Welcome
What a great start to 2024 we have had at Rothley! The children have come back and started the spring term with excellent behaviour and a fantastic attitude to all of their classwork.
The newsletter, as always, outlines all the superb activities the children have been up to over the last 6 weeks. From Global Leicester trips in year 6; the extremely popular 'Draw with Rob' year 2 club (run by the talented Mrs Ellaway and Mrs Diyar; Miss Godfrey's Christian value assembly to parents; the Rothey Rice Bowl football team advancing to the quarter finals and everything else in between, the start of 2024 has been as busy as ever!
It was great to welcome you all into school this week for parents' evening - hopefully you got a good understanding of how well you child is progressing and how you can support at home. Another thank you for your massive support of the book fair! As a school we managed to sell over £1,000 worth of books over the 2 days. This means the school will get over £500 to spend on books for the children, for free! Thank you.
I hope you all have a restful half-term and I look forward to seeing you all in a week's time.
As always, thank you for your continued support of the school
Mr Richards
Foundation Stage
We cannot believe how fast this term has gone!
The children have thoroughly enjoyed our topics this term- Hot and Cold Places: we learnt about the animals who live in the Polar Regions. The children loved finding out facts about these animals. We then moved on to comparing these cold environments to hotter environments.
The story Town Mouse and Country Mouse was a particular favourite for our work on Houses and Homes. The children enjoyed looking at their journey to school and what they see on the way. We had great fun looking at photographs of different places around Rothley, they asked some amazing questions and thoroughly enjoyed sharing their knowledge. The children enjoyed our walk to the top of the school, where they looked for different features of our village.
Our week on the Chinese New Year was great fun! The children enjoyed creating their own lanterns, learning about traditional celebrations, watching the dragon dancing and having a go at writing numbers in Chinese.
In Maths we have continued to learn about and deepen the children’s understanding of numbers 0-10. Within this we have practiced correct number formation, consolidating simple addition- number bonds to 5. The children have explored the concept of one more and one less. We have also had great fun using the scales to investigate heavier and lighter.
The children are continuing to enjoy our phonics lessons, we have learnt many new diagraphs and trigraphs and consolidated reading previously learnt tricky words as well as learning new ones.
Our role play areas this term have been a big hit, they have explored our hot chocolate stand, ice café and ice cream shop. The adults have observed some amazing role play, language, working together and have been served lots of food and drinks!
The Foundation Stage team would like to thank you all again for your continued support and wish you a wonderful half term break.
Collective Worship:
As always - the children have had a fantastic diet of high quality collective worship across the term. Read on the find out the areas we have covered so far this term
Roots and Fruits:
Every Monday morning the children meet in their phases (Foundation, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) for Collective Worship to start the week. This is led by a class teacher, using the ‘Roots and Fruits’ assemblies and the focus is on Christian character and distinctiveness.
This term we have focused on the following:
Picture News:
Every fortnight, we have continued to delve deeper into current issues and topics that we might hear about on the news. In Picture News sessions this term, we have considered and debated topics including: ‘Is fashion important?’, ‘Should we learn sign language at school?’ and ‘Is an e-reader better than a book?’.
It has been great to see the children enthusiastically sharing their thoughts and ideas in a respectful manner.
Little Fish:
This term we launched our exciting new Little Fish assemblies. These assemblies give the children an opportunity to become actively involved in our Collective Worship by hosting it (with the fantastic support of Mr Dooley). Our first ever assembly saw Nancy C, Karran, Arjun, Koby, Jean and Betty lead a session based on self-driving vehicles… an interesting but scary topic! A huge well done to the children involved. We look forward to hearing from some more little fish next term!
Christian Values:
This half-term, Miss Godfrey delivered assemblies on the Christian Value of ‘Generosity’. Throughout these assemblies, the children reflected upon ideas including: unconditional generosity, being generous with your time and how small acts of kindness can make a real impact! The children in 3JG then ventured down to the church and welcomed parents (and the rest of Year 3) to enjoy a class-led Collective Worship. Miss Godfrey and her class did a fantastic job at sharing the important messages about Generosity, well done 3JG!
