the FPTA.
It was a really successful evening and it was great to see everybody working together to ensure the event ran smoothly, whilst still having fun, of course!
In total, the Christmas Fair made just under £1800, which is the most the FPTA have ever made at the Christmas Fair. Well done everyone who took part in such an incredible evening!
What a lovely way to start the Christmas season!
Reception’s Owl Day
On Wednesday, Reception visited Chiddingly for the day. They spent the morning with Oak Class, exploring different Owl themed provision, making woodland animals, nests and meeting new friends.
In the afternoon, we had a special visitor called Rusty. Rusty is a Tawny Owl, who was rescued after falling from a tree. The children got to feel how fluffy Rusty was and ask his handlers, Ben and Sophie, lots of questions.
All of the children loved having a picnic lunch and spotting all of the things in Chiddingly’s playground that were the same as East Hoathly’s. Miss Denney and Mrs Smith were very proud of how confident and well behaved the children were.
Anti-Bullying Week 2019
Last week was Anti-Bullying Week. Have a look at what each class got up to!
Reception
Reception explored the theme of odd socks linked to ‘Odd Sock Day’. They designed their own odd socks and then celebrated how they were all different.
Following our whole school assembly looking at how change starts with us, Reception were passing on compliments to each other and spotting children who were helping each other out.
We talked as school about how we can help bring people up rather than bringing people down. We linked this to our work on wellbeing and how we all impact on each other so its important to consider how we treat others.
Year 1 & 2
Year 1 and 2 at East Hoathly discussed what we can do to make a change to reducing bullying in our school. One theme that the children came up with was being a good friend. We then read the story ‘Little Beauty’ by Anthony Browne and discussed how each of the characters felt when they were not being a good friend. The children then came up with ways they could be a good friend, in the playground and in the classroom.
Year 3 & 4
During Anti-Bullying Week, Year 3 and 4 class worked very hard on a number of learning activities, around the theme of “Change Starts with Us”.
In order for the children to understand different forms of bullying and how bullying impacts others, the first activity was to create a poster that celebrates the idea of difference.
The class also produced some storyboards, and we also discussed some key features of ‘difference’ and how we should all celebrate our own unique characteristics.
Year 5 & 6
Year 5 and 6 took part in a range of activities for Anti-Bullying Week and they particularly enjoyed designing odd socks for Odd Sock Day.
The children really understood the theme: ‘Change Starts with Us’ and one child said “Change starts with us means that we can help prevent bullying by telling a trusted adult or simply just being friendly and saying that someone can play or talk with you.”
Year 1 & 2 Armitage Visit
On Wednesday the 20th of November Ronda and David Armitage visited Year 1 and 2. Before their visit, we made a beach scene with things that you would typically find on the beach. Ronda and David brought along things that they have found on beaches which you would not typically find. For example: rope, plastic bags, plastic water bottles and used crisp packets. We discussed how these things are bad for the animals that use our beaches and seas.
Ronda then read their new Lighthouse Keepers Lunch story which is being released in May next year about Mr Grinling and plastics on our beaches. Also while they were with us David showed us how he illustrates and as a class we created a picture for Mr Grinling’s Birthday.
We had a great time, thank you to Ronda and David for visiting us!
Sports Crew
Meet this year’s sports and play leaders!
On Friday, they joined the team from Chiddingly to take part in a training day with Mr Dolton from St Mary’s. They completed lots of tasks, learnt new games and began to think about how to lead these with younger children.
They will be having one more session with Mr Dolton and they will be leading activities at lunch and playtimes. They will also be working with Miss Denney to develop a sporting competition calendar for the year.
Keep your eyes peeled for updates!
Odd Sock Day
On Tuesday 12th November, the children took part in ‘Odd Sock Day’. This event was created to be celebrated during Anti Bullying Week and is a very creative way to show how unique everyone is and how it is okay that we are all different. The children clearly had a fun time choosing which socks they would wear. There are some very interesting pairings!
In total, we managed to raise £33 for the Anti Bullying Alliance. Well done everyone and thank you for donating!
Harvest Festival
The East Hoathly school choir had its first outing at the Harvest Festival. We performed The Carpenters’ classic ‘Top of the World’ to rapturous applause. Well done to Freya for being brave and singing a 2 line solo on a microphone for the final chorus.
| Events coming up this year | |
|---|---|
| Term 2 | Uckfield Late Night Shopping School Christmas Fair Christingle Service |
| Term 3 | Celebration Assembly Performance |
| Term 4 | Easter Service |
| Term 5 | Celebration Assembly Performance |
| Term 6 | Leavers Service Performance Production Performance |
Reception’s Bonfire Walk
Forest School Update 25th October
This week, Year 3 and 4 used the natural resources, such as leaves, twigs and pine cones to create skeletons. One group even made a chipmunk skeleton!
Harvest Festival
On Friday 25th October, East Hoathly School and Nursery came together to lead the Harvest Service. Each class had a prayer to read out to show their thanks for the harvest, along with some art work and poetry to share with their grown-ups in the audience.
What was really lovely this year was seeing the children leading the service and just how seriously the Year 5 and 6 children take their jobs as role models for the younger children by supporting them.
Thank you to everyone who came and thank you for the donations for Uckfield Foodbank. We look forward to telling you how much was donated next half term!
Year 5 and 6’s Newhaven Fort Trip
British Values Day 2019
On Friday 18th October 2019, Pioneer Schools took part in a fun and enriching British Values Day as a way to celebrate and learn about the British Values. The children took full advantage of the opportunity to come into school dressed in red, blue and white to represent the British flag and the staff joined in too!
The children were organised into groups so that Reception and Year 1 and 2 worked together and Key Stage 2 joined up so that they could all take part in the different activities planned for the day.
To learn about the ‘Rule of Law’, the children explored the idea of rules and how they are there to ensure everyone is treated fairly. By looking at different fairytales, like ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’; the children could pick out characters who were not following the rules and discussed what happened to others’ feelings as a result. The children designed wanted posters for these rule-breaker characters and could explain why they were on the wanted posters.
Joseph in Year 2 said “The wolf is wanted for breaking into Granny’s house and not looking after people’s property.”
The children were also excited to receive a visit from two PCSOs. The children asked a lot of questions about what the PCSOs have to do to keep safe on their job and what they like most about their jobs. Samuel in Year 3 asked about what different types of police work there was. He learnt that there were different divisions that deal with different crimes, along with forensics and animals.
Using Google Earth, we looked at the location of ‘Great Britain’ and how it is a collection of islands. It was also interesting to see that the Union Jack is made up of all of the flags of the British Isles. Some of the children created their own maps, locating England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. We then found where East Hoathly was within the British Isles and zoomed in on the school from above and could spot the playground and trim trail.
Theo in Reception said “The flag is white, blue and red.”
The children read the story of ‘It’s OK to be different’ by Todd Parr, which opened up lots of discussion about what creates our own personal identities, whether this be our eye colour, a favourite hobby or a belief. The children looked into ’Mutual Respect’, ’Tolerance’ and ’Individual Liberty’ further when they compared their differences and spoke about how having differences doesn’t stop them from being friends with and caring for one another. The children created pictures about how different people can look and later shared them with one another.
Delilah in Year 2 said “It’s important to be kind to others because you might hurt their feelings.”
The children had an opportunity to be a politician for the session as they learnt about and practiced ‘Democracy’. The children were posed with the question “Should Key Stage 2 children be provided with free school meals?”. After huddling up and discussing their ideas, the children began to debate backwards and forwards with well constructed arguments in a really respectful way. They thought carefully about children who might need a hot meal and on the opposing arguments, where the money should be spent. It was incredible to see the children so passionate with their ideas, every child contributed to the debate and Jack C, the chairman, kept good records of the votes.
Sophia in Year 4 said “Democracy is about having your own opinion. We voted about if Key Stage 2 children should have free school dinners. We need to listen to others, even if we don’t agree.”
As a result of learning about the British Values, we have already seen the children demonstrating and applying their new knowledge in their classrooms and on the playground. The children really enjoyed learning about what helps create their identity and they now have a renewed respect for themselves as individuals, as well as for their peers and adults both in and out of school.
P.A.Ls Assembly
On Monday, we held our termly PALs assembly (Progress and Learning) where we celebrated all of the fantastic learning which has taken place in Term 1. The children really enjoyed sitting with their friends in other classes and sharing their achievements. One of the wonderful things about this assembly is seeing children beam with pride when one of their peers recognised how their learning and skills had moved forward. It was great to listen in to the conversations that the children were having. We also recognised that the hundreds of books that began the term with empty pages, were now filled with a vast amount of learning experiences.
Jess in Year 4 said “Max M in Year 2 learnt about the Creation story in RE.”
Maxym in Year 5 said “Maisy in Year 2 has been learning about parts of the body, which is helpful if she wanted to be a doctor.”
Spencer in Year 3 saw that Hector in Year 5 had been learning about the story of Jesus in his RE sessions.
Well done everyone!
Year 5 and 6’s Visitor
Mr Rattray visited East Hoathly on Friday 18th October and spoke to Year 5 and 6 about his Uncle Alexander, which tied in with both their World War 2 topic and British Values Day.
He explained to the children that everyone has it within them to be courageous. Alexander volunteered for the Army when Hitler was expanding his empire. He was studying medicine at the time at Edinburgh University. He started working in the North African Desert when a shell struck his tank. He prayed to God and summoned the strength to push the door and get out the tank. He was badly burnt but was treated in hospital and ended up as an officer. He was a very courageous and brave man. Perhaps we can be inspired to be courageous in our own lives!
Thank you Mr Rattray for coming in and sharing this incredible story!
Parent Forum Minutes
World Mental Health Day 2019
Reception
In Reception, we read the story of ‘The Mood Hoover’ and we talked about our different feelings.
We then used different materials to create feeling faces to help us think about how we should be feeling.
