Senior School Weekly News
News from Senior School this week: 26th February 2024
Mrs Séguier
Deputy Head of Senior School
All the Senior pupils and students really enjoyed meeting with Nick Arnolds this week and getting a signed copy of one of his books on Tuesday.
They also really liked going to Daunt Books to purchase a few books and enjoy the atmosphere from this beautiful bookshop.
More events and workshops will take place next week and our traditional World Book Day will conclude Book week next Friday. The students are already very excited about coming into School with a costume from one of their favourite book characters. It is always really beneficial to promote literature, literacy and the importance of reading for pleasure whether it be to develop imagination and/or critical thinking.
We had our Year 3 and 4 Parents evenings on Monday and Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 Parents evenings yesterday. Giving feedback and discussing the progress of the pupils with parents and carers is invaluable. As a staff team, we very much appreciate these open conversations. They help us plan and cater for the pupils more accurately and support their learning journey at Abercorn.
A few weeks ago our Year 7-10 students participated in the UK Maths Challenge for the first time at Abercorn. We received the results this week, and Roma and George in Year 8 were handed in a Bronze certificate for their amazing achievement. Peter in Year 9 received a Silver certificate and Zemar in Year 10 received a Gold certificate. Well done to them for their incredible performance and well done to all our students for participating in this fantastic competition. Thank you to Mr Khan for organising this.
All the best for the weekend.
Year 3
The highlight of the week had to be our Author Visit from Nick Arnold, the creator of the Horrible Science books. The children were thrilled to see an array of science experiments come to life, even though a number of participants got awfully wet.
Year 3 continue to impress us during rehearsals for Roald Dahl’s ‘Little Red and the Wolf’. The children thoroughly enjoyed singing and dancing along to their favourite songs and they really impressed us all with their wonderful theatrical performances.
In English, the children completed their suspense narrative by editing their writing to excellent effect. In Maths, they compared unit and non-unit fractions and in Science we set up a comparative and observation test to find out if a plant can grow in the dark. We cannot wait to observe the changes to our seedlings over the coming weeks.
In the run up to world book day, the children enjoyed listening to, reading and sharing a variety of different texts. After our visits to Daunt Books in Marylebone, they have loved exchanging books and finding out about new authors and sharing their favourite texts.
Reading is at the heart of our school and it has been wonderful to celebrate it in these exciting events!
Year 4
We have had a very busy and eventful week celebrating World Book Day and visiting the Forest School. On Monday, the Year 4s visited our neighbourhood bookshop, Daunt Books, situated on Marylebone High Street. They were able to choose a free book with their World Book Day vouchers and also had the opportunity to purchase one or two of their own books. The children were a credit to the school, being respectful and aware of customers around them as they were browsing the shelves.
On Tuesday 27th February, writer, Nick Arnold, and best-selling author of the Horrible Science series of books, presented a very funny talk! He completed some exciting experiments around the laws of gravity. These included a floating ping pong ball and water that stayed put in its container even when it was turned upside down!
On Wednesday the Year 4s visited the Forest School. Despite the chilly weather and somewhat overcast skies, they had lots of fun exploring the woodland areas. The students also completed a map reading task involving locating checkpoints around the Forest School in order to find and answer questions which were posted on trees. After this task, they learnt how to build a fire using kindling, fire strikers and wood. Jenny, our Forest School guide, cooked popcorn over the fire and we all enjoyed eating it!
Remember that Friday 8th March next week 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 - see the link for ideas. Remember, Friday is a Games day so all students will need to bring their Games kit in their school bags on this day. They will not need their uniform. We also invite children to bring in a suggested donation of £2.00 towards one of our charities.
Have a lovely weekend! Kind regards, The Year 4 Team
From the Maths department
UK Maths Challenge
Year 7-10 students sat their Maths Challenge on the 31st of January, results are in and I’m pleased to report that our students have achieved all three Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates! Certificates were given out during assembly on Friday. Congratulations to all who took part in the event.
Year 5
This week in Maths, our Year 5 students are embarking on a fascinating journey through the world of time and data. We are starting with a recap on reading time, where students will enhance their skills in interpreting both digital and analogue clocks, ensuring a strong foundation in time-telling. Building on this, we will delve into the conversion between 12-hour and 24-hour time formats, a skill essential for understanding various global timekeeping standards.
Our exploration will continue as we navigate through reading and interpreting timetables and data tables. This will enable our students to apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios, from planning their day to understanding transport schedules. Furthermore, we are set to tackle statistics questions that will involve interpreting data and graphs. This segment is designed to sharpen their analytical skills, enabling them to make sense of information presented in various graphical formats.
Through these activities, our Year 5 students will not only refine their mathematical skills but also learn to apply these concepts in practical situations. It has proven to be an engaging and enlightening week, full of learning opportunities that extend beyond the classroom!
Year 6
This week in Year 6 Maths, our focus is on enhancing our students' abilities to work with data and graphical representations. We'll begin by teaching them how to read and interpret different types of visual data displays. This skill is crucial for understanding information presented in charts and graphs across various contexts.
The curriculum will also cover solving problems that involve measures of central tendency, such as mean, median, and mode. This section aims to strengthen students' understanding of how to analyse and summarise data sets effectively.
Additionally, we will spend time on reading and interpreting line graphs, a key skill for recognising and predicting trends over time. Students will also learn to draw their own line graphs and bar charts, an important step in developing their ability to present data clearly and accurately.
Our goal for the week is to build a solid foundation in handling, analysing, and presenting data. These skills are not only vital for their ongoing mathematical education but also for applying mathematical concepts in real-world scenarios.
Thank you to Ms Aggarwal and the Year 5 and 6 team!
Year 7
Year 7 have been reviewing fractions, they have compared the sizes of fractions visually, organised them into ascending and descending order, looked at equivalency when working with fractions and again compared fractions without a visual aid. The sequence of lessons are particularly important as they allow students to appreciate the magnitude of different fractions which tends to be frequently misunderstood.
Students then reviewed converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers before moving onto adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. Consolidation activities incorporating all the above subtopics were presented to students at the end of the week so they could apply their skills.
Year 8
Our Year 8 students have been studying real-life graphs. They have honed their skills in drawing and interpreting line graphs, analysing the shape of line graphs to determine trends, and understanding real-life scenarios through graphing. In addition, students have been challenged with worded problems involving graphs, providing them with opportunities to apply their graphing skills in real-world scenarios and sharpen their problem-solving abilities.
Year 9
Year 9 students have been diving into the world of constructions in Maths. They've been busy mastering various techniques, including constructing perpendicular bisectors, crafting angle bisectors, and creating accurate triangles. These hands-on lessons provide students with practical skills and a deeper understanding of geometric concepts. Students also completed their recent Unit test this week, which is a regular occurrence in the Maths department. Maths is taught over ten units from years 7-9. Students complete a unit of study and review their learning before sitting a short test every few weeks. If you’d like further information on this please feel free to contact Mr. Khan.
Year 10
This week in Year 10, students were studying a variety of geometric topics, starting with an exploration of angle properties in triangles and quadrilaterals. They then tackled GCSE geometrical reasoning questions involving corresponding, alternate, co interior angles and more. Students consolidated and built on their prior learning in year 9 and had to explain the reasons in order to solve problems – this is a crucial step in understanding this particular topic as a written answer can often conceal a students’ understanding of how they arrived at it.
Other topics studied were the interior angles of polygons, the polygon angle sum theorem, the exterior angles of polygons, rounding out their comprehensive study of geometric concepts and reinforced at every stage with GCSE questions so students feel confident about applying these concepts in an exam situation.
