End of term message - Wednesday 21st July

Dear UKS2 Children and Parents/Guardians,

Well done for being absolute stars this year. Every child has worked to the best of their ability through a testing pandemic and it has been such a pleasure to have an uninterrupted summer term! Thank you for all our lovely end of term gifts. We hope that you all have a wonderful, well-deserved break.

The UKS2 Teaching Team x 

Year 6 Leavers' Assembly - Wednesday 21st July

Well done and congratulations to the fantastic Year 6 cohort for a brilliant assembly this morning. It was such a privilege for your teachers to hear your memories, present you with your awards and watch you graduate. We are SO proud of you and wish you the best of luck at your secondary schools. We will really miss you next year.

Parents - please look out for the video of your children ringing the bell, which Mrs Davies will post to the 'video library' section of this website. 

UKS2 Sports Day - Monday 19th July

On a gloriously sunny day, Years 5 and 6 gathered on the field for an action-packed track and field competition! Tasked with placing each member of their house in to a minimum of two events, the house captains led magnificently to organise their teams. The morning track events began with the obstacle course, progressing to other races including the egg and spoon, skipping, relay, 400m and 100m. With the scores very close, we broke for lunch. In the afternoon, our attention turned to field events such as the standing long jump, triple jump, speed bounce, javelin, shot put, cricket throw and target throw. The children all competed with excellent determination, courage and sporting behaviour, supporting each other throughout. The day was brought to a close with Mrs Davies announcing the final scores. Congratulations to our Sports Day champions, Water!

Final scores:

Earth - 700 house points

Fire - 720 house points

Air - 780 house points

Water - 845 house points

Week beginning 19th July

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - completing information leaflets linked to our SRE

PE - rounders and our phase sports day

PSHE - transition activities

Year 6 only - leavers' celebrations

NB There will be no new spellings from now until the end of the term. We will, instead, be recapping those previously learnt throughout the year. 

Year 6 Campout - Thursday 15th and Friday 16th July

What a way to kickstart the Year 6 leavers' celebrations, with an entire year group camping on the field! Year 6 had a wonderful experience together last night as they set up their tents, ate pizza and chips, boogied with DJ Honey Monster, captured the flag, toasted s'mores and spent the night under the stars! We all had such a fun time celebrating the end of your time with us, Year 6. You are all such superstars and it was an honour and privilege to see you so happy with your friends! Huge thanks to Mr Bentall and all of the parent helpers for working so hard to support us having a brilliant time. 

UKS2 Showing support for Saka and anti-racism - Wednesday 14th July 

Last Sunday saw the disappointment of England losing the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy, which led to some very unhappy children (and teachers!) on Monday morning. What upset us even more as a phase, however, was learning of the racist abuse which some of the England penalty takers had received on social media. Whilst Miss Kropman was busy thinking of ways we could record messages of support to our England heroes, Raffy (Topaz class) had been planning to write and deliver a letter to local resident Bukayo Saka. Just moments later, a school-wide idea had been born, as each class began to create their own ways of showing their pride in Saka! Topaz and Sapphire wrote letters and messages on Monday and Tuesday, whilst Ruby formed an awesome poster display on the playground. On Wednesday morning, the whole phase dressed in England colours for an aerial photograph to demonstrate their support for Saka. Raffy is looking forward to delivering our messages later this week. Well done, UKS2; Miss Kropman is so proud of the eloquent way you have tackled racism this week and of your passion to stamp this out in our country. 

Police visit to Year 6 - Wednesday 14th July

Year 6 had a great morning today as a PCSO and police officer came to deliver a talk about cyber bullying, online safety and road traffic awareness. What was even more invaluable, however, was the opportunity for Year 6 to ask questions about the law, having now all reached the age of criminal responsibility! Thank you so much to officers Sam and Dean for giving their time to visit us. 

DT final scones baking - week beginning 12th July

UKS2 have been absolute superstars this week in order to complete their DT projects. They have accurately measured ingredients and followed their own recipes to create unique sweet and savoury scones. We are so sorry that our tea parties had to be cancelled, but hope that you greatly enjoyed tasting the fruits of their labour at home! 

Week beginning 12th July

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

DT - completing our project by baking our final scones and holding our tea parties (weather dependent) 

English - creating information leaflets linked to our SRE

PSHE/Science - relationships education and drugs/alcohol abuse

RE - Exploring big questions

Art - Amazon art  

PE - athletics and ball games

NB There will be no new spellings from now until the end of the term. We will, instead, be recapping those previously learnt throughout the year. 

Year 6 trip to Lee Valley White Water Centre - Friday 9th July

What an incredible day at Lee Valley! Year 6 enjoyed exploring kayaking and tackling the inflatable obstacle course 'Water Wipeout'. So many smiles could be seen and laughter heard. Mrs Gray couldn't resist getting involved in the action and ended up in a kayaking game 'bonus points for splashing the teacher!' Your daredevil children were an absolute credit to you all and they deserve all of the fun which is coming their way!

DT Week in UKS2 - week beginning 5th July

UKS2 have been having a fun time in Design and Technology Week this week, exploring classic British dishes. We have researched sweet and savoury dishes and chose to make scones given the nutritional data supporting them being the least unhealthy sweet snack! Following a recipe with great accuracy, each pair chose a different sweet or savoury ingredient to add to their mixture. We then had a fantastic afternoon tasting our scones in order to decide our preferences! This has enabled us to plan our own scone recipe for next week's tea parties. We have carefully considered the baking process for these and look forward to welcoming our guests! On Thursday, we shared our homework research about different cuisines from around the world and enjoyed comparing these to our classic British dishes. 

Week beginning 5th July

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

DT WEEK! - We will be learning about the history of British foods and the importance of culinary customs. We will also be baking scones and then designing our own in preparation for tea parties the following week. 

Maths - problem solving 

Art - Amazon art  

PE - athletics

NB There will be no new spellings from now until the end of the term. We will, instead, be recapping those previously learnt throughout the year. 

UKS2 Virtual Big Sing! - Thursday 1st July

This afternoon, we took part in a national initiative to encourage Covid-secure bubble singing in schools, as we joined thousands of other children across the country in a virtual pop concert. Broadcast live from Abbey Road Studios in London, famous faces took to the stage including Professor Green, Gabrielle, Aston Merrigold and Becky Hill. The favourites amongst our phase, however, had to be the performances by Nathan Evans (the Wellerman Sea Shanty) and Joel Corry and MNEK's Head and Heart. Here are a few pictures of Topaz enjoying listening to the interviews and singing along!  

