Links News- 16th December 2022
Dear Links families,
We’ve finally reached the end of a long autumn term that’s been jam-packed with learning opportunities. Here are just some of the highlights from each year group:
Nursery
We have had a great Autumn term in Nursery, settling into our new class and getting to know each other.
We enjoyed our first topic 'Marvellous Me,' learning all about each other, our families, and our similarities and differences. We read the story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and had great fun acting out the story in role play, and learning all about size, sorting and exploring different objects.
In our next topic '5,4,3,2,1 Blast Off!', we read the story 'Whatever Next!' and enjoyed drawing what we would take to the moon, designing our own space ships, and taking on the role of astronauts in our Space Station! As part of our learning from the book 'Alien Tea on Planet Zum Zee' we talked about our favourite foods and designed our own aliens.
We have also had the opportunity to have tennis lessons this half term, which we have really enjoyed!
Reception
During this term, we have been learning about Space. The children have enjoyed reading books that link to space, such as ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and ‘How to Catch a Star.’ The highlight of our term was visiting the Science Museum and they were able to put all their learning into context. In maths, we have been learning about subitising using different resources (dominoes, natural resources, dice…). The children are always eager to explore Numberblocks, which has consolidated their mathematical understanding. We have explored different arts and crafts techniques and messy activities to allow the children to express themselves and learn through sensory play.
Year 1
Year 1 has settled brilliantly into Key Stage 1. They have explored the United Kingdom in their Geography lessons, become dragon detectives in English and have created extravagant castles in DT. They have finished off the term with a wonderful Christmas production - they were superstars!
Year 2
What a busy first term we have had in Year 2! Our history topic, The Great Fire of London, took us all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral for an amazing trip. We climbed up so many stairs to see an incredible view of London. In Geography we have been learning all about Kenya! We read a great story called the Leopard’s Drum and are making our very own African drums. We were lucky enough to go to Wimbledon Library to watch a Christmas show. It was so much fun!
Year 3
It has been a fun filled term in Year 3. We have learnt about volcanoes and the children loved creating their own paper mache volcanoes and watching them explode. They wrote some wonderful stories about their very own volcano creatures. We also learnt about magnets and forces and had a great time at the Science Museum. They took part in a workshop called ‘Feel the Force’ where they got involved with some live demonstrations. More recently, we have been learning about the process of how bees make honey and the children are writing excellent explanation texts to explain this process. We even got a visit from a real life beekeeper who came in to answer lots of our curious questions about the lives of bees. It has been a busy and exciting term!
Year 4
We are so proud of the Year 4 children who have worked so hard. What an exciting term we've had. The children have been lucky enough to take part in many trips including The British Museum, the cinema, Polka Theatre and Mitcham Library, but the highlight was certainly the swimming. Every child made progress with their swimming and it was great to watch their determination and encouragement for one another.
In class the children enjoyed learning about the Ancient Egyptians and finding out how inventive they were. The Year 4's creativity and inventiveness was then demonstrated when making canopic jars and shadufs.
In science the children have loved learning about the digestive system and sound. During the investigations children have been especially enthusiastic applying their scientific knowledge to practical experiments.
Year 5
Year 5 has had a fantastic and very busy term, culminating, of course, in an excellent performance of Peter Pan. Thanks so much to the children who worked so hard and so enthusiastically to make the performance such a success. We're sure many of them have bright futures ahead of them on stage or screen. We were impressed with how so many of them pulled together and showed responsibility as individuals and as part of a team - a theme in this term's PSHE lessons. Peter Pan was created by J M Barrie at the end of the Victorian Era and we spent much of the first half of the term learning about the Victorians, the huge innovations they made and the massive legacy of the industrial revolution they spawned. Somehow we've also found the time to study the movement of the Earth's crust and the earthquakes and volcanoes this can cause, as well as the properties of materials, the life cycles of humans, an introduction to spreadsheets, and greetings in Spanish. Meanwhile we've been reviewing our knowledge of fractions and written methods of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. We've also explored the art of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Pablo Picasso and traditional African Kante patterns; studied and emulated the poetry of Benjamin Zephaniah, delved into the holy books of all the major religions and even built our own air-powered rocket cars at Reed's school. We are all looking forward to next term, when we'll be looking back into the legends of the Ancient Greeks and out at the far reaches of space; to boldly go where we've never been before!
Year 6
Year 6 has had an excellent first term! In school we have studied some amazing books and produced some brilliant writing from them. We continued to improve our mathematical knowledge in Place Value and Fractions, and learnt a lot about WW2 and Rivers! Outside of school we have been lucky enough to have our PGL trip right at the start of the year, a trip to Wimbledon AFC, attended the Remembrance Memorial Service in Mitcham, and seen a Christmas show at the Polka Theatre in Wimbledon! The children have worked so hard on their mock SATs this term and we are looking forward to all the progress that will come in the new year!
Christmas Lunch
On Tuesday, lots of us tucked into our Christmas lunch. To add to the excitement, everyone got a chance to play in the snow afterwards! Thank you to Tracey and her team in the kitchen for such a great meal.
Extended Services
Bookings are now open for next half term for breakfast and after school club. If you would like to book a place, please complete this form. Please note that all booked places will be charged for.
Merton Admissions Consultation
Merton are currently consulting on the admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled schools for the 2024/25 academic year. The consultation period started on 15 December 2022 and closes on 31 January 2023. You can find more information here.
House Points
Well done to Red House, who were the winners of the house competition for this term!
Otto
Today is Otto’s last regular day in school as he will be moving up to Yorkshire over the Christmas holidays, although I’m hoping to bring him down for a couple of final visits before I leave at Easter. Despite his barking, he has enjoyed coming to school but he’s now looking forward to lots of green space to run around on the moors!
End of Term
Don’t forget, school finishes today at 1:30pm. There will be no after school club.
Inset
There will be an inset day on Tuesday 3rd January, so the school will be closed to the children. The children should return to school on Wednesday 4th January. Children starting in Nursery have received their individual start dates.
Finally, I would like to wish you all a restful break over the next couple of weeks and, to those of you who are celebrating, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With very best wishes,
Lee and the Links Team