The children who received the Christian Value star for Generosity were:
Over the last few weeks, Mrs Walton has started to teach us all about the value of ‘Justice’ and how important it is to be inclusive. We look forward to learning more about this after half term.
Year 1
The children have had another fantastic half term! They have continued to work hard and have produced some excellent work! We have had lots of fun and have been very creative! We are overwhelmed with how much progress they are making as well as the efforts and hard work they put into everything we do!
This half term in Literacy, our theme has been ‘The world around me’. The children were introduced to new grammatical features such as prepositions, and, as well as because. They have used this new knowledge to describe some frozen places like Antarctica and animals that live there.
They have written some amazing sentences using adjectives and have thought very carefully about things they might pack in their suitcase and why! We have continued to work on our capital letters, finger spaces, and full stops as well as applying our phonics sounds when writing. The children also did some brilliant narrative writing on Aladdin as well as describing different settings such as where the Queen used to live. We have also recently studied poetry, looking at rhyming words in familiar nursery rhymes and songs. We sure have had a jam packed half term!
In Maths this half term we have been learning all about addition and subtraction within 20 using our knowledge of number bonds to 10 to help us. Initially we began by counting on from numbers within 0-20 using the number line. We then moved on to explore how to make 20 using practical resources. This then led us to investigate subtraction within 20 and how to find the difference between numbers within 20. To support our maths we have been using various manipulatives such as ten frames, base 10 and numicon.
This helps us practically explore a concept to embed the knowledge in our brains.
This half term in Science we have been learning about plants. The children have labelled parts of a flower, a tree as well as looking at different types of trees. The children were brilliant at spotting some evergreen and deciduous trees outdoors! We also looked at different herbs and considered what plants need in order to survive and grow. We set up a cress experiment and predicted what would happen to the seedlings in different conditions. The following week children observed the two plant pots and wrote a conclusion about their findings.
In Art this half term we have been making lots of different prints using a variety of materials and tools. We made some simple prints using leaves and different parts of our hands. The children also did some rubbing using resources they found around the classroom. We then explored printing by designing and creating foam plates. We used special printing ink and rollers to create some repetitive patterns.
The topic for this half term in ICT was computer and mouse skills. The children explored the keyboard and looked at the function of different keys. We also looked at the tool bar and explored features such as making text bold, italic or underlining it. We also learnt how to change the font and add a picture on Word. We used this knowledge to create a poster on our favourite animal.
Have a great half-term!
Year 2
Year 2 have had a super start to 2024.
In maths the children have learnt about money. They focused on the value of coins and notes, and then used this knowledge to make different amounts of money and the same amounts of money in different ways.
Our theme in literacy this term has been – pirates!
We have listened to lots of pirate stories, created our own pirate treasure maps, wrote instructions on how to find our treasure and wrote commands for our crew using exclamation phrases and imperative (bossy) verbs! Arrggghh! Walk the plank! Using the wonderful ideas that the children shared and the amazing vocabulary that was discussed, we had a go at writing our own pirate adventure story! The children have had lots of fun with this topic and have produced some lovely writing.
The Year 2 science topic for this term is ‘materials and their properties’. So far the children have enjoyed going on a material hunt in the school grounds. Back in class we talked about what materials they saw and what different objects in the playground were made out of. They used their knowledge of the properties of materials to discuss their suitability for different objects.
In our DT lessons the children have been designing, making and evaluating prototypes for a piece of playground equipment. They have explored a range of free-standing structures in the local area and identified shapes that made the structures strong and stable. We practiced our joining techniques which were used to join our materials together.
We have also learned how to strengthen materials, such as paper, by folding and rolling, as well as how to strengthen our structures by adding a buttress and/or a base. The children have worked incredibly hard and have all designed and made their own free-standing structure. A big thank you to all the parents who sent in the materials for our project! It was a huge help!!
In RE the children have learnt about the five pillars of Islam. They have enjoyed their reflective discussions in these lessons. Looking at artefacts really brought this topic alive for the children and helped to develop their understanding of the Muslim faith.