Year 6 Positive Minds - Tuesday 29th June

Year 6 completed their eighth Positive Minds session this morning, with a specific focus on emotional literacy. We explored a range of different emotions through the medium of drama and then considered emotional regulation techniques. An informative video signposted us through the five different stages of grief before we discussed our experiences with stress and worries. At the end of the session, we created our own stress buckets, with the taps to drain this linked to coping strategies. Miss Kropman and Mrs Pollington were very impressed with the mature suggestions made. Well done, Year 6!

Week beginning 28th June

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

NB This is our 'Joseph' production week for Year 6, with multiple performances throughout the week! In addition, the phase will be learning about:

English - Year 5 portal stories

Maths - Year 5 geometry

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

History - having a debate about the important legacies left by the Ancient Maya

Music - Virtual Big Sing 

PE - athletics

NB There will be no new spellings from now until the end of the term. We will, instead, be recapping those previously learnt throughout the year. 

UKS2 Dance Festival - Wednesday 23rd June

Thank you to all the parents and family members who came to support our socially distanced dance festival this afternoon! We hope that you enjoyed watching our dances and that you were suitably proud of your talented children! 

Well done to Mrs Pollington's dance group, Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz classes. You were all absolutely incredible today! Mrs Pollington will be sharing the links to the videos of your performances via the website's video library, so look out for these! In the meantime, here are some photographs of our dress rehearsal yesterday. 

Week beginning 21st June

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

NB Year 6 will be rehearsing for their 'Joseph' production in the mornings throughout this week! The whole phase will also be rehearsing and performing in our dance festival! 

English - Year 5 portal stories

Maths - Year 5 geometry

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

History - creating a Diamond 9 for what the Ancient Maya have done for us today  

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics 

Jewish Museum Workshop - Tuesday 15th June

On Tuesday 15^th June, UKS2 were lucky enough to have a visit from Shereen from The Jewish Museum, Camden. Shereen led a workshop for each class about discrimination and the events that led to Jewish people being persecuted by the Nazis during WW2. We began by exploring art work detailing Jewish-owned shops being boycotted in Germany and discussed how this might have impacted on young, Jewish people at the time. Shereen explained that the British government wished to help protect vulnerable Jewish children and how, as a result, they set up the Kindertransport (kinder = German for child). The Kindertransport was a train which brought hundreds of Jewish children to Britain just before the start of the war, where they were then fostered by British families. We got the chance to explore objects behind their stories which are housed at the museum, including a Havdallah spice box (used at the end of Shabbat) which a man who had been on the Kinderstransport had found buried at his home in Berlin when he returned there some years ago. Sadly, his parents had perished in one of the concentration camps, yet he had managed to escape a similar outcome due to the kindness of his British foster family. Throughout the morning, UKS2 revisited much of their WW2 and Judaism learning from during the year.  It was an engaging and interesting morning and we would all like to thank the Jewish Museum for visiting us.

‘We found it really enjoyable to learn a bit more about what life was like for Jewish people before the war.’ – Poppy and Sienna

‘I found it really cool to learn that our government was brave enough to create a train scheme to save Jewish children in the late 1930s, even though they knew it would anger Adolf Hitler.’ – Boris

‘I found it interesting to learn about Jewish children’s lives and how they changed in the war.’ – Jersey

Week beginning 14th June

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 portal stories, Year 6 drama 

Maths - Year 5 geometry, Year 6 statistics

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Science - forces - water resistance

History - the Mayan Gods and exploring what the Ancient Maya have done for us today  

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and dance festival preparation

UKS2 SSG Day - Friday 11th June

UKS2 rounded off Sports Week with an incredible day of activities provided by SSG today. During the morning, we each got to try rock climbing an insanely high wall which had been erected on the field. Showing no element of fear, Years 5 and 6 demonstrated excellent core strength and agility with many hitting the bell at the top! The fun didn't stop there, though, as we also got to take part in the Spider's Web, Toxic Waste and Inflatable Terminator courses throughout the afternoon. This was a fantastic end to our week and we would all like to thank Mrs Davies, Mrs Zerny and Mr Williams (Schools' Sport Partnership) for organising the activities for us over the past five days. 

Year 6's fun morning of multisport activities at Monk's Walk School - Wednesday 9th June by Elise and Kirsti 

On Wednesday 9th June, Year 6 took a trip to Monk's Walk School in Welwyn Garden City, where we did a variety of different sports including: dodgeball, football, hockey, archery and kick rounders. There were also many different stations with other activities for us to try, which were led by Year 7 students from the school. We were split into six groups, with three on each side of the large astroturf court throughout the morning, and we enjoyed competing against each other! Everyone had a great time and we would like to thank Mr Williams and his pupils from Monk's Walk. 

UKS2 Pok-a-Tok Afternoon - Tuesday 8th June

UKS2 enjoyed a lovely afternoon of beautiful weather today, learning about the Mayan ball game 'Pok-a-Tok', which historians believe was the first ever team sport. After learning about the game through exploring a series of artefact images, we were amazed at how difficult it sounded! To score a goal, the team of five players had to get a small rubber ball through a suspended hoop...but without using your hands, feet or head! Only knees, elbows and hips were allowed to elevate the ball which, as you can see from the photographs below, required a great deal of skill when we came to have a go ourselves! 

Week beginning 7th June

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 portal stories, Year 6 drama 

Maths - Year 5 regular and irregular polygons, Year 6 pie charts

Art/DT - Craft work for a village display for 

RE - exploring Christian beliefs about forgiveness

History - the Mayan ball game  

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and dance festival preparation

SPORTS WEEK! - dance workshop, Pok-a-Tok, Monk's Walk multisport trip for Year 6, lacrosse workshop, water games and inflatables day! 

Happy Half-term, UKS2! - Thursday 27th May

Dear UKS2,

Thank you for another excellent half term's work. We have loved having an uninterrupted seven weeks and are very pleased to have so much to look forward in the remainder of the term. There will be no Google Classroom homework set over the break, but please do continue to read for pleasure and mark this on your bookmarks. Year 6 - please also continue to learn your 'Joseph' lyrics and don't forget to complete your comprehension for 10th June, too.

We hope you have a relaxing and fun week off and that the weather continues to improve! Well done for being such an incredible phase and for being a credit to our school.

Mrs Gray, Miss Kropman and Mr Neiman x 

UKS2 History Day - Wednesday 26th May

UKS2 began their new history topic with a fun day of learning about The Ancient Maya today. In our first lesson, we discussed what we already knew and what we would like to learn about the Maya. We then explored how we could learn about an ancient civilisation today by becoming archaeologists! After carefully extracting multiple pieces from our sand, we pieced together the artefacts to establish what we thought they were used for. We then learnt that they were: a temple, a calendar, a death mask, an ocarina, a hoop from the ball game, a king’s pendant and cocoa beans used to make chocolate.

