"Pupils behave well. They play happily together and consider each other’s needs very well.""Parents are right to be pleased with the quality of teaching at the school.""Pupils learn well because the work they do provides good levels of challenge and helps them learn new skills."100% of parents said they would recommend this school to other parents"The curriculum supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively.""Pupils get off to a good start in early years."

Kestrels 2020-21

Friday 16th July 2021

Well we've had another busy week in Kestrel class for our last full week of the term.

We have completed a diverse range of learning this week ensuring that we have completed everything that we need before the end of the school year.

In maths, we modelled 3d shapes and learned how to interpret and construct pie charts. In PSHE, the year 6's completed their units on healthy and safe relationships, while the year 5's reflected on how to manage conflict - useful life lessons for us all! We completed our DT project and finished making and evaluating our slippers, which looked absolutely brilliant; maybe some of us are future cordwainers in the making! We also completed our end of unit assessments in science and history.  Despite the heat, we undertook lots of PE this week, including Tennis and bench ball. In addition to all this, the year 6's enjoyed a day of archery and we have been filming our year 6 leavers film, which are looking forward to sharing with parents next week.

We have also had lots of reasons to celebrate this week and congratulations must go to:

Erin, who won first place in the regional rotary club artist competition.

Yoann, who was awarded the Bishop's prize for outstanding work in R.E this year.

George and Emily, who won our 'giant' writing competition for year 5 and year 6 respectively.

 

 

Friday 25th June 2021

Another excellent week of learning has been completed by Kestrel class.

In literacy, we have researched and planned our non-chronological reports on 'The Paralympics', while in maths we have been learning to interpret a range of graph types and calculate the mean average. In science, we have been investigating how light is reflected by different surfaces and in history we have discovered Northampton's association with the well-known shoe brand Doc Martens!

On Monday, the children were extremely sensible during our visit from the Nursing team to discuss puberty. They listened well and asked sensible questions about this important subject.

We had great fun on Wednesday afternoon in music as we applied our knowledge of beat and learned how to write a rap. We explored motivational themes and compiled a class rap, which we also performed!

To end the week we took part in our KS2 sports day. It was an excellent event and we all had great fun. Most importantly, we showed great sportsmanship as we completed our sports medley and flat races! Congratulations to our flat race Gold, Silver and Bronze winners and we look forward to hearing the overall winning house on Monday. 

 

Friday 19th June 2021

We had another busy week in Kestrel's class.

In literacy, we have been identifying the features of non-chronological texts and learning to write formally using the passive voice while in maths we have been focusing on translating and reflecting shapes across all four quadrants. In history we learned all about the significance of the bombing of Rushden in WW2. We learned that the shoemakers at this time were similar to modern day keyworkers and were not allowed to join the army as their role, providing footwear to the army, was considered too important!

In R.E. we thought about the attributes of a good king and then analysed Christian hymns to understand what type of king Jesus might have been. In science we started to learn how we can change the direction of travel of light by reflecting it.

We were also really pleased to take part in our first collective worship in the hall for some time where we welcomed back Reverend Paula and Claire, who lead our service.

We ended a wet Friday with a hotly contested game of bench ball!

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Tia this week, who is a real role model for how to learn in our class. Tia is always focusing on her learning and pushes herself to contribute to all of our class discussions. Well done Tia!

 

Friday 11th June 2021

Kestrels hit the ground running as they started the new term.

As well as enjoying mixing with a wider range of children within the school, we have been working hard across all subjects. In literacy, we have been focusing on our grammar skills - reviewing the active and passive voice before delving deeper into past and present tenses. In maths, we started the week calculating missing angles before moving onto co-ordinates. In science, we secured our understanding of how we see objects. We continued with our local history topic ' Cobblers' by using a range of sources to explore remaining evidence of the shoe industry's impact on Northampton - we discovered that there are many remaining buildings, street names and even local football teams which combine to demonstrate this legacy.

In music this week, we spent some time appraising contemporary music from a range of female artists before researching how they were inspired to develop careers within the music business. We also started to compose our own music using software to create a percussion background to a rap. In R.E. we started to reflect upon 'The Kingdom of God' and analysed a range of parables to identify what it might be like.

