Year 3- Science-Exploring how a vertebrate’s skeleton provides support and protection.
In Science today, the children explored how a vertebrate’s skeleton provides support and protection while allowing for movement. Building on their skills from previous years, they used online quizzes to test their knowledge and check their understanding. They were particularly fascinated to discover that even a snake has a spine, finding it very interesting to see how such a long, flexible animal is still classified as a vertebrate!
Year 6 - Photography
Year 6 had an amazing opportunity to get hands-on with photography, exploring miniature photography using cameras. With the help and support from DACA High School, the children experimented with blurred backgrounds and focusing techniques, learning how to use camera angles, perspective and depth of field to make their Lego figures interact creatively with the world around them. The session encouraged creativity, teamwork and technical skills and the children loved learning all about the world of photography. Thanks Mr Lewis!
Friday Celebration Worship
This week’s Celebration Worship was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the many achievements, experiences and values shown across our school community. We began by celebrating some exciting learning opportunities, including an inspiring author visit and our worships which encouraged our children to think deeply about fairness and injustice through discussions around the Holocaust and what it means to be treated unfairly. We also celebrated the success of our clubs, with Foodie Club, Drama Club, and Doodle and Dance providing fantastic opportunities for creativity, confidence and teamwork. Alongside this, pupils were praised for taking part in the January Reading Challenge, sharing their favourite books and enjoying reading in their favourite places. We then celebrated our values awards, recognising pupils who have demonstrated our school values in their everyday actions. Ronan was awarded the Reception value award, while Albie received the Year 1 values award, Elsie the Year 2 award, Charlie G the Year 3 award, Bindi the Year 4 award, Peyton the Year 5 award and Matthew the Year 6 award. These children were recognised for being excellent role models to others, always following our 4B’s and working hard. Team values were also celebrated, with Whitehall Park coming in fourth place, Darwen Tower in third place, India Mill in second place and River Darwen taking first place. Well done to all teams for showing cooperation, respect and determination. We were incredibly proud to celebrate a wide range of sporting and extracurricular achievements. Ava was awarded a medal and trophy for achieving second place in acro dancing, while Alice received a medal for coming first in a cheerleading competition. Zachary was awarded a Rocksteady certificate for his drumming, and Thea received a certificate for her hard work on the bars in gymnastics. Charlie G was awarded a trophy for martial arts, with Isabelle also receiving a trophy for being a winter champion in martial arts. Lyla was awarded medals for acro, Erin received a cheerleading certificate for Cheerleader of the Week and Phoebe was awarded both a trophy and certificate at a dancing competition. Mason received a certificate for jumping into the water with his coach, Chester was awarded Squirrel of the Week, and Jack received swimming certificates for swimming a metre butterfly, 25m front crawl, back crawl and breaststroke. We also celebrated Lilly and Sophia, who attended a red-carpet event for their acting school, with Lilly proudly featured on screen as Annie. Attendance was celebrated, with Year 3 achieving an outstanding 100% attendance, and well done also to Year 2 for their continued efforts. We shared some important reminders, including National Storytelling Week, where parents and grandparents are invited to come into school to read in classes. Thank you to those who volunteered! Reception Stay and Play next Wednesday and Dress to Express will take place on the 13th of February. We also reminded pupils that Kids with Bricks Club will be running in Spring 2 and Summer 1. We ended our Celebration Worship with thoughtful prayers led by Charlie and Ava, bringing the whole school together to reflect on gratitude, kindness and our shared values. It was a joyful celebration of achievement, effort and community spirit.
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Year 3- Art-Express Yourself: The Tie-Dye Gallery
The highlight of our week has definitely been seeing the Year 3 artists' tie-dye T-shirts finally finished, and they look absolutely stunning! After spending time earlier in the term thinking about their own personalities and what makes them unique, the children used their mood boards to choose colours that really represent who they are. We've been talking a lot about the aesthetic of their designs, how the different colours and shapes come together to create a specific "vibe" or look. From bright, bold circles to more muted, marble-effect designs, every single shirt is totally different. The children have done such a great job creating a unique style that is completely their own, and they should be so proud of what they’ve made.
Year 3 - P.E- Gymnastics-Pencil Rolls and Teddy Bears
In P.E., we started with our favourite warm-up dance, which the children always love and get really involved in! We then moved onto our mats to practice different ways of rolling. The children worked on their egg rolls, pencil rolls, and teddy bear rolls, focusing on keeping their bodies tight and tucked. We also challenged ourselves to "rock to stand" and practised smooth transitions to move in and out of balances with flow. It was great to see partners evaluating each other and giving helpful tips on how to improve. We ended the session with a much-needed cool down to relax our muscles.
Year 3 - English-Adapting Stories into Play Scripts
This week in English, we have been exploring playscripts. To help us understand how to tell a story through dialogue and action, we have been watching two short films that have no dialogue at all: The Little Shoemaker and Soar. Today, we worked together as a class to adapt The Little Shoemaker into a script. We practised turning the characters' expressions and actions into spoken lines and stage directions. It was a great way to see how we can give characters a "voice" on the page! Next week, the children will take everything they have learned to write their very own scripts for the film Soar. Once their scripts are finished, they will get to perform them for the rest of the class!
Year 6 - What can we learn from a Census?
Today, Year 6 focused on what we can learn from a census. The children observed the 1851 Royal Census and carefully analysed the information recorded, including names, ages, occupations and places of birth. The children discussed how historians use census data as a primary source to build an understanding of daily life in the past.
Year 6 - Gymnastics
Today, Year 6 began their new gymnastics unit, focusing on partner balancing. The children explored a range of paired balances using different body shapes, levels and points of contact. They worked safely and cooperatively, developing strength, stability and control while communicating clearly with their partner.
Year 4 - English: For or Against Deforestation?
This week in Year 4, we started our new English topic on debate texts and the children learned some facts about deforestation. First, they recorded a fact they learned from the video and decided if it was an argument for or against. They then worked in groups to consider whether the printed statements were arguments for or against. The children will be working up to writing their own debate texts, forming a balanced argument.
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
Our Whole School Celebration Worship was led by Rev Ben this morning. We looked at the Bible story which focused on Jesus calling His team to see what super powers he needed to help him. Christian’s believe that Jesus is the number one King of the Universe,but His team were pretty ordinary. Although the team continued to make mistakes, Jesus still loved and cared for them. This helps Christians to have courage to overcome fear. As always, we started with a challenge and needed seven volunteers who were good at acting. We were thinking about superheroes and the children had to mime a super power whilst the other children had to guess what it was. Callie, Mason, Matthew, Desmond, Sofia, Eleanor and Harry all did a treat job and it was very entertaining! We then discussed the Bible story and what sort of people Jesus chose and what difference it makes to know that God can still use people who don’t have super powers to help him.
Year 4 - Using causal conjunctions
As part of our English lessons we have continued to build on our for and against points. Today we looked at the main argument followed by how to develop the argument and then its effect - what the effect of deforestation has on the subject. The children tried really hard to use a range of causal conjunctions and extend their arguments further.
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Year 4 - Smart School Council
We were practising using our talk tokens in our Smart School Council session this week. The debate was about our favourite way to spend February half term. After a great discussion with some compelling arguments, the second most popular vote was for spending time with family, but the overall winner was having fun with friends.