💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 4 💡

week ending 30th January 2026

The children have been so enthusiastic about our poem focus this term in English that they left me this Kenning Poem to read. I was extremely impressed with their choice of words as we have been working hard on choosing words that create imagery. Can you guess what Year 4 are describing in their Kenning Poem?

English - We have been learning about Haiku and Kenning poems. Haiku poems are poems that have three lines and they have to have 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line and 5 syllables in the third line. Haiku poems do not rhyme but they do describe something without naming it. Kenning poems are poems that have two words on each line and are sometimes separated with a hyphen. Kenning poems use powerful verbs and adjectives to create a picture in the reader's mind. On Thursday 29th January, we wrote a Kenning poem on the board. Good luck trying to guess the animal!

Science - We have been learning about materials and their different states. We have conducted experiments to test if liquids can be compressed and change shape and we have also investigated whether the temperature of water had an effect on how quickly ice cubes melted. In our most recent experiment, we dipped our fingers into water of different temperatures to see how long the water took to evaporate. We have also discussed the condensation process.

Maths - We've been looking at multiplication and division. We have learnt how to use column method for multiplication, and this helped us when we down a trail around the classroom looking at word problems.

World Religion Day - On Monday 19th January we celebrated World Religion Day, and we learnt about 6 different religions. We also looked at shared human values and created a rainbow display.

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 3 💡

week ending 23rd January 2026

Art

"Over the last three weeks, we have been learning about abstract art in our lessons. Last week, we learnt how to build 2D shapes into 3D abstract sculptures. We worked in small groups to build and create together. Each group tried to make their sculpture stand up high! This week we are going to sketch our sculptures, by looking carefully at the shapes that we have made".

World Religion Day

"On Monday we all celebrated World Religion Day. In Year 3, we learnt about different religious symbols. We enjoyed going on a treasure hunt for symbols outside. We also, traced our hands to make a Tree of Respect with the whole school. We created a collage to represent peace in our world".

Written by Tilly and Leo in Class 3

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 2 💡

week ending 16th January 2026

As part of the Geography learning, Year 2 have been exploring our wonderful world! The children used atlases and Google Earth to locate the United Kingdom, identifying the four countries and their capital cities. They were fascinated to see how places look from above and enjoyed comparing maps with real-life images. 

The class then sorted different landmarks and places into whether they were human or physical features. Using Google Maps, the children located these features and carefully placed them on their maps in the correct country. This helped them to understand how natural and man-made features are spread across the UK. 

Building on this learning, Year 2 went on to explore a world map, identifying famous landmarks and matching them to the correct countries and continents. The children showed great curiosity and enthusiasm as they developed their map skills and knowledge of the world around them.

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 1 💡

week ending 12th December 2025

In Design and Technology, Year 1 have been busy becoming mini engineers! We began the unit by exploring balance and stability, trying out different poses to see which felt the most and least stable. The children discovered that structures with a narrow base wobble more easily, while those with a wider base stand much more firmly.

Using this new understanding, the class built their own towers and investigated how different shapes can affect stability. They experimented with tall, thin towers, wider towers and even towers with unusual shapes, carefully observing which ones stood steady and which ones toppled quickly.

This week, we looked at real-life structures and found out how basketball hoops stay upright. The children loved making their own model hoops using straws, masking tape and pipe cleaners. They tested out different ways to improve stability by adding weights in various places and were excited to see how even a small change could make a big difference.

With all this learning under their belts, Year 1 have now begun designing their own stable pencil pots, thinking carefully about how to keep them sturdy and useful. They can’t wait to start making them next week—and we can’t wait to see their fantastic creations!

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year R 💡

week ending 5th December 2025

This week the children have been reading the story of ‘The Tiger who came to tea’. We have completed many activities around this including story boards, designing their own tea pot and designing their own meals that they would feed the tiger in hope to fill him up!

In Maths we have been learning about shapes with 4 sides, discussing their properties and similarities and differences.

“A rectangle has two long sides and two short sides” – Joel

“A square is different to a rectangle because their 4 sides are all the same” – Delilah

We then used these shapes, with others we’ve learnt previously to make our own pictures!