Our year 6 children enjoyed an induction visit from some of the teaching staff from Sponne on Friday, while our year 5's completed a maths investigation all about nets! 

We also enjoyed taking part in our two new sports this term - rounders and tennis!

Kestrels Star of the week - We celebrated with Carter this week, who was a role model for our class during prayer space by reflecting so thoughtfully at all of the different prayer stations. 

 

Friday 28th May 2021

What a fantastic week of learning we had in Kestrel class to end the half term.

This week we completed our art unit  on textile and pattern inspired by the work of William Morris. We completed artist studies to explore the work of William Morris before using his artwork to inspire our own designs for a piece of footwear. The children sketched their designs for a shoe before designing their own printing tile to create a repeating pattern on fabric. The children then made their own printing tile so that they could reproduced their design on fabric. See our photos for some of the finished results.  

In literacy, we worked incredibly hard to finish our diary entries based on the life of a child working in a Northamptonshire shoe factory and In maths we learned how to find missing angles on straight lines and round a point.  In science we learned about the physical properties of materials and how these influence how materials are used. 

We completed some end of term assessments on our history and science learning this term and demonstrated just how well we could apply our learning to  a range of challenging questions.

On Tuesday the year 6's were visited by the charity Re-Solv and took part in an interesting session thinking about risks and decision making with regard to drugs.

 

On Friday, we completed our last rugby session with the saints. The children have really thrown themselves into these lessons and worked and played hard throughout!

Kestrel Star of the Week: This week we celebrated with Mai, who produced an outstanding diary entry as well as performing exceptionally well in her end of term assessments. Well done Mai what a brilliant way to end the term!

Friday 21st May 2021

This week in Kestrel class we were, amongst other things, packaging designers! In ICT we learned how to design a range of 3d models  refining our structural and artistic designs before finally producing a bespoke piece of packaging for an item of our choice. See our photos for some of our finished products.

In Literacy, we learned how to convey emotion in our writing by 'showing' as well as 'telling' our readers how we feel. We then researched what life was like for children working in Northamptonshire shoe factories in the victorian times, in order to plan our diary entries. In maths, we learned how to calculate the volume of cuboid shapes before learning about different types of angles. We practised how to use protactors in order to measure acute, obtuse and reflex angles. In our reading lessons, we have been developing our independence in reading a range of different texts as well as learning how to identify the reading skills required for a given question.

Kestrels Star of the Week: We celebrated with Patrick this week. Patrick has been working incredibly hard in maths over recent weeks and has been pushing himself to improve his personal best scores in his calculation papers. Well done Patrick all of your hard work is paying off!   

Friday 14th May 2021

From Bikability to the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car, Kestrels have completed another great week!

Our year 5's spent four mornings this week developing their cycling skills with the bikability team. They learned how to be safe whilst cycling on the roads and thoroughly enjoyed their course. All of Kestrels immersed themselves in the world of engineering on Thursday afternoon as we took part in a live session with the aerodynamicist Dr Ben Evans, who has been involved with the design of the Bloodhound land speed record car and the Skylon space plane. We learned quite how varied the role of an engineer can be and even had the opportunity to ask Dr Evans some questions!

In literacy, we have started to learn about our new genre - diary writing, while in maths we have been learning how to find the area of triangle and parallelograms. In science, we continued to look at irreversible changes including the effects of burning a range of materials. In history, we used maps and extracts from the census to examine the impact that the shoe industry had on the landscape of Northampton.

To end the week, we had lots to celebrate as several of us were successful in our entries to the Rotary young artist and young photographer competition.

In the young artist competition special congratulations go to Erin who won first prize in the local and district competition. Her artwork is now being entered into the national round. Congratulations to Yoann, who achieved 3rd place and congratulations to Ruby D and Ellie whose artwork received commendations.

In the young Photographers competition congratulations goes to Madelyn, who achieved 3rd place and congratulations also go to George whose photography received a commendation. 

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Henry this week, who produced a fantastic Newspaper article after working hard on developing his literacy skills in this area. Great job Henry!

