SATs in May
The Key Stage 2 tests (commonly called SATs) are in May:
- Monday 14 May: English grammar, punctuation and spelling papers 1 and 2
- Tuesday 15 May: English reading
- Wednesday 16 May: Mathematics papers 1 and 2
- Thursday 17 May: Mathematics paper 3
New style National Curriculum tests were introduced in 2016. This video lasts around five minutes and gives you a useful overview of the tests.
As always, speak with us if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Be mindful
At this busy time of year, mindfulness can help children to take control of their emotions.
During our recent themed week, all children took part in mindfulness workshops to learn a variety of techniques to use at school and at home. Here’s a reminder of a few of them that might be useful for over the holidays. A mindfulness newsletter/parent guide will be sent out in the new year.
Breathing hug
Start with both arms in the air. Put one hand across your tummy and the other on your shoulder. Breath slowly in and out.
Breathing tree
In a standing position, raise your arms as you breath in and release your arms back down as you breath out.
‘Ok’ breathing
Make an ‘o’ sign on your tummy button to represent that it is ok to feel different emotions. Slowly breath in and out.
Mindfulness bottle
This is a bit like a snow globe. Shake it up and watch it. Simply watch the disturbance as it begins to settle – as does our mind.
Take a bottle, add glitter and food colouring and seal tightly.
Baking Gingerbread
We all had our final sessions in the kitchen this week making gingerbread but using no refined sugar. We substituted sugar for honey which, as a natural ingredient, is better for you.
Once we prepared everything and cooked it, we worked together to make fantastic gingerbread creations. Which is your favourite?
Year 5/6 new class novel
After the holidays, Year 5 and 6 will start a new class novel: The Boy in the Tower. Here’s the blurb to give you a sneaky peak.
When they first arrived, they came quietly and stealthily, as if they tiptoed into the world when we were all looking the other way.
Ade loves living at the top of a tower block. From his window, he feels like he can see the whole world stretching out beneath him.
But one day, other tower blocks start falling down around him. Strange, menacing plants begin to appear and no-one knows where they came from.
Now their tower isn’t safe anymore. Ade and his mum are trapped and there’s no way out…
Here are some reviews:
Carol Singing
Yesterday, Year 5 and 6 got into the Christmas spirit by performing some carols outside Marks & Spencer’s. We had a great time and raised some money for a charity at the same time. Thank you to all the parents who came to watch and all the members of the public who were generous enough to donate some spare change.
Road Safety Pantomime ‘The Gift of Life’
Yesterday, all pupils watched this lighthearted show that delivered important road safety messages.
Pupils joined Santa and Rudolf as they travelled back in time to prevent young Neil Downe from being knocked down. Whilst being fun and interactive, the pantomime covered the following road safety themes:
- the Green Cross Code
- seat belts
- be bright, be seen
- safer cycling
Ask your child about the performance and what messages they took away.
Fantastic creative maths
I was really impressed with the Creative Homework this week. There were all sorts of great ways to shows when and how we convert measures, many of which we’re going to keep in class for the children to use during lessons.
Spelling homework this week
We were practising homophones this week and so tried to write homophone groups into one sentence. Here are some good examples of the children’s work.
After Christmas, when children are given a list of words to learn, it is important that the practice they do in their books is regular. Completing a page of ‘practice’ in one night won’t help them to learn these spellings. I’ll be asking the children to date their practice with a signature from an adult to show that they’re practising little and often throughout the week rather than all in one go.
Allerton Grange Trip
Today, Year 6 visited Allerton Grange School to do some PE. Basketball, football and shot put were the sports we played. We developed lots of skills: dribbling and shooting for basketball; passing, control and communication for football; and accuracy for shot put.
Written by Pippa.
Community Homework
Last week’s homework was to show that we know what community is. We really enjoyed looking at this work as there were all sorts of different pieces to enjoy.
