Senior School Weekly News
News from Senior School this week: 19th February 2024
Mrs Séguier
Deputy Head of Senior School
As per communicated by Mrs Greystoke earlier in the week, between Wednesday and Friday this week, our older students (Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10), participated in a three day workshop, the Harvard Young Leaders Program. This enabled them to explore a variety of skills, ranging from public speaking and debating, to being part or leading a team and building a project based on each other's ideas. The students were remarkably focused and worked very hard over the course of the three days. Well done to them for their dedication, curiosity and resilience!
I was lucky enough to watch the Year 3 pupils explore the world of plants in Science on Wednesday. As part of their new topic, and as young scientists, they were tasked by Mr Ward with observing plants and discussing their findings with each other. They then explored scientific vocabulary to name the different parts of a flowering plant and started exploring what pollination and photosynthesis are. Their eagerness to explore and learn was wonderful to witness.
Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us online for Parents Evening for our Year 7-10 students yesterday. A gentle reminder that our Year 3 and 4 Parents Evening will also take place online on Monday 26th February and our Year 3-6 Parents Evening will take place on Thursday 29th February.
In addition, next week, to kick off Book Week celebrations and as per Ms Shuttleworth’s communication, a few events will take place. Nick Arnolds will be coming to meet all our pupils and lead a variety of workshops. All the Senior pupils will also visit the Daunt Books Library. Thank you to Ms Shuttleworth and the English team for arranging these events.
I hope you have a restful weekend.
Year 3
After a wonderful break, the children have returned energised, focused on their learning and displaying great teamwork!
In English the children have continued to explore precise vocabulary and a variety of sentence types as they continue planning to write their own suspense narrative based on Roald Dahl’s BFG.
In Mathematics the children have enjoyed our new topic fractions by exploring unit and non-unit fractions. We began the week by first looking at fractions of a shape and progressed onto fractions of an amount. I was very impressed with how well the children applied their knowledge of fractions in order to reason and problem solve.
The children became botanists in both Science and Geography this week. Our New Science topic Plants gave the children an opportunity to explore all of the different parts of a flowering plant which allowed the children to show that they already have quite an impressive knowledge regarding plants. In our new Geography unit on Plants and Biomes, the children discovered how different climates shape ecosystems. They learned that animals rely on plants for food, while plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, highlighting the intricate balance of nature.
In History the Battle of Marathon was our hot topic. The children imagined they were General Miltiades, the leader of the Athenian army. They wrote a letter to the Spartan army asking them to help fight the Persians. The children were fascinated to learn how far Pheidippides had run with the message of victory. Fantastic letter writing was produced by the children explaining how a significant figure shaped history.
Coming up next week, as part of World Book day we have a number of important events coming up.
On Monday 26th February, Year 3 will visits to Daunt Books to explore the store and collect their pre ordered World Book Day token books. Please allow your child to bring in a maximum of £20 in a clearly labelled purse or wallet to spend on books at Daunt.
On Tuesday 27th February, we have the writer, Nick Arnold visiting the Senior School to talk to Years 3 - 10. Nick is the author of the phenomenally successful Horrible Science books and his talks bring these books to life. In his talks, Nick aims to show that science is exciting in an amusing and gruesome fashion and aims to increase interest in the subject.
Friday 8th March - Dress up
All students are invited to either dress in their pyjamas and dressing gowns and bring in a soft toy ready for a bedtime story; dress as a character from a book or dress as a word of their choice – Please send your child’s PE kit so they can change for afternoon games.
They may bring in a suggested donation of £1 which will go to the school's charities.
Have a lovely weekend - Mr Ward
Year 4
The Year 4s have been busy with show rehearsals this week. The children have learnt most of their lines and they are now practising voice projection, diction and intonation. The more confidently the students can recall their lines the more they can focus their concentration on their diction, expression and acting skills. They have learnt nearly half the songs for this performance and have been able to suggest some creative actions and gestures to accompany their music.
Next week, we will be celebrating World Book Day. Already, you will have received information describing all the exciting events taking place during this week. On Monday 26th February, the Year 4 class will be visiting Daunt Books. Could students please bring in a maximum of £20.00 in a clearly labelled purse or wallet to spend on book purchases at Daunt. We will be visiting the book shop from 10.20am to 10.50am. This year we have pre-ordered the World Book Day books from Daunt Books so each child up to Year 8 will be given a free book to take home with them. In addition, they will each be given a voucher to either receive a different free book from participating bookstores or, alternatively, use against the cost of another book (a £1.00 discount).
On Tuesday 27th February, writer, Nick Arnold will be visiting the Senior School to talk to our Years 3 to 10 classes. Nick is the author of the phenomenally successful Horrible Science books and will no doubt bring his very popular books to life!
On Wednesday 28th February 2024 the class will visit the Forest School. There will be swimming as usual. Students can bring boots or Wellingtons to change into before we depart. Make sure your child has a coat and gloves-it could be cold and wet! Please note there will be a normal end of day dismissal on this day.
As part of the week children can take part in a competition. They can decorate a toilet roll or wooden spoon as a character from a book using any media or craft. Please send a photo of your character to k.shuttleworth@abercornschool.com. The children can also bring them into school to show their friends and teachers. Prizes to be had for the best and most creative characters!
Friday 8th March is dress up day! All students are invited to either dress in their pyjamas and dressing gowns and bring in a soft toy ready for a bedtime story; dress as a character from a book or dress as a word of their choice. Remember Friday is a Games day so all students will need to bring their Games kit in their school bags on this day. They may also bring in a suggested donation of £1 towards one of our charities.
Have a lovely weekend! Kind regards, The Year 4 Team
Year 6
In Year 6, pupils have worked on what they like to do in their free time and have started developing an understanding for verb patterns in the present tense. Linking both vocabulary learning and grammar together, they have participated in a few in class competitions which have given them the opportunity to practice these and write a paragraph giving their opinion on free time activities. Moving forward, we will be going into more grammatical depth with these verbs and combine them with a variety of topics. This enables the pupils to visualise language learning as a puzzle they need to piece together consistently using prior knowledge.
Modern Foreign Languages - Year 5 & 8
Year 5
Year 5 pupils have been learning how to ask and tell the time in French, completing a series of challenges and games. These involved learning a rap and building up a routine to represent a day in the life of some very funky skeletons!
Music and movement is a terrific way to learn vocabulary and phrases, helping them to ‘stick’. There are many interactive songs posted in the pupils’ Google Classrooms under numerous vocabulary headings, so make sure you give them a go!
Year 8
This term, year 8 learnt to talk about their hobbies and sports. They wrote a letter in which they explain to a penpal what hobbies they have and how often they do them. Also, one of our pupils is a beginner and wrote a letter to a penpal introducing his family.