Friday 7th May 2021

Yet another packed week of learning in Kestrels class this week.

We completed our newspaper articles in literacy, finishing them off with some eye-catching headlines! In maths, we have been working on finding missing dimensions to help us calculate the area of more complex compound shapes. In science, we had great fun experimenting with materials and liquids to explore some quite dramatic irreversible changes (You can see our reactions in the photos!). We used our observation skills to carefully monitor our results and we started to think about why the substances reacted the way they did! In history, we learned about the impact that the industrial revolution had on the Northamptonshire shoe industry; there were some quite dramatic changes that took place, not least of which was the building of 150 factories!

In RE this week, we were locating different types of places of worship within Northamptonshire. We were quite surprised by what we found!

Star of the Week: We celebrated with George this week, who has been working so hard and has been producing some amazing work across all subjects. Well done George your hard work is really paying off!

Friday 30th April 2021

Kestrels completed a great variety of learning this week.

In literacy, we have started to write our newspaper articles shining a spotlight on the desperate plight of paupers in the Victorian era. In maths, we have moved from algebra to learning about perimeter and area of rectilinear shapes. In R.E. the children learned how different communities deal with diversity and interfaith issues.  In history, we started to understand how Northampton's heritage of shoe making came about as well as learning how shoes were made historically.

As part of our music curriculum, the year 5's joined their peers for their second ukelele lesson. Children have been learning key musical notes as well as a number of pieces to practice and perform.

In addition to our rugby and cricket lessons this week we joined with the rest of the school and completed our daily mile! Phew!

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Ruby this week, who is consistently enthusiastic and dedicated member of our class. Thank you for always listening and pushing yourself to extend your learning.

Friday 23rd April 2021

Kestrel class have completed another full week of learning.

In literacy, we have learned how to write an introduction for a newspaper article and have started to plan our own reports, while  in maths, we have been forming and solving algebraic equations. In science, we investigated how to reverse some changes to mixtures by comparing sieving and filtering. We also reviewed the results of our class experiment into using evaporation to reverse the changes to a solution. In history, we learned about the chronology of royal footwear from medieval times to modern day. We discovered the shoe fashions of the eras and how, historically, shoes were seen as symbols of status.

In addition to our rugby lessons, we started our cricket lessons this week with a focus on fielding and bowling.

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Ethan this week, who has been joining in proactively with all of our class discussions and has used this focus on his learning to drive a step change in the quality of his work. Wonderful effort Ethan - Congratulations. 

Friday 16th April 2021

What a great start to the term for Kestrels class with yet another week of enthusiastic learning.

In maths, we started to learn how to use algebraic language and how to solve algebraic equations. In literacy, we started our new genre of writing - journalistic writing by analysing newspaper articles to understand their features. We also learned how to write quotations for direct speech. In science, we planned our own science investigation to explore what happens to materials when mixed with water and finally in history we started to look at shoes from early civilisations by exploring why certain styles and designs would have been worn.

We ended the week completing a great tag rugby session with a Northampton Saints rugby coach. We practised our swerving and tagging skills.

A special welcome must go to Taylan, who has joined our class this term. 

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Lara this week, who has been working so hard in all of her lessons this week. She has produced some exceptionally detailed answers in her reading lessons and has been working really hard to grasp algebra this week - well done Lara!

 

Friday 26th March 2021

Kestrels completed a wonderful variety of learning this week.

We undertook our DT project for the term learning all about cam mechanisms. The children learned how cam mechanisms work and how to graph different cam profiles before designing, making and evaluating their own cam model linked to this terms science on lifecycles. The children worked hard and sensibly to complete this project and should feel proud of their cam models.

In literacy, we completed our persuasive letters and in geography we deepened our understanding of different map types as we delved deeper into the human and physical geography of Barcelona.

We finished our class novel 'Holes' and engaged in some interesting book talk around the themes of empathy and how authors can draw our attention to complex situations.

A great week of learning to end a most unusual term!

Kestrel Star of the week: We celebrated with Georgie this week, who has completed some excellent work in reading. Georgie's analysis of texts is outstanding and she really helped move our class discussions on 'Holes' forward with her mature and thoughtful contributions. Well done Georgie.  

