Curriculum In Action

After learning all about famous aviators in History, Year 2 wrote biographies all about Amy Johnson. They then used their biographies to record a podcast. Have a listen below!

Year 2 had a fantastic time at Duxford Museum on Friday. They enjoyed seeing all of the planes including a replica of Amy Johnson’s plane Jason. The children were also very excited that they got to go inside the Concorde aeroplane.

To launch our new history topic, Ancient Greeks. Y5 had a day of cooking. We prepared and cooked Melomakarona (which are Greek honey-spice cookies), chicken kebabs with roasted vegetables and tzatziki dip and a Greek salad. The children worked tirelessly in the kitchen all morning to prepare this wonderous feast. In the afternoon we wrote up our recipes with a detailed method including modal and imperative verbs.

Finally, once all the work was done we sat down and ate all of the wonderful food that was prepared.

This half term, we will be learning about Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to the South Pole. To learn about a polar expedition and the things you might require, we took part in outdoor learning. Dotted around the outdoor classroom were cards with two items to choose between. The children had to decide which item they would take with them on an expedition and why.

This morning, children from Reception and Y3 met to share their learning. Y3 children shared their non-chronological reports on the Ancient Egyptians, while Reception children shared their learning about Iceland and New Zealand.

Year 3 then sang their song ‘Amazing Egyptians’ to their buddies, along with the actions. A great time was had by all!

Les Herissons (and all of Year 3) have loved learning about the Ancient Egyptians.
Look at these amazing non-chronological reports they have produced in writing!
They have so much knowledge and we are all so proud of them.

In Reception this week we have been learning about Lunar New Year. We have made lanterns, decorated our classrooms and had a go at writing some numbers in sand. We also learnt the story of the race and talked about the different animals. Thank you to Asha’s mum who brought in some real envelopes and decorations to look at! The children have really enjoyed learning about a different holiday and culture.

Year 6 came dressed in WWII themed outfits for their school trip to the Time and Tide museum in Great Yarmouth yesterday. They travelled back in time to 1941 when Great Yarmouth was in the thick of the action as a ‘front line town’. They Discovered how the war affected people on the home front and met an ARP warden, housewife, shopkeeper and Home Guard soldier.

Year 3 are enjoying learning about the Ancient Egyptians.

We learnt about artefacts and tried to use our knowledge of hieroglyphics to help us look at the artefacts in detail!

Year 6 have produced some wonderful double-page spreads to celebrate all of their hard work in History over the Autumn term. Children collated a range of different ideas under subheadings to show their understanding, including: rationing, the role of women, key dates and countries involved and VE Day. Have a look at these brilliant examples!

Y5 were inspired by the artist Hundertwasser this half term and created pictures of nature in his style. Hundertwasser often depicted tress as lollipops and the children’s designs focused on this.

To create our pieces we used oil pastels practicing and perfecting the following different techniques: mixing and blending, stippling and cross-hatching.

Year 6 have been using ‘World of Languages, Languages of The World’ resources to discover the fascinating etymology of our days of the week. Children compared our days of the week to French and German days, looking for similarities and differences. We explored and investigated the links between Norse and Roman Gods and thought about the connections between languages throughout the world. Children loved looking for clues and cracking codes in order to understand other languages as well as finding out about how many different languages are spoken amongst the year group!

Inspired by the rest of the school’s Curriculum Day, we also had our very own Year 6 Art Challenge linking to Belgian artist Ben Heine’s pencil versus camera work and using the base of the Eiffel Tower as a starting point. It was great to see the creativity of the children and see them engage so well with this task.

In Nursery, we have been learning about Spring. Lots of the children had a go at painting daffodils. We talked about the colours and how to hold our paint brush to help us to be good painters.

To launch our new history topic, Ancient Greeks. Y5 had a day of cooking. We prepared and cooked Melomakarona (which are Greek honey-spice cookies), chicken kebabs with roasted vegetables and tzatziki dip and a Greek salad. The children worked tirelessly in the kitchen all morning to prepare this wonderous feast. In the afternoon we wrote up our recipes with a detailed method including modal and imperative verbs.

Finally, once all the work was done we sat down and ate all of the wonderful food that was prepared.

All of year 3 had a great time today making bird boxes! They had to show teamwork skills and grit and determination!

