English - Using Inverted Commas in Year 4
Using our class novel, Year 4 wrote a piece of dialogue between two characters for their innovated piece of writing. They also remembered that ‘said’ is dead and had to use a variety of synonyms to improve their final pieces.
Year 1 World Book Day Workshop
Year 1 were fortunate enough to take part in an online workshop for World Book Day. The author of The Flower Thief, Alice Hemming, read her book to us. This book linked to our focus on Signs of Spring. Then, the illustrator, Nicola Slater, showed us step-by-step drawing on the squirrel and the bird from the story. The drawings made by Year 1 were fantastic! It was a lovely way to start our World Book Day celebrations.
World Book Week Showcase
Year 4 have had a wonderful World Book Week and to celebrate we have decided to showcase our best parts in a display outside Year 4. We have included pic collages that highlight our webinar with the author James Fox, The Pinocchio Workshop, learning a piece of text by heart and our fantastic World Book Day Celebrations. We have also included our bag packs which we could take with us into the Amazon in order to survive. This was linked to our favourite class novel - The Explorer by Katherine Rundell. We were so shocked to see Katherine also appear on our World Book Day interactive worship yesterday and it was a lovely surprise! What a week we have had!
Year 1 World Book Day
Year 1 looked amazing in their World Book Day costumes! We had so many princesses, Roald Dahl characters and lots of children in cozy pyjamas. We have lots of fun activities to look forward too.
Year 5 - Dressing up for World Book Day
To celebrate World Book Day, Year 5 came to school dressed either in their pyjamas or as their favourite book character. These include Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Sophie from the BFG, Stitch from Lilo and Stitch and Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Great effort Year 5!
World Book Day Oracy Worship
What a fantastic morning we had celebrating World Book Day! Children from Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 came together for a special Oracy Talk Assembly, where the hall was filled with the sound of meaningful discussion. Working in trios, the children were challenged to dive deep into their love of literature by sharing their favourite books and characters, providing thoughtful "whys" for their choices. The energy peaked during a fascinating debate on whether reading gives you a "superhero power." After some deep exploration, the children concluded that reading truly is a superpower; they decided it makes you incredibly clever and has the unique ability to expand your imagination beyond the classroom. Mrs. Wilkinson was immensely impressed by the level of maturity and respect on display. It was a "super" oracy worship, with children across the three year groups demonstrating excellent communication skills by taking turns and listening intently to one another. It was wonderful to see our youngest learners not only celebrating stories but also developing the confidence to articulate their ideas with such clarity and enthusiasm.
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World Book Day Worship with Key Stage 2
World Book Day Worship with Key Stage 2. Todays session started with a WBD quiz from Primary League Primary Stars in association with WBD. We completed the quiz in our classrooms and it had a football focus. An example question was - Which Premier League club does the current Wales men’s national team captain, Harry Wilson, play for? A mix of authors and footballers asked the questions with Katherine Randell who wrote Year 4’s class novel ~ The Explorer asking question six. The children absolutely loved the interactive quiz and worked to support each other in answering the football heavy questions. What a super way to kick off our World book Day Celebrations and celebrate The National Year of Reading. We finished with Ben and Alex who told us about the ‘Go All In’ challenge which we look forward to taking part in.
Reception World Book Day
Reception have loved dressing up and wearing their PJs for world book day. We started the day with a special worship to share our love of books with our friends. We then had a fantastic drawing club lesson where the children innovated a part of the story from Detective Dog and created their own imaginative Libraries to share books with others. During provision, we shared our favourite stories and created bookmarks to take home.
Year 5 - World Book Day quiz and creative writing
As it is World Book Day, we changed the timetable this Thursday. We took part in a nationwide book and football quiz led by the Premier League with Year 6. Naturally we answered every question correctly. Then each child wrote an independent creative piece of writing about a story they have always wanted to tell or a book that they have always loved.
World Book Day in Year 4
World Book Day in Year 4. We have absolutely loved World Book Week, but we have especially enjoyed World Book Day today. When Year 4 entered the classroom today they were shocked to see a jungle, cave, sloths galore, planes that had crashed and fierce piranhas in the river! The theme of our WBD and the whole week was based on the class novel that the children read back in Autumn Term - The Explorer by Katherine Randell. The children loved the story and this is why we decided to go back to the Amazon Rainforest. After taking part in the WBD quiz this morning, the children completed various challenges and whilst this was going on we had a ‘ Stop, Drop and Read’ session where children were picked to stop whatever they were doing and make their way into the cave to read and enjoy the biscuits and juice. It was lovely to see the children using our Jungle area enthusiastically and sensibly, showing their love for reading. In our PE session, the children had to go on a hunt for all of our past class novels using their orienteering skills. Again, they did this brilliantly with great big smiles on their faces. Finally, to finish off the day we played ‘ Guess the Teacher ‘ where we shared slides with photos of a teacher reading but their faces were covered with their favourite books. It was so much fun!
Year 2 - World Book Day
In Year 2, we used our oracy skills when we shared some stories and discussed our thoughts and feelings about different books.
World Book Day Dolly Peg Competition
Wow! We have been absolutely blown away by the incredible entries for our World Book Day Dolly Peg Design-a-Character competition. From classic literary heroes to imaginative modern favorites, the creativity and craftsmanship on display have been truly inspiring. A massive thank you to everyone who took part and shared their talents with us. We have loved seeing your characters come to life, and we can’t wait to finally reveal the winners tomorrow during our Celebration Worship!
