WINNER announcement

Speak competition results

Well done to : Emma, Ellie, Millie, Caoimhe, Raysa, Jamil and George for winning the SPEAK competition to design a new sign for your classroom door.

Maple

Maple class had a brilliant afternoon of teamwork, taking on the challenge to use sticks to create a trail for the Jolly Postman to ride his bicycle on. Throughout their trail they created human features (houses, shops, post office etc.) using leaves, stones, shells and more to mark where they would be and took compare bears for a stroll around their pathways. They have also created many postcards, letters, stamps and envelopes, all inspired by The Jolly Postman story.

Rowan

This week we have started our new book for English, 'The First Book of the Sea'. A poetry book of sea themed poems. We discussed as a class what performance poetry was and watched videos of Micheal Rosen performing his poetry. The children loved it and then chose poems from our book to perform to the class. They worked so hard at learning their lines and using their voice, tone, intonation and actions to bring the poetry alive. They then performed to the entire class, really showing their confidence and co-operation. 

Birch

As part of their new topic, Birch class have been experimenting with making their own crystals this week and are excitedly waiting for the results. Birch Class also loved their first session using Oxford Reading Buddies. They quickly navigated their way around the website, selected a book from their 'shelf' and had fun reading it. After each book there is a quiz to check that the children have understood what they have read, and a 'badge' awarded once this is completed. The children are excited to log in at home to continue their reading. 

Sycamore

Sycamore have started their art project called ‘Vista’ which focuses on landscapes. They had to look at a range of famous paintings and have a go at recreating them using shading techniques, such as crosshatching. 

Year 6

As part of our school expectations around fluency and independent reading, year 6 have spent a session exploring our new program Reading Buddies this week. They were able to access books that were suitable for their age and could also check their understanding with a short quiz at the end.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

We were delighted to welcome the Young Shakespeare Company into school this week to perform A Midsummers Night’s Dream. Children from Year 2-6 all took part and there was plenty of audience participation and laughs. Exposing our children to the experience of watching plays being performed is very important and if your child’s interest was peaked then there are child friendly version of Shakespeare’s plays to read and listen to on our new SORA app.

Maple

Maple class have continued to explore our class MAPS book, filled with beautiful illustrations which highlight similarities and differences in physical features, landmarks, animals, vehicles and much more! They have been hunting in teams for parts of maps before sorting them, creating their own maps, building puzzles of physical features, taking Paddington for a walk around London maps and even becoming pirates.

Rowan

Maths and Marbles! 

This week Rowan class have made some amazing marble art based on the sea for their topic lessons. They used a combination of blues, greens and white to create wave patterns by rolling marbles in paint and creating marks on the paper. They have also been amazing with their maths, starting their multiplication and division unit. They have been doing fantastically and are making great links between repeated addition and multiplication. 

Birch

To celebrate the start of our new topic, 'Rocks, Relics and Rumbles', as well as out new writing text, 'The Rock Factory', children in Birch Class have enjoyed a crafty week! On Monday, they used written and pictorial instructions to make their own crystals, and evaluated the effectiveness of the instructions given. On Tuesday, we discovered different rock types and how they are formed. We had great fun creating sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks out of chocolate; we enjoyed eating them at the end of the day! 

A New Way of Reading

Here at Stanmore School we understand the importance of reading for pleasure and want to encourage our children to read as much as possible. As well as exposure to high quality texts at school, we want our pupils to be able to access texts at home and also on their electronic devises.

Through the School Library Service, we are delighted to be able to introduce the new SORA app, your child’s own virtual library. With one-tap reading, fun reading achievements, quick access to assignments and tools to track reading progress your child can enjoy an array of texts on their phone, computers or tablets.

Children can access SORA using their google classroom log in details.

Using practical work to embed our understanding

Maple

Maple class have been incredibly engaged in Maths this week, utilising a range of resources to help their understanding of either Shape or Mass and Capacity. They've all worked tremendously well both independently and in groups. Not to forget the brilliant number formation practise in Year R and Year 1's wonderful presentation when recording in books!

Rowan

Exploring Erosion 

This week in Geography we have been exploring erosion and how it affects the UK coastline. We completed an experiment where we investigated the effects of waves and rain on a cliffside that was unprotected, versus one that is protected by a coastal defence (a sea wall). We saw the effects in action as the unprotected cliffside collapsed after only a few waves. but the protected cliff survived for several minutes on onslaught by the waves and rain. 

Birch

Birch Class have had an extremely busy week again! In maths, they have been learning to divide including remainders and used cocktail sticks to create 2d shapes to help with their understanding of this concept. We started off out new topic, Rocks, Relics and Rumbles by learning about the different layers of the earth and making our own labelled models. We think that they are great!