Friday 19th March 2021

Kestrel class completed another excellent week of learning. 

In literacy, we planned and started to write our persuasive letters to the Fairytale Forest Council to convince them to banish the troublesome menace 'Goldilocks.' We have enjoyed writing with outrage and devastation as we attempted to persuade the council to agree with our requests! In maths, we have been calculating and solving problems with a range of metric measures. 

We started to look at lifecycles this week in science and compared and contrasted the different lifecycles of mammals, amphibians, insects, birds and reptiles. In geography, we learned about map scales using different scaled maps to find out facts about Barcelona.

In R.E. we learned about the symbols associated with the Easter story and in PSHE we considered the concept of risk and how to manage risk to keep ourselves safe.

Kestrel Star of the Week: This week we celebrated with Ruby M. She has completed an amazing week of learning and really impressed with her persuasive writing this week - well done Ruby! A well deserving star!

Friday 12th March 2021

How amazing was it to welcome everyone back to school this week? Everyone in Kestrel class should feel extremely proud of how hard they have been working during lockdown and how well they have quickly settled back into the routines of working altogether in class.

In literacy, we have been continuing with our learning on persuasive letters. This week's focus has been on innovating a range of conclusions as well as learning how to identify and write with cohesion.

In maths, we have reviewed all of the learning undertaken whilst the children have been at home in order that areas can be revisited and extended throughout the rest of this term and beyond. We have also moved onto a new area- measures. We have been learning about a range of metric measures, when it is appropriate to use each unit of measure as well as converting between units of measure for length, mass and capacity.

In science, we have reviewed our learning on the reproduction of plants, in Geography, we have been locating major cities within Europe, while in R.E we have started our learning focused on answering our big question ' What difference does the resurrection make  to Christians?'    

We ended the week, with an energetic Basketball lesson. We learned how to dribble the ball with both hands as well as to move to protect the ball.

A special welcome must go to Lara, who met us all in person for the first time this week having joined our school just a few weeks ago! 

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated this week with Eli, who has returned to school with an excellent attitude to all of his learning! Producing amongst other things some excellent map work in Geography - well done Eli! 

Friday 11th December 2020

In literacy, we finished our biographies about Tim Peake. The children have worked incredibly hard to use formal language and include a range of parenthesis and should feel proud of their achievements. In maths, we have been learning how to use known facts when completing tricky calculations. 

In science this week, we have been exploring how The Earth and Moon orbit the sun by making models to help us with our understanding. We also learned how we see the moon due to its various phases. In addition, have also been explaining how day and night occur as well as explaining how the sun 'appears' to rise and set as a result of The Earth spinning on its axis.

We completed some Christmas activities this week too! A special mention must go to Erin, who helped us draw our Angel Gabriel and Mary for our  Chrsitmas window display. We also completed some sock snowmen as part of our Christmas crafts afternoon.

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Oliver this week as he is just a wonderful member of our class. He is not only a role model for hard work but he is also the kindest of friends - helping and supporting his friends whenever they need it. We are all lucky to have Oliver as a friend - Thank you Oliver!

Friday 4th December 2020

We had another busy week in Kestrels class this week.

In literacy, we have begun to write our biographies ensuring that we include our target grammatical features -adjective for clarification, parenthesis and adverbials! In science we have been learning about how our understanding of the solar system has evolved over time; moving from the geocentric to the heliocentric model. We have been reflecting upon the evidence that early civilisations used to start to explain the world around them and how the Ancient Greeks were amongst the first to start to understand how Earth relates to the rest of the solar system.

Our major focus this week was ICT as we completed our module on spreadsheets. We learned how to use formulae to generate repeating calculations and solve problems relating to area, perimeter and probability. We also learned how to generate a range of graphs and charts (Pie, bar and line) for fixed and continuous data.

We ended the week with some highly competitive rounds of bench ball - a great end to a great week!

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Erin this week, who is an all round fantastic member of our class. However, this week she produced some excellent work in science applying her understanding of some  really tricky evidence relating to our solar system - well done Erin!    

