Happy Easter - the end of a cracking good term

Eddie the Penguin

Year 3 and 4 put on a fantastic production of Eddie the Penguin Save the World this week. We are so proud of all their hard work and the way they presented themselves to their audience. We may have some future actors and singers in our school! What an excellent performance! 

‘Eddie the Penguin saves the world’ demonstrated all of our BEST values and included every single child in year 3 and 4! We are so proud of them, showing commitment to learning their lines and rehearsing. Thank you to you for helping with this at home. 

Maple

During our afternoons, we are being encouraged to choose activities with a focus linked to our Maths, Phonics, our story of the week, geography, or the time of year. Maple class have engaged enthusiastically with the opportunities provided, either completing activities/challenges independently or cooperatively with adults and peers. Our favourite activities have been using 3D shapes for construction, deciding what to pack  if we were the Littlest Yak, making Easter decorations, and creating routes between London landmarks.

Rowan

This week Rowan class have been appreciating the beauty of flowers. They have been closely observing a variety of flowers, including those around our beautiful school grounds. Using their observational skills, they drew details of the flowers and coloured them as accurately as they could. 

Year 5

Year 5 finished their Sow and Grow topic with the making making of their very own soup this week. They have tested the vegetables they wanted to use, practised their chopping skills and even designed their own logos. Well done everyone.

Musicians

Our amazing musicians performed a concert for the school this week. year 3 and 4 were able to showcase their work on the violin and the cellos and our Beyond the Beat musicians wowed everyone with their amazing performances. We are all very proud of them.

Showcasing our engaging curriculum

Maple

In Maple, we have been exploring doubling and odds and evens, using various resources to support our understanding. Year R have also created beautiful Spring themed artwork using different media, whereas Year 1 have experimented with line and shape, applying this when drawing London landmarks from memory.

Rowan

Rowan class have been using floor robots in computing. They have been creating their own algorithms and trying them out on our Bee-Bots. They then created their own maps and used their knowledge to challenge each other to move around their map using an algorithms. They really enjoyed testing out their ideas on the Bee-Bots and showed their resilience and persistence when they had to debug their programme. 

Birch

Children in KS2 were treated to a fabulous concert my the MishMash trio, who came into school to perform as part of our exciting and diverse music curriculum. The trio, featuring the flute, clarinet and oboe,  played a range of lively classical tunes which were well received by the appreciative audience. In the afternoon, Birch Class participated in a special workshop with Tim, Poppy and Pedro. We are so looking forward to seeing them again at Turner Sims on Monday!

Sycamore

Sycamore Class took part in a brilliant trip to the River Itchen in Winchester. They took part in a pond dipping exercise to answer the question, “How healthy is the River Itchen?” It seems the answer is very healthy as they found more than 100 creatures living on or near to the river! This was an exciting trip to add to our Stanmore Enrichment Curriculum. 

Aspen

Aspen have been writing a news article about the invasion of the Bluchers, describing the events from our book called "Boy in the Tower.

Year 6

As a culmination to their learning in French, year 6 took part in a fashion show this week where the children had to introduce each other and describe, in French, what they were all wearing. The children walked the catwalk and tried really hard to pronounce each French word accurately. Thank you to Winchester College for all your support in teaching our year 6 children French.

We also started our new English unit - The Lady of Shallot - and the children started by exploring how rumours are spread and how they can be changed from person to person.

Visitors to school to enrich our curriculum

RE

The whole school took part in RE sessions held by Christchurch this week to enhance their understanding of Easter and Holy Week. The children loved the hands on learning and were really able to show their understanding through their questioning and the activities they took part in.

Maple

Maple Class is blooming with all things spring. We have started to explore books and activities around new life and had the amazing opportunity to be part of a Palm Sunday workshop. We used role play, crafting skills and our dance moves to understand the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. We have also used parts of nature to create weather symbols, paying particular attention to weather that is typical for the season.

Rowan

This week Rowan class had their Listen 2 Me concert to parents. Over the past term they have been learning to play four different notes and twelve different songs off by heart. They achieved an excellent performance and impressed everyone in the audience. They showed their keys to success over the term in their resilience and persistence to learn to play to such a high standard. We are very proud of them. 

