Week beginning 19th December

Here we are at the end of a long term! The highlight of the week was Monday’s pantomime trip to see Cinderella at the Eric Morecambe Centre in Harpenden (picture below of the venue only as no photographs were allowed to be taken in the auditorium!). We have also enjoyed a fun craft activity, Santa Run, Xmas lunch and end of term festivities!

Thank you to all of the wonderful UKS2 children for consistently working so hard this term, displaying excellent learning behaviour and being fantastic role models. I hope that everyone enjoys the break and comes back to school well-rested on Thursday 5th January. 
Happy Holidays!

Miss Kropman, Mrs Fisher, Mr Neiman and Mrs Zerny x

Week beginning 12th December

A slightly disrupted final full week of term this week with not one, but TWO snow days! Back at school, we have been working hard in the core subjects and in presenting our topic work. We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures. 

Well done to the Year 5 and 6 children who have performed in music concerts this week. Please check out the music blog for details!

Week beginning 5th December

The countdown to the holidays has begun in UKS2! We hope you enjoy looking at some of our learning from this week. 

NSPCC Workshops - Wednesday 7th December

Two volunteers NSPCC volunteers came in to deliver workshops to Years 5 and 6 today. Each workshop featured the clear message that abuse is never alright, and that we all have the right to stand up for ourselves and speak out if we witness anything that makes us feel uncomfortable. We especially enjoyed creating grids entitled 'Magnificent Me' and making chatterboxes about the themes covered in the workshop. Thank you to the NSPCC from all of the phase. 

UKS2 Making Christmas Cards with KS1 - Thursday 8th December

Years 5 and 6 combined with Years 1 and 2 this afternoon in a collaborative project. Mrs Yeldham had tasked us with making Christmas cards for all the shop and business owners in the village, which will be delivered by members of the Pupil Parliament next week. As you can see, we LOVED doing this. Well done to all of our phase, who were excellent buddies for the younger children. 

Week beginning 28th November

Although this has been a quieter week on the sporting front (and with Occasional Day on Friday), there has still been plenty of engaging learning happening in our classrooms as evidenced below!

Year 6 practically exploring 3D shapes in Maths - Tuesday 29th November

As a culmination to our shape unit, Year 6 worked hard to create and make the nets of 3D shapes in their lesson today. They then got to use pasta and marshmallows to build a range of shapes, too! Year 6 can now all visualise and explain the properties of a number of 3D shapes, describing the number of faces, vertices and edges that they have. 

Topaz's RE lesson about Shabbat - Tuesday 29th November

Topaz spent their afternoon exploring Shabbat (the day of rest) that is observed by many followers of Judaism across the world. They learnt about why it is important, based on the creation story, and then looked at examples of what strict observance would look like. At the end of the lesson, we wrote about benefits and challenges for a Jewish person living in Britain in 2022 and observing Shabbat, and then had a 'tug of war' to debate which side would have the strongest arguments. Here were some super examples:

Harry - it would be hard not to handle money on a Saturday. Some people might need to work to care for their family, too. Shabbat would therefore be challenging.

Layla - it is so important to spend time with your family, and for Jewish people to celebrate their beliefs about God's creation of the world. Shabbat therefore should be observed.

Evie - you should surely be allowed to use technology to ring your friends, though. What if you needed to talk to family members on Shabbat but weren’t allowed to?

Luke - Shabbat is mentioned in the ten commandments, so must surely be important and beneficial to be one of the main rules for life.

Audrey - you might need to drive a car in an emergency, and not being allowed to could put someone at risk. 

George - a break from technology is good for your physical and mental health. A day without any work would have positive results! 

Jade's reflection was also further evidence of just how brilliant Topaz are at RE!:

I think that Shabbat is a good thing for all Jewish people to observe, but I don't think that they should be forced to do or not to do something, For example, Miss Kropman drives on a Saturday because it is hard for her to walk long distances. If she couldn't drive, she would really struggle (and could never go to synagogue). I believe that Jews should apply their own rules to Shabbat, but I don't agree that someone could alter things just out of temptation to make life easier. 

Week beginning 21st November

Yet another busy week in UKS2! We hope you enjoy looking at some examples of what we have been doing as World Cup fever has begun to sweep through the phase (come on, England!). In other news, our Year 5 indoor athletics team were busy competing on Friday afternoon and our boys and girls footballers have been in district action this week too, with great success once more! Please check out the Sports Blog to find out more information. Finally, please see the Music Blog to see Year 5&6 choir members singing carols for the village Christmas tree light switch on this Saturday! 

