Stanmore Post - 22 November 2019
Dear Parents,
A school that is in the middle of a city like Winchester, gives us so many opportunities to be part of our wider community. This week our children have been involved in a range of community based learning activities.
On Wednesday, the school participated in some community outreach provided by the boys from Winchester College. The CS Jazz group played a ‘Big Band’ set which all of our children enjoyed. They found out about the instruments, and how they harmonise to create the jazz sound. Meanwhile, children from Birch Class were learning all about wildlife in a talk organised at the College. Today, all of Birch Class were awarded a ‘Co-operation’ Certificate in recognition of their teamwork and outstanding behaviour at the event.
Yesterday, children from across KS2 visited Colden Common Primary School where they became ‘Cyber Ambassadors,’ finding out about staying safe on line. This event was run by the Police and Crime Commissioner and the programme will roll out across the school this year.
Today, Year 6 took part in ‘Arts Award in a Day’ focused on health and well-being led by the CAMHs team and local artists – https://www.stanmore.hants.sch.uk/news/2019/11/22/year-6-health-and-wellbeing-day
We are continuing to build a rich curriculum where children:
Have the vocabulary to contribute to and appreciate new learning,
Actively participate in a learning experience
Add to that experience with their own ideas - innovate.
On Monday, we have an INSET day and the focus for the teaching and support staff is Curriculum Planning and Assessment.
I look forward to seeing you at Parents Evening next week. Well done to Rowan Class Parents who are currently in the lead with 89.3% of parents booking an appointment online!
Best Wishes
Sharon Taylor
Hazel discover Queen Victoria
This week in Hazel class we have been enjoying delving into history to find out more about Queen Victoria and some of the other previous Kings and Queen of Britain. The children have enjoyed learning the facts and have remembered a huge amount. They then showed great co-operation to put together a group poster on different aspects of Queen Victoria's life including her childhood, family, marriage, coronation and interesting facts. One of which involves Christmas, see if your children can tell you.
We have also been learning to tell the time this week, one of those tricky aspects of maths which just takes quite a bit of practice. The year twos have been learning to tell the time to quarter to and past the hour as well as o'clock and half past while the year ones have all learnt to tell o'clock times. Please continue to talk to your children about time and help them learn the time, it is such an important skill.
Today we had a great afternoon making some crafts for the Christmas fair next week. Please come with you money ready to buy some of the things that the children have made, they are really proud of what they have done. See you all there!
Stanmore and Winchester College working together - music and nature
On Monday 50 children from Stanmore School were invited to enjoy a fabulous Jazz Combo perform at Winchester College. The rest of the school were fortunate enough to also listen to this talented group of musicians when they performed at the school on Wednesday afternoon.
Later in the week, Birch class attended a wildlife talk by Dr Tim Mackrill who has been part of the Rutland Water Osprey team since 1997.
The children learnt that these incredible birds of prey have been saved from extinction and several pairs are now breeding in Poole. They were amazed to learn that only 6 short weeks after hatching, the young Ospreys can migrate 3000 miles in 12 days to Africa and return to their nesting sites the following year.
Year 6 Health and Wellbeing day
Today Year 6 have had a really fantastic day thanks to the team from CAMHS and local artists. We started the day with an inspiring talk from Laura an artist who specialises in printing and film making.
All the children in Year 6 learnt how to use collagraph and block printing to make friendship works of art. We have all had a wonderful day of creation and fun and our wellbeing by the end of the day was great! Art is a superb way to feel good about yourself and others.
Stanmore Post - 15 November 2019
Dear Parents,
The whole school was able to use our Key for Success ‘Respect’ in observing the two minutes silence on Monday for Remembrance Day. The children have been learning about why we have Remembrance Day in lessons, and during assembly, and we were all proud of the respectful way in which they concentrated their thoughts.
https://www.stanmore.hants.sch.sch.uk/news/2019/11/15/remembering-and-respect
https://www.stanmore.hants.sch.uk/news/2019/11/11/ready-to-learn-remembering
We are looking forward to seeing you for Parents Evening on Tuesday November 26th and Thursday November 28th. If you haven’t signed up yet, then please go to www.scopay.com. It should be straight forward to book an appointment on line, but if you experience any problems then ask Mrs Eagle in the office, as she will be able to help you. As part of our school improvement strategy, we have set ourselves a target of 100% of parents attending Parents’ Evening. Your support in helping us achieve this target is greatly appreciated. It is one of the most important ways in which you can find out about what your child will learn during the year. The books that you can see prior to the appointment show the range of subjects that your child is covering. We would expect to discuss:
· The high expectations that we have for your child
· How well your child is doing
· Their attendance and punctuality at school
· Whether your child participates in any clubs and activities
· Any other ways that you believe that the school can support your child’s wider personal development.