After break, we took part in a timeline of world history activity to secure our understanding of when and where the Mayan Civilisation was. We located Central America on a map and then sequenced the different historical periods throughout our time at Brookmans Park, adding in facts that we could remember about each one. Finally, we compared two time periods and accurately placed the Ancient Maya within our timeline.

During the afternoon, we explored how Mayan society was organised. We firstly had to decide which Mayan job role we had been assigned and then linked this to hierarchy both in the past and in the modern day. We then drew a diagram of this to demonstrate our understanding, completing our history day!

Week beginning 24th May

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 portal stories, Year 6 transition tasks

Maths - Year 5 arithmetic, Year 6 transition tasks

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

PSHE (all) - compassion 

Music - performing and improvising within 5 Note Swing 

History - an introduction to The Ancient Maya 

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and rounders

NB: There will not be any new spellings taught this week 

Maths Challenge Award Year 6 Winners - Friday 21st May

Four of our most talented mathematicians from Mr Parkes' maths group took part in the National Maths Challenge earlier this month. As the youngest participants (the award is open for schools Years 6 - 8), our four competitors were tasked with solving complex problems using all of their mathematical knowledge and they all performed brilliantly! The highest scorers across the country are awarded with certificates in bronze, silver and gold categories. In a phenomenal feat of achievement, we had three children awarded silver and one win the gold award. She will now progress to the national Kangaroo Challenge next month, where she will be pitted against fellow gold students from across the country. Well done to all four children pictured below! 

Topaz's science lesson - Wednesday 19th May

UKS2 have been learning about air resistance this week, which is a type of friction which occurs between air and another material. We looked at examples of objects travelling through air and the effect of the different forces in action (gravity and air resistance) before turning our attention towards parachutes! After a super discussion about factors which could affect the speed at which a parachute falls to the ground, we set about investigating the impact of different sized parachutes. In groups, we planned our investigations and then created our sky divers using bin liners, string, tape and a paper clip. To ensure we carried out a fair test, we kept the drop height, weight, strings and location the same and completed each drop three times to ensure accurate use of our stop watches. From our results, we were able to conclude that the larger the surface area of the parachute, the longer the parachute took to fall to the ground. This was due to increased air resistance. We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs of our investigation in action! 

Topaz's geography lesson - Monday 17th May

Topaz explored deforestation in more detail today, arguing for their personal beliefs about the negative effects of this on the Amazon rainforest. They created their own diamond 9 to demonstrate the different levels of consequence and tried to persuade others. In addition to the super video clips featured below, Miss Kropman was also particularly impressed with:

Jersey - 'I put plants might not be able to be used as medicine at the top, as cures for diseases such as cancer and childhood leukemia could one day be found within the rainforest. If we cut down too many plants, they could become extinct and the cures would die with them.'

Maximos - 'I put people being forced to leave their homes and move to cities at the top of my diamond, as I don't think it is fair that they should have to move when they have always lived there. It could also lead to an increase in crime if too many people live in cities and clash.'

Well done, Topaz. It was lovely to see how passionate you are about caring for our planet!

Week beginning 17th May

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 portal stories, Year 6 transition tasks

Maths - Year 5 problem solving, Year 6 transition tasks

Geography - deforestation

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Science - forces - air resistance

Music - learning and appraising 5 Note Swing 

RE - exploring the Christian concept of a loving and holy God 

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and rounders

UKS2 Geography - Monday 10th May

UKS2 have been learning about shifting cultivation in their topic lessons this week, with a particular focus on the Amazon rainforest. We began the lesson by exploring the term 'shifting cultivation', which is a farming system in which plots of land are cultivated and then abandoned. Whilst discussing how communities change over time, we also viewed a documentary clip about a tribe living in the rural area of the Amazon basin. We then drew a diagram of shifting cultivation before listing advantages and disadvantages for both rural and urban communities. This was quite a tricky concept to learn about, and UKS2 all demonstrated a super understanding throughout the lesson. Well done, everyone! 

Week beginning 10th May

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 environmental persuasion, Year 6 completing a narrative

Maths - Year 5 problem solving, Year 6 summary of this year's learning 

Geography - shifting cultivation 

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Art (Topaz) - colour wheels 

PE - athletics and rounders

As it is Bikeability Week for the Year 6s, we will be completing some fun topic work across the phase when in class during the remaining lessons this week. 

Year 6 Positive Minds PSHE - Friday 7th May

This morning saw the third of Year 6's Positive Minds transition programme, supported virtually by Watford FC's Community Trust. The session began with us exploring the importance of looking after both our physical and mental health, and discussing signs of health and struggles in both of these. Next, we looked at different coping strategies that can be used at school, at home and if we are feeling angry. We also learnt box breathing, which is an effective method to use to regulate ourselves if we are ever feeling stressed. The final challenge of the day involved us lying down and balancing a cup and ball on our heads. We were tasked with standing up using both hands (bronze challenge), one hand (silver challenge) or no hands (gold challenge) - a real test of our resilience! We hope you enjoy looking at the photographs and watching the videos of two successful gold challenges!   

Year 5 English - Thursday 6th May

Year 5 have been studying how to create persuasive arguments about deforestation in their English lessons this week. Today, they practised using Point, Evidence, Explain to strengthen their ideas. 

UKS2 Handball session with Mr Williams from the Schools Sports Partnership - Wednesday 6th May

UKS2 enjoyed an afternoon of PE today with Mr Williams. We began by working in pairs to practise throwing a handball and then developed our running skills. The lesson ended with a handball tournament, which was great fun! 

Week beginning 3rd May

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 environmental persuasion, Year 6 drama with scenes from 'Joseph'!

Maths - Year 5 angles, Year 6 revision of key concepts 

Science - exploring friction

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and rounders, plus handball with the School Sports Partnership on Wednesday afternoon 

UKS2 Running ‘England does the Daily Mile’ - Friday 30th April

UKS2 took part in a national celebration of the Daily Mile today, with a fun outdoor assembly kickstarting the proceedings. After discussing the many physical and mental health benefits of running the mile, we began the race! Everyone completed this brilliantly and won points for their house. The overall house winner will be announced next week, but congratulations to our top finishers: Girls - Izzy D and Izzy M (joint), Leila and Dollie  Boys - Daniel, Zac and Rocco

UKS2 Science - Tuesday 27th (Ruby and Sapphire) and Wednesday 28th (Topaz) April

UKS2 worked exceptionally hard during their science lessons this week to understand that unsupported objects fall towards Earth because of gravity. We began by learning that weight (how heavy something is) is caused by Earth's gravitational force and we compared this to the Moon, which has no atmosphere and less of a gravitational pull. We looked at images of craters formed by meteorites and predicted how the depth and diameter of these might change according to the weight and size of the meteorite. To practically investigate this, we got into small groups and were given a box of flour and cocoa, and a variety of objects. We weighed each object and dropped it from the same height -  to ensure a fair test - before measuring the depth and diameter of the crater. From this, we were able to conclude that the more a meteorite weighs, the deeper the crater and the more dust, earth and rock is scattered! The diameter of the crater, however, depends on the size and shape of the meteorite. We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures of our investigation in action!