It has been lovely to see the children’s enthusiasm for their learning and they have certainly packed lots in this term.
We hope you all have a lovely half term break.
Music @ Rothley
In Year 1 music this term, we have been enjoying our Magical Aquarium unit of work. The children have been developing their skills of playing percussion instruments with care and character to mimic the sounds of the ocean. We have also been focussing on creating melodies on glockenspiels using the ‘next to’ game, which has helped the children’s understanding of pitch. The melodies that were created acted as a beautiful representation of fish swimming through the sea, accompanied by our calm percussive playing. We performed our music as a whole class performance.
Year 2 have been learning about The Carnival of the Animals, and we have been using musical vocabulary to describe and understand how Saint Saen used music to depict animals.
In Year 3, we have been learning about the Samba sounds of Brazil and listening to the fantastic music of Sergio Mendes. We have been doing lots of work on keeping a steady pulse as this is really important when playing in a Samba band. This has helped us when learning call and response rhythms.
In Year 4, we are continuing with the ukulele and are learning new skills to put to our Salsa song. We have started to learn chords and are practising transitioning between them. In Year 5, we have been learning about grooves. So far, the children have worked in groups to compose a drum groove using kick, snare and hi-hat body percussion sounds and they have now added a bassline. Next up will be a riff to complete their compositions after half term. They sound fabulous! In Year 6, we have been using Mozart’s ‘Twinkle Variations’ to compose our own variations of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star using body percussion, untuned percussion and glockenspiels.
Musician of the Month
In January our ‘Musician of the Month’ was the incredible David Bowie! We listened to some of his most famous tracks and talked about how he explored different personas when he performed and how he didn’t limit himself to one genre of music when composing. In February, we are now looking at Hams Zimmer who seems to be a firm favourite! He is one of my favourite composers so I’m loving it! We have been discussing the importance of music in film and television and how it connects us emotionally to the screen.
Extra-Curricular Music
January is always one of the highlights of the year as our Year 5/6 Choir participate in Young Voices at the Resorts World Arena. This year, our choir performed a fantastic repertoire of songs and sang with MC Grammar and Nandi Bushell (drummer extraordinaire at only 13 years old!) Young Voices is always an inspiring evening and one that the children will never forget. Well done to our amazing choir who were fantastic!
KS1 and KS2 Choirs both started this term and will begin working towards our Summer Proms Concert. KS1 Choir is currently full but KS2 is open to anyone so if your child would still like to join, they would be more than welcome.
Year 3
What a fantastic start to 2024 we have had in Year 3!
In Maths this half term we have finished off our multiplication unit and have learnt how to use column multiplication and how to divide with remainders. We have just begun our new topic on measure and have started to think about converting between mm, cm and m.
In Literacy we have been studying the story of the Iron Man. We have produced some fantastic pieces of writing focussing on when the ‘space-bat-angel-dragon’ appeared and the challenge the Iron Man must face. We have learnt how to use inverted commas and speech effectively to enhance their writing. We are very proud of the children for all their perseverance with their handwriting.
In History we have continued our Stone Age topic. We have learnt about the religious beliefs of people during the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age as well as finding out about the Stone Age settlement of Skara Brae and learning how Stonehenge was built. We have had some wonderful discussions about the purposes of Stonehenge.
In Art we have been blown away by the incredible pieces of work the children have created. Our topic focussed on ‘cloth, thread and paint’ and the children used pillowcases to create a watercolour landscape before carefully sewing some extra detail onto their material. We are so pleased with the final result!
In RE we have leant about the religion of Islam and the key beliefs and practises that Muslims around the world follow. We have discussed the ‘Five pillars of Islam’, looked in detail at the features of a Mosque and most recently have been learning about Ramadan and Eid and the importance of these in Islam. The children have been incredibly respectful when discussing another religion, with enthusiasm and maturity.
In Science we have learnt all about rocks. First, we looked at different types of rocks including igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic and investigated the properties of these different kinds of rocks. We also learnt about the palaeontologist, Mary Anning and the children made some amazing fact files about her and her work finding fossils.
