Parent internet safety workshop

We have organised for our Richmond Council online safety expert, Mr Peter Cowley, to come and lead a parent workshop for us on the morning of Friday, 10th February, from 9-10.30am. Please strongly consider coming along to the session, aimed at helping parents to ensure children are safe online. 

St Mary's prayer group

Every Friday morning after drop off, a group of parents meets in the bungalow, to pray for the needs of the school. Anyone is very welcome to join, from 9am. We are very grateful for the prayerful support this group offers every week. 

Class Assemblies 

You are warmly invited to come along and watch the children lead collective worship on the dates below. All the assemblies take place straight after drop off, at 9am in the school hall:

Thursday, 26th Jan - Reception
Thursday, 23rd Feb - Year 3
Thursday, 2nd Mar - Year 5
Thursday, 9th Mar - Year 2
Thursday, 23rd Mar - Year 1
Friday, 31st Mar - Year 4 leading Easter service at St Mary's Parish church
(Year 6 to follow next term)

Have a great weekend and God bless you all,

Matt White

Headteacher 

Weekly Curriculum updates
 

Year 1

This week in Year 1 we have continued our work on space and the moon and, in history, have been learning about Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission.  In English we have been reading Sidney, Stella and the Moon by Emma Yarlett, writing posters and news articles about the moon's mysterious disappearance as well as discussing the dilemma story line.  In maths we have been looking at addition and number bonds to 20, using our developing understanding of place value to find efficient ways of calculating and remembering number bonds.  In art we have continued to work on our mixed media space art project.  This week we have been using marbling ink to print and create colourful planets.  We then finished the week with a wonderful forest school experience on Friday.

Year 2
 

This week in Year 2, we have been enjoying winter poetry and exploring how writers use imagery to create a picture in the mind of the reader. We have practised using imagery to write about winter weather. We have also been learning about the Great Fire of London. We learned where the fire started and why it spread so quickly through London. We learned about the different sources of information that tell us about the fire and found out all about Samuel Pepys. We enjoyed learning about what he buried in his garden! In maths, we have been learning how to divide, by grouping and through sharing. We have also learned about odd and even numbers.

Year 3

This week the children have been working very hard across all areas of the curriculum. We had our first swimming session this week, which went ahead smoothly due to the children's outstanding behaviour! A really big WELL DONE to all of Quito Class for getting changed super quickly and being ready to take part in the swimming session. Next week, we will spend more time in the pool developing skills. In Maths, we have continued to develop multiplication knowledge by problem solving and using multiplication facts to solve bigger number problems. In English, Quito Class have been inspired by the text 'The Mousehole Cat' to their own setting descriptions of a storm in Mousehole that include personification to make their writing come to life. Both Miss Firmin and Mrs Das-Mahon have been impressed with the lively language the children have used. Here are a few examples of some of the phrases the children have come up with: 'the raging wind punched through the air... the colossal waves leapt across the skyline... the deathly thunder made the lighthouse quiver with its roar.' In Science, we started out new topic of Magnets and Forces, where pupils explored push and pull forces around the classroom and came up with their own push or pull freeze frame to demonstrate that force. In Art this week, we found out about Heather Hansen's performance art incorporating two handed symmetrical charcoal drawing and dance! We created our own super large symmetrical charcoal drawings while listening to music to inspire us. We can't wait to share these with you!

Year 4

Rome Class have continued reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; we designed our own golden tickets and wrote character descriptions of Augustus Gloop using similes, metaphors and relative clauses. In French, we started to learn about fruits and how to say we liked or disliked different fruits. In PE, we developed our jumping skills practising straddle jumps, pike jumps, cat leaps and half-turns. In science, we learnt about the different kinds of teeth we have and the purpose of each tooth. During maths lessons, we have been looking at more complex multiplication problems such as multiplying a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number and multiplying more than two numbers. We are looking forward to our chocolate making workshop next week!

Year 5

This week in year five, the children have continued learning about the Solar System. We read and performed some of the cosmic poetry to each other whilst analysing the language features used by Grace Nichols. In science, the class looked at the history of geocentric versus heliocentric theory, with a focus on the great scientific minds and what they thought about it. The children continued with multiplication in maths, multiplying four digit by two digit numbers using column method; we then moved on to short division. In art, we made print pictures with paint and string and in geography we looked at early settlers and their requirements for the land they chose as base camp. In RE, we continued looking at the miracles of Jesus with the story of feeding the 5000 and in PSHE we discussed our aspirations for the future. Finally, in computing, the children used Sketchup as an architectural tool to design their own buildings. Please note that next week on Friday it is our Forest School day again: children will need wet weather clothes that they don’t mind getting dirty and boots. 

Year 6

This week, Year 6 have been continuing with our Victorian history topic. We created 'Wanted' posters for Dodger from Oliver Twist in English and learnt about the jobs poor Victorian children had, creating matchboxes (from 2D nets) to depict the poorest job of them all. In maths, we learnt how to plot coordinates in all four quadrants as well as translating and reflecting polygons. In science, we studied Aristotle's 'Ladder of Life' and classified living things into the five kingdoms that he devised. We were surprised to find out that corals, sea lilies and sponges were actually zoophytes - animals that look like plants! In gymnastics, we revised how to perform different rolls and had a go at challenging ourselves with a dive forwards roll and pike backwards roll. 

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