Beautiful Butterflies

What a busy week we have had in Reception class.  The children have been caring for our beautiful butterflies which emerged from their crystallises on Monday.  The children watched the butterflies as they learned to use their wings and use their butterfly tongues to collect “nectar” from the flowers and fruit.  The children carefully took the butterflies into the playground on Wednesday so that all the children in Key Stage 1 were able to come and see them. 

Finally it was time to say goodbye.  Some of the children felt sad, but they understood that butterflies are wild creatures and they should be free.  Bye bye butterflies.

Chicks

How cute are these chicks? The Nursery were lucky enough to have a visit from these little babies. They watched them eat, drink, walk and sleep – in their food! They were very funny. All the children got to hold

or stroke them. They had to be very gentle as they were so tiny. ‘They’re so fluffy!’ A few of them tried to fly away but they noticed their wings were still too small to fly.

After the visit, the children got to look at the photos and do some mark making.

Shiver Me Timbers!

Shiver Me Timbers! Nursery were

under attack this week from Pirates. The children made maps and drew crosses EVERYWHERE for the Pirates to dig. The treasure was found and worn. They loved using their imagination playing with the small world. The children read lots of books and sang some ‘Sea Shanties.’ The children made their own eye patches and hats: they had to draw the shape, cut it out, use a hole-punch to make the holes and then thread the string through. (We helped to tie them!) They also made boats to sail across the Seven Seas, using sticks, felt and plasticine. They had great fun around this topic and I have a feeling we might be seeing Pirates again soon in the Nursery!

Reception are Mad About Minibeasts

The Reception children had a wonderful visit to Eltham Environment Centre on Wednesday.  The weather was marvellous and the children were very excited to go on their first coach trip together.  At Eltham we searched for minibeasts – first we looked in the pond. They had great fun fishing around with their nets.  They examined their catch carefully, before returning the little creatures back to the pond.  They then found lots of creatures under logs and stones.  In the afternoon the children had a walk past the beehives and learned about how the bees stick out their tongues to collect the nectar from the flowers and how they also collect pollen and spread it from flower to flower.  We then went into the woods where they did a little art project using natural materials to make minibeasts.  What a fabulous day they had in the sunshine!  Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Bikeability

Most of Y6 children took part of a whole week cycle training offered by Lewisham Borough the week commencing the 4th June. On the school playground they were taught about the different parts of a bicycle, steering, braking and manoeuvring around cones; mastered signalling to indicate their intention of turning left or right and practised sudden stopping using the brakes. Once they were ready the children experienced using the roads around the school, pedalling up the hill, cycling down, looking each way at T-junctions and crossing roads. The children are thankful to the instructors for their kindness and patience and cannot wait to put their acquired skills to good use.

TFL visit

 

 

Before half-term, Y6 had an informative, in-school pre-transition presentation offered by TFL. The aim of the visit was to assist the children with their transition to independent travel and equip them to make responsible choices on their journeys using public transport. The workshop lasted an hour and was interactive, with educational videos, images and role play to support key learning points. At the end the children had a chance to ask questions to build their confidence about becoming independent travellers in anticipation of their transition to secondary school.

End of SATs week

 

As a reward for all of their hard work and effort, the Y6 children had two special, well-deserved treats at the end of SATs week. On Thursday, they had a fabulous, sunny afternoon in Beckenham Place Park, where they played football and ball games, picked some flowers and bathed in the glorious sunshine. To top this, they spent their Friday afternoon at the Dumps, climbing, running, swinging, whizzing down the zip wire and saying “hello” to the rabbit. A wonderful end to a milestone week.

It was an absolute pleasure to see their radiant and relieved smiles and to witness them spend some quality time with their friends. Well done Y6, all of your teachers are extremely proud of you!!!

A World War II experience

 

Year 6 are very involved in this terms’ history topic- Life during World War II  . After enjoying the story “Good Night Mr Tom” and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of being evacuated to the country side , the children created Morrison Shelters  to experience life during the war. Although it was fun, the class complained that they were very squashed and cold in their shelters. They are now looking forward to their trip to Chislehurst Caves to experience life underground during the Blitz.

Margaret Mizen Visit

 

Year 6 were delighted to welcome back their old friend Margaret once again . The children discussed how to move on from bad things and thought about what they could do themselves to help to make their  community a safer and better place. The children engaged in a mature discussion about why  forgiveness is a better choice than revenge . Margaret spoke of how God will always be there for them  and the morning  ended with a very moving spontaneous prayer session.

Margaret wrote ” Please thank the Year 6’s, they were truly amazing.”

Netball tournament

Congratulations to the team who went to Bonus Pastor on 23rd May. We won 7-2 in a full netball match against one other school.

The children played well, passing the ball and using the space around them. They showed great teamwork and sportsmanship.