The children were excited to use hammers and nails! Look at our amazing work!

Today, our Year 1 pupils learnt more about the reasons behind shrove Tuesday and the start of lent. They designed their own pancakes, before getting to try them out in class!

This week in outdoor learning children went for a walk and found an assortment of treasures: grasses, flowers, leaves, buds, and sticks. They came back together and created faces out of the treasures they found.

To finish our ‘Electrify’ topic this half term, we made ‘Iron Men’ with flashing LED lights for eyes. The children used their knowledge about complete circuits to make the eyes. Some even included a home made switch in their circuit so they could make the eyes flash.

Year 6 created wonderful Mayan prints this week in Art. Inspired by the geometric shapes and repeating patterns used by the Maya people, children first made cardboard tiles and glued on their designs using string. They then painted the string on the tile and pressed down onto their piece of paper using a variety of colours. They all used their creativity and concentration crowns during this process!

This week, we have been exploring playdough inside and outside. We have been inspired by St Valentine’s Day and created hearts and cakes.

After learning all about famous aviators in History, Year 2 wrote biographies all about Amy Johnson. They then used their biographies to record a podcast. Have a listen below!

Thank you to our wonderful community volunteers who gave every Year 6 pupil the opportunity to read aloud! The children loved being able to share their favourite stories with our visitors.

To launch our new history topic, Ancient Greeks. Y5 had a day of cooking. We prepared and cooked Melomakarona (which are Greek honey-spice cookies), chicken kebabs with roasted vegetables and tzatziki dip and a Greek salad. The children worked tirelessly in the kitchen all morning to prepare this wonderous feast. In the afternoon we wrote up our recipes with a detailed method including modal and imperative verbs.

Finally, once all the work was done we sat down and ate all of the wonderful food that was prepared.

To mark the end of world book week, Miss Hicks organised for local author, Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward, to join our school for the day. He visited all of the classrooms today, to read his story and inspire others to write their own book. Nigel’s books: Freddie’s Impossible Dream and What’s That? were illustrated by his son Robbie, who was 8 years-old when he drew the pictures for their first book. The books are about the power of imagination, chasing your dreams and never giving up.

A big thank you to Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward for joining us. You can find out more about his books on his website: www.thatbookguy.co.uk/books

This week, Nursery found some strange footprints in the classroom which led outside. We discussed who they might belong to and what the creature might look like.

This week, Year 6 started their English unit based on the graphic novel, ‘The Arrival’ by Shaun Tan. A graphic novel is a story without words and it can still be just as powerful and detailed. We discussed how every illustration is included for a reason and that if you look very closely you gather a huge amount of information from a single image.

‘The Arrival’ is a migrant story. A man leaves his wife and child in a poor town, hoping for better opportunities in an unfamiliar country on the other side of the sea. He eventually finds himself in a mysterious city of different traditions, strange animals, unusual drifting objects and foreign languages. With only a suitcase and a little money, the immigrant must find a place to live, food to eat and some kind of employment. He is helped along the way by supportive strangers, each carrying the weight of their own past: stories of struggle and survival in a world of upheaval and hope.

Our Topic this term is ‘Tolerance’ and already Year 6 have been able to identify some of the key themes of the book as respect, diversity and multiculturalism. We look forward to seeing the work that the children will produce based on this powerful story.

Year 1 found a box in their classroom. There were animal footprints around the box! We realised that they were the footprints of an elephant, a camel, a lion and a frog. A message on the box said that the box had come from the zoo. Inside the box, there was a book called ‘Dear Zoo’. We figured out that the zoo had tried to send us some pets. We talked about whether or not an elephant, camel, lion and frog would make a good pet

This half term, we will be learning about Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to the South Pole. To learn about a polar expedition and the things you might require, we took part in outdoor learning. Dotted around the outdoor classroom were cards with two items to choose between. The children had to decide which item they would take with them on an expedition and why.

This half term we have been reading the story ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. It has been an inspiring book to our young writers and they have produced some amazing work.

They were disgusted to hear about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest so wrote persuasive letters to the Brazilian Ambassador to encourage him to stop the clearing of the rainforest. We got so immersed in the story that the children wrote a descriptive setting piece about their own journey through the Amazon, concentrating on using their five senses. Finally, we ended the term on writing diamante poems about some of the animals we met in the story so far.

