Grange First Weekly News Spring 1 Week 5 - 6.2.26

Eco Club ‘Net Zero Heroes' event

Mr Oldham, together with Mrs Bland, took his Eco Club to a Net Zero Event in Newcastle today. Mr Oldham reported that all of the children were really well behaved and were an absolute credit to the school showing the Grange values of kindness and respect throughout the day!   They enjoyed various workshops looking at what climate change is, how we can help to reduce climate change effects and what makes us love our city and how we can make it even better! There were also lots of stalls to visit to discuss things which are going on in our area and ways in which the children can help to reduce climate change. We created interesting climate change questions we would like to find the answer to in a competition to win a free session from the Ministry of Eco Education! Fingers crossed! We also got to taste some new foods in a blind taste test!

Maths Workshop

A huge thank you to Mrs Dixon, our fantastic maths lead, and to all the adults who attended one of our maths workshops this week. Mrs Dixon explained our mastery approach to teaching maths, shared the models and resources we use, and demonstrated how we approach problem solving at Grange.

If you were unable to attend but would like to find out more, please visit the maths section of the curriculum page on our school website, where Mrs Dixon has shared her PowerPoint presentation.

School Meals

The local authority has increased the price of a school meal by 10p from Monday 20th April (the first Monday after the Easter holiday). The new price will be £3.10 per day or £15.50 per week. This increase is due to the rising cost of food and the Real Living Wage increase.

Parents’ Evening – Monday 16th and Thursday 19th March

We hope you will all attend our parents’ evening in March. It is a valuable opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher, discuss your child’s progress and attainment, and hear about the learning they particularly enjoy. We will also share any concerns and suggest ways you can further support your child at home. Please book your appointment with your child’s class teacher via the School Cloud App. Booking opens on Monday 9th February at 9am. Mrs Milne will email further information about how to book using the app. Please note that Nursery appointments will be held in the main school. Mrs Dixon will hold appointments on Monday and Thursday, and Mrs Colvin will hold appointments on Friday 20th March for Hazel Class.

Assemblies

In assemblies this week, we have been thinking about the many different jobs that adults do. The children created a wonderful varied list, including teacher, police officer, firefighter, midwife, engineer, fashion designer, dentist, chef, taxi driver, physiotherapist and aeroplane safety manager. They also discussed why adults work: “To earn money to buy things like food or a house,” “Because people want to care for other people,” and “To make things.” We talked about the jobs they might like to do when they grow up and the skills or qualities they might need. The most important message was clear: you can be anything you want to be! Next week we are holding a careers fair on Friday. Children in Year 1 to Year 4 will have the opportunity to learn about a range of different jobs to inspire them. We will share more about this in next week’s newsletter.

What have we been doing in school this week?

Year 4 have been busy creating love heart artwork in preparation for Valentine’s Day. Their incredible pieces, made using only paper and card, are full of creativity! They have also thoroughly enjoyed their Design Technology lesson this week. In DT, the children always follow the process: Explore, Design, Make, Evaluate. This week they explored the appearance, smell, texture and flavour of scones before working in small groups to design their own scone recipes. We can’t wait for next week, when they will learn the rubbing-in method and bake their own scones — yum!

Year 2 have been learning how to write instructions in their English lessons. Last week they followed instructions to make hot chocolate. This week they have written their own clear instructions explaining how to make a woven Valentine’s heart.

This Week in OPAL

We have had great fun on our new trolly dollies at the bottom of the driveway. There have literally been squeals of delight as the children have pulled each other along.