Waste Aware Sessions with Hertfordshire County Council - Monday 21st November

UKS2 were all treated to Waste Aware workshops this morning with Monika from Hertfordshire County Council. In our interactive sessions, we learnt about where plastic and metal come from and talked about how we contribute towards the UK's carbon footprint. Monika showed us some examples of raw materials and also encouraged us to look at our uniform labels to see the percentage made from polyester! Following our workshops, we attended an interesting assembly and then reflected on our learning back in the classroom. This was an engaging way to start the week where our teachers also learnt something new! Thank you very much to Monika for such super activities. 

UKS2 Brookmans Park during WW2 in History - Friday 25th November

Our phase have been working hard in their History sessions this week to further explore life in Brookmans Park (and surrounding villages) during the Second World War. After learning about how bombing and evacuation affected our local area, the children were tasked with creating a question that they could explore further. These ranged from 'What did women in Brookmans Park do to help the war effort?' to 'Were there any spies in Hertfordshire?'. Many also chose to research why Hatfield was a target for Nazi bombs (and were excited to learn about the De Havilland factory's importance) and also which defence features could be found locally. To see Years 5 and 6 all so actively engaged and enthusiastic about their learning has been fantastic! Please see below some of Topaz's findings. 

Week beginning 14th November

It has been anti-bullying week and UKS2 have taken part in a range of PSHE activities to celebrate this. In addition to our odd socks Twitter video (see our home page or https://twitter.com/BPPrimarySch), we have also focused on difference and diversity in our lessons. Don't forget to check the Sports Blog for this week's netball news! 

UKS2 Visit from Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet to support our RE learning - Tuesday 15th November

Today, we had a visit from Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet from St Albans Masorti Synagogue. He talked to us about the history of Judaism and how it is only the world’s 13^th largest religion! Rabbi Adam also talked to us about the role of a rabbi and the community of St Albans Masorti. We then got the opportunity to ask him some questions, where we learnt more about his life and what is required to become a rabbi. This was a very interesting way to spend an hour and we would all like to thank Rabbi Adam for his time. 

UKS2 Visit from Gymnast Courtney Tulloch - Thursday 17th November

The whole school had a wonderful morning today as we were visited by Courtney Tulloch, an artistic gymnast who represents Great Britain and England. Courtney is a specialist in rings and vault, and he began the day by leading as assembly. In addition to showing us some skills on the stage (see the videos below, including some brave teachers as leaping objects!) Courtney showed his medals and a video clip of his successes; he is the double Commonwealth Games champion on rings (2018 and 2022) and a silver medalist on vault for England. He was also, excitingly, part of the Gold winning England team at the Commonwealth Games in both 2018 and 2022. Representing Great Britain, Courtney won Gold with his team at the 2022 European Championships and is a three-time European medal winner on rings. Just last week, some of us watched Courtney on the television as he became the first British gymnast to win a medal on rings (Bronze) at the 2022 World Championships, having helped team GB to Bronze (and Olympic qualification) in the team event. Put simply, Courtney is AMAZING at gymnastics, and we are so lucky that he came to our school with Sports for Champions. 

Courtney told everyone how he had come in last place in his first ever competition aged 7, but that he used all 5 of our learning powers in order to improve his skills over the past twenty years. We were so impressed to hear how he demonstrated super resilience after failing to be selected for his country some years ago and then came back even stronger the following year!

Thank you to all the family members who sponsored children for the fitness circuit, which we took part in after the assembly. Despite this being quite physically demanding, they all completed it brilliantly and we await news of our grand total raised (but know it is very impressive!). We would also like to thank Courtney for being so engaging and inspiring, and thank Mrs Zerny for arranging such a wonderful morning.

Week beginning 7th November

Another action-packed week this week in UKS2 with some mature English and Remembrance Day learning and, very excitingly, our first major House event of the year with Thursday's Cross-Country race!

House Cross-Country - Thursday 10th November

UKS2 took part in the school House Cross-County event this afternoon in perfect autumnal running weather! First up were the girls, who ALL finished and gained points for their house, demonstrating excellent resilience and impressive fitness levels. Following on from this, the boys were not to be outdone with some truly magnificent sporting performances with, once again, all of them earning points for their houses! In addition to our sports captains being super role-models in leading their houses and supporting the other phases, members of Year 6 also ran with Nursery as they ended the afternoon by completing one lap of the field. The Year 6's encouragement and positivity really enabled our youngest members of the school to enjoy and achieve in their first long distance run, and Miss Kropman was immensely proud of all of them. Congratulations to the whole phase for a wonderful afternoon showcasing so many of our learning powers and to the overall winners of the event...FIRE! 