This morning, children from Reception and Y3 met to share their learning. Y3 children shared their non-chronological reports on the Ancient Egyptians, while Reception children shared their learning about Iceland and New Zealand.

Year 3 then sang their song ‘Amazing Egyptians’ to their buddies, along with the actions. A great time was had by all!

We sent four of our young mathematicians to represent Queen’s Hill at a county wide mathematics challenge, held at Norwich School.

They were given a set of letters and numbers and worked through the ‘equations’ allocating the letters values. They then attempted to make the total indicated using six values provided while only using the four operations. The final challenge was to solve questions to test their lateral thinking and problem solving.

All four of them worked extremely hard and represented Queen’s Hill with pride – we are so proud of them!

We sent four of our young mathematicians to represent Queen’s Hill at a county wide mathematics challenge, held at Norwich School.

Working in pairs the mathematicians worked through five problems during an eight minute period at each station. The activities involved problems such as:

Pentominoes ~ Tangrams ~ Railway timetables ~ Ordering playing cards ~ Dice ~ Mystery numbers ~ Domino jigsaw ~ Shopping lists ~ Mazes ~ Code breaking ~ Sequences ~ Broken calculators ~ Make 24  ~ Logic puzzles ~ Cross numbers.

All four of them worked extremely hard and represented Queen’s Hill with pride. They competed with courage and placed Queen’s Hill in the top 20! Even commenting that they would come back next year and compete for Y6 – we are so proud of them!

This week in maths Y5 continue to build on their knowledge of ‘scaling’. At the end of the week children got to move around the classroom, visiting four different stations. At each station children had to demonstrate using scaling language comparing mass, time, volume and length.

They did amazingly well and they have now applied that knowledge to multiplying by fractions!

We started the half term exploring how to work out area. Initially, we looked at the best way to measure surfaces using different shapes and made estimations using our finger tips. We moved onto counting squares and worked out the area of our names by drawing them on squared paper. Then we made a 1m x 1m stencil and went out onto the playground with chalk and created our own compound shapes – though the weather was not kind to us that day!

Once children were confident working out area counting squares we introduced the calculation length x width. Children were then able to work out the area of rectangles and compound shapes using this calculation. Finally, working in groups they used their knowledge of area to reason and problem solve.

We had a great turn out for our Year 4 Times Table Breakfast Cafe! Everyone enjoyed a range of times table quizzes, board games and activities to help them learn their times tables.

This week we have been learning more about 2D and 3D shapes. We learnt what the difference was and found out the shapes names. We talked about the different properties of shapes. We now know what sides, corners and faces are.

Last week, Year 3 started their topic of measurement in maths. They learnt how to measure in mm, cm and m by measuring lines on the playground.

Back in the classroom, the children then matched their measurements to the real size of different animals, using the books ‘Actual Size’ and ‘Prehistoric Actual Size’ by Steve Jenkins.

We were lucky to attend an event run by Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form, to show children how fun and exciting maths can be! The children were engaged in the activities on offer: an origami masterclass, alien times table games, maths challenges, life-sized space battleships, and talks on planets, rocketships and astronauts by experts in each field. Children were also gifted a goody bag filled with stationary, bookmarks and additional activity booklets to continue the maths fun at home. 

As part of the whole school maths investigation, Year 3 explored different totals that 2 and 3 spotted ladybirds could make. The children showed amazing grit and determination skills and were all very successful.

Year 3 had fun problem solving today. We applied all of the skills we had learnt so far this week.

To celebrate Languages Day Y5 explored the Greek alphabet. We learnt that we use lots of Greek words in English today. Some say there are over 150,000 English words that come from Greek words! Once we learnt the Greek alphabet we used it to have fun cracking linguistic codes. When we joined up with our Y2 buddies we taught them how to write their name using the Greek alphabet and then used what we had learnt to play hangman.

Year 6 have been using ‘World of Languages, Languages of The World’ resources to discover the fascinating etymology of our days of the week. Children compared our days of the week to French and German days, looking for similarities and differences. We explored and investigated the links between Norse and Roman Gods and thought about the connections between languages throughout the world. Children loved looking for clues and cracking codes in order to understand other languages as well as finding out about how many different languages are spoken amongst the year group!

