Friars Weekly Newsletter friday 17th october 2025

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter...

• An amazing assembly performance from Rhythm Connections
• Shine Bright, Wear Bright Non-uniform Day Reminder... 5th November
• Online Safety... this week our focus is 'memes'

We have finished our final full week of Autumn 1 and now we have only four days left to finish the half-term! Remember that the school is closed to children next Friday as it is one of our five INSET Days. Every school has to close for five INSET Days across the school year. We typically add these days to the beginning or end of a holiday to hopefully make your childcare arrangements easier.

Today was really special at Friars, as we had a music company called Rhythm Connections visit us. Rhythm Connections has promoted music in schools for many years and I actually have experience of working with them back when I was an Assistant Headteacher working in London more than 15 years ago! Marc the founder of the company still leads the team… and what a team. This morning we had a lovely assembly where we listened to instruments including drums, piano and a double bass. The children were all involved too. The performance finished with every child from Year 1 to 6 using boomwhackers… and it all sounded great! Everyone seemed to really enjoy the experience and Rhythm Connections will be back working with us next half-term.

Thank you for attending this week’s Learning Conversation evenings. I hope you enjoyed meeting your children’s teachers and you received a useful insight into how they are doing in this first term.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mr. McClay, Principal

End of the School Day - Please Help...

At the end of the school day there has been an increase in children playing on equipment or using equipment around the school. Please do not let your child play on the climbing frames, gym equipment and other lovely things after school. Accidents can and do happen and we obviously cannot take any responsibility for accidents that happen at these times.

Our staff in Reception have also shared that the equipment they set out for their Reception children is often being used and moved around... please can we encourage equipment to be left where it is. This will be a huge help for the following day. Thank you.

Reception 2026

Next week and in November, we will be hosting tours of the school for prospective parents who are thinking about sending their children to Friars in September 2026. If you have a child of that age, or have friends and family who do, we would be grateful if you could share the dates with them.

• Tour 1: Tuesday October 21 at 9:30am
• Tour 2: Tuesday October 21 at 1:30pm
• Tour 3: Thursday November 13 at 9:30am
• Tour 4: Thursday November 13 at 1:30pm

Tours will last approximately 45 minutes. Both parents and children are welcome to attend.

Shine Bright, Wear Bright

Don't forget that on Wednesday 5th November, the day of Bonfire Night, we are asking everyone to come to school wearing colourful clothes. The children don't need to bring in any money, instead we are asking for everyone to bring in a donation for the PTA Christmas Fayre Raffle. Please see the poster in the PTA section of the newsletter.

Water, water everywhere… please

A reminder that children should have only water in their bottles in classrooms.

If your child has a packed lunch, they can have a different drink although we recommend that it is still only water.

Water is always available in the lunch hall.

Nursery

This week in Nursery we have looked for signs of autumn. We started the week with a lovely autumnal walk around the environmental garden looking at the leaves that have changed colours and started to fall to the ground. We collected lots of these for art activities throughout the week. We made hanging mobiles, printed with the leaves, added them to our water tray and made wands with them. We also enjoyed exploring the Pumpkins that were in Nursery. Mrs. Glen cut the tops off and we enjoyed pulling out the centre, it got very slimy and messy.

We also enjoyed another visit to the school library and picked a new selection of books to bring back to the Nursery with us.

With the cooler weather that has arrived this week can we please request that all children now bring coats with them so they can continue to enjoy the outdoor learning environment.

REMINDER: On Tuesday 21st we have a session of outdoor learning in the afternoon.

Please come to school in joggers/leggings and trainers (or bring in wellies) as we go over to the environmental garden.

Reception

This week we have been looking at ourselves and our bodies. We learnt the names of parts of our bodies such as chest, arms and legs as well as some internal organs such as the lungs and heart. We saw what the lungs and heart do to keep us alive and drew some very detailed portraits that included pupils, irises, nostrils and noticed where each facial feature is in relation to each other.

In phonics we have learnt to identify, pronounce and write h, f, b, ff and l. We continue to orally blend and segment words and to identify phonemes and blend them together in CVC words whilst also now beginning to segment words to write.

