Senior School Weekly News
News from Senior School this week: 11th March 2024
Mrs Séguier
Deputy Head of Senior School
We have had our second assessment week of the academic year this week at Senior for our Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 students.
I would like to congratulate our pupils for showing so much resilience and focus in all their assessments. Although these particular weeks can be intense, they are beneficial to everyone.
Firstly, they support our students in the long run as they progressively get trained on a variety of levels, whether it be from an organisational perspective or a behavioural one under exam conditions. Secondly, they are invaluable for us as a teaching team as, as well as our formative assessments, they help us further in working out pupils’ strengths and weaknesses and support our planning accordingly.
As communicated by Mr Leggett and the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths team, next week will be packed with a fantastic range of events, competitions and showcases for all our pupils and students.
This includes two trips offsite. The first one will involve our Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 pupils spending the day at the Harry Potter Studios.
The second one will take place later in the week and will involve our Year 9 and Year 10 students. They will be taking part in a DNA forensic science workshop at the Royal Institute in London.
Our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils will be taking part in a Drama and Art workshop in the theatre on Monday and our Year 5 pupils will also participate in an Art workshop on Monday as well.
Please do not hesitate to contact Mr Leggett and/or the STEAM team if you have any questions around the events taking place next week.
I wish you all the best for the weekend.
Year 3
What a fantastic week it has been in Year 3! The children have truly embraced new learning with enthusiasm and determination.
In Mathematics, our young mathematicians have demonstrated remarkable perseverance while tackling complex two-step and multi-step fraction problems. It's been wonderful to witness their collaborative spirit as they support one another, working together to overcome challenges and achieve success.
In English, our aspiring Myth busters have delved deeper into the captivating world of Greek Myths, exploring their rich narratives and timeless morals. Through these stories, they've gained insights into how ancient civilizations interpreted the world around them through mythology. Stay tuned for some imaginative Greek Myths inspired by our very own 3W!
Continuing our exploration of the natural world, our budding Plant Scientists have been closely monitoring the progress of our Observation Experiment. By observing sunflower seeds grown in both light and darkness, the class made fascinating discoveries about plant behaviour. Through hands-on activities like dissecting tulips, they've also deepened their understanding of flowering plants. A big congratulations to Year 3 for their impressive home-grown sunflowers – we're amazed by how rapidly they're flourishing!
Beyond these core subjects, the children have excelled in French, computing, and Art, producing remarkable pieces of work that showcase their creativity and dedication.
As you can see from the accompanying pictures, it's been a week filled with hard work, discovery, and achievement.
Well done, Year 3, for your outstanding efforts – we couldn't be prouder!
Year 4
The Year 4s have completed their rainforest pop-up books. The books are a wealth of information and include pop-up, sliding, hinged, spin and bridge mechanisms. Each book has a contents page, glossary and blurb on the back cover. The students have included retail prices in different currencies using the correct currency symbols, and for some even more serious authenticity, added a barcode/ISBN number to their back covers! The class also enjoyed designing their own publisher’s logo for the book spine and back cover. Using persuasive language in their blurb, they aimed to encourage readers to pick up the book and start learning about the rainforests. The Year 4s will soon get to share their books with the Year 3s during the next week.
In Maths, this week we have been focusing on money. The children have made the connection with previous work on decimal numbers with place value for pounds and pence. They can convert pence into pounds and pence, say the value of a specific digit in a pounds and pence amount, name and say the value of all the notes and coins in circulation, order them from smallest to the largest denomination, and finally, add and subtract money using a formal column method.
In assembly this week we celebrated the richness of Abercorn’s diverse cultural backgrounds by focusing on the many different languages spoken. The students explored the benefits of learning languages, completed a world languages quiz and were given the opportunity to share knowledge of their home language with each other.
By now you will have received an email detailing costume requirements for your child’s show, The Emerald Crown. The dress rehearsal is on Tuesday 23rd April 2024 and the production for parents takes place on the morning of Thursday 25th April at 9.30 am. Please do contact me if you are unsure about your child’s costume and please take note of the costume deadline for our dress rehearsal. Thanks in advance for your support.
Kind regards, The Year 4 Team
From the Classics department
Years 5 - 9
Year 5
In Year 5 this week we held our annual Gladiator Games, a fast and furious game of luck which teaches pupils about the politics of a day at the amphitheatre in Ancient Rome.
Pupils took on the role of different gladiators and chose weapons from the armoury, raided from toy collections… including some medieval items, but needs must! The swords doubled up as tridents and a shopping bag made a very serviceable net for the retiarii (net fighters). Fighting was soon underway, even to the death*… but what if the defeated gladiator was a much-loved celebrity? What did the baying crowd want to happen? Iugula! Iugula!* Cut his throat? Or Mitte! Mitte! Save him? The sponsor decided with a show of thumbs… and hopefully sent the crowd home happy. *No pupils were harmed in the making of this lesson.
![Senior School, Independent London School ].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603d2e1acf34a07d7662f59f/1710517172947-SDAD58F8DH1KHQK2NELM/Senior+School%2C+Independent+London+School+%5D.jpg)
Year 6
To tie in our recent learning on the Wanderings of Odysseus with World Book Day, Year 6 role played the episode of the Odyssey featuring the witch Circe, who offered refreshments to Odysseus's men when they landed on her island. Would you accept her hospitality? Beware! Any man who accepted one of Circe’s drinks turned into a pig!
Year 6 enjoyed a different take on the myth, eating some Percy Pigs.
Year 7
To help prepare for an end-of-topic test, Year 7 have been brushing up on their word power by playing a game called Vocabulary Squares. Teams raced against each other to match Latin and English words and arrange them in a larger rectangle. This was harder than it sounds because there were many decoy words mixed in!
Year 8 & 9
Years 8 and 9 have been studying the topic of Public Health in Ancient Rome. This included looking at communal public toilets, and discovering how the Romans might have sat chatting together whilst doing their business! We evaluated the accuracy of secondary sources such as an amusing Horrible Histories clip by consulting other evidence available from primary sources: sites, ruins and a letter written by the Roman philosopher Seneca. Then we role-played a scene, sitting together and discussing some of Aesop’s Fables to tie in with World Book Day!
