Friars Weekly Newsletter 2nd February 2024

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter...

• Dates for summer sports and the PTA Summer Fayre
• A call for photographs of our local area to support learning in geography and history
• A plea for volunteers to support Mr. Brady

It’s February already… January has whizzed by and Monday marks the start of Week 6 of the half-term. I said a few weeks ago that dates for summer events would be coming soon... Please see the dates below for our sports days and picnics:

• Wednesday 22nd May: Nursery Sports Afternoon and Picnic
• Thursday 23rd May: Reception Sports Afternoon and Picnic
• Wednesday 26th June: KS1 and KS2 Sports Day with KS1 in the morning and KS2 in the afternoon. There will be our special picnic lunch for KS1 and KS2 in-between.

Another great annual event is our PTA Summer Fayre. This year the event will be held on the afternoon of Friday 12th July. More information will follow after Easter about all of these events.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Mr. Chris McClay, Principal

Local Photographs

A little something from Ms. Taylor-Brown... at Friars we always want to make our curriculum the very best it can be for our children. In geography and history we would like to build up more resources about our local area. If anyone has any photos of Shoebury/Southend in the past - please pop them into the office in an envelope with your name on and I can get these scanned and returned to you. It would be lovely to build up a bank of images to share with the children! It might also be helpful to know more about the photos, for example the locations if they are not obvious. Thank you in advance.

Outdoor Help

Also our very own Ray Mears AKA Mr. Brady is still looking for anyone who can give any time to help him maintain our environmental garden and outdoor classroom - if you have green fingers, or just fancy helping out please drop Ms. Taylor-Brown an email on Etaylorbrown@fps.porticoacademytrust.co.uk

World Book Day - Thursday 7th March 2024

A reminder that we will be inviting children and staff to dress up for the day as a book character on Thursday 7th March (Friday 8th March for Year 4 as they are off to the Imperial War Museum on the Thursday).

Nursery

Nursery read the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Following on from this, there has been a lot of discussion about size, comparing bigger and smaller. Children have made bear masks which they used to act out the story. They also enjoyed making and tasting porridge, the children thought it was funny pretending it was too hot, too cold and of course just right. During this week's visits to the environmental garden we were hunting for bugs, digging for worms in the soils and moving logs to find woodlice and beetles. All of us really enjoyed this activity.

REMINDER: Thursday 8th February is our Stay and Play session, all welcome.

Reception

Reception have really enjoyed learning all about Antarctica and penguins through our text “Blue Penguin”. This week the children have shared what they have learned about penguins and generated questions about what they still want to find out. We have then focused on research skills to find the answers to our questions. In phonics the children have continued to consolidate their knowledge of the digraphs ch, sh, th, ng and nk. In maths, we have focused on consolidating our counting skills, number recognition and using cubes to add and subtract.

REMINDER: Outdoor learning

• Wednesday – Robins
• Thursday – Owls

Please have wellies in school.

Year 1

This week the children in Year 1 have written their own poems about winter, focusing on adjectives and nouns. In maths we have looked at counting on as a strategy for adding two numbers together. Our PSHE lesson focused on internet safety, with the main message being to tell a trusted adult if something upsets you. In their art lessons, the children have started to learn about Lowry.

Year 2

The children have travelled through the amazing world of Anthony Browne’s book ‘Into the Forest’ this week. Different fairy stories are interwoven into this beautiful picture book. This provided the stimulus for some imaginative writing using the pronoun ‘I’, as the children described their journey to grandma’s house. In maths we have continued learning about money by making amounts in different ways and calculating amounts of money. During our science work, we explored how exercise changes out body – the children were fascinated about the changes in our heart rate when feeling their own pulse.

Reminders: An activity has been set for homework as part of our school celebration of Chinese New Year. Please support your child in this design challenge. There are prizes to win!

Year 3

In English we have completed a non-fiction text based all around volcanoes. We researched facts and took all we have learnt over the past few weeks and created our own ‘book.’ In maths we have started to look at measurements and discussed the various measurements we could use such as mm, cm and m. We did some measuring and comparing. 3A have created volcano pictures using the medium of oil pastels, following the style of Margaret Godfrey. In science, we have continued with our investigations around rocks and how various elements could cause them to erode. 3B had lots of fun in outdoor learning, we looked at fire safety, cooked marshmallows, bread twists and made their own little fires in small groups. What a fun but extremely smelly week!

REMINDER: Spelling books are due back in on Mondays.

