Friars Weekly Newsletter friday 30th January 2026

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter...

• Year 3/4 Football report
• Cake sale total!

It’s Friday…  We are at the end of our fourth week of Spring 1 and we are almost reaching the mid-point in our school year. With 39 school weeks altogether, next week is Week 20. The year is flying by… but they do say that time flies when you’re having fun! It has been great popping into classrooms and seeing so much fantastic learning this week. This term’s topics definitely seem to be providing a lot of interest and excitement. I am particularly looking forward to seeing Year 2’s moving vehicle models. Glue guns at the ready… Yesterday, our Year 6 pupils hosted their annual cake sale to raise funds for their end of year leavers’ hoodies. Like most people, I do like to indulge in the odd cake from time to time (of course, as part of a balanced diet!) Thank you to everyone who donated cakes and to all who brought money in to purchase items. I joked with Year 6 about a 20% Mr McClay Tax, where 20% of cakes needed to come to me for quality control. Sadly, they were not having it!!! Have a great weekend and see you all on Monday.

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.

Cake Sale Success

Our Year 6 cake sale has been very successful this week. Thank you to everyone who brought cakes in to support the sale and help raise money for their leavers’ hoodies. We are pleased to announce that we have raised over £300.

Nursery

This week in nursery the children have enjoyed playing pirates. It all started on our rainy day, earlier in the week. We joked about the garden flooding and needing a boat to get across the playground. The children built a boat out of wooden bricks, they added a mast and we talked about look out points. From this they wanted to become pirates so eye patches, hats and telescopes were made. Lots of fun was had on a very wet day. We also had the dark tent out this week and children have explored light and dark. They made different patterns with the lights as toys spun and twisted. We had another successful trip to the school library, which the children really enjoy doing. We chose new books to bring back into nursery, which the children share in their own time. In group time the children are practicing their counting skills by accurately counting small objects up to 5. 

Reception

Owls and Robins have made huge steps this week in terms of our writing. Not only have we learned some new trigraphs (3 letters; 1 sound) in phonics (ear, air), we have been using them in writing. So far this year we have helped our teachers to write on the board during our shared write sessions, as they demonstrate how to formulate sentences and compose them using the phonics skills we have taught. But this week, the children have really stepped up their sentence writing game! Our shared write session gave all children the chance to write the sentence together and this was then seen in our provision time as some children continued to practise this skill independently!    We have also revised question writing, understanding that a question begins with a question word (such as what, who, when etc) and ends with a question mark and is something that needs an answer. We tried to remember how we can find the answers to questions and went off to research our answers. Did you know that penguins walk at around 1mph? Or that baby penguins are born during the Antarctic summer?     In maths we have looked into numbers 6, 7 and 8, investigating how they are composed, represented and what is 1 more and 1 less than each.

Year 1

This week we have begun to look at the story of Cinderella. The children have thought of ways to change the story to make it their own. For example, the Fairy Godmother may have changed a basketball into a coach or Cinderella may have dropped her tiara when she left the ball at midnight. After they made their changes, we started to write the first part of the new story.  Dictation is something we have been working on with the children on a Monday morning. We have found this to be beneficial to them as they can focus on the technical side of writing, the letter formation, sounding out words and checking they have all the words needed, without having to think of what to write at the same time. Great job Year 1! In maths we have been adding 2-digit numbers to single digit numbers. We have used manipulatives and number lines to help us solve problems and then we moved on to the counting on method. This is where they put the large number in their head and use their fingers to count on. We will continue practising all of these methods over the next few weeks.  In Science we have continued our investigation into how much rainfall we have. Week 3 showed a significant drop as we only collected 80mls compared to the 800mls from week 1. The children have enjoyed making their predictions. We have also been comparing seasons and thinking about the types of things that happen in Spring. 

Year 2

During English lessons this week, we have studied the narrative text ‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne. The children have enjoyed exploring the hidden characters and fairy stories within the pictures.  Each time the book was opened, they discovered a hidden feature that they hadn’t noticed before! The children have rewritten the story through the eyes of the main character using the pronoun ‘I’. In maths we have investigated repeated addition by creating equal groups of objects e.g. 3+3+3+3 =12. Towards the end of the week, the children have also recorded equal groups using the ‘x’ sign. e.g. 4 x 3 = 12. The children showed some great creativity during their dance lessons this week, showing how to work in a small group to create a sequence to the song ‘Boogey Wonderland’.  

REMINDER: Please access both Reading Eggs and TT Rockstars at home.  If your child’s login has been misplaced, please request a replacement from Mrs Snow or Miss Williams.   Thank you for your continued support with reading, tricky words, spellings and times tables.