Sycamore

Sycamore Class had a brilliant visit all about the River Itchen, in preparation for our trip next week. We will be going into Winchester to work out how healthy the River Itchen is. During the visit this week, we had to remember about the water cycle and apply everything we had learnt about the course of a river, from the source to the mouth. We also learned about the habitats near the river and who uses the river and why. 

Aspen

This week on DT the children learnt all about different vegetables, how to cut them and even had a taste! There were some mixed opinions but everyone tried something new!

Thank you for our friendship bench

World Book day

World Book Day

This Thursday the children celebrated World Book Day by arriving at school dressed in a nautical theme and the school was awash with pirates, sailors, mermaids, crabs, turtles and even the Titanic!

The theme was based on the book ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch’, and the children used the book to create all sorts of fantastic work in the afternoon: Maple Class created their own lunchboxes for the lighthouse keeper, Yr2 wrote diary entries, Yr 3 created amazing pictures of lighthouses inspired by the book, Yr4 wrote their own sea shanties and performed them to the class, Yr5 investigated Lighthouses and created amazing 2 page information spreads and year 6 rewrote the story from the point of view of the seagulls!

At Stanmore we don’t leave reading for pleasure to chance and the children all have access to Reading Buddies and our online library app, SORA. We have also launched a challenge for children to win their very own reading Blue Peter badge. Application forms can be found on Google Classroom.

Maple

Maple class have dived right into all things nautical this week in the lead up to World Book Day. We've engaged well with LOTS of stories linked to pirates, the seaside, or aquatic animals. These stories have inspired us to sing songs, create ships from interlocking cubes and junk modelling, props for a pirate/sailor, a lunch box for the Lighthouse keeper, as well as beautiful collage Jellyfish to decorate the classroom.

Birch

Children in Birch Class enjoyed an eruption on Wednesday as they learnt more about the different types of volcanic eruptions and varieties of volcanoes. 

Sycamore

Sycamore Class have had another busy week! 

In our art project 'animal' we have been studying animal form and how to sketch them. After that, we took a closer look at their patterns, printing them using paints. 

Can you guess the animal?

Utilising our outdoor space

Maple

We have continued exploring our story time book, 'Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!' by Mo Willems. Maple class have been on a letter hunt after the pesky pigeon stole letters from the book, in addition to creating their very own 'The pigeon on the bus' song. During Year 1 choosing time activities and Year R Discovery learning, we have painted pigeon footprints,  made nests for pigeons and other birds, and even rescued lots of woolly worms!

Rowan

This week Rowan class have been exploring food, food safety and food hygiene. They tried using several tools including a cheese grater, potato peeler, knives, wooden spoons, measuring spoons and spatulas. They cut cucumber and lettuce with a knife, grated cheese with a cheese grater, mashed banana with a fork, spread butter on bread with a butter knife, peeled a potato with a potato peeler, measured flour with a measuring spoon and mixed flour and water with a wooden spoon. They really showed resilience when trying to peel the potatoes, a tricky task! They were fantastically organised and so sensible when it came to safety. Well done Rowan class!  

Birch

After a very wet week, Birch Class were delighted to get outside for the start of their tennis unit in PE.  They enjoyed getting used to handling the equipment and learnt the 'ready' stance. I wonder if we have any budding Wimbledon stars?

Aspen

Aspen's Topic, Sow, Grow and Farm, the children have been learning about Land Art. This week they have used various materials found in Mr Viney's garden to plan their own Land Art in readiness to create a large-scale piece of Art from natural resources!

Consultation on extending the School Day

In the School’s White Paper (Published March 2022) the Government announced that in order to give every pupil the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential, all mainstream, state funded schools would be expected to deliver a minimum school week of 32.5 hours. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64a2f21fbb13dc000cb2e5e1/Minimum_School_Week_Non-Statutory_Guidance.pdf

The deadline to implement the minimum school week is September 2024. The 32.5 hour minimum expectation includes the time in each day from the official start of the school day (i.e. morning registration) to the official end of the compulsory school day (i.e. official home time). The 32.5 hour minimum includes lunch times and other breaks as well as teaching time and any enrichment activities that all pupils are expected to attend. It does not include optional before or after school provision.

