Coronation for the King

The Coronation Lunch

The whole school celebrated the coronation of King Charles this week by making a range of Regal crowns and decorations and enjoying a ‘right royal lunch’! We also had a whole school photograph taken so people can look back in years to come and remember that special day.

Catkins

This week Catkins visited Finkley Down Farm in Andover alongside Year 1! This trip helped expand our previous learning about farms and animal's roles on farms! The children were very excited to go on the coach and travel to the farm! When we arrived, we were introduced to many furry friends such as two adorable rabbits and Freckles the Shetland pony! We also had the opportunity to feed and stroke some of the other animals (I think the goats were a firm favourite)! We even got to witness Finkley's famous goat race! All of the adults were so impressed with the children's behaviour, they all respectfully walked around the farm and treated the animals with care! We are so proud of Catkins and Year 1!

Maple

Finkley Down Farm! 
What an amazing trip Maple class had on Wednesday. We are learning about animals and how to group them into their six categories, so the farm visit was an amazing learning opportunity. The children's behaviour was impeccable, and they were amazing representatives of Stanmore Primary School. The children had an amazing time and got the chance to groom a pony, pet rabbits, baby goats and sheep, feed various different animals and even watch a goat race! The winner of the race was none other than the children's favourite, Harry Headbutter! 

Rowan

This week in Rowan Class, we have been exploring the microhabitats that our school has to offer. Out exploring, we found these microhabitats: the pond, under logs and stones and the hedgerows in the front field. With practical resources we collected some of the living things from the microhabitats and created a tally chart to show how many of each species we had found. With our tally charts, we drew block graphs. We even spotted a slow worm!

Birch class

In Birch Class this week, we started the RE unit, 'Sacred Places'. The children have discussed what 'sacred' means to them and thought about what that might look like for Christians and Sanātana Dharma  (Hinduism). 

We created a Hindu shrine in the classroom and learnt about the symbolism behind the objects. The children have discussed whether any space can be sacred , and what might happen if you were not able to visit your own sacred place. 

In English, the children have been preparing to write a newspaper article about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. We held a 'Conscience Alley' to explore whether or not the two children in our story should have fled from Pompeii or stayed. This generated some excellent thinking and ideas which the children have used in their writing. Well done, Birch Class! 

Sycamore

Sycamore had an excellent opportunity to take part in Forest School this week. Luckily, the sun was shining and we were able to enjoy the full experience… 

• We relaxed on the hammock

• We built our confidence (and core muscles!) on the slack line

• We made horrible concoctions in the mud kitchen

• We made waterproof dens (that were tested with a watering can) 

• We made things out of wood, whittling wood and attaching wood using string

• We sat around the fire and toasted marshmallows! 

All in all, a great time was had by all! 

R2L

Our target this week in R2L has been "I can recognise my emotions". We thought about how our bodies send us signals to let us know when we might be beginning to feel an emotion like sadness. We might feel like our movements are slow; our breathing might feel shallow; our heads and our eyes might be looking down at the ground; our voice might be at a lower pitch and quieter. Whilst exploring our emotions, we also thought about how the Royal family might be feeling about the Coronation this Saturday. We wondered if King Charles III might feel anxious whilst in the Abbey. We wondered how Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis might also feel about being part of the celebration and riding in a horse and carriage through London. Whilst thinking about how the Royal Family might feel, we created a variety of Royal themed crafts to display around R2L. We hope that you like them!

A truly Roman visit

Beyond the Beat

This week, our Beyond the Beat musicians took up their instruments and performed in front of the rest of the school. This not only puts to the test their keys for success such as confidence, but it also shows how these children have been putting in the time and effort to learn their craft.

R2L

Our target in R2L this week is "I can use my words when I am upset." We thought about how powerful our words are and how helpful they are when we are feeling strong emotions like sadness and anger. Our words  let others know how we are feeling and also allows them to help us. We also thought about how the power of our words can affect others; words can either build people up, or knock people down. Our week ended with a visit from Silas, from New Life Church, who taught us the importance of using our words through lots of fun and role play.

Rowan

Keeping healthy!

This week in PSHE, we discovered how much sugar there was in our favourite snacks! 7-year-olds should only have 6 cubes of a sugar a day, but a bowl of ice cream can have up to 8! This shocked us all. We sorted foods which we thought did and didn't contain sugar, and then we shared ideas for healthier snacks that had less sugar in them.

Maple

Maple class continued to learn about the school's history by looking at important events. We looked at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations that took place at the school and learnt about the Queen's Green Canopy Project. We went to see the tree that was gifted to the school. 