Friday 27th November 2020

We had a philosophical week in Kestrel class this week as we learned about the ancient greek philosophers. We learned about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and how their thinking and knowledge is still influencing the modern world.

In maths, we have been learning about a range of different strategies to support our mental calculations and in literacy, we have been using our class research to plan our biographies about british astronaut Tim Peake. In R.E., we have continued to delve deeper in to our thinking around the perceived conflict between science and religion - we discussed the idea that science focuses on answering how things happen whilst religion often focuses on why things happen. In PSHE, we reflected on feelings. We considered a range of feelings, acknowledging that all of us can feel differently about the same situation before thinking about the intensity of feelings. We also thought about how we might ourselves and others when tricky situations occur.

Kestrel Star of the Week: This week we celebrated with Madelyn, who has inspired us all with her incredible ability in maths. Madelyn always makes sure her work is accurate and as a result delivers exceptional results - well done Madelyn.  

Friday 20th November 2020

Another great week in Kestrel class,

In literacy, we have been working hard on the technical skills required to write our biography texts; we have written using both parenthesis and adverbials for cohesion. In maths, we have been solving problems using all of our recently learned number properties before moving on to understand the order that we calculate when our number sentences contain more than one operation.

In science, we have been learning all about our solar system. We started our exploration by considering what questions we wanted to investigate about the solar system before conducting our research. We have learned the position of each planet in terms of its proximity to the sun, as well as key facts relating to the composition of each planet, number of moons and length of a year. 

This week was Anti Bullying Week and we spent some time considering this year's theme 'United Against Bullying.' We re-familiarised ourselves with the various roles that are often present when bullying behaviours take place, before thinking about our own personal pledge to keep our school a place where everyone can be happy. Simple things, such as ensuring that everyone is included in games or not laughing as part of a big group at the misfortune of others can really make a  big difference to how people feel. 

We also completed a number of assessments this week in order to give the year 6's their first experience of what end of year assessments look like. Everyone approached these in a really positive manner so well done Kestrels.

Star of the Week: This week we celebrated with Ellie, who has made excellent progress in both her reading and writing since the start of the year. As well as being a maths genius, she is also a literary genius too!

Friday 13th November 2020

 We have had another week full of learning in Kestrel class.

In literacy we have learned how to write quotations and we have completed our research for our biography, In maths, we have been exploring and investigating with multiples, prime, square and cube numbers. While in science, we have been learning about scientific evidence; we have been using evidence to support or refute the fact that the Earth is flat or a sphere. We completed some excellent debates and have decided that the scientific evidence available to us now clearly shows us that the Earth is a sphere. In history this week, we learned all about Ancient Greek democracy and in PSHE we explored the value of money. Into this we have explored different interpretations of the creation story in R.E as well as completing athletics and netball ... phew! 

Kestrel star of the week: We celebrated with Ruby D this week. Ruby is an incredible role model as she is always ready to learn and is always working hard. She is also one of the kindest and most helpful members of our class and we feel very lucky to have her as part of Kestrels.

Friday 6th November 2020

Kestrel class got back to work quickly after the half term break.

In literacy, we have started to learn about our new writing genre- biographies-  by analysing its text and grammatical features. In maths, we have been using our division and multiplication skills as we have been learning all about factors. We have found factors, common factors and prime factors of numbers. 

In history, we analysed the ancient greek myths to understand the messages that were hidden within them as well learning how modern businesses are still influenced by the Ancient Greeks in terms of branding. In R.E, we started to answer this terms big question - Creation and Science: Conflicting or complementary? The children analysed the creation story to understand its purpose and message. In PSHE, we reflected on social media  profiles and learned that not all profiles are accurate as people try to portray themselves in the best possible light. We discussed how this influences us and how it makes us feel.

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Yoann this week. Yoann is an amazingly deep thinker and reflects carefully on all questions asked in class. His class contributions help all of us with our learning and we are lucky to have him as part of team Kestrel - well done Yoann.

 

Friday 23rd October 2020

What an amazing half term we have had in Kestrel class and this last week was no exception!

In literacy, we worked incredibly hard to complete our setting descriptions. We drafted and edited well to ensure that we met all of the required expectations and we were rightly proud of our results as we produced some stunning pieces of writing.

