Friars Weekly Newsletter

Coming up in this edition of the newsletter...

• A round-up of the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Sports Day results
• Public Speaking Competition
• News of the PTA Father's Day sales
• World Cup-themed lunch menus

We have had a lovely first week of Summer 2, although the weather has been very changeable. As you know, we do try to take the children outside for break and lunchtimes if we can, so a little bit of drizzle won’t stop us. Although the days are typically warmer, please do send you child into school with a light rain jacket… just in case. This can even be tucked inside their school bag should they need it. The week has ended with some children heading out of school. Starlings class began their swimming lessons and they had a surprise bus driver… me! The Year 1 children were very kind and were very complimentary about my driving 😊. Yesterday, we had a group of children participating in a public speaking competition at West Leigh. See below for the write-up... Today, Year 2 jumped on a coach this morning to visit Call of the Wild. I have heard that they had a great time seeing all of the different animals and enjoyed applying their learning outside of the classroom. Next week looks busy with some children in Key Stage 2 taking part in Borough Sports on Tuesday morning and others participating in the Junior Music Festival at the Cliffs Pavilion on the Wednesday. Thank you to all of our staff members who have been helping out with the rehearsals and preparations for the Junior Music Festival – and thanks too to those adults who are giving up their Wednesday evening to support. We couldn’t do it without you 😊. This year we have our biggest ever choir and band. Have a great weekend! Mr. Chris McClay, Principal

Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Sports Day 2026

What a great day we had on the last day of Summer 1. The sun came out, the sports were great and the picnic was lovely. And the results… In KS1, Stormont was victorious with Stirling our runners-up. In third it was Windsor and in fourth place, Caernarfon. KS2 saw a reversal of the top two positions… Stirling was first with Stormont second. Windsor were once again in third with Caernarfon in fourth. Overall positions were… 1st Stirling and Stormont 3rd Windsor 4th Caernarfon Well done to all of our teams, and thank you to everyone who came along to spectate.

Public Speaking Competition

Teams of four pupils from Years 3, 4, 5, and 6 proudly represented their school as they took part in an exciting public speaking competition at West Leigh Junior School. Each team member embraced an important role, including Chair, Questioner, Speaker, and Captain, demonstrating not only their individual talents but also their ability to work collaboratively. It was fantastic to see all the children speak with such confidence and clarity—an impressive and valuable skill that will undoubtedly benefit them in many areas of their learning and future lives. A special congratulations goes to the Year 4 and Year 5 team from Friars, who emerged triumphant in the competition, showcasing exceptional teamwork and communication. Individual brilliance was also recognised, with Ozzy in Year 4 and Beth in Year 6 receiving special awards for their outstanding performances. Their achievements reflect the dedication and courage of all participants, and every child involved should feel incredibly proud of their efforts.

Well done to everyone who took part in this inspiring event.

Nursery

Nursery children have been official scientists this week whilst taking part in our school's Science Week. We used the story ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ by Kate Toms which tells the story of what happened to Incy Wincy, the spider who just wanted to get back to his web. We investigated how we could make a spider move, the children came up with water and wind so we provided a range of equipment to test this. After making their own spiders we investigated pouring water over them and changing the position of the guttering to see if we could make them move. We also tried blowing them along with straws. We also investigated the best materials to make a raincoat for Incy Wincy. Alongside this, the children have also created some spider artwork using techniques of printing and folding. It’s been lots of fun and the children have really got into their scientist roles.   

REMINDER: Nursery Family fun day (Sports Day) is Wednesday, 17th June. Please look out for a letter that will give more information about the afternoon coming out soon. 

Reception

It’s been National Science Week and to celebrate, we read Julia Donaldson’s story of The Ugly Five as a hook into looking at animal prints and camouflage. Each day there has been an animal to find in a picture that has been incredibly well camouflaged and this inspired lots of writing.  We have found beanbags around the garden and shapes around the classroom; some were easier to find than others! The children now know what camouflage is and that animals have adapted to their surroundings for survival; either to help them hunt or to help them hide from hunters.  We made animal print collage by tearing paper stripes or patches and drawing pictures that hid an animal. In maths, we continued our composing and decomposing of shapes; using putting shapes together to make other shapes or making folds/cuts to a shape to form a different one. Phonics has continued to increase the complexity of the words we are reading, including ‘ing’ and ‘ed’ words. 

Letters sent home this week

• Reception - Sports Day - 02.06.2026

Year 1

It has been a wonderful first week back in Year 1. Wrens class have enjoyed their outdoor learning sessions (even though the weather has been a little temperamental!). It has also been Science Week and the children have been learning about flowering plants and exploring the variety that we have on our grounds. They also completed a practical demonstration to learn about pollination using fluffy pom poms as bumblebees/bugs and cocoa powder/flour to represent the pollen. 

In maths this week, the children have been looking at numbers within 100. This includes counting, ordering, partitioning and looking at the place value of the numbers. In English, we listened to a new story this week, The Storm Whale. We then looked at using ‘and’, ‘so’ and ‘because’ to extend our sentences when writing about the story.

REMINDER: The children in Starlings had a great first swimming lesson this week! We look forward to going again next Wednesday!

Year 2

This week has been very exciting as we celebrated Science Week. The children investigated different fruits to compare the amount of seeds they had inside. We also made paper flowers, folded the petals and watched with fascination as they opened in water. We tested different materials to see if it affected the time it took the flowers to open, using stopwatches to accurately time the process.  In English, we began researching facts about Australia. The children found facts and organised information to plan a non-chronological report all about Australia. The children were surprised to discover that boomerangs were originally used as a weapon and not a toy! In maths, we concluded our topic on time. We explored how many minutes are in a period of time by counting in 5s around the clock. 

