WELCOME TO THE UKS2 BLOG FOR 2021-22!

Week beginning Monday 18th July

The last week of term has been upon us! We hope you enjoy looking at Year 6's wonderful residential trip to the Isle of Wight and the music concert that members of UKS2 took part in. 

Thank you to all of the children in Years 5 and 6 for a fantastic year in UKS2. I am so proud of every single one of them for everything they have achieved both academically and socially this year, and for all of their extra-curricular pursuits. I hope all of our families have an amazing summer!

Good luck to our Year 6 leavers, who I know will smash their start to secondary school! I look forward to welcoming back the current Year 5s in September!

Miss Kropman x

Music Concert featuring members of UKS2 - Thursday 21st July

When Luke in Year 5 completed a brilliant persuasive letter as a piece of homework, Miss Kropman felt that she could not ignore his request of a music concert to demonstrate the vast amount of talent in KS2 and, hence, this afternoon's showcase was realised! Children from Years 4, 5 and 6 performed on the piano, violin, drums, flute, French horn, trumpet and clarinet to rapturous applause from their classmates and families in a musical extravaganza. All of the performers had passed an audition with the Pupil Parliament in order to be chosen for the concert, and displayed great confidence and musicality as they performed complex pieces. Well done to all of the children for an awesome display which I know inspired many others across the school to want to learn a new instrument in September!

Year 4 - Ellie, Evie, Hannah, Johnny, Jude, Max, Owen and Violet

Year 5 - Christopher, Daniel, George C, James, Luke, Teddy and Tegan B

Year 6 - Emilia

Year 6 enjoyed an AWESOME four day trip to the Isle of Wight from Sunday 17th - Wednesday 20th July as they stayed at the PGL centre, 'Little Canada'. 

We left school bright and early on Sunday morning and, after a super journey and ferry crossing, we first visited the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary. Whilst there, we got to take part in a number of activities including donkey grooming, donkey care, scanning for microchips and a donkey quiz! We all enjoyed meeting the donkeys and learning about this charity's amazing work. Miss Kropman adopted a donkey for herself (Paddy O - who has the same ginger and white fur as her dog!) and a donkey for school - Trevor! We then made the short journey to Little Canada, the PGL site!

In summary, Year 6 were.... RESILIENT, RISK-TAKING, RESOURCEFUL, REFLECTIVE and strengthened their RELATIONSHIPS throughout a series of incredible activities over the course of their four day PGL experience. On Sunday night, they took part in a campfire and learnt some catchy songs before bedding down in their cabin accommodation. Day time activities from Monday - Wednesday included kayaking in the sea and visiting the local beach; the Giant Swing; a vertical climbing challenge and Jacob's Ladder; a challenge obstacle course (army style!); a very wet and muddy sensory trail (where Mr Fennel enjoyed drenching everyone, including Miss Kropman!); tunnel trailing underground and fencing! The evenings, on the other hand, featured a quiz and Robot Wars (both of which were won by the mighty Team 1).

Miss Kropman, Mrs Pollington, Mr Neiman, Mr Fennell and Mrs Giambrone had a truly brilliant time and just loved seeing how much the Year 6s enjoyed themselves. Well done, Year 6, for all passing the PGL challenge with flying colours and for making it the best possible end to the year and your time as Brookmans Park pupils!  

Week beginning 11th July

Despite some activities being cancelled due to the extreme heat, UKS2 have still had a very enjoyable second sports week! With temperatures soaring on Monday, what could have been better than some water games on the field?! Check out our fun parachute games from Tuesday, too!

UKS2 Entrepreneurial Dragons' Den morning - Friday 15th July 

Whilst Fire were busy celebrating their House Winners' morning at KBO2, the remainder of the phase were set an entrepreneurial challenge by Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman. Inspired by BBC's Dragons' Den, the children were tasked with creating a new product which they would then pitch to the 'dragons' (teachers and fellow classmates) in order to secure possible investment! 

After discussing gaps in the market and ideas for their product, each group then decided on a company name and logo before conducting market research. They then researched potential costings and put together a presentation using Google Slides. It was then time for them to put forward their pitches to a tough audience of Year 5, Year 6 and teaching staff. Congratulations to all of the children as every one of their product designs was AWESOME! This 'dragon' (Miss Kropman) was particularly impressed with James C's pitching, Giacomo, Jamie, Harry and George B's eco-friendly water saving products and Jade, Layla and Lillian's Puppy Puddle! If I were in a position to invest a large sum of money, however, then I would have to go for Izzy, Liliana, Audrey and Elsie's Buddy Bot or Frazer, Daniel G, Charlie BS and Freddie F's incredible flywheel! 

Week beginning 4th July

Year 6 have been busy completing their cycling proficiency this week, working on mini projects around this. Additionally, a large number of our phase took part in POTSMA, which you can read about below! 

Members of Year 5 and 6 taking part in Potters Bar and district Schools' Music Association concert at The Wyllyotts - Wednesday 6th July

On Wednesday 6th July, our choir and orchestra members took to the stage in a massed concert featuring musicians from five different local primary school. Joining Cranbourne, Little Heath, Pope Paul and The Wroxham, we performed many different pieces and songs together all based around the theme of 'Flight'. POTSMA was first set up in 2018 by Miss Kropman and this was the first concert that we were able to hold since before Covid. 

The concert took place at The Wyllyotts theatre in Potters Bar and was completely sold out, with every single seat in the arena being filled and many people still pleading for tickets at the box office! The orchestra took centre stage first, with Year 6's very own Filip being the leader (Violin 1). They performed Fledermaus by Strauss and Dambusters by Eric Coates. Following this, the choir took over, with hits such as Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, Catch A Falling Star and Reach taking the audience by storm! Solos were sung beautifully by Maya, Tegan EK , Emmie and Agnes in Year 6 and Tegan B and Gloria in Year 5, whist Owen and Chloe in Year 4 narrated spectacularly, ably assisted by Olivia and Georgia. 

Throughout the concert, children from our school were absolutely incredible role models for Brookmans Park and music across the district. Miss Kropman was almost bursting with pride and has received so many positive comments about our performance. Well done, everyone; you were absolute superstars!

Orchestra members:

Year 6 - Filip, Maeve

Year 5 - George C, Tegan B

Year 4 - Ellie, Evie, Olivia, Violet

Year 3 - Catherine

Choir members:

Year 6 - Agnes, Amy, Andrew, Daniel G, Ellie, Emilia, Emmie, Ertem, Filip, Isobel, Izzy, Jasmine, Lexi, Liliana, Maeve, Max, Maya, Sam, Sarah-Jane, Tegan EK, Zac (unwell for concert)

Year 5 - Gloria, Tegan B

Year 4 - Amelia (unwell for concert), Annabelle, Bellamaria, Demi, Chloe, Ellie, Evie, Finley, Georgia, Molly, Olivia, Owen

Year 3 - Emma, Ida

Week beginning 27th June

We hope that all of our Year 6 families loved watching the production this week! We have also demonstrated fantastic learning in the classroom, too. 

Year 6 have begun a Positive Minds programme in PSHE lessons this week, supported by Watford FC's Community Trust. This series of lessons has been designed to explore mental health and the importance of recognising when we are struggling to then implement coping strategies. So far, we have defined mental heath and learnt that everyone is unique: it is important to remember that we we will all experience things differently, including our mental health. We have also considered the importance of building positive relationships and reminded ourselves of who is in our support network. This morning, we began looking at resilience and thought about the physical and mental indicators of being at different places on the mental health spectrum.

Cello Assembly - Thursday 30th June

In a lovely return to live music in assemblies, Maeve and her teacher, Mrs Lines, performed for us today. Maeve performed The Pink Panther, Slovak Dance and Hedwig's Theme brilliantly and truly inspired many younger children to then ask Miss Kropman about beginning cello lessons next term. Well done, Maeve!

Week beginning 20th June

Whilst Year 6 have been rehearsing for their production each day this week (and can't wait to perform for you!), they have also enjoyed sporting pursuits. Check out their INCREDIBLE cricket and rounders triumphs in the Welwyn and Hatfield tournament as detailed below! Year 5 have been involved in the Potters Bar tournament cricket teams this week and are keen to share their poetry work, too. 

Report by Agnes, Topaz Class

On Wednesday 22nd June, some of the Year 6 pupils were lucky enough to be invited to attend a rounders tournament held at Monk's Walk Secondary School. We played five matches and topped our group, so go through to the final! We won this and were awarded with gold medals. The teachers said they were very impressed with our sportsmanship. We caught many people out (thanks to Charlie H's legendary catches) and scored many rounders due to our fast running. Overall, we had a fantastic time and were very grateful to Mrs Gray and Mrs Zerny for taking us. 

Week beginning 13th June

In a week of scorching temperatures, UKS2 have continued to work hard! We hope you enjoy seeing Year 6's poetry and our new sports kits. 

CLPE Poetry Competition Entries from Year 6 - Wednesday 15th June

As part of our poetry unit of work, Year 6 have been learning poems by Liz Brownlee, Matt Goodfellow and Laura Mucha, selected as CLPE's poets of the year. Working in small groups, Year 6 learnt and performed their poems, which we have now (excitingly!) entered in a nationwide competition. If we are successful, we will be invited to perform at the Southbank Centre in London next month. Fingers crossed! 

Week beginning 6th June

Welcome back to the final half term of this academic year! We hope you enjoy seeing what we have been up to during geography week! 

#ThisGirlCan Tournament Girls Football A Team - Wednesday 8th June

The girls A team and Miss Kropman travelled to Monks Walk this afternoon for a football tournament celebrating a government initiative to promote female sport. Pitted in the toughest qualification pool, the girls did marvellously well against the titans of the district in both Green Lanes and Templewood. We had to play both of these schools twice, and were victorious 1-0 and 2-0 against Green Lanes thanks to a fine penalty in the first game and a magnificent solo goal from Evie in the second and a spectacular finish from Izzy, too. Templewood proved even stronger opponents, with Izzy’s fine finish snatching a point in the first game. Excellent defending from Jas and Jazz and a marvellous assist from Tegan resulted in Izzy then securing a 1-0 victory in the second match! 
Topping our qualification group resulted in a semi-final place v Harwood Hill. Despite excellent goalkeeping from Bella and brilliant central defending from Fran, we sadly slipped to a 1-0 defeat due to a freaky deflected shot right at the final whistle. Although disappointed, the girls did not let this phase them in their final game - the 3rd/4th place play-off v Creswick. An absolutely wonderful piece of attacking wing play from Elina resulted in a fine finish from Jas at the back post, and a 1-0 victory that sealed third place out of eleven schools! 
In the final presentation, Fran was awarded a ‘Star Player’ medal by the referees which was testament to her excellent play throughout the tournament, being such a positive role model to her teammates. 
Well done, girls! Miss Kropman is, as always, a very proud football coach this evening! 
Squad: Year 6 - Elina, Izzy, Jasmine P

Year 5 - Bella, Evie, Francesca, Jasmine N, Tegan

Whole School Walk to Gobions Open Space - Tuesday 7th June

We kick-started our geography week today with a whole school walk to Gobions. Year 6 paired up with Nursery, whilst Year 5 partnered Reception as we walked through the village to assess how we can make it safer for pedestrians. We look forward to sharing our ideas with you later this week! For now, we hope you enjoy looking at the pictures of our lovely morning walk and snack time back at school! 

