Week beginning 22nd July
It’s the end of term! Thank you so much to all of the UKS2 staff and pupils for a fantastic year. Together, we have experienced a wide range of incredible learning, residential trips, Ofsted, writing moderation and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! I could not be prouder of the children’s behaviour for learning and the amazing progress they have all made. I hope that you all have a wonderful summer break. Best of luck to the Year 6 leavers’, who we will miss greatly, but I know will be such positive assets to their secondary schools!
Miss Kropman x
Week beginning 15th July
In our last full week of term, UKS2 have been enjoying some fun learning opportunities and additional sporting activities!
On Friday 19th July, Sapphire Class presented their COUNTRIES AND LANDMARKS topics to the class. As you can see, we all learnt an awful lot about different countries, and there was an amazing amount of effort put in with the different table displays and costumes. Well done, Sapphire - some amazing research work and confident presenting!
Today, Year 5 had a visit from a Christian reverend, a Jewish rabbi, the head of the Islamic Centre in St. Albans, a Humanist and a follower of Hinduism. Each member of the panel spoke about their faith and personal beliefs, and gave the children the opportunity to ask questions. Year 5 listened carefully to our fantastic guests throughout and learned a great deal from them, linking to our RE topic this term - 'Nobody Stands Nowhere.' Thank you to all of our visitors for providing the children with such an engaging experience.
This morning saw the annual sporting highlight of Year 6 vs Staff rounders. Year 6 were divided into three equally talented teams to be pitted against 14 elite staff members. In the first game, the Year 6s scored a respectable 5 rounders, only to be met with an insane 14 and 1/2 from the staff in reply! The second game, however, was a much tighter affair, with brilliant fielding from Henry catching out two staff members, resulting in an 8 - 8 draw. So to the final game and, once again, 5 rounders scored by Year 6. Sadly for them, the staff team proved just too experienced, and double rounders from Mr Neiman and Mr Nicholson resulted in them scoring 10 and 1/2. The final scores: Year 6 - 18, Staff victorious with 33. Well done to everyone!
Week beginning 8th July
We have all been back in school this week after our residentials! Please see below some of the excellent work that has taken place, and don't forget to check out the Music Blog (with evidence of our end-of-term music assemblies) and the Sports Blog, too!
Year 6 have begun their Positive Minds programme today, supported by Watford FC's Community Trust. Each online session is designed to promote mental health awareness, with this morning's lesson focusing on the stigma around sharing issues. We also learnt about celebrities who have shared their own experiences of mental health problems and completed a competitive game or two!
Week beginning 1st July
It’s Wales week for our Year 6s! Please check here for daily updates!
After a hearty breakfast, we boarded the coach for the long ride home. Our Pupil Parliament members have joined Friday’s assembly live via Zoom for the elections results, and plenty of sleeping has also taken place! We have just stopped close to the border and our current ETA is 5.30pm at The Brookmans. We will update via WhatsApp as we get nearer. Once again, a huge thank you to all of Year 6, Outer Reef, Newgale Lodge and the amazing staff team: Mrs Davies, Mr Fennell, Mr Neiman, Mr Rahman and Mrs Tompkins. It’s been a blast!
Miss Kropman x
Nap Time Wales Year 6 Residential Day 5 - Friday 5th July
It’s been a tough, tiring week…
For our last full day in Wales, we once again travelled to the Stackpole Estate. Upon arriving there, we split into our classes. Topaz had a bracing two mile walk to their bushcraft activity, where they spent the morning learning survival skills and making bread, a waterproof shelter and fire! Turquoise, meanwhile, went rock pooling near the lily ponds, finding a range of interesting sea creatures.
We reconvened for lunch in the sunshine before a short walk to the quarry and our final activity…stand up paddle boarding! This was, by far, one of the highlights of the week. Year 6 demonstrated determination, team work and cheek as they learned how to paddle board and how to push each other in! Well done and thank you to them for such a lovely afternoon.
This evening has been EPIC! We kicked of with dinner and completing our postal votes for the BP mock election. Our talent show then proceeded to demonstrate incredible singing, dancing, acting and football skills, reminding us just what a special year group this is! Congratulations to Bellamaria, Eliza and Olivia T for being the judges’ top pick of the night! Following this, we ended our night with a disco that was, quite simply, brilliant. I hope you enjoy looking at the photographs and videos of your wonderful children. They are an absolute credit to their families, their teachers and their school. I have had the best week with them! Miss Kropman x
MISS SHAW'S FIRST EVER BLOG POST!