See you all on Monday 26th February!
Year 4
Wow, what an amazing half-term we have had – I cannot believe how quickly these terms are flying by, it seems like only yesterday I was giving my latest updates.
This term has been dominated by the preparations for the play which we are really excited to perform for you all after the holidays – we have been learning some dance moves today with the wonderful Miss Farrelly (the children were not impressed with my - Mr Dooley's - dance skills!).
In Literacy, we have just completed our Explanation Texts based on Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions where the children had to explain how the Snowmantron or Shopper 13 could improve their lives.
In Maths, we have completed our (long) unit on Multiplication and Division before looking at Length and Perimeter where we have been finding the perimeter of rectilinear shapes!
History has been really exciting this half-term as we have been learning all about Anglo Saxons culminating in our recent Anglo-Saxon day where we were visited by Arthur who taught us all about battle tactics, Anglo Saxon board games, archaeological digs and we even got to participate in a Witan (an Anglo-Saxon town meeting). It was brilliant!
In Science, we have been learning about Sound and using decibel readers and looking closely at sound waves and how the ear sends messages to the brain on what we have heard.
All this and we have still found time to practice our amazing play ready to share with you all – we are definitely ready for a week off to recharge our batteries and come back ready and refreshed for Spring 2!
Young Governors Fund Raiser
This term, our fantastic Young Governors worked incredibly hard to plan and carry out their very own ‘fantastic fundraiser’ to raise money for playtime equipment. A huge thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets or had a guess at ‘how many sweets are in the jar’.
Miss Pick was blown away with how responsible and hardworking the Young Governors were to make the fundraiser a success. Their hard work certainly paid off with them raising a fantastic £411!
The Young Governors will be working hard next term gathering ideas from the children in school to help them decide what to spend the money on. Well done, Young Governors, keep being brilliant!
Year 5
It has been another action-packed term in Year 5!
In English this term we have been written a narrative on Beauty and the Beast. We have focused on describing the setting, describing the Beast and using dialogue to advance the action on within our narratives. Take a look at some our finished compositions below!
In science the children have been learning about forces. We have learnt about gravity and the difference between weight and mass, the effects of friction on moving surfaces, air resistance and the link between parachutes as wells as learning about mechanisms such as pulleys and gears.
We have finished our topic on Ancient Greece in History answering the enquiry statement: Ancient Greek achievements are overrated, and the Greeks were no different to other people. Within this unit we have studied when the ancient Greeks existed, identified the similarities and differences between some of the main Greek city-states, what the ancient Greeks achieved throughout their existence and the impact of their achievements on future civilisations and the western world.
We finished the topic by holding a class debate answering the enquiry statement using our reasoning skills and justifying our answers with evidence. Half the class argued that the Ancient Greek achievements were overrated whilst the other half of the class opposed the statement and argued that they were not overrated.
In art we have been learning to create land and city scapes using a mixed media. In this topic children are introduced to the idea that artists don’t just work in studios – instead they get out into the world and draw and paint from life, inspired by the land and city scapes where they live. The children have also seen how artists use their creative freedom to explore ways of working which involve different materials and media.
During our computing lessons this term we have been learning the skills needed to create a presentation on PowerPoint. The children have been adding different types of fonts using word art and changing their backgrounds to make the presentation more colourful.
They have also learnt how to add animations and transitions to make their presentation flow smoothly during their slideshows.
Year 6
Temple, Science, Mock SATS, Assassin
What another brilliant half term we have had in Year 6. The children have continued to show their brilliant work ethic and this is paying dividends to the progress they are all making. It has been another packed to the brim half term which has seen us write incredible suspense stories, expand our knowledge of shape and angles and widen our understanding of our local area in History.
Everyone loved our trip to Leicester to further answer our History topic question, ‘Why is Leicester so multicultural?’ Whilst there we learnt so Bollywood dance moves which Mr Phillips especially enjoyed! Visiting the Temple gave us the opportunity to question the priest and further understand his own cultural background; when he and his family moved to Leicester and the reasons for this migration.