Week beginning 23rd May

In our final week of the half-term, UKS2 have taken part in some fantastic learning in the classroom as well as putting on a marvellous performance as part of the whole school Jubilee dance festival. Well done to all of the children for a brilliant six weeks. We hope that you all have a lovely week's holiday and look forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday 7th June. The UKS2 Team x

Year 6 Reading Ambassadors - Wednesday 25th May

Well done to our team of Year 6 reading ambassadors, who were instrumental in advising children (and parents) about which books to purchase at the book fair prior to today's dance festival. Selected by Miss Kropman and Mrs Gray for their passion for reading and wide knowledge of different genres, this inspirational group helped Mrs Johnson to group the books and set up the stalls before taking their advisory role. Thank you so much, Team Read; we are very proud of you! 

Week beginning 16th May

With some lovely weather this week, UKS2 have been enjoying being outside rehearsing their dances for the festival Wednesday! They have also been working very hard inside the classroom and, once again, excelling at sport! 

Year 6 Crime and Punishment in history - Thursday 19th May

Year 6 furthered their understanding of historical crime and punishment today by looking back at the Roman period. They began the lesson by discussing crimes which are committed in the modern day and debating whether any of these would have been similar for the Roman era. We talked about why people might have committed crimes both now and in the past and then learnt that the Romans created 'The Twelve Tables' laws, which served as basic rights for what people could and could not do. 

We studied punishments for crimes that were committed in the Roman period such as stealing from a temple and refusing to worship the Emperor (both crimes that would have resulted in death) and also less serious misdemeanours such as underselling the amount of bread (a whipping would have ensued). We were amazed to learn that the crime of killing your father was punishable by being tied in a sack of snakes and then thrown into a river!

For the next part of the lesson, we worked in small groups to perform a Roman crime and role-play what the punishment would be, before learning that not all alleged criminals were trialled due to a lack of police. Should the person have escaped, it was common for their victim to create a 'curse tablet'. The victim would write the name of the person who committed the crime on the tablet and then describe what they wanted the gods to do to punish them. As you can see from some of the photographs below, we had good fun with this!

We ended the lesson by reflecting on the differences between crime and punishment now and in Roman Britain, and decided that the justice system is much fairer today due to courts requiring evidence and an unbiased jury in order to decide a person's sentence!

Year 6 PSHE lesson - Tuesday 17th May

Year 6 combined forces this afternoon to have a lesson all about their careers! Tasked with identifying some of the skills that could help them in their future jobs, they first looked at the strengths needed for different roles within the workplace. Next, they generated interview questions and then role-played an interview scenario. After doing this (brilliantly), they ended the afternoon by providing honest and helpful feedback to their partners for how they could improve further in future interviews. Well done, Year 6. If you ever want a job at Brookmans Park School in the future, please let us know!

Week beginning 9th May

It has been SATS week for our amazing Year 6s this week. Please have a look at some of their excellent revision and happiness, and the wonderful sporting achievement of the handball team! 

Topaz's Mental Health Awareness Day Presentations - Friday 13th May

To celebrate Mental Heath Awareness, Topaz spent this morning exploring why it is so important to be mentally well whilst wearing green clothing to promote this. We watched video clips to remind us about the 5 Ways to Wellbeing and discussed the impact that these can have upon our happiness. Topaz were then tasked with creating Google Slides to demonstrate their learning and to make suggestions for how to support our mental health. This was an excellent way to end our SATS week and led to many smiling faces during the run-up to the weekend!

Week beginning 2nd May

A very quiet week this week in UKS2 due to Year 6 revising for their SATS (which are next week). Nevertheless, a super Friday football match to tell you about below! 

Year 6 Girls Football v Oakmere - Friday 6th May

Our Year 6 girls finished their term of football fixtures with a home game against Oakmere this afternoon. Dominant from the outset, Tegan EK got the ball rolling (quite literally) with a fine finish following a superb run from midfield. Our defensive pairing of Amy and Gabby were magnificently strong, whilst Emmie was, yet again, a rock in goal throughout the first half. Further opening half goals were scored today by Izzy (4) and Elina, who also scored an absolutely divine curler midway through the second half. Ellie and Emilia worked brilliantly together in midfield today and combined to execute a perfect through-ball for Tegan to run onto and score her second of the afternoon. This was yet another wonderful performance from our girls and Miss Kropman could not be happier to report a one hundred percent record from the A, B and combined Year 6 teams this season in league and friendly matches (without breaking local rules by directly telling you the scores, obviously!). Well done, girls! x 

Team: Amy, Ellie, Elina (Captain), Emilia, Emmie, Gabby, Izzy, Tegan EK

Week beginning 25th April

Whilst Year 6 have been busy with SATS revision, they have also managed to complete some excellent English, RE and Science work this week as you can see below! Year 5 had an exciting visit to Monk's Walk for some extra PE on Wednesday, too! 

Topaz's RE lesson on symbolism in the Christian Church - Monday 25th April

Topaz spent today's RE lesson exploring symbolism within the church. To demonstrate their findings, they used play-dough to build various objects and then used the Chromebooks to photograph and explain the symbolism. Well done, Topaz - you were brilliant today!

Some great examples from Topaz's 'The Journey' inspired free-verse poetry - Monday 25th April

Guns, Blood, Death

The hum of planes,

The rattle of guns,

The screams of children

The smoke from fires hiding the sun.

BOOM

Raining bombs from the sky,

Red oil stains the mud,

Bullets brutally spraying,

Soldiers falling.

THUD

I know my name is on one of those bullets,

But I keep running,

I know I will fall like all my friends,

But I keep running.

RATTLE

A bullet whistles through the air,

It hits me like a whip,

My glasses fall on the ground,

I trip.

By Zac S

Fragmented Memories

A beautiful day in the sun,

A tsunami of happiness embraces me.

Chaos swarms through the city,

Strikes of sadness break my soul.

Fragmented memories surround me.

By Emilia M

The War

A day in the sun,

Waves of happiness disappear,

Chaos devours our city.

DON'T GO.

The sound of guns,

The screaming children,

Planes above the clouds.

By Max R

Week beginning 18th April

Welcome back to school for the Summer Term!

Girls A Team Football v Little Heath - Friday 22nd April

One might have feared that our girls would be tired after yesterday's awesome performance, but this worry was quickly abated when we took to the pitch for a league encounter against Little Heath today. 

Whilst not called into action too much yesterday, in today’s game Bella showed sharpness and awareness in goal to thwart numerous attacks and, pleasingly, distribute the ball brilliantly to the wings in the first half. Wonderful defensive work from Francesca was yet again the catalyst for building our attacks, which were ably supported by the dominant Jazz and Gabby. Jasmine N was tasked with filling the midfield hole as we soon became aware of Little Heath's strength going forwards, and she was (in this reporter's obviously slightly biased opinion) incredible in this role. Hearts were in mouths on more than one occasion as Little Heath drove forward, but our plucky ladies stood strong. In her first match for the A team, and deputising for absent players, Tegan EK ran her socks off throughout the game and was so close to getting on the scoresheet in the second half. Izzy, meanwhile, once again led by example and constantly tracked back in addition to piling forward at every opportunity. Player of the match, however, has to go to Evie, who was truly exceptional today and scored our two goals. Despite a late scare, we are now happily still on a crazy winning run that places us firmly at the top of the league table. Well done, girls; Miss Kropman couldn't be happier going in to the weekend! Thank you to Mr Fennell for refereeing once again, and to all of the girls' family members for their amazing support. 
Team: Year 5 - Bella, Francesca, Evie, Jasmine N

Year 6 - Gabby, Izzy, Jasmine P, Tegan EK

Girls B Team Football v Little Heath - Friday 22nd April

Following on from yesterday's heroics, the B team faced an even tougher test from visitors Little Heath. An immense performance from goalkeeper Emmie, however, meant that our undefeated run continued, whilst Mila, Mabel and Amy commanded the backline today. Once again, Ellie and Emilia's midfield play was second to none as they worked tirelessly for their teammates and created numerous goal scoring opportunities. Paige's confidence is now at an ultimate high and it was delightful to see her classy drag-back in the second half! Other highlights from the second half included Serafina's driving run from midfield and Gloria's determination to win every ball. This was, yet again, a fantastic team performance and Miss Kropman couldn't be happier with all of the girls! It was too difficult to pick a player of the match, so this was shared by the whole team today. Well done, girls! 

Team: Year 5 - Gloria, Mabel, Mila, Paige, Serafina

Year 6 - Amy, Ellie, Emilia, Emmie

Girls A Team Football v Cranborne - Thursday 21st April 

Our first league match of the term was played in glorious sunshine this afternoon! Pitted against a strong opposition, the girls had to work extremely hard throughout the game in order to ensure our place at the top of the league table couldn’t be touched! Excellent play out of defence from Francesca and Tegan led to Jazz threatening at the back post early in the first half, resulting in an own goal, whilst a superb shot from the left wing courtesy of Evie’s left foot was also a defining moment in a tight first half! Strong goalkeeping from Bella and battling defensive work from Jasmine and Gabby were the highlights of the second half, whilst Izzy’s wonderful work rate and selfless passing ensured both Jazz and Evie once again got on the scoresheet. The result can’t be shared, but we are definitely all smiling! Well done to all of the girls for a brilliant performance and thank you to Mr Fennell for refereeing. Miss Kropman’s player of the match today was Tegan, for a dominant display in defence and creating so many of our attacks. 
Team: Year 5 - Bella, Francesca, Evie, Jasmine N, Tegan B

Year 6 - Gabby, Izzy, Jasmine P

Girls B Team Football v Cranborne - Thursday 21st April

The mighty B team faced Cranborne this afternoon on the freshly mown Brookmans Park turf. Fantastic attacking play could be witnessed from the kick off, with Gloria, Paige, Serafina and Emilia all running! A fine finish from Ellie was just reward for her brilliant runs into the box during the first half, whilst Mila and Mabel constantly thwarted the opposition’s attacks. Emmie, meanwhile, was once again awesome in goal, making some fine saves and distributing the ball brilliantly. The greatest congratulations of the afternoon, however, need to go to Tegan EK in her first game for the school. Miss Kropman’s player of the match, Tegan scored an incredible hat trick today and seemed to cover every blade of grass on the pitch! Well done to all of the girls for yet another superb performance.