Birch

Year 3 had a fantastic trip out this week to Fishbourne to learn about all things Roman. The children had a great time making mosaics, finding out what food the Romans ate, trying on Roman clothes and even learning how to tie a toga! Everyone was so impressed with how polite and amazing the children were - well done Birch class - there were so many great photos to choose from!

Sycamore

We have had a creative week in Sycamore Class! We have been learning about healthy food and how to preserve food to keep it fresher for longer, so we have made hummus and fruit kebabs. It was loads of fun, and the best bit was that we got to taste it all afterwards! Delicious! 

Year 5 and 6

Year 5 and 6 worked systematically in their new science projects ,'Changing materials'. They were able to apply all the new vocabulary they have been learning in science by identifying the properties of a range of materials.

Where is Ted?

Catkins

Catkins has had a very busy first week of summer term! This week we have been exploring how to take care of our pets. We have learnt that animals need food, water, shelter, exercise, play and lots of love! We were so lucky to receive a visit from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association to explore how animals can also care for us! We were also introduced to the story 'Dear Zoo' and explored which animals are suitable pets and which animals are not! The children did some amazing writing to describe why their chosen animal was unsuitable! In maths, we were consolidating our number bond knowledge. We used the numicon to represent the different numbers between 5 and 10 in various ways! We have also begun our work on numbers over 10! Super job Catkins!

Rowan

Missing!

Ted, our class hedgehog, has gone missing! Rowan Class arrived back after Easter to a crime scene. With our partners we shared our thoughts on what could have happened, and who might have stolen him- our favourite being an engineer who fitted a new radiator. Using noun phrases, and commas, we created missing posters.

I hope Ted shows up soon!

Sycamore

Sycamore Class have produced some high quality leaflets linked to our Geography topic. Last half term, after performing 'The Bee Musical', we had to catch up on some work to finish our topic 'Misty Mountain, Winding River' unit, but it was worth the wait! The leaflets are high quality pieces of writing, advertising the Lake District, where children could show off their technical language about rivers and mountains in The Lakes. 

R2L

After welcoming all of the children back from their Easter break, we focused on our new target, "I can follow instructions to the count of 3". The children explored why it was important to listen to adults when they gave instructions; they decided that it was because adults help to keep children safe! 

The children enjoyed a variety of interactive experiences including a scavenger hunt, making a sail boat and learning to stop, think and go after choosing the right choice. All of the children are beginning to successfully transition back into their classrooms and join their friends in learning their top quality curriculum. Another fantastic week in R2L!

Year 5 and 6

On Thursday, 25 children across yr5/6 were invited to attend a Primary Schools Computer Science Day led by Winchester College. Over the course of the day, the children participated in a range of different activities on the subject of coding and programming including Caesar Cipher Code Breaking, a sequencing and programming workshop and a treasure hunt. The day culminated in a code breaking competition, during which the children competed in teams, joining forces with several other Winchester Schools to try and break the code that was set by the boys at Winchester College. The children were commended for their excellent proactive attitude to the challenges that had been set and for their scientific reasoning. 

Guinea Pig update

Different children (and staff) from around the school have been enjoying getting to know Oreo and Bubble this week. Catching Bubble is always a challenge but everyone is becoming more confident with our new friends.

Our Enrichment Curriculum

Maple

Maple class have been doing some amazing print making this week. They designed their own print using weather motifs and then printed a pattern onto A3 paper, what lovely results! 

Key stage 1 was also visited by Christchurch this week where they continued to learn about the easter story. and why people believe both the happy and sad parts to the story. 

Rowan

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside! 

Year 2 visited Lepe beach this week to see real-life erosion! We walked along the beach with Ranger Laura, where we built cliffs out of sand and stone to see how erosion impacts different materials. From where we stood, we could see a spit of land and stunning views of the Isle of Wight.  Further along the beach we were lucky enough to see a cliff erosion and erosion of a path that had happened a few days ago. There was a tree of the beach, which had fell when the cliff eroded. We collected beautiful seashells, and Ranger Laura taught us the names of several of them.  Of course, Mrs Kempson managed to fit in time for us to do some writing!  A member of the public commented on our wonderful behaviour too! 

Sycamore

Eli, from Christ Church, visited this week to complete our Easter unit of work on the Paschal Candle. Children created their own candles similar to those found in churches. To complete our RE work this week, we also got a glimpse of another religion as we learned about Ramadan. 