Sycamore

Sycamore used a marbling technique in RE to produce art work inspired by the Hindu festival of Holi. We also made healthy snacks. We made hummus with vegetable sticks and fruit kebabs. 

Year 5

Y5 have continued their PHSE lesson in first aid by learning to place a casualty in the recovery position.

Year 6

This week Year 6 have been practicing their Inuit artwork carving skills on blocks of soap. They have been exploring how different tools can create different patterns and affect the precision of their lines!

Marmalade Sandwiches

Maple

After watching Paddington bear meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Maple class made marmalade sandwiches. They were delicious (although a little sour for some) and the children wrote instructions in case anyone else wanted to try. They also made new crowns for the King in case Paddington should pop in for tea again!

Rowan

Fantastic Freeze Frames! 

Rowan class have been loving their new English text, Clem and the Crab over the last two weeks. We have been learning about protecting the environment and cleaning up litter that may affect the animals. We created freeze frames of scenes within the book so we could get into our characters shoes and understand their thoughts and feelings. We used our Confidence to perform our freeze frames in front of the entire class. Amazing as always! 

Birch

Children in Birch Class enjoyed a chilly walk around the local area this afternoon as part of their geography topic. With a focus on land use, the children used a 'Stanmore Spotter' to find places on their route, which included a break at the outdoor gym at the Carroll Centre! They will be using this knowledge to create a display of the different ways in which land is used in Stanmore. 

Sycamore

Sycamore Class have been studying 'King of the Cloud Forest' by Michael Morpurgo. We have enjoyed the first part of the story, but we left it on a cliffhanger, where Ashley has been found in the middle of the Himalayas by some strange, hairy creatures...! This has stimulated high quality descriptive writing and means that we can now create our own endings to the story. 

Aspen

This week in Aspen, the children wrote a narrative using our current book "The Misadventures of Frederick" for their SOA. The focus was to use speech to advance the story.

Year 6

In year 6, the children have put their best feet forwards and have showed flair in their musical dance abilities, whilst planning and teaching sequences from famous musical theatre shows in PE.

 In science, they have worked together to create and analyse series circuits using a range of different electrical components. 

First week of Spring

Guinea Pigs

This week we welcomed a temporary new member to our school - Wilma. She has come in to keep Oreo company while Bubbles has treatment for a sore eye. She has been a delight to have at school and we hope to see her again soon.

Maple Class

It has been lovely to see the children after Christmas and to hear all about their time with family. Mrs Cooper has loved getting to know the children and is already very impressed with their manners and friendliness. This week the children have been exploring the story of the Gruffalo and they have worked hard on sequencing the story and writing key sentences using their phonics.

Birch

Birch Class have returned refreshed and eager to learn after the holidays. In Geography, they learnt about some European countries and made a poster about one, featuring key human and physical features, capital city, population and language. We have started a wonderful new book in English and on Thursday, used a 'Conscience Alley' to discuss if the Queen of Darkness should keep her child in the ice cavern. 

Sycamore

Year 4 have been busy this week learning how to weave! The children showed all our keys to success to master this tricky skill.

Aspen

Year 5 were practising a primary survey in PHSE. They learnt to ensure the site was safe before helping a casualty and then using LIONEL ( location, incident, other services, number of people, extent of injuries and location repeated when calling for help). The children remained calm when handling an unresponsive casualty and used clear communication to explain.

Year 6

Year 6 have been learning about the effects, risks and legislation around different drugs in PHSE. The presented their findings to the rest of the class using clear communication and confidence.

Christmas week

Maple

Maple class have been really busy this week performing their nativity to the whole school and friends and family. They were excellent and we are all incredibly proud of them.

Rowan

Christingle Service in Rowan was calm and peaceful. The children were excellent at making their Christingles and sang beautifully.

Birch

Children in Birch Class loved participating in the Christingle Service on Thursday. They made their Christingle oranges beautifully, sat respectfully and joined in with the singing enthusiastically! 

Sycamore

The children in Sycamore loved making their Christingles and also taking part in the Christchurch service.

Aspen

The children in Aspen have been making their Christingles and also exploring the phases of the moon.

Twas the week before Xmas....

Maple

This week in Maple class the children have been busy practising for their nativity. We also had a very cheeky elf come and visit us in school, and as well as searching for him everyday, the children have made wanted posters, written him letters and even wrapped him presents.

Rowan

Marvellous musical morning!

Rowan class had their Listen2Me ukulele concert on Thursday and did such an amazing job. They performed twelve songs to their adults and impressed everyone in the hall. They have been learning for eleven weeks now and have made such fantastic progress. I know that the audience was impressed by their performance. Thank you to everyone who came and watched and I can say that we are very proud of them.

Birch

Birch class practised their culinary skills this week by cooking ratatouille, Parmentier potatoes and a vegetable taco in DT.

