Reception today began reading their new story – A Dog’s Day. The children loved reading about Dora the dog and learning a range of new vocabulary. They listened carefully to the story and confidently took turns speaking sentences aloud that they then wrote down carefully in their exercise books, working in pairs to form their respective sentences.

Natasha Jacklin, Reception Class Teacher

Having listened to the fossils movement from Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, Year 1 were met with the horrifying news that someone had broken all the xylophones and glockenspiels in the music room just before their lesson. Their task? To put all the notes back onto the frames in the correct order. Excitedly, the children set about achieving their learning objective. The musical alphabet was discovered and all the instruments were returned to their original state. This task worked to further cement their knowledge of pitch, one of the core musical elements. They finished the lesson with a rhythm game based on The Skeleton Dance by Carl W Stalling.

Jess Harman, Year 1 Music Teacher

In tune with their current travel and transport topic, Year 2 took a factfinding trip to Brooklands Museum in Weybridge to get a fascinating insight into the history of transport and how it has changed over the last century. The children eagerly absorbed a wealth of information, stories and facts from the museum’s knowledgeable volunteers and will weave their findings into their future studies on the topic. And they gained so much perspective on the merits of modern transport as they got to see and set foot on planes, buses, cars and bicycles of yesteryear, such as the mighty Concorde aircraft which stopped flying commercially in 2003.

Charlie Millsom, Head of Year 2

As part of their topic on zero hunger, exploring why hunger exists, Year 3 embarked on a mouth-watering trip to Pizza Express, which aims to become a net-zero company by 2040. As the children made their pizzas, they relished the chance to ask restaurant staff questions, including what role Pizza Express plays in helping eradicate world hunger. They learnt that a charity has been set up that ensures that a percentage of every pizza ordered goes to help those who experience poverty and hunger across the globe. As for the personalised pizzas themselves, the children voted them the best ever!

Henrietta Platt, Head of Year 3

In DT, Year 5 were tasked with understanding armature design in stop-motion animation, which is a framework used to support a figure being modelled using soft materials. Ideas for the children’s robots, which will be animated later this term using a blue screen, took shape by combining different artistic concepts, and they tackled problems that arose by thinking about the pros and cons of possible solutions.

Jamie Dew, Head of DT

Year 6 morphed into Shakesperian detectives this week in English as the school chapel became a crime scene. The inquisitive children were tasked with taking notes and assessing the evidence at the scene; two bodies, a family coat of arms, a sword, an apothecary bottle and an engagement ring. Surely the evidence could only point in one direction – to fair Verona and Romeo and Juliet? The children got their creative juices flowing to predict what could have happened and considered what they knew in order to identify any potential culprits. Evidence gleaned was then used to write up a crime report using modality and the passive voice. Year 6 certainly rose to the challenge to piece together this dramatic literary puzzle.

Vivienne Liddell, Year 6 Form Tutor

Year 7 have continued their tectonics topic this half of term with a focus on the three Ps – prepare, predict, protect. These areas are looked at and developed in an effort to mitigate the impact of natural hazards, including earthquakes and volcanoes. After looking at case studies of previous earthquakes, Year 7 have been tasked with developing plans of how to reduce these effects, including debating what items should be added to a survival kit bag (including sharing an understanding of the difference between options available to various populations around the world) and practising their reactions to an earthquake alarm going off in class.

James Figgis, Head of Geography

In French this week, Year 8 continued working through the topic of la technologie. After recapping the core vocabulary, the children progressed to discussing the pros and cons of mobile phones, social media, and the internet. They worked collaboratively, deciphering a tricky text in French. Year 8 finished the lesson with a ‘trapdoor’ speaking exercise – a fun guessing game which the children thoroughly enjoyed.

Melanie Barnett, Year 8 French Teacher