In maths we have been developing a deep understand of numbers 1-3, learning to subitise, match, identify the numeral and compose each number.

We also opened our new ‘book nook’ in the garden. A reading shed that provides a cosy shelter for a quiet read in the garden.

REMINDER: Next week we have outdoor learning: Robins on Mon; Owls on Thurs.

Please come to school in joggers/leggings and trainers (or bring in wellies) as we go over to the environmental garden.

No school on Friday; it’s an INSET Day!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025

Year 1

This week the children had an exciting science lesson, we focused on the sense of smell. They had a variety of things to smell such as, coffee, soap, mouth wash, orange and cocoa. They then had to guess what the smell was. Some were trickier than others.

In maths, we have been ordering numbers from the greatest to smallest and smallest to greatest using a variety of activities. Caterpillar ordering, on the Topmarks website, was a firm favourite activity.

Poetry has been the topic in English this week. After listening to the poem “Cold” by Shirley Hughes, we went on a walk around the school grounds to look for signs of Autumn. We then thought of adjectives to go with our Autumn nouns to create our own Autumn version of the Cold poem. In History, we continued to think about the things we can do now and compare them to what we were able to do as babies. Thank you for their lovely baby photos, the children enjoyed using them as part of this lesson.

It was lovely to see so many of you for the learning conversations. We hope you found them useful.

REMINDER: If possible, please can you check your child is taking home their own named jumpers, cardigans, fleeces and jackets as we have had some go missing this half term. Fortunately, they are named so they should be easy to spot.

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025

Year 2

It was wonderful to meet parents and carers this week at our Parent Conversation evenings this week. Thank you for for attending.

This week we have had fun creating our own ‘beanstalk’ stories and the children have used some wonderful characters and settings.

In science, we have worked in teams to carry out an investigation to find waterproof materials. The children had to measure, observe and then record their results carefully.

We are looking forward to welcoming grandparents into school next Thursday afternoon. Thank you to all those who have volunteered!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025

Year 3

This week in English, the children used their knowledge and understanding from last week to write exciting newspaper reports based on the story of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. They worked hard to include all the key features of a report – headlines, facts, quotes, and the all-important 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why). The results were brilliant, with some very dramatic front-page news stories about the mysterious Iron Man sightings!

In maths, we’ve started our new topic on multiplication and division. The children have been exploring equal groups and arrays to help them understand the concepts clearly. They’ve shown great focus as they begin building the foundations for these essential skills – well done, Year 3!

This week it was 3SP’s turn to shine in outdoor learning! The children had a wonderful time developing their pioneering skills. They learnt how to tie both square knots and stop knots, and even created beautiful tree decorations using natural materials. It was a perfect blend of creativity and practical learning in the great outdoors!

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025

Year 4

Thank you to all the parents who came in for our parent conversations. It was lovely to properly meet you, and we truly appreciate all your positive comments and feedback. We look forward to continuing to work with you and your children throughout the rest of Year 4.

In English, we have continued our work on newspapers, focusing on writing exciting articles about the Viking raid at Lindisfarne. The children have enjoyed becoming reporters and bringing the drama of the event to life through their writing.

In maths, our focus has been on subtracting 4-digit numbers using column methods. The children have shown great resilience and growing confidence with their calculations. During History, the children created their own unique fact files about Viking life. They explored different aspects such as Viking homes, food, craft and trade, and presented their findings in informative and creative ways. Science saw us exploring ecosystems and food webs, learning how living things depend on each other to survive. The children enjoyed investigating how plants, animals and habitats are all connected.

In RE, our focus was on places of worship, and the children discussed how different religions express their beliefs through buildings, prayer and community. In Music, we began learning our very own Viking anthem, practising rhythm and pitch while bringing our topic to life through song.

We also started our new PE focus; basketball. The children practised controlling the ball and began to develop key techniques such as dribbling and defending.

Thank you to all of Year 4 for their hard work, focus and enthusiasm this week, we are very proud of you!