 On Tuesday, our year 5's spent the day with Claire from Pacesetters and enjoyed a day becoming magnificent mind champions and developing their independence and resilience . In maths, we continued with our focus on division with our year 6's learning about long division. In science, we learned how the body absorbs nutrients and water from our food. We used scientific language to describe the various stages in the process - from when the food enters our mouths until it is excreted as waste. We also looked at the harmful effects of drugs including those which are legal and used our scientific knowledge to debate this subject.

In music, we learned to appraise and perform a contemporary song from the pop genre. We learned how to identify the beat and rhythm within a piece of music before performing 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams using sign language, a range of percussion instruments including glockenspiels. 

Star of the Week: We celebrated with Angus this week as he produced an exceptional setting description - well done Angus you worked incredibly hard this week and really deserve recognition for your excellent work!

Friday 16th October 2020

This weeks Kestrels became computer programmers as we completed our ICT coding unit for this term. We learned how to use coding blocks and algorithms to move characters, we explored timers and variables to generate counters and we used event codes such as 'if' and 'when' to create a range of programs.

In literacy, we generated ideas for our setting description on Mount Olympus and started to plan its structure and language content. In maths, we explored division; we started by looking at the language of division and using concrete resources to make generalisations about remainders  before moving onto formal methods and solving a range of problems expressing remainders appropriately.

Kestrel Star of the Week: This week we celebrated with Nathan! Nathan has an amazing attitude to all of his learning and is an excellent role model in our class. He even took on the role of film presenter this week as we made our whole school video for next years reception children - well done Nathan thank you for rising to the challenge! 

Friday 9th October 2020

Kestrels completed another full week this week.

In literacy, we got extremely technical and focused on how to improve our sentence structures by using a range of phrases and clauses. We developed our skills in writing prepositional phrases and a range of adverbials. The children even took part in a 'game show' style quiz called ....'Phrase or Clause?' Some of them even designed a dance routine at break to accompany the catchy jingle! 

In maths, long multiplication was our main area of focus. As our fluency developed, we focused on solving multi step problems and reasoning questions. In science, we concluded our experiments on the impact of exercise on the heart and even captured our data using scatter graphs.

In History, we learned all about the origins of the Olympic games. Initially, we represented our learning using freeze frames and then went onto select how we wanted to record our historical knowledge. We are thoroughly enjoying finding out about some of the 'unusual' customs that the Ancient Greeks followed.

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Lilia this week as she has been producing some excellent work in maths since the beginning of term and this week was no exception as her problem solving when multiplying decimals was fantastic - well done Lilia!

Friday 2nd October 2020

The Kestrels completed another great week of learning this week.

In literacy, we completed our character descriptions about Greek Gods. Our use of figurative language was excellent and we will be able to use this skill when writing setting descriptions. At the end of this week, we started to analyse our model setting description text, identifying how the writer orientates the reader when describing a scene.

In maths, we completed some tricky multi-step addition and subtraction problems before starting to look at multiplication. Each morning, we have been practising our key instant recall facts involving decimal number bonds and at the end of the week we completed a timed mini assessment - we had all improved massively and we were really pleased with ourselves. Well done Kestrels!

In science, we have been learning all about the circulatory system. We are improving our ability to explain this tricky concept using all of the new scientific vocabulary that we have been introduced to. We finished the week by devising an experiment to investigate the impact of exercise on the heart. We thought carefully about variables in order that our tests were fair and then we got outside and completed our exercise! (Pictured below)

In R.E. we reflected on what it means to a Christian to forgive. The children learned about the bombing of Coventry Cathedral and how Christians showed their forgiveness.

Kestrel star of the week: We celebrated with Ethan this week. Ethan is a superstar in our class. He is always working hard and doing the right thing. We are lucky to have you as part of team Kestrel Ethan - Well done!

Friday 25th September 2020

We've enjoyed another full week of learning in Kestrel class.