R2L

Our target in R2L this week was "I can respect property." We identified that Respect is one of our keys to success and we decided that respecting property meant treating it as if it was our own! We enjoyed making Easter crafts this week, during which, we practised the skills of sharing and noticing when the resources were running low. We learnt that it was much better to only take the craft supplies that we needed so that there were enough resources for everyone else. We ended our week by making a beautiful Easter garden which was used for reflection time in our BEST assembly. R2L wishes our school community and friends a very Happy Easter.

Turner Sims

This week, as part of the arts mark award, we were invited to attend a jazz concert at Turner Sims Concert Hall at Southampton University. We were able to watch Joe and Alex (saxophonist and double bass) again, as well as a pianist and drummer to make up the jazz quartet. 

Cricket day

KS2 enjoyed a day of cricket this year and learnt all about how to get involved with allstars cricket. The children all had a great time (despite the weather), and hopefully there will be some new recruits. Year 5 and 6 certainly enjoyed themselves!

Musicians

Two members of our Stanmore Family represented themselves and the school brilliantly this week by taking part in a concert with their instruments. We were so proud of the confidence they showed and can’t wait to see where their passion takes them next. Well done Ben and Georgina.

'To bee, or not to bee: that is the question'

Hamlet

Hamlet' was the Shakespearean play performed to children at Stanmore Primary School on Wednesday . All the classed loved being up close to the Young Shakespeare Company as they acted their way through this classic tragic play. A huge 'well done' to the children who participated in the action - these parts included trees, gates, soldiers and an old man. The whole audience joined in with the performance - what a fabulous afternoon!

Rowan Class

This week we are focusing on how to measure capacity and volume. We used varying containers to estimate and measure volume. By reading a scale we were able to understand and measure capacity.  If a container did not have a scale on it, we quickly realised that we could pour the liquid into a container that did have a scale.

Birch

As part of the Arts Award (Discover), yr 3 and 4 and musicians in other years, were treated to an afternoon featuring two musicians from the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton, building on previous sessions, where the children learnt about the roles of others who work in the music and performance industries. Alex (saxophone) and Joe (double bass) played a selection of jazz medleys, with the children encouraged to sing and clap along. We are very much looking forward to next Monday, when we will be visiting Turner Sims for an afternoon concert of music and song. 

Sycamore

This week Sycamore Class have been involved in some amazing performances. On Wednesday afternoon we had the opportunity to watch Hamlet performed by theYoung Shakespeare Company. On Wednesday after school we performed our brilliant play ‘The Bee Musical’ the children performed confidently and we were all so proud of them! On Thursday we watched a short performance of some jazz musicians who came to perform in school to give us a sneak preview of the concert at Turner Sims Concert Hall that we are visiting on Monday. What an exciting week! 

Yr 5 6

Year 5 and 6 have been working hard this week, creating unusual animals and habitats based on our text ‘The Wonder Garden’. We have explored a range of different grammar techniques and are now looking at whether we should allow outsiders to come and visit our beautiful lands. Oak class have also been using the natural landscape to create their own art installations in the Quad - see if you can spot any.

R2L

Our target in R2L this week has been "I can talk to others politely." We continued  to sing our song "It's not what you say, but the way that you say it" to remind ourselves that even words like "excuse" me and "thankyou" need to be said with the right tone, pitch and facial expression. We thought about having an imaginary filter in our head to catch our thoughts before they left our mouths. We practised this by fishing out all of the unkind words that we said from the duck pond.  We also though carefully about the power of our words and how it might make someone else feel. Everyone agreed that kind words said with in the right way helped everyone to feel welcome, valued and happy.

New additions to our school

Guinea Pigs

This week we invited two new members to our our Stanmore School - Oreo and Bubble. The children all voted for their favourite names and these were decided at random during the celebration assembly -they definitely suit them.

Many of the classes have been to see Oreo and Bubble this week and we can’t wait until they are strong enough to go outside into their run. Thank you to The Friends of Stanmore for buying our new friends and their home and thank you to Mr Foard for putting it all together.

Catkins

This week, we explored the text 'Rosie's Walk', a story about a blissfully unaware hen and a mischievous fox who runs into mishaps! The children did some excellent writing to Rosie to explain where the fox had been on the farm and some even created their own story maps! The children then created some 'Rosie's Walk' inspired art including handprint hens and honeycomb! We checked on the growth of our bean plant and conducted an experiment to see which plant will grow the tallest, the one in the cupboard or the one outside! The children then enquired further about farms, and we learned about the role of animals that live on a farm. The children had a go at 'milking' cows and shearing sheep! Lastly, we visited our new guinea pigs. The adults were impressed at how respectful Catkins were when visiting our new school animal! Super job Catkins!

Rowan

What do plants need to grow?