Letters sent home this week

• Year 2 - RSE Letter - 02.06.2026

Year 3

In English, we began writing a narrative inspired by the short video Bubbles. The children worked hard to create interesting setting descriptions, thinking carefully about how to make their writing exciting and engaging for the reader. In maths, we continued our learning about time. We explored days, weeks, months and years, and practised using our knowledge to solve different time-related questions. The children also thoroughly enjoyed Science Week! They had lots of fun experimenting with making bubbles and creating beautiful silhouette-based artwork. It was wonderful to see such creativity and enthusiasm throughout the week.

REMINDER: 3SP start outdoor learning next week.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 3 - East Beach Visit - 03.06.2026

Year 4

This week, Year 4 have particularly enjoyed Science Week, working hard to combine art and science through the theme of Curiosity. Our learning focused on the human body, including skeletons and muscles, which we explored through the artwork of Da Vinci, Giacometti and Louise Bourgeois. The children enjoyed creating their own Vitruvian Man using chalk, measuring and recording features of their bodies such as arm span and height. They also used photography to study movement before sketching skeletal and muscular forms in different positions and recreating them using mixed media. The artwork produced has been fantastic, and the children have shown great curiosity, creativity and perseverance throughout the week.  In English, we have been exploring persuasive letters, preparing to convince The Demon Headmaster that schools should provide healthier food choices. Pupils have focused on using apostrophes for possession and plurals, while developing their research skills to create well-structured sentences and paragraphs.

Maths lessons have continued our work on time, with the children beginning to convert between analogue and digital clocks. They have also been developing their understanding of different units of time, while maintaining a focus on multiplication as they prepared for the MTC check. Well done for another positive week of learning. We are very proud of the effort and enthusiasm shown by all the children.

REMINDER: Spellings for this half term can be found on Showbie. Please continue to practise these regularly, alongside times tables, to help build confidence and fluency.

Year 5

What a busy week back!  The children have been hooked by Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. We have started to explore the events, characters and range of emotions in this play. We are looking forward to some acting and writing. This play is currently on in London at the Shakespeare's Globe - a very worthwhile adventure with very reasonable priced tickets! (Start from £5 each!) In our maths learning this week, the children have gained more confidence in multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000. They have begun to check using the inverse, which has helped them solve a range of problems. Next week we are moving on to negative numbers. Discussing temperature is always useful with this. We've had a very exciting Science Week. The children started the week off exploring two scientists based in Cornwall. One working in the Eden Project and another working at a Lobster Hatchery. We then investigated what makes the best bubble? One member of Year 5 made a bubble last 12 seconds! A busy week of science - all themed around curiosity. Our music lessons have been fun with Miss Kent teaching further skills on the Ukulele and our band for the SEESMA music festival at the end stages of their practice. The band has been an utter joy to work with each week, showing their perseverance and teamwork skills. We look forward to their performance with the choir at the Cliffs Pavilion next Wednesday 10th June. Tickets are still available!

Year 6

The children have been completing focussed writing based on our Layered Reading book, Holes. They have completed 5 different pieces including: a newspaper report, two styles of letters, a diary entry and an information leaflet.  As this has been Science Week, which has been combined with art, we have produced artwork inspired by the abstract expressionist, Jackson Pollock. He was a famous American artist who created large scale canvasses and paint of different viscosities. He was particularly known for his “Drip Method” where he dripped, splatted, threw and dropped paint onto the canvasses, that were usually produced by laying them on the floor. We have also compared other liqiuds’ viscosities and how it affects movements.

Computing

It has been a fun and exciting week back after the half-term break, and we have really enjoyed welcoming Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 back into the computing suite.   At the beginning of the week, the Year 2 classes worked with the programmable LEGO to create either an underwater quest or a treehouse camp. The children worked in different groups throughout the week, showing fantastic collaboration as they built and programmed their different designs. We were so impressed by the way they shared ideas, solved problems together and supported one another. Next time they have computing, we will be working on an independent and creative build of the 'Great Desert Adventure'.   The Year 3 classes used Scratch to create, design and programme an independent maze-style game. Lots of different skills were needed as the children used a range of blocks to make their sprites move and to make the game more challenging. Their creativity and problem-solving really shone through.   Year 1 learned a new skill this week too. After logging into the computers, they were asked to open a document they had saved previously and then edit it by changing the font, size and colour of the writing. The children were brilliant at following the steps carefully and building their confidence with new digital skills.

Sports & PE

A big well done to those children who have been training in preparation for their borough sports events. We are sending out another great team next week to represent us.

We spoke to children in Year 4, 5 and 6 about a Brownlee triathlon event which is taking place at the end of the month at Garon Park. We have had a huge interest with almost 100 children keen to take part. Unfortunately, we only have 30 places so will be ‘picking names from a hat’ and hope to be offering the places soon.

Outdoor Learning

Next week sees 3SP begin their summer outdoor learning... enjoy 3SP!

Online Safety

Strong oral language skills help children feel confident, connected and ready to learn. This guide explores simple, everyday ways that parents, carers and educators can support children’s speaking, listening and understanding, from shared conversations and story time to naming feelings and building vocabulary through play and routines. It also highlights the value of working closely with nurseries, schools and early years settings, using evidence-based approaches and spotting possible language needs early. With expert insight from OxEd, the guide offers supportive advice to help children become confident communicators as they prepare for school.