Friars Weekly Newsletter friday 22nd NOVEMBER 2024

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter...

• It's beginning to look a 'little' like Christmas...
• Year group assemblies in the spring and summer terms for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6
• Fundraising totals - Poppy Appeal and Children in Need
• PTA Christmas Raffle
• OPAL donation appeal

Here we are in the final weeks of November. Can you believe that next weekend sees the start of December?! My own children have started talking about putting up Christmas decorations which does seem a bit scary 😉.

On Monday, we sent a letter containing lots more information about our Christmas events. Please do find the time to read this letter if you have not managed so already. The letter is also linked in each of the year group sections of this newsletter.

Every Christmas, our younger children perform for their parents and carers. This year we are pleased to share that the older children will once again be performing year group assemblies in the spring and summer terms. It is so important that children have the opportunity to perform as it develops confidence, speaking and listening skills in addition to those crucial social skills.

Dates for Diaries for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6

• Year 3 will be performing an assembly all about their spring topic of 'The Romans' on Friday 14th February.
• Year 4 will be performing their assembly with a theme of ‘World War II’ on Friday 23rd May.
• Year 5 will be performing a ‘Tudors’ inspired assembly on Friday 4th April.

Performance times will be at 9:15am and 2:30pm.

• Year 6 will perform the annual Leavers’ Assembly on the last day of the school year, Wednesday 23rd July.

More information will be shared closer to the events.

If you were able to make it to our Learning Conversation Evenings this week – thank you. It is so important that we are able to share with you how your child is doing in school. We hope you found your meetings useful.

Lastly from me, we were proud to raise £226.77 for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal and £284.71 for Children in Need. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Mr. Chris McClay, Principal

PTA Christmas Raffle

This year's Christmas Raffle will be as big and as exciting as ever. The children will be coming home with raffle tickets. If you are able to buy some tickets or sell a few that would be brilliant. Please see the PTA section of the newsletter for more information.

Flu Immunisations

On Monday we have the flu immunisations. If your child is worried at all, please see the link to the social story below:

Nursery

Wow it’s been cold this week, but of course this has not stopped the nursery children. On the rainy day we went out in coats and wellies. Some children found puddles to splash in whilst others investigated how to move boats across the puddles without touching them. On the cold icy day, we explored where ice was found and talked about how it had changed from water to ice overnight. And of course, the children loved crunching it up with the trucks and diggers then moving it from one place to another.

During group work this week, we have continued confidently counting up to 10 and have extended it to 20 for those that are ready. We recapped the phonemes s and a, and introduced t. This can be made into a game at home by spotting things that start with one of these phonemes (I spy), children love games like this.

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Reception

Thank you to everyone who attended the Learning Conversation Evenings; it was wonderful to chat with you all. This week we have shared the book Aaaargh, Spider! We discussed whether a spider would make a good pet or not as well as how the spider felt throughout the book. The children have made some spiderwebs in class and drawn pictures of spiders. Our maths lessons have focused on recognising and using triangles and circles. We have provided a range of shapes for children to make pictures out of throughout the week. In phonics the children have learnt z, ch and qu along with our new tricky words: go no to into.

REMINDER: Now that the weather is getting colder you may want to send your child to school with a hat and gloves. Please ensure that these are named, thank you

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 1

We have had a super busy week in Year 1!

The children have had a fabulous time in their swimming lessons each day and they were so sensible going in and out at different times of the day. Well done!

In maths, we have continued working on number bonds within 10. English saw the children writing fact files about penguins.

Starlings have had a wonderful time in outdoor learning this week. We have been on bug hunts and learning about different wildlife that come into the school garden. Next week Wrens will take part in outdoor learning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Wrens have worked hard this week continuing their work on animal classification. In DT the children have begun to explore different ways of joining materials to make strong structures. This was a brilliant afternoon with all the children challenging themselves to work together and build something, some even had a go at trying to create the Eiffel Tower!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 2

This week in English, we have been investigating the features of non-chronological reports. The children have been developing their comprehension skills by answering questions about an autumnal non-chronological report. We then wrote our own non-chronological report about autumn!