Year 1 and 2
Eco Warriors Update 11th October
The new eco group has been assembled and the eco boards updated!
Now the hard work begins.
The children will be encouraging recycling and saving energy plus looking after garden area.
Please remember our crisp packet recycling scheme – if your child has packed lunch please encourage them to pop their crisp packet in and also please bring them in from home. The crisp packet box is in the hall but you are welcome to also drop them off in to the office.
Year 1 and 2’s Visitor
On Thursday 10th of October, Mental World Health Day, Year 1 and 2 had a visit from Nurse Suzy. She spoke to us about keeping our bodies healthy and also about what the parts of the body do.
She was very impressed by the knowledge we have gained this term about the body during our topic ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. She showed us a gown that a patient would wear in hospital. We also had a go at bandaging each others arms. Thank you for visiting us!
Welcome
Year 3 and 4’s Terrible Tudors Trip
Events
Choir Update
The individual school choirs have begun rehearsing some new songs – one of which will be performed at the Harvest Festival. We are currently learning ‘Top of the World’ by the Carpenters and ‘Fields of Gold’ by Eva Cassidy. We rehearse one lunchtime each week and welcome children from Year 1-6. After half term, we will begin to practice songs ready for the annual Uckfield Late Night Shopping Event – a joint event between the East Hoathly and Chiddingly choirs which is always a great start to the festive season!
Mystery at Magpie Manor
On Thursday 11th July, the whole school took part in the performance of the ‘Mystery at Magpie Manor’. There were a lot of great costumes! The children all sang and danced incredibly and I think it was the best production yet!
The children enjoyed performing it and I think it is safe to say that the adults enjoyed watching it!
Well done to all of the children for such a successful show! We can not wait for next year!
Thank you to the parents for your support —whether it was listening to the children practise their lines and songs or by sourcing a costume. Thank you to the FPTA for serving refreshments and hosting a raffle.
Poppy’s Super Swimming
Poppy has recently competed in the Beacon Club Championships. There were many different races and Poppy raced the 200m front crawl, 100m front crawl, 50m front crawl, 50m metre backstroke and 100m backstroke.
Poppy raced against children in the 10 and under group and after some tense competition and a lot of perseverance, Poppy won 2 bronze medals and 3 ribbons, two for 5th place and one for fourth. Well done Poppy, we are so proud of what you have achieved! We look forward to seeing you in the Olympics!
Reception’s Trip to Hastings!
On Monday 8th July, the Reception classes from East Hoathly and Chiddingly visited Hastings. The morning started with a long coach journey which the children filled with their own renditions of ‘Shot Gun’ and ‘Let it Go’ and there was a buzz of conversation, as the children talked excitedly about eating their picnics on the beach.
Upon arriving in Hastings, the children were particularly excited for our visit to the Blue Reef Aquarium, where they were able to explore the various tanks filled with clown fish, upside down jelly fish and a tank full of sharks and sting rays. Whilst there, we were lucky enough to talk to one of the aquarium staff who told us all about puffer fish and then let us witness the feeding of the fish in the big ocean tank! Both classes had their clipboards and pencils ready and drew some great pictures of the sealife they could see around them.
We then took a walk along the seafront to visit the fishermen’s museum and ‘life boat station’ where we were told how the life boat was pushed into the water, when it was needed. After a busy morning of sight seeing, the children ate their lunch on the beach, enjoyed playing by the water’s edge, threw stones into the water, all whilst trying not to get too wet or have their lunch nabbed by seagulls!
Finall, we all enjoyed an ice cream before jumping on the coach back to school. All the children and adults had a lovely day exploring and finding out lots of information, the children came up with some great recounts of their day!
Thank you to the parent volunteers who accompanied us on our trip!
P.A.Ls Assembly
This Thursday, the children gathered in the Church for the last P.A.Ls assembly of the year. The children sit with another child (not from their class( and go through their books together, discuss how they have improved and shown progress over the term.
Jessica said “Sophie has improved her writing and is more creative with her topic.”
Grace says “Max has learnt to write instructions.”
Lotte says “Delilah has learnt how to make graphs.”
Evelyn says “Logan is writing in more detail than before.”
Maxym “Beatrice has got more confident with her times tables.”
Spencer “Ben has improved his writing by using conjunctions.”
Catherine “Archie has used lots of describing words in his writing.”
As the Christian value of the term is perseverance, we asked the children to tell us if they could see the value of perseverance in their work over the term.
Holly “We have learnt to not give up with the times tables challenges.”
Jess “I keep trying with my writing.”
Miss Purcell “Everyone showed resilience in learning the lines and songs for the summer production.”
Enrichment Day
Reception
This term we decided to have enrichment morning in our own classes.
Reception enjoyed learning how to make icing and then decorated biscuits. They also made some fruity smoothies! Willow said “They were yummy, it was like full of loads of bits of fruit and I drinked loads of it”.
Year 1 & 2
During Enrichment morning, Year 1/2 did sewing. The children were all given some aida, a needle and some wool and were able to create their own designs.
“It was really fun, I made a pillow to put on my bed,” Catherine.
“It was nice to do, I made a personalised book mark,” Kitty.
Year 3 & 4
Year 3/4 had a wonderful time in the forest for our Term 6 Enrichment morning. We began by setting the boundary and making sure everyone was clear on what the rules were. Then we played 2 games of Deer & Predator using our senses and hiding skills. After that, we were allowed to explore the forest ourselves. Some of us made dens, some of us made bug hotels and some of us simply played amongst the trees. We had a lovely time and enjoyed spending time in nature!
Forest School Update 5th July
This week, Reception and Year 1 and 2 enjoyed another session of Forest School. They made dens out of sticks, ferns, string and tarpaulin. They also got creative making pictures by using fabric, leaves and a mallet.
As well as going foraging, they found mushrooms and also made art work by only using the resources they could find in the forest; sticks and the ground!
Thank you to all the parents that helped as the children and the staff had a great morning!
Year 6 Dictionaries and Bibles
Year 6 were presented with illustrated dictionaries from the Rotary Club in Eastbourne. They gave one to each child in Year 6 to help them at secondary school. Mr and Mrs Cheeseman presented them and the children loved them!
Year 6 were presented with Bibles from Open the Book as a moving on present.
We also presented a card and flowers to Mrs Wright. We thanked her for all her hard work with the children doing Open the Book.
Year 3 and 4 Greek Day
Forest School Update 21st June
This week, Reception and Year 1 and 2 had their first joint forest school session. They spent time together as part of transition and getting to know each other.
They had a fantastic time making magical potions and perfumes using natural objects from across the field. Then, they made their own paint brushes with leaves, grass and sticks and used chalk, leaves, sticks and water to make their own paint by crushing, pulping and then adding water. Other children chose to use beads and wood slices to make headbands and jewellery.
Hockey Tournament
A few days ago, there was a hockey tournament for Year 5 and 6 organised by Mr Lawrence. It was set on the playground and unfortunately, the weather was really cloudy! I played on a team with Zach, Sophia and Lucy. We nearly won!
It was really fun and we had good teamwork—which made it all the more fun!
There were many things to do, like scoring goals and dribbling the ball around the cones. After that, there was a relay and that was quite tense because it was really hard. The whole tournament ended with shaking hands and saying well done.
Write up by Matilda in Year 5.
Football Tournament
Earlier this week, Mr Lawrence set up a football tournament for Key Stage 2. It was played on the field before lunchtime. I was on the orange team with Danny, Pearl, Poppy, Archie and Jessica.
In the final, the orange team played the pink team. The game was really fun and it went by really quickly! We ended in a draw, which meant in order to find the winner of the tournament, we had to take part in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
I took the first penalty and scored. In total the orange team scored three out of three on penalties and the pink team scored two—which meant the orange team won the tournament!
Write up by William in Year 6
Year 1/2 Term 6– ‘Rolling Through the Stone Age’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
Welcome back, I hope everybody had a great half term break. Thank you for all being so welcoming in my first week! This term we are beginning an exciting new topic – Rolling Through the Stone Age! We will learn history skills and will be using these to find out about past lives and compare them with how we live now. Alongside this we will be enjoying the natural environment through our science enquiries and our art and design projects.
Some of the key texts we will be using for our learning are:
The learning map attached to this newsletter outlines the areas we will be looking at and some of the work we will be doing in teacher focussed activities and group work. We are also placing an emphasis on continuing to learn times tables through maths sessions and at home.
Transition
During this term, we will be spending lots of time talking about our transitions to new classes in September and making relationships with peers and staff.
Home Learning
Home learning task: create your own piece of Stone Age art using any resources you would like, you could use pencils, charcoal, paints or coffee. We look forward to seeing your creative pieces! Please return then to school by the end of term!
|
Reading |
Please read with your child at least three times a week, even if it is just for 5 minutes. When reading with your child, please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the reading record book.
During reading sessions, please discuss the story with your child and ask them questions about what they are reading. These questions will help to develop their understanding of what they are reading as comprehension and discussion are key reading skills in Year 1 and 2. Books can be changed at the trolley in the learning zone at any time. Don’t forget that every child who reads three times in a week gets a special entry into the prize draw to win a book in the Friday Celebration Assemblies. |
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Spellings and homework |
Thank you for your continued support with homework. This really is a great way for you to consolidate learning in class and a chance for you to share in your child’s learning.
Spellings will be given out each week – Please practise these words with your child at home in their spelling book. These will then be tested on a Thursday in school and scores will be written in the book at the end of the week for you to see. |
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Maths |
Please can children continue to learn their times tables at home.
Year 1 children should be learning 10x, 2x and 5x tables When secure with the 2x, 5x and 10x tables, children should be moving onto 3x and 4x tables BBC Bitesize website has links to times tables songs that children can learn. Purple Mash Times Tables Games Search for ‘speed tests’ and then choose the one that you would like to practise. MyMaths can be used at home for the children to explore and practise skills from class work whenever they choose. |
Useful Websites to Support Learning
Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bag each day. Please no rucksacks as these are taking up room on the pegs.
