Week beginning 7th July

As the end of term fast approaches, Years 5 and 6 have been busy working on their production (which we can't wait to show you next week!) whilst also entertaining family members with their ukulele concert on Monday!

This afternoon, Years 5 and 6 took to the hall stage to showcase what they had achieved after a year of ukulele lessons. They played a number of pieces together, including: Lilo and Stitch, You've Got A Friend In Me and Count On Me to demonstrate their chord progression. UKS2 also performed Row, Row, Row Your Boat, with Year 5 playing the chords to accompany Year 6's melody line. Individually, Ruby performed Have You Ever and Sapphire got everyone dancing with Uptown Funk. Year 6, meanwhile, impressed their family members by playing Super Trouper, which used all eight of the chords they had learnt this year. Topaz performed a beautiful Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Turquoise dazzled with Senorita. All in all, this was a fabulous illustration of whole-class music and what can achieved with hard work within lessons and some additional practice at home. Well done to all of the phase and thank you to Kathryn McGuinness from Hertfordshire Music Service for teaching them so well! 

Topaz greatly impressed Mrs Carson in their PSHE lesson today. In the third of our lessons exploring illegal drugs, the children were tasked with looking at various avenue for support. We practised how to make an emergency call and also responded to problem page dilemmas. Topaz demonstrated excellent maturity throughout the lesson today and came up with some solid advice! 

Week beginning 30th June

This has been Diversity Week in school, where we have celebrated differences and made sure to advocate for inclusivity. We hope you enjoy seeing just a taste of our activities! 

To mark the end of Diversity Week, every child in the school made a ‘Me’ flag to represent themselves and the things that make them special. Whilst wearing our own clothes to reflect our individuality, we were tasked with creating a flag to be waved in this afternoon’s parade. In Year 6, we read ‘Perfectly Norman’, which is a book about a boy who is afraid to be himself, even though he can fly! We talked about how we all have things that can make us feel like we stand out a bit and how this can sometimes feel difficult. However, it is these things that make us unique and that should be celebrated. We also discussed the word ‘pride’ and what this means in terms of embracing all differences. We hope you enjoy looking at these photographs!

Week beginning 23rd June

Year 6 are in Wales this week! Please see the separate blog for all our news! 

Week beginning 16th June

UKS2 have been loving the hot weather this week, topped off by Tuesday's incredible Sports Day!

Well done to all of Years 5 and 6 for competing brilliantly in today's Sports Day and, more importantly, for supporting each other with your encouragement and kindness. Congratulations to the winning house in UKS2...FIRE! 

Year 6 Writing - Wednesday 18th June

Year 6 have completed an English unit based on Jordan Scott's beautiful picture book, 'I Talk Like a River'. This tells the story of a child with a speech impediment. Inspired by this theme, Year 6 have written some superb narratives, focusing on their use of ambitious vocabulary and creating moments of tension for their readers. Please enjoy reading these two amazing examples!

With the owls talking and the rain pouring, every night I fall asleep. As I shut my eyes, I start to dream, yet every morning, I wake up with the sounds of words suffocating me. All of the words I hear inside me are squashed. The words, unspoken, tangle my tongue and turn into mumbles. I get ready for school (in silence, as per usual).

As I step into the classroom, the whispers begin. I hide my face as I walk to my chair, hearing my words enter but not escape. I'm engulfed in my imagination, like a whirl-pool is in my head. I'm embarrassed, overwhelmed and blinded by fear. Who made me like this? Why did they choose me? Sick to the stomach, my words die to come out, teasing and torturing me.

When my teacher asks me a question, all my classmates turn and look. It feels like a tsunami twirling inside me. The children around me don't see the pine trees punching my chest, or the crows pecking my thoughts. They don't see the roots creating a monster in my mouth, drying my tongue. Parched. They don't see the fear that paralyses my body. They just stare.

Later that day, my dad drives me to the river, asking how my day was and watching me reply with just a head shake. All those eyes watching me fail sounded in my head like the bubbling, churning, crashing of the river against the rocks. This is how I talk. How I communicate. How I speak. I talk like a river. 

By Marina

I watch. I watch the flies buzzing around in my room; they wake me up. I watch the wind, whispering in my ear. It comes through my window. I watch my alarm clock scream at me: it doesn't let anything go. 

But I can't say stop. 'SSSSS.' S. They're like an army. They don't rest. They stick rocks in my throat, they tie rope to my tongue, they put glue on my lips. They hate me. 'SSSSS'.

I just watch. I just watch, and let my silence roar into my ears.

I watch the news lady speaking. How is she that confident? I watch Dad chatting to our neighbours. Why can't I do it? Nobody feels how I feel. Why? Why am I like this? 

