Friends of Stanmore - Santa fund raising and quiz time!
Our Friends have been raising more money, and have a few questions for you.
The FOS would like to thank all of the parents, carers and children who braved the cold to collect money on behalf of the FOS on Santa’s Sleigh. We can now reveal a snowtastical sum of £485 was collected. Well done to everyone that took part.
In new news, the FOS are very delighted to announce an exciting adult social event.
We are thrilled to be reintroducing our social evenings, kicking off with a quiz night on the 8th February at 7.30pm!! There will be paying bar and a raffle available on the night. Tickets will be on sale at £5 per person, time to start thinking about quirky team names.
So get that babysitter in place and get ready to channel your inner Beast or Governess and join us for a child free evening of quizzing, and a chance to catch up with other parents child free!!
Lots more will be happening over the coming term, so keep an eye on the notice board outside the office.!!
Rachel, Ali, Jen, Hayley and Jo
Year 1 - Oceans of the world and bar models
Find our what Year 1 have been up to this week
Once upon a time…
In Year 1 this week, we have been extremely productive! The children are very much enjoying their Early Morning Work tasks and are showing off their amazing spelling, drawing, writing and maths skills independently.
In maths, we have been using resources to help us with our addition and subtraction and have started to record our calculations on a number line. Towards the end of the week, we were finding the missing number in ‘empty box’ questions, using the part-part-whole model to support our understanding. This is quite tricky, but the children have shown great resilience and perseverance in their learning, which is wonderful!
Below is an example of the bar model used to find the missing number.
We have enjoyed using comparatives and superlatives in English this week, and have used these in our sentence writing about the Enormous Turnip. In addition, we have recapped on prepositions (position words) and adjectives, using the latter to write sentences with noun phrases. The children have also started to learn when to use an exclamation mark, and today, we were generating similes. We have been blown away by the children’s imagination and creativity in their writing this week! Please see the end of this page for grammar definitions.
In Geography, we have been learning about the five oceans of the world, finding the pieces of our ‘oceans’ map and fact file during a Treasure Hunt!
We became scientists when we dissected animals ‘poo’ (not real…) to investigate what different animals had eaten. From this, we could say if the animal was a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. Lovely!
We continue to learn the recorder, this week progressing onto the ‘b’ note, and have started to learn some yoga moves in PE. AS there are so many germs about at the moment, we have been talking about the importance of hand hygiene before eating, after going to the toilet or blowing noses etc. The children are making posters to remind others to wash their hands carefully.
During our ‘Book Club’ sessions, we have focused on word reading (using a sound mat to support), repeated phrases and the use of contractions (can’t, I’ll etc.).
We continue with our phonics lessons daily.
Notes
Home learning
The date for the home learning to be returned is 7th February.
Recorders
If your child is bringing in their own recorder on a Tuesday for music, please could you ensure that both the case AND the recorder are clearly labelled. As you can appreciate, it is very hard to reunite the recorder to the right child when they are unnamed.
Show and Tell (Juniper Class)
To ensure that each child has a fair turn to Show and Tell, we now have a booking system. Children can book a place on the waiting list and once they have had a go, will get a tick next to their name. Children who have not had a turn will be offered the opportunity to Show and Tell if they want to (not compulsory!). Once we have been through everyone, we will start the waiting list again for children to have another go.
PE Kits
We will be having PE on Tuesday and Fridays. Please ensure that your child has their (labelled) kit in school on these days. Many thanks.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Grammar definitions
Comparatives
Compare one person, action, thing or state to another. Add the suffix ‘er’ to the original adjective.
This car is faster than that car.
Superlatives
Compares two or more people, actions, things or states. Add the suffix ‘est’ to the original adjective. Sometimes the root word might change.
This is the largest box I could find.
Did you get the tastiest apple from the fruit bowl?
Prepositions
Are used to describe time or place.
The books are in my book-bag.
Are you coming home before dinner?
Year 5 - Steam Trip
Year 5 learning all about steam engines and railways
On Wednesday 16th January, we went to Steam! After a rather long journey, we arrived and were all in awe when we saw the first train, the North Star, designed by George and Robert Stephenson.
Our first activity was all about the evolution of the railways in England, mainly that of the Great Western Railway. We learned about Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Robert and George Stephenson and Daniel Gouche, all engineers involved with the designing of railways and locomotives.
During this activity, we learnt about the roles of navvies – these were the men who did all the hard work, the digging, the pick axing. They were able to use dynamite to blow up land too! They were paid in beer and bread; occasionally they would get money tokens too.
We then learnt a few things about bridges and why they are used, how they are designed and we even got to build some! These will be very useful when we begin designing our own bridges.
After lunch, we had time to explore the museum. We were able to learn about the workers, the importance of the railways during wartime and how the women continued the work that the men had started. Not only did we learn all of this, but we were able to walk under a train, drive a train and work in a control centre. All that in a day!
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!