- Can the children please always have a coat in school as the weather can be unpredictable.
- Our PE days are Wednesday and every fourth Friday but PE kits should be in all week.
- Wellington Boots – Please can all children have a set of wellies in school at all times, this is so we can use the field and outside areas when it is wet and muddy. We will be doing Forest School for the whole of Term 6..
Key Questions
- Can you recite your x2, x5, x10 times tables?
- How did people get food in the Stone Age?
- Where did they live?
- How did they keep warm?
We hope you all have lovely term supporting the children in their learning and can see how much they have learnt already. Please do not hesitate to come and speak to me if you have any questions,
Thank you for your support,
Miss Williams
Learning Map
Golden Mile Challenge
As you know over term 5 we asked you get out and active and record how many miles of exercise you completed. Thank you to all the children who took part in recording their activity and sending in their golden mile record sheets. We have totalled up the miles from the cards we received and have completed a total of 78.4 recorded miles across Term 5.
The year group with the most miles was Year 2, with an impressive 52.7miles!
We would like to give a special mention to Jake in Year 2 who recorded all his journeys to and from school for the entire 5 weeks! What great perseverance!
A big thank you to all that took part, we hope you enjoyed getting out and active, keep up the good work!
Reception Term 6 – “Splash!”
Click here to download a printable copy of this newsletter
Dear Parents and Carers,
We hope you’ve had an enjoyable half term and are ready for the last term in Reception, before moving to Year 1!
This term, we are going to enjoy a water-filled fun learning journey. We will be enjoying finding out about how essential water is, where it comes from, what we need it for and how we can look after our water sources. Our journey will begin with some pirate fun, including a pirate day!
Our key texts this term will be
Areas of Learning:
Literacy – We will be continuing to focus on using high frequency words in our writing as well as spelling words with more than one syllable. Also, we will be writing our own stories based on the texts we are reading, as well as looking closely at the characters, settings and events of the stories we are sharing. Another skill we will develop is giving opinions and views about stories we have shared.
Maths – In maths, we will be solving problems that apply all of the skills we have learnt so far. As well as this, we will be continuing to develop our knowledge of number, practising doubling and halving as well as recognising and ordering 2 digit numbers, learning about money and time, comparing and estimating. We will begin learning about multiples and using 2s, 5s and 10s through money.
In other areas of the EYFS, we will be making links with our water theme, such as learning about things that float and sink and why this happens. Our Personal, Social and Emotional Development will begin to focus on our transition to Year 1 and we will be taking part in lots of activities which make us more familiar with the children in the class already, as well as exploring our new surroundings and routines, ready for September. The key to a successful transition to Year 1 is when children feel that this will be a positive experience and we aim to fully support them in this process. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to ask.
Home Learning
We would like to thank you all for your effort with last term’s home learning tasks, including reading with your children.
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Reading -Letters and Sounds |
Please read with your child regularly, even if it is a home or library book. At this stage it is really helpful to discuss the stories that you read and use story language such as, character, setting, beginning, middle and end. Also, encourage your child to predict the ending of the story and give their opinion of the texts that they read. Please record their ideas either in their reading record or their home learning books. |
|
Writing |
We have our home learning books which the children can use to complete the home learning challenges. In addition to this they can practice their writing skills by writing their own pirate or sea character themed stories. Thanks to all of you who have encouraged your children with this. Keep it up! |
Splashing Home Challenges!
If you want to further your learning at home, you might like to try one or more of these challenges:
- Paint a picture or make a collage of an under the sea image. What can you see under the sea?
- Design your own pirate ship or pirate flag.
- Create your own amazing lunch and design a menu for your family. Take photos of your meal to share with your friends.
- Use Lego or another construction kit to build an amazing ship or boat.
- With an adult’s help, find some objects around your house and test to see whether they float or sink when you put them in water. See if you can predict first what you think will happen and then see if you were right!
Trips and Events
During this term we are planning a visit to a seaside location with our friends from Chiddingly and St Mary’s. We will also be having a Pirate day, where we dress up and take part in fun activities. More details to follow very shortly.
Websites and Links
- ictgames.co.uk and www.topmarks.co.uk for Literacy and Maths games.
- phonicsplay.co.uk Phase 3, 4 and 5 games, blending sounds and words.
- mymaths.co.uk – Maths Games
- If you wish to make learning games to have fun at home, you can print from twinkl.co.uk and browse the EYFS Reception section.
Quick Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bag each day.
- Our PE days are Tuesday & Wednesday but PE kits should be in all week.
- Sunhats are essential in the warmer weather when we are outside for longer periods of time. We are not permitted to apply sun cream to any child, so children must have it applied before they come to school.
We hope you all have a lovely final term supporting the children in their Early Years learning. Please do not hesitate to come and speak to us if necessary.
Thank you for your support,
Miss Denney
Challenge!
Write the names of as many different boats as you can and bring these in to share with your friends. Here are a few examples to help you!
Good Luck!
Year 3/4 Term 6 – ‘Ancient Greece’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
I hope you had a fabulous half-term holiday and are ready for the final term! Although we’ve learnt a lot already we will be furthering our learning about the Ancient Greeks this term. We will be continuing to read ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan, and finding out more about the myths and legends of that time. We will be creating some persuasive writing about Pandora’s Box and finishing off the term by writing our own myths! Our topic sessions will focus on the Olympics and the differences between the Athenians and the Spartans. Our D.T. will involve getting messy with some clay! In maths, we are revisiting a lot of the areas we have already learnt about to consolidate and deepen the children’s understanding. The MyMaths homework will be based around the week’s learning.
We are really looking forward to our trip to Chiddingly where we will experience hands-on learning and deepen our understanding of a whole range of Ancient Greek information. If you haven’t yet returned your permission slip, please do this ASAP.
Our PE days are Monday and Friday; please ensure your child’s kit is always in school; trainers everyday are essential.
Helping to Enrich Our Topics
It is always great to have items or visitors that support our topic, so if anyone has any experience or items that may help us with any of the work above that we could hear about or borrow, we would love to see and hear about them.
Reminders
Please make sure your child brings in a water bottle each day with fresh water; ensure all jumpers are labelled and in sunnier weather ensure your child has a hat and sunscreen where possible.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly. You may like to add a positive or helpful comment in their reading diary, but please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments space. A member of staff will be checking reading records during the week and children are expected to have read at least 3 times a week with an adult. Adults at school will not write in the books as we have our own records. |
| Spellings | Spelling tests are every Thursday and Spelling workbooks are taken in on Thursday and returned on Friday. This term’s spellings are focused on the Year 3&4 common exception words list. Additional spelling patterns are also taught in our weekly SPAG sessions and this term we will be focussing on words with contractions and possessive apostrophes. |
| Maths | Maths homework will be on MyMaths and should consist of 30 minutes per fortnight. We will also be continuing with Times Table Rock-stars to help support your child’s recall of the tables. . If you do not have access to the internet at home, please let me know and we can arrange a time for your child to complete it at school. If your child has misplaced their login details, let a member of staff know and we can give you a copy. |
Many thanks for your continued support,
Miss Riddall
Useful Websites
- www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/z87tn39
- www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/greece/10-facts-about-the-ancient-greeks
- www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/teeth/zr8ygwx
- www.ducksters.com/science/digestive_system.php
- www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
Vocabulary We Will Learn This Term
| Pandora | prediction | results | conclusion |
| Athenian | Spartan | tenth | hundredth |
| Olympics | tradition | algorithm | sequence |
| prefix | suffix | clause | subordinate |
Questions You Could Ask Your Child About Their Learning This Term
- Which of the words below have you learnt the meaning of?
- What is the decimal equivalent to ½, ¼ and ¾?
- What is your prediction for the tooth experiment?
- What happened in Pandora’s Box?
- Who are the Spartans and Athenians?
- Do you know any differences between Spartans and Athenians?
- Which prefixes have you learnt the meanings of?
Learning Map
Perseverance
Year 3 & 4 Tennis Tournament
This week, several children from Year 3 and 4 went to the Tennis final, after their win in Term 5. They played very well—despite the rain! They all showed incredible perseverance and great sportsmanship. Well done Year 3 and 4!
Thank you to all of the adults who organised the event and helped support it!
Courage
This term’s Christian Value was courage and through collective worship and RE lessons, we ask the children how they have shown these values throughout the week.
Sara-Maria in Year 1 said “I will be brave doing the running race.”
Forest School Update 24th May
Reception enjoyed a fire and toasting marshmallows in the final Forest School session of the term.
Mrs Smith lead the children in their first fire safety session, teaching them about the rules of the Red and Green dragon!
Harry said “Toasting marshmallows was cool and yummy, I had 2! We had to sit in a special way and use long sticks to not get burned.”
Sports Day
Sports Day this year was a fantastic sunny day filled bean bags, hoops, dribbling, hurdles and races.
We would like to thank all the parents, friends and family who joined us for a lovely picnic and for supporting the children throughout the afternoon. There was a real buzz of enjoyment in the air.
The children all worked incredibly hard in the lead up by practising the different sporting skills and they showed these off on the day.
The winning team was Red Team with a total score 1,415 points!
Well done to all the adults who took part in the adult races, the children loved watching these.
Year 5 & 6 Football Tournament
The ‘Alfriston Primary School Football Tournament’ is in its second year and was set up as a ‘post SATs’ event for Year 6 students. East Hoathly were invited to take part and as we are obviously a small school Year 5 children were also invited to take part.
Ten teams were invited and were divided into two pools of five. East Hoathly started well, winning our first match 1-0.
The team were tested early on in the second match as they went down 0-1 to an early goal but they fought back and won 2-1.
They continued to play well for the next two games winning 3-0 and 4-1 which meant that they finished top of their pool and were through to the semi-finals.
