Welcome to another blog at the end of a very busy and productive week. We may be approaching the end of the half term but it is great to see all the children still hard at work.

On Thursday our Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils spent some time listening and talking to each other for Time to Talk Day. Ms Hollingsworth and Miss Gordon delivered two assemblies raising awareness of mental health and promoting our new peer mentoring system. The pupils were fantastic and responded really well..

Our primary pupils will be using their SEAL assemblies to find out more. Miss Rudge also put some meditation sessions on for staff and pupils which were a great success..

This week our older pupils have been taking some mock exams in the New Bridge conference room to help prepare them for the real thing. I know that it has been quite daunting for the children sitting tests under formal exam conditions, many of them for the first time, but they have all worked extremely hard and coped very well. Well done to them all!

Miss Shin’s class have also been hard at work..

This term our topic is Winter Wonderland. We have been learning all about the Polar Regions. We investigated how climate change affected the people and animals living in the Polar Regions..

We also investigated how polar animals such as polar bears and whales keep warm in such a cold climate. We conducted two experiments and found out that whales have a layer of blubber under their skin to keep them warm..

..and polar bears have thick fur, like a coat, to keep them warm..

We have created some fantastic art work using mixed media..

In English we are reading Alice in Wonderland. To end our unit of recounts, we had an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party and wrote a recount about our activity. We included lots of features including past tense verbs, conjunctions, first person pronouns and time connectives..

We also learned how to read and write contracted words. We turned our classroom into a doctor’s surgery and operated on two words to form a contraction..

In Living Skills and DT we have been working on designing, making, evaluating and improving healthy recipes. We tasted lots of different smoothies and lots of us tried new fruits!

We then designed our own fruit smoothies and made and evaluated them..

In Science we have been learning about the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates..

Mrs Potts’ class have been busy too….

In Music the class are using garage band to compose their own piece of music and we definitely have some budding composers in the making. We will have to let you hear the finished work when it is ready! The class have just started a new topic in History; they are venturing into the world of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.

Drama was all about improvisation and, as you can imagine, there were a few drama queens/kings in the class!! In PE the pupils have been practising their trampolining skills with Ryan S. managing to overcome his fears and do well..

In Food Technology this term the group have been looking at eggs and the different ways they can be cooked; they even had a go at cooking an omelette. 

Geography was all about the weather and having a go at producing a weather forecast – we think they gave the professionals a run for their money..

The  class were put to the test with Miss Daniels in Science this week as she gave them an assessment – quite a change from their earlier lesson when they were dissecting a sheep’s heart and lungs (a few of them turned green at the sight and smell!)..

Mrs Singleton was very pleased to send over news from the pool at New Bridge..

The Swimming Department has a new SUPER SWIMMER! His name is Luke from Miss Parkinson’s class. Luke really enjoys being in the water and he has shown great progression. He can now swim without a woggle and is even getting his arms out of the water in Front Crawl. He is also able to fully submerge under the water which has always been difficult for him. Well done, Luke..

The pupils have all been working towards their swim awards which will take place after half term. Lots of effort has been put into building their fitness and stamina levels, and so we are sure they will all earn a certificate this year!

Every week the children take part in an Outdoor Education lesson. This week Jack summed up the benefits of these sessions perfectly..

Let’s have a look at our SEAL Superstars and our Stars of the Week:

• Mrs Dunsdon’s class:
  Star of the Week: Madison for being able to tell an adult all about her drawing of a part of a story..

SEAL Superstar: Lewis for finding things to do when he has finished his tasks..

• Miss Grimsley’s class:
  Star of the Week: Myla for having a fantastic week and engaging in all her lessons..

SEAL Superstar: Ijaaz for trying hard to eat his dinner independently

• Mrs Lomax’s class:
  Star of the Week: Amario for doing some fantastic number bonds work in Maths..

SEAL Superstar: Marcus for recognising when he is bored and suggesting that when this happens he could do some colouring..

• Mr Corrigan’s class:
  Star of the Week: Bronson for having an outstanding week – in particular, responding with great calmness and understanding to a set back in PE..

SEAL Superstar: Byron for always putting his hand up when one of his friends need someone to play with..

• Miss Louden’s class:
  Star of the Week: Jenna for excellent role play in English..
  SEAL Superstar: Jack, Brooke and Callum for showing concern and sympathy for others..
• Miss Parkinson’s class:
  Star of the Week: Harry  for joining in more with all the lessons this week
• Mr Heap’s class:
  Star of the Week: Thomas for super work in Maths and always being kind and helping others. Thomas also won our class mascot, the ‘Marvellous Meerkat’ – we hope you and Meerkat have a fantastic weekend and we can’t wait to hear about your marvellous adventures!
  SEAL Superstar: Liam for being kind and helping friends
• Miss Shin’s class:
  Star of the Week: Summer for working hard to find fractions of shapes and fantastic independent writing
  SEAL Superstar: Kia for being kind and helpful to others when they are upset

Well done to all the pupils this week!

We were very grateful to a local church who contacted us this week as their playgroup has stopped operating. They have donated their equipment to our Reception and Key Stage 1 classes where I know it will be put to very good use. Thank you!

Rehearsals for the joint Spring production of the Jungle Book with New Bridge School are well under way and I know that all the pupils and staff involved are working extremely hard to create a fantastic show – I cannot wait to see it!

Don’t forget that this Friday is our staff training day and all the pupils will be breaking up for half term on Thursday 8th February.

Have a great weekend,

Jaina

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