Term Starts:
Monday 20/4/20
May Day:
8/5/20
Half Term:
25/5/20 - 29/5/20
End of Term: Wednesday 15/7/20
SCHOOL YEAR
2020-2021
Autumn Term 2020
Term Starts:
Wednesday 2/9/20
Half Term:
19/10/20 - 30/10/20
End of Term: Friday 11/12/20
Spring Term 2021
Term Starts:
Tuesday 5/1/21
Half Term:
15/2/21 - 19/2/21
End of Term: Thursday 1/4/21
Summer Term 2021
Term Starts:
Monday 19/4/21
May Day:
3/5/21
Half Term:
31/5/21 - 4/6/21
End of Term: Wednesday 16/7/21
ISSUE: 408 1st May 2020
IMPORTANT PARENT INFORMATION
Cool Cats Uniform Supplier: TGPS website - Please access the Uniform & Equipment heading on the home page there is a direct link to the Cool Cats website.
WEEKLY EVENTS
W/C 4th May SCHOOL CLOSED - DISTANCE LEARNING CONTINUES FOR MAJORITY OF CHILDREN
SCHOOL OPEN FOR CHILDREN OF KEYWORKERS 8AM - 6PM.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
1-15.5.2020 Exam Week
18-19.6.2020 Junior Production
24.6.2020 Sports Day
26.6.2020 Sports Day (Reserve 1)
1.7.2020 Sports Day (Reserve 2)
6.7.2020 Speech Day
10.7.2020 Year 6 Leavers' Service
15.7.2020 Last Day of Term
1.5.20 - Video Message from Mrs Korcz to Parents and Children
What do you get when you cross a magician with a tree?
Trick or Tree …….
Weird but true fact of the week
A sheep, a duck and a rooster where the first passengers on a hot air balloon.
Interesting Fact of the week
A chameleon can stretch its tongue more than three times its body length.
News of the week
Leatherback turtles have taken advantage of empty beaches in Thailand to build largest number of nests in 20 years. Authorities have found 11 nests so far. The leatherback is the world’s largest sea turtle. Another sign of the world changing for the positive during lockdown and minimising pollution and nature being able to thrive.
Something to do.
Aidan suggests -
Drawing blindfold challenge.
Try drawing your favourite animal blind folded.
I will share my attempt next week.
Previous challenge
The previous "something to do" was to draw the alphabet with your left hand (if you were right handed) and if you were left handed, with your right hand. My attempt is here, I'm not quite sure what happened when I got to the letters U and V!
There is only one way to teach about the life of a Celtic warrior during live lessons and that is to apply the woad and become one! Well I say woad - The children and myself used anything we could find at home - face paint, coffee Mum's mascara! It did the trick as the photos show and Class 3 enjoyed a thoroughly interactive live lesson.
Class two are currently undergoing a Leonardo Da Vinci project. They have learned a little about his life and his work. They have briefly looked at some of his work, inventions and much more. This week they watched a video tutorial of how to paint Mona Lisa. The attention was to detail, getting her body shape correct with the arms poised in that tricky position. As you can see all the children have met the brief and have followed the brief. Each child has had an opportunity to capture their individuality, as can be seen through the differing pieces of art.
As part of our termly topic on 'Habitats' the Reception class were given two outdoor creative challenges. The first was to go into their garden and make a habitat for minibeasts: like a bug hotel or a wormery. The second challenge was to create a special rainbow using a photo of a rainbow as an inspiration. They could make one using man made materials or go outside into their garden and see if they could make a rainbow using different natural materials in the garden. The results were amazing as you can see from the array of photos. What truly creative outdoor learning!
Daniel also took a lovely photo of a pigeon that has decided to make its nest in his back garden!
This term's Geography topic for Year One is Weather. Last week we were looking at the associated vocabulary and this week the children were assigned the task of presenting and recording their own weather forecast. Although the weather around the United Kingdom is predicted to be very mixed by our team of specialist forecasters, I'm sure that you'll agree their sunny personalities will ensure that the outlook, wherever you are, is very bright. Enjoy watching!
Year 6 have been reading sections of Matilda and answering questions about the text, the plot, the characters and trying hard to include quotes in our answers.
Here are some gorgeous LEGO creations that some of Class 4 have done, as a 'rainbow build' challenge to show their support for all the NHS and social care workers. They had to use rainbow coloured bricks to build anything of their choice and there are some wonderful creations from rainbows, to hospitals, rainbow houses and rainbow robots.
After being inspired by her time at Infant Sewing Club, Eva C. has created this beautiful and impressive piece of inspirational embroidery in tribute to the frontline workers of the NHS. How wonderful is that?
A big thank you from Mrs Jarvis to all her pupils, as she has had 100% attendance on all her Skype and Zoom lessons!
