Curriculum News
The Boy at the Back of the Class
The Swans had an amazing time in Cambridge yesterday. The Boy At The Back Of The Class was incredible; the children loved it and it really did serve to embed all they had learnt about migration in their previous Geography/English topic. We also took time to look at...
Chitting Potatoes
Miss Bailey showed the children a bag and asked the children to guess what was inside. They opened it to find potatoes. Miss Bailey read the instructions and the children looked and helped Miss Bailey to place the seed potatoes on the chitting tray. Miss Bailey said...
Chinese New Year
On Monday 12th February the children celebrated Chinese New Year. The children listened to Miss Jones as she talked about the Chinese New Year. They took part in different activities - making lucky red envelopes, making Chinese dragons and colouring in dragon...
100 Days of School Celebrations
Florence told Miss Jones that we had been at school for 100 days and found number 100 on the hundred square and wrote number 100. The children came to school in their 100 Day T- shirts and outfits. To celebrate our 100 days of school, Laura the school cook baked us a...
Toy Museum
The children welcomed their family members to Kingfishers Toy Museum. The children took on the role of tour guide. The children showed their family member around the toy museum. Thank you for coming the children really enjoyed showing their visitors around the toy...
Owls!!
The Swans have been writing reports about Owls in English this term. To enhance their learning, we have been dissecting owl pellets! There were some interesting discoveries!
Puppets
This half term in Design Technology the children have focused on Puppets. The children have learned how to join fabrics together using different methods. The children learned how to pin, staple and glue two pieces of fabric together. The trickiest method was using...
Farmer James
The children were very excited to see the tractor arriving at school. They went out to see the tractor and Farmer James. Farmer James talked to the children about his tractor and about what he does on his farm. The children were able to answer questions that the...
Clay Animal Sculptures
The Reception children became ‘artists’ and thought about the question - Can we begin making a 3D clay sculpture using the designs created last lesson? The children listened to the instructions and explored the clay. The children were asked to create an animal...
RSPB Bird Watch
The children became bird watchers and went into the Forest Schools area to see what birds they could see and to count how many. They spotted a Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Wren, Pigeon, Seagull and Blackbird. They completed an RSPB check sheet and the...
Spider Sculpture
The Year One children became ‘artists’ and thought about the question - Can we plan and create a sculpture as a class? The children were introduced to the artist Louise Bourgeois and the Maman sculpture made from bronze. The children were asked to give adjectives to...
Still Life Images
In art, The Swans have been using oil pastels to create Still Life images. They worked hard on building up the layers to deepen the tone of their work as well as blending colours together to create depth and tone.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
The Swans have been learning about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution by Natural Selection. Using different sized tweezers and tongs and a variety of seeds, they had to work out which finch lived on which island. They learnt that the smaller finches with the...
Tree of Life Sculptures
The children in Kingfishers class thought about the question - Can we apply paper-shaping skills to make an imaginative sculpture? The children were asked to look at the 3D art on the board. They were then asked to pick one element from the model and re-create their...
Owls Forest School
This half term, Owls class are doing weekly Forest School sessions. We are linking these to our topic on the Battle of Hastings and the Norman invasion. In this week's den building challenge, children were challenged to build a den as similar as possible to a Norman...
Still Life in Swans
The Swans have begun their drawing unit: Still Life. This week we were drawing using charcoals. We looked at how shading can create depth to a drawing as well as proportion and space. They used white chalk to show the light reflecting off their object. Their work...
Young Voices 2024
On Friday 19th January, 20 children from Owls and Swans joined nearly 8,000 children from around the country, at the O2 arena, to take part in the Young Voices concert. The children performed with professional artists, including Urban Strides, Natalie Williams and...
3D Drawing
In their art lessons, the children continued focusing on Sculptures and 3D. Recently, the children became ‘artists’ and thought about the question - Can we shape paper to make a 3D drawing? The children continued to look at the work of the artist Samantha Stephenson....
Sculptures and 3D Creation Station – Play Dough
The children became ‘artists’ and thought about the questions - Can we explore playdough and its properties? Can we use tools safely and with confidence? The children started the lesson with a ‘Dough Dance Party’ manipulating the clay in time to music. Mrs Clark put...
Immersion Afternoon Toys
The children began exploring their new topic for this half term. The children received a parcel. Miss Jones opened it and read the letter. The children were asked to work together to complete a puzzle. The children worked as a team and completed the puzzle. They...
Art – Sculpture and 3D
This half term the children will be focusing on Sculptures and 3D in their art lessons. This afternoon the children became ‘artists’ and thought about the question - Can we roll paper to make 3D structures? The children looked at a piece of art by Samantha Stephenson...
Battle of Hastings
This half term, Owls' History topic is the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Invasion. We launched the topic with an immersion day. We looked at the three contenders to the throne in 1066: Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada and William, Duke of Normandy. We hot seated...
Wooden Reindeers!
The Swans had a great afternoon outside making their reindeers. They also learned how to strike sparks to create fire. Thank you Mrs Martin for all your help.
Moon Talk
On the evening of Monday 18th December, over 40 children and their families stayed after school to listen to a talk from Mike Barrett of the Dedham Vale Dark Skies campaign. During the talk, we were taught lots of facts about the Moon and about the various types of...