Dear Parents and Carers,
Can you believe we are already half way through the first half of the summer term? The children have once again been incredibly busy in their learning this week.
Daisies and Hope
Monday’s Whole School Collective Worship began with the children finding out lots of facts about daisies – which have almost suddenly appeared everywhere! ‘Daisy’ actually comes from an old English term ‘Day’s Eye’ because of the way the petals close in the evening and then open when the sun shines on them the next day. As they open their flowers for each new day, daisies are a sign of HOPE. The children reflected on the word of Hope (one of our School Values) along the the words from Genesis 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Our hope and school vision is that we can life live in all its fullness in God’s creative world.
Prayer for May
A new month brings a new school prayer. Thank you to Julia, Alex, Poppy, Scarlett, Harry, Chloe, Allanah and Charlie for their contributions and ideas which have formed our May prayer. It is attached for you to read and share and home if you wish.
Half-Time Pitstops
As we have reached the half way point of the term, the children have been reflecting on what new knowledge they now have. Here are a few highlights:
Lewes and Camber Classes (EYFS):
Caterpillars have spikes so no-one else touches or eats them.
Caterpillars build their cocoons to protect themselves as they turn into butterflies.
It is gooey inside a cocoon so when the butterfly comes out their wings are wet.
We have learnt we can change a character in a story to make it my own story.
We have learnt how to take away in Maths.
In RE, we have learnt how we can look after our wonderful world – like picking up rubbish.
Amberley, Bramber and Hastings Classes (Years 1 and 2):
We know the South of Australia can be colder than the North and Tasmania can even have snow!
Christmas in Australia is on the same day but it is in their summer time, not winter – their Christmas dinners can be barbeques on the beach!
We know plants need sunshine and water to grow well.
The Torah is a special Jewish book for prayer and it contains the ten commandments, which are the rules for life.
Jewish people use a yad to read the Torah.
We can find different fractions: one half, one quarter and one third.
We know we can make other colours by mixing the primary colours.
We have learnt how to mend broken friendships in PSHE.
Arundel, Bodiam and Pevensey Classes (Years 3 and 4)
We know Rainforests take up 6% of the earth, but are home to 50% of all animal species.
There are 4 layers in a rainforest: the forest floor, the understory, the canopy and the emergent layer.
Deforestation is bad because animals lose their homes and there is less oxygen produced.
We have learned we have to measure around a shape to find its perimeter.
We know the bigger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.
We can write an effective setting description.
Christians are like salt because a small deed makes a big difference.
We know the artist Henri Rousseau painted from his imagination – he didn’t actually visit the rainforest.
Plants absorb water using their roots.
Cowdray, Portchester and Southsea Classes (Years 5 and 6)
We know how Yellowstone Park in the USA and the South Downs which are close to us are similar and different.
Yellowstone Park is on top of a super volcano!
We have learned how to write detailed non-chronological reports about an American city.
Carl Linneaus created a classification key to sort and name living things.
We have learnt how to use a semi-colon instead of a co-ordinating conjunction.
We know what the Hindu names Brahman and Atman mean.
We can use a protractor to measure angles accurately.
We calculate angles around a point.
There are different parts of a circle: radius, diameter and circumference.
Rowing Festival
Well done to Alyssia, Bani, Nihal, Lexi and Oliver who took part in a Rowing Festival with children from other schools this week. Elliot, Florence and Oscar (three of our Bronze Ambassadors) also need a special mention as they were involved in the running of this event. THINK
ing Community Circles –
The children met in their Community Circles this to explore the question, ‘ Which THINKvalue is the hardest to show?’ Attached are some common thoughts. After their discussions, the children voted on which value they considered the hardest to show. The results of the vote indicated the ‘Is it Necessary?’
value is the hardest to show. We will explore what this value means further over the next few weeks.
Considerate Parking
Here’s a just a quick reminder to be considerate to our neighbours if you are parking near the school at the beginning or the end of the school day. Thank you also for all of your patience over the past couple of days whilst the roads around the school have been a little harder to navigate!
Ordering Hot Dinners
We are aware that orders for hot school meals have to be made a few weeks in advance. However, it is quite often these meals which are ordered through Universal Free Meals or Free School Meals are not actually eaten because children are then coming in with packed lunches instead. The school still has to pay for these uneaten meals. In March, 232 ordered meals were not eaten. This cost the school about £700. Not only is this a waste of a large amount of food, but also the money could be used in a far better way to benefit the children in school. Please can you be mindful when ordering these meals.
Don’t forget that Monday 6th May is a Bank Holiday, so we look forward to seeing everyone at school on Tuesday next week.
Enjoy the long weekend – let’s hope for some more warner sunshine!
Take care
Kim Huggett