Her pupils target this week is: to learn a piece in one week and play it by following the music independently rather than looking at your hands!
Learning Together
Gracie-Mae, form Year 1 and her Mum have had a beginner piano lesson with me, learning how to create a duet together. They were taught to sing 'tick tock' while playing to keep in time with each other. They did this after only 10 minutes of learning - very impressed!
I'm looking forward to seeing them next Monday to see how their duetting has developed!
Class One's Art lesson today involved going outside and making a piece of art using only natural resources...Leonie made the face and Ralph made the landscape with clouds and flowers! Pretty impressive I think!
C.S.I. English Teacher Kidnapped
Third year Secondary Students to the rescue
During last week's English classes we carried out a great project. We had to pretend to be C.S.I. agents to solve a mystery in groups. It was a lot of fun since every time we solved enigmas (which were from all our subjects) the teacher gave us a clue, until we finally discovered the mystery. Andrea López Sánchez 3rd C
We participated from home in the search for our English teacher who had been kidnapped. The activity involved solving several enigmas and racking our brains together to get the clues we needed to find out who the kidnappers were, why the crime had been perpetrated and where the victim was being held. After solving them, we had to record a conclusion and send it to our teacher. It was great fun because it allowed us to work in groups, interview witnesses and possible culprits, and discuss with our classmates what had happened and who was guilty. Rodrigo García Dieguez 3rd A
On receiving a video from our English teacher in which she told us she had been kidnapped by one of our teachers we rushed to her aid. The first day we received two maps of Vimianzo, the place where our Galician Language teacher comes from. So we decided to interrogate her.
The next day we received some audios and other clues, but some of them were red herrings to mislead us. Although we thought about it a lot, we couldn't find a logical answer to this kidnapping.
The last day we received the most important clues for our investigation, some audios and a piece of paper with the word “AGRA” written, which were crucial. After so much thinking and talking with some of our teachers, we concluded that it was a gang! Yes, two people did this kidnapping, our Galician Language teacher and our Physics and Chemistry teacher. Also we concluded that they were hiding her at the Muiño da Agra, in Vimianzo.
We had the names of the kidnappers and where she was, but we needed to answer another question, why did they kidnap her? We continued thinking and we revised all the clues. And finally we concluded that she was kidnapped because she won the Euromillón!
This was a great and fun experience and a very big challenge for us. I’d like to congratulate our English teacher María Posse because she ́s done some excellent work in creating this activity for us. Also to all teachers that participated creating the enigmas and answering all of our questions. Thank you!! Eduardo Carreira Pérez 3rd C
The Oxford Dictionary defines the term “resilience” as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”.
This week, the Year 5 classes eagerly started prepping and practicing for their virtual oral presentations about their experiences of distance learning. They have quickly adapted to a different way of answering questions in the form of interactive Google Slides and Google Docs assignments. We have been performing experiments on shadows and mirrors at home, and are marveled at how much science can be done using nothing but ordinary household items!
If we take a look at the circumstances in which majority of the world currently finds itself, it is safe to say that we have all been exposed to a fair share of both difficulties and toughness over the past number of weeks. While observing how commendably the Year 5 students have been able to adapt to this uncertain and unstable situation, something beautiful has caught my eye; The Resilience of Education.
Before we could learn about shadows, periscopes, factors and multiples, we were faced with the challenge of teaching ourselves how to navigate through a new digital world in which this learning was to take place. A tremendous amount of pressure is placed on students, parents and teachers to not only ensure the schoolwork has been adequately done, but to do so without the support, structure and comfort of their daily school routines.
The Year 5 students have very quickly proven that no matter what obstacles or setbacks we are faced with, determination and hard work will always prevail. They have taken the bull by the horns and, in some instances, taught me a thing or two. Education could never be confined to the idea of only an educator providing insight and information to a student. If there is one thing that this lockdown has taught me it is that, even in a time of isolation and social distancing, there is so much we can learn from each other – no matter our age or title.
I could not be prouder to be a part of a community who has taken the unknown and, through strength and resolution, created an environment full of unity, understanding and bucket loads of support. We may have no classroom, no school desks, no whiteboards or projectors, but as long as we have eager minds – ready to learn – education and will always be possible.
Robyn Pieters
Year 5 Teacher
Blouberg International School SOUTH AFRICA
School Bus Collection Points & Times
Bookings for this week:
Please contact the school office to book a place for your child.
8.10am Normanton on Cliffe
8.20am Ancaster
8.25am Wilsford
On Fridays the bus will run 15 minutes earlier to ensure pupils arrive in time for the *Music Machine" School Band rehearsal.
Access to the School Building after 4.30pm
As you are all aware there is now a gate which has a key code access to the Creche in the evening. If you do not have the code, please call 01476 593293 and your call will be answered by Creche.