In maths this week, the children have shown perseverance as we have been learning to subtract two 2-digit numbers. We have also been learning to recognise when a question needs us to use addition and when we need to use subtraction.

This week in D&T, we have been practising different types of stitches. The children have learnt how to use a needle and thread to create a running stitch and an overstitch. We will use our new sewing skills when we make our hand puppets. The children are very excited to design and make their puppets this half-term!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 3

What a drop in the temperature of the weather this week!

Despite the pouring rain one day and the bitterly cold weather the next, Year 3 enjoyed a trip to the library. We learnt what we can do at a library, how to access the books appropriate for our age and how we can take up to 14 books out for 3 weeks! We were given stickers and a sign-up sheet to get our very own library ticket.

In English, we have revisited some of the grammar skills we have learnt since September and have completed some of our NFER tests too.

In maths, we have continued with learning our times tables and division and what methods we could use to help answer various calculations.

In science, we learnt about nutrition and how to find what foods are healthy and non-healthy using the nutritional guides on the packaging – it was very interesting.

In PE we learnt to do an Indian dribble which will help us to control the ball and once we have learnt the skills, we will play some matches.

Thank you to all the parents who attended our Learning Conversation Evenings, it was a real pleasure catching up with you all and meeting some parents for the first time too!

REMINDER: Please make sure that you send your children into school wrapped up well as the weather has got colder over the last week.

REMINDER: Swimming starts on Monday!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 4

We began our NFER tests in Year 4 this week, starting with Reading, GPS and Spelling, which the children approached with good attitudes and concentration. We will be continuing these tests with our maths next week. We have also focused heavily on our times tables in maths and used strategies to work out times tables questions beyond 12x12. We introduced our textile art topic and planned our drawings that we are going to create with our wax resists too. In history we looked at the Viking Futhark and enjoyed writing messages and phrases using the runic alphabet.

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 5

This week saw the end of our swimming lessons in Year 5. Well done to all of the children who participated. Lots of progress was made with confidence and skills.

In English, the children have been applying their knowledge to a variety of tests for reading comprehension and GPS.

We have spent the week revising in maths. The children have worked had to perfect their skills of converting between mixed and improper fractions. We also returned to place value and revised multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. On Thursday, we looked at the written formal methods for addition and subtraction. Continued times tables revision over the weekend would be extremely helpful.

On Monday in RE, students used oil pastels and water colour to create a picture expressing the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.

In history, the children used their understanding to create pyramids from a range of materials. They were challenged to include a burial chamber within their design.

We also spent a whole afternoon on art, whereby the children were firstly introduced to clay and a range of techniques for working with this medium. They then referred to their plans to create their very own canopic jars.

11+

If you think that you may want your child to sit the 11+ examination next September, you might be interested in them attending the taster sessions that the grammar schools will be hosting across this year. Westcliff High for Boys have two events in the spring and summer terms (see below). Please do check the other school websites regularly for their information. We will share the information if it comes our way.

WHSB

• Saturday 8 February 2025 – Lively Laboratories - A series of hands-on practical activities in the School’s science laboratories will introduce pupils to the exciting science of chemical reactions in Chemistry, the relationships between matter and energy in Physics, the science of life in Biology, all brought together with a session in Earth Sciences.
• Saturday 14 May 2025 – Sport, Adventure and Leadership - An action-packed selection of outdoor sporting opportunities in addition to exciting sessions run by cadets from our WHSB Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Army, Navy and RAF sections that are fun and inclusive for pupils of all abilities.

More information can be found here

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Year 6

This week, in English, we have been learning about ‘cautionary tales’. We have enjoyed reading different examples and using the style to plan and create our own. In maths, we have started our unit on fractions; finding equivalent fractions based on a common denominator.

For our science, we investigated reflected light and started to think about how we can see things based on the concept that light enters our eyes.