Team: Year 5 - Gloria, Paige, Mabel, Mila, Serafina

Year 6 - Ellie, Emilia, Emmie, Tegan EK

Topaz exploring 'The Journey' in English - Thursday 21st April

In addition to their excellent work for SATS revision, Topaz have joined the rest of the phase in using Francesca Sanna's 'The Journey' to inspire their English this week. Today, we reached the point of the story where the war has taken the father. We worked in small groups to freeze-frame a poignant moment from the father's life, which we accompanied with a caption that will form the basis of some poetry work tomorrow! 

Week beginning 28th March

We hope you enjoy looking at just a few of our activities from the last week of term! UKS2 have demonstrated incredible learning and progress throughout the last twelve weeks and we are very proud of all of them. We hope that you and your families have a lovely break and we look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Tuesday 19th April. 
The UKS2 Team x

The Premier League Trophy Comes to Brookmans Park! - Wednesday 30th March

Thanks to a wonderful competition win by Henry in Year 4, the whole school had the most exciting of mornings as the Premier League trophy arrived in the hall! Led by Graham and his team from the national FA, we had an interesting assembly where we learnt about the history of the premier league and took part in an interactive quiz. We also explored the values of the league, which include ambition, inspiration, connection and fairness. Well done to Henry (Year 4), Luke, Maeve and Izzy (all from UKS2) who were selected by their teachers as embodying one of these values on a day-to-day basis in school. Following the assembly, each year group had the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the trophy and ask some questions about it. We were fascinated to learn that the trophy was made by the Queen's jewellers and is officially 'priceless' (although the silver alone has a value in excess of £70,000!), and that nobody is allowed to touch it other than the winning team for fourteen days after it is presented each year. There are two official trophies (one which remains with the winning club for a season) and one which goes out on visits. Any other trophies which are made are known as copies, rather than replicas, and, for insurance purposes, are all a little smaller. Of course, Miss Kropman's mighty Manchester United have won the trophy the most times, but can you name the six other teams who have been successful in claiming this magnificent prize throughout the history of the Premier League?

Thank you so much to Henry and his mum for allowing us to have the trophy in school. What an amazing experience this was!

Boys A Team Football v The Wroxham – Monday 28^th March

The A Team once again took to the field this afternoon against a strong and experienced opposition in The Wroxham. The boys worked exceptionally hard to win personal battles and communicated effectively throughout. Jamie was magnificent in goal with superb distribution, whilst Giacomo and Harry S commanded the back line.  Great passing took place in midfield from Jake, Like, Ollie and Teddie in order to contribute to attack after attack. Although I can’t give away the score, I can tell you that maximum league points remain all ours and that both Charlie BS and Stanley scored fine goals this afternoon. Well done to all of the boys!

Team:

Year 5 – Jake, Luke, Stanley

Year 6 – Charlie BS, Giacomo, Harry S, Jamie, Ollie, Teddie

Boys B Team Football v The Wroxham – Monday 28^th March  

The B team were up next and, once again, did not disappoint their supporters! A heroic free-kick diving save from ‘keeper Sam, accurate tackles from Nate, Andrew and Charlie H and wonderful wing play from Henry and Freddie L were just some of the match highlights. Freddie F, meanwhile, in his first game for the school, was a commanding presence in midfield, and he linked brilliantly with Harry T, who scored two excellent goals this afternoon. Smiles were had all round at the final whistle as the B team also remain on maximum points. Well done, boys! Thank you to Assistant Coach Rocco for helping Mr Fennell and Miss Kropman this afternoon and to Mr Talbot, who refereed both matches.

Team:

Year 5 – Freddie L, Harry T, Henry

Year 6 – Andrew, Charlie H, Freddie F, Nathaniel, Sam

Topaz's RE lesson - Jesus: Ordinary Man or Son of God? - Monday 28th March

In RE today, we explored the events of Christian Holy Week, as we then discussed whether Jesus was just an ordinary man or, in fact, the son of God. We began the lesson by studying Ugolino de Nerio’s famous painting ‘The Way to Calvary’. We were tasked with reminding ourselves of the Easter story and looking at the people who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and alleged resurrection. Next, we were put in groups of four and assigned a different witness group including: Thomas, the Roman soldiers, Jesus’ female friends, followers on the road to Emmaus and the disciples. We read bible verses from the New Testament which told their stories and were then created reasons for and against Jesus being the son of God, which we recorded in tables.

Following this, we held a conscious alley to try and persuade others to change their minds, before creating compelling personal arguments. Well done, Topaz. You were absolute RE boss-wizards today! Have a look at these amazing responses:

Ellie – A primary suggestion for Jesus being the son of God is that he was killed by professional Roman executioners, who had never made a mistake before. If Jesus was medically dead, how could he have come back to life if he wasn’t the son of God? The New Testament also tells us that angels visited him, so they must have known he was not an ordinary man. Conversely, it can be argued that Jesus wasn’t actually dead at all and was, perhaps, just unconscious.

Zac – Some people argue that Jesus was no ordinary man and that he was the son of God. A reason for this is that he managed to come back to life after he died on the cross. To be able to do that, he must have had super natural powers! The New Testament also tells us that angels visited the tomb, suggesting he was an important man.

On the other hand, it can be argued that Jesus was not actually that special. It could be that was just a man who had vivid dreams rather than specific prophecies. It could also be that he had been in a coma for three days and this fooled the Roman guards that he was dead. In addition, if Jesus was the son of God, God surely would have been evil to leave his child to die on the cross and have the pain of nails through his hands, suffering hunger and thirst and a bleeding spear wound in his ribs.

In my opinion, I believe that Jesus did exist, but that he was not the son of God.

Week beginning 21st March

A wonderful week of us loving sewing, sport and sunshine in UKS2! 

Cross Country Nationals - Saturday 26th March 

After qualifying to represent Team Hertfordshire last month, Stanley and Izzy’s big day came this morning at the prestigious Market Harborough Showground. Situated in the East Midlands (and 90 miles from Brookmans Park!), this 2.7km course was a tough, hard race. Pitted against 179 others runners (10 from each county), Stanley took to the field first in the Year 5 boys race. Despite losing a shoe early on and having to complete the remainder of the course in his sock(!), Stanley finished in a superb 49th place. All of the Hertfordshire team finished in the top 100, with Stanley coming 7th. An amazing outcome, especially considering that Stan only took up long distance running for this event!

Izzy then took on the Year 6 girls and had to jostle for a place near the front from the outset. A magnificent streak of determination and impressive effort saw her finish a brilliant 31st (and 3rd in the Hertfordshire team). We await to hear Hertfordshire’s final position across the different races, but know that both Stanley and Izzy contributed hugely to their success. Mr Fennell and I are so proud of both of them and loved our day out to support them. Well done! Miss Kropman x 

Boys A Team Football v Oakmere - Friday 25th March

Our Year 5&6 A team travelled to Oakmere this afternoon for a league game. From the start, our boys played with passion and intensity, and really moved the ball around with purpose and speed. A commanding performance from Lewis in goal and solid defending from Harry S and Charlie H meant that the opposition barely got a sniff at goal all game, whilst wingers Rocco and Charlie BS began to run riot as they took on the defence with great aplomb! Once again, we are not allowed to share the score, but marvellous goals from today’s super striker Ollie (2), a magnificent cross-cum-shot from Harry T and a fine penalty from Luke just typified a wonderful performance. Well done, boys. Mr Fennell, Mr Talbot and Miss Kropman are very proud of you all.

Team:

Year 5 - Harry T, Luke 

Year 6 - Charlie BS, Charlie H, Harry S, Lewis, Ollie and Rocco

Boys B Team Football v Oakmere - Friday 25th March

Our Year 5&6 B team travelled also to Oakmere this afternoon for a league game. As with the A team, the boys demonstrated confidence and determination from the kick-off. Our strength and ability became evident within minutes and an incredible number of goals followed! Credit should go to Jamie in goal and Ryan at the back, who were the catalysts for many of our attacks by picking out inch-perfect passes. All of our midfielders and strikers happily got on the scoresheet this afternoon with goals from Harvey (2), Teddie (2), Jake (2), Henry (2), Luke and Freddie. Whilst the score can’t be shared, the talent within this team is very obvious! Well done, boys. Mr Fennell and Miss Kropman are so impressed with you all! 

Team:

Year 5: Freddie, Harvey, Henry, Jake, Luke and Ryan 

Year 6: Jamie and Teddie 

DT Week - Friday 25th March

This has been our Design and Technology week in UKS2! Please see below the amazing work that we have produced in researching, designing and then making our cushions. We learnt back stitch, running stitch, cross stitch and blanket stitch and then used these to embroider and stitch together recycled material. We have tried to be as sustainable as possible and provide eco-friendly messages within our functional and aesthetically pleasing designs!

Walking to School - Thursday 24th March

UKS2 joined the rest of the school early this morning to walk to their classrooms before registration. Meeting at the URC in the village, we were escorted by a convoy of police officers (and cars!), parents and members of staff all in order to promote our healthy lifestyles. On a gloriously sunny day, this was a beautiful start to the morning! 

Week beginning 14th March

Welcome to a jam-packed Science week in UKS2! We have been exploring the theme of growth this week through science (animal growth on the farm and plants), geography (sustainability) and RE (spiritual growth). 

UKS2 Trips to the RVC Farm - Tuesday 15th and Friday 18th March

Tuesday and Friday saw the amazing opportunity for Year 5 and Year 6 to visit our local farm – Boltons Park – which is owned by the Royal Vet College. Whilst not normally open to the public as it is a working farm, staff and students had generously offered to provide us with a day of learning to support our science week curriculum topic of ‘growth’.

After a brisk walk in the sunshine, we were divided in to groups of around twelve to rotate around four different stations throughout the day. Upon arrival, each group donned an attractive white protection suit and had to sanitise their wellington boots! One of the owners of the farm then gave us a talk about how to keep safe around the farm before the real fun began!

Miss Kropman’s group visited the cows first, where we learnt about their food, teeth and four stomach digestive system. Next, we learnt about how the cows are milked twice a day and got to explore the pumps before having a go on the model cow! We then walked to the calves outside who had all been born within the last couple of weeks. We loved stroking them and even got to name one of them! Next, we went to the chicken coup and learnt all about how they lay eggs. We got to stroke them and helped capture an escapee, too!