Inspired by the rest of the school’s Curriculum Day, we also had our very own Year 6 Art Challenge linking to Belgian artist Ben Heine’s pencil versus camera work and using the base of the Eiffel Tower as a starting point. It was great to see the creativity of the children and see them engage so well with this task.

Year 2 have enjoyed learning some British Sign Language today during our Languages Curriculum Day. They learnt how to introduce themselves and fingerspell their name. In the afternoon they shared what they had learnt with their Year 5 buddies.

We have been learning some British Sign Language. This week we focused on emotions. We learnt how to say how we were feeling using BSL. Here are some children to show you what we learnt. We also learnt that when you are signing it is important that your facial expression matches your sign, so when you sign ‘sad’ you need to look sad.

This week in their languages lesson, the Year 6 children have been learning about the traditions of Chinese New Year. Miss Chen brought in a traditional lion’s head and body and the children had the opportunity to try these on and pretend that they were part of this animal. They also created special red envelopes that bring good fortunes in line with Chinese New Year traditions.

In Mandarin this week, Year 5 looked at the Chinese New Year celebrations.

They enjoyed recreating the traditional dragon dance and exploring other festivities.

Watch Miss Bettermann reading a Spanish story and have your Languagenut login ready to practise at home.

https://www.languagenut.com/en-gb/

This week, Nursery found some strange footprints in the classroom which led outside. We discussed who they might belong to and what the creature might look like.

This week in outdoor learning children went for a walk and found an assortment of treasures: grasses, flowers, leaves, buds, and sticks. They came back together and created faces out of the treasures they found.

We started the half term exploring how to work out area. Initially, we looked at the best way to measure surfaces using different shapes and made estimations using our finger tips. We moved onto counting squares and worked out the area of our names by drawing them on squared paper. Then we made a 1m x 1m stencil and went out onto the playground with chalk and created our own compound shapes – though the weather was not kind to us that day!

Once children were confident working out area counting squares we introduced the calculation length x width. Children were then able to work out the area of rectangles and compound shapes using this calculation. Finally, working in groups they used their knowledge of area to reason and problem solve.

Linked to this year’s Big Garden Bird Watch, here are some photos from Year 6’s bird watching activities in Outdoor Learning this morning.  Children enjoyed constructing their own bird hides, watercolour painting and making bird feeders.

Year 3 enjoyed learning about garden birds this morning. Many of them said they found it relaxing to listen to birdsong while they sketched and bird watched.  Here are a few photos.

This week in Outdoor Learning, each year 4 class has written a poem about winter.

Year 2 have enjoyed some outdoor learning today. They played a game about outdoor activities that are healthy for them and the environment e.g. planting fruit and vegetables.  The children then collected natural materials to make a healthy meal.  They had catkin sweetcorn, stone potatoes and even twig asparagus!  

We went on our own adventure today. We spotted lots of signs of Autumn on our walk. When we got back to school we talked about where we had gone and what we had seen. We learnt about time conjunctions to help us retell and then write a recount of our walk.

Year 6 made purple poppies to remember the animals that have helped in war.  We were really impressed with the concentration and grit and determination shown by all the children!

Year 3 had fun problem solving today. We applied all of the skills we had learnt so far this week.

We have been learning about different symbols in RE. We have thought about what the symbol of the cross means to Christians. We made stained glass windows to help us explore this.

Creation and Science: Conflicting or Complementary? Year 6 have been exploring this ‘Big Question’ in RE and have had some very insightful and mature conversations in response to it. Children have discussed the Christian story of creation in Genesis as well as The Big Bang and Evolution theories and thought critically about how the two can be both in conflict and complement one another. Using topic-specific vocabulary, they have produced some high-quality pieces of work to visually represent the main ideas of both religious and scientific perspectives. Children have demonstrated great reflection skills whilst also considering their own thoughts and beliefs.

This week, Year 4 visited Norwich Cathedral where they learnt about some important features of Christianity and the building of the Cathedral. 

We also visited the mosque on Rose Lane where they learnt about the Five Pillars of Islam. The children asked many thoughtful questions about Muslim beliefs. 

In addition to this, we spent time with Edith Cavell who told us all about her life and how she became a nurse, helping injured soldiers. We then visited her grave which is located at Norwich Cathedral.