Last week, we set up an investigation to explore what plants ( grass was the focus) needed to grow and be healthy. 

First, we explored our school grounds to see where grass grew and identified why it was able to grow successfully. We quickly realised that grass wasn't growing as well in our woodland areas as the grass might not have had as much sunlight or water.  To set up the investigation we used four pieces of turf and labelled each grass sample with one of these labels: water and light; water and no light; light and no water; no light and no water. 

Our predictions were all very similar, as we understood that the grass without water or sunlight would not be healthy as it didn't have the things it needed to grow.  

We really enjoyed observing the grass samples this week, as we could clearly see a difference between the grass that been kept in the dark and the grass that had more light. Hurry up next week! We want to see what has happened to our grass!

Birch

Birch Class have been introduced to the wonderful world of Shakespeare this week! They are studying 'The Tempest' and have been exploring the main characters and settings. As part of this work, they created freeze frames of the opening scenes from the play. They will be drawing on what they have learnt to write a playscript later next week.         

Sycamore

Sycamore Class have been becoming creative with music and science, creating their own musical instruments and thinking about how to alter the sound as well as how the sound is made.

Year 5 and 6

Children in Elm, Oak and Aspen have been writing newspaper reports this week based on their text ‘King Kong’ by Anthony Browne. We have loved exploring whether King Kong is a ferocious monster or an animal that has been taken out of it’s native land. The writing has been excellent and we have explored using high level punctuation and direct and reported speech.

R2L

Our target this week has been "I can accept the decision of adults." Building on from last weeks target, the children have thought about what the role of a teacher is at Stanmore Primary School . They decided that its was a teacher's job to teach new learning, teach new skills, keep children safe, model the right choices and to have fun! The children enjoyed a variety of activities this week including Lego building, making play dough, playing competitive games and making bird seed feeders.  The children agreed that although sometimes it can feel tricky to accept the decisions of adults, ultimately, the adults have the children's best interests in mind. 

EAT them to DEFEAT them

Amazing Vegetables

This week the children took part in the ‘Eat them to defeat them’ campaign which is designed to encourage more children to try a range of different vegetables. Mandy has provided new and exciting tastes for the children and the whole school took part in a competition to design a poster. The 5 winners each received a big bag of vegetables!

Catkins

This week we have explored the text Handa's Surprise and have learnt about the variety of fruits that the animals stole from Handa's basket! The children were asked to write about the animals and the fruit they stole! In Catkins, we have also been exploring how we keep our body healthy, specifically about which foods we should be eating and how we can protect our teeth! Forest school fell on our snowy day and the children loved investigating the snow and were even able to make a snowman! 

Maple

This week Maple class have continued their exploration of London by becoming tourists. We explored the 'Visit London' website and discovered some amazing things to do. We then watched some videos of the amazing landmarks and activities that you can visit in London! 

Rowan

This week we have been busy planning, drafting and redrafting excellent instructions based on the text, Storm Whale. 

Noi- a lonely boy- finds a washed-up grey whale on the beach and he decides to take it home so he can care for it. We started off by looking at how we could write a set of instructions for washing a whale, just like Noi does. Through shared writing we were able to identify and use adverbials and imperative ( bossy) verbs. When given the choice of what we wanted our instructions to be based on, we came up with some imaginative but wonderful ideas: How to play volleyball with a whale to how to teach White Rose Maths to a whale. Wow- We really are becoming confident writers in Year 2!

Birch

In RE this week, Birch Class have been continuing their unit on 'Ritual', and thinking about the ceremony attached to the Paschal candle. They learnt about different parts of the services where Paschal candles are used, and freeze framed one aspect of them in their groups. 

As part of our Arts Award (Discover), we welcomed Vanessa and Jo from the Turner Sims Concert Hall back into our class and learnt about some of the musicians that play at their venue. The children listened to jazz, thinking about how musicians are able to improvise, and used different drawing materials to 'record' what they had heard. These will be used as part of the advertising material for the concert later in March - how exciting!

Year 5 /6

Children in year 5 /6 have been looking at natural art this week and have created their own natural masterpieces following the work from Andy Goldsworthy.

R2L

Our learning target this week in R2L has been "I can respond to all adults appropriately". We identified who the adults were in our lives and thought about what their main job was - to teach us how to make safe and good choices. We considered the phrase "It's not what you say, but the way that you say it!" and decided that singing  the phrase was a helpful reminder. Not only did we make a paper chain of kind words to cover R2L, but we were also politeness detectives around the school. The children used role play to "teach the teachers" and thought hard about how they spoke to each other. R2L discovered that please was the most popular word used by the Stanmore community. R2L collectively decided that Stanmore School is a happy school to belong to.