Good morning, this is a test blog!
YAY! My first ever blog post!
I am a great believer in learning something new every day, so, like the children, I aim to do the same! Today my learning has been to use the blog. As a person who is extremely untechnical, this pushes me out of my comfort zone!
Obviously the test blog is about our class pets - Russell and Rita, who continue to gain confidence. Dog kibble is their favourite food, but they also love roast potatoes and hate carrots! We also have a friendly robin who visits (called Robin) and 3 pigeons called Peggy, Pedro and Percy.
To conclude our topic about CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Sapphire Class were working on some living history and role plays to show crimes and the punishments of different historical eras. We had hangings, beheadings, amputations and whippings to name just a few! What gruesome endings people have met in the past for committing a crime!
Year 6 have had an action-packed third day in Wales, with both classes having their second surfing lesson of the week. This time, we travelled to Broadhaven, where the current and tide were perfect to catch the waves! Topaz luckily had the better weather this afternoon at sea, following a wet and windy morning rock pooling. They were incredibly good at this, finding a number of rare starfish amongst other sea creatures.
After Turquoise had been surfing this morning, they returned to Newgale Lodge for a bushcraft session. This involved making a shelter out of natural materials and creating fire!
We are now all back at base for an evening meal of lasagne, followed by quiz host Miss Kropman’s team challenges! As if this week could get any better!
Quiz update: well done to Chloe S, Christian, Demi, Ellie and Owen for their victory!
What an amazing second day we’ve had! This morning began with an early breakfast at 7.30am before boarding the coach for the hour’s journey to the Stackpole estate. Upon our arrival, we split into our class groups. Turquoise spent the morning on a coastal walk, visiting a number of beaches and spending time playing on the sand! They had lunch on the beach prior to meeting up with Topaz for an ice cream at the local cafe! Topaz, meanwhile, had enjoyed a superb coasteering session where they had the opportunity to explore some caves in the low tide!
This afternoon saw a swap over of activities. Topaz had a gloriously sunny amble, whilst Turquoise were lucky to experience a higher tide for coasteering. This meant that they were able to jump off the quay at the end of their session. Miss Kropman is exceptionally proud to report that all 23 members of the class, Mr Neiman and Mr Rahman (eventually!) conquered their fears to fly into the water!
We have had a lovely dinner and are currently playing cricket before we have a hot chocolate and retire to bed. Bring on tomorrow!
After a very early 5.15am meet this morning, our coach journey was thankfully stress-free and we arrived in the beautiful Pembrokeshire in time for midday lunch! We then met our instructors for the week before being taken to Newgale beach for our first activity…surfing! Miss Kropman can attest to having witnessed true resilience and risk taking as 44 brave Year 6s (and three comical male teachers!) battled the waves. Well done to everyone, and especially those that managed to stand to ride the last of the waves!
This evening has been a bit on the wet side, so we’ve taken over the onsite games room for pool and board games before hot chocolate and bed!
Week beginning 24th June
A huge week for Year 5 this week with their three-day residential to Stubbers, whilst Year 6 have been completing their Bikeability Cycling Proficiency awards. In addition, please check out the Sports Blog for news of our girls and boys teams at the County Cricket Finals!
Year 5 Stubbers Residential - Wednesday 26th - Friday 28th June 2024
Year 5 have spent a wonderful three days at the Stubbers Adventure Park, participating in a wide range of physical, active and fun events. Every single child rose to the occasion and pushed themselves to try new things whilst encouraging each other to reach new heights. Some overcame their fear of heights while others adapted to being away from home really well. We are proud of all of them, and were so grateful for the lovely welcome songs they prepared ahead of the tent inspections!
So, it appears that all of the group 1 photos from Stubbers that I have uploaded twice already vanished both times - so here they are again! Let's hope for a 3rd time lucky success!
Year 6 had a visit from Jo this afternoon, who is a mentor from Future Living. This is a charitable organisation which works to promote healthy relationships in young people. Jo is running a programme called 'Young Hearts' with us over the next month and, in today's session, we explored the people who are closest to us. Miss Kropman was most impressed with the mature responses shared today and we are all looking forward to our next session in a fortnight's time.