Homework books are due in on Wednesday, and no later than Thursday.

Please continue to ensure your child reads as much as possible at home. That could be shopping lists, reading packets and signs as they walk around shops etc.

Year 4

In English this week, the children are building on their learning of non-chronological reports from last week. They took notes on different elements of WWII, such as evacuation or air raids, and from these notes produced a non-chronological information text, ensuring that all the features were included.

Short division was the main focus in maths. This can be quite a tricky concept to grasp, particularly where there are remainders involved.

In science, the children began an investigation which will continue next week. They are investigating which material makes the best ear defenders. Ensuring that the test is fair and that only one variable is changed are important things to learn in completing a science investigation.

In RE, the children looked at the importance of the Qur’an for Muslims, and the importance of the words, ‘holy’ and ‘sacred.’ They also discussed how the lives of Muslims are influenced the Qur’an.

Along with PE, computing, history, music, layered reading and assemblies – it’s been another busy week.

REMINDER: Our trip to the Imperial War Museum is Thursday 7th March. Please ensure that you have read the letter and if you need to order a lunch, please call the office sooner rather than later.

Year 5

In English this week, our focus has been diary writing. We have recapped the features and the children know the genre well. The children also enjoyed basing some of their lessons on our layered reading book, ‘The Boy Who Met a Whale,’ and this will be continued into next week.

Maths has seen us moving onto fractions and developing our prior learning from the autumn term. The students confidently multiplied integers by unit and non-unit fractions. They accurately used mathematical language and provided 3 tick answers on how to complete the calculations.

In geography, we looked at the rising sea levels due to global warming. We related this to our local area and Essex and studied forms of protection.

We ended the week with the children completing their pop art inspired environmental campaign posters.

Year 6

This week in English we have been learning about writing letters of complaint. We continued to develop understanding of human rights issues and used Liu Xiaobo as our study.

In maths, we have begun learning about the language of ratio and how this links with our fractions knowledge.

In science, we made observations of mould spores growing from last week's experiment and have been finding out about fungi. We set up a test to show how a mushroom reproduces by spore dispersal.

For our geography, we used maps and atlases to identify the 5 main biomes and then we compared deserts to tundra!

Reminder: Next week children will be taking part in Bikeability sessions.

Online Safety

For many companies who operate in the online space, attention and engagement are the holy grail. Social media sites in particular make deliberate creative choices to keep people scrolling, reading, watching and clicking. This phenomenon is known as ‘persuasive design’ and it’s being employed in the vast majority of the digital world’s most popular destinations.

A study by the charity 5Rights Foundation concluded that “…the brain's response to rewards and punishments can be leveraged through persuasive design to keep children online.” To tie in with Safer Internet Day 2024, thisguide can help to educateyoungsters on the effects of persuasive design – and suggests ways to insulate themselves from its influence.

PE and Sport

It has been really good to see some sports skills being developed through sport this week. There has been a range of badminton, rugby and dance going on this week. It is always lovely to see children suitably kitted out for PE. Please help us to ensure the children have the best lessons by ensuring they have the right kit – children should be wearing their Friars purple top in school on their PE days. Other tops are not to be worn in school. And as always, earrings cannot be worn during PE lessons.

Outdoor Learning

3B had loads of fun in outdoor learning, looking at fire safety, cooking marshmallows, bread twists and making their own little fires in small groups.

REMINDERS: Next week Nursery and Reception are sharing the week. On Tuesday Nursery children will be having outdoor learning. On Wednesday afternoon Robins will be having Outdoor Learning. On Thursday afternoon Owls will be having Outdoor Learning.

Singing Assemblies

KS2 with Ms Taylor-Brown

This week we finished our month of learning about the Queen of Soul, Ms. Aretha Frankin. The children always amaze me with the facts they remember from my assemblies! I think we have some great quizzers in the making.

Next week we will have a new artist of the month. Here are some clues:

• He is British.
• He has collaborated with lots of famous people.
• He writes his own songs and music
• His passion for music started at a young age.
• As a child his mum took him busking!

Any ideas? Come and let me know if you do!

This week we came in to the beautiful Bridge Over Troubled Water. We talked about the meaning of this song and that it was not about a real bridge over water but being there for a friend in need.

Thinking about Aretha’s gospel roots- we then sang “Oh Happy Day”!

We left to “Let it be” yet another cover and written by the brilliant Lennon and McCartney of the Beatles! One child commented “This is a good song!”