It was a very busy but enjoyable day!

Today, our Year 1 pupils learnt more about the reasons behind shrove Tuesday and the start of lent. They designed their own pancakes, before getting to try them out in class!

This week we started to read the book Meerkat Mail. We met Sunny the Meerkat who lives in the Kalahari desert. The children found out about meerkats, where they live, what they eat and how they survive in the desert. We also received a post card from Sunny. Sunny told them about his habitat and the children wrote down some of the things they learnt from the postcard. We also found out about the Jewish Creation Story and about the importance of Shabbat, which is the Jewish day of rest.

Year 3 went to the cathedral today for an advent/nativity experience. We learnt all about Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and the kings. The children were safe, ready and respectful and enjoyed dressing up, doing craft and seeing different items.

Y5 are currently exploring the enquiry question ‘How has belief in Christianity and Islam impacted on music and art through history?’ To help launch our enquiry Y5 had a visit from Reverend Laura Montgomery, who spoke to the children about Christian art and music. They discussed the importance of religious art and music and how it has changed over history.

Reverend Laura Montgomery shocked the children by playing them music they were familiar with but had not originally made the link back to Christianity.

Year 2 have been learning about why light is an important symbol in Judaism. We have learnt about the Maccabees, the festival of Hanukkah and about the importance of the candles on a menorah.

Across our afternoons in Year 6 we have been learning about a plethora of things! In RE, we have been learning about ‘non violence’ and what this means in Hinduism; non violence is known as ‘ahimsa’ and refers to the idea that all violence against any living creature is prohibited because all living creatures have souls. Within Hinduism, there is the belief that if one causes suffering, that person will then have suffering in their own life later on.

“True ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all!” Ghandi.

Maybe this week you can spend some time thinking about the compassion that you cultivate in your own lives – how do you help those around you feel loved? How do you like to feel loved and appreciated? What can you do as an act of kindness this week for family, friends, a stranger?

This half term Y5 have been learning about humanists and what they believe. We were able to explore humanist beliefs in the classroom and had open discussion on how these beliefs may differ from our own. We were also lucky to welcome a visitor into school from the ‘Understanding Humanism Society’. Children were able to ask questions of our visitor in order to deepen their understanding of what it means to be a humanist. They were set the task afterwards to design what they believe a Humanist building might look like. Their imaginations went wild and they created some amazing looking buildings that incorporated humanist values.

This week, Year 4 have been learning about changes of state. To understand how a solid can turn into a liquid, we melted milk, white and dark chocolate. We investigated the time if took each one to melt completely, to see if there was a difference in their melting temperatures.

Today we had a visit from Mad Scientist, Dr D.N.A. who talked to us about various inventors and different types of forces. We watched and took part in air pressure experiments using a Bernoulli balloon. We blew up a balloon with only one puff! We also watched as Dr. D.N.A controlled a huge inflatable football in the air with her industrial ‘hair dryer’! We ended our science show by learning about static electricity. We used a Van de Graaff generator to create static energy. We even managed to create sparks and pass on static electricity from one person to another!

We have had a blast for British Science Week 2023. Miss Taylor has created an amazing new display in school and the children have been finding out about chromatography, fingerprinting and magnetics in our special lunchtime science workshops!

We recently had a visit from a veterinary nurse. She spoke to us about how to look after different pets. Year 1 found it very interesting.

Today Mrs Carpenter brought her pet tortoise called Tilly to school.

We spent time with Tilly and asked Mrs Carpenter lots of questions to find out about what it is like to have a tortoise as a pet.

This half term we have been reading the story ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. It has been an inspiring book to our young writers and they have produced some amazing work.

They were disgusted to hear about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest so wrote persuasive letters to the Brazilian Ambassador to encourage him to stop the clearing of the rainforest. We got so immersed in the story that the children wrote a descriptive setting piece about their own journey through the Amazon, concentrating on using their five senses. Finally, we ended the term on writing diamante poems about some of the animals we met in the story so far.

To finish our ‘Electrify’ topic this half term, we made ‘Iron Men’ with flashing LED lights for eyes. The children used their knowledge about complete circuits to make the eyes. Some even included a home made switch in their circuit so they could make the eyes flash.