I can hear them. I can hear the other kids skipping along in the sunshine, while I'm trudging along in the rain. My classmates bring rainbows into the classroom. I just bring in thunder.

The words don't escape me. They drown and dissolve in my stomach. They are eaten by the ravenous butterflies that live inside my tummy. The only thing that can fall from me is the tear that falls down my cheeks.

My teacher calls on me; she thinks I'm just shy. She can't see all the words that tantalise me every morning; she can't see the rain cloud that drenches me from above. All she can see is me staring back at her. She can't see. I'm petrified. Isolated.

Thud, thud, thud. I'm sitting in Dad's car, hurtling over speedbumps. Dad knows. He can see my face. He knows how I feel. Moments later, we're at the river. I watch it, bubbling and sloshing around, while the lakes several miles in front are still as glass. This is not a normal river - it's a stammering river, like me.

'You're not petrified...you're proud!' I whisper to it. I realise. The words don't drown. They don't get eaten. They want to exit through my mouth.

I talk. I talk to the flies and the wind and the alarm. I talk to the news lady and the neighbours and the little raincloud above my head. I talk to the class and to the teacher and to my dad. I embrace my stammer; I talk to it. I love to talk.

I talk to the river.

I talk like a river.

By Molly 

Week beginning 9th June

This week, we have been delving deeper into The Amazon and kick-starting our Ancient Maya topic with a full day of workshops and activities! 

In today's lesson, Topaz began to research life in The Amazon. They researched countries that the river passes through and where the rainforest is situated, before refreshing their knowledge of continents. Topaz also mapped out their learning before starting to compare the climate in the region with that of London. 

On Wednesday 11^th June, Years 5 and 6 experienced a full day of learning about the Ancient Maya Civilisation as a Sizzling Starter to this half-term’s history topic. We were joined by Vanessa, an archaeologist from Puku B, who has worked in Central America for many years. During the day, we took part in a carousel of activities. Vanessa led a brilliant workshop, where we began by completing a human timeline to understand more fully when the Maya lived. After this, we learnt about Gods, got to try on Maya clothing, explored artefacts, played a game and even got to grind some maize! Our other activities included a poo study – think sticks, tweezers, magnifying glasses and identification charts to work out what they ate! – and a pot sherds study. For this activity, we held pots that Vanessa had actually discovered, and studied what they told us about how the Ancient Maya lived. This was a highly enjoyable day which all of us (and especially the teachers!) found so valuable. We would like to say a huge thank you to Vanessa for bringing our learning to life with practical activities.

Week beginning 2nd June

Welcome back for the final half-term of the academic year! This week, Years 5&6 have been enjoying starting their geography topic about The Amazon, in addition to some creative work in English. 

Week beginning 19th May

Years 5 and 6 have been enjoying daily swimming lessons this week in our pop-up pool, whilst also designing and making a board game with an electronic circuit for a KS1 child (their Brookmans Buddy) to play. 

Thank you to everyone for yet another fabulous half-term in UKS2. We hope you all have a lovely break next week and look forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday 3rd June.

Mrs Carson x

Week beginning 12th May

Good luck to all of the Year 6 children for their SATS tests this week!

Week beginning 5th May

This has been a busy week for UKS2, with Year 6 working incredibly hard in the final run-up to their SATS and Year 5 impressing their teachers with some fabulous English. We have also had time for some fun VE Day celebrations, too!

In our ukulele lesson today, we began to explore TAB notation. Kathryn taught us how to read this sort of music, before piecing together phrases from well-known tunes. This is far more complicated than chords, and Mrs Carson was very impressed with how well Topaz picked this up. We can now all play simple melodies, too! 

UKS2 joined the rest of the school in an outdoor assembly this afternoon to celebrate VE Day. After discussing our understanding of this, each phase had the opportunity to share songs that they had learnt from the 1940s. Years 5 and 6 shared both 'White Cliffs of Dover' and 'Hey Mr Miller', demonstrating good enthusiasm and enjoyment. We then finished the assembly with a meaningful one minute's silence. Well done, UKS2 - you were superstars today!

Week beginning 28th April

What glorious weather we have had so far this week! UKS2 have greatly enjoyed their first full week back this term. 

Years 5 and 6 had an extra playtime this afternoon, taking advantage of the beautiful sunshine to experience the new OPAL areas. Mrs Yeldham and the Play Team have introduced dress up, a mud kitchen, water paints and parachute/sheets for den making to our playgrounds, and our phase LOVED having the opportunity to try each of these out today!

Week beginning 21st April

We returned to school on Wednesday 23rd April and look forward to sharing some of the exciting things we will be doing during the Summer Term!