After lunch, we had a classroom lesson led by a student called Sophie, who is in her final year of a Veterinary Medicine degree. Sophie talked to us about different degree opportunities at the RVC and her journey to becoming a vet. She then taught us about how to treat an injured animal before allowing us to practise bandaging some cuddly toys. Well done to wannabe vet Tegan EK, who was absolutely brilliant at this! The final activity of the day was to learn about lambing and to visit some of the new-borns. We were troubled to find out that the flock had been hit by a serious virus, which meant that some were very unwell and were in the hospital wing. As a result of the illness, we weren’t allowed to touch any of them, but we did, instead, learn all about the birthing process and what happens to orphan lambs who are then hand reared.

As the end of the trip approached, all of the phase, and their teachers, were really sad to leave. We had experienced a wonderful day and would like to thank all of the staff and volunteers at the RVC for making us feel so welcome.

Girls A Team football v The Wroxham - Thursday 17th March

After the torrent of rain yesterday, the footballers, supporters and Miss Kropman were all delighted to be basking in sunshine this afternoon as we took on our closest league rivals, The Wroxham. As always, I cannot quite share the result of the match, but I will tell our blogging audience that we were exceptionally happy with our performance today! Fran, Jazz and Gabby were rocks in defence and superb midfield play from Jas, Tegan and Elina led to passing football of the highest quality. Meanwhile, Izzy and Evie were busy combining with devastatingly brilliant effect once again! The goal of the season so far was tapped in from Izzy following five different players using two touch, free-flowing movement of the ball, whilst a positively rampant run from the centre circle saw Evie also score with aplomb today. Miss Kropman's player of the match, however, went to Bella, who was just magnificent in goal to allow nothing past her. Diving saves, commanding her box and using her feet brilliantly are just three of her many skillsets, and we are so lucky to have you playing in this position, Bella! 
Thank you to Mr Fennell for referring and to the parents for such amazing support today. 

Well done to all of you, girls. I love watching you enjoy your football and being so supportive of each other when faced with such challenging opposition. What a cracking team you are! Miss Kropman x

Team: Year 6 - Elina, Gabby, Izzy and Jasmine P

Year 5 - Bella, Evie, Francesca, Jasmine N, Tegan B

UKS2 RE Production and Workshop - Thursday 17th March

We welcomed Saltmine Theatre Company this morning, who performed 'The Gardeners' Tale' to the whole school, which told the Christian story of the crucifixion from the viewpoint of a group of Jerusalem gardeners. With each phase learning about the Easter story in their RE lessons this half term, the play provided an engaging, interactive way to access and understand some Christian beliefs. 

After the production, UKS2 were treated to a drama and PSHE workshop centred around themes of friendship. We took part in hotseating and guiding activities, and had the chance to explore what loyalty and forgiveness look like. Here is what we thought of the morning:

Ertem - 'This was really funny and I loved that we got to join in with so much of the play.'

Emilia - 'I thought it was great how the actors mixed learning with us all having fun!'

Maya - 'I found the actors amazing and really believable.'

Luca - 'I am a Christian myself and I loved this morning being all about my own religion.'

Agnes - 'This made me laugh and was also very educational. I loved it!'

Two Year 6 House Captains and Miss Kropman ended the morning by being interviewed by a professional film crew, who were recording the show and asked for some audience feedback. Look out for us soon on a screen near you! 

Girls A Team Netball Tournament - Tuesday 15th March

The A Team netball girls and Miss Kropman travelled to Stanborough School today to take part in a tournament against eight other schools from the Welwyn and Hatfield Schools Sports Partnership. We played in a round robin tournament with eight games in total, resulting in a fast paced and tiring afternoon, but one in which so much fun and sporting ability was on show from Team BP! 
Our first game got us off on a flyer with a 2-0 victory over Holwell, with our second game saw a well fought 1-1 draw against St John’s Lemsford. We then had an unfortunate run of games against the largest and most experienced schools in the competition and, despite resolute defending and great team play, we sadly lost to Creswick, Commonswood and St John’s Digswell. A 0-0 draw against Oaklands gave the girls their confidence back and their fighting spirit was back on display in full force for the final two games! 
The first of these was against Panshanger, whom we defeated 2-0, whilst the last match resulted in a fine 3-0 win against Applecroft.

At the end of the tournament, we were proud to learn that we had finished sixth in the district. Well done, girls! This was a superb tournament performance where you got better and better in each game and were brilliant ambassadors for the school. 
Team: Amy, Ellie (1 goal), Emmie (3 goals), Emilia, Isobel, Izzy, Lexi (3 goals), Maeve, Maya, Sarah-Jane and Tegan EK (1 goal). 

Geography and Science in UKS2 - Monday 14th March

With our science theme of 'growth' in mind, we have been learning about ecology and sustainability. This morning, we learnt about what it means to be sustainable and explored ways in which this is encouraged throughout the world. We were then challenged to create hashtags to pledge support for sustainability. Some of Miss Kropman's favourites from Topaz included:

# reuseandrecyle by Harry and Filip

#reduceyouruse by Luca

#renewtheworld by Tegan EK

#ourchoicesaffectourworld by Agnes

Later this afternoon, the phase went on a sustainability walk around the school, looking at what we currently do well and any seeking any possible areas of development to feed back to the teachers tomorrow.  

Week beginning 7th March 

This has been a week of welcoming back staff and children after yet another wave of Covid in UKS2, but we have still managed to have fun both inside and outside of the classroom!

Archery with the School Sports Partnership - Wednesday 9th March

This morning, UKS2 were treated to a fun archery session led by Mr Williams from the Welwyn and Hatfield School Sports Partnership. Each class was taught the key concepts of how to hold the bow and fire arrows, before a full scale phase competition took place! After firing eight arrows across four rounds, the top four boys and top four girls were announced. These children will go forward to represent our school at a competition at the end of this term. Our top three scorers overall can be found pictured below wearing gold, silver and bronze medals. Well done to them, especially, and congratulations to all of the following children who have been selected for the team:

Boys - Zac, Frazer, Jamie and David

Girls - Elina, Liliana, Audrey and Emmie 

Week beginning 28th February

Another busy week of learning both inside and outside of the classroom in UKS2, with the highlight definitely being World Book Day on Thursday. We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs! 

Girls A Team Football Watford FC Premier League Primary Tournament - Tuesday 1st March 

Just a day after the boys tournament, it was the turn of our A team girls to venture to The Dome for the premier league tournament. With Miss Kropman struck down with Covid and no cover for Mr Fennell at school, Miss O’Brien kindly stepped up to manage the team for the day, ably assisted by parent coach Mrs Noorian.

In the opening game, a wonderful finish from Izzy gave the girls a crucial victory over local rivals De Havilland. With their confidence growing, the team then took on The Wroxham. Excellent goalkeeping from Bella and defensive work from Fran and the Jasmines saw us keep a clean sheet, whilst Evie and Izzy both had their shooting boots on to secure a 2-0 win. 
The third and fourth games of the tournament, just the like boys the previous day, saw the toughest oppositions. A noble 0-0 draw against Rickmansworth and a narrow 1-0 defeat against Chorleywood ensued. Shortly afterwards, however, fantastic midfield play from Elina and Tegan and a wonderful strike from Evie saw us crowned 1-0 winners over Bromet. This, in turn, led to a magnificent performance against Cranbourne with a remarkable 5-0 score line thanks to a hat trick from Evie and a brace from Izzy. The final group game was also a wonderful victory - this time by two goals to nil with the goals, once again, from super strikers Evie and Izzy.

Sadly, the girls missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals by just one point, but should be immensely proud of playing superbly throughout the tournament.

Squad: Year 5 - Bella, Evie, Francesca, Jasmine N, Tegan B

Year 6 - Elina, Izzy, Jasmine P

Boys A Team Football Watford FC Premier League Primary Tournament - Monday 28th February 

Eight of our most talented boys were selected to play in an elite tournament today at The Dome, home of Watford FC’s training ground. Pitted in a tough group of Hertfordshire finest primary schools, our first game saw a fine 3-0 victory against St Joseph’s with goals from Rocco, Charlie and Harvey. The second game was even better, with a demonstrative 4-0 win against Yorke Mead with Harry T (2), Harvey and Stanley all finding the scoresheet.
Sadly, our third and fourth games resulted in 1-0 and 2-1 defeats to Cranbourne and Holy Rood respectively, despite a fine finish from Harry T in the latter.
The lunch break then seemed to fire the boys up for the afternoon games! A brilliant display against De Havilland resulted in three points and a 3-0 win courtesy of Stanley (2) and Harvey, and a solid 2-0 victory then followed against Cherry Tree with goals from Harvey and Rocco. The final game of the group stage was a tight encounter with St John Fisher, with Harvey’s exquisite finish earning us a well deserved point. 

Unfortunately, the boys finished second in their group and just missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals, but should be proud of how well they did throughout the tournament. Mr Fennell reported that Harry S and Luke were both superb in goal and on pitch, whilst Giacomo was a calming and influential figure in defence. 
Well done to the whole team and thank you to Mr Talbot for his support. 
Squad: Year 5 - Harry T, Harvey, Luke, Stanley

Year 6 - Charlie H, Giacomo, Harry S, Rocco 

Week beginning 21st February

Welcome back to the second half of the Spring Term! We hope you enjoy looking at our English, PSHE/Citizenship and sporting pursuits from this week. 

Girls Football Matches v Ladbrooke - Friday 25th February

The girls A and B teams played their first league games in almost two years this afternoon as we welcomed Ladbrooke to the hallowed Brookmans Park turf!

First up were the A team. As always, results can't be shared, but goodness me what a marvellous team we have! There were goals galore from Evie (4), Izzy (3), Elina, Tegan B and Jazz P as we played what this ex-player would refer to as 'total football'! Although she had a relatively untroubled first half in goal, Bella commanded her area and communicated brilliantly with her defence prior to then excelling in midfield in the second half. Fran and Jas N, meanwhile, were busy building from the back and releasing killer passes forwards. An excellent performance from our midfield dynamos of Elina, Tegan and Jazz led to dazzling compliments from the opposition coaches, whilst both Izzy and Evie seemed to cover every blade of grass in their predatory hunt for goals. Player of the match went to Jazz for the goal of the afternoon and a commanding captain's performance. 