They faced Lewes Old Grammar.
Obviously as the team had now progressed through to this stage the opposition was becoming tougher and they went 0-2 down. However, once again they all kept their heads up, encouraged each other and worked as a team to come back and win 3-2.
We had made it to the final!
We faced the hosts, Alfriston. The game, between the two best teams on the day, was always going to be tight and this certainly was the case with the score 0-0 at full time. With no extra time at this level of the game, it was straight to the (dreaded) penalties.
A nerve racking end to the game for both teams and, of course, for the goalkeepers and the penalty takers.
It was a proud moment for them all, including Mr Lawrence (the new Gareth Southgate) and Miss Purcell (who I thought was going to faint under the pressure of a penalty shoot out) as we won 4-3.
There were, obviously, some amazing individual performances on the pitch but it would not be right to highlight them because this was a team effort and all in the spirit of East Hoathly School ‘Vision’.
Reported by Mr Skelton (Matthew and Harry’s Grandad).
Using the Prayer Spaces
Reception’s Bug Day
On Friday 10th May, the children in Reception were joined by Chiddingly Reception class for the day.
They had a fantastic bug themed day, which started with a morning in the forest.
The children were bug hunting, collecting different species and making big bug dens. They also used various resources to create art work that represented what they had been learning.
After a lunch time picnic together, they spent the afternoon creating bug crafts and playing together in the Reception outside area. It was really nice to see the children playing and working together.
Chiddingly children also shared song bug inspired songs they have been learning. Ask your child if they can remember bug heads, shoulders knees and antlers!
Sophie said ” Bug Day was great, we did painting of the trees and the bluebells in the forest.”
Freddy said ” I liked learning songs from Chiddingly all about bugs.”
Delilah said ” I really liked having a picnic on the field.”
Year 3 & 4 Tennis Tournament
There was fantastic displays of sportsmanship and teamwork during the games. We can see you worked really hard—well done!
Those medals go very well with those victorious smiles! We are already looking forward to the final and to seeing how you get on there!
Well done Year 3 and 4, we are all very proud of you!
Reception Term 5 – “It’s a Bug’s Life!”
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
Welcome back, we hope you had a great Half Term. Our topic for Term 5 is ‘It’s a Bug’s Life!’ Our learning journey will begin with a special delivery of some tiny creatures for us to care for! We will be able to watch them grow and change.
Our key texts this term are:
Areas of Learning
Literacy
Our focus in literacy this term is using our phonic knowledge to write stories using narrative language, adjectives, nouns and verbs. In reading, our phonics knowledge, high frequency and tricky words will develop further and we will be talking about the events in the books we read and predicting what will happen next.
Maths
In maths, we are going to secure our knowledge of addition and subtraction with the support of objects. We will be using insects to help us learn more about doubles and halves.
We are going to be exploring 3D shapes through junk modelling and linking this to our music sessions. In addition to this, we will be beginning to estimate and count in 2s, 5s and 10s. Alongside this, we will be exploring shapes and measures around the school.
Understanding the World
The children will be making lots of observations and predictions about mini-beasts. We will be taking a trip to the forest to look at natural habitats of different mini-beasts and creating our own mini-beast houses.
Home Learning
We would like to thank you all for your effort with last term’s home learning tasks including reading with your children.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly, even if it is a home or library book. At this stage, it is really helpful to discuss the stories that you read and use story language such as, character, setting, beginning, middle and end. The more experiences that children have of sharing books at home, the quicker they progress in all areas of the curriculum as it develops their creativity, vocabulary and imagination, as well as furthering their reading and writing skills.
Don’t forget for every 3 reads a week the children get a reading raffle ticket. |
| Letters and Sounds | Your child will be bringing home a new home learning book which will contain new learning challenges linked to their focus sounds and high frequency words.
Please can they practice writing these in sentences, finding the words and sounds in their story books. |
Home Challenges!
Please choose one or more of the following activities to enjoy at home and bring in before the end of term; these can be recorded in your home learning book:
- Make a mini-beast out of junk modelling and share with your class.
- Take a camera around your garden or the park and take photos of any mini-beasts you can find.
- Write a list of mini-beasts that you find in your garden.
- Paint or draw a picture of an imaginary mini-beast!
Websites and Links
- ictgames.co.uk and www.topmarks.co.uk for Literacy and Maths games.
- phonicsplay.co.uk Phase 3, 4 and 5 games, blending sounds and words.
- bbc.co.uk/cbeebies for literacy and math’s activities and games
- If you wish to make learning games to have fun at home, you can print from twinkl.co.uk and browse the EYFS Reception section.
Quick Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle, hat and their book bag each day.
- If you would like your child to wear sun cream, they need to be able to apply it themselves and bring it in to school in a named individual bottle.
- Our PE days are Tuesday & Wednesday but PE kits should be in all week.
We hope you all have a lovely term supporting the children in their learning. Please do not hesitate to come and speak to us if necessary.
Thank you for your support,
Miss Denney and Mrs Smith
Challenge!
To help your child win 5 extra house points, find out the names of these creatures and bring them into your teacher!
School Visions
Forest School Update 10th May
Reception had their first Forest School adventure last week. We looked for signs of Spring and admired the beautiful bluebells. Lily noticed that the pine trees are “leaking” which prompted lots of talk about sap and how trees grow and the difference between live and dead trees. Scarlett said “dead trees are rotten, they break easy and don’t have roots.”
We experimented with bark rubbings and practised balancing on logs – Alex worked hard “making the wobbly log balance” by putting sticks on one end to weigh it down. We looked carefully for minibeasts which inspired Oscar to build a giant centipede with “more than 16 legs!”
Finally we spent a few peaceful minutes listening to the sounds of the forest with the help of magic pine cones. We cannot wait to go back to the forest next week!
Useful Guides
Courage
East Hoathly Vision
| Value and Bible link | Quote from Bible | Bible story linked to it |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience – James 1:12 | 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. | Rebuilding Jerusalem |
| Creativity – Proverbs 1:5 | 5 Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. | The Story of Creation |
| Working Together – 2 Corinthians 13:11 – | 11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. | Jesus’ Disciples go Fishing |
| Excellence – Proverbs 14:23 | 23All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. | The Parable of the Two Builders |
| Respect – Luke 6:31 | 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. | The Good Samaritan |
| Enjoyment – Psalm 68:3 | 3 But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. | The Story of Noah |
This week, the children have been looking into the School Vision and what East Hoathly’s different values are. Each value has a bible story link. Each class had a value to focus on and create work for.
Reception focused on RESPECT. The children discussed what it meant to show respect to others; by being kind and listening. The children then acted out the ‘Good Samaritan.’
Year 1 and 2’s value to focus on was ENJOYMENT, which linked to the ‘Story of Noah’. The children discussed how the value of enjoyment was present in the story. Stan said “Noah had enjoyment because he survived the flood.” The children created collages of the animals that went onto Noah’s Arc.
Year 3 and 4 looked into the value of WORKING TOGETHER by reading the story of Jesus and his disciples going fishing. Abbie in Year 4 said “We acted the story out and we showed working together by helping to get the nets back to shore.”
Year 5 and 6 found the values of EXCELLENCE and RESILIENCE in two stories.
In the ‘Parable of the Two Builders’, Ethan in Year 6 found the value of EXCELLENCE, which Teddy in Year 6 describes as “listening to God’s word”. Ethan’s character in the scene was the builder who’s house fell down during the storm. “My house fell down because I didn’t listen to God’s word or his advice.”
In the story of ‘Rebuilding Jerusalem’, George in Year 6 was able to see the value of RESILIENCE. “We acted out the story of Jerusalem’s wall and I was Nehemiah. We had to build a wall, which was really hard because there were people trying to stop us and the wall kept falling down. We kept going until it was built but it took a long time.”
The RE Council also worked together to find the value of CREATIVITY in the ‘Story of Creation’. Archie in Year 6 said “God showed creativity by perfectly creating the world we live in.”
New Curriculum Focus
The Pioneer curriculum is based around the 3 Is – Intent, Implementation and Impact. The overview of topics taught (Intent) is in line with the national curriculum and is designed to offer children a varied and broad range of learning experiences throughout a 2 year cycle of topics.
The skills delivered (Implementation) focus on what the children will be able to ‘do’ following the delivery of each unit of work under each curriculum subject area.
The knowledge gained (Impact) focus on what the children will know following the delivery of each unit of work.
Explanation about how each new topic will be discussed with the children, in terms of identifying areas that they would particularly like to focus on, prior to the lessons being planned. Each topic will also be reviewed and evaluated by the children to ensure tweaks are made as required for future cohorts.
Wellbeing Links
Please see the links below for local support and services for all. (These links were sourced through East Sussex County Council) Further Links can be found on www.eastsussex.gov.uk/socialcare/healthadvice/mental-health/directory/help
Peer Support Service
Get Well, Stay Well, Prevent Crisis – People who have their own lived experience of mental health challenges who will offer support alongside you to take control of your mental health and stay well available across East Sussex
- Tel: 01323 405 334
- Email: PeerServiceESussex@southdown.org
- Find more information about this service on 1Space: Southdown Peer Support Service
Community Teams
Children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) are made up of specialist teams offering assessment and treatment to children and young people up to age 18 who have emotional, behavioral or mental health problems.
www.sussexpartnership.nhs.uk/service-east-sussex-community-teams
Wellbeing Centres
Get Well, Stay Well, Prevent Crisis – Drop in support for adults (aged 16 years +) available 5 days a week. Find more information about this service on 1Space: Southdown Wellbeing Centres
Hailsham:
- Tel: 01323 849 844
- Email: hailshamwellbeingcentre@southdown.org
Uckfield:
- Tel: 01825 760 684
- Email: uckfieldwellbeingcentre@southdown.org
Wellbeing Boxes
Boost your wellbeing and take ownership of your health by borrowing a wellbeing box from your library. Each box contains interactive resources, local service information and literature about different areas of wellbeing, using the Five ways to mental wellbeing. To reserve a box talk to a member of library staff or book online. Family Wellbeing boxes and Teen Wellbeing Bags are also available to borrow for free.