In whole class reading, we have been developing our ability to infer meaning using evidence to support us. We have thought about the impression that we get as a reader from the actions of characters .We have also analysed their actions to interpret how they might be feeling. We have been enjoying a range of Greek Myths this week, which is helping us to understand why the Ancient Greeks held their gods in such high regard. We are also completely gripped by our class novel 'Shadow of the Monotaur.' We are doing a lot of wondering and question asking to help us understand the twists and turns of the plot!

In maths, we have been practising our addition and subtraction skills. We used bar modelling to help us when trying to solve some tricky multi-step problems. To end the week, we took our first look at our Key Instant Recall facts. We learned how to use our current number bond knowledge to 10 and 100 to help us when learning decimal number bonds to 1.  A booklet to support children with their practice will be available next week.

In science, we learned all about the different food groups and their importance to our health. We analysed a range of food labels to help us decide how healthy each food type was - We were quite shocked by the sugar content of certain foods! We also considered the consequences of an unhealthy diet.

In history, we learned more about the city states of Athens and Sparta. We evaluated the culture and customs of each state  before deciding which state we would prefer to live in.

Kestrel Star of the Week: We celebrated with Peter this week as he has been producing some excellent work as part of our reading lessons. He is also a cheerful, kind and helpful member of our class and we are lucky to have him as part of our team. Well done Peter!

Friday 18th September 2020

This week flew past as we immersed ourselves in all aspects of the curriculum!

In literacy, we started to plan our own character descriptions of a Greek God! To help us, we even took part in a literacy masterclass by author Luke Temple, where we finessed our skills in 'showing' and not 'telling' our reader how our character is feeling! We watched several on line tutorials and even saw the trailer of Luke's book - Felix Dashwood and the Mutating Mansion! It was incredibly creepy and had us all wondering about the mystery of the mansion! 

In maths, we progressed from rounding whole and decimal numbers to calculating with negative numbers! We were using the idea of sandbags and hot air to help us understand the impact of negative and positive numbers! (ask your children to explain the game to you)

In science, we learned how to plan a clinical trial having learned about the work of James Lind and his clinical trials to find a cure for scurvy. In french, we have begun to write sentences using  key vocabulary and phrases. Finally in history, we found out how the Ancient Greek's belief in gods affected how they conducted their lives.

Star of the Week: Congratulations to Ollie who was our star this week. Ollie has impressed all of us with his mature attitude to his learning! What an excellent start to year 6 Ollie - well done! 

Friday 11th September 2020

Our first full week was busy in Kestrels class!

In literacy, we started to explore character descriptions in more detail. We analysed its features, learned about a range of figurative language and started to innovate our own character description. 

In maths, we have been learning about the place value of numbers up to 10 million including decimals. In R.E. we considered what Christians believe God is like and in PSHE we reflected on how to manage anxieties.

We delved a little deeper in to our History topic and started to discover who the ancient greeks were, when and where they lived as well as some of the significant things that they were responsible for. 

We trialed our first zoom lessons this week and were joined by three of our class who took part in our lessons from home! Thank you to them and we look forward to seeing you back in school soon!

We also had several reasons to celebrate as our new house captains and vice captains were appointed. Congratulations go to;

Red House Captain Ollie and Vice Captain Ruby 

Blue House Captain Ellie and Vice Captain Patrick

Green House Captain Tawny and Vice Captain Ruby

Yellow House Captain Mai and Vice Captain Taylor

 Kestrel Star of the week: We celebrated with Asa today who has had an amazing start to the year and has been impressing us with an incredible attitude to his learning - well done Asa!  

Friday 4th September 2020

What a great start back for Kestrel class. It was fantastic to welcome the children back to school and into our newly refurbished mobile. Everyone was extremely impressed and we are proud of our new working environment!

The first few days have been mainly focused on settling back into school life in its new format. It will take some getting used to, but so far the children have coped really well. They even took part in their first zoom assembly!

We completed some feelings snowflakes and compared how we all feel differently about what has happened and about returning to school. We also started our history topic for this term  ( Ancient Greece ) by starting to look at the gods that the Greeks worshiped and completed some water colour paintings of a selection of gods. We completed some assessments too, so that teaching can be targeted to support each child to move forward in their learning and finally  we had fun playing hockey.