Next to take to the field were the B team. For many of the girls, this was their first ever football match, and they definitely didn't disappoint! Emmie was fantastic in goal and thwarted their striker's shots by getting down early to every ball. In front of her, Mila and Mabel dominated the back line, making a string of timely tackles to link beautifully with Paige, Amy and Gloria in midfield. This trio controlled the game with accurate decision making and intelligent forward runs. Once again, I can't quite give away the brilliant score, but well done to both Gabby and Emilia, who scored an excellent goal apiece, demonstrating great bravery and skill.
Congratulations to both teams this afternoon. Mr Fennell and I were, as always, exceptionally proud of you and can't wait for plenty more games this term! Miss Kropman x

Green Hearts for a Green Village - Thursday 24th February

UKS2 spent this afternoon discussing links to sustainability (our geography topic this term) and citizenship, as they were introduced to a scheme which supports eco-friendly initiatives in local communities. After learning about and discussing ways in which we can look after our environment, we created a small pledge or key idea on a green heart, which we have combine together as a large phase heart to place on the railings at the front of school. In addition to this, we used collage techniques to recycle the green pages of old magazines to make beautiful heart bunting. We hope you enjoy looking at our work when you next walk past the school entrance! 

Week beginning 7th February

We hope you enjoy looking at all of the fun activities we have been doing for Feel-Good Week!

Thank you for yet another brilliant half term in our phase. It has, once again, been such a pleasure to teach you all, UKS2! We hope you have a lovely break next week and look forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday 22nd February. 

The UKS2 Team x

Year 5 and 6 Boys Football A Team vs Ladbrooke - Thursday 10th February

Our A team had their first league game in two years this afternoon and it was an incredible start to the season! Although U11 school football results cannot be shared, what we can tell you is that the boys played magnificently. All nine of them excelled in their positions and truly played as a team. The level of football was exceptionally high and the boys really put into practise what Mr Fennell has been coaching in terms of looking after the ball, taking a controlling touch and then immediately attempting to play it forward. Charlie H, Harry S and Teddie were strong at the back to thwart the Ladbrooke attackers, whilst Lewis commanded his goal with aplomb. The midfield work rate of Jake, Stanley and Harry T was very impressive, whilst Rocco and Harvey were awesome upfront. Goals happily came our way on four occasions with a fine hat-trick from Stanley and a lovely finish by Jake (Harvey's third assist of the afternoon!). Congratulations to all of you, boys. Miss Kropman loved watching you play this afternoon! We would also like to give a special mention to our Player of the Match, Charlie H. Well done!

Year 6 Tag Rugby Tournament at Welwyn Rugby Club - Wednesday 9th February

Year 6 had the great excitement of taking a coach for a school outing this afternoon for the first time in two years! The whole year group, Mr Fennell, Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman travelled to Welwyn Rugby Club to take part in a tournament against five other schools. When we arrived, we were split into three squads: girls, boys and mixed. We were then directed to three different pitches, including the girls getting to play on the hallowed turf of the Welwyn A Team! 

Despite the cold, blustery weather and intermittent rain showers, none of our teams let this dampen their enthusiasm and all three excelled throughout the tournament. Bizarrely, all three teams narrowly lost their first match but then went on to draw one and win two! Although not competitive, this definitely made us one of the strongest schools at the event and we received many compliments from opposition players, teachers and the referees. Most importantly, however, the sporting behaviour, encouragement and willingness to play in any position made us the best school there in Miss Kropman's (perhaps biased) eyes! Congratulations to everyone who scored tries throughout the afternoon (of which there were many), to those who stopped the opposition scoring by taking so many tags, and to those who linked the play together so well. 

At the end of the afternoon, not one, but two of our Year 6s were awarded medals for being 'Star Players' of the tournament. A huge well done to Harry S and Lexi - what a brilliant way to end the day! 

Year 6 RE - Monday 7th February

Topaz and Turquoise classes spent their RE lesson today exploring two Buddhist stories - Siddhartha and the Swan, and The Lion and the Jackal. They were then challenged to work individually or as a small group to use drama, dance, music or art to represent the meaning for Buddhists today. Giacomo produced some excellent art with a friend, and reflected brilliantly on his learning:

My art work depicts Siddhartha and the Swan and represents the message of always being kind. I think our work was successful as it shows the importance of understanding the value of all living things. 

We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs and video below!

Week beginning 31st January

Another action packed week in UKS2 with the Year 6 district finals of the athletics competition on Thursday, Hertfordshire Primary Schools' Year 5&6 Cross-Country on Saturday, and interactive learning happening across all four classrooms! 

Hertfordshire Schools' Cross-Country National Qualifying Event - Saturday 5th February

The cream of the cross-country crop from Hertfordshire primary schools journeyed to Westminster Lodge in St Albans this morning to compete in a gruelling 2km race. Each Hertfordshire school was allowed to enter up to three of their strongest athletes into each race, with over 150 competing at a time! The prize for the top 10 finishers in the Year 6 boys, Year 6 girls, Year 5 boys and Year 5 girls was a place in the Hertfordshire team to compete in the England National Cross-Country Championship, which is taking place next month in the Midlands. 

First up was the Year 6 boys race, featuring Rocco and Zac. Both boys ran brilliantly, with solid starts and impressive overtaking on the incline part of the course. Unfortunately, Rocco suffered an unfair elbow to the ribs by a runner from another school whilst in an agonisingly close 11th place and beginning to increase his stride for a sprint finish. Despite this, he demonstrated incredible resilience to still finish 30th. Zac, meanwhile, ran an awesome race and should be so pleased with his brilliant 23rd place. Next to take to the course was Izzy, in the Year 6 girls race. She was absolutely PHENOMENAL from start to finish, and this reporter was truly in awe of her wonderful fitness levels as she tore around the tricky course and finished in a remarkable 3rd place. To our delight, she therefore qualified for the nationals!

The Year 5 girls were superbly represented by Mila and Jasmine, who have always impressed in school cross-country events. They did us proud once again as they both finished in the top 30 (Mila 22nd and Jasmine 29th) and, most pleasingly, really pushed themselves with sprint finishes. Stanley was our sole Year 5 boys competitor and, in his first ever 2km event, was absolutely spectacular. Remaining with the core pack for the majority of the race, he really excelled in the final 400m and, happily, came in 8th place and also qualified for the nationals!

To have all of our 6 runners finish in the top 20% of an already elite group of children from across the county is truly amazing. For two of these children to also qualify to represent Hertfordshire against the rest of the country? Beyond our wildest dreams! Congratulations to the whole team. I am the proudest phase leader in the world today and Mr Fennell and I had the best morning ever watching you all! WELL DONE! Miss Kropman x

Year 6 Winners of the Small Schools' Indoor Athletics District Finals - Thursday 3rd February

After the heroics of the athletics team last Friday, it was time for them to compete against the district's elite this afternoon! Pitted against five other schools, we once again took part in the range of track and field activities. There were notable successes in almost all of the 24 different events. Lexi triumphed in the javelin and chest push, whilst Izzy dominated the girls' speed bounce. Meanwhile, Charlie H was busy bossing the boys' javelin and Jamie and Sam won the triple and long jumps. On the track, however, we were even more unbelievable, with every race culminating in a first or second place! For the girls, Lexi and Tegan came 1st in the 1+1 lap relay and the 4x1 lap relay team of Jazz, Lexi, Tegan and Izzy also came in Gold position! Sam and Jamie won the 1+1 lap relay, and Rocco and Charlie H won the 2+2 relay. Our over/under relay team of Ollie, Charlie BS, Zac and Giacomo came 1st whilst the most tightly contested race of the day - the 4 x 1 lap relay - was brilliantly won by Rocco, Charlie H, Jamie and Giacomo. 

At the end of the afternoon, the final standings were announced. Unfortunately, the 'large' schools were just (but only just) too strong for us, with the team that went through to the county final scoring a mere 9 more points than us overall. We were delighted, however, to be told that we were the most successful 'small' school in the competition and, therefore, the overall winners in our pool. Well done to all of the team; Mr Fennell and Miss Kropman couldn't be prouder of you and can't wait to present you with your certificates and medals! 

Team:

Boys - Charlie BS, Ertem, Giacomo, Charlie H, Jamie, Sam, Ollie, Harry S, Zac and Rocco

Girls - Maya, Tegan EK, Gabby, Ellie, Izzy, Emilia, Lexi, Jazz, Maeve and Elina.

Week beginning 24th January

UKS2 have been busy creating some excellent work in their English lessons this week, in addition to enjoying the new playground equipment and starting to interactively learn about the circulatory system (please look out for an exciting cross-curricular approach towards this next week!). Topaz are also proud to show you their super start to learning a glockenspiel accompaniment in music, which you can see below! Finally, please see the highlight of the week for some of our Year 6s…a phenomenal indoor athletics performance!

Year 6 Indoor Athletics competition winners! - Friday 28th January 

Eighteen of our most talented Year 6 sport stars (and Miss Kropman) travelled to Stanborough School today to take part in the Welwyn and Hatfield Sports Partnership’s indoor athletics competition. Each child participated in a minimum of two field and two track events throughout the afternoon. These included races such as the up and under, obstacle and 1x, 2x, 4x and 6x relays.  Meanwhile, the standing long jump, vertical jump, triple jump, chest push, speed bounce and javelin were also taking place. This resulted in a very busy time for our Year 6s, who were exceptional in their execution of a number of brand new events. 

As the afternoon progressed, Miss Kropman began to sense that something special was happening. Top scores in the javelin, long jump and speed bounce, and second place in a number of the relays meant that the points were mounting. In the final race of the day, our boys 4x relay team of Charlie H, Jamie, Lewis and Rocco stormed to victory, much to the delight of their teammates and teacher. Star performers of the day were then awarded to two of our team. Firstly, Charlie H was rewarded for his excellent sprints in the relay and winning javelin throw. Tegan EK was also given a certificate for her awesome first place speed bounce and wonderful sporting attitude. Just as we thought it was time to go home, we were given the incredible news that we had won the pool of small schools who had taken part in the competition, amassing the highest point score from throughout the whole week. This meant that we had qualified for the district finals! These will take place next Thursday (2nd February) and, quite frankly, this reporter and the brilliant Year 6 team cannot wait!

Thank you very much, Year 6, for a great afternoon. Miss Kropman is so proud of you all! We would also like to thank Mr Paine for attending to help with the scoring and supporting the event. 

Topaz continuing with their excellent writing in English as they created tension today - Wednesday 26th January

Harry stormed out of the house, rage running through his veins. Engulfed in the darkness of the night, Harry heard a big creak. The swing was swinging, the seesaw was crashing. He was all alone, or was he? The lights were flickering as he heard an ominous bark radiating through the air.

By Ertem

Anger running through his veins, Harry stormed out of the house without looking back. Engulfed in blinding darkness, not knowing where to go, Harry was intimidated by the silence. Dull, flickering streetlamps enticed him to venture into the unknown. Harry was suddenly startled by a piercing sound, making him turn around. Rustling bushes…

By Luca

Rage enveloping his veins, Harry stormed out into the bitter night. Engulfed in the blinding darkness, he heaved his trunk along the pavement, an ominous light guiding him along. Harry’s pace slowed and his legs buckled. He gave into the exhaustion and took refuge on the pavement. An ear-piercing wail forced Harry to turn around. Squeeeeak. The seesaw crashed down, the roundabout screamed, the wind picked up. He was alone…wasn’t he?