Available across East Sussex
- Tel: 0345 6080196
Health in Mind
The free NHS service for residents of East Sussex experiencing stress, anxiety or low mood. Our skilled therapists provide the support you need to feel positive and in control again. Rapid access courses, secure online referral, one to one therapy, by phone, online and face to face.
Available across East Sussex
- Tel: 03000 030 130
- Email: healthinmind@nhs.net
Sussex Mental Healthline
This helpline can be reached in East Sussex between 5pm and 9am and all day during weekends and bank holidays
- Tel: 0300 5000 101
The Samaritans
If you, or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, the Samaritans run a 24 hour helpline
- Tel: 08457 909090
Year 5/6 Term 5 & 6 – ‘Codebreakers’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
I hope you have had a lovely Easter break! Our topic for term 5 is ‘Codebreakers’ and we will be using the text ‘Stormbreaker’ by Anthony Horowitz The topic will involve lots of exciting codebreaking activities.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly. Their books and book bags will need to be in every day. You may like to add a positive or helpful comment in their reading diary, but please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments space. A member of staff will be checking reading records on Fridays and children are expected to have read at least 3 times a week with an adult. Adults at school will not write in the books as we have our own records. Don’t forget, children can earn raffle tickets for weekly reading! |
| Spellings/grammar | Spelling will be tested each week on a Thursday. Grammar will be sent out every other week on a Friday. |
| Times Tables | Please ensure that children are using Maths Rockstars at home to practise their times tables. |
| Maths | Maths homework will be on My Maths. Please ensure you support your children to complete this.
Year 6 – Will have pages from their CPG books to complete each week. |
Year 6
This term homework will be in the form of revision based on your own personal learning leading up to SATs, this will be weekly.
Helping to Enrich Our Topics
It is always great to have items or visitors that support our topic, so if anyone has any experience or items that may help us with any of the work above that we could hear about or borrow, we would love to see and hear about them.
Reminders
Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle each day with fresh water; ensure all jumpers are labelled and bring a coat for any wet weather.
Many thanks for your continued support,
Miss Purcell
Reading at School and at Home
Useful Websites
- www.sheppardsoftware.com/braingames/codebreaking/codebreaking.htm
- www.mathplayground.com/break_the_code.html
- earthsunmoon.pingmooreandbloom.com
- spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/play
Questions You Could Ask Your Child About Their Learning This Term
- Who is Alex Rider and what has happened to him so far in the story?
- What do you know about cyphers? How can you use one to reveal a concealed message?
- What landmarks can you identify in London? – Do you know how you could travel to them on the London Underground?
- How is the world mapped and navigated? Do you know what lines of latitude and longitude are?
Learning Map
Indoor and Outdoor Prayer Space
Year 1/2 Term 5 – ‘Famous Faces’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
We hope you all had a lovely Easter break! This term we are beginning an exciting new topic – Famous Faces. We will be using this topic to explore lots of famous people from the past and comparing them with famous people today!
The learning map, attached to this newsletter, outlines the areas we will be looking at and some of the work we will be doing in teacher focussed activities and group work. We are also placing an emphasis on joining our handwriting and spelling the Common Exception Words.
Year 1 will be practising using their phonics to read a range of real and nonsense words in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check which will take place during the week of 10th June next term.
Year 2 will be working on consolidating their skills from across the whole year and we will be assessing them on how much they have retained 😃
Some of the people we will be looking at in our topic are:
Do your children recognise any of them?
Home Learning Task
Pick a famous person from the past or present and write a fact file about them. There is a template attached to this letter but if you prefer you could use PowerPoint or use your own design – we look forward to learning about your chosen person. Please return these to school by the end of term.
|
Reading |
Please read with your child at least three times a week, even if it is just for 5 minutes. When reading with your child, please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the reading record book.
During reading sessions, please discuss the story with your child and ask them questions about what they are reading. These questions will help to develop their understanding of what they are reading as comprehension and discussion are key reading skills in Year 1 and 2. Books can be changed at the trolley in the learning zone at any time. Don’t forget that every child who reads three times in a week gets a special entry into the prize draw to win a book in the Friday Celebration Assemblies. |
|
Spellings and homework |
Thank you for your continued support with homework. This really is a great way for you to consolidate learning in class and a chance for you to share in your child’s learning.
Spellings will be given out each week – Please practise these words with your child at home in their spelling book. These will then be tested on a Thursday in school and scores will be written in the book at the end of the week for you to see. |
|
Maths |
Please can children continue to learn their times tables at home.
Year 1 children should be learning 10x, 2x and 5x tables When secure with the 2x, 5x and 10x tables, children should be moving onto 3x and 4x tables BBC Bitesize website has links to times tables songs that children can learn. www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h Purple Mash Times Tables Games: Search for ‘speed tests’ and then choose the one that you would like to practise. MyMaths can be used at home for the children to explore and practise skills from class work whenever they choose. |
Useful Websites
- www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/quizzes/blue-planet-big-blue
- www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/yes-no-yeti?phase=4
- www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html
Questions to Ask Your Child
- Who are the famous people in our topic?
- Would you like to be famous? What would you be famous for?
- Look at the time periods that our famous people lived in: How are the lives of our famous people different?
Quick Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bag each day.
- The children must always have a coat in school as the weather can be unpredictable.
- Our PE days are some Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays but PE kits should be in all week.
Thank you for your support,
Mrs King
Learning Map
PALs Assembly
On Monday 1st April, the children took part in a Progress and Learning, Sharing assembly with a focus on the Christian Value of compassion.
The children shared their work with one another to comment on the Growth Mindset and progress within their work.
Charlie said, “Oscar (Year R) has improved in his maths and knows his odd numbers.”
Sophia said, “Alexandra has got better at her timetables.”
Robert said, “Malakai has improved the types of words he is using.”
Lotte said, “Beatrice has moved from going on the warm challenge and at the end of her book she is working on the spicy challenge.”
Destiny said, “Willow has improved her sentence writing and her drawings have improved.”
Lexi said, “Poppy has got better at solving multiplication problems.”
The children also asked one another how they have used compassion within their lives.
Ruby-Jean described compassion as meaning “reassuring people it will be okay.”
“It means being kind to others.” said Tom.
Sophia describes compassion as “sometimes putting others before yourself.”
Esther shared a time she displayed compassion in school. “I cheered Oscar up when he was feeling sad.”
What a great assembly it was! It was lovely to hear so many positive comments and see such high quality work being shared!
Well done, East Hoathly!
Easter Service
Our Easter Service on Friday 5th April was really great. Reverend Phil asked the children about the feelings of people at different times during the Easter story. Each class did a wonderful depiction of each part of the Easter story. Thank you to the families who came to join our service.
Year 3 & 4 Football Tournament
On Thursday 4th April, the incredible Year 3 and 4 football team played 5 tense matches on the Lewes 3G pitch.
Their first match was against Wallands who they beat 1-0 thanks to an excellent goal by Maxym and some brilliant goal-keeping by Hector.
Next up, they played the undefeated Ringmer and lost 3-0. However, it wasn’t over yet as their next game was against South Malling who they beat 4-0. Darcy and Florence really got stuck in during this match and we saw some great defence from Luke and Oscar.
Our penultimate match was played against Western Road and after a strong start, they eventually beat us with a very respectable 4-2. This match saw Holly Z as the goalie, where she did some spectacular saves!
With all to play for our final game was against Southover, which we won! Louie was on fire with his passing technique, Jack did some excellent defending and Oscar tried his hand at goalkeeping.
Overall a great team who worked hard and played well together. We came third out of six teams and narrowly missed being in the semi-final. Well done Year 3 and 4! You all displayed great communication, team work and sportsmanship!
Reception’s Special Visitors
Over the past few weeks, Reception have been the patient parents to chicken eggs in our classroom incubator. They have been helping to check the temperature, counting down the days and writing information signs for others. Then last week, the chicks finally started hatching and there was so much excitement in the classroom!
This week, we have been inspired by the chickens, who have helped us with our writing skills, allowed us to give them cuddles and even sat still-ish whilst we drew them and then weighed them as part of our maths lesson.
We would like to say a big thank you to Poppy’s family for lending us the chicks and the incubator so we could have this learning experience!
Spanish
This week, KS2 have been learning about how to say what they like and dislike. To put this into practise, the children enjoyed eating a range of Spanish foods, like chorizo, salsa and tortillas. Some children were brave enough to try olives!
Summer said, “Me gustan sandía y fresas.” This means she likes watermelon and strawberries!
Year 3/4 Term 5 – ‘Ancient Greece’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
I hope you had a fabulous Easter break and are feeling refreshed and ready for another term. Our topic for the next two terms is ‘Ancient Greece’. We will be reading ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan, and writing our own myths based on a selection of Greek myths and legends. Our topic sessions will teach us all about how the Greeks lived, what they ate and how similar/different they were to us today.
In maths, we are looking at shape, money and revisiting fractions. Fractions can be an area that children find particularly difficult so any extra support at home, and with their My Maths homework, would really benefit them.
Our PE days are Monday and Friday; please ensure your child’s kit is always in school; trainers everyday are essential.
Helping to Enrich Our Topics
It is always great to have items or visitors that support our topic, so if anyone has any experience or items that may help us with any of the work above that we could hear about or borrow, we would love to see and hear about them.
