Above and Beyond Whole School Theme Week - October 2019
This week beginning the 7 October, the whole school are embarking on a themed week entitled 'Above and Beyond'. The children will be thinking about 'Big Questions' and enjoying listening to, and working on, the music of Gustav Holst's 'The Planets' suite.
Whole School Science Fortnight - March 2019
The children took part in a range of activities and experiences based on a theme of 'Food Glorious Food'.
Science Poster Competition Congratulations to the winning team from Isis Class for their investigation ‘How long does it take to make a rainbow with different liquids?’ This investigation was all about how different liquids reacted with skittle sweets. A big thank you to Mrs Sue Sowden for helping with the judging of this event.
Living Eggs Nine of the ten eggs hatched and were all well and thriving when they went off to their new home – a farm in Reading. Cherwell Class made diaries about the changes that we observed each day and lots of photos were taken! All the classes enjoyed visiting the chicks.
Out and About Cherwell and Isis Classes visited Radley College to take part in a hands-on session all about sweets and how they can change. We watched marshmallows expanding, strawberry laces being stretched, and kit-kat bars being snapped! Thank you to Dan Pullen for organising these sessions and answering all our scientific questions. Cherwell class also visited Abingdon School and took part in a session to complement their learning on Animals and Habitats.
Visitors We had several visitors during Science Fortnight. We had a company called Hands On Science working with all the classes from Reception to Year 6. Some classes learnt about and explored digestion and others investigated how to keep our bodies healthy.
A big thank you to Mrs Sheridan who provided a practical workshop session with Cherwell and Thames class. The children explored how colour can affect your perception of taste, with some interesting findings!
We would also like to thank Nick White and Sarah Smith from Oxfordshire County Council - our school lunch providers - who took the time to work with the Key Stage 2 children. The pupils found out about food and bacteria, and had the opportunity to test the temperature of food by using temperature probes. Thank you to Nick for providing all the children with a poster on this topic and for Sarah in providing Cherwell Class with examples of different foods.
And finally…
We had mixed age investigations based on food, where the children worked with a different year group on an experiment. We had raisins ‘dancing’ in fizzy drinks and had a challenge of how to stop apples from browning. The children worked particularly well in teams in these activities.
Our science homework based on a scientist or inventor has been of a very high standard and it has been great to see how many different individuals have been covered. Sharing the homework with peers has been a valuable learning experience so thank you to parents for your support on these projects.
Please look at the Science Week display in the foyer for photographs and examples of activities from this week.
Thank you to the parents and grandparents that came into school to help in our cooking sessions.
Mrs Julie Ilsley Science Coordinator
Whole School Arts Week October 2018
Monday saw each class enjoying a hands on workshop delivered by visiting artist, Peter Swidrak. A range of materials and techniques were experienced with each class engaging with a variety of artwork by famous artists.
Mixed age group activities included Narnia character sculpting; water colour Aslan; wintery Narnia; and ‘What’s through the wardrobe?’ multimedia. During these sessions, children were also invited to contribute to our whole school collaborative Aslan – please see the photo - who will display the school values of Relationships, Resilience and Respect. The children also toured Radley College Art Gallery and Art Department.
To complete our themed week, the children spent time in the Narnia themed Prayer Space, which provided an opportunity for peace and reflection. The children experienced ‘Narnia’, in our Forest School area.
An enormous thank you to all our parent volunteers and to the Radley College Art and DT Departments, for their generous contribution of time, resources and creative energies. This was a week of community effort. Heather Sparks – Art Co-ordinator