By Izzy

Dhilan's excellent gripping story opener in Topaz's English lesson - Tuesday 25th January

Inspired by David Almond's 'My Name is Mina', here is Dhilan's awesome extract:

My name is Ikarus and I love the rain. Anything seems possible when it is raining and everyone is inside, waiting for it to end. As the water pounds on my head, I feel refreshed like never before, and I never want it to end. Anything is possible when water cascades from the sky and crashes onto my head. Splash, splash, splash. The thought of rain makes me smile because, at that moment, that second when I step outside, I can clear my head and let happy thoughts flood in, just like the rain floods the city.

Some people say that if you stare up into the sky, the rain will make you go nuts.

I look up and laugh.

Make me nuts, I whisper. Go on, make Ikarus nuts.

I laugh again.

Some people think he is already mad, I think. 

Week beginning 17th January

UKS2 have enjoyed the champions' final of the House Geography Competition this week and begun some excellent work in their new English units. We hope you like looking at our work! 

Topaz writing in English - Wednesday 19th January

After yesterday's excellent vocabulary work, here are some super examples of Topaz's writing inspired by the opening of Pig Heart Boy:

I am drowning in this roaring silence. I am going to die. High above me, I can see where the light changes. The surface. But it’s metres, kilometres away. The chlorine stings. My lungs. My lungs are on fire. Just one breath. Just one. I have no choice but to breathe. If I don’t, I just might burst! If I do take a breath, I’ll drown. Some choice, no choice. As I shut my eyes, I pray hard and kick, kick, kick. A tiny part of me laughs. Tiny. As the realisation hits me, I stop. I am going to drown.

By Emilia M

I am dying. I am dying. There’s no sound, none at all. I can just hear my body screaming. I tell my legs to kick, yet they remain paralysed like a statue. Will I survive?

By Brody C

I am drowning in the blazing light. I am drowning. My head is throbbing and fear pervades through every nerve. I look down and all I see is clear white water, yet there is nothing else there but a blur. My eyes are roaring and my lungs are on fire. Every breath I take makes me cry with pain. Then I realise. I think I might die…

By Freddie F

Topaz exploring the use of powerful vocabulary in Pig Heart Boy during English - Tuesday 18th January

Topaz began a new narrative unit this week by having a lesson specifically dedicated to vocabulary building. We began by playing a vocabulary bingo and trying to work out the meanings of unfamiliar words by seeing them written in context. After this, we had to sort vocabulary from the opening of Malorie Blackman's Pig Heart Boy into groups according to similar themes. We were surprised to then read the extract and see if we were right! We ended the lesson by taking the text for a walk, reading it aloud and selecting the most powerful vocabulary to engage us as readers. 

The Invictus Concert at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, featuring members of Brookmans Park School Choir - Saturday 15th January

On Saturday, eight of our most talented singers from Years 5&6 sang with the Capital Arts Choir in a concert at the iconic St Paul's Church in Covent Garden. Featuring professional musicians and elite West End performers, the concert showcased musical theatre classics. The choir members sang fun hits such as 'The Ants Go Marching In' and 'Knick Knack Paddy Whack', whilst joining the professionals for 'You Raise Me Up' and 'Go The Distance'. Most exciting, however, was the premiere of the anthem for this summer's Invictus Games, in which our choir performers excelled. Miss Kropman is immensely proud of all eight of our children and greatly enjoyed the concert. Well done, superstar singers! 

Week beginning 10th January

This has been our 'Adventure Week', featuring a visit from a real-life explorer and many lessons which have linked to challenging ourselves and reaching our goals. Well done to all of UKS2, who have been excellent throughout the week. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING UKS2 CHILDREN, WHO SCORED FULL MARKS IN THE HOUSE FLAG COMPETITION TODAY! - FRIDAY 14TH JANUARY

NB The children highlighted have been randomly selected to go through to Monday's Champion of Champions final!

Air - Amy, Andrew, Louis, Giacomo, Daniel G

Earth - Freddie L, Finlay, Elsie, Charlie H

Fire - Ryan, Ellie, Luke, Lexi, Rocco, Maeve

Water - George C, Ben, Serafina, Gabby, Harry M 

UKS2 Computing - Thursday 13th January

UKS2 combined geography and computing this week in a fun activity designed to develop map work and coding skills! Using atlases and the Chrome books, they worked in groups of 4 to create an adventure journeys across the UK, Europe and the world. Next, Mr Neiman used his expertise to teach how to use the spheros, which are amazing, codable moving balls! The children were tasked with coding the spheros to demonstrate their journey across a large map, which they did brilliantly! Miss Kropman could only watch on in amazement as Year 6 completed this task; they are definitely better coders than she is! We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs of this lesson.

UKS2 combined forces this afternoon to become explorers! Working in groups of 3, they set adventures for other groups, hiding multiple flags around the school. They then created clues for the other explorers to follow! This was inspired by both James Ketchell and our House flag competition taking place this week, and was enjoyed by everyone despite the heavy rain!
Congratulations to our star pair, Elina and Charlie H, who found the highest amount of flags and were deemed to also have set one of the best courses!

‘It was fun to hide the flags. The other group only found one out of ours!’ – Ertem

‘I liked reading the clues and trying to solve them as I really enjoy puzzles.’ – Agnes

‘It was fun to be active but learn at the same time.’ – Tegan EK

‘It was so fun to watch the other group try to find our flags!’ - Jamie

Meeting a real-life hero adventurer! - Monday 10th January

UKS2 kickstarted their explorer week with a fantastic assembly led by explorer James Ketchell. James talked to us about his major achievements, which include rowing across the Atlantic (three times!), climbing Mount Everest and flying around the world in a gyrocopter. He has also cycled around the world and had to be rescued from the middle of the Indian Ocean! James was very inspiring and taught us the importance of believing in ourselves and knowing that we have the ability to achieve anything, so long as we work hard and want it enough. We had a fantastic morning and would like to thank James very much! 

Week beginning 3rd January

Welcome back to school for the Spring Term! We have had a lovely start to the term, making no-sew sock snowmen (quite apt, given the freezing weather conditions!), getting to grips with challenging core learning and completing our boxing unit...and that's all only been in two days back! 

Year 6 Maths - Thursday 6th and Friday 7th January

Year 6 were faced with the tricky task of becoming teachers this week...with Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman their struggling pupils! Topaz and Turquoise were given arithmetic questions which had already been completed, but were littered with a vast amount of mistakes! Working in pairs, the children first had to work out which questions had been answered incorrectly and then had to identify the misconceptions that had led to these. Finally, they worked incredibly hard to explain what the most effective strategy would have been to get the correct solution to each calculation. Well done, Year 6!

Year 6 Rivers of Reading - Thursday 7th January

Both Year 6 classes kickstarted the term in English by once again sharing our love of reading. With new books being started by individuals and as classes (how will we ever cope with the tension in 'Crater Lake', Topaz?!), we decided to think back to books that we had enjoyed as young children, then books we loved as infants and juniors right up until the present day! We painted a river using watercolours and then used the Chromebooks to find images of our favourite books' front covers, demonstrating our ever-flowing journey as readers. These are now proudly being displayed in our classrooms! 

Week beginning 13th December

The (unexpected) end of term is now tomorrow (Friday) and, looking back at this blog, I hope you can see just what incredible learners your children are! The sheer amount of effort, engagement and enjoyment witnessed across UKS2 this term has made me so proud to be their phase leader. I truly hope you all have a lovely, relaxing break and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Thursday 6th January.

Miss Kropman and the UKS2 Team x

RE in Topaz - Tuesday 14th December

In our RE lessons today and last week, we have been looking at what different presentations of the Christmas story can teach us about Christian beliefs. We began by looking at a piece of modern art (The Male Madonna by Antonia Rolls) and explored what this interesting depiction of a male figure holding the baby Jesus might mean by asking some deep questions about this. Next, we moved onto looking at Christmas carols and searching for Christian beliefs which are shared within these. Some of us even had a go at writing a new verse! After looking at art and music, we looked at how meaning can be shared through words. We were tasked with selecting the key moments from the nativity and then recreating these as text messages between the main figures. Finally, we held a formal discussion about whether we feel only Christians should celebrate Christmas. Miss Kropman was delighted to see Topaz use their language of debate sentence starters from English to such good effect during this part of the lesson and was impressed with the maturity shown today. Well done, Topaz - your RE work has been fantastic this term!  

Following on from Sapphire's pizza experience on no technology day, the other classes took their turn this week! During the first lesson of the day, we worked in pairs to create our dough, carefully following the recipe to mix our bread flour, salt, yeast, olive oil and water. This linked perfectly to our learning in science, where we had learnt about yeast being a microorganism (specifically a fungi) which is a living thing. Knowing that yeast would respire and produce carbon dioxide, we ensured that the dough mixture was mixed thoroughly and kneaded well in order to speed up this process. We then left it to rise! 

In the afternoon, we carefully spread out our dough (splitting this so that we now had an individual pizza base) and then added our toppings. These had been designed in science using the Eat Well plate to ensure that we had a healthy balance of carbohydrates, protein and vegetables with just a small amount of sugar (in the tomato sauce). Finally, it was time to take our pizzas home to be cooked! We hope you are impressed with our final designs and that you enjoyed tasting your child's work! 

Week beginning 6th December

Another fun-filled week in UKS2 this week, with plenty of opportunities for active learning! We hope you enjoy looking at some examples.

Year 6 Maths Scavenger Hunt - Tuesday 7th December

Year 6 combined forces this morning to take part in an arithmetic scavenger hunt. In pairs, Topaz and Turquoise were tasked with solving an initial maths problem and then finding the answer, which could be found displayed somewhere in either of the classrooms or the annex area. The answer to this calculation would be accompanied by a letter and also the next question to be solved. Upon solving the whole cycle, our brave participants would be able to create a sentence. Great fun was had by all in this active way to practise arithmetic calculations and the enthusiasm and effort was incredible! Congratulations to Daniel G and Nate, who were the first pair to return the sentence to Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman and could accurately declare, 'GREAT WORK - YOU ARE AN ARITHMETIC GENIUS!'. 

Week beginning 29th November

After our occasional day on Monday, the children came back to school with great enthusiasm for the week! For Pupil Parliament's 'No Technology Day' on Friday 3rd December, we are not able to share the fun, love of learning activities taking place across the school due to the lack of cameras and being banned from using this platform for the day...please, therefore, ask your children what they have been up to at the end of the day tomorrow (Friday)! 