Yesterday we welcomed visitors from a range of companies to help host our annual careers fair. Year 6 pupils got to find out about careers in technology, engineering, environmental sciences, media, firefighting and town planning. Thank you so much to everyone who gave up their time to help our pupils find out more about future career options.

Today we looked at what our bodies need in order to survive. As part of this, we looked at the Eatwell plate and grouped foods into the correct groups.

We learnt that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat.

SESMA joined reception for a martial arts session. Children learned to block, punch, guard and kick. They enjoyed the session and understood that martial arts is a discipline which they only practice during classes.

We had our new bike station installed today, with all the tools needed to maintain and repair bikes. It even includes a foot pump! Our pupils have been trying it out this afternoon.

Today, we entered a Y6 dodgeball tournament at the UEA sportspark. The children played four rounds of games in a group format and after winning the group and the semi final the children were through to the final. They were victorious after winning the sudden death round to win the competition. They showed amazing team work, concentration, grit and determination throughout.

The Y6 girls’ took part in the U11 EFL cup at the Nest. They played some great football and scored a lot of amazing goals. After winning their group and going through to the semi final, they got through to the final having not conceded a goal throughout the five games. The girls’ were showed grit, determination and teamwork all day but narrowly lost in the final to finished second – what an achievement overall.

The Queen’s Hills swimming team swam at the UEA Interschools Gala last Thursday. They all swam brilliantly, winning many of their races. Of all the schools that competed, we were placed third, which is a huge achievement for our first major gala. A big well done to you all. We are very proud of you.

Well done to the Y3/4 children who attended the World Cup themed football event today at the Nest.

This week, some of the girls’ in year 3/4 and 6 got to take part in a football competition. The girls’ played very well with the two teams scoring lots of goals and showing great teamwork. They all had a fantastic time and represented Queen’s Hill very well.

Today for KS2 music assembly, we welcomed Norwich High School.

The children had lots of fun learning different vocal warm ups and were treated to an oboe, cello and trumpet demonstration.

What a great experience for the children!

Today, KS2 had a special visitor to show them brass instruments.

They were able to find out what makes a brass instrument different to others, how the tubing and size of instrument affects the sound and range as well as ask lots of questions!

What a brilliant opportunity!

The upper KS2 performance club treated staff and parents to a live performance after school today.

They showcased their hard work from this half term, presenting the song ‘a little circus’.

Their singing and choreography was amazing! We are very proud of their efforts.

Thank you to Miss Graham for using her talents to inspire our mini actors/actresses!

This term in Computing the children have been experimenting with digital music in Chrome Music Lab. This week they have used the Kandinsky app to make sounds by drawing different shapes and patterns. After testing out the sounds they could make, the children composed music that reminded them of space.

This term Mice class have been having Music lessons with Sistema and have been learning all about pulse, beat, melody and rhythm. They have learnt how to play different percussion instruments and have composed a Christmas song including writing the lyrics themselves!

The other two Year 2 classes are looking forward to their own music lessons in the coming terms.

This week year 1 have performed Christmas song for their grown ups, used a paint program to draw snowmen and learnt the story of Lost and Found. The children are learning the story and planning it out ready to write it independently next week.

A year of practicing finally paid of in such a spectacular way!

Y5 performed at the #WeWill Sing concert, held at Orminston Victory Academy. They performed three songs and not only did then have to learn the words they also performed the songs in BSL ensuring inclusivity to all.

We are so proud of Y5 for their dedication to this project and thank #WeWill Sing for the opportunity to preform and raise money for such worthy causes.

The children have been busy over the last 6 months learning the songs ‘One moment, one people’ and ‘When I Grow Up’. Today they got the chance to perform with other schools, from across the county, at Ormiston Victory Academy. They were also taught the BSL actions to go along with the songs. We can’t wait to invite you all to the final performance – watch this space for a date to be announced.

Today in Year 3 we performed the song we had been learning (let your spirit fly) and looked at composing skills. We recapped quavers, crotchets and minims before attempting to write them.

Mr. James organised a whole-school curriculum day today. It started with an assembly all about how to keep safe online, then year groups completed lessons on topics including how stop bullying online, the impact of technology on sleep and what to do if you feel like something isn’t right online. In the afternoon, our KS2 classes joined up with their buddy classes in Reception, Year 1 and 2 and helped them create safer internet day posters to put up around our school.

