Year 1 - Bananas, turnips and recorders
See what Year 1 have been up to in a very busy week coming back to school.
Happy New Year!
A very warm welcome back to school and the start of the Spring term. We have been extremely busy during our first week back with plenty of exciting learning going on!
In maths, we have been recapping on our understanding of number and place value. Using the 100 square and Dienes, we have been learning to find 1 more and 1 less than a given number, moving on to 10 more and 10 less. To do this, we have used the Dienes to make our number in tens and ones, then adding or subtracting a ‘one’ or a ‘ten’. We have used the 100 square to see how our number has changed. We have used this knowledge to order consecutive and non-consecutive numbers and to problem solve.
In English, we have started a unit of work exploring traditional tales, starting with The Enormous Turnip, which links to our new topic of ‘Go Bananas!’. We have enjoyed ordering the story and learning about comparatives (comparing 2 things using the suffix ‘er’ – smaller, lighter, darker etc.). Next week, we will continue to work on our grammar, including superlatives (comparing more than 2 things using the suffix ‘est’ – smallest, lightest, darkest etc.) and expanded noun phrases.
We have started to learn about the different classifications of animals in science (mammal, insect, bird, fish, amphibian etc.), whilst naming common animals. We will build on this next week by learning about the diets that different animals have.
In geography, we will be learning about where animals as well as fruits and vegetables come from, and to start this learning journey, we have been looking at the continents of the world.
The children have started their recorder lessons – these will be on a Tuesday afternoon. If your child has a suitable recorder, they are very welcome to bring it in on a Tuesday (clearly labelled please), but if not, each child has been allocated a recorder for the duration of the recorder lessons which they will be using exclusively.
As always, we continue with our daily phonics and reading lessons.
We have just introduced ‘Early Morning Work’ (EMW) to our Year 1 children. When the children come in in the morning, they will have an activity based at a table, which they are able to complete independently. This may include activities such as targeted letter or number formation, reading and spelling common exception words, ‘spot the difference’, consolidation of maths or writing skills etc. We have been very impressed at how quickly the children have settled into this new routine! There will not be an EMW activity on a Wednesday due to our parent reading/maths sessions.
We are having a few timetable changes which will be confirmed within the next week, but as things stand currently, Year 1 PE lessons will be on Tuesday and Fridays.
As always, please do come and speak to your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.
Our BEST award winners
Our BEST award winners for Autumn Term 2
Congratulations to the children who were awarded a certificate and trophy for showing the BEST values of belonging, excellence, support and trust during Autumn Term 2.
End of autumn term and Christmas message
An end of term message from Mrs Taylor, saying a fond farewell to some and a warm welcome to others.
Thank you for the warm welcome that I have received since arriving at the school at the beginning of December. I am very happy to be here and I am beginning to feel part of the community. I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work this term; I am really looking forward to the next year.
I was extremely proud of all the children during the Christ Church Service. They participated well, sitting respectfully through the readings and singing enthusiastically during the carols. The choir were amazing, as good as any school choir that I have heard. I would love to see more children adding to our group of musicians. The children that played the violin and tenor horn performed their pieces well. The piano and flute concert was also well received. If your child is interested in learning to play an instrument, please do let me know.
No school Christmas would be complete without a Year R Christmas story and Bumblebees and Ladybirds did not disappoint. They spoke confidently and maintained their concentration really well throughout the play. I have also received very positive comments about the excellent Year 4 Narnia outcome. Well done to all of the children involved throughout the school.
On Tuesday we welcomed Mrs Laver to the school. She will be the class teacher in Oak Class from January. All the children involved in the transition afternoon seemed to be enjoying themselves and I hope that they were able to share the experience with you at home. We will continue to support them as they settle into the new routines. Please let me know if there is anything you wish to discuss once your child is back in January.
Mr Cascarini and Miss Lilly
Mr Cascarini and Miss Lilly enjoyed their farewell tea party this week with a very large cake. We are sorry to see them go, but we thank them for their valuable contribution to the school and wish them every success in their future.
Mr Johnson, Mr Davies and Mrs Greenwood
Yesterday, we also said ‘Goodbye’ to Mr Johnson, our Interim Headteacher, Mr Davies, our Consultant Leader, and Mrs Greenwood, SENCo. They have all made a significant contribution to our school improvement journey. We wish them all well. Mrs Fenton will be joining our team in January as the SENco. She is an experienced school leader and has already met with Mrs Greenwood for a handover day. The review meetings that Mrs Greenwood has held with parents will be transferred to Mrs Fenton. Any parent wishing to seek advice about provision for a child with special educational needs should contact Mrs Fenton or Mrs Taylor.