Reminders
Please make sure your child brings in a water bottle each day with fresh water; ensure all jumpers are labelled and bring a coat for any wet weather.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly. You may like to add a positive or helpful comment in their reading diary, but please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments space. A member of staff will be checking reading records during the week and children are expected to have read at least 3 times a week with an adult. Adults at school will not write in the books as we have our own records. |
| Spellings | Spelling tests are every Thursday and Spelling workbooks are taken in on Thursday and returned on Friday. This term’s spellings are focused on the Year 3&4 common exception words list. Additional spelling patterns are also taught in our weekly SPAG sessions with a focus on the apostrophes and the ‘ou’ spelling pattern. |
| Maths | Maths homework will be on MyMaths and should consist of 30 minutes per fortnight. We will also be continuing with Times Table Rock-stars to help support your child’s recall of the tables. . If you do not have access to the internet at home, please let me know and we can arrange a time for your child to complete it at school. If your child has misplaced their login details, let a member of staff know and we can give you a copy. |
Many thanks for your continued support,
Miss Riddall
Useful Websites
- www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/z87tn39
- www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/greece/10-facts-about-the-ancient-greeks
- www.bbc.com/teach/class-clips-video/teeth/zr8ygwx
- www.ducksters.com/science/digestive_system.php
- www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
Vocabulary We Will Learn This Term
| ancient | democracy | myths | century |
| AD / BC | chronological | Hercules | Icarus |
| Daedalus | civilisation | sources | empire |
| canines | molars | incisors | digestion |
| stomach | intestines | function | oesophagus |
Questions You Could Ask Your Child About Their Learning This Term
- Which Gods and Goddesses did the Ancient Greeks believe in?
- When did the Ancient Greeks live?
- Why do we use paragraphs?
- How many teeth does the average grown adult have?
- How do you calculate the perimeter of a shape?
Learning Map
Enrichment Morning
On Friday 29th, the children had a range of activities to choose from that they normally would not do in school. They were singing songs from Disney films and musicals, making Shrinkies, doing outdoor activities, Forest School and origami.
One activity on offer was Shrinkies. The children had to trace designs onto a piece of plastic (Shrinkies). Once they had, the design was heated in the oven for a minute and turned into an awesome keychain. Sophia in Year 5 said “We used a stencil to colour on the Shrinkies. My favourite part was when we put it in the oven and watched the plastic shrink—it curled up.”
The children doing origami folded, cut paper and stuck on googly eyes to create some fantastic pieces of paper art. Some of the designs being made were birds and snake bookmarks. There was even an Iron Man and a princess. Robert in Year 6 made bookmarks that looked like sharks. “It was easy to make the bookmarks, but I found the decorating a bit tricky.”
The children that had chosen to sing had great fun learning the words and melodies to some very famous songs, like ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid and ‘My Favourite Things’ from the Sound of Music. It was lovely to hear the children singing ‘A Million Dreams’ from the Greatest Showman with such passion! Lily in Reception got to choose a song for everyone to sing and she chose ‘This is Me’ from the Greatest Showman. “This is my absolute favourite song. I love, love, love it!”
The group of children doing Forest School were split into two groups. One group sat around the fire, whittling sticks to be able to cook their bread. The other group got really messy and made the bread. Both groups then swapped over and had a go at the other activity. Holly Zorn enjoyed whittling the sticks down so she could toast her bread. “I liked toasting it on the fire. The bread was really tasty.”
Mr Mackarness came over from Chiddingly to join Mr Lawrence in leading a range of outdoor activities, such as Frisbee, wellie-boot wanging, skittles and tag rugby. The sun was shining and the weather was perfect to be outdoors! Samuel said “I played rugby, Frisbee and wellie-wanging. Football was my favourite and I had a lot of fun.”
It has been a really successful Enrichment Morning, we are already looking forward to the next one!
If you have any activities or skills that you would like to share with the children for the next enrichment morning, please contact the school office. Alternatively, if you would like to help out in the mornings, please speak to your child’s class teacher.
Karen Bye Visit
This week, the school was visited by Karen Bye, our Diocese School Improvement Partner, who looked around the school and through the children’s RE books.
She was happy to see a lot of high quality work and fantastic learning in the books. She also enjoyed seeing our displays developing.
Red Nose Day
Last week, the parents and carers of East Hoathly School received a letter asking them to arrive a little bit earlier than usual on Friday afternoon for pick up.
What they did not know was that they were the audience for a flash mob!
The children came together from all over the playground, in time, to sing and dance to S Club 7’s ‘Reach for the Stars’.
It was easy to see that they had practised it a lot, because they pulled it off flawlessly!
Not only were we treated to a great show, we managed to raise an impressive £146.31 for Comic Relief!
Well done everybody!
Reception’s Fruity Week
This week, Reception have had a great fun talking and learning about healthy food.
The children spoke about the different colours, textures and smells of the fruit, as well as how they are really good for our bodies.
The children had an opportunity to use different fruits to make a yummy kebab and a ‘berry’ pink smoothie!
The children really enjoyed talking about and tasting the fruits!
Forest School Update 22nd March
This week in Forest School, Year 3 and 4 tested their survival skills by making shelters. They used natural materials to try and create a dry shelter which we tested by pouring water on it. The children thought about the key things needed for their shelter including, warmth, sturdiness and dryness.
The children had great fun testing out their shelters and watching to see if each others shelters were waterproof.
Please remember that Forest School is on Thursday afternoons and the children will need their Forest School kits. Thank you for your support.
Values Display
Come and see our new Values display! It links the values of our School Vision to verses and stories from the Bible.
Thank you to Miss Pitt for donating cushions and Mr and Dr Rattray for donating a sofa for the inside reflection space.
Mr Herdman will be painting it soon. We cannot wait to share the new space with you!
Strategy for Emotional Health & Wellbeing
Year 3 & 4 Bread Making
On Tuesday 19th March 2019, Year 3 and 4 made our very own bread rolls. Firstly, we washed our hands! Then, we were put into groups of 6 and carefully read the recipe and list of ingredients.
Each group had a team leader who decided which children completed which role. Everyone got the chance to do something. When we had weighed out and mixed all our dry ingredients together, we had to let our dough ‘prove’ for an hour – just like the Great British Bake Off!
Finally, it was time to bake them! We were all really happy with how they turned out and we ate them after lunch with jam, ham or Marmite. Mostly they were delicious! We had a great morning and learnt lots about how to follow a recipe.
Y2 & Y6 SATs
Example papers were shared with all. These can be found at:
- KS2: www.gov.uk/education/primary-curriculum-key-stage-2-tests-and-assessments
- KS1: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-practice-materials#key-stage-1-past-papers
KS2
Timetable of papers shared
| 13th May | English grammar, punctuation and spelling papers 1 and 2 |
| 14th May | English reading |
| 15th May | Mathematics papers 1 and 2 |
| 16th May | Mathematics paper 3 |
Arrangements for Children
- SATs week breakfast available each morning to settle them in
- Most papers will begin at 9.30/9.45am to give children chance to settle in
- Access arrangements are available for children:
- School leaders will apply for extra time in advance for children should they need it
- Scribe or transcription can be provided for children who’s handwriting it likely to be tricky to read
- Readers are available, children will need to ask staff to read questions to them
- Rest breaks are available throughout each test, should the child require them.
- Most children will sit the papers in the hall – they have got used to this following regular practice.
Writing Assessment
- Not ‘tested’ in the same way
- Teachers make a judgement based on child’s writing from across the curriculum
- This is moderated within the local authority
KS1
- There is no ‘timetable’ for testing, but they must be completed within the month of May.
- Papers support the teacher’s assessment of children’s classroom work
- Children complete independently, in small groups or 1:1 with the teacher
- Children won’t be told they are taking a test – just that they are going to do a special activity with the teacher.
- All children will be given the opportunity to complete each paper.
- There is no time limit for the tests to be completed.
- The question can be read to them during the maths paper.
Forest School Update 15th March
This week, Year 3 and 4 went onto the field and played the centipede game. Maxym in Year 4 explained, “The centipede game is a non-speaking trust game. Three people standing in a row with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front and the person at the back directs the two in the front by steering the line of people while the front two have their eyes closed. It’s really tricky, but fun!”
After, they had the opportunity to use secateurs to cut up branches and twigs, which they brought back to their classroom. The children used colourful string, feathers and other natural materials to create wind catchers.
Please remember that Forest School is on Thursday afternoons and the children will need their Forest School kits. Thank you for your support.
Year 1 & 2 Trip to Raystede
The account of the visit was written by Stan Twiddy:
Reflection Space
Watch out for a new display coming soon that will tell you more about the Bible links to our School Vision.
Thank you to people who have donated unwanted furniture to our Reflection space! We are looking forward to putting a photo of the completed area in the newsletter soon!
If you have unwanted blankets, cushions or any other knick-knacks that you would like to donate, please speak to Miss Purcell.
Year 5 & 6 Netball Tournament
On Wednesday 13th March, a team of Year 5 and 6 children attended a Hi 5 Netball tournament. They competed alongside 7 other local schools in two rounds.
East Hoathly won their first match, 3-0 against Ringmer Primary, and then drew their second 1-1 against Firle.
The children worked really well together as a team and showed great sportsman ship by independently shaking the hands of the other teams after their matches.
It was fantastic to see the children grow in confidence throughout the matches, with this being their first competitive netball event.
Thank you to parents for supporting the event and transporting the children.
Forest School Update 8th March
This week, Year 3 and 4 took part in Forest School and for their first session, they ventured down to the Forest. The children spoke about the Amazon rainforest and how it is different in comparison to our forest. The children also built dens and bug hotels.
Please remember that Forest School is on Thursday afternoons and the children will need their Forest School kits.
If you are available to help in Forest School, please speak to Miss Riddall or Miss Dutton.
Thank you for your support!
Outdoor Prayer Space
We have moved our outdoor prayer space so that it is now round the side of the theatre. This is so that this can be a calm place to go for reflection and prayer.
Following Open the Book collective worship this week, Isabella said “We learnt about when John baptised Jesus and others. Open the Book always bring the Bible stories alive and I love singing the songs.”