Topaz's PSHE - Tuesday 30th November

In PSHE today, we linked our maths learning to use a 3D net of a cuboid to create a box. We wrote compliments about each member of our class and handed these out for their owners to put in their box. We have taken our compliment boxes home and will use these to help regulate our mood if we are feeling in the blue zone outside of school. Well done for writing such thoughtful, meaningful compliments, Topaz! Here are a few lovely examples:

'Zac is a very kind and funny person.'

'Ellie is incredibly brave and is an amazing role model.'

'Tegan is a caring friend.'

'Jamie is always willing to help everyone.'

Year 6 English - Tuesday 30th November

Year 6 have hit the ground running after their long weekend by writing a fantastic character description of Gollum, based on our literacy heritage unit inspired by The Hobbit.

Here is Jasmine's awesome example:

Deep down in the black soul crushing waters, resided an ancient creature, a Gollum: frail and vile. His slim, bony body curved round in flexible hoops for his ability to crawl endlessly. He lurked through the shadows, his torch-like eyes bulging through the darkness. The gruesome demon dressed in wretched clothes, pale as his face could ever be. He had a wooden boat, scratched and damaged almost like his ruthless claws had been in a fight. His skeletal legs hung at the side of the boat, ready to pounce like a bloodthirsty leopard. Staring, my heart began to pulsate in fear…

Week beginning 22nd November

We have had yet another busy week in school in UKS2! Please see below the highlights of our learning. 

Science in Year 6 - Thursday 25th November

Year 6 worked collaboratively this afternoon to discuss the findings of our mould bread investigation! After having explored factors which might affect the rate at which bread turns mouldy, we studied our results and then used Chromebooks to help us research the reasons why temperature and water had the greatest impact. In order to share findings with each other, each group submitted their work as Google Slides presentations, and submitted these to Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman to share with the year group. The level of scientific vocabulary and understanding used was exceptionally high. Well done, Year 6!

Excellent English examples - Wednesday 24th November

Year 6 have been using The Hobbit to inspire descriptive writing for settings and to create tension. Miss Kropman was delighted with her class' excellent work this week and would love to share Maya and Tegan EK's examples with you:

The silvery moon smiled sweetly upon her lively forest, bringing hope to the bitter souls of the once bare trees. Whispering spirits graciously danced between the trees, making light wherever they went. Meanwhile, the green leaves swayed beautifully in the breeze. Flowers stood silently in thought. Fireflies would fly around you and make little buzzing noises, but you could only hear them if you were silent. They were tiny little lights trying to tell you something, something important...

By Maya

After checking his surroundings, Gollum slithered forward, dragging his scaly frame across the gnarled ground. Gollum’s abominable body wound translucently around Bilbo, yet created no shadow. Like a patch of midnight that had never been cleared away, Bilbo dreaded the darkness. Bilbo, paralysed with fear, had only one thought going through his head – RUN!

By Tegan EK 

History - Tuesday 23rd November

This week, we have been using our historical enquiry skills to evaluate what we feel to have been the greatest achievements of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We began by exploring nation and international impacts and discussing historical events which we feel to have had the most significance upon the world. We then used the Chromebooks to research Anglo-Saxon and Viking legacies before creating a Diamond 9, where we personally ranked these in the order of importance. Finally, we justified these in reflective conclusions. 

Week beginning 15th November

Well done, UKS2, for another week of excellent learning in school. We have been celebrating Children In Need today (Friday) by wearing clothes which make us happy for a £1 contribution and also donating any old clothes to a local refuge. Thank you to our Pupil Parliament members for organising this for us! 

This week is national anti-bullying week in the United Kingdom. To celebrate this, we began the week by watching a virtual assembly produced by Andy and the Odd Socks and the Anti-bullying Alliance. Our own wearing of odd socks helped us to remember the importance of celebrating difference and the things that make us unique! We have also completed a range of different activities such as designing a superhero cape for a friend and also creating a message of kindness for our phase. Each class also looked at two, seemingly identical, apples. Whilst one apple was treated kindly with many compliments given and handled with care, the other was both physically and verbally abused. From the outside, though, we still could not tell the difference. When we cut them open, however, we could see the damage that had been done to one of the apples, symbolic of the bullying that had been inflicted. This reminded us of the importance of not judging someone from their outer shell and of only saying kind things and behaving towards others in a way in which we would like to be treated ourselves. 

Week beginning 8th November

This has been another fun-filled week in UKS2! Thank you to all of your children for their incredible effort across the curriculum.

Year 6 Science Day - Thursday 11th November

Around our Remembrance Day outdoor assembly, Year 6 spent the morning and some of the afternoon completing some science investigations. Our day started by exploring another way to prove that yeast is a living thing...using dough! We created dough mixtures with flour and water. In one cup, we added yeast, whilst the other remained without this. We measured the growth of the dough every five minutes and were excited to see how much the dough with yeast rose! This proved that it was respiring (releasing carbon dioxide) as it reacted with the flour to produce natural sugars. After break, we created a line graph of our results! In the afternoon, we set up our next exciting experiment, looking at what would happen to bread over the course of a week. Working in small groups, we set up variables such as changing the type of bread and placing the same bread in different temperature locations. We are observing changes to the bread over the course of the week and look forward to sharing our findings next lesson! 

UKS2 History Secret Agents - Tuesday 9th November

In our history lesson this week, we took on the role of becoming secret agents working for St Augustine in 597AD. Tasked with the role of converting the Anglo-Saxon King Ethlebert to Christianity, we researched the reasons why he was eventually persuaded and then role-played this in small groups. Finally, we wrote a mission report to explain how this was successful, and reflected on the impact that this had upon Britain. 

Remembrance Day activities - week beginning 8th November

UKS2 have been commemorating Remembrance Day with a number of activities this week. In class, each child has made a poppy with an individualised centre piece. We have then combined these to create a phase wreath to be displayed in the hall. In addition to a Remembrance Day assembly, Year 6 have also been spending time exploring war poetry. Topaz created some blackout examples of famous poems and also created their own examples.

Fear, dread, screams, cry,

Injured bodies they groan, they lie.

Mouth open, I begin to yelp, I sigh,

I ask again: who will survive?

Bombs, gun, shoot, fire,

I must say I’m beginning to tire,

My legs ache day after day,

The sky, oh the sky, it is so grey.

By Izzy M

Lives made of paper,

The book of life so frail,

Words littering the ground,

Turning from dark to pale.

Exploding grenades,

Flesh now broken,

Protecting our country?

The enemy has spoken.

Tumbling, destroying,

The ending of lives,

Beyond our battle lines,

Who is it who survives?

By Topaz Class

Week beginning 1st November

Welcome back for the second half of term! 

Boxing - Friday 5th November

Today saw the first of UKS2's boxing lessons! We had a fantastic session, learning about the physical and mental demands of boxing. We were taught how to hold our stance and shadow box, before taking part in a carousel of fitness, agility, partner tagging and using the gloves to jab. This was a fast-paced, highly enjoyable lesson and we look forward to our weekly boxing sessions for the remainder of the term! 

Science - Thursday 4th November

Our science lesson this week involved an investigation where we explored the respiration of yeast. After discussing the different possible variables, we decided upon changing the amount of sugar that we added to the yeast and water in order to see how this affected the rate of carbon dioxide being released. We then observed what happened over the course of an hour and into the following day. Have a look at Topaz's pictures to see what we discovered! 

Topaz's music lesson - Wednesday 3rd November

Topaz completed their Motown/Soul unit today with a brilliant composition session. Using their knowledge of the 'Happy' riff, they changed both pitch order and note length to create a different accompaniment for the chorus. They then used the computer software to notate their work. Here is one super example! 

Week beginning 18th October

It has been an excellent half term for UKS2 and we hope you enjoy looking at our busy final week. It is now time for a well-deserved break for all of the children; we hope you all have a lovely time with your families and look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Tuesday 2nd November.

The UKS2 Team x

Year 5&6 Boys' Football Fixtures Evening - Wednesday 20th October

The Boys' A team travelled to Monk's Walk School this afternoon to compete against three other schools within the Welywn and Hatfield SSP. Mr Fennell reported back that the boys played the best football of the evening, with an incredible three wins out of three! Having also not conceded any goals, the boys should all be very proud of themselves. 

Year 6 Netball Fixtures Evening - Wednesday 20th October

Our Year 6 netball team travelled to Stanborough School today to take part in a fixtures evening against three other schools within the Welwyn and Hatfield SSP. They played brilliantly to win one, draw one and lose one game. Most importantly, Mrs Zerny reported how they smiled throughout their matches! Well done, girls! 

PSHE - Tuesday 19th October

We have been celebrating Black History Month this week by focusing on key black, British inspirational figures who have contributed towards life in our country. Year 6 have enjoyed learning about Marcus Rashford, John Kent and Benjamin Zephaniah in particular, and spent today's PSHE lesson exploring the importance of speaking out against racism and discrimination. For our final activity of the afternoon, we created our own visions for the future, imagining the sort of world that we would like to live within. 

UKS2 Viking Day – Monday 18^th (Year 6) and Tuesday 19^th (Year 5) October

Report by Maya B, Topaz Class:

Yesterday, Year 6 took part in a Viking workshop with History Off The Page. This taught us what life was like during the Viking times. After a quick photoshoot, we all went down to the hall and met our Viking Lord, David. He told us that he was the chief of a former Anglo-Saxon village and showed us around his settlement.

During the morning, we did many activities, which were set up as stations around the hall. These included exploring rune making, pottery, weaving, candle making and my favourite – visiting the wise woman! At that table, we got to become doctors, creating a potion of medicines to cure a sick patient.

Before lunch, David came back to the classroom with us and showed us some real Viking artefacts, including some armour and arrows used in battle. Another artefact looked like a shower, but turned out to be a watering can!

In the afternoon, we became archaeologists! We had to use a brush to dig through trays of dirt and were amazed by the artefacts we found. Whilst some were from the modern day, others were from the Dark Ages. In my tray, my favourite find was a bright blue bead.

Last of all, David showed us how Vikings would melt iron and steel. This could be very dangerous, so instead he melted pewter which froze at 0 degrees Celsius and melted at 200 degrees! David created moulds and poured the melted pewter once cooled to make Viking game pieces. He even let us keep one for our classroom!

I thoroughly enjoyed our Viking day and would love to do this again.

Week beginning 11th October

This week has seen a number of fun activities in the phase, with the highlights being our Thursday afternoon pursuits! 

