In Spanish, the Reception children reinforced their understanding of the numbers one to ten and were introduced to the basic vocabulary of colours. The aim was to engage them in recognising, pronouncing and using the colours and numbers in a fun, interactive way through songs, flashcards and a hands-on colouring activity. As a result, the children improved their memory recall of numbers and began associating colours with their corresponding Spanish words, with the activities fostering engagement, language development and a sense of accomplishment as they successfully completed tasks.

Sergio Heredia Rodriguez, Reception Class Spanish Teacher

Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed being back in the woods after the summer holidays. Working together to pool and underscore their knowledge, the children began by reminding themselves, and their teachers, of the all-important forest school rules. Once familiar with the rules for staying safe, the children took it in turns to cut up fresh apples – with careful supervision from the adults – before they were piled into a skillet and stewed over the campfire. While waiting for their tasty treat, the children made full use of their outdoor space, working on woodland tasks such as collecting sticks for the fire, hunting for minibeasts and building dens.

Hannah Feery, Year 1 Class Teacher

With their autumn term topic of ‘Fabulous Forests’ and their curiosity of the natural world in mind, Year 2 took an exciting trip to the New Forest Wildlife Park. Gaining an amazing insight into the life of native and non-native species, the children gleaned a wealth of fascinating facts from wildlife experts, discovering the importance of forests in providing essential habitats for so many animals. Year 2 observed and learnt facts about harvest mice, badgers, foxes and hedgehogs, several species of deer and wallabies, as well as the more elusive Scottish wildcat, pine martens, river and sea otters, wild boar, wolves and European bison. Mesmerised by the size of some of the owls, including the European eagle owl with its incredulous two-metre wingspan, the children also learnt about animals’ diets, their prey and predators, as well as how to help conserve these species.

Shirley Jervis, Year 2 Class Teacher

Year 3 demonstrated their creative skills when acting out scenes depicting people hunting from our class text ‘Stone Age Boy’. After getting into character, collecting verbs and adverbs linked to the different activities on a hunting trip, they were asked to explain what they were doing in the scene. With a focus on using varied and rich language, there was an abundance of adverbs deployed to describe the action which they then impressively used in their writing.

Henrietta Platt, Y3 Class Teacher

‘Have you practised your scales?’ may be a familiar question to many who learnt instruments as children. Year 5 are learning a variety of scales and how they can be useful in a composer’s toolkit. This week, the children worked on the whole tone scale and used it to create a magical piece for a fairy godmother’s entrance onto the pantomime stage. The children had to compose a piece using music creation software GarageBand that incorporated the scale notes in ascending order, played in on the keyboard, and add an accompaniment they made up themselves or by using loops.

Jess Harman, Year 5 Music Teacher

In maths, Year 6 were challenged to multiply and divide numbers by powers of ten and relate it to their place value grids. To make progress, the children had to use various mathematical resources to answer questions which got increasingly more difficult. As a result, Year 6 were able to understand the use of a Gattegno chart and the importance of sliders, both resources extremely useful in aiding the understanding of place value.

Ed Elgood, Year 6 Maths Teacher

Taking a significant step up, Year 7 have been tasked with learning lots of new Latin vocabulary. While there are a range of online resources to help, sometimes good old-fashioned pen and paper and the ‘look, cover, write’ technique can be just as much fun. The contribution that having a firm foundation makes to building up their confidence is significant, and the children have very much hit the ground running this term. As in previous years, focussing on words that expand vocabulary means that every pupil, at whatever level they aspire to, benefits from the effort they put in.

Alex Walker, Head of Classics

Sailing back across the English Channel, Year 8 were left to bask in the memory of a week full of exploration, learning and cementing friendships in Normandy. This week has seen the children take time to reflect on the remarkable sacrifices of so many people on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy, as well as delving further back in time via the Bayeux Tapestry. Year 8 have also enjoyed excursions to traditional markets and a visit to the remarkable Mont Saint Michel. It has been a terrific week, one where the children have been outstanding in their behaviour and awareness of the sites they have visited, gained a greater understanding of the past, and a greater appreciation of the qualities of the people within their own year group. Thank you to all the staff who gave up their time to join this trip, ensuring the children were given the best experience possible, and thank to Year 8 for continuing their fine start to the new academic year.

James Figgis, Head of Upper Prep