For DT we are learning different stitches that will be used for creating our final textiles work.

We have all started swimming this week; which was very exciting.

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Christmas Events - 18.11.2024

Computing

Year 2 started the week on Monday with some photography learning, focusing on the skills of taking photographs in both landscape and portrait formats. We discussed different reasons for taking pictures in different positions for example, a picture of a tall building or a person may look better in portrait whereas a picture of a field, football pitch or group of people would suit a landscape image. Students also had the opportunity to look at their pictures and share their favourite one with their partner, it was lovely to hear some of their reasons to include friendships, clarity and that they preferred the light in some of pictures. Well done Year 2.

On Tuesday, Year 1 revisited the Paintz.app where they learned about Henri Matisse and the style of his art using collages. Children were asked to create their own version of a collage using different shapes and colours to look like an animal. At the end of the lesson students were also given the chance to practice their typing skills and some even completed extra levels using the caps lock. Well done Year 1.

Year 5 have had a busy week in computing. Between swimming lessons they also completed a survey to share their views as asked for by the student council. In addition to this, they worked to create a parrot as a vector drawing. In addition to adding shapes, changing colours and formatting shapes they were also tasked with adding a text box to demonstrate and highlight the skills they used to create their parrots.

We had a great time in Year 3 this week creating stop frame animations using the iPads. This week we used a different website to create an animation. Children experimented with different pictures to get them moving in different ways for example dancing, jumping, walking or a funny video. Not only did children need to work out how to create the most accurate picture but they also needed to identify how to make it the clearest by selecting and adjusting various points on their drawing. We had so much fun making these and they can even be created with any existing pictures taken with the camera. This is the link for anyone wishing to have a try at home. www.sketch.metademolab.com

Girls Computer Coding Club continued to develop their skills on the Micro:bit, using the tutorials on the Make Code website. They are beginning to work more independently, entering code and debugging where they have seen an error.

Year 4 have started to practise their skills on recording audio using Voice Memos on the ipads. They recorded their voice, then practised editing their recording by trimming off parts at the beginning and end that they decided they didn’t need. This is to prepare them for recording their scripts that they have been writing over the last couple of weeks.

Year 6 continued to increase their skills on Tinkercad, creating some 3D designs. This week they learnt how to increase and decrease the size of an object using the handles, move an object up and down using the cone and change the colour of an object. Some of the designs the children are creating are amazing already, even at this early stage of the term. Just a reminder that the children can practise at home using the link https://www.tinkercad.com/dashboard and their class code/logon.

Online Safety

Managing money can be a difficult skill to master, even for adults. As such, it’s incredibly important for children and young people to learn all they can before they reach an age at which they’ll be responsible for their own finances. Teaching strategies for saving and responsible spending early on can be a huge help to youngsters, in a way that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

It can be tricky to know the best approach for teaching money management to children, however, especially in terms of giving them practical experience with this important life skill. This guide – made in collaboration with financial education app GoHenry – provides you with expert advice on how to educate children and young people on both spending and saving their cash.

PE & Sports

A team of Year 3 and Year 4 children headed to Garons on Wednesday to take part in a dodgeball competition. Although the results didn't quite go our way, everyone had a great time and enjoyed representing the school. Well done to the team.

Next week we have competitions for Year 5 and 6 dodgeball on Wednesday and Year 2 dodgeball on Friday. Good luck Team Friars!

Music and Singing Assembly

We have already started practising for our singalong and carol service which will take place later in the term. If your child would like to practise their singing at home, please see the links below that will take you to three of our songs:

Come and Join the Celebration

Calypso Carol

Silent Night

Our School Choir will be performing at the start of the PTA Christmas Fayre in a couple of weeks' time. This performance will be shortly after 3:30pm in the Key Stage 1 Hall.

PTA

Please continue to help us with Asda's 'Cashpot for Schools'.

Asda will donate money to our school for everyone who signs up and if you buy shopping in Asda, cashback will be given to Friars every time... Thank you in advance.