PLEASE REMEMBER TO COME TO SCHOOL DRESSED AS VIKINGS FOR OUR HISTORY OFF THE PAGE DAYS NEXT WEEK! YEAR 6 - MONDAY, YEAR 5 - TUESDAY

UKS2 Orienteering afternoon - Thursday 14th October

Whilst ten of our Year 6s were busy playing tag rugby, the remainder of the phase gathered in the hall for an exciting challenge! Mrs Zerny had spent lunchtime placing a number of laminated letters around the school, which, she explained, were the answers to a set of clues. This was becoming quite mysterious! We were asked to get ourselves into pairs (which could be from across the class groups) and then tasked with creating a grid for an aerial map of our school grounds. Once this was completed, Mrs Zerny gave each pair a clue from a pot, which we were not allowed to open until we were outside. The answer to this clue would be a location, where we would then find one of the letters! When we had successfully run to the location and noted down the letter, we then had to show this to one of the teachers, along with the correct grid reference of the location. We were then given our next clue. If we managed to solve all 12 clues, then we could de-scramble the letters to form an important message. Well done to Daniel and Louis, who were the first to find it was 'WORK TOGETHER'! 

'This was such a fun afternoon!' - Luca

'I loved exercising so much by running to all of the locations, whilst also having fun with my partner.' - Freddie

'I had to work hard, run and develop a friendship all at the same time!' - Maya

'This really encouraged us to work collaboratively!' - Max

Thank you to Mrs Zerny for organising such a great afternoon! 

Year 6 Tag Rugby competition - Thursday 14th October

On Thursday afternoon, a team of ten super Year 6 tag rugby players ventured to Welwyn Rugby Club to take part in an inter-school competition. Mr Fennell reported that the team played brilliantly and that they were a credit to the school as they recorded the most tries scored out of every school there! Overall, we were placed second in the competition, which is an amazing achievement. Well done to all of them! 

In our music lessons this term, we have been exploring 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams, which is a pop song with soul elements similar to those found in the 1960s Motown style. In addition to analysing the style and structure of the song, we have also used the glockenspiels to play some of the riffs. This week, we began to use some of these as call and response phrases and then started to improvise using the notes G, A and B. 

Week beginning 4th October

We have had an extremely busy week in UKS2 with plenty of sporting and academic opportunities to keep us engaged and having fun in school! Well done to all of our phase for creating such brilliant outcomes; you very much deserve a rest this weekend!

NB: This week, Miss Kropman's class created video tutorials to demonstrate their new method for solving long division. Izzy and Jazz would love to share theirs with you! This, along with Topaz and Turquoise's performance poetry from this week, will be available on the video library section of this website (as they are too long to put on our blog!).

The week kicked off with the UKS2 House Cross Country event on Monday afternoon. With separate boys and girls races for both Year 5 and Year 6, the competition was fierce! All of the children ran with determination, resilience and excellent sportsmanship and should be congratulated on completing the race and bringing in points for their houses! Overall, the winners this year were..............FIRE! Congratulations to them. Well done to the medalists for each race, too, who were:

Year 5 Boys - 1st Luke, 2nd Stanley, 3rd Harry

Year 5 Girls - 1st Mila, 2nd Evie, 3rd Jasmine

Year 6 Boys - 1st Rocco, 2nd Zac, 3rd Lewis

Year 6 Girls - 1st Izzy, 2nd Gabby, 3rd Elina 

Next up in this week was our skateboarding workshops, which took place on Tuesday morning. Led by professional skateboarder Alex, we learnt the basics of how to control and direct a skateboard before learning how to safely jump on. Our favourite part of the morning was arguably learning the pancake flip, which was expertly executed by almost all of the phase! Well done to Frazer in Year 5, who skateboards outside of school and used his knowledge and skills to support his classmates. This was an excellent workshop and we would all like to thank Mrs Zerny for organising this for us!

Led by Hertfordshire Library Service, UKS2 took part in a fun virtual workshop with poet Simon Mole on Thursday afternoon. We worked hard to create many different poetic descriptive lines about an imaginary dream day, including many of the features that we have been learning about in our lessons this term. This was a super way to spend the afternoon on World Poetry Day!

Congratulations to the Year 5 children who went to the indoor athletics competition this morning at Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City. Competing against other schools in our Sports Partnership, the team took part in multiple events including the relay, javelin, long jump and high jump. After an incredibly close contest, we were delighted to learn that the girls had come 2nd overall and the boys...wait for it...came...FIRST! Well done to everyone and thank you to Mrs Pollington for taking the team to the event. 

Week beginning 27th September

Well done to UKS2 for another super week of learning. We have especially enjoyed our RE, history and science lessons (as detailed below), but have also been working extremely hard in our morning sessions for maths and English, whilst learning new skills in Tag Rugby for PE. We are now very much looking forward to our House Cross-Country Competition on Monday afternoon!

We had a fantastic morning of House Captain hustings today (Friday 1st October), with children from Year 6 giving superb speeches to the phase and their teachers about why they should be selected. Every single child who nominated themselves should be so proud of their wonderful presentations, where they demonstrated self-confidence, eloquence and brilliant passion for the school. All of Years 5 and 6 children and staff were given a vote for a male and female captain for their house and, after a tight contest, we are pleased to congratulate the following:

Air - Andrew and Amy

Earth - Sam and Emmie

Fire - Rocco and Lexi

Water - Jamie and Gabby

In our RE lesson this week, we interactively explored the Buddhist Eightfold Path. This path includes the eight elements that Buddhists believe must be followed to lead a good life and, ultimately, will result in achieving enlightenment. To start with, Miss Kropman displayed six statements about herself, with five being false and only one being true. The task - the Buddhist concept of seeking the truth! Please do ask your children which were the false statements - and thank some of them for believing that I once starred in a shampoo advert! Secondly, we learnt about resisting evil and clearing your mind from evil (the second and third parts of the path). To test this concept, sweets had been placed around the classroom whist the children were outside for lunch. They weren't given any explanation for this, and the challenge was to have resisted the temptation of eating them! Once studied, however, they were, of course, allowed to eat them as part of the learning experience (ahem). 

The fourth section of the path is the Buddhist belief of not saying anything that would hurt others. Topaz were truly brilliant at the 'compliment ball' activity of saying lovely things about each other with each pass. For the fifth part of the path, we explored respecting life through the incredible work that charities such as the RSPCA do for protecting animals. The sixth part was also studied with great interest as we looked at the concept of only working in careers that would not hurt others. A soldier, for example, would not be an acceptable job for many Buddhists.

Finally, we learnt about the seventh and eight parts of the path, which are practising concentration and being in control of your thoughts. For this, we discussed our experiences of a previous meditation lesson and then looked at some optical illusions in an attempt to take full power over our thoughts. Have a browse at one of the examples of this below. Do you see an old lady or a young woman? Can you control your mind to see both?

Thank you to all the children for such a super effort in today's RE lesson. I hope they enjoyed it as much as their teacher did! 

Week beginning 20th September

Well done to all the children for another fantastic week of learning in UKS2! 

In PSHE this week, we explored how families can be made up of different people. We began by using consensus grids. This involved groups of four dividing a piece of paper into quarters and writing down what they thought a family needed. In the centre of the circle, they had to form a consensus of ideas that they all agreed on. After this, we played a diversity game, where we drew a family member with only their name given as a clue, and then had to match their relatives according to the information given. Within the families were a variety of different set-ups. This enabled us to see that, despite differences, families can come in all forms. Our final challenge was to create a Tweet #  to demonstrate our learning. Miss Kropman particularly rated Charlie BS' example of #differentfamiliessamelove - different families, same love. 

Our history lesson this week took us outside as we explored reasons why the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. This involved us firstly learning about the Picts and the Scots (who, confusingly, came from Ireland and not Scotland as some of us first thought) and their invasion of Britain. The Britons later suffered the Jutes, Angles and Saxons arriving on our shores, and this was acted out magnificently on the field by our Year 6 warriors! Despite the blockade of Hadrian's Walls, the tribes managed to successfully claim the land and come together as what we now know to have been the Anglo-Saxons. Back inside, we debated the many luring factors for the Anglo-Saxons and argued for what we believed to be the strongest reason that they came to Britain. Well done to all of our phase, who combined geography, drama and enquiry skills to demonstrate excellent historical understanding! 

Week beginning 13th September

UKS2 have worked hard this week to complete their poetry unit (see examples below) and to explore mental maths strategies in maths. We have started our RE unit exploring Buddhism and have also enjoyed practically learning about when the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings were in Britain. Each class has learnt about the exciting Pupil Parliament which is going to be helping to make major decisions in school and application forms have gone in Mrs Davies' inbox from children hoping to be members of this! The teachers are looking forward to speaking with parents at our virtual 'Meet the Teacher' meetings on Monday. Please bring with you and questions that you might have about this year. 

Poetry Examples:

This is the opening of Daniel W's poem 'Lemon Sherbet'. Miss Kropman loved his use of metaphors and strong imagery, plus his awesome use of ambitious vocabulary!

A shimmering golden teardrop of joy,

Infiltrates my senses.

A vibrant daffodil dancing in a field,

Happiness fills my heart.

Here is a cleverly written rhyming extract from Jasmine P's poem, entitled 'Sherbet Lemon':

A beaming drop of sunlight,

A dazzling daffodil,

It's clementine in colour,

Opening it is my will.

On Monday, Topaz experienced a meditation session, accompanied by calming music, candles and some Buddhist symbolic items placed around the room. Miss Kropman also had a singing bowl in order to alert everyone's senses to the vibrations. Topaz enjoyed relaxing on the floor and, afterwards, were asked to paint their responses to the question: Why do Buddhists meditate? We will explore this in more detail and look at different Buddhist responses in our next RE lesson. 

Week beginning 6th September

UKS2 have had a fantastic first full week back at school! They have enjoyed getting to know each other in their new classes and have taken part in a number of fun lessons, as documented below! 

We kickstarted our English in Year 6 with the opportunity to write a short narrative extract based on interesting pictorial stimuli. Mrs Gray and Miss Kropman were so impressed with the children's use of ambitious vocabulary and accurate punctuation choices! Later in the week, we got the opportunity to EAT SWEETS in a lesson in order to create figurative language and scintillating adjectives covering each of the five senses. Our excellent mind mapping will be used to support writing poems about sherbet lemons next week. 

Some interesting large elasticated objects infiltrated the UKS2 classrooms this week (a kind donation from Hertfordshire Sports Partnership), which filled our children with wonder and intrigue. What could these be used for? Daniel and Harry in Topaz asked if they were bungee ropes, whilst Izzy thought they were strengthening cords. Could they create new games, Turquoise questioned? In Topaz, Miss Kropman taught the children the old French Skipping game: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Inside, Outside, Inside, Rails! They then had time to practise this and create their own skipping games. We hope you enjoy watching us having so much fun with this brilliantly simple invention!