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Year 6 - World Book Day
As part of World Book Day, Year 6 took part in a variety of engaging and creative activities to celebrate reading and the enjoyment of books. The children participated in a World Book Day Premier League online workshop, where they had the opportunity to watch footballers discuss their favourite books and explain why reading is important to them. The children then took part in an interactive quiz linked to the session, which encouraged them to think about different authors, stories and the importance of reading for pleasure. In English, the children completed a poetry activity linked to Macbeth, focusing on the witches’ famous spell. They explored the language used in the scene and discussed how rhyme, rhythm and descriptive vocabulary help create a mysterious and magical atmosphere. The children then used their creative writing skills to compose their own spell-inspired poems, experimenting with rhyming patterns and imaginative word choices. As part of the day, the children also designed and created their own unique bookmarks. They used colours, illustrations and quotes from their favourite books to produce personalised designs which they can continue to use during reading time. Throughout the day, the activities aimed to promote a love of reading, creativity and imagination, while also giving the children opportunities to discuss their favourite books and share recommendations with their classmates.
Year 5 - Pinocchio Workshop
On Tuesday, we had the great fortune of having James from West End in Schools visit the school. He taught every class a dance based on the story of Pinocchio. In Year 5, we performed a group dance depicting a ship on stormy waters crashing onto rocks and Pinocchio meeting the fairy godmother. The children loved the opportunity to dance and I was very proud to watch their fantastic performance in front of the entire school.
Online Safety: Creative ways to encourage reading
Tomorrow is World Book Day, and it’s the perfect chance to spark a love of reading in every child. Stories don’t just build literacy skills, they inspire curiosity, boost confidence and open doors to new worlds. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday highlights simple, practical ways families can make reading part of everyday life. From creating cosy reading spaces to showing children that reading is fun, small habits can make a big impact. Download your FREE copy here >> https://vist.ly/4tnsk #WorldBookDay #WUW #EncouragingReading
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Year 4 - Webinar with Author James Fox
On Monday, the Year 4 class took part in a live webinar and Q & A session with up-and-coming author James Fox. He talked about his books, including Boy Vs. Reality, and shared ways in which he has drawn inspiration from real life. The children loved the session, especially because they got a few shout outs when their questions were read out and answered during the webinar. It was a truly inspiring session.
Year 2 - Author Webinar
Year 2 watched a webinar from the author of 'Wild Apprentice' - Sarah Roberts. We learned about some of the fantastic careers that we could have if we keep working hard with our learning.
Year 4 - Pinocchio Dance
The Year 4 children joined in with great enthusiasm during their West End dance session with James on Tuesday. They learned about how dance is a way of telling stories with their bodies. They then worked with James to create some movements to help them to tell a section of the story Pinocchio. At the end of the day, the school came together for a joint performance. Each class in turn came to the front of the hall to perform their part of the story. It was amazing to see every child give their all to their performance.
Year 4 - English: Recital
The children are definitely enjoying our current class novel, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter. In this lesson, the children had to practise reading and reciting a paragraph from the story. They used symbols and actions to help them remember the words in each sentence, and they rehearsed 4 or 5 times before the text was removed and only the symbols remained. The children then performed the paragraph with actions and using their symbols to help them remember the words. This will help them to develop the inner voice of an author, ready for writing their own paragraph based on this one.
Year 4 - World Book Day Hook
The children are really looking forward to World Book Day, especially following this survival kit activity based on our first class novel, The Explorer. We watched the news report of the plane crash from 2023, in which 4 children ended up stranded in the Colombian jungle. The children instantly recognised the similarities between the incident and the events of The Explorer. Following this the children spent time in groups, using their talk tokens and debating the four most important items to pack in their rucksack for their survival. Each group had a brilliant discussion about why some things are more essential than others and how important it is to meet basic needs first. The children are going to love the activities planned for Year 4 for World Book Day.
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Year 5 - interview with an author
As part of the National Year of Reading and World Book Day, we listened to the author William Yamaguchi Dobson talk about his upcoming book Kamizen: Fortress of Lost Memories. He spoke about how his Japanese background inspired the story, including his love of manga and knowledge of Japanese folk tales. During the discussion, the children invented their own Yokai (animated magical everyday objects) and participated in a question and answer session.
Reception: Scholastic Author Webinar
Our Reception class swapped their "Muddy Monday" boots for books during an enchanting webinar with author Catherine Jacob, who introduced us to her brand-new story, Betsy Buglove and the Lovely Ladybirds. After proving their expert status as outdoor explorers, the children were mesmerized by Catherine’s magic magnifying glass and learned fascinating facts, such as how ladybirds act as lucky charms for farmers and can even survive underwater for an hour. The adventure concluded with a creative masterclass from illustrator Lucy Fleming, who guided the budding artists through the steps of drawing Betsy herself. It was a truly wonderful workshop that brought the magic of the garden straight into our classroom!
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Year 4 English - Writing in Role
In our English session today the children were using a character from our class novel “The Firework Makers Daughter’ to write a short diary extract. The children wrote in the role of Chulak and identified how he felt about finding out the secret to firework making.
National Storytelling Week in Year 4
We had a lovely end to the week in Year 4. We had the pleasure of welcoming Caterina ( Luna’s Mummy and one of our Governors) into Year 4 where she shared the story of The Twits by Roald Dahl. The children really enjoyed listening to the story and we would like to say a huge thanks to Caterina for taking the time to come into class and read.
Year 1: Special Visitor
As part of National Storytelling Week, we invited parents and carers to come into school and read. Year 1 were very excited as Annie’s mum, Natalie, came and read to us. She chose to read Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson, one of our favourite authors! Thank you Mrs Eccles, the children absolutely loved the story!