Dear Parents,

We are delighted to welcome you and your children back to the new school term and trust that you all had a restful and snow-filled winter break! This term we are pleased to welcome to the Juniors two new students, Vetle and Ådne, and a wonderful new member of staff, Miss Becky Hamilton from New Zealand, and hope they settle comfortably into our warm and friendly community. The children have some exciting learning to look forward to this term as outlined below.

General Reminders

Could we remind parents that punctuality is very important. We have a few children in the Juniors who are arriving too late in the mornings. This means they are unsettled when they arrive and time is wasted. It is better for the children to be in school by 8.45am so they can settle themselves in quickly and make a start on morning routines.

We are also keen to promote healthy eating within the school. Snacks and packed lunches should reflect this, please. Crisps and chocolate bars are not to be encouraged. Children should bring a piece of fruit for Morning Break.

Please ensure your child has a water bottle in school.

Aral and Aegean

English

Reading –the students will continue to take part in reading activities everyday to strengthen their decoding and comprehension skills. Students will also be expected to practice their reading skills daily at home. The use of technologies such as laptops, the Internet and our Listening Post will be used to strengthen learning and keep children interested and motivated.

Writing –this term both year 3 and 4 students will focus on report writing. This ties in nicely with our archaeology topic, and we are aiming to produce an Aral and Aegean Newspaper with our findings. Children will learn about the various aspects of news reporting, including: headlines; using IT to draft and lay out; editing, and organising writing into paragraphs.

Spelling –regular practice of spelling will continue take place within the classroom, based around specific spelling patterns, e.g. ‘sh’ words. Children will have weekly spelling lists and sometimes activities to practise at home to help consolidate classroom activities. At times, students will be asked to learn words related to our topic work.

Maths

Both Years 3 and 4 will have a continued focus on the automatic recall of number facts such as times tables, doubles, near doubles and fact families.

Aral - Students will be studying numbers up to and beyond 100 and their place value. This will include skip counting, comparing 3-digit numbers and counting forwards and backwards. Measurement will be explored in more detail and we will also be revising and expanding our use of the 4 operations (+, -, x & ÷). Time, both digital and analogue, will be covered - building on last term’s work.

Aegean - Students will be expanding and broadening their knowledge of the topics covered in term 1. This includes studying numbers to 1000 and beyond and their place value, looking and 2D and 3D shapes in more depth, continuing to gain accuracy in using formal units such as millimetres and metres and revising the 4 operations (+, -, x & ÷).

Topic Work (I.P.C and Science)

This term children will take part in a unit of work called Archaeology-Treasure. The students will be involved in activities across a broad range of subject areas including History, Geography, Art, ICT and Social Learning. The children will learn about treasure and valuable items that have been created, lost, buried, destroyed, found and displayed in different places and at different times. They will also learn about the people involved in all these activities.

To complement this unit, students will be involved in 2 excursions to strengthen and extend learning. One will be to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the second will be to the British Museum in London. Both trips will take place in the second half of this term.

Our science focus this term will be on Rocks and Soils. Children amongst other things will learn to:

• consider whether a test is fair

• measure volumes of liquids using appropriate apparatus

• make comparisons

• draw and suggest explanations for conclusions.

Spanish

In Spanish this term we will be learning some new songs, but also having lots of ‘dialogue races’ and other games to ensure that the children can speak as well as sing!

Art

Egyptian treasure: making a Canopic Jar using papier mâché. Also working on drawing skills studying tone and shading using pencils.

Music

Aral - We will continue to learn recorder - moving on to playing notes using both hands! - and to read and write music, including a composition project. We will complete the composition and rehearsal of our own musical jointly with Aegean class, leading to a performance by the end of term. We will also think about opportunities for learning orchestral instruments next year, with a particular focus on tuned percussion and on brass. To support this we will play the marimba we have on loan, and attend a visiting brass performance.

Aegean - We will continue our year-long project of developing ensemble playing and performance skills. This term our focus will be on playing gamelan - a collection of instruments from Indonesia and Java. We will attend a gamelan workshop. We will complete the composition and rehearsal of our own musical jointly with Aral class, leading to a performance by the end of term. We will also think about opportunities for learning orchestral instruments, with a particular focus on tuned percussion and on brass. To support this we will play the marimba we have on loan, and attend a visiting brass performance.

Nature Studies

Making use of the winter landscape, we are studying animal tracks, identifying birds and trees and also looking at the topic of hibernation. Towards the end of term we will be planting seeds for the allotment.

Sport

KINNERZ COACHING will be supplying a wide range of sports and activities this term from Dance to Dodgeball. All classes & sessions are focused on improving the children’s team work, communication and individual skills. Training, learning, fun & games from start to finish!

Dear Parents,

We are excited to be welcoming you and your children back to the new school year and trust that you all had an exciting yet restful summer break. This term we are pleased to welcome a number of new students to the Juniors and hope they settle in to our warm and friendly community. The children have some exciting learning to look forward to this term as outlined below.

English

Reading – the students will be taking part in reading activities everyday to strengthen their decoding and comprehension skills. Students will also be expected to practice their reading skills daily at home.

Writing – this term students will focus on extending their understanding of writing narratives (stories). The students will revise the structure of narratives while sharpening their use of punctuation and sentence structure.

Spelling – regular practice of spelling will take place within the classroom based around specific spelling patterns, e.g. ‘sh’ words. Children will have weekly spelling lists and sometimes activities to practice at home to help consolidate classroom activities.

Maths

Year 3 will have a continued focus on the automatic recall of number facts such as times tables, doubles, near doubles and fact families.

Students will be studying numbers to 100 and their place value. This will include skip counting, comparing 3 digit numbers and counting forwards and backwards. Shape, measurement and time will also be covered along with the 4 operations (+, -, x & ÷).

Topic Work (I.P.C and Science)

This term children will learn about the Habitats of all living creatures. Briefly, students will study the different types of habitats and how habitats have been affected by human and natural activities. The unit of work will involve children using their research skills to locate information. Students will also improve their ability to communicate what they have learnt. This topic work will be complimented by an excursion to Colchester Zoo.

Spanish – Mrs Fernandez

This term we will be continuing with our songs, dances, silly stretches and other physical activities, while incorporating a grammar-based approach to give the children the basics they need for effective communication. For example one song focuses on the various forms of ’ser’ (to be), another one on forms of ‘estar’ (the other verb ‘to be’) etc. The children will learn the songs and then practice the language actively in the classroom, the emphasis still being on oral communication skills. Homework will be given periodically, although it will be rather different from usual written work as it will incorporate NLP principles - this basically means that I would ask you to encourage and help your child to use the body as much as possible (instructions will be given of course!)

Nature Studies – Mrs Rigby

While the weather is good, we will be tidying up the allotment and preparing the soil in readiness for next Spring’s planting. We will be looking at wildlife habitats as well as studying the effect of the changing seasons on our surroundings. Please ensure children bring a coat and wellies for this subject area.

Music - Mrs Gold

All children will have a weekly recorder lesson and be expected to do brief daily practice. This is a year-long project by the end of which most should be able to play with an even tone throughout the lower octave, read simple music and experience performing individually and as a group. Jointly with Aegean we will explore musical theatre, listening to and singing examples of the genre and writing a small one of our own.