I hope that you all have a happy and peaceful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
Mrs Taylor
Headteacher
Cross country running and basketball
Our children have been competing in cross country and basketball.
Our children have been active recently competing against other schools.
On Wednesday 12th December, Miss Kingshott and Miss Bell accompanied a group of children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 to Knightwood Leisure Centre to attend a cross country event run by Kings’ School staff. Even though it was freezing cold, the children all completed their race and did brilliantly. Well done to all of you who represented our school so well, we are proud of you.
Miss Kingshott and Mrs Kempson escorted some children up to Kings’ School on Wednesday to take part in a Basketball Competition. The children’s performance was fantastic (considering they had limited practise due to the winter weather). They took each game in their stride and were able to pull two wins out of the bag!
They won their first game against Merdon 6-2.
Their second game against South Wonston 4-2
They played fantastically against St. Faiths but lost 6-0
The first half against St Peters ended 0-0 but St Peters scored at the end of the second half making it 2-0.
The children were an absolute credit to the school – they cheered for other teams and shook hands at the end of each game. Because of their sports-man behaviour and attitude, they were awarded the Fair Play award and each received a certificate.
Friends of Stanmore
Find out how much our amazing Friends of Stanmore have raised for the school this term.
We made £101 from the bags2school collection earlier in the week. Thanks to everyone who donated. We will be organising another collection in the summer term so don't throw away those Christmas jumpers and socks!!
On Wednesday evening some of our FoS members and their children represented Stanmore School on the Winchester Round Table Christmas Santa Sleigh tour. It was a great to be part of an annual tradition and because the route took us around Stanmore South we met lots of friends, class mates, ex class mates and a Teaching Assistant....Mrs Spencer Clark!
The FoS will receive a portion of the total collection made on that night and we find out how much in January. Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun, the children ...and parents...were brilliantly behaved!!
That's it for fundraisers this term. With two cake sales, a Halloween disco, book and uniform sales, bags2school and a Christmas fair, we've raised nearly £2,500. That's amazing!
Thanks to everyone for their support and see you next term for more exciting fundraising events!
Rachel, Jen, Hayley, Ali and Jo.
Year 1 - mass, weight, diaries and journeys
Our penultimate week of the autumn term has been a productive one! Children in Year 1 have enjoyed watching the Year R nativity at Level 10 church and loved showing off their festive jumpers on Friday!
In maths, we have been learning about mass and weight. The children have been comparing objects to see which are heavier or lighter, and exploring the idea that just because an object may be larger, it may be lighter than a smaller object. They children have used balance scales to compare the weight of objects using non-standard units. Next week, we will be revisiting time and learning to compare whether things take a longer or shorter time (minutes) to complete.
We have planned and written a diary entry based on the book, ‘Billy’s Bucket’, including the grammar taught, such as contractions (e.g. didn’t, I’ll) and the regular past tense suffix ‘ed’. We will be editing and improving our work on Monday.
In RE, we have been exploring the idea of ‘journeys’ and thinking about thoughts and feelings before, during and after journeys. We have read the story of Baboushka and her journey to see baby Jesus, which didn’t turn out as planned. Next week, we will be thinking about the journeys of the key characters in the Christmas story.
On Friday, we welcomed parents/carers to the Year 1 classrooms to play the games that we had made for the home learning project as part of our Toy Story topic, as well as the games we had made in class. A huge thank you to everyone for supporting your child and sharing their enthusiasm for their wonderfully creative games!
Next week, we will be enjoying our Christmas parties on Thursday afternoon – thank you for signing up to bring a food contribution. The children have requested that we have a ‘pyjama’ theme, which will be great fun!
We will be sending home children’s work that has been displayed next week, please could your child bring in a suitable bag/carrier to transport these items safely home.
Year 1 - fractions and Billy's Bucket
Find out what Year 1 have been up to this week.
What a wet day today! Luckily, the weather improved enough for us to enjoy our break and lunchtime outside, so we could burn off our energy!
The children have worked incredibly hard this week; we are proud of each and every one of them.
In maths, we revisited fractions, where we recapped on halves, using the language of numerator and denominator. We explored halves of shapes, objects and amounts, using our knowledge to solve problems to do with halving. Later in the week, we moved on to quarters, noting the change in the denominator from ‘2’ to ‘4’. The children learnt how to find quarter of a shape, object and amount. If you are able to consolidate this at home by sharing amounts equally into halves and quarters, that would be brilliant! Some of the children found the following examples quite tricky – can they solve it at home?