World Book day

Catkins

This week we have focused on growing. We read the story 'The Jack and the Beanstalk' and explored different beans and seeds. We also enquired about what we need to help a plant grow and read 'Jasper's Beanstalk' to give us some ideas! We invited a enthusiastic gardener (our very own Mrs Head) to teach the children how to prepare the soil and plant the beans. The children wondered where the beans will grow best! We will be monitoring the growth of these beans over the coming weeks. Last but not least, Catkins loved our World Book Day activities! We read the story 'Pattan's Pumpkin' and imagined what we would store in our pumpkin in case of a flood! In the afternoon, the children made their own potato characters and described their characteristics to adults! Super job Catkins!

Rowan

This week, we have been exploring units of measure with rulers and metre sticks and using the words length, and height. We quickly realised that a cm is smaller than a m, and were able to group our measurements in two groups: less than a metre and more than a metre.

R2L

This week in R2L, we have been looking at why there are rules. We have discovered that rules are mostly in place to keep us safe, to help us to know the right choices to make and to provide order. When playing games, we agreed that when everyone follows the rules the games are much more fun as we all know what to do. However, if the rules suddenly changed, it was very frustrating. We even had our own R2L orchestra where we had to watch the conductor very carefully! We decided that most rules are cool!

World Book Day

Rowan

We used the beautiful book, Pattan's Pumpkin to lead our writing. First, we explored a range of fruits and vegetables; we focused on texture, smell and colour and created expanded noun phrases.  In the Indian fairy-tale, Pattan grows a ginormous pumpkin which saves his village from a flood. We wrote our own instructions for growing pumpkins, followed by created our very own potato pals! 

Birch

Birch Class had a wonderful time on WBD, dressing as their favourite characters and listening to work from an award-winning author. They loved making the potato that they has bought in into their favourite book character using their creativity and imagination! I think that they look amazing!

Sycamore

This week we celebrated World Book Day. Firstly we looked at the poem ‘Sandwich’ by Valerie Bloom who is a Jamaican author who now lives in Kent. Afterwards, we created our favourite book characters out of a potato! Who knew potatoes could be so versatile! 

Year 5 /6

Year 5 and 6 had great fun on World Book Day, creating characters from favourite books from potatoes. Inspired by the exciting story, 'King Kong' by Anthony Browne the children used their empathy skills to imagine that they were one of the main characters (Ann Darrow), writing a letter home using evidence for the text. We also looked at the beautiful book ‘Change Sings’ by Amanda Gorman and looked at how we can all make a difference.

EARA

This week, four young leaders from Year 5 travelled to Waterlooville to take part in our first Equality and Rights Advocates meeting (EARA). This group has been set up to ensure that children have an active role in ensuring our school is inclusive and accepting of all different people, wherever they are from and whatever their ability. During the meeting the children met an artist who specialises in  using art to express his emotions and feelings and they had a chance to create their own masterpieces depicting an emotion they felt strongly. 

The group will meet regularly and will use their platform to inform and educate others on the importance of acceptance and kindness.

Science, Art and Pancakes.

Catkins

We kickstarted our week with pancake day preparations! The children designed, labelled and then decorated their own pancakes! We also had some messy and active pancake activities to stimulate discussion! This week we began our new topic 'Ready, Steady Grow!' which focuses on learning where our food comes from, how food is produced and the lives of animals on the farm. We created our own farm shop that sold fresh produce and even had the chance to use our 5 senses to explore the wonderful fruits and vegetables we had delivered! Catkins then did some super sketches of their favourite fruits and vegetables! Well done for another fantastic week!

Rowan

This week, we have been inspired by the artist Yayoi Kusama- (The Queen of dots), to create our own sculptures. For our innovate challenge, we had to design a flower template, draw it on to a paper plate, cut it out and paint it using bold colours. 

Birch Class

Birch Class have been continuing their work on forces and magnets. This week, they have used magnets to sort magnetic and non-magnetic materials. From this, they discussed the question,' If all magnetic materials are metals, are all metals magnetic?'.  The children worked in pairs to discuss, prove and share their ideas. 

Sycamore

This week Sycamore Class have been learning about the water cycle. We brought this to life to using plastic bags to show precipitation, evaporation and condensation and water collection that occurs within the cycle. This has also linked in with our English work based on a book called 'Rhythm of the Rain'. 

Year 5 and 6

The first day of term started with the discovery of  a mysteriously large footprint at Stanmore school. The children followed this intriguing find with an exciting treasure hunt to learn more about the creature who produced the footprint and the story surrounding it.