Plaistow - Plaistow

On Thursday we visited our twin school, Plaistow Primary in London. Luck was on our side as despite all the previous trains from Billingshurst to Victoria being cancelled ours wasn’t and we got seats! We enjoyed playing cards, drawing and looking at the sights as we made our way to London. Once in Victoria we took the underground to Upton Park and then had a short walk in the sun to Plaistow Primary. We split into two groups and played some ice breaker games with the year six children there, we were surprised to find that they had been reading Kensuke’s Kingdom, just like we had! At 12:30 everyone went out to play - their playground was huge- before enjoying a delicious lunch. Next it was a quick walk to the market to buy some bling, sweets and lip gloss. All the essentials! We a nice trip back on the train enjoying our sweets and bumping into a retired couple who used to go to Plaistow and Kirdford, back when it was two schools! The children enjoyed chatting to them about what the schools had been like and telling the couple what they were like now. The whole trip was a fantastic experience for the children and I am very grateful to all the parent volunteers who enabled it to happen.

Music

I couldn’t post last week as we had no internet on Friday but better late than never! In music last week year six were tasked with creating a piece of music to accompany a film of a rocket taking off, flying through space and landing on the moon. They could choose their instrument and use body percussion too. They performed their piece to the rest of the class and I was very impressed with their imagination, confidence and musical talent.

Weald Book Awards

Year Six Book Club culminated in the Weald Book Awards this week. The group have been inspired by the books they have read and taken part in a variety of competitions from designing new characters and front covers, to trailers for the book. They have competed each task to an exceptionally high standard and it has encouraged them to look at books from different perspectives and understand and appreciate them all the more for it. At the awards ceremony the children met two of the authors and were able to ask them questions and other authors joined virtually to describe their journey to becoming published authors and give tips to those wishing to follow in their footsteps. Watch this space…

Swag family visit

We were delighted to be joined by the Swag family on Monday. They told the whole school about their adventure cycling around the world. It was very inspiring and year six felt very particularly proud when Wilfie and Hope joined our class. We have a world map in the class on which we have plotted the journey of Michael from our class book, ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’, we have now added Wilfie and Hope’s journey and will continue to follow them online to add to it. We wish them all the best in their continued travels.

Wonderful World Book Day

We had a fabulous day celebrating books. Mrs Ashton-Smith had set our classroom up as a book cafe, with each table having books of a different genre. We went to each table and chose the book we’d most like to read based on the front cover and the one we’d most like to read based on the blurb on the back. We justified our opinions and discussed them with friends, before choosing our favourite genre. Afterwards, we read our favourite books outside in the sun and built an epic den so that we could read to our Reception Class buddies in it after lunch.

A great start to a Friday...

Finally, it’s our turn for Forest School! We had a fantastic morning in the woods, all taking part in different self-directed activities. We can’t wait to go again!

Art week!

Having learnt about environmental artists we decided to have a go ourselves! We wanted to raise awareness about the amount of plastic waste going in the oceans, in the hope that it would encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle. I’m so impressed with their creativity!

Shadows, debates and games!

Another busy week in Badger Class!

In science the class investigated whether a shadow is the same shape as the object casting it. They made a prediction, identified the independent, control and dependent variables, conducted an experiment of their own design and then reviewed their results.

In English we had a debate about whether or not people should be allowed to climb Everest. We will be writing balanced arguments about this next week.

A highlight of the week was playing games in the Hall as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. The children had time to play as a class and then supported and played with their buddies in Robins Class.

The Dreadful Menace

Year six have produced some fantastic writing this week. Using the poem ‘The Dreadful Menace’ and the trailer for the 2014 Winter Olympics as inspiration, they wrote a description of climbing Mount Everest. They are really challenging themselves with their vocabulary and through their detailed description of senses and emotions have developed a fantastic connection with the reader. I had chills down my spine reading them.

Are your ears ringing?

Huge thanks to Mrs Chase for arranging and leading a bell ringing lesson for year six on Monday. The class loved having the chance to ring a huge bell and programme a computer to create their own bell ringing tune. Much fun was had by all and it was lovely to be able to give the children a new experience.

Lighting up our learning!

In Geography we used torches to demonstrate why The Arctic and Antarctica have Polar days and nights. We also used the torches in science to prove that the Law of Reflection was correct!

Merry Christmas

I am so proud of everyone in Badger Class for how caring and kind they are with their buddies. Today was another perfect example of that. They read stories to their buddy and then played with them, helping build train tracks, towers and all sorts. Both Reception and Year Six children were excited to see their buddy and spend time together and it was really heartwarming to see. The most important thing you can be is kind and they certainly are. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

The best week EVER!

We’ve been very creative this week! In art we painted our Maya masks and have taken them home to terrorise show our families.

In French we used fake blood and face paint to give ourselves realistic looking injuries, then role played doctors and patients.

In D.T. we cooked Maya food; tortillas, sweet potato, salsa and guacamole. We also tried hot chocolate- Maya style, by adding cinnamon and chilli. Most of us tried something we’d never had before and we all enjoyed the majority of the dishes. HUGE thanks to the parents that helped.

6th December 2024

In D.T., year six used their science knowledge from their electricity topic to help them design intruder alarms. Having drawn circuit diagrams and annotated sketches of their sensor, they made a prototype and tested it in the art cupboard. After some alterations and adaptations to their designs, everyone was successful. It was great to see different approaches, from using the door handle or hinges as triggers, to the weight of intruders.

29th November

This week we found out that the Maya used masks for events, battle and even after death! We looked at their inspiration (often animals) and the bright colours they used, before designing our own. We had great fun making our masks from clay and can’t wait for them to dry so we can paint them next week.

22nd November 2024

Year six have been learning about perspective in art. This is a tricky skill to master and required lots of patience and determination. I was blown away by their finished pieces.

Anyone for a game of Pok-ta-Pok?

Over the last two weeks year six have learnt the history of the ancient Maya ball game Pok-ta-Pok. They’ve played it (without the sacrifices) and written some fabulous instructions to enable others to play too. Are you brave enough? Here are some of their instructions….

Our London visitors

Year 6 were excited to welcome back our friends from Plaistow Primary School in London to our school this week.

As the weather was looking decidedly unsummery, we had to juggle the order of activities so, after a quick getting-to-know-you session, we cracked on with making s’mores and lighting the fire together. We then took a stroll to the shop (‘Is that the ONLY shop?’) before having fun on the village green together.

Then, it was back to school for lunch and a play together before they headed off to PGL for their residential.

It was absolutely lovely to see everyone playing so nicely together. Year 6 behaved fabulously and I’m incredibly proud of them for being so welcoming.

Bikeability

On Monday this week, Year 6 had their first cycling session from the WSCC Bikeability trainers. Children used the playground all day and then, for the rest of the week, went out in small groups onto the roads around Plaistow.

Well done, Year 6… you did really well and were sensible whilst listening to instructions.

Bikeability

On Monday this week, Year 6 had their first cycling session from the WSCC Bikeability trainers. Children used the playground all day and then, for the rest of the week, went out in small groups onto the roads around Plaistow.

Well done, Year 6… you did really well and were sensible whilst listening to instructions.