West Leigh Juniors Weekly News 20th june 2025

Swimming

• 3M - Tuesday
• 3S - Wednesday
• 3H - Monday
• 3T - Wednesday

PE

• 3M - Wednesday - Indoor PE - Friday - Outdoor PE
• 3S - Tuesday - Indoor PE - Thursday - Outdoor PE
• 3H - Tuesday - Indoor PE - Friday - Outdoor PE
• 3T - Monday - Indoor PE - Thursday - Outdoor PE

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Summer Term Key Dates - 13.06.2025
• Whole School - Sports Day - 06.06.2025

Year 4

To begin the week, on Monday, the girls of Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed a taster visit to Westcliff High School for Girls. They were able to see the school and its facilities, took part in a variety of varied and interesting lessons, and enjoyed an assembly. We would like to thank the staff and pupils of Westcliff High School for Girls for their hospitality and the welcome they extended to our girls who behaved impeccably. The boys had an equally enjoyable morning back at school where they took part in a variety of fun activities focused on a geometry investigation.

In English, the children have continued their unit on biographies where they have identified their features. Using facts about the author, Michael Morpurgo (who the children know as the author of our Layered Reading text, The Butterfly Lion), the children learnt how to structure a biography using a modelled example. Using the information they learnt about P.T. Barnum last week, the children wrote a biography about his life. They included paragraphs, information written in chronological order, and the use of causal conjunctions.

Maths lessons have focused on statistics. The children have studied a variety of ways that information can be represented, such as Venn diagrams, tally charts, bar charts, line graphs, and pictograms, and they have interpreted the data from within them. They have also collected and represented data of their own choosing using a range of techniques.

In science, there have been discussions about Aristotle and how he classified living things. The children examined a range of mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and birds and have placed characteristics of those living things into the correct group.

The focus of our Connected Curriculum lessons has been completing our Lowry-inspired artwork. The children have used watercolours and their painting skills to master their background, fairground rides and buildings, and finally added their ‘matchstick’ figures. The finished work has been of an exceptionally high standard and has demonstrated evidence both of the challenges the children faced and how they overcame these.

Request: Next week, the children will be designing their motorised fairground rides. We will need a supply of empty and clean cardboard boxes, cartons, egg cartons, and plastic bottles for this building project. Please could the children bring in supplies from Monday.

Reminders:

• All children must come into school in PE kit on Thursday, 26th June, as there will be a Quidditch event on that day.

Swimming

• 4B - Monday
• 4E - Friday
• 4SW - Monday
• 4C - Wednesday

PE

• 4B - Wednesday - Indoor PE - Thursday - Outdoor PE
• 4E - Monday - Indoor PE - Tuesday - Outdoor PE
• 4SW - Friday - Indoor PE - Tuesday - Outdoor PE
• 4C - Monday - Indoor PE - Thursday - Outdoor PE

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Summer Term Key Dates - 13.06.2025
• Whole School - Sports Day - 06.06.2025

Year 5

After the pressure of last week’s tests, the children have seemed to enjoy getting back to their normal lessons although the hot weather has been a challenge. Taking inspiration from the text, Cloud Tea Monkeys, the children have been asked to think about the types of working conditions that tea-pickers in the past and the present face and what could be done to improve them. In light of this, we have reviewed persuasive texts and the features that enable a writer to evoke emotion and to encourage a positive change in opinions. The children particularly enjoyed practising their oral persuasive techniques including extolling the virtues of such products as a banana phone, a chocolate tea pot and sandpaper toilet paper!!

In maths lessons, we have been reviewing and building upon the children’s learning in relation to shape and measure. In some classes, the children have been reviewing the properties of rectangles in order to deduce related facts, find missing lengths and angles and identify 3D shapes from 2D representations including nets. In others, the children have looked at how to make shapes from nets and practised distinguishing between regular and irregular polygons and investigated the nets of cubes.

If you had visited Year 5 on certain afternoons this week, you might have thought the children were planning to start their own nursery as there were an awful lot of nappies in the classrooms! However, the interest was purely scientific as the children were testing the absorbency of different brands. They had been set the task of planing different types of scientific enquiry, including recognising and controlling variables, testing their theories and writing up their findings including how they planned the test in order to support the learning of other classes. There was an awful lot of fun and some excellent learning opportunities!

Our study of the Mayans continues in our Connected Curriculum lessons. This week the children have learnt about the daily life of the different sections of Mayan society including their jobs, homes, food and entertainment. They have looked at different sources, considering which were the most effective and could be considered rich, reliable and relevant. Our second lesson focused upon the cultural and ecological diversity of the area of Central America. The children became experts for one of the seven countries that makes up the isthmus of Central America, collecting information on the culture (including food, language, celebrations, national costume) and the ecology of their country.

Reminders:

• Please can we remind parents that the slips for our trips to Indi Rock must be sent back to class teachers as soon as possible. Dates for these visits: 5K/5F - 2nd July and 5G/5L - 9th July.

Swimming

• 5K - Tuesday
• 5F - Thursday
• 5L - Tuesday
• 5G - Thursday

PE

• 5K - Friday - Indoor PE - Wednesday - Outdoor PE
• 5F- Friday - Indoor PE - Wednesday - Outdoor PE
• 5L - Thursday - Indoor PE - Monday - Outdoor PE
• 5G - Tuesday - Indoor PE - Monday- Outdoor PE

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Summer Term Key Dates - 13.06.2025
• Whole School - Sports Day - 06.06.2025

Year 6

As we near the end of another eventful week, Year 6 have continued to impress us with their creativity, curiosity and thoughtful engagement across a range of subjects. Many pupils have now completed their final pieces for our Awesome Art project—beautiful watercolour paintings inspired by the impressionist techniques of Claude Monet. Each piece is linked to a significant geographical location in the UK, and the children have taken great care in blending artistic style with thoughtful interpretation.

In English, pupils have been developing their discursive writing skills by exploring the question: Which is more important to learn—maths or English? This sparked lively debate and insightful reasoning, and although we all agree that both subjects are equally valuable, it was fascinating to see how well the children constructed and justified their arguments.

In science, those who had not yet completed last week’s lung capacity investigation were able to do so, gathering data and evaluating the impact of variables such as height, health and lifestyle. Others continued work on the manufacture of their own sculptures—making exciting progress on their creative designs linked to chosen UK locations.

There has also been a buzz of excitement around our Maths Mission this week. Pupils have been busy planning their own residential trip, working through realistic costs and logistics. This task has been particularly engaging as it links directly to their upcoming Ilam or Southend Week, and has given them an authentic context in which to apply their maths skills.