The Courier

Please click on the link below to read all about what the Reception Class have been learning this week.

Reception Round Up - 31012020

A damp January morning might not be everyone’s choice of day to take a trip to the seaside, but on Thursday 30 January Crescent’s Year 1 did just that, sauntering through holidays past and present, with a little help from the Freshwater Theatre Company.  

The class has been studying seaside holidays using the topic to develop their knowledge of the past and to appreciate the differences in the present.  Freshwater Theatre returned to the school to help bring their seaside studies to life. They ran a drama workshop giving the children a memorable and engaging trip through seaside holidays from 1910 through to the modern day. The children explored how holidays and pastimes have changed over the past century in a lively session packed full of holiday fun.

The workshop looked at the differences in transport, clothing, entertainment, food eaten, sun protection, how memories were recorded and changes in attitudes.

Class I teacher, Mrs Lisa Emery, said, “The children really enjoyed the workshops, they had a lot of fun while learning lots about seaside holidays.  They developed their historical skills, their knowledge of the changes that have happened during the last century and they were all able to share lots of new information they had learned from the session.”

Well done Year 1, you clearly all do like to be beside the seaside!

Year 2 took on the roles of nurses and soldiers when they met with the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale during a special drama workshop with The Freshwater Theatre Company.  The class will be studying Florence in their History lessons and workshop was the perfect introduction to their new topic.

Florence visited the school to tell the children all about her life. Starting with her childhood, her governess and her lessons and then onto her travels and her motivation to become a nurse. The children used drama activities such as role play and tableaux to explore her life and times.

Year 2 became nurses and prepared and travelled to the old Barrack Hospital in Scutari, her base during the Crimean War.  They then re-enacted life in hospital, improving the conditions by taking on tasks such as cleaning and caring for the soldiers and even emptying the chamber pots!

Mrs Ellie Monteith commented, “It was an excellent introduction to our history topic.  The children were all engaged and interested.  They were impressed with Florence Nightingale and enjoyed the practical hands-on experience. They discovered lots about her life and her nursing legacy.”

Class 2W has been making dream catchers this week using card circles and squares with lots of bright wool. They all started off learning the basic skills of making a simple circular one before working independently on their own designs. 

In Class 4M, we have been working on Legends. We have been looking at three legends:

Can You Catch a Mermaid? A book about friendship, loss and doing the right thing. This book had a selfish child in it, who wanted to keep the mermaid on land.

Beowulf, where our hero arrived on a boat with his warriors and defeated the monster Grendel. Beowulf had brave characters in it, and in the end good won over evil.  

The Seal Children, a tale about an ancient village and Selkies who lived human lives.

We were looking at language and for home work we created our own mythical creature to put in our legend.

We had all sorts of ideas, and our class came up with some like Fury, a winged bat creature, and Tragura, a scaly and spiky monster.

Then we came to do a planning sheet, and then we actually created a setting, then the beginning, middle and end.

It was a very nice thing to do…

In Thinking Skills Year 5 have been expanding their vocabulary using traditional dictionaries and thesaurus and more modern online tools. I've challenged the children to use their new vocabulary in their day to day conversations.

Years 5 and 6 had the most amazing trip to the theatre last week to the RSC in Stratford upon Avon to see the Boy in the Dress by David Walliams. It was a privilege to take the children who all thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Archie and Sienna have written a review each for you to read and you may wish to see it too - it is well worth it.

As part of our history topic, on local Victorians, Year 6 visited St Mark’s Church. The children explored the churchyard to find headstones from the Victorian era. They recorded names, ages and dates from the time period. Interesting observations were made about the time period, including the size of families, the young age of deaths and the number of children who died.

We were fortunate to be accompanied on the trip by Mrs Bevan, a church member and former local head teacher. She showed the children around the church and pointed out lots of beautiful Victorian features including the ornate church pews designed and built by the prestigious Victorian architect, George Bodley.

Mrs Bevan was a wonderful source of information about the church’s history and we all thoroughly enjoyed learning about the changes to St Mark’s and the village of Bilton saw during the time of Queen Victoria.

Philosophy club is where there is no right or wrong answer and a fun club on Tuesday mornings at 8.15am.  Mrs Webb teaches Philosophy Club and really enjoys her job. All the children really enjoy Philosophy Club.

There’s questions like “What could it be?” You do things like is it a truth or a lie. Would you rather? Sometimes Mrs Webb gets out games like Rubix cubes, a long plastic line that the child that gets it has to try and turn it into a ball and Simon swipe.

It is all about thinking differently.