Well done to the medal winners from each race, which were:

Girls - 1st place Evie, 2nd place Tegan and 3rd place Ellie

Boys - 1st place Luke, 2nd place Henry B and 3rd place Johnny

Week beginning 31th October

Welcome back for the second half of term! We have had a fantastic start back this week, including the BMX showcase assembly and a successful Year 5 tag rugby tournament (see the Sports Blog!).

Topaz making ice-cream in science - Thursday 3rd November

UKS2 had one of their most enjoyable science lessons to date this week, making ice-cream to support their learning about reversible changes. In addition to also practically exploring an irreversible change last lesson, and melting chocolate at the beginning of this lesson as a reversible change, each group of 3 or 4 then got to make some ice-cream! After learning the theory, each group placed cream, sugar and vanilla essence in a small zip-lock bag. They then placed this inside a large zip-lock bag containing ice and salt. Some fairly vigorous shaking then took place for ten minutes before, voila, we had made something edible! Chief quality controller Miss Kropman (AKA taste tester) felt it was crucially important to ensure each group's ice-cream was safe (ahem) to eat in Topaz, and would like to particularly congratulate Audrey, Luke and Ray for making the most successful product. A special mention should also go to Frazer, too, for sneakily adding some extra sugar which yielded very pleasant results! At the end of the lesson, the children reflected brilliantly on their learning and also completed a line graph to show the changing temperature of a scoop of ice-cream over one hour. 

Week beginning 17th October

UKS2 have had a busy week, with yet more sporting fixtures (see the Sports Blog for news about our super netballers!) and an awesome BMX biking experience. We hope you also enjoy seeing some of our Black History Month learning and other fun classroom activities.

Thank you to all of the children for a fantastic half term in Years 5 and 6. Your teachers are so proud of you and can't wait to welcome you back to school on Monday 31st October. We hope that you and your families have a lovely, well-deserved, week off! 

Miss Kropman, Mrs Fisher, Mr Burrett-Neiman and Mrs Zerny x

Topaz learning about Sir Mo Farah in PSHE for Black History Month - Monday 17th October

Topaz were inspired to learn about Sir Mo Farah after watching a clip about his resilience and Olympic success in last week's PSHE lesson. After discussing what they would like to find out, they completed a reading comprehension about Mo's life and spent time researching his early life and career using the Chromebooks. To display their learning, they created Google Slides to share with the rest of the school in assembly. Please click below to see Evie and Jasmine's superb example (saved as a PowerPoint for you to view at home!). 

Year 5 and 6 BMX Workshops with Mike Mullen - Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October

We were given a real treat this week with Mike Mullen, BMX World Champion Half-Pipe rider, coming in to deliver a whole school assembly and workshops for Year 5 and 6. In his introductory outdoor assembly on Wednesday, Mike warmed us up and taught us six different air moves! Crucially, however, he communicated an important message about growth mindset and believing in our own abilities. Mike explained his mantra of always saying, 'I can't do it YET!' (something which Miss Kropman always reiterates to her class!) and gave us an interesting insight into how he has achieved such success by following this. After showing us some amazing tricks (including jumping over Mrs Davies, Mr Peacefull and Mrs Johnson!), Mike then led workshops for Year 5 on Wednesday and Year 6 on Thursday. At the end of the day on Thursday, Secret Students who had displayed great technique and the five learning powers in their workshop were selected to perform a showcase to the school, which will take place on a (non rainy!) day after half term. 

This was an awesome finale to our Autumn 1 term, and we would all like to thank Mike for providing such a fun workshop and thank Mrs J Johnson for arranging this for us!

Week beginning 10th October

This week, UKS2 have been writing myths, exploring bar models and fractions, separating mixtures, learning about rationing in WW2, writing out pentatonic scales, discussing friendships...and that's just for starters! Please take a glance at our Sports Blog to see news of our brilliant tag rugby tournament and boys football fixtures evening, too. 

UKS2 learning about propaganda and rationing during WW2 - Wednesday 12th October

In our history lesson this week, we explored propaganda, which is a way of spreading information in order to influence the viewer/reader. We learnt about how this was used by the government during WW2 before looking at primary and secondary sources about rationing. Food diaries of our week were created and we discussed whether certain items would have been grown/produced in Britain or whether they would have been imported. We then compared these to foods available during the war. After looking at a range of recipes on our Chromebooks following QR codes, we understood the importance of people being self-sufficient by growing their own vegetables during the war years. Working in pairs, we then created some propaganda style posters to encourage people to do this! To end the lesson, we looked at whether rationing would have created a more or less healthy diet and lifestyle for the British public when compared to today. 

