As part of our children’s learning journey in life, we have been developing the children’s independence and organisational skills over the past few weeks in our SOLE afternoons.  Here, we have had our ‘must’ and ‘may’ activities that the children have a choice in when they do them, as long as the must activities are completed. The children have thrived.  All have been enthused and engaged and have really shown how amazing they can be!

Today, we had a range of activities on offer including: creating a watercolour seascape, creating a timeline of events of the Spanish Armada, a factfile about Sir Francis Drake, a recent about our trip yesterday alongside reading, doodle, exploring topic books and having another go at using oil pastels.  It was definitely a great buzzing learning environment to be in!

Year 5 have been learning how to use the Pic Collage app. We explored the space artwork of Peter Thorpe, chose our favourites and presented these using the app. We selected backgrounds, arranged the prints and added text to give our opinions. Check out the professional finished pieces! 

Just a reminder that the HPS Book Fair makes its return tomorrow (Thursday 31st) from 3:30pm. Pop along to the library either after school or before your parents' evening meeting to pick up a new book for no more than £3. That's right, all books will be priced at either £1, £2 or £3! There will also be refreshments available from the PTFA team. 

We apologise in advance if our selection is limited when you arrive; once the books are gone, they're gone! To support with this, we will be operating a one book per child policy. Thank you. 

What an amazing day we have had! We got onto the bus ready for our long journey down the coast to do some learning in beautiful scenery.

We went to Berryhead first and some of us found the long walk tricky but we persevered! The views were amazing and we had the opportunity to use binoculars to spot birds diving off the cliffs. We also spotted different physical features that we could see and then sketched them on our whiteboards. Some of us even labelled the parts.

Next it was lunchtime next to the shortest but also tallest lighthouse in England. We had to be quick as the next part of our journey was just around the corner.

We caught the bus down to Brixham to the Golden Hind, a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship that he sailed around the world in. We had great fun exploring the ship, finding the stamps on different parts of the ship and finding the skeletons. 

We learnt so much and the children were amazing and did yourselves proud. We had a few sleepy heads on the way back but we had a super day. 

This week in History, we have been learning about significant events in our past. We have been learning about the Great Fire of London! 

The children have found this very interesting, learning about how it started, why it spread so quickly and what they did to control it after days of the city being on fire!

We worked together to act out the key events starting with the baker, the fire spreading, Samuel Pepys telling the King,  to finally the houses being blown up with gunpowder to act as a firebreak! 

Wow! What a day!

A big thank you to all the parents who have supported their children in being able to go on their FIRST EVER school trip!! And didn’t we go with a bang!

From the moment the children first saw the coach, the excitement was clear for everyone to see (and hear!) 😂. For many of our children, it was the first time ever going on a coach, let alone a school trip.

Off we headed to Brixham, in South Devon, to climb aboard a pirate ship and learn about Sir Francis Drake’s adventures! We walked the blank, found out our pirate names and learned about life at sea for sailors in the late 1500’s.

After locking Miss McManus and Miss Plint in the stocks, we were back on the coach to Continue our adventures to Berry Head.  We trudged along the footpath, explored the napoleonic fort before finding the highest (but shortest) lighthouse in the country.  We then looked at all the different geographical features that this wonderful place has to offer before going into the bird hide to quietly try and spot guillemots and seals....we found loads! 

It was then time to return home and a few yawns and snores later, we were back at school!

Here are a few photos for you to go through, but there will be more tomorrow!

This afternoon, Year 5 had the pleasure of popping down to Year 1 to read our big writes to a real audience. We shared our super Man on the Moon stories with the children and spent some time getting to know them too. We really enjoyed ourselves! 

This afternoon, Year 5 explored irreversible changes. We looked at what happens when you burn materials and also investigated the reaction between acid (vinegar) and bicarbonate of soda. Check out the pictures to see what we found! 

This week's winners are the...

Year 6 Sycamores! 

Based on our previously winners across the term, we can also announce the winners of our termly class competition this week too. 

A huge congratulations to the...

Year 6 Sycamores! 

WOW, this team have been incredible this term. Mr Smith's class will now get to choose their class treat and will also take control of the DoodleMaths trophy for the next term. Well done! 

This week, in Year 6, we have  learnt about how in 1938, before the outbreak of World War II, Britain took in Jewish children from countries such as Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia to save them from persecution and being sent to concentration camps under Nazi rule. Coinciding with solidarity for Ukraine day, we held a debate, after having written persuasive evidence-based arguments using the United Nations rights of the child. We took the format of presenting arguments as if we were in the House of Commons and the children were members of parliament. At the end of the debate, the pupils of year six voted unanimously, as did the British MPs in 1938, to take in refugees during their time of need and to save many lives. The link within the plight of the Ukrainian people in 2022 was also brought out clearly.