Living & Learning: democracy
This week in L&L, we’ve been focusing on one of our British Values – democracy. Democracy means that power is in the hands of the people.
The word democracy comes from Greek:
- dêmos – people
- krátos – power/rule
We’ve learnt about democracy in our country and how this works. The children were really interested in learning about the central and local government and the roles of political parties. We also discussed how we’re involved in democratic decisions at school:
We get to vote for how we use our reward time.
We get to vote for our JLT in school.
At the start of the year we got to vote for the name of our class reward points.
Democracy is important. We spoke about some reasons why…
- Law and order – we have laws that are created by and voted on by MPs we elect. We all have to follow them as they help keep us all safe.
- Freedom of speech – we have the right to say what we think about something as long as we do not say anything hurtful to others.
- Equality – living in a democracy helps us to treat each other fairly and equally.
Help at home: watch this video (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z76gr2p#zbxddp3) and discuss democracy in the UK.
Living and Learning: I know what democracy is.
During our Living and Learning lesson this week, we discussed…
- the British values
- how democracy is important
- how democracy is precious and what life would be like without it
Democracy means ‘rule by the people’.
In a democracy, like the UK, the people elect the government and have a say in how it is run.
They do this by voting in elections.
We watched this video which explains democracy in a clear and concise way: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z76gr2p#zbxddp3
At school, the children participate in votes and elections:
- voting for the Junior Leadership Team
- voting for class rewards
- voting for the new school charity
Help at home by finding out some facts about democracy in the UK.
Welcome back Year 1 – How our first day back went.
Welcome back Year 1! After a lovely Christmas / new year break our Year 1s are back and eager to get going with our half term. They have had a really productive day today, showing off their maths, phonics and reading skills. Some have definitely been practising over the break, well done!
In maths today the year 1s learnt about shape and revisited number formation (it’s always beneficial to revisit our learning, especially after a break). They really impressed us with their number formation, some even managed to go up to 100! Our Year 1s also did a great job working with 2D shapes in class, identifying and discussing each shape.
Fire and ice
Spring term after-school clubs
UPDATE
The following clubs have availability and can still be booked.
The after-school clubs for next term will be available for booking on Monday 29th December ready to start w/c 12 January.
We hope your child/children can get involved with our extra-curricular activities. We will update you with club availability after the holidays.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the after-school clubs.
Topic: art sculptures
Year 3 finished of the half term with creating their sculptures using the skills they’ve practised.
They’re abstract sculptures because they’re made up of shape, line and colour. They look fantastic and the children were very independent when creating them.
Here are some photos:
Help at home by discussing what type of colours they used.
Winter Wonderland Cards and 2026 Calendars
As this term comes to a close, we have been making winter wonderland cards and 2026 calendars. SURPRISE adults at home! They have created some brilliant ones.
We hope you all have a lovely break and can’t wait to see everyone refreshed in the New Year!
Wriggly Nativity
We hope you enjoyed our production of the Wriggly Nativity. The children have worked so hard to learn lines, practice songs, dances and all the moving on and off stage. They have all done a great job!
Here are some of the cast.
Narrators
May and Joseph
Wise men
Innkeepers
Shepherds
Angels
Stars
Autumn 2: Week 7
What a busy final week we’ve had in Reception! We’re so proud of all the Reception children for their fantastic singing — they’re all shining stars. Thank you to everyone who came to watch. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
On Monday, your child should have brought home a bag of reindeer food. The food is environmentally friendly. It is made from bird seed, porridge oats and sultanas. Don’t forget to sprinkle it outside on Christmas Eve for the hungry reindeers to enjoy.
Yesterday, we had lots of fun using the Christmas photobooth.
Things you could be doing to support learning over the Christmas holidays:
- Continue to read your eBooks together.
- Practise saying and writing the Phase 2 graphemes. Use the Little Wandle letter formation phrases to help.
- Practise reading all of the Phase 2 tricky words in your red phonics home-learning book.
- To support counting, involve your child in setting the table — How many forks? How many knives?
- To support fine motor skills, encourage your child to help an adult cut up vegetables.
- To support communication and language, make sure you have daily chats with your child. Regular interactions help to develop language skills.
Finally, we hope you have a happy and healthy break. Enjoy spending some quality time with friends and family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of the Reception Team!
We’re artists!
This week, Year 4 finished their Wassily Kandinsky inspired sculptures. We used our concentric circles, skewers and strips of black card to create these. They turned out incredibly – I was so impressed with how effective they looked. Here are some of your children’s creations…
Help at home: over the Christmas break, have a go at creating some Napaltjarri or Kandinsky inspired artwork. Think about line, colour, shape and composition.