This term in Computing the children have been experimenting with digital music in Chrome Music Lab. This week they have used the Kandinsky app to make sounds by drawing different shapes and patterns. After testing out the sounds they could make, the children composed music that reminded them of space.

This week year 1 have performed Christmas song for their grown ups, used a paint program to draw snowmen and learnt the story of Lost and Found. The children are learning the story and planning it out ready to write it independently next week.

Today, the children learnt how to make music digitally using the Purple Mash program ‘2Sequence’. During the lesson children worked in pairs on ipads whilst exploring, editing and combining sounds using 2Sequence. It was great to listen to what music each pair composed!

Year 3 have had a great afternoon learning all about algorithms and coding in their computing lesson today!

We had our new bike station installed today, with all the tools needed to maintain and repair bikes. It even includes a foot pump! Our pupils have been trying it out this afternoon.

Each term the children in Reception draw a self portrait and sign it off with their name. We have been so impressed with how much they have improved since the beginning of the year in both their drawing and their writing. We also use this as an opportunity to discuss our similarities and differences. We look in the mirror as we draw, paying close attention to what we can see.

It was Anti-Bullying Day in school. In year 1 we read a story called Mixed by Aree Chung. It inspired us to create our own art around the story. We drew our own cities and used finger paint to create the people. The children loved mixing the paint to create as many different colours as they could for their towns. They then turned these finger prints into people.

We also had a circle time about what makes a good friend. We shared our own ideas with each other about the things we can do to be a good friend.

We had a wonderful day working together in our year group and also meeting up with our Y2 ‘Buddy Classes’. As a year group we looked at what the word ‘bullying’ means and acted through scenarios so that we could better understand how bullying can effect our mental-wellbeing.

We read the story ‘Emmanuel’s Dream,’ which is a true story about the boy Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah. The children wrote a letter to Emmanuel explaining how he has inspired them and what they will do to make others with physical disabilities feel accepted. 

In the afternoon, we met up with our buddy classes and made our very own sock puppets. The children were incredibly creative and loved adding on the sequin and glitter details.

Here are some year 4 children enjoying their myHappymind lesson. In the celebrate module, we have been learning about character strengths we have and how we show them. The children used some time to reflect about which character traits they have used recently and wrote about them in their journals.

Year 6 had a very informative talk from two local police officers. The officers talked about their role in the community, how they can be contacted in both emergency and non-emergency circumstances and different legal consequences for certain actions. The children listened wonderfully and demonstrated our school rules throughout the session.

The Rotakids have been out in the local community completing a litter pick. The children were shocked with how much rubbish they found but are happy knowing that they have made a positive impact on their local community.

This week, to link in with our English work on Shackleton’s adventure to Antarctica, we have spent some time in the outdoor classroom learning about basic first aid. We have role played various situations, including asthma attacks, bleeding and calling for an ambulance!

The key points we learnt were:

• To keep calm 
• Check it’s safe to help
• Ask what happened and what hurts
• Say kind, comforting things
• Take action if you can
• Get help (an adult or call 999)

This week in Year 4, we have learned about safety. We learned about internet safety, road safety and fire safety. Then, this afternoon, we learned about how we stay safe when undergoing science experiments.

We looked at permission in RSE today. We discussed different scenarios and explored why it is important to ask for permission.

It was Anti-Bullying Day in school. In year 1 we read a story called Mixed by Aree Chung. It inspired us to create our own art around the story. We drew our own cities and used finger paint to create the people. The children loved mixing the paint to create as many different colours as they could for their towns. They then turned these finger prints into people.

We also had a circle time about what makes a good friend. We shared our own ideas with each other about the things we can do to be a good friend.

We had a wonderful day working together in our year group and also meeting up with our Y2 ‘Buddy Classes’. As a year group we looked at what the word ‘bullying’ means and acted through scenarios so that we could better understand how bullying can effect our mental-wellbeing.

We read the story ‘Emmanuel’s Dream,’ which is a true story about the boy Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah. The children wrote a letter to Emmanuel explaining how he has inspired them and what they will do to make others with physical disabilities feel accepted. 

In the afternoon, we met up with our buddy classes and made our very own sock puppets. The children were incredibly creative and loved adding on the sequin and glitter details.

We looked at how our bodies change as we get older. We created these top trump cards and compared how different things change.