The results were delicious!

Sycamore

Minstead Residential!

The children have all had an amazing time on their residential this week, despite the rain. They went on a long, wet walk and even saw some New Forest Ponies. The children have loved taking part in the activities such as den building and it has been wonderful to see the team work and enthusiasm of everyone there.

Aspen

This week, we have been learning how to locate specific features on a map. 

With a range of Ordnance survey maps, we learnt how to read and locate  a six-figure grid reference, identify human and physical features and explain how the contour lines look different across a locations. We even began to look at main roads, and how varying transport links connected us to the local area.

Year 6

Year 6 have had a busy week completing their culinary DT projects by making bread and pasta sauce. They also presented the culmination of their work on Frozen Kingdoms to the children of Maple Class.

The beginning of Christmas.

Christmas Fair

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the school at our Christmas fair this week, The FOS did an amazing job at transforming the school and Mrs Jones made a very fetching elf. It was wonderful to see so many faces, old and new and the children’s painted faces looked really festive. Well done to everyone involved.

Maple

The children in Maple have been braving the cold and enjoying our fantastic outdoor learning. We have used positional language such as under, over, above and have also created masterpieces with mud painting and den building. The children have been able to be creative in a safe environment and extend their vocabulary and problem solving skills.

Rowan

We adapt and survive! This week Rowan class have been exploring animal adaptations in science. We explored what camouflage is and how some animals use it to survive in the wild. We investigated our local environment and researched what colours and textures were in our woodland. We then went back to class and created two moths each. One camouflaged, that would ideally remain hidden from the predators, and one bright and colourful, that would draw predators attention. We then hid these moths in the woodland and unleased some Year 3 moths predators to try and find as many as they could! They only managed to find 31/56, so our camouflage must have worked! 

Birch

Children in Birch Class performed beautifully at the Beyond the Beat Concert on Thursday afternoon. They showed off their skills on the violin and cello, including plucking and using the bow. In addition, they were a respectful audience to the rest of the performers in the concert. Well done, everyone!

Sycamore

Sycamore class have been learning about the ear and how we hear. We conducted an experiment to muffle sounds (make them quieter). The thicker the material to cover the sound, the quieter it became. 

Aspen

Aspen class had an incredible school trip this week! We visited the Winchester Science Centre to learn about all things space. On our visit, we had plenty of time to explore both floors, which were full of hands on exhibitions. We even had the chance to wear an astronaut suit. 

As part of the trip, we had a session in the classroom where we looked at how the  James Webb telescope works and tested why it was covered in gold with the use of an infra-red lamp.

In the afternoon, we headed for the planetarium where we immersed ourselves in an out of this world show! We looked  at all of the constellations in our night sky and had a close up view of the eight planets in our solar system.  

Year 6

In year 6, the children have taken to the headlines, whilst taking on the persona of a newspaper journalist writing superb articles for the paper, based on their rich English text-Pig Heart Boy. They then analysed their report and from that developed ideas further in the form of a balanced argument, in preparation for writing a letter to the Prime Minister, as their main learning outcome. 

Year 5 and 6 Musicians

Year 5 and 6 were fantastic this week and showed how far our musicians have come since they started. All the practise at home and school was evident for all to see and hear. Well done.

House competition

The House Captains challenged the pupils to design Heron, Buzzard, Kingfisher and Lark  emblems for each house. The entries were of a very high standard. Well done to Georgina, Tiana Rose , Jamil and Dexter for drawing the winning designs.

Hard at work at Stanmore Primary School

Maple

Maple class have had a busy week exploring the four countries in the United Kingdom. The children labelled maps using a key, created their own flags and even painted the four national flowers. In RE the children have been learning about Harvest festival and have drawn their favourite meals and thanked the farmers.

Rowan

Rowan class practised their sketching skills by drawing a still life composition of a selection of fruit. They used hatching and cross hatching to shade their still life drawings.

Birch

Birch Class have been learning about the validity of historical evidence and the true facts or assumptions that we can gather from it. We used these skills to discuss evidence about the Amesbury Archer, a Bronze Age man, recorded the facts and explained our views on what we might assume about him. 

Sycamore

Sycamore class have been studying Angels in RE. They acted out the annunciation and performed to the rest of the class. They have also been looking at using speech marks accurately so that they can include speech when they create their own Viking Saga. 

Aspen

This week, to finish off our inspirational writing journey, we wrote a biography based on one of the four ladies who made up Hidden Figures.

With the use of fronted adverbials, cohesive facts and a range of technical  ( tier 3) words, we were able to portray these remarkable women brilliantly. 

Year 6

Y6 learnt all about how a virus can spread through a population and the impact of vaccination in stopping the spread of disease through an immunisation game in PHSE.