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Smart School Council in Year 4
This week we looked at whether technology can be a help or a hindrance when learning. The children used their talk tokens to discuss this issue and did so in a very mature way. It was lovely to hear all of points and great to see turn taking and listening intently even whilst challenging their peers.
What’s Your Question? Year 3 Celebrates British Science Week 2026
Year 3 officially launched British Science Week with an "out-of-this-world" experience! Our budding scientists dived into a 'Horrible Histories; Science Live Lesson, joined by Grace Webb, 'The Rapping Science Teacher' Matt Green, and legendary astronaut Tim Peake. Together, we investigated the mysteries of light energy and our solar system, separating "science fact" from "science fiction. Inspired by this year’s theme, ‘Curiosity: What’s your question?’, the classrooms became hubs of oracy and debate. Pupils took centre stage to practice speaking and listening. The children then had questions of their own. How does the Moon stay in the sky? What does space actually smell like? What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for just one second? We also turned our curiosity inward, creating Time Capsules in a Jar to capture who we are now and who we hope to become by the end of the year. It’s been a fantastic start to a week of big questions and even bigger ideas! What’s your question?
World Book Week Showcase
Year 4 have had a wonderful World Book Week and to celebrate we have decided to showcase our best parts in a display outside Year 4. We have included pic collages that highlight our webinar with the author James Fox, The Pinocchio Workshop, learning a piece of text by heart and our fantastic World Book Day Celebrations. We have also included our bag packs which we could take with us into the Amazon in order to survive. This was linked to our favourite class novel - The Explorer by Katherine Rundell. We were so shocked to see Katherine also appear on our World Book Day interactive worship yesterday and it was a lovely surprise! What a week we have had!
World Book Day Oracy Worship
What a fantastic morning we had celebrating World Book Day! Children from Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 came together for a special Oracy Talk Assembly, where the hall was filled with the sound of meaningful discussion. Working in trios, the children were challenged to dive deep into their love of literature by sharing their favourite books and characters, providing thoughtful "whys" for their choices. The energy peaked during a fascinating debate on whether reading gives you a "superhero power." After some deep exploration, the children concluded that reading truly is a superpower; they decided it makes you incredibly clever and has the unique ability to expand your imagination beyond the classroom. Mrs. Wilkinson was immensely impressed by the level of maturity and respect on display. It was a "super" oracy worship, with children across the three year groups demonstrating excellent communication skills by taking turns and listening intently to one another. It was wonderful to see our youngest learners not only celebrating stories but also developing the confidence to articulate their ideas with such clarity and enthusiasm.
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World Book Day Worship with Key Stage 2
World Book Day Worship with Key Stage 2. Todays session started with a WBD quiz from Primary League Primary Stars in association with WBD. We completed the quiz in our classrooms and it had a football focus. An example question was - Which Premier League club does the current Wales men’s national team captain, Harry Wilson, play for? A mix of authors and footballers asked the questions with Katherine Randell who wrote Year 4’s class novel ~ The Explorer asking question six. The children absolutely loved the interactive quiz and worked to support each other in answering the football heavy questions. What a super way to kick off our World book Day Celebrations and celebrate The National Year of Reading. We finished with Ben and Alex who told us about the ‘Go All In’ challenge which we look forward to taking part in.
World Book Day in Year 4
World Book Day in Year 4. We have absolutely loved World Book Week, but we have especially enjoyed World Book Day today. When Year 4 entered the classroom today they were shocked to see a jungle, cave, sloths galore, planes that had crashed and fierce piranhas in the river! The theme of our WBD and the whole week was based on the class novel that the children read back in Autumn Term - The Explorer by Katherine Randell. The children loved the story and this is why we decided to go back to the Amazon Rainforest. After taking part in the WBD quiz this morning, the children completed various challenges and whilst this was going on we had a ‘ Stop, Drop and Read’ session where children were picked to stop whatever they were doing and make their way into the cave to read and enjoy the biscuits and juice. It was lovely to see the children using our Jungle area enthusiastically and sensibly, showing their love for reading. In our PE session, the children had to go on a hunt for all of our past class novels using their orienteering skills. Again, they did this brilliantly with great big smiles on their faces. Finally, to finish off the day we played ‘ Guess the Teacher ‘ where we shared slides with photos of a teacher reading but their faces were covered with their favourite books. It was so much fun!
Year 2 - World Book Day
In Year 2, we used our oracy skills when we shared some stories and discussed our thoughts and feelings about different books.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: Zoom Call
This week, the Year 4 class had the opportunity to meet their link class from St Matthew’s in Blackburn via a Zoom call. The call began with a brief introduction and a chance to share some Makaton/Sign Supported English they had learned. Together, the children from both classes laughed and played games. They also asked and answered curiosity questions, such as, ‘What after school clubs does your school offer?’ Or, ‘What’s your favourite book, and why?’ It was great to meet our link class and to see who we sent our identity maps to.
Year 4 - English: Recital
The children are definitely enjoying our current class novel, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter. In this lesson, the children had to practise reading and reciting a paragraph from the story. They used symbols and actions to help them remember the words in each sentence, and they rehearsed 4 or 5 times before the text was removed and only the symbols remained. The children then performed the paragraph with actions and using their symbols to help them remember the words. This will help them to develop the inner voice of an author, ready for writing their own paragraph based on this one.
Year 4 - World Book Day Hook
The children are really looking forward to World Book Day, especially following this survival kit activity based on our first class novel, The Explorer. We watched the news report of the plane crash from 2023, in which 4 children ended up stranded in the Colombian jungle. The children instantly recognised the similarities between the incident and the events of The Explorer. Following this the children spent time in groups, using their talk tokens and debating the four most important items to pack in their rucksack for their survival. Each group had a brilliant discussion about why some things are more essential than others and how important it is to meet basic needs first. The children are going to love the activities planned for Year 4 for World Book Day.
Year 6 - Macbeth Commentary
Today, Year 6 focused on developing their oracy skills through an engaging sports commentary task. The children explored how to use pitch, tone, pace and purposeful pauses to build suspense and engage an audience, just like professional commentators. Applying these techniques to their English learning, they created a live-style commentary of Macbeth being crowned king in Macbeth. The children carefully considered how their voices could reflect the atmosphere of the moment — from the tension leading up to the crowning to the dramatic announcement itself. They then performed their commentaries to the class, confidently embodying their roles as commentators. It was fantastic to see them experimenting with expression, projection and timing to bring their writing to life, demonstrating both creativity and growing confidence in their speaking and listening skills.
Year 5 - English
Having completed our persuasive letters promoting Fair Trade products, the children had the opportunity to read their letters out loud. The aim was to be as persuasive as possible, using techniques learned from famous speeches of Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King. The children considered how language choice, repetition, pauses, volume and body language can engage an audience and convince people of your argument.