The Year 6s who had completed their cycling for the day then had the BEST afternoon today with a visit from Mrs Thomas and Vinnie, our recently-appointed school well-being dog. Vinnie is a 5-year-old labrador retriever, who began life as a guide dog. Mrs Thomas explained his training process, and how she and her husband were his puppy trainers. When Vinnie was returned to the charity, he then became theirs! We learnt a great deal about guide dogs and how they are matched with their owners, and also had the opportunity to ask questions about Vinnie. The highlight of the hour was, of course, having the chance to pet Vinnie and - for a few, selected children - giving him some treats! Vinnie was calm and relaxed throughout, revealing his tummy for stroking purposes on more than one occasion. This was therefore the perfect way to meet a dog for those Year 6 children who are slightly wary, and Miss Kropman was very proud of everyone who overcame their nerves today! Both she and Mr Neiman loved the end to our afternoon (including our kisses from Vinnie!) and would like to thank Mrs Thomas for bringing in her beautiful boy!
Year 6 began their cycling proficiency course today with an assessment on the playground. All of the groups demonstrated good confidence and awareness, and I am pleased to say everyone is now ready to progress to cycling on the roads tomorrow. Well done, Year 6!
Week beginning 17th June
Welcome to another busy week for Years 5 and 6, with Sports Days and play performances taking centre stage (boom, boom!). Please check out our Music Blog for news of the fantastic instrumental assemblies this week, too!
Year 1 and Year 5 spent the afternoon together today, completing our London to Paris House Challenge and then playing games with Mr Rahman. This was a lovely end to the week for both year groups!
This afternoon, Year 5 had the pleasure of a visit from our retired secretary Mrs Thomas, and her trained guide dog, Vinnie. Thanks to our Pupil Parliament organising a successful vote, Vinnie is now our official school well-being dog, and will hopefully become a regular guest for each class. Today, he spent the afternoon outside with Ruby and Sapphire. We all very much enjoyed this, and can't wait for him to visit again!
Week beginning 10th June
Please see the pictures below showing yet another super week of learning in UKS2! In addition to being very excited to perform our play next week, we have also been enjoying some Euro 2024 fever and Village Day preparations. Meanwhile, our Year 5 girls have had a fun afternoon being introduced to golf (please see the Sports Blog!).
In Sapphire class, we began to notice a crow that frequently visited our window sill. Miss Shaw named him Russell, and he used to meet her most mornings at 6.30am and caw loudly as well as knock on the window with his beak. We all decided to make friends with him and Miss Shaw started to give him seeds and apple. Ralph then brought in some bird food. Firstly, Russell was nervous with all of the children in the class, but in just 3 days, he has become a lot more confident and brings his wife (Rita) with him now as well. They love to eat the food we leave out and we all take it in turns every day to check on their “sill”. Crows are very intelligent creatures and often swap food for gifts, so we are looking forward to that!
Week beginning 3rd June
Welcome back to the final half term of the school year! We have been busy rehearsing for our production this week, whilst also getting stuck in to a new historical novel, 'Treason', which we will be using to support our writing in English this term alongside our 'Crime and Punishment' History topic. For news of our AMAZING victories for both the girls and boys teams in the Welwyn and Hatfield District Cricket Finals, please see the Sports Blog!
Week beginning 20th May
UKS2 have had a super end to the half term this week with daily swimming lessons in our pop-up pool! We have also enjoyed getting our play rehearsals underway and took part in a fantastic workshop on Wednesday (see below).
Thank you to Years 5 and 6 for their hard work and effort over the past six weeks. You have been a pleasure to teach, as always, and your teachers are very proud of your progress. I hope everyone has a fantastic half term break and we look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 3rd June.
Miss Kropman x
Magistrates in the Community Workshop - Wednesday 22nd May
Years 5 and 6 had a sizzling start to their 'Crime and Punishment' topic this morning with a team of local magistrates coming in to lead a workshop. Bob and Karen were with Year 6, whilst Oscar and John stayed with Year 5. We were first treated to an interesting presentation about the role of a magistrate and asked many quick-fire questions before looking at whether an incident would result in an arrest or not! The magistrates then showed us a court set-up before introducing us to a case scenario...