Year 1/2 Term 4 – ‘Meerkat Mail’
zYear 1’s will be practising using their phonics to read a range of real and nonsense words in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check. There will be an information meeting for parents of Year 1 children held on Tuesday 26th March at 3pm in the learning zone.
Problem solving across the curriculum will be a focus for Year 2 children, giving them opportunities to develop their independence with applying the skills that they have been taught.
Some of the texts we will be looking at are:
Home Learning
Mini Home Project - Local Geography Postcard
Thank you all for your effort with home learning tasks last term, including reading with your children. In our story, Sunny the meerkat goes on an adventure. As part of our display work and learning about the local area, we would like all children to bring in a photo of themselves in a local spot for us to discuss and put up in the classroom. This could be in a local park, shop, town or favourite local place. This should be brought or emailed into school by the end of the third week of term.
At some point across the term, please could your child then write a postcard to their friends from their local place, describing what they did when they were there? The template is attached to this letter. They could bring this in when complete by the end of term.
|
Reading |
Please read with your child at least three times a week, even if it is just for 5 minutes. When reading with your child, please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the reading record book.
During reading sessions, please discuss the story with your child and ask them questions about what they are reading. Attached to this letter are some examples that you could use. These questions will help to develop their understanding of what they are reading as comprehension and discussion are key reading skills in Year 1 and 2. Books can be changed at the trolley in the learning zone at any time. Don’t forget that every child who reads three times in a week gets a special entry into the prize draw to win a book in the Friday Celebration Assemblies. |
|
Spellings and homework |
Thank you for your continued support with homework. This really is a great way for you to consolidate learning in class and a chance for you to share in your child’s learning.
Spellings will be given out each week - Please practise these words with your child at home in their spelling book. These will then be tested on a Thursday in school and scores will be written in the book at the end of the week for you to see. |
|
Maths |
Please can children continue to learn their times tables at home.
Year 1 children should be learning 10x, 2x and 5x tables When secure with the 2x, 5x and 10x tables, children should be moving onto 3x and 4x tables BBC Bitesize website has links to times tables songs that children can learn. www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h Purple Mash Times Tables Games: Search for ‘speed tests’ and then choose the one that you would like to practise. MyMaths can be used at home for the children to explore and practise skills from class work whenever they choose. |
Useful Websites
- www.ictgames.co.uk and www.topmarks.co.uk for Literacy and Maths games.
- www.phonicsplay.co.uk Phase 4 - 6 games, blending sounds and words.
- If you wish to make games to have fun at home with learning, you can print from: www.twinkl.co.uk great resources for supporting all areas of learning.
Quick Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bag each day.
- The children must always have a coat in school as the weather can be unpredictable.
- Our PE days are some Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays but PE kits should be in all week.
Thank you for your support,
Mrs King
Learning Map
Year 3/4 Term 4 – ‘Amazon Adventures’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
I hope you had a wonderful half term break. We are continuing our focus on Geography this term and our topic is based around the Amazon Rainforest! We will be reading ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell, and doing lots of different styles of non-fiction writing to display our knowledge. Our Geography sessions will focus on comparing our lifestyles to what it might be like to live in the rainforest climate and discussing deforestation.
In maths, we are beginning to tackle fractions and decimals! This can be an area that children find particularly difficult so any extra support at home, and with their My Maths homework, would really benefit them.
Our PE days are Monday and Friday; please ensure your child’s kit is always in school; trainers everyday are essential. We will also be doing Forest School this term. This will be on Thursdays from week 2. Forest school kit is essential.
Helping to Enrich Our Topics
It is always great to have items or visitors that support our topic, so if anyone has any experience or items that may help us with any of the work above that we could hear about or borrow, we would love to see and hear about them.
Reminders
Please make sure your child brings in a water bottle each day with fresh water; ensure all jumpers are labelled and bring a coat for any wet weather.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly. You may like to add a positive or helpful comment in their reading diary, but please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments space. A member of staff will be checking reading records during the week and children are expected to have read at least 3 times a week with an adult. Adults at school will not write in the books as we have our own records. |
| Spellings | Spelling tests are every Thursday and Spelling workbooks are taken in on Thursday and returned on Friday. This term’s spellings are focused on the Year 3&4 common exception words list. Additional spelling patterns are also taught in our weekly SPAG sessions with a focus on the apostrophes and the ‘ou’ spelling pattern. |
| Maths | Maths homework will be on MyMaths and should consist of 30 minutes per fortnight. We will also be continuing with Times Table Rock-stars to help support your child’s recall of the tables. . If you do not have access to the internet at home, please let me know and we can arrange a time for your child to complete it at school. If your child has misplaced their login details, let a member of staff know and we can give you a copy. |
Many thanks for your continued support,
Miss Riddall
Useful Websites
- www.coolkidfacts.com/amazon-rainforest-facts
- www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals
- easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-rain-forests
- www.bbc.com/bitesize/topics/zy66fg8
Questions You Could Ask Your Child about Their Learning This Term
- Where is the Amazon Rainforest?
- What animals live in the rainforest?
- How do you add fractions with the same denominator?
- What is a decimal number?
- What is the climate like in the rainforest?
- What is a preposition?
Learning Map
Year 5 and 6 Swimming Gala
On Thursday, Pioneer took two teams to the Ringmer Cluster Schools Swimming Gala. A team from East Hoathly and a team from Chiddingly competed against each other and eight other schools in our local area.
The swimmers from Year 5 and 6 competed in individual 25 metre swims, individual 75 metre swims and team relays of 75 and 100 metres, using different swimming techniques. The teams were split into two heats and then the races were timed and put into fastest order. These scores were then added together to work out the winning team.
Our team of swimmers showed an exceptional level of sportsmanship by cheering on their team mates and calming each other’s nerves. The swimmers were speeding through the races with some coming first, second, third and fourth in their heats. As a team, East Hoathly came 5th and Chiddingly came 7th overall.
It was so lovely to see how our children stepped up to the competition, supported each other and had fun! I would like to say thank you to our parents for supporting us with loud cheers and providing travel arrangements that allowed the children to take part!
Well done team!
Sam’s 3rd Place Success
We have been following Sam’s progress as he has competed in his gymnastics competitions.
Last weekend he, once again, represented East Hoathly at the National Finals of the British Schools Gymnastics Association.
He had to travel up to Birmingham, where he met over 500 other children from all across the UK, who were competing.
In Sam’s group, there were 30 children in between Year 1 and 6. They all had to perform two routines in front of judges and a rather large audience!
Sam totally smashed it and back flipped his way into an incredible 3rd place!
Well done Sam! All of that hard work has paid off! We’ll look forward to seeing you in the Olympics in a few years time!
World Book Day
On Thursday 7th March East Hoathly school, along with other schools across the country, celebrated World Book Day!
A lot of effort was put into the costumes this year – they were all great! Across the day, the Cat in the Hat was seen, along with Gangster Granny, Heidi, Belle, characters from the Famous Five, Angelina Ballerina, the Hungry Caterpillar and of course, a vast array of Harry Potter characters!
This year, there was a competition for the most original and creative costumes. The winners would receive a £5 book voucher, kindly donated by the FPTA.
Our winners were:
- EYFS – Jacob and Lucas as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
- KS1 – Orlaith as Swan from Swan Lake.
- KS2 – Charlie as Xar from Wizards of Once.
Reception’s Bear Hunt
On Friday last week Reception had their first Forest School session.
They walked to the forest and looked out for signs of Spring. They also sang their ‘going on a bear hunt song’. The children enjoyed having snacks around the ‘camp fire’ and balancing, climbing and jumping on the logs and trees.
The children worked really hard to work together to make sure the trees were balanced and safe for each other.
They looked for bears in all the different dens and caves, but unfortunately there were none.
Year 5/6 Term 4 – ‘The Shang Dynasty’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
I hope you had a restful break! This term we will be learning about The Shang Dynasty, with a focus on what is was like to live in during that time and the geographical features of China. Our PE day is Monday but please ensure your child’s kit is always in school; as the timetable can sometimes change – trainers and coats every day are essential.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly. Their books and book bags will need to be in every day. You may like to add a positive or helpful comment in their reading diary, but please acknowledge the fact that the book has been read by signing and dating in the comments space. A member of staff will be checking reading records on Fridays and children are expected to have read at least 3 times a week with an adult. |
| Spellings | Spellings will be tested each week on a Thursday. |
| Times Tables | Please ensure that children are practising their times tables at home regularly. |
| Homework | Y5 Maths homework will be set weekly on My Maths. Please ensure you support your children to complete this.
Y6 homework will be set weekly from the CGP books they have been given. Grammar homework will be set fortnightly. |
Helping to Enrich Our Topics
It is always great to have items or visitors that support our topic, so if anyone has any knowledge or items that may help us with any of the work we are doing this term, we would love to see and hear about them.
Parent readers
We are always looking for extra parent helpers to hear readers, please let me know if you are available, even if it is a one off!
Reminders
Please make sure your child brings in a water bottle each day with fresh water; ensure all jumpers are labelled and bring a coat for any wet weather.
Year Six Parents
This is a very important term for Year Six. Please can you ensure that your child is in school every day, on time and ready to learn. This is a busy time of year for them and they will be working very hard, so please do keep encouraging a positive attitude and providing a calming environment for them at home. If you have any questions in the lead up to SATs, please don’t hesitate to talk to me. Please can you support your child to work through their CGP revision books for Grammar, Maths and Reading.
Many thanks, and I hope you have a great term!
Miss Purcell
Learning Map
Forest School Update 1st March
Compassion
Our new Christian Value that we are exploring this term is ‘Compassion’.
Summer says “This means being really kind and thinking of others before yourself.” We will explore different aspects of this.
Each class has a spiritual journal. In these the children write how the Christian values have impacted on their lives.
All are welcome to have a look at the one that is on the Collective Worship display.