We have been junk modelling their own houses in DT. Thank you to all of the grownups who brought in recycling for the children to use for this. We had some great imagination and creative thinking being used to select appropriate materials to cut, stick and join together to make different part! I hope these have been thoroughly enjoyed and have a special place at home! 😊

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 6 💡

week ending 21st November 2025

In our English lessons this week, Year 6 have started a new unit on ‘Suspense Story writing’. The children have started looking at an extract from a story, which demonstrates building up the tension and atmosphere for the reader. We began by looking at the style and language used which makes the reader feel ‘uneasy’… but in a good way!  Within this, we continue to learn writing skills- including expanded noun phrases and prepositional phrases.

Already, the children are showing their interest in the new unit and are eager to start writing their own suspense stories to make their reader desperate to find out what happens in their own stories!

In Maths, we have been learning all about fractions: simplifying fractions, improper fractions, mixed numbers, equivalent fractions, adding fractions, subtracting fractions … Lots of practice has helped the children to master these necessary skills and we have been impressed of the children’s new knowledge!

 As part of our Science lessons, our class have been learning how to accurately draw circuits. The children have been using scientific symbols to represent the components and improved their knowledge of what a circuit needs to work.

During our P.E lessons, the children have continued to work on their football skills. This includes working on their agility, co-ordination, ball control and team building. We may even have some future 'Lionesses' and 'England players' present!

The biggest, most memorable, most impressive part of our week in year 6, has to be the performance as part of Tendring’s Junior Ambassador Project. The children have been practising their performance for the last few weeks and Wednesday was the performance! Any spare few minutes (not that we have many spare minutes in Year 6) have been spent perfecting singing and playing of instruments.

💡Class Highlight of the week - Year 5 💡

week ending 14th November 2025

In literacy, we have been exploring non-chronological reports. The children have been investigating the key features of this writing style and focusing on important grammatical elements such as relative clauses and using IPSACE to help structure their fronted adverbials. They have really enjoyed identifying examples in texts and applying these techniques to their own writing.

This week in maths, our focus has been on squared and cubed numbers. The children took part in a practical investigation to find and create as many squared and cubed numbers as they could. Using blocks was a fantastic way to help them visualise what a cubed number looks like in real life.

Towards the end of last term, we finally had some sunshine, which meant the children could take their handmade sundials outside. I hope they enjoyed finishing these off over the half term and testing how well they worked!

This term we are continuing our exploration of space, with our current focus on gravity. The children have learnt about the work of scientist Isaac Newton and carried out their own experiment to test whether the mass of an object affects the strength of gravity acting on it.

During PSHE week, we focused on the topic of bullying and explored the important idea of being an upstander—someone who stands up for others rather than staying silent. Some children took part in a short drama to show how people can sometimes become bystanders and fail to help those being bullied. Each child then created their own Upstander Pledge, describing the ways they will take action to support others and stand up against bullying in the future.

Today, to celebrate Children in Need, we explored some Pudsey-themed maths problems to highlight the importance of this special charity day. The children also took part in creative activities, including decorating Pudsey banners and completing Pudsey puzzles.

💡 Class Highlight of the week - Year 4 💡

week ending 7th November 2025

This week, Year 4 began their brand-new Science unit all about electricity and circuits! Today, we explored how electrical appliances are powered and sorted them into two groups: mains-powered and battery-powered.

The highlight of the lesson? Acting out a real-life circuit outside! One child became the battery, another was the bulb, and we passed around multilink cubes to represent voltage—showing how energy eventually runs out. There was lots of laughter and learning as everyone worked together to bring circuits to life.

Outdoor learning was a huge success, and we can’t wait to keep the energy flowing in our next lesson.

Class 4 also kicked off their exciting DT project: mechanical cars! The challenge was to design and build a prototype car, then put it to the test.

After carefully constructing their models, the real fun began—testing them outside on a ramp to see how far and fast they could go! There were cheers, laughter, and plenty of problem-solving as the children experimented with different designs.

The class absolutely loved the experience and are already buzzing with ideas for next week’s session. We can’t wait to see how their projects develop!