Panathlon Sporting Event

Today, a small group of children from Year 4 spent the morning at Taverham High School participating in a Panathlon event. They competed against 8 other schools from the local area in a series of sporting challenges, including: standing long jump, outdoor bowling, cricket and many more. They all showed huge amounts of grit and determination to have a go at each of the activities and represented the school brilliantly. Each child was awarded a medal at the end of the morning for all of their fantastic efforts.

Y4 – Vietnamese Summer Rolls

This half term, Year 4 have been learning all about food from around the world. This afternoon, they were treated to a masterclass in making Vietnamese Summer Rolls by Mr Cross. They were shown how to soak their rice paper until flexible, before filling it with lettuce, carrot, beansprouts, coriander, basil, spring onion and sweet chilli sauce. Mrs Stevenson was even put to the test to see if she could roll one!

Back in class, all children had the opportunity to make their own, choosing their fillings and then taste them if they wished.

They were very pleased with the results!

A Day of Welcome

Last Friday, the whole school took part in the Schools of Sanctuary: Day of Welcome. During the day, they learnt about the lives of refugees and how we can make our community in Queen’s Hill welcoming. This years theme was ‘Community is our Superpower’.

Children in Year 1 learnt about different playground games that children play from around the world. They played ‘Chinlone’ and ‘Oon’ from Myanmar and ‘Cossak’ from Ukraine. They shared these games with their buddies in Year 4 too.

Children in Year 3 & 4 took part in a live lesson with schools across the country to hear stories from Dina Nayeri about her own personal experiences of being a refugee as a child and fleeing to the United States of America. As part of the lesson, children had the opportunity to try some Taekwondo moves, as taking up this sport was something that helped Dina feel part of her new community when she moved to America.

In Year 5, children designed and wrote postcards to refugee children, welcoming them to Queen’s Hill. They explained how they would be welcomed into the community. Collaboratively, Year 5, along with their buddies in Year 2, designed houses for Moomins after reading about the displacement of the Moomins in ‘The Moomins and the Great Flood’ by Tove Jansson.

Year 4 – food tasting around the world

Today year four were lucky enough to be able to try a range of different foods from around the world. These included such delicacies as pierogi from Poland, papaya from Mexico and samosas from India. They evaluated their smell, appearance, texture and taste and gave them a score out of five stars. We look forward to making some of our own international cuisine next week.

Year 4 Trip – West Stow Anglo-Saxon village

Today year four had a fantastic day trip to West Stow near Bury St Edmunds to visit the Anglo-Saxon Village. They got to explore the artefacts on display in the museum; handled some replica artefacts and were able to look around a reconstructed village of the time. We had to use lots of our historian skills to help us imagine and learn about what life was like for these early settlers in Britain. Our history topic will continue for the rest of the half term as we learn more.

Year 4 science melting

In our science lesson this week year four were investigating the melting point of butter, chocolate and cheese. We used hot water and foil cake cases to do this safely, making careful observations over time. We then used these observations to help us draw a conclusion.

Year 4 polar explorer visit

Today year 4 were excited to have a visit from polar explorer Adrian Hall. He spoke to us about his expeditions, showed us all the equipment he packed in his rucksack and shared lots of photos at the start of the day. After this, he worked outside with every class, teaching them about map reading and compass skills before they completed a treasure hunt around the school grounds. We had a great day and now feel we know a lot more about the life of an arctic explorer.

Year 4 Electronic Iron Man Faces

Year 4 finished the term by designing and building Iron Man faces with electronic glow in the dark eyes. They had to wire up the LED bulbs with batteries and switches using all of their knowledge about electrical circuits taught this term. We were very impressed with the final outcomes.

Year 4 NHS Anxiety Workshop

Year 4 were delighted to welcome the NHS Cambridgeshire Community Service Trust today to run a 1 hour big worries and anxiety workshop with each of our classes. It was pleasing to see the children coming away with so many new strategies to help them manage their emotions and feelings.