 At Stanmore Primary School, we are not currently meeting the new minimum expectation. The Governors intend to increase our school day to 6.5 hours by extending the end of the day to 15:30 from September 2024. This puts us in line with local schools, who already finish at 3:30pm. By extending lunchtime, we can offer booster support or enrichment activities as appropriate.

If you would like to share your view on our plans to extend the school day, then please email: adminoffice@stanmore.hants.sch.uk with the title: consultation on extending the school day.

Science through Oreos and light!

Maple

Maple have made sure NOT to let the pigeon drive the bus in our classroom! We have explored the pigeon's expressions carefully and thought about using the zones of regulation to both describe his feelings and how to manage them. We have also built our own lollipop stick buses, created our own dream vehicles to drive, as well as drawing and painting the  pigeon.

Rowan

This week Rowan class have been busy learning their 10- and 5-times tables in maths with lots of practical resources and exploring recycling in science by sorting materials based on if they can be reused or recycled. They have also been enjoying their visits to the Library lately and picking out new books to read based on other children's recommendations. We have had some children already begin their Stanmore Top 30 book challenge as well! 

Birch

This week in geography, Birch Class have been learning about how earthquakes and volcanoes are formed. They discovered that tectonic plates move in different ways, causing weaknesses in the earth's crust. To demonstrate their understanding, the children used Oreos to model divergent, convergent and transform plate boundary movements. Of course, the 'tectonic plates' were eaten afterwards! 

Year 6

As part of our hook lesson in Science, we were each given a question (in groups) related to our new topic of light that we researched and presented as a scientific information poster to the rest our year group. 

Stanmore Top 30 books

At Stanmore we believe reading is the cornerstone of all learning and our approach enables children to become fluent readers who harbour a love of reading. As well as our sequenced English curriculum we encourage our children to read at home, both independently and with the support of adults.

Welcome to the new Stanmore Top 30 books - a selection of books, linked to our school BEST values and all available on SORA, the online library app.

The children have been tasked with reading all 10 books for their age category (KS1, Lower KS2, Upper KS2), recording what they have read in their reading diary and completing two of the suggested tasks.
They can then show their work to Mrs Atkins and put their name on a star in the library next to the book they have read.
Read all 10 books and they are officially a READING CHAMPION. When they read all 30 they become a READING AMBASSADOR

6 Ways reading benefits children:

1) Reading increases creativity and imagination.

2) Reading together expands a child’s vocabulary.

3) Reading promotes thinking skills

4) Reading exposes children to new and exciting experiences.

5) Reading help promote positive communication.

6) Reading is fun and helps children relax at the end of the day.

Irresistible Learning

Maple

Thinking creatively, Maple class took on the challenge to make props to help them discuss the different types of weather we see throughout the seasons in the UK. They have also been both immersed in learning and excited in anticipation of the Chinese New Year. The classroom has been full of decorations to celebrate!

Rowan

In Rowan class we have been testing the properties of different papers, looking at their strength texture and absorbency.

Birch

As part of our 'Rocks, Relics and Rumbles' topic, children in Birch Class have been learning all about soil. After learning about what is in soil, they used the 'Soil Hand Texture' chart to discover what the different samples of soil types we had were. Use a glass jar, the children examined what was in the soil and recorded it as a diagram. 

Sycamore

Sycamore Class have been writing Survival Guides, all about how to survive life on Mount Everest. We had to learn lots of facts in order to give the reader some top tips for survival. 

Aspen

Aspen class spent the day at Winchester College doing a variety of team building activities. They made and tasted soup which was delicious. Visiting the boat house, they assembled a single skull ready to row down the River Itchen. In the science lecture theatre, they saw a variety of skulls, including a 2-million-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, and felt the sharp teeth of a Nile crocodile. The college staff all commented on their respectful behaviour and excellent attitude to learning. Well done Year 5.

Year 6

This week Year 6 enjoyed a special RE Q&A with a member of the New Life Church. The children have been exploring sacred places for different religions and came up with their own questions to ask - they were very insightful and thoughtful! This gave then a chance to deeper their understanding of sacred places and the importance they can have on their community!