Week beginning 3rd October

UKS2 have, once again, been busy on the sporting field with Year 5's Tag Rugby morning and the Year 6 girls attending a superb girls-only event with our School Sports Partnership (check out the Sports Blog to learn more!). Inside the classroom, wonderful learning has also been going on!

Year 6 Maths Tutorials - Friday 7th October

Year 6 have been learning how to use the long division method for solving calculations this week. After working incredibly hard in the classroom, some of our most confident children were tasked with creating video tutorials to assist their peers with using this complicated process. We hope you enjoy looking at Elsie's example below. I'm sure you'll agree that she makes an excellent teacher! 

Week beginning 26th September

A lovely week in UKS2, including going to a live classical music concert and learning about cultural events. Shana Tova to all those who have been celebrating this week! Don't forget to check out our Sports Blog to see some EXCELLENT footballing news, too! 

Topaz's RE lesson - Thursday 29th September

Topaz learnt about the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah this morning. Celebrated from sundown on Sunday - sundown on Tuesday of this week, we looked at many of the things that Miss Kropman and other Jewish members of our school community were doing in their homes and synagogues. We explored the prayers said in synagogue services, the shofar (check out how good one person was at blowing this!), customary foods (apples and honey!) and tashlich - the practice of 'casting off' sins into a body of natural water. We then had great fun performing a rap about what we had learnt! 

UKS2 Music Concert at Hatfield House - Thursday 29th September

We had an exciting afternoon today as we travelled to Hatfield House to watch a live classical music concert performed by the orchestra from The Purcell School of Music. The concert took place in the chapel, and featured illustrator James Mayhew working alongside the orchestra. Following on from our workshop last week, we heard wonderful pieces by Dukas, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg and Rossini, accompanied by stunning illustrations. This was a fantastic way to engage with classical music and the standard of musicianship was very inspiring for our budding instrumentalists! 

Topaz RE/PSHE - Friday 30th September

In our lesson this morning, Topaz learnt about Yom Kippur - the day of atonement marked by Jewish people around the world which takes place next Wednesday (5th October). We explored the concept of fasting and other restrictions that will be observed and then learnt about the importance of saying sorry. We listened to some songs about 'Sorry' (thanks Justin Bieber and Elton John!) and then discussed what it means to be truly sorry. Here is an example of an excellent explanation by Layla:

Yom Kippur is a time when Jewish people ask for forgiveness for things they have done wrong throughout the past year. Before they can seek forgiveness from God, they must apologise to the person(s) they have hurt. A good apology is when you can understand your behaviour and choose how to improve your actions in the future. Saying sorry and meaning it is really important because it can release tension between people and it shows that you regret your actions and will then change. Apologising means that you have spent time reflecting on how you have upset somebody. It is then up to them whether or not they forgive you. 

Week beginning 19th September

During a week of historical significance (Her Majesty's funeral), UKS2 have worked phenomenally hard to display typically British Values within their learning. We hope you enjoy looking at some examples of what we have been up to.

NB - Don't forget to check out the Sports Blog to see Year 5's wonderful running festival news, the Year 6 elite athletics and Year 6 girls netball news! 

Topaz's PSHE - Tuesday 20th September

Topaz greatly impressed Miss Kropman this afternoon with their maturity and deep thinking as we explored the importance of respect in relationships. We began the lesson by considering what we mean by the term 'relationship' (and decided upon it being a connection between two or more people) and discussed different sorts of relationship. We then watched an animation about respect and worked in pairs to highlight why this is important in each type of relationship. We rolled a dice to generate sentence starters for discussion and recorded our answers in our books before creating acrostic poems about RESPECT. We hope you enjoy seeing some examples of our work!

UKS2 Music Workshop with Jill Knight from Hatfield House - Thursday 22nd September

Years 5 and 6 enjoyed an interactive and interesting music workshop today ahead of our trip to Hatfield House for a concert next week. One of the pieces that is going to be performed is 'In the hall of the Mountain King' by Edvard Grieg. Jill introduced the story behind this, and we heard a clip of it being performed. The children were then tasked with exploring the rhythm and dynamic contrasts, before engaging in some body percussion exercises. Using tuned and non-tuned percussion instruments, they worked in groups of three or four to re-create events in the story, using a crescendo and accelerando to build tension and excitement! This was a great way to prepare for the festival. We would all like to say thank you to Jill for coming to school today - we can't wait for next week!