In English, we have started our new book, ’Billy’s Bucket’, and are using it to learn how to write a diary entry. We have been looking at the features of a diary entry and recapping on using the regular past tense ‘ed’ endings. Next week, we will be learning about contracted words (example: do not – don’t) and using them in our writing.
In RE, we have been starting to think about the Christmas Story, and its importance to Christians. We will be looking at journeys, and the journeys that different people made in the Christmas Story.
We are practicing hard for our Listen to Me concert on Tuesday 11thDecember (2.20 – 2.40pm in the school hall) – we hope that you enjoy our singing!
As always, we continue to work on our phonics and reading daily. Many children are showing lovely progress in their reading and are moving up through the book bands. Our congratulations to those who have moved up.
The class parties will be on Thursday 20thDecember in the afternoon. Further details will be sent out in a letter closer to the date, regarding food and clothes.
Have a wonderful weekend – we look forward to seeing you bright and early on Monday morning!
Letter from Mrs Taylor
A letter of introduction from Mrs Taylor, our new Headteacher.
Dear Parents,
I would like to introduce myself as the new permanent headteacher of Stanmore Primary School. I have already enjoyed meeting some of you during Parents’ Evening and the Christmas Fair and I look forward to meeting more of you in the next few weeks.
I am really pleased to be starting before Christmas as it gives me the opportunity to start to get to know your children and to be involved in the school events in the run up to Christmas. The behaviour in assembly today was excellent.
It also gives me the opportunity for a smooth handover with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Davies who have led the school so well in the interim period since Ms. Wood left. I am sure that you would like me to thank them on your behalf.
You will be concerned about the number of changes that have already affected the school and your children. My role is to bring some stability to the school, building on the improvements already underway. One of the differences that a permanent appointment brings, is that longer term decisions can be made. So, while I can’t promise you that there won’t be further changes, including to staffing, I can promise you that decisions are being made to secure better provision for your children in the longer term.
What does this mean? By Easter we expect to be able to recruit permanent new members of staff to the teaching team where needed. We already now know what your children can do in reading, writing and maths and more importantly, what they can’t do. By Easter, you will see progress in their books and we expect stronger outcomes this summer that we can continue to build on for the future.
I chose to apply for the position because I recognise the potential in the school and feel genuinely excited by the opportunity. The children are delightful and parents and staff very welcoming. I have worked in Hampshire Schools for 25 years in 6 different Primary Schools. I was headteacher at both East Meon and Colden Common Primary Schools. Most recently I have been a Primary Phase Inspector, working in schools across the local authority to improve outcomes for children.
As a parent of two older teenagers, I know something of the joy and frustrations of parenting. I expect to work in partnership with you, sharing your aspirations for your children. My office is in the main entrance area of the school. I will be on the gate in the mornings. If you want to come and say hello or share good news or a concern, please do.
With very best wishes,
Sharon Taylor
Christmas Fair
Re-live the magic of the Christmas Fair and the people who made it such a big success.
Thanks to everyone who the made the Christmas Fair such a big success.
Year 1 - a visit from the Queen?
A visit from a queen and working on our multiplication skills.
We have had another fun and productive week in Year 1, which has included deep sea diving and a visit from Queen Gloriana!
In maths, we revisited multiplication and division, learning to multiply (‘lots of’ or ‘groups of’) and divide (share equally’) by 2 and 10. We used lots of resources to help us to group and share which has helped to develop our understanding. We have also learned about number doubles, and will be looking at halving next week, along with more specific fractions work on half and quarter of numbers and shapes.
Our English work this week has included identifying and understating question words (who, where, when, why, how, what, which) and writing questions punctuated with a question mark. We used these skills to write questions to Queen Gloriana, who stole Emily Brown’s rabbit, about her motives. We asked the Queen our questions and then wrote a letter to her to ask for Stanley Rabbit back. Next week, we will find out if we have been successful…
In history, we have been looking at traditional games and making some to share with parents/carers on 14 December at our outcome. We hope that you will enjoy playing then as much as the children enjoyed making them!
We have now finished our artwork which was facilitated by students at the University of Winchester. Our ‘Under the sea’ themed work is of a very high standard; the children have loved exploring the different resources used to create their masterpieces. We hope that you enjoy sharing your child’s artwork when they bring it home later in the term.
As always, we continue to practice our phonics and reading daily.
Thank you to everyone who attended the parents’ evenings last week; it was lovely to share your child’s successes with you! We are extremely proud of the hard work and effort that they have made so far this term and are delighted with the positive attitudes towards their learning that they demonstrate.
We hope that you enjoyed the Christmas Fayre on Friday – how quickly December has arrived! We have some exciting learning planned for the rest of the term, as well as looking forward to the many special festive events in school.