Week beginning 26th April

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 environmental persuasion, Year 6 writing a narrative

Maths - Year 5 angles, Year 6 revision of key concepts 

Science - assessment for learning task and an initial exploration of forces

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Geography - writing a report about the Brazilian city of Manaus 

RE - exploring symbolism within the Christian church 

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics, tennis and rounders 

Year 6 began their Positive Minds programme this morning, supported with resources from Watford FC's Community Trust. We started by discussing what mental health is, and how everybody has a sliding scale of good and poor mental health. Then, we played a fun activity of Human Bingo (well done to Jersey, who won this in Topaz!) and had to find a different person to fit 25 criteria. Next, we learnt about celebrities who have publicly talked about their issues with mental health, including Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Lady Gaga and David Beckham. We completed a quiz about mental health terms and then ended the lesson with an 'elephant in the room' (Nellie!) activity. Individually, in pairs and as a class, we discussed possible reasons why people are sometimes reluctant to talk about mental health. Miss Kropman was incredibly impressed with the mature answers suggested, which included how people might feel embarrassed or how they might fear being judged by others. We discussed how to overcome these worries and reiterated the message that it is always important to talk about our mental health. Well done, Year 6. This was a super start to this term's well-being and transition unit! 

Miss Kropman's Year 6 English group - Thursday 22nd April

We have been continuing to explore powerful narratives this week and, today, viewed a clip from Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban which created plenty of drama for the viewer! Have a look at these excellent examples of writing to create tension, which were inspired by the clip:

Anger running through his veins, Harry’s body was engulfed in the blinding darkness. He was running alone in the night. At least, that’s what he thought…Harry, exhausted, took refuge on the hard, concrete pavement. An ominous flicker took place above. Suddenly, Harry’s ears were burned with the infernal screech of playground equipment which gradually got louder. Louder and louder. A rustle was emitted from the bush. A black figure appeared…Fear lit up in Harry’s blue eyes like a burning candle as a bus entered the scene. The ‘Knight bus’. Harry let out the small fragments of a sigh. Relief. His belongings scattered on the ground, Harry stood up and entered the bus…

Chloe

Rage enveloping his veins, Harry charged out of the house into the blinding darkness of the night. After winding along street after street, Harry decided to take refuge on the pavement, where a street light overhead aided his vision. Like a dangerous premonition, the light began to flicker, extinguishing and leaving Harry in the pitch-black. An ear-piercing wail made him turn around: alerted. The see-saw crashed down. The roundabout screamed.

Ollie

Engulfed with fury, Harry thundered into the bitter night. The infernal sounds of the rusty swings enveloped his ears as the oxidised see-saw smashed against the ground. The playground, however, was completely deserted. Blinding darkness. Roaring silence. Flickering lights. A groaning roundabout. Harry’s soul was embraced with mixed emotions. Frustrated, he slumped on the damp pavement and paused. What did this all mean?

Elena

Week beginning 19th April

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 rap poetry, Year 6 exploring how to create tension within a narrative

Maths - Year 5 3D shape nets and translation, Year 6 revision of key concepts 

Science - assessment for learning task and an initial exploration of forces

PSHE - Rights and Responsibilities

PSHE additional for Year 6 -  Positive Minds Education - Transition for Secondary School  

Geography - exploring the Brazilian city of Manaus 

Music - Jazz, improvising within 'Three Note Bossa' using the notes G, A and B 

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - athletics and rounders 

Henry's incredible example, inspired by Malorie Blackman's 'Pig-Heart Boy':

I am drowning. What is left? Life? Death? As the water engulfs me, my lungs are on fire, blood twisting, turning and roaring around my body. My brain is screaming. I have no choice. The white, shimmering surface is fading every time I gaze at it. I am drowning. I am going to die. Water is all around me. The surface seems a million miles away. What will happen to me? The water is ferocious, knocking me side to side. I am drowning in the roaring silence. I am drowning. I am going to die. 

UKS2 Geography - Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th April

UKS2 kicked started their topic learning this half term with some excellent work to further explore the Amazon! We began by discussing the difference between weather and climate (feel free to test your child on this at home!) and then compared the average temperature and precipitation in London and Manaus. Incorporating some impressive maths skills at this point, the children created accurate line graphs and detailed descriptions of the patterns and differences that they found. We then turned our attention to how animals and plants have adapted to the environment in the Amazon rainforest, and particularly enjoyed researching sloths, jaguars, geckos and spider monkeys! This was a super start to the half term - well done, UKS2!  

Week beginning 12th April

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - Year 5 Cinquains, Year 6 exploring narrative texts including 'Pig Heart Boy' by Malorie Blackman and 'Feather Boy' by Nicky Singer

Maths - Year 5 formal multiplication and division, Year 6 algebra

PSHE - British Values 

Geography - investigating climate in the Amazon and creating line graphs to demonstrate our findings 

Music - Jazz, exploring 'Three Note Bossa'

Art (on rotation) - Amazon art

PE - Dance and athletics 

End of term thank you - Friday 26th March

Dear UKS2 Children and Parents/Guardians,

Thank you for a fantastic return to whole class teaching at the end of this rollercoaster term! We have been very proud of the phase throughout the whole of this academic year and are just so pleased to have spent the last three weeks all together again. Please enjoy a well-deserved break over the next two weeks. There will be no homework set other than reading for pleasure and marking this on your bookmarks, which we hope is a relaxing pastime! Chag Pesach Sameach to our Jewish families and Happy Easter to our Christian families celebrating over the holidays. 

We look forward to seeing you at 8.55am on Tuesday 13th April for what will hopefully be an uninterrupted, fun term of learning!

The UKS2 Team x 

UKS2 observing a minute's silence to remember all victims of the COVID19 pandemic - Tuesday 23rd March

Our phase gathered together on the playground at 12pm today to mark a minute's silence, remembering all those who have died as a result of the pandemic. We discussed the sadness that the past year has brought, but also the hopeful collaboration and resilience which we have experienced. Finally, we had some reflection time to consider the things that we are grateful for now that we are all back together in school. All of the children were incredibly mature throughout and should be proud of their respectful behaviour. 

