Friars Weekly Newsletter friday 12th dECEMBER 2025

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter..

The penultimate week before the Christmas break comes to an end… and what a festive week it has been. We have had Winter Wonderland sessions in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas performances. Thank you again to everyone who has attended these events and helped make them so special. Today… we had the big man himself… Father Christmas! It was great that we had one of our best days of attendance of the year so that almost every child managed to meet Santa and receive a present from him. Another thank you to the marvellous PTA for communicating with the North Pole. Next week we have more Christmas events for the children. On Tuesday we have our carol concert and on Wednesday it is our annual Christmas singalong. Our last day is Friday 19th December… On the Friday afternoon we have something very special for the children… a staff pantomime. Lots of adults in the school have been attending after-school rehearsals to put on an extravaganza for the children. It is not to be missed! Finally, we do have some sad news to share this week. Mrs. Goodwin who was our Office Manager until the summer term is officially retiring next week. Mrs. Goodwin has worked at Friars since 2012 and leaves with lots of fond memories. Although we will miss working with Mrs. Goodwin, she does intend to come back and do some volunteer reading. Once a member of the Friars’ Family, you are always a member of the Friars’ family!

Have a great weekend. Mr. McClay, Principal

Uniform - September 2026

From September 2026, we will be asking the children to only wear purple short-sleeved polo shirts and not white. The vast majority of children in the school do wear purple already. It continues to be fine to wear white across the spring and summer terms this academic year. Thank you.

3SM Poem

Year 3 have spent the last two days exploring the sounds around our school and experimenting with figurative language to create their own sound poem. After a sound walk and lots of shared ideas, the children worked together to write a class version inspired by The Sound Collector. We loved bringing the school’s sounds to life through onomatopoeia, similes and alliteration.

Year 3

This week, we explored Roger McGough’s poem The Sound Collector. The children loved listening to the poem and discussing all the interesting sounds that appear in it. Using this as inspiration, they created their very own sound poems! The children had great fun collecting sounds from around the classroom and playground and thinking carefully about how to describe them. We were so impressed with their creativity and imagination. In maths, we have begun focusing on our 8 times tables. The children have been using games, songs and practical activities to build their confidence and recall. Please feel free to practise with them at home - quick-fire questions, skip counting and chanting can all help! In history, the children looked closely at examples of Iron Age jewellery and then had the chance to design their very own pieces! Their ideas were imaginative and detailed - clearly inspired by the intricate patterns and shapes used thousands of years ago.

Year 4

This week, Year 4 have been enjoying snowflakes! We followed some instructions about how to make them from paper and made some of our own. This was a fun starting point to our learning about writing instructional texts.  In maths, we have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. This has helped us to use other known facts to mentally calculate bigger numbers. In science, we tested how sound fades as it travels. We tried different ways of recording data using a decibel meter and presented our findings as a graph. In music, we were introduced to a piece of music called ‘Scarborough Fair’. We were learning the tune and words and enjoyed singing along to it. For history, we brought our Saxon and Viking topic to a close by exploring the Bayeux tapestry and what it could tell us about the events of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.

REMINDER: We have the opportunity to take part in a bikeability session next term. You should have received a link to sign your child up. Please ensure they are signed up for this cycling session in school before the end of term otherwise your child will be unable to take part.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 4 - Bikeability - 01.12.2025

Year 5

This week, children in 5B have enjoyed their outdoor learning designing winter/ Christmas wooden decorations. The pupils carefully designed their products. Mr. Brady spent time looking at safety with them and demonstrating various equipment. They have had a lovely learning opportunity in our wonderful outside space.   We have continued our use of fractions within maths and have been adding fractions less than one whole and moving onto fractions over one whole. The children have continued their use of equivalent fractions and simplifying when required.   We have had a fun week with performance poetry further. We have explored similes and metaphors which led into us focusing on the poem: Junk. This poem was all about a boy and his love of junk food. The children used a range of poetic features to write their own versions of this poem in preparation for a performance.   5AW had fun at the start of the week looking at the mummification process in Ancient Egypt. They explored mummifying an orange. It was an interesting smell that lurked... The children were great in ordering the steps of the process and realised the importance of this procedure for the Ancient Egyptians.    We have had some time to practise our Christmas song for our Singalong. What a group of talented singers we have! Keep up the practising at home!

Year 6

This week has been a very enjoyable one for Year 6. The children have been looking at cautionary tales in English; not quite believing some of the grisly fates that befell the children within them! We also attempted to write our cautionary tales using rhyme, which in some cases proved challenging but very satisfying when we were successful. In maths we have continued to embed our understanding of fractions. Converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers and adding and subtracting fractions. Our times tables knowledge is so useful when completing work like this. In science, we created shadows in a number of different shapes, looking at how  the position of the light source and how close or far from the object it was, would affect the size and shape of the shadow. The children have been continuing with their DT sewing project, we hope it will be complete before Christmas. Year 2 invited us to watch their nativity performance, which we all felt was superb.  

REMINDER: All Year 6 children are expected to participate in the Level 2 Bikeability that begins the week commencing January 19th 2026.  All parents and carers should have received information about this and we ask that you sign up your child as soon as possible.  The closing date for this is next Friday, December 19th, 2025. No children are able to be accepted onto the programme after this date.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 6 - Bikeability - 01.12.2025

Computing

  As we approach the festive season, our penultimate week in Key Stage Two has been filled with creativity in the computing suite! On Monday, the Year 4 classes dived into the festive spirit by creating delightful PowerPoint presentations. Many students showcased their skills by sourcing images online, adding text from songs or crafting their own stories, and arranging everything beautifully. Their creativity was truly impressive! Be sure to check out their fantastic creations on Showbie. Tuesday saw our Year 6 classes enhancing their 3D modelling skills with Tinkercad. This unit has been a hit, with students eagerly working on projects that will be printed or designed with a festive twist. A special shout-out to Mr. Browning for inspiring students to hone their skills during Friday lunchtimes! On Wednesday, Year 5 continued their exploration of Ancient Egypt through PowerPoint presentations, brilliantly demonstrating their learning across the curriculum. Their progress is evident, so take a peek at Showbie to see their work! Remember, the computing suite is open every Thursday lunchtime for anyone wanting to develop their computing skills, whether it’s programming, word processing, times tables, or online safety.    

Sports & PE

Well done to all the children that have taken part in clubs and sports events this term. It has been so good seeing more and more children getting involved in sport and representing the school.  It has been lovely to hear about other sports clubs going on outside school and seeing some of the awards children have been collecting for their clubs.

Online Safety

Scalping has long been a frustration for fans hoping to bag concert tickets or exclusive toys, but the online world has supercharged this dishonest tactic. Scalpers use bots to buy up stock in seconds, then resell items such as consoles or collectibles at significant mark-ups. For young people, it can be disappointing and harmful to their wallets, wellbeing and worldview.  As this unethical practice becomes more visible, and, worryingly, sometimes glamourised online, it’s important to talk to children about fairness, financial boundaries, and spotting scams. This guide breaks down the tricks of the trade and how to avoid them, helping young consumers stay safe, informed and scam-free.