Here are some year 4 children enjoying their myHappymind lesson. In the celebrate module, we have been learning about character strengths we have and how we show them. The children used some time to reflect about which character traits they have used recently and wrote about them in their journals.

In RSHE, year 4 have been learning about marriage. We discussed that marriage is a legal commitment that people make to each other to be in a loving and respectful relationship. We also discussed the difference between arranged and forced marriage. In class, we staged a wedding between two teddies to understand the vows that are made between people who get married. The children made a wanted poster of their ideal partner, when they grow up. We discussed all the things that make a good partner. Then, we asked them to think how they would feel if they did not have the choice to pick their partner. This highlighted the meaning of forced marriage.

This afternoon in Year 4, we have been thinking about the similarities and differences that we have with one another. As part of our lesson, we created a ‘web of similarities’ to discover all the things that connect us together. These included the types of families we have, our favourite pets and our hobbies.

We enjoyed learning something new about our friends!

Year 2 had a fantastic time at Duxford Museum on Friday. They enjoyed seeing all of the planes including a replica of Amy Johnson’s plane Jason. The children were also very excited that they got to go inside the Concorde aeroplane.

Today we had a visit from Mad Scientist, Dr D.N.A. who talked to us about various inventors and different types of forces. We watched and took part in air pressure experiments using a Bernoulli balloon. We blew up a balloon with only one puff! We also watched as Dr. D.N.A controlled a huge inflatable football in the air with her industrial ‘hair dryer’! We ended our science show by learning about static electricity. We used a Van de Graaff generator to create static energy. We even managed to create sparks and pass on static electricity from one person to another!

We have had a blast for British Science Week 2023. Miss Taylor has created an amazing new display in school and the children have been finding out about chromatography, fingerprinting and magnetics in our special lunchtime science workshops!

Today for KS2 music assembly, we welcomed Norwich High School.

The children had lots of fun learning different vocal warm ups and were treated to an oboe, cello and trumpet demonstration.

What a great experience for the children!

On Wednesday, we were delighted to invite PC Taylor in to talk to the children about his role as a policeman. He explained about that, in an emergency, you can call the police using 999. He then gave them a virtual tour of a police van and explained that when the sirens are on, police cars and vans are allowed to go through red lights and on the other side of the road. He then ‘arrested’ Miss Briggs! The children were really interested in the the police service and asked him lots of wonderful questions.

The children then had the opportunity to try on some of the police uniform, which they all loved. A huge THANK YOU to PC Taylor for such a fun and informative visit.

This week, Year 4 visited Norwich Cathedral where they learnt about some important features of Christianity and the building of the Cathedral. 

We also visited the mosque on Rose Lane where they learnt about the Five Pillars of Islam. The children asked many thoughtful questions about Muslim beliefs. 

In addition to this, we spent time with Edith Cavell who told us all about her life and how she became a nurse, helping injured soldiers. We then visited her grave which is located at Norwich Cathedral.

It was a very busy but enjoyable day!

Thank you to our wonderful community volunteers who gave every Year 6 pupil the opportunity to read aloud! The children loved being able to share their favourite stories with our visitors.

We recently had a visit from a veterinary nurse. She spoke to us about how to look after different pets. Year 1 found it very interesting.

As part of our learning on transport, Sarah came in to talk to the year group about her role as a bus driver. She talked to the children about all aspects of her role, from keeping her passengers safe, understanding the bus timetables and maps to the road signs that she has to follow. We discussed how to catch a bus and ask a bus to stop once you are onboard. We also talked about how using the bus can help the environment.

Sarah also kindly made each class their own bus stop and driver lanyards so that they could enjoy role playing being a bus driver – which the children have loved! Thank you for a fabulous talk and awesome resources for the children!

To mark the end of world book week, Miss Hicks organised for local author, Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward, to join our school for the day. He visited all of the classrooms today, to read his story and inspire others to write their own book. Nigel’s books: Freddie’s Impossible Dream and What’s That? were illustrated by his son Robbie, who was 8 years-old when he drew the pictures for their first book. The books are about the power of imagination, chasing your dreams and never giving up.

A big thank you to Nigel Lungenmuss-Ward for joining us. You can find out more about his books on his website: www.thatbookguy.co.uk/books