Week beginning 22nd March

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - completing 'Cosmic' and exploring new technical vocabulary

Maths - Year 5 recap of skills, Year 6 pie charts, mean average and graphs 

Science - creating a double page spread to recap our learning about Space 

Geography - exploring South America and locating the Amazon

RE - studying the festival of Pesach (Passover) 

PSHE - fun for the end of term!

Art (Ruby) - completing a WW2 study

PE - Dance and ball skills

UKS2 House Cup Stacking Challenge - Friday 19th March

The four mighty houses of Air, Earth, Fire and Water battled out the ultimate cup stacking challenge this morning with great success! Gathered outside on the playground, Mrs Gray explained that, working in teams of 4, they were required to stack 6 cups in various formations. Easy, right? WRONG! The real challenge came with the realisation that they were not allowed to use their hands to move the cups in any way! Armed with only string and an elastic band, UKS2 were encouraged to use their teamwork, creativity, logic and problem-solving skills to stack the cups in four increasingly difficult formations. For each stack that they achieved, house points were awarded! Mrs Gray, Miss Kropman, Mr Parkes and Mr Neiman were incredibly impressed with how well the children worked within their groups (mostly made up of two Year 5s and two Year 6s) and loved watching them collaborate to overcome any challenges. The final scores were incredibly close, with only eight points separating all four houses! Congratulations to everyone but especially to our winners, Water! 

Results: 4th = Earth 107 points, 3rd = Fire 112 points, 2nd Air 114 points, 1st Water 115 points

Topaz's English lesson - Friday 19th March

Topaz took their speaking and listening levels to 'Cosmic' heights this morning with an exploration of whether Liam (from our class text) should go in to space or not! We began by studying the most recent chapter of the text and listing points for and against this suggestion. Next, we went outside and took part in a drama conscience alley, where half of the class gave reasons supporting Liam's mission and the other gave reasons against this whilst our 'Liams' walked down the middle. Many were swayed to the other side afterwards, showing the high quality of reasons given and strong supporting evidence. Back in the classroom, we then took part in a formal debate, with three speakers for either side, a time-keeper, chairperson, adjudicators and audience. After some fantastic and passionate debating, including confident speakers and awesome audience challenges, the adjudicators declared the 'no' team the winners. Liam should NOT go to space! Well done, Topaz. You were absolutely brilliant throughout today's lesson! 

UKS2's Virtual Parliament Workshop - Tuesday 16th March

Although we are not currently able to go on any trips, Miss Kropman was delighted when she found out that the UK Parliament were offering (free) virtual learning experiences! On Tuesday afternoon, our phase logged into Teams and joined two members of staff from the parliament offices, who delivered an excellent presentation to introduce us to all things politics! We learnt about the House of Commons and the House of Lords, before exploring what a member of parliament does. Grant Shapps' role was discussed and we also studied how a new law is passed. We were encouraged to take part throughout, and the organisers were very impressed with how well we responded to their questions. This week's homework links to this workshop, so I hope there is plenty that you can discuss at home! 

Air Ambulance on the field - Monday 15th March

UKS2 were busy enjoying a drizzly playtime on Monday morning, when Miss Kropman and Mrs Jackson looked above to see a helicopter hovering over the playground, and getting lower by the second! After signalling to the pilot that he could land on the field, Miss Kropman had to hastily evacuate everyone to the safety of the school building, and was genuinely so proud of how quickly the whole phase responded. After the doctors had left the field through the gates, the pilot came to thank us for our prompt evacuation and said that the speed in which we did this may well have contributed to saving the life of a local resident, who was suffering a medical emergency. Due to their excellent behaviour, all of UKS2 were invited to have a closer look at the helicopter and have their pictures taken. Well done, everyone!  

Week beginning 15th March

This week, UKS2 will be learning about the following:

English - continuing 'Cosmic' and exploring how characters can change over time and studying the author's style and voice

Maths - Year 5 recap of skills, Year 6 volume and measures

Science - phases of the Moon

Geography - exploring what we already know about the Amazon 

PSHE - virtual Parliament workshop, speed stacking and Red Nose Day fun!  

Art (Sapphire) - completing a WW2 study 

PE - Dance and ball skills

PE with Mr Williams from our School Sports Partnership - Friday 12th March

UKS2 were very fortunate to have a visit from Mr Williams today, from the Welwyn and Hatfield School Sports Partnership. Mr Williams led an active, engaging and fun outdoor lesson focused on throwing and catching skills, which was greatly enjoyed by everyone!

UKS2 learning about Purim - Wednesday 10th March

As the Jewish festival of Purim fell during lockdown on 25-26th February, we felt it necessary to wait until we were all back together at school to explore this practically! Each class spent the afternoon learning about the story of Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people from the evil Haman, who was intent on killing them due to Mordecai (Esther's cousin) refusing to bow down anyone other than God. We acted out the story through drama and were very enthusiastic to join in with the custom of drowning out Haman's name through booing, stamping and clapping! It is also traditional for many Jewish people to dress up during this festival, mimicking Esther concealing her true identity until it mattered. We designed and made masks to represent this and also reflected brilliantly about how to stand up for what we believe in. Thank you to all those families who also completed the optional homework of making Hamantaschen at home. These amazingly tasty cookies represent Haman's pockets (or ears as he hung on the gallows, for those of us that learnt the gory details!). 

Week beginning 8th March

Welcome back to school!

I cannot believe that it is three months since our last phase blog. Our period of self-isolation and then the national lockdown and wider school closures have meant that we haven't been able to share our learning through this forum, but I trust that you have all seen the evidence of the children's amazing home learning on Google Classroom! Now that we are back in school, the children are learning about:

English - continuing our study of 'Cosmic'

Maths - Year 5 recap of skills, Year 6 angles

PSHE - our transition back to whole class learning and our experiences during lockdown plus role-play activities

RE - learning about Purim

PE - Dance and ball skills 

Art (Topaz) - completing our WW2 study 

Week beginning 7th December

This week, UKS2 will be learning about....REINDEERS! In addition to this:

Design and Technology - designing, making and evaluating a scaled reindeer shelter 

Maths - reindeer problem solving activities 

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Sapphire) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

NB There will not be any new spellings for the remainder of this term. We will be reviewing all spelling rules covered in our remaining sessions. 