Year 3

In English, the children wrote non-chronological reports about volcanoes. They worked hard to organise their information using headings and factual language, and produced some excellent pieces of writing. In Maths, the children learned how to measure in centimetres and millimetres. They also practised converting between the two units of measure and showed great focus when solving measurement problems. 3SP thoroughly enjoyed their outdoor learning sessions this week. The children learned how to read maps and use compass directions, developing important geographical skills while working together outside.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 3 - Colchester Castle - 29.01.2026

Year 4

From creative storytelling to energetic PE sessions, Year 4 have had another fantastic and action-packed week! The children have shown great enthusiasm and a positive attitude towards their learning across the curriculum. They also thoroughly enjoyed helping to raise money by taking part in Year 6’s cake sale — thank you to all the adults for their generous donations and support. English lessons focused on writing a narrative set in a forest. The children learned about the five parts of a story, used powerful adjectives and adverbs, and practised writing direct speech using inverted commas. During layered reading, dictionary skills were developed as the children identified new vocabulary and explored its meaning. Maths lessons saw the children exploring measurement and length, converting between kilometres and metres, and finding the perimeter of shapes, including rectilinear shapes. Science learning centred on how animals are classified, with a focus on vertebrates and invertebrates. History continued to capture the children’s interest as they learned which countries were part of the Allies and Axis during World War Two, with many children enjoying researching this topic at home. Design and Technology linked closely to history, as the children researched textile products from the past in preparation for our Make Do and Mend project. PSHE lessons encouraged thoughtful discussions around current news issues, resilience and how challenges can help us grow. Music lessons were a real highlight this week, with the class working together to compose a melody. In RE, the children explored why people choose to get married and how this commitment is marked in different religions. PE lessons included gymnastics, where the children created a six-part sequence with changes in direction and pace, and dodgeball, focusing on improving aim and dodging skills. Well done to Year 4 for their continued hard work and enthusiasm!

Year 5

Another busy week in Year 5!    Let's kick off with news of our year group assembly that is coming around quickly. Keep your diaries clear on Fri 13th February, as previously mentioned. We have been practising some catchy songs and rehearsing where the children are in the script and their positions. Very proud of their efforts! Their homework this week is to learn their words for speaking parts and both songs with actions.   The children have been very skilled writers explaining about climate change through an explanation text. They found out information in our previous week and planned and wrote their own text about what climate change is and the devastating affect it has on our world. They were engaging and informative to read.   Our maths learning this week has seen more use of fractions. The children's vocabulary has really developed with use of unit and non unit fractions, improper, mixed numbers, integers...the list could go on. I'm sure they will be using fractions over the weekend at some point...   Year 5 really enjoyed their dance lesson earlier in the week focusing on Bollywood. We used a clip as a stimulus and step by step moved to the music. We had some great results ranging from eye catching grapevines in unison to step touch and Bangra shoulders.   Further talent has been seen on the Ukelele this week where the children have experienced playing from London to Africa and now to Egypt. What a talented year group we have...  

Year 6

We have had a wonderful week in Year 6.   Nelson Mandela has been our person of interest in English. We wrote diary entries based upon his time being imprisoned at the notorious Robben Island prison surrounded by shark infested waters and jagged rocks making escape impossible.    In maths, the children have been improving their skills converting between different units of measure, including length, mass and capacity.   Our Science topic this week involved classifying a variety of animals according to the system that Carl Linneaus devised. This is a tier system, which means animals are grouped by their similarities, but then can be sub grouped down into smaller and smaller groups that eventually lead to individual species.   We like to say a big thankyou to everyone who donated cakes for the cake sale.

Computing

This week has proven to be particularly engaging in the computing department, with pupils from Years 1, 2, and 3 demonstrating commendable effort in completing their people surveys prior to embarking on their respective computing topics.   Year 2 commenced their week by learning to create a sequence of instructions in Scratch Junior, enabling them to direct a sprite to various locations on the background. Following this, they engaged in a peer quizzing activity to ascertain the sprite’s destination, subsequently testing their programmes and debugging as necessary. Year 3 students have thoroughly enjoyed their exploration of programming elements within Scratch. This week, they embraced their roles as musicians by adding a musical sprite and programming specific notes to recreate a well-known song. They were then challenged to complete the song accurately, fostering both creativity and technical skills. It is worth noting that all children can access Scratch online, which is entirely free to use.   Meanwhile, Year 1 continues to diligently learn and recognise the keys on the keyboard to facilitate logging into computers. Utilising Microsoft Word, they practice typing their usernames and passwords. Those who progress swiftly are challenged to compose sentences. Prior to the half term, each child will receive a copy of their login details for home practice. It is essential to encourage them to focus on this foundational skill, as proficiency in logging in independently will enable them to advance to more complex tasks.   The Computing Club was bustling on Thursday, with students engaging in various computing activities they have learned, as well as experimenting with new technologies. Additionally, it was delightful to observe Year 6 students, Tega and Brogan, utilising micro:bits during their science lesson to create electronic board games.

Sports & PE

This week, we have seen lots of different sports happening around the school. There has been dodgeball, handball, dance, gymnastics, badminton and table tennis all happening in different year groups. 

The Year 3 and 4 Sportshall Athletics competition is now on 10th March. Children selected for events will be able to practice before school on Monday and Tuesday this half term. 

Online Safety

Children and young people are increasingly turning to social media for mental health advice, but much of what they encounter online is unverified, oversimplified or misleading. This guide explores why platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become go-to sources, and how misuse of clinical language and viral trends can distort children and young people’s understanding of mental health.  Aimed at parent and educators, it offers clear, expert-led strategies to counter misinformation. The guide looks at topics such as encouraging open conversations, identifying reliable sources, and strengthening school–home collaboration. Use this information to build young people’s critical thinking, resilience and confidence in seeking appropriate professional help when needed.