Topaz Poetry - Friday 23rd September

Topaz Class have been working exceptionally hard to use figurative language in their poetic ideas over the past two weeks. Here are two of Miss Kropman's favourite finished pieces:

The Moon by Bella

The moon is a snow white wolf,

Eager and bright.

He slowly spins all night.

With his dark green eyes and glorious wings,

Light and hope he brings.

The sparkling, silver fur,

His great lure, lure, lure.

The white wolf then floats down,

Dominating the Earth’s own ground.

Horror Storm by Christopher

Thunder rumbles and lightning strikes,

In the middle of a stormy night.

Like the omnipotent eagle, the king of all,

Bringing terror to the scared mortals.

Rapidly raking the rocky roads,

The lightning’s a lion, murdering toads.

It terrorises trees,

And melts metal keys so dangerously.

The thunder roars, the loudest sound,

And it’s your window that it pounds.

It’s the raging tiger on all fours,

Slashing the world with its mighty claws.

But in comes the day

Peace remains,

The stormy empire’s over,

It no longer reigns.

Week beginning 12th September

With our first full week in school this term, UKS2 have been very busy learning about WW2 and how it affected people living in Hertfordshire on a trip to Lincolnfields and in also covering some brilliant learning in the classroom across the curriculum. We hope you enjoy looking at what we have been up to!

UKS2 WW2 Local History trip to Lincolnfields, Bushey - Thursday 15th September

Today, Years 5 and 6 made the short journey to Bushey to further their WW2 learning experience! As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by a number of staff who were in role as adults living in Bushey in 1940. They placed us in five groups and sent us to take part in our first activity. 

Miss Kropman's group were sent to a garden which featured a vegetable patch, rabbits and an Anderson Shelter. Whilst there, we learnt about the Dig for Victory campaign and the importance of home shelters. Suddenly, the air raid siren went! We filed into the shelter (which was small, dark and damp) and waited for the all-clear. Unfortunately, an unexploded bomb had landed on the roof of the home nearby, and we were tasked with forming a chain line to then put out the smoky remnants using a pump and hose. This was very hard work, and it was alarming to think that such tasks would have fallen to young people during the war. Next, we went to a school room. We experienced a WW2-style lesson, typical of that experienced by evacuees in Hertfordshire, including some tricky maths and very strict behaviour expectations!

One of the most harrowing experiences of our day was the Blitz shelter, where a gentleman who had lived through the war as a child led us into a mock North London shelter. Whilst bombs rained down overhead, we continued with our school lesson. We then witnessed the devastation that the raid had caused and were thankful that this was not a real situation for today. 

After lunch, we visited the on-site museum, where we were fortunate enough to hold a backpack and real gun from 1940 and view many objects that were kept on the US air base at Bushey from 1942 - 1945. To end our day, we visited a house that had been recreated to represent one from 1940. We were taken on a tour of the laundry room (and got to try out a mangle!), the kitchen, the lounge, bedroom and games room, where we enjoyed playing some typical childhood games. 

The trip really brought to life what war would have been like for a child living in Hertfordshire, and was made all the more realistic by us dressing up as evacuees. A great time was had by the phase, and Miss Kropman would like to say a huge well done and thank you to all of the children for demonstrating such excellent learning behaviour throughout the day. 

Week beginning 5th September

Welcome back to the beginning of the school year! 

First day activities - Tuesday 6th September

During our first day back, Topaz have had great fun getting to know each other using a 'snowball' activity and ultimate rock, paper and scissors! We also enjoyed creating watercolour washes and writing compliments for each other around our photographs. After doing some writing, we also did a Book World Cup to decide on our class book for this term, and I am pleased to report that we have chosen...Crater Lake by Jennifer Killick. This afternoon, we created some goals and a support network in PSHE before revising our five learning powers. Can you spot risk taking, resilience, relationships, resourcefulness and reflectiveness in the children's creative representations? 

Topaz poetry lesson - Wednesday 7th September

Topaz kick started their poetry unit this morning by creating contrasting poems about what they DIDN'T do in the Summer holidays, thinking carefully about the needs of the reader. Here is a great example by Teddy:

I Didn't

I didn't fly across the world in a private jet,

but I did jump from my armchair to my sofa.

I didn't go to Disney and go on the best rollercoasters,

but I did a couple of flips on my trampoline.

I didn't fly a day to go to Australia to meet my family,

but my family from Australia came to me.

I didn't fight the fiercest warriors in the world,

but I did have a mini wrestling match with my brother.

I didn't wear a suit and tie to get shot in slow motion,

but I did shoot myself in the head with a Nerf gun!