Burning in our science lessons - Week beginning 30th November

UKS2 enjoyed interactively exploring changes when materials are burned during their science lessons this week. The following items were (safely) set alight: polyester filling, cardboard, fabric, paper, cotton wool, plastic and foil. After observing the changes, we decided that burning is an irreversible change! We were pleased to see that polyester, which is contained in most soft furnishings, was not very flammable. The plastic, meanwhile, disintegrated in a matter of seconds! 

UKS2 RE - Week beginning 30th November

Year 5 and 6 worked very hard in their RE lessons this week as they explored Shabbat. We first learnt about customs that some Jewish people follow and then started to discuss the benefits and possible problems facing people observing 25 hours of rest in the modern world, such as what this might actually entail. After considering all aspects of Shabbat, we had a 'tug of war' to try and persuade others to side with our opinions. Well done for the excellent reasons put forward, UKS2! 

Week beginning 30th November

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - writing a narrative 

Maths - Year 5 - multiplication; Year 6 - SATS questions practice

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Topaz) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Science - burning

History - methods of protection used during Blitz attacks

RE - exploring Shabbat 

A Virtual Vet Talk for Year 6 - Thursday 26th November

Year 6 had a very enjoyable half hour talk this morning from Melissa, a veterinary surgeon who trained locally at the RVC and now works in research with the Dogs Trust. This was arranged for six schools in our area and was tailored towards Year 6 pupils who might be considering working with animals. Melissa spoke about her career and the importance of caring for dogs. We then had the opportunity to ask questions about the best and worst parts of her job, the most difficult animal she has performed surgery on (it was a lion!) and whether she always knew she eventually wanted to work with dogs. Well done to everyone for participating so brilliantly; it was lovely to hear so many of you are interested in working with animals in the future! Thank you to the Wroxham Partnership and Ms Hart for arranging this virtual event and for inviting us along. 

Year 6 English - Tuesday 24th November

As part of our literacy heritage unit, Year 6 have been inspired by J. R. R Tolkien's The Hobbit. Take a look at these amazing character descriptions of Gollum!

Issy E:

Deep down by the dark water lived old Gollum, whose voice was as loathsome as a stealthy snake. The puerile creature lurked around, inspecting his surroundings. He was a strange, slimy being, deformed in body. The hair rising out of his skin, which appeared deadly cold, rose in long bristles. Bloodthirsty for his next meal, I wondered: would he throttle me? His gaze was spine-chilling; his egotistic heart pulsed as his orb-like eyes stared at me.

Ollie W:

Lurking in the depths of the shadows by the lake, there lived an old creature. He was Gollum: frail and vile. His thin, brittle bones curved round in flexible loops, making him a slight and solitary being. His bulky feet were as solid as metal, usually hanging low over the sides of his weathered wooden boat. The mysterious being’s hands grasped out with abominable, bony fingers attached to its palm – engulfed in the putrid entrails of his nose contents. Gollum’s venomous glare exposed his glinting yet penetrating eyes. His gruff, hissing voice scared the wits out of any mortal, while his ominous presence allowed him to pounce on prey, a leopard-like creature he was.

Jersey:

Deep down in the black, soul crushing water, an unimaginable creature lurked below. The gruesome demon was dressed in ripped sheets of ogre skin and, with overgrown toenails, scratched the path he walked. It hobbled around on its bony legs and skeletal arms, his torch-like eyes leading the way through the utter darkness of the mountain. The Gollum’s feet, that could crush anything in its path, paddled the boat of bones through the water with no ripple in sight. Villagers believed he was a monster. Villagers believed that whoever walked into the cave would never come out. Some said if you become too close to the water’s edge, like a crocodile he would leap, thrashing and splashing, pulling you back down. Down, down, down, into the murky, black, soul crushing water, never to be seen again…

Oliver:

In the very roots of the mountain lurked a shadowy column of despair. Its name? Gollum. Searching, ever searching, for food in its ancient, tiny rowing boat. Rapidly, the creature was plunging its manky hand into the water to grab out a fish and eat it alive. Abruptly, his head intruded my hiding place (a large rock). I thought: would it end my life gruesomely? A pungent smell, a vile noise and a foul figure slowly appeared…

Week beginning 23rd November

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - exploring narrative writing 

Maths - Year 5 - addition and subtraction; Year 6 - Circles 

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Ruby) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

PSHE - changing friendships

History - completing a WW2 timeline and exploring events leading up the declaration of war

RE - Moses and how rules can impact upon daily life

UKS2 Making Ice Cream in Science - Week beginning 16th November 

UKS2 have greatly enjoyed their science lessons this week, which culminated in making and eating their own ice cream! We have been learning about reversible and irreversible changes this half term, and have learnt about the processes of melting and burning.

Here is Boris to explain what we did:

Today, we made ice cream by mixing ice and salt. In a separate bag, we mixed cream with sugar and then placed it inside the ice and salt. After shaking this vigorously for ten minutes, the cream turned from a liquid to a solid. We had made ice cream!

Followed by an excellent explanation of the scientific theory from Hannah:

To make ice cream, you have to remove heat energy from the cream. To aid this process, we ensured that all the hot air was squeezed out of the bag before shaking it. Whilst vibrating, the heat travels from the cream, melting the ice. This causes the cream to become a solid and the ice to become a liquid. 

After sampling our creation, we then created a superb line graph to show the changing temperature of a single scoop of Mr Neiman's vanilla ice cream throughout the hour that we were making our own. Well done, UKS2! It was lovely to see you all having so much fun in science! 

Topaz's music lesson watching a virtual concert - Monday 16th November

Although the pandemic resulted in the proposed UKS2 trip to Hatfield House to watch a chamber music concert being cancelled, the talented musicians from the Purcell School did not let us down! On Monday afternoon, we were lucky enough to view the concert virtually, via a YouTube link. We were treated to superb performances of pieces including the Arrival of Sheba by Handel, Pachelbel's Canon, Albinoni's oboe concerto and more modern works by Howard-Skempton. After the concert, we explored the concept of canon in more detail and transferred this to a class performance of Frere Jacques on the glockenspiels, which also contained a ground bass played by the back row. Well done to our budding young conductor and to all of Topaz for an excellent lesson! 

Week beginning 16th November

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - exploring narrative writing 

Maths - Year 5 - mental multiplication strategies; Year 6 - 2D and 3D shapes 

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Sapphire) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Science - burning

PSHE - anti-bullying week 

History - creating a WW2 timeline of events

Music - watching a virtual chamber concert live from Hatfield House and taking part in linked activities 

Remembrance Day in UKS2 - Wednesday 11th November

To mark Remembrance Day, our phase decorated a giant poppy to attach to the railings at the front of school. Using mixed media collage, we each made a small poppy which, when all put together, made a beautiful visual reminder of all lives lost through war. On Wednesday morning, we gathered outside as a school in order to hear the fantastic poem created by our Year 6 Writing Group, who have worked exceptionally hard with Mrs Davies to produce this wonderful piece of writing:

Why do you wail, poppies?

