We’ve arrived!!!

We have arrived safely and easily. We caught an earlier seacat crossing than planned and then ate our lunch in Ryde.

Now, we are at PGL! One group is doing fencing followed by Trapeze; the other group is doing the same two activities but in reverse.

The most exciting news, however, is that Mrs P managed to use the excuse of, ‘but I’m retiring soon, I’ve been coming here for years and years, and it would be such a treat!’ to alter breakfast time from 7.15 to 8.15. Whoop!!

Our evening meal is at 17.45 and then we have Laser Tag until 20.30.

Hopefully, everyone will feel completely worn out after that and ready to fall into a long, deep sleep very rapidly?!?!?!

We’ve arrived!!!

We have arrived safely and easily. We caught an earlier seacat crossing than planned and then ate our lunch in Ryde.

Now, we are at PGL! One group is doing fencing followed by Trapeze; the other group is doing the same two activities but in reverse.

The most exciting news, however, is that Mrs P managed to use the excuse of, ‘but I’m retiring soon, I’ve been coming here for years and years, and it would be such a treat!’ to alter breakfast time from 7.15 to 8.15. Whoop!!

Our evening meal is at 17.45 and then we have Laser Tag until 20.30.

Hopefully, everyone will feel completely worn out after that and ready to fall into a long, deep sleep very rapidly?!?!?!

Outdoor vectors

In readiness for D day, Year 6 were reminded of how to apply vectors to coordinates. Vectors give you instructions on whether to move up or down, left or right.

We then practised this outdoors for no real reason other than that it was a lovely sunny day and Miss Smith and Mrs Powell wanted to get outside into the sunshine. They need to fully recharge their batteries before their 72 hour duty next week!!

Little Lifesavers…

Year 6 were so lucky to have a visit from three lovely volunteers who work for the charity, Little Lifesavers, this week. We all learned some really important skills and are all going to check where the nearest defibrillators to our homes are now. Do you know where your nearest one is?

It’s all over…. And not just for another year!

A HUGE well done to Year 6. You absolutely worked you socks off this week and we are all so proud of you. It was a privilege to be in the hall with you, watching you all, heads down, beavering away… You have all made amazing progress and have done everything you could to show people what you can do.

it was quite a moment for me today telling you to ‘Now put your pencils down’ at the end of the final test. I have said those words so many times over the years. It was quite a strange feeling knowing that that was my last time but how chuffed I am that is was with you lovely lot! Well done. Xx

The final push…

SATs week is nearly upon us…. We are VERY prepared now and had a practice in the hall on Wednesday so that all the staff and children could experience what it’s going to be like next week. Year 6… you have NOTHING to worry about. Just go in and do your best, like you always do.

In the meantime, it’s going to be a boooootiful weekend so I hope you all get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Good luck to the Pearces who are taking part in a sponsored walk in Arundel on Sunday to raise money for the charity that helped care for lovely Max. If anyone would like to sponsor them, I am sure Emma P will happily provide details. It’s for a very, very good cause.

A lesson in kindness

We often chat in class about the need to be kind to others and, especially as the children will soon be starting at their new schools and meeting a huge range of new people, allowing everyone to have their say became a subject of discussion this week.

I told them that, when training to become a teacher, one of the really important lessons I had to learn was to give people the time ( indeed, the chance) to reply to questions, even it took them a little time to summon up the courage or to get their words in order before they spoke. I then showed them the following clip of the actor Michael Sheen being asked questions by a group of people. The clip, I believe, absolutely sums up the art of kindness and inclusion…. If the link doesn’t work, just google ‘Michael Sheen Leo’ …

https://youtu.be/n8-f07KT_jo?si=728Uz5NqE9p2V4wY

Chortle!

Although it is certainly true that Year Six are having to work very hard at the moment, we still have plenty of time for fun. The class were given some instructions to read and, like the fabulous, obedient people that they are, they followed those instructions precisely!! Sorry, Olivia and Eleanor… it was just so funny to watch!

Plaistow to Plaistow

Oh goodness, we have just had another wonderful visit to ‘the other Plaistow’ in London. Year 4 and Year 6 headed off by train and tube to see our friends at Plaistow Primary School, Newham. We had such fun meeting one another, seeing their lovely school and eating and playing together.

Personally, I find this trip provides the most heart-warming moments. We experience that initial feeling of being ‘different’, but then we realise we have so much in common and just want to make friends. We adults sometimes have so much to learn from children!

Thank you to all the brilliant parents who helped us make this trip such a success. We couldn’t do it without you!

Building bridges…. Literally!

Year 6 have been learning about different types of bridges and, today, have been given a challenge. In groups, they have been given 25 paper straws of 40cm in length, two large sheets of newspaper and 2m of masking tape.

They have then had to design and build a bridge long enough and strong enough to span a 40cm chasm! Later, we shall test them ( using weights) to see whose is the strongest!

Deluxe?!?!

Year 6 have been trying to perfect their instruction writing this week. We started off by writing a set of instructions to make a ‘deluxe sandwich’… This proved to be very interesting as only two people mentioned the use of a knife! We then followed one another’s instructions with disastrous results…. The photos give you an insight!

We then learnt how to improve our instruction writing, had another go and Mrs Powell felt very reassured that we didn’t in fact all come from homes where we spread butter with our hands!

Growl!

Year 6 have had great fun learning about the painting, Surprised, by Henri Rousseau. We have made leaf mobiles using a variety of artistic techniques, and then, inspired by Aboriginal art, we made tiger faces. They look fabulous. The class will be able to explain WHY we looked at Aboriginal art at our art gallery on Monday. Everyone has also written a haiku poem linked with the artwork. Well done, Year 6!

Arctic training

Year 6 started their Arctic training for their new Frozen Kingdom project today. We learnt that explorers pull tyres to replicate pulling their sledges across the ice fields. This helps them build up the strength and stamina needed for when they start their exploration.

Thanks to Mr Relf, we were able to use some big tyres to set up a relay in the playground. Some of us found it much easier than others ( I’m honestly not thinking of you, Miss IM!!).

We hope to tweak this experiment, using two or three tyres and working in teams! Our thigh muscles are going to get HUGE!!!

Bought v Homemade?!

In Year 6, we have been comparing the nutritional values, ingredients and taste/appearance of shop-bought v homemade whole meal bread. Homemade won on all counts ( although not quite a total landslide win - a few members of Y6 preferred the floppy shop-bought bread to the loaf made by Mrs P’s 89 year old parents!!). The most striking difference was in the number of ingredients - 15 for the purchased loaf compared to 5 for the homemade version!!

Recycling can be fun

Year 6 enjoyed spending time helping Letty sort our playground recycling bin into the various different types of materials to aid recycling. To calm down the various squeals, children wore gloves to help sort out the bin’s contents and they all worked really well together to separate all the different packets and wrappers. Thank you to Letty for giving your time freely.