Reception Term 4 – ‘Off We Go… Exploring’
Click here for a printable version of this newsletter
Dear Parents,
Welcome back, we hope you had a great half term. Our topic for Term 4 is ‘Off we go Exploring’ and our learning journey will begin with exploring the well-known text ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. We will also be visiting our forest and local area. Then we will be using stories to explore other places around the world, including Jerusalem and linking this to the Easter Story.
Our key texts this term are:
Areas of Learning
Literacy
Our focus in literacy this term is using our phonic knowledge to write stories using narrative language, adjectives, nouns and verbs. In reading, our phonics knowledge, high frequency and tricky words will develop further – we will be talking about the events in the books we read and predicating what will happen next.
Maths
In maths we are going to secure our knowledge of addition and subtraction with the support of objects. Through making fruit kebabs, we will be creating detailed patterns. We will also begin to look at weight, measuring and comparison of amounts.
Understanding the World
The children will be making lots of observations of the world around them, and virtually exploring other countries. As Easter approaches, we will be learning about the Easter Story and talking about our Easter experiences.
Home Learning
We would like to thank you all for your effort with last term’s home learning tasks including reading with your children.
| Reading | Please read with your child regularly, even if it is a home or library book. At this stage it is really helpful to discuss the stories that you read and use story language such as, character, setting, beginning, middle and end.
The more experiences that children have of sharing books at home, the quicker they progress in all areas of the curriculum as it develops their creativity, vocabulary and imagination, as well as furthering their reading and writing skills. |
| Letters and Sounds | Your child will be bringing home their focus phonic sounds and high frequency word lists. |
Home Challenges!
Please choose one or more of the following activities to enjoy at home and record these in your home learning book. These can be brought in at any time during the term.
- Make a mini fact file of a place you have visited.
- Try different foods from around the world and write about your favourite one.
- Paint or draw a picture of the forest or a place you have visited.
- Create your own collage of a ‘new place’.
- Find out about the animals that live in hot or cold places.
Websites and Links
- ictgames.co.uk and www.topmarks.co.uk for Literacy and Maths games.
- phonicsplay.co.uk Phase 3, 4 and 5 games, blending sounds and words.
- uk.mathletics.com for maths games
- bbc.co.uk/cbeebies for literacy and maths activities and games
- If you wish to make learning games to have fun at home, you can print from twinkl.co.uk and browse the EYFS Reception section.
Quick Reminders
- Please can you make sure your child brings in a water bottle and their book bag each day.
- Our PE days are Tuesday & Wednesday but PE kits should be in all week.
Forest School
This term, we will be doing Forest School sessions linked to our topic; there will be a letter with specific dates and times for these sessions. If you are able to help out at all please let us know.
We hope you all have a lovely term supporting the children in their learning. Please do not hesitate to come and speak to us if necessary.
Thank you for your support,
Miss Denney and Mrs Smith
Forest School Update 15th February
This week in Forest School, Year 5 and 6 went down to the Forest for Forest School. They were split into four groups and their objective was to make it big enough to fit all of their teammates and to be as waterproof as possible.
Once the children built their shelters, using the natural resources around them, Mr Lulham tested the shelters by pouring water on them to see how waterproof they were.
William in Year 6 said that his favourite part was building the dens. “It was a bit of a challenge and we had to work together to build the shelters.”
Toby in Year 5 said “our shelter was kind of waterproof. Next time, we would put more leaves on to cover the gaps.”
PALs Assembly
On Monday this week, the children took part in a PALs assembly. In the PALs assembly, children sit next to someone in a different year to them and they look through each others’ books to see what progress has been made in the term.
The children look forward to these assemblies and it is lovely to see the children be so supportive towards each other by pointing out what great achievements have been made.
Matthew in Year 5 noted when he saw Max W’s book that Max, Year 1, is now starting to write with more detail. Well done, Max!
Pearl in Year 3 showed her book to Matilda in Year 5. Matilda said “Pearl can write longer paragraphs and she joins up her writing more.”
Children’s Mental Health Week
Last week was Children’s Mental Health week, and across the school each class completed activities linked to the theme ‘Healthy Inside and Out’. We also had an assembly using ideas from the charity ‘Place 2 be’ which encouraged the children to think about what they can do if they are feeling down and how they can use 3 key factors to help them stay healthy inside and out :
- Food – Health and Varied
- Exercise – Being Active
- Sleep – Getting enough regular sleep
Attached to this newsletter is also some top tips for home.
In Reception, the children made posters to share how they keep healthy. Delilah says “you need to eat lots of vegetables and sleep.”
In Year 1 and 2, they thought about kindness and how you can be kind to others.
In Year 3 and 4, they discussed the importance of mental health and how they can help improve our own. They thought about what they are good at and what they liked about others.
In Year 5 and 6, they had a dedicated circle time to think about being themselves and valuing each other. They created a kindness and wellness wall with positive quotes and thoughts.
If you have any worries or concerns about your child and their mental health, please see their class teacher.
Enrichment Morning
On Friday 15th, the children had a range of activities to choose from that they normally
would not do in school. There was keyring making, drama, lego, cake decorating, modrock
modelling and fabric collage.
Lola in Year 4, chose to take part in the fabric collage activity. She said “it’s a nice day
and I think making a collage is fun.” Matilda in Year 5, agreed saying “I love how we used
all the different materials and styles to make the collage. I liked the pom poms and my
favourite material was the glittery felt. I learnt that mixing the different materials in
the collage creates a really nice effect.”
In drama, George in Year 6, had fun doing improv scenes. “Our characters we from Emojitown
and I was the sad emoji. We acted that we got on the wrong plane, so I jumped off!”
Jake in Year 1, really enjoyed acting “My character was Harry Potter!”
Saffron in Year 6, took part in the modrock modelling activity. “We got a coathanger and
bent it into the shape on an animal, like a skeleton. We then added material to it before
adding modrock to make the model.” Scarlett in Reception, said “It’s really fun and I like
it because it’s messy!”
India in Year 3, chose cake decorating. Not only did she decorated some cakes and
biscuits, India picked up a new skill. “I learnt how to write with icing, there’s a trick to
make the icing stop; you need to stop squeezing the tube and then press down.” Maisy in
Year 1, really enjoyed designing ideas for her cake decorating.
Jack in Year 3, had a go at making keyrings. “I really liked designing my picture for my
keyring.” The children also had Scooby strings as a part of their keyring, which Darcey in
Year 1, enjoyed. “It’s really tricky to make the scoobies, but I had a lot of fun.”
Freddy and Oscar in Reception, had a great time during the Lego activity. “We were
building towers from Lego, then we put them together to make a really big tower.”
Matthew in Year 5, explained that there were different challenges for the children to
complete. “One of the challenges was to build a lego tower with only one hand. Toby and I
got really competitive. Toby got 25 bricks and I got 21.”
Thank you to all of the adults that help make these fabulous activities possible! Thank you
to Miss Dudeney for coming over from Chiddingly to lead the modrock activity.
It has been a really successful enrichment morning, we are already looking forward to the
next one!
If you have any activities or skills that you would like to share with the children for the
next enrichment morning, please contact the school office.
Alternatively, if you would like to help out in the mornings, please speak to your child’s teacher.
Christian Aid
On Thursday 14th February, we had an assembly presented by Mark from the Charity ‘Christian Aid.’ We want to learn more about global Christianity so he was able to share this with us.
Mark shared that in the Gospels in the Bible, the second most important thing Jesus talked about was giving help and freedom to the poor. Mark explained that Christian Aid believe that Jesus wants everyone to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
They aim to: stop poverty, help people and challenge things that hurt the poor. ‘Christian aid’ do this by creating projects that provide clean water by filtering and pumping water to villages. They help people after a crisis like an earthquake or hurricane to rebuild their houses. They also challenge people in power e.g. to use solar and wind power.
The reason they do this is to keep people safe and help them to survive. They want to follow Jesus’ example and believe that they should follow the Gospels and help the poor. This way the values of Christianity can spread around the globe.
Catherine’s Sports Awards
YoungMinds
For more information about supporting your child’s mental health and wellbeing, please speak to your child’s class teacher. Some further information can be found at youngminds.org.uk
Open the Book
The children enjoyed Open the Book this week! The children saw a rendition of “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” and Zach in Year 5 said “my favourite part was when God sent angels to protect him.”
Forest School Update 8th February
This week in Forest School, Year 5 and 6 used their artistic skills to create an owl sculpture out of clay. The children then came back to the classroom and had a wonderful surprise! Mrs Smith had organised for owl experts to come in and talk the children. Not only did the visitors deliver a range of fascinating owl facts, he brought Rusty the Tawny owl to school for the children to see too! Rusty enjoyed being stroked by the children and showing off his flying skills around the classroom.
Teddy in Year 6 said, “Rusty is very soft and can turn his head 270°.”
Poppy in Year 5 said, “There are different breeds of owls. Rusty is a Tawny owl and he is really cool because he can blend in with trees.”
Thank you Mrs Smith for such an exciting and informative Forest School session! Thank you to Graeme Ward and Owen Lait, from Knockhatch, for teaching the children about owls like Rusty!
Safer Internet Morning
On Wednesday morning, Years 1 to 6 were visited by a company called ‘Perform for Schools’, who held interactive workshops for the children so they could learn about ways to stay safe online.
To learn about cyber-bullying and what it might look like, the children took part in and enjoyed a range of drama activities, such as freeze frames and role-play and they learnt a rap about how to ‘Zip It, Block It, Flag It’!
Abigail in Year 4 said “We learnt about how to be really safe when we’re online and that if something bad happens, we can talk it over with our parents to sort it out. I really enjoyed when we split into groups to act it all out.”
Overall, it was an extremely successful morning and the children had great fun about learning how to be safe online! Thank you so much for the donations that have enabled the children to part in this workshop and thank you to the FPTA for also donating towards the morning’s events.