We remember the bang of bombs,

The cries of pain, the fear of uncertainty

Screaming – screaming.

Why do you bow, poppies?

We remember the tut of guns,

The river of blood, the stench of death

Waiting - waiting.

Why do you mourn, poppies?

We remember the ache of despair,

The agony of grief, the weight of loneliness

Screaming - screaming.

Why do you scream, poppies?

We remember the bloodshed tears,

The groan of death, the guilt of sacrifice

Silence – silence.

Why do you hope, poppies?

We remember the pain of loss,

The courage of soldiers, the wish for peace

Yearning - yearning

Why do you droop, poppies?

We remember the smashing of bombs,

Burning clashing

Surging slashing

Thrashing

We remember the aching breaking

Searing slicing

Sacrificing

We remember the war that could have killed us all

We lament and we remember.

Written by Anaya, Ava, Daniel, Elizabeth, Hannah, Ollie, Oliver, Saoirse and Sophie

The two-minute silence was marked by our guest brass player, Ed, playing The Last Post. We all found this to be a very moving tribute. Well done to all of Year 5 and 6, who were extremely respectful throughout.  

NSPCC Virtual Assembly and related activities - Week beginning 9th November

This week, UKS2 watched an online assembly from the NSPCC, who were unable to deliver this in person due to the lockdown. After viewing this, we discussed that we all have the right to speak out and be safe and explored the places, people and things that make us feel this way. Finally, we learnt about the different sources of help available to us should we ever need some support, as found within our chatterboxes! 

Week beginning 9th November

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - writing our news reports 

Maths - Year 5 - mental multiplication strategies; Year 6 - calculating area of shapes 

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Topaz) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Science - reversible and irreversible changes 

PSHE - exploring positive relationships and online NSPCC assembly 

PSHE/History - why we celebrate Remembrance Day and making a collaborative poppy art installation 

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths morning in UKS2 - Thursday 5th November

The Year 6 girls were invited to take part in an online virtual event celebrating Women In STEAM this morning. We began by watching various inspirational women discuss their careers such as website design, construction, engineering and fire fighting. Meanwhile, the Year 6 boys (and Sapphire Year 5s) joined forces to create an A-Z of STEAM careers and then had great fun building the tallest possible tower using only ten marshmallows and dried pasta. After break, the Year 6 boys did a maths quiz with Mr Parkes, whilst the girls completed the activities that the boys had done earlier on. We had a super morning exploring STEAM careers and using some of the skills that we would need within our possible future industries! Here are a few comments from the girls:

'STEM activities are important in school because they help me realise I can achieve whatever I put my mind to. A career in STEM I might consider is becoming a medical writer.' - Isla

'I enjoy STEM activities which build new relationships and help us work as a team. I am considering becoming a vet, as Millie's visit made me realise I have a passion for this.' - Livvy

'This morning has made me consider becoming a physiotherapist.' - Alice

'I enjoyed seeing different job possibilities and learning the ins and outs of these careers. I am considering becoming a doctor (GP) so will need to study medicine at university.' - Hannah 

Topaz helping to train a guide dog - Wednesday 4th November

Mrs Thomas, our school secretary, and her husband are 'puppy walkers' for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Their latest puppy, Millie, was recently chosen as a suitable candidate for being a 'buddy dog', which is a guide dog for a young person. As part of her assessment process, Millie needed to come into a classroom for the afternoon and be filmed both within a lesson and when interacting with a group of children. Miss Kropman and Topaz were more than happy to help with this request and welcomed Millie into class on Tuesday! We found it quite difficult not to stroke her at first, but we had been specifically asked to ignore her during the lesson, as she will need to lie by her owner's feet for lessons in a future school setting. A group of us were then asked to sit in a group situation and involve Millie, which was great fun! I am pleased to announce that, as a result of the film evidence obtained, Millie has passed her assessment and will definitely become a buddy dog! Miss Kropman is very proud that Topaz have played a small part in this and Mr and Mrs Thomas have thanked us for our support. 

Week beginning 2nd November

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - bias and the language of uncertainty within news reports 

Maths - percentages 

History - a detailed exploration of the start of WW2 

PE - orienteering and netball 

Art (Ruby) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Science - exploring which factors affect the rate of dissolving 

Music - improvisation around C Jam Blues

Computing - Purple Mash

Black History Month creativity - Friday 23rd October

UKS2 spent time this morning learning about iconic black role models. Ruby focused on Muhammad Ali and Sapphire learnt about Barack Obama, whilst Topaz explored the life of Nelson Mandela. As class collaborations, we then used a split picture of each of these to create art inspired by the work of Chuck Close. These are now proudly displayed in the UKS2 corridor for all to see!

Thank you to the children for an excellent half term. We hope you have a lovely break and look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 2nd November. 

Black History Month - Tuesday 20th October

Our phase spent this afternoon learning about Martin Luther King as part of our celebration of Black History Month. We began the lesson by recapping the segregation and racial discrimination which existed in America in the 1960s, before leaning about Martin Luther King's life. We listened to his highly inspirational 'I Have A Dream' speech, and then used ideas from this to create our own, modern-day speeches. As you can see below, these were presented with great passion, conviction and maturity. Well done, UKS2! 

Geography in Topaz - Monday 19th October

For homework this half term, many UKS2 children wrote some questions for Milo, Miss Kropman's cousin's 10 year old son who lives in New York City. With his school still being closed due to the pandemic, Milo took on this challenge to the highest possible level and produced a slide show of information, videos and photographs. We were SO impressed with this and learnt a great deal, which you can see from our double-page spreads pictured below! 

Week beginning 19th October

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - an exciting hook for our newspaper reports, direct and reported speech 

Maths - adding and subtracting fractions

Geography - a detailed study of life in North America

PE - fitness and tag rugby, plus cross-country on Wednesday! 

Art (Sapphire) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

PSHE - focus on Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela as part of our celebration of Black History Month 

UKS2 Archery sessions with the Welwyn and Hatfield Schools' Sports Partnership - Monday 12th October

Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz classes had a wonderful afternoon of archery on Monday, led by Mr Williams from the Welwyn and Hatfield Schools' Sports Partnership. Each class got the opportunity to learn some archery skills before competing against each other, and everyone had great fun trying to hit the target 10! Congratulations to the Year 6 winners (pictured at the end) who will virtually compete against six other schools across the district after half term. 