In order to continue to track your child’s progress and be able to give you increasingly accurate information about whether your child is currently on track to meet age related expectations (ARE) we are adding English and Maths testing in the Autumn Term to our school assessment calendar. Your child’s class teacher will be able to share more information with you about this.
Best Wishes
Sharon Taylor
Why did they try and kill King James?
Year 6 had a visit from ‘John Johnson’, who told us all about the story of Guy Fawkes and how The Plotters conspired to kill King James.
With name tags and clues, we were able to bring the story to life and understand how Guy Fawkes was caught in the act! Listening to how they were punished was rather gruesome.
To add to our knowledge, we were then able to discover real-artefacts from the 1600’s, ones which Guy Fawkes himself may have used. We sketched the objects, described them and made links to different time periods. Our favourites were: the croft keys, the pottery purse and the table urinal.
Ready to Learn - Den Building
Every week, the R2L team try really hard to make good choices and follow the school rules. For each good choice, the children put a marble in the jar hoping that by Friday, the marble jar will be full. A full marble jar of good choices equals a marble jar treat.
This week, the team made SO many good choices, that we had an extra special marble jar treat – den building outside!
The team had to use all of their keys to success to work together to build a den. This was achieved in spite of the rain.
Well done Team R2L
By Mrs Mason, Miss Shuff and team R2L
Remembering and Respect
Having written stories, poems and created some fantastic art work, the whole school was able to use our Key for Success ‘Respect’ in observing the two minutes silence on Monday for Remembrance Day. The children have been learning about why we have Remembrance Day in lessons and during assembly and we were all proud of the respectful way in which they concentrated their thoughts.
Ready to Learn - Remembering
In R2L this morning, our activities were all based around the meaning and the significance of wearing a poppy at this time of year.
First of all, we listened to a story by Hilary Robinson and Martin Impey entitled “Where the poppies now grow.” This is a beautifully illustrated story, told in rhyme, which tells the tale of two best friends who go from small boys in the countryside to men at war.
We then used the story as the inspiration for our paintings to commemorate the bravery of the fallen soldiers from the First World War.
We hope that you like them!
By Mrs Mason, Miss Shuff, Mrs Petts and R2L
A regal visit to Year 1 & 2
We have had a very regal visitor to KS1 this week; on Wednesday, we were visited by none other than Queen Elizabeth II (artistic licence!), who came to talk to use about her role as the head of the Royal family and the Commonwealth. She told the children a little about her life, and challenged them to write about what they would do in her position. This forms the foundations for our work this half term of ‘What would you do if you were royal for the day?’ The children have been given wax sealed parchment to write their ideas down, ready to share at the end of the topic.
In maths, as have been exploring multiplication and division, which has lead us neatly into fractions work. We have been learning how to recognise and calculate halves, quarters and thirds of shapes, objects and amounts. The children have very much enjoyed being introduced to Times Table Rock Stars, where they can practise their 2, 5 and 10 times tables (2 and 10 for Year 1). We will be moving on to comparing and describing measure next week, including height and length, as well as comparing time (earlier, later, before, after, during, morning, afternoon and evening).
We continue with our RWI phonics, reading and writing daily. It is pleasing to see so many children making progress; we love hearing how much they (and you) are enjoying the ‘Book Bag Books, which are closely matched to the sounds that the children are currently working on, thereby developing, accuracy, fluency and confidence in reading. The children also have an additional guided reading lesson daily, introducing end exploring a high quality and exciting text.
In science, we have started a new unit on ‘Animals including humans’ and will be looking forward to some exciting science leading up to Christmas.
In music, we continue to learn new chords on the ukulele, and have been working hard to learn new music vocabulary to use when describing music that we head (pitch, tempo and dynamics).
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments. We look forward to discussing your child’s progress with at our parents’ evenings on Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th November.