REMINDER:

• PE is on Monday and Wednesday.
• Please continue reading at home.
• Keep practising times tables on TT Rockstars. Please ask your child to show you how well they are doing using their ‘heatmat’.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025
• Year 4 - Imperial War Museum Trip - 10.10.2025

Year 5

This week in Year 5, the children have continued their use of multiplication and division through exploring factors, common factors and prime numbers. Towards the end of the week, they have taken some time to investigate square and cubed numbers. It is great to see their times table knowledge becoming more confident with many children making links between the different topics we are covering.

In our English lessons we are exploring the genre of letters. We have gone back to the stimulus of 'The Alchemist's Letter' from the Literacy Shed, which the children enjoyed when we explored narrative writing. We have looked at a range of punctuation and have started to elaborate with emotive language.

The children created some detailed Egyptian fact files using a range of secondary sources. We explored Egypt of today via satellite and a range of maps. The children were interested to find not all of Egypt was sand and desert!

We have had more success with tag rugby where in teams the children have been practising a diamond formation to assist keeping possession of the ball. More tries have been scored!

We enjoyed a musical experience at the end of the week where key stage 1 and key stage 2 children will experience the joy of improvisation with a band that came in to visit.

We are also looking forward to our Royal Opera House visit next week.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025
• Year 5 & 6 - Guitar Club - 14.10.2025

Year 6

This week, Year 6 have focused on using effective sentence leads within narrative to ensure that the reader understands the setting and the characters involved.

We have continued to practise division and multiplication-based work in maths, using the formal methods of long multiplication and long division and applying our skills to solve problems.

We have moved onto playing netball this week and we have been practicing passing the ball in several ways.

We applied our knowledge of electrical circuits in science as we tried to construct a set of traffic lights and have refined our William Morris based flora and fauna designs in Art in preparation for our DT project that will start after half term.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Flu Vaccine Information - 14.10.2025
• Year 5 & 6 - Guitar Club - 14.10.2025

Computing

Year 1 children visited the computing suite again this week, focusing on developing their mouse control skills. This can be tricky at first, but the children showed great perseverance! They used Paintz to create digital drawings, followed by some fun typing practice using the Dance Mat Typing website.

If you have a computer with a mouse at home, please encourage your child to explore and practise, this will really help build their confidence and skills.

• 🔗 PaintZ
• 🔗 Dance Mat Typing - Level 1

This week, Year 2 had a fantastic time exploring Chrome Music Lab's Song Maker. The children experimented with adding notes, setting a pulse to keep the beat, and adjusting both the tempo and instrument sounds. Some pupils even noticed differences in pitch, using this to enhance their musical creations, what a great way to apply their listening skills!

Chrome Music Lab is free and accessible from any device, so feel free to continue the fun at home. Well done, Year 2, there were some truly lovely compositions!

Next lesson, we’ll be using iPads to take and edit photographs, something a bit different and exciting to look forward to!

Year 3 continued their work with Microsoft PowerPoint, building on their skills to create posters advertising "The Iron Man", the book they’re reading during Layered Reading.

It was brilliant to see cross-curricular learning in action, with children bringing their literacy knowledge into their computing lessons. Their posters are available to view on Showbie, so be sure to take a look! Great job, Year 3!

Sports & PE

Across the school there has been a range of sports being taught. Hockey, rugby, netball, basketball and netball to name just a few. Children have been developing skills in passing, shooting and game skills such as positioning and teamwork. It is lovely to see so many children participating and getting the most from their PE lessons.

Online Safety

Memes are everywhere - quick, witty, and wildly shareable. For many young people they are more than jokes, they’re a way to connect, express themselves and interpret the world. But behind the humour, there can be risks. This guide helps adults understand how memes work and why they matter to young people today.

From misinformation to insensitive jokes and permanent digital footprints, this guide highlights the potential pitfalls of meme culture. With practical tips on digital literacy, empathy and open conversations, it empowers parents and educators to help children navigate online humour in a thoughtful, safe, and respectful way.

PTA

Last week I mentioned that we are developing our Key Stage 2 Library this autumn with help from the Friars PTA. We now have a date for our installation... Monday 24th November. We cannot wait!

Mr. McClay