Week beginning 12th October

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - exploring features of journalistic writing

Maths - simplifying and comparing fractions

PE - fitness and tag rugby, plus archery on Monday! 

Art (Topaz) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

RE - Jewish food laws

Science - reversible and irreversible changes 

PSHE - circle time

Celebrating Mental Health Awareness in UKS2 with Hello Yellow Day - Friday 9th October

UKS2 have had a lovely day celebrating our mental well-being today. We began the day by looking at why it is important to have good mental health, and also exploring the excellent service that Youth Minds provides to young people who are struggling with their feelings of anxiety or depression. Following this, we were set the 'Hello Yellow' challenge - can we say something kind to a teacher, wave and smile at someone, and say something to make a friend laugh? We also set our own challenges! Each class then designed their own Mental Health superhero, such as the World's Best Friend and You Are Not Alone Champion. We later spent time listing things that make us unique and also writing compliments for each other, with the aim of promoting our own positivity. Well done, UKS2. You have made your teachers, and yourselves, smile a great deal today! 

Week beginning 5th October

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - topic learning to inform writing our diary entries

Maths - working backwards, arithmetic 

Geography - exploring different time zones 

PE - fitness and tag rugby

Art (Ruby) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Music - exploring the pentatonic scale 

PSHE - well-being survey

House Captain Elections - Thursday 1st October

Congratulations to our new Year 6 house captains for 2020/21! All of the candidates produced polished, professional and inspirational speeches, reflected in how close the final votes were. Well done to the following children. We know you will perform your roles brilliantly: 

Air - Keval and Sienna

Earth - Hugh and Issy E

Fire - Oliver A and Jersey

Water - Henry and Izzy D

Geography learning in UKS2 - week beginning 28th September

Ruby, Sapphire and Topaz have all been geography whizzes this week, learning about the migration of swallows. We began our lessons by watching a film about a swallow's journey, before going onto the playground to re-enact this flight! Following this, we undertook some map work and plotted a swallow's migration route from London to Cape Town, South Africa. In a seamless link to our English topic, we then all created diary entries to describe the journey, highlighting key landmarks that would have been observed from the sky. As a final challenge, we used a scaled atlas to work out the distance that the swallow might have flown. Well done, UKS2 - you impressed your teachers greatly this week!  

Week beginning 28th September

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - looking at a range of punctuation features and planning a diary entry

Maths - short and long division

Geography/Computing - completing our lines of latitude and longitude learning, learning about the migration of birds 

PE - fitness and tag rugby

Art (Sapphire) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

Science - a practical carousel of learning about how to separate materials 

PSHE - exploring the importance of respecting others 

An excellent week of English with Miss Kropman's Topaz group - Friday 25th September

We have had a great week of learning about diary entries in our English lessons, beginning with analysing diary features before turning our attention towards two excellent sources of inpiration - Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic. After reading about when conflict first hit the streets of Sarajevo in 1991, Topaz created some fantastic vlogs in order to model personal pronouns and adopt an individual viewpoint in a style akin to Zlata's. Later in the week, we turned our attention towards Anne Frank's diary, studying her use of colloquial language and chronological sharing of events. Today (Friday) we began our lesson by playing Top Trumps! We then created Top Trumps cards for Anne and Zlata, focusing on chosen criteria and using evidence from the text to justify our scores. Miss Kropman has been very impressed by the excellent work produced this week! 

Week beginning 21st September

This week, UKS2 will be learning about:

English - features of a diary entry, assessing the validity of personal opinions

Maths - factors and multiples, short multiplication

PSHE - reviewing our learning powers 

Music - exploring WW2 swing music 

PE - fitness and tag rugby

Art (Topaz) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

French (Ruby and Sapphire) - describing the parts of the body 

RE - exploring ideas about forgiveness, linked to Yom Kippur 

Science - a practical introduction to dissolving

Miss Kropman's Topaz English group - Thursday 17th September

The children have been working exceptionally hard during their English lessons this week to create poetry based upon figurative language. They have compared an object from nature to an animal using similes, metaphors and personification, in addition to the senses, to create effective descriptions. We hope you enjoy these awesome examples!

RE in Topaz - Tuesday 15th September

Topaz were absolute superstars in their first RE lesson of the year! We began the session by exploring reasons why we learn RE in school and began to argue reasons for and against ranking these in order of importance within a Diamond 9. These are the reasons suggested by Miss Kropman.

The most popular amongst Topaz class members was that 'we need to be able to understand everyone', showing a great recognition of diversity, but we were all very clear that there were no right or wrong answers involved in ordering these ideas! 

Following this, we were introduced to our focus religion for the year, which is Judaism. We learnt that this is the oldest of the main world faiths and discussed anything we already knew and what we would like to find out. Next, Miss Kropman taught us about how many Jewish people will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah (New Year) at the weekend, as this festival will last from sunset on Friday 18th - sunset on Sunday 20th September. 

In order to wish ourselves a sweet and happy year ahead, we ended the lesson by sampling apples dipped in honey, which is a customary treat for Jewish people at this time of year! 

Shanah Tovah to all our families who are celebrating this weekend. 

Week beginning 14th September

This week, UKS2 are learning about:

English - writing a poem using similes, metaphors and personification

Maths - place value and the number system

PSHE - creating our own 'wise words'

Geography - atlas investigation quiz

PE - fitness and tag rugby

Art (Ruby) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

French (Sapphire and Topaz) - describing the parts of the body 

RE - exploring why we learn RE and an introduction to Judaism, including learning about Rosh Hashanah. 

Science - a practical introduction to dissolving

Our first full week back at school!

What a busy first full week we have had in UKS2! Despite many things being different in school at the moment, all of the children have adapted brilliantly and have been a joy to teach. We have been keeping our minds and bodies healthy by focusing heavily on PSHE and PE this week. Please see below pictures of the lovely Zones of Regulations work being completed in Topaz, helping us to regulate our feelings, and of Ruby and Sapphire running their daily mile! 

Week beginning 7th September

This week, UKS2 have been learning about:

English - figurative language within poetry

Maths - place value and the number system

PSHE - Zones of Regulation and focusing on the wise sayings contained within 'The Mole, The Boy, The Fox, And The Horse'. 

Geography - 'Atlas of Adventures' exploration and labelling a world map with continents and oceans

PE - fitness and tag rugby

Art (Sapphire) - creating a collage for a WW2 scene

French (Ruby and Topaz) - learning the names for parts of the body 

Music - appraising WW2 songs and learning 'Hey Mr. Miller'

Computing - Purple Mash