Sonia (played brilliantly in Year 6 by Chloe S) was accused of sending unkind messages and posting images on social media of and towards Katy (our Ella!). As a year group, we had to decide whether or not the defendant intended to cause harm, with our magistrates' bench made up of a panel of three. Pantelis, Finley and Emily S in Year 6, supported by a cast of witnesses and lawyers, were then sent to decide Sonia's fate. She was found guilty and sentenced to a fine and ordered to pay compensation to her victim.
This was a wonderful workshop that was very thought-provoking, too. We would all like to thank the magistrates for volunteering their time.
Week beginning 13th May
This week, Year 6 have completed their SATS exams. Well done to all of them for their effort, resilience, stamina and excellent work and a huge thank you to Year 5 for being so quiet and considerate all week (and adapting brilliantly to different times for break!). Miss Kropman and Mr Neiman are incredibly proud of everyone. Now that the SATS are over, our full attention can be turned towards our production!
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT OUR SWIMMING LESSONS IN THE POP-UP POOL START ON MONDAY. DON'T FORGET YOUR COSTUMES, TOWELS, HAT, GOGGLES AND SLIDERS! IT IS ALSO SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS ON MONDAY, SO PLEASE WEAR FULL UNIFORM AND BRING IN ANY FOOTBALL OR NETBALL KITS THAT ARE STILL AT HOME!
This week is the NHS's Mental Health Awareness Week and, to mark this, we have held class assemblies discussing the importance of exercise in supporting our mental health. In addition to our twice weekly PE sessions, UKS2 are finding other times to be active throughout the week! Mr Nicholson has kindly given some time to support Year 6 this week in leading a PE session either before or after each SATS exam, whilst Year 5 have also got further opportunities to be outside in the afternoons. Please do discuss this PowerPoint (shared in class) at home!
Week beginning 6th May
A short week for UKS2 following the Bank Holiday, with Year 6 completing their revision for SATS and Year 5 furthering their core learning!
Year 6 revised their arithmetic skills in a creative manner this afternoon by taking part in a scavenger hunt around the school! After being given a starting question, they calculated it and then had to find the answer, which had been sneakily hidden somewhere in our classrooms, corridors or library areas! Each answer gave the children a letter to record and the next question in the loop. Congratulations to our winners, Annabelle and Dotty, who were the first to return the completed sentence to Miss Kropman, which is certainly true for this year group: AMAZING WORK: YOU ARE AN ARITHMETIC GENIUS!
Week beginning 29th April
Please see examples below of yet another busy week in Years 5&6, including our geography field trip and some excellent responses!
Year 6 Ukulele Concert - Wednesday 1st May
Year 6 were absolutely PHENOMENAL this afternoon as they performed six ukulele pieces to their family members and Year 5. They have been learning the ukulele for 30 minutes each Wednesday afternoon since October, led by Kathryn McGuinness from Hertfordshire Music Service and supported by Miss Kropman and, today, had the opportunity to showcase their talent! The first pieces (Lilo&Stitch and Watermelon Sugar) featured two of the first chords that they had learnt, whilst Count On Me and Uptown Funk demonstrated an impressive four chords. To complete the concert, Year 6 played Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Happy - both of which being far more complex, six-chord and multiple strum pattern songs. At the end of the concert, the watching audience went wild with applause to celebrate the musicality of this wonderful year group! Miss Kropman could not be happier with how well they performed this afternoon and is very proud of all of them.
UKS2 Geography Village Field Trip – Monday 29th April
This afternoon, Years 5 and 6 took their geography learning to the village! We have been discussing safety in our locality and decided to put this to the test with the support of Sam Griffin, Police Community Support Officer for our area. Sam and her colleagues kindly brought their speed boards with them and met each class by the church. They then took it in turns to measure the speed of drivers coming down Bluebridge Road into the village, and were amazed to see numerous motorists breaking the speed limit! Well done to members of Ruby, who recorded someone driving at 39 miles per hour, which the police will be following up on! We noted our results on a tally chart and will be analysing this information further back in the classroom.
In addition to our speed checks, each class also completed a survey of safety features in the village, investigating whether pedestrians have to walk between parked cars to cross roads .(they do!) and noting the lack of zebra crossings. We identified and listed key points of danger and worked together to suggest good places for crossing. Finally, we got the opportunity to complete some art observational sketches of the village in order to support our suggestions. This was a fantastic afternoon of practical learning and Miss Kropman was extremely proud of the excellent behaviour demonstrated by the phase!