Whilst in the local shops we were lucky to purchase a range of products including: a diva, bangles and ladyfingers from the supermarket. We asked the shopkeepers a range of questions to understand how and when they began their businesses and what an average day looks like for them.
Our writing this term has been full of suspense and suspicion as we have taken on the role of predator and prey to complete a short story entitled ‘The Assassin’.
Drawing on our own research and knowledge we wrote a third-person narrative without revealing who the assassin was. Using our extensive vocabulary and knowledge of parenthesis, clauses and advanced punctuation we all kept our reader’s on the edge of their seat before revealing the cruel assassin at the end.
The final week of term has seen us completing our Design and Technology project: Electrical Components. We have researched how electrical items use programming to complete a task and have then taken this knowledge to design our own alarm system.
After designing our initial product, we then programmed a micro:bit to respond to movement and act as an alarm system. Everyone had to show great perseverance and resilience to debug and create a complete circuit for the system to work.
We know we are getting every closer to the SATs however, all of the children are working incredibly hard in school and we would like to say how proud we are of all of them in their enthusiasm and effort in their mock SATs last week.
Both Mr Phillips and Mrs Timson would like to emphasise that the children do not need to put pressure on themselves to succeed, they are all making excellent progress and should enjoy a lovely relaxing half term break.
Little Bunnies
Our topic this term has been Traditional Tales. We have enjoyed reading lots of stories and using puppets and props to retell them. The Three Little Pigs Builders Yard role-play has been very popular and has provided lots of opportunities for the children to explore their creativity. We have been busy in our outdoor area and particularly enjoyed building beanstalks using large construction equipment.
We celebrated Chinese New Year by learning about the traditions and celebrations that take place during this time. We particularly enjoyed listening to traditional music and joining in with a Chinese Dragon Dance.
We are looking forward to lots more fun and learning next term with our new topic, Down on the Farm.
Sport @ Rothley
Tag Rugby
On Monday 29th January, some of our year 5 and 6’s represented the school at Rawlins Academy.
The children represented our school fantastically well (we came 3rd !) and had great time in the process! We are looking forward to the next lot of tournaments where we can shine just as much!
Gymnastics
In our curriculum we have been teaching gymnastics with KS1, where the children have been learning mat work and exploring equipment.
Such as point balances, patch work, jumps, rolls and flexibility- some children have even demonstrated some fantastic balances! We are so happy with the progress made as they have been able to put these skills into a routine.
The confidence level is incredible and the children love to try new skills.
Tennis and Badminton
KS2 have been participating in tennis and badminton. The children have been learning the fundamental skills, as well as fore hand, back hand and the serve.
To challenge them, we have got them into games to see if they can rally between themselves and the competition side. The children have shown great hand-eye coordination and took to the sport with great enthusiasm!
They have also taken on how to be a referee where they really enjoy seeing the game on the other side.
Rice Bowl:
The year 6 football team had their 3rd round Rice Bowl game in January. They faced a strong Sketchley Hill side, who knocked us out in the quarter finals in 2022.
The Team, consisting of: Seb S, Leo A, Luca S, Jude R, Stanley B, Ethan M, Ronnie P, Freddie L, Leo M and Lucas D.
The team startred very strongly and got their rewards with a well taken finish by Luca on his left foot.
Leo then thought he had extended the lead to 2-0 right before half-time with a tidy finish, but a late offside deicison chalked that off and the game remianed 1-0 to Rothley ay half-time.
The 2nd half-half was balanced with Seb S making 2 fantastic saved to keep the score 1-0. However, in the last minute Sketchley scored a deflected goal with just seconds remaining. 1-1.
There were no more goals in the extra-time so the game went to penatleites were Rothley were victorious 4-3, with Lucas D scoring the decisive penatly.
Rothley now march on to the quarter finals on the 12th March at Wreake Valley against St Cuthbert's from Great Glen!
Upcoming Tournaments Spring 2 Term:
- Boccia – 26th February – Year 1 & 2
- Cross Country – 11th March – Year 1, 2 & 3