Headmistress’s Newsletter

Issue 201 20 January 2023

Barnardos
As a school we are very proud to support the work of the children's charity, Barnardo's. The organisation
is very close to our hearts and we fully endorse its aims to 'protect, support and nurture' every child in
need. Every Friday in our Celebration Assembly Barnardo's Bear is given out to the class who has raised
the most money in their collection tins.

This week some of our Year 6 children gave Mr Laubach a well deserved rest and delivered the Monday
assembly to the rest of the school. During their assembly they explained the origins of the
charity, drawing on the book 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty to tell the story of the real life boy called Jim
Jarvis who inspired 'Dr' Thomas Barnardo to open his first shelter in 1866.

Thank you to Avtar, Raaja, Hugo, Janai, Dulcie, Elliott, Kaelo and Daniel for helping us remember the
importance of this charity.
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More confectionary in Year 2!

Children explored 3D shapes properties and structures this week using

sticks and sweets. Year 2 were able to identify the number of faces, edges,
and vertices of their structures. I think they enjoyed eating a few too…..
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Fractions in Year 5
Year 5 have been getting creative with fractions over the past couple of weeks. They started by
discussing how we use fractions in our everyday life. The children created their own equivalent
fractions using bar models. They also used bar models to help understand how to convert
improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.

Some children looked at flags from around the world and tried to work out the fraction of each
colour. By working in pairs, the children explored a fraction tarsia puzzle. Mr Laubach and Mrs
Green have been impressed with the problem solving skills on display. In addition to this, Year 5
have also spent time building other skills including: adding fractions, subtracting fractions and
simplifying.
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Silver:
Reception are the
class winners this Jayden (yr R)
week, with 9 Jessica (yr R)
certificates in total. Demi (yr 2)
Well done! Naavya (yr 2)
Aarush (yr 6)

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" called the witch. And then, using
Rapunzel's hair as a rope, up she climbed, because that was the only way in to
the tower.

Year 2 children have been reading Bethan Woollvin's version of Rapunzel this term in
their English lessons. This week they completed their diary entries as Rapunzel and
Miss Dhillon and Mrs Ellis were so impressed with how the children have used first
person pronouns, past tense verbs and emotive language to show how Rapunzel is
feeling and thinking. What wonderful work!
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Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

On 22nd January, this Sunday, people from China

and all around the world will be celebrating the
Chinese New Year festival. 2023 is the year of the
rabbit. In year 3, Alex and Anderson will be
celebrating with their families.

This Wednesday, Year 3 entertained their

parents and the school with their wonderfully
informative Chinese New Year assembly. There
were facts about China, a story performance, a
Chinese song and even a dragon dance!

Well done year 3! You were amazing. We are all

proud of you.
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Tasty Treats!
Wednesday was baking day in Early Years. The children made starfish biscuits by reading a recipe
and following the stepped instructions. The biscuits were beautifully decorated and totally
delicious!
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Year 5 - Oxford German Olympiad Planning – Full Steam Ahead!

Year 5 have produced some wonderful initial designs for their

entries into the annual Oxford German Olympiad.

The task this year is to design a showpiece cake for the Wiener
Opernball gala dinner. The children’s imaginations are in full
flow as you can see from their first ideas. We can’t wait to see
their final entries! Good luck to them all.
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Miss Maclean had great fun in art club this week with a bit of
photography; the children took photos of each other, printed them
and then manipulated the images in different ways to create these
great abstract self portraits! Can you work out who they are?
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ANIMATIONS
Year 4 have been enjoying animating over the last few weeks. The class have
created a number of cartoons, using a collection of still frames blended together.
The results have been fantastic and each cartoon has varied in many ways. Lots of
new skills have been developed such as ‘onion skinning’. This involves adding
subtle shadows to items to make it appear as if it is moving. Year 4 have also been
adding sounds and backgrounds to their animations in order to make a more
coherent end result. Today, the class learnt how to include a ‘Pause’ at the end of
the animation by copying and pasting the last frame a few times. This adds a sense
of finality to a sequence. Mr Laubach has been hugely impressed with the results
and would encourage Year 4 to show everyone at home what they have been up
to. Well done to them all.