🌟 Year 5 Take Over Day – A Brilliant Morning! 🌟

We had a wonderful experience during Take Over Day, when two fantastic Year 5 pupils took on the roles of teacher and teaching assistant in our Reading into Writing lesson.

Our Year 5 teacher confidently introduced a WAGOLL for a balanced argument, guiding the children to identify key features within the text. The class were fully engaged and showed great understanding as they picked out important elements together.

With great teamwork, the Year 5 teaching assistant supported throughout, helping the lesson run smoothly and ensuring everyone stayed on track.

The lesson continued with an engaging guided reading session focusing on prosody, using “Devon Cream Tea”. The “I say, you say” approach encouraged expressive reading, and the classroom was filled with enthusiastic voices.

It was a fabulous morning, and the children thoroughly enjoyed having them lead the class.

A huge thank you to our Year 5 teacher and teaching assistant—you were brilliant! 👏

In our second WWII lesson, we explored the question: Why were children evacuated, and what was the experience really like?

The children worked in pairs, each with a real evacuee memory. They spoke to others on their table to gather different experiences, then judged each one as positive (+1 to +3) or negative (-1 to -3), noting key details.

We discovered that evacuation experiences were very mixed—some children were happy and well cared for, while others felt scared or lonely. We ended by discussing the stories that shocked us most, helping the children build empathy and a deeper understanding of life during the war.

Year 3 have made a wonderful start to their new Science topic all about Plants. The lesson was full of curiosity, discussion, and hands-on thinking as the children explored how plants grow and survive.

To begin, we revisited what we had already learned in Key Stage 1. The children impressed us with how much they remembered, confidently explaining that plants need water, sunlight, nutrients, carbon dioxide (CO₂), and space to grow. It was fantastic to see them building on their prior knowledge and making connections to their new learning.

We then introduced the process of photosynthesis, helping the children understand how plants make their own food. They learned that plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create the energy they need to grow. This sparked lots of great questions and showed how engaged the class were in discovering more about the natural world.

The highlight of the lesson was planning our very own scientific investigation. The children worked together to design an experiment where we will change the type of liquid given to a plant and measure how it affects its growth over time. They carefully thought about how to make the test fair and discussed what they expected might happen.

After lots of discussion, the class made a prediction that the plant given water will grow the best, showing a clear understanding of what plants need to survive.

We are very excited to carry out our experiment and observe what happens over the coming weeks.

Year 3 made an exciting start to their new history topic this week, learning all about the events leading up to World War II. The lesson was full of curiosity, thoughtful discussion, and a great deal of engagement from the children.

To begin, we revisited the concept of chronological order. The children took part in a practical table activity where they worked together to organise events into the correct sequence. This helped to refresh their understanding of how historians place events in time and see how one moment can lead to another. It was fantastic to see such teamwork and careful thinking as they discussed and justified their choices.

Building on this, the class moved on to explore the key steps that led to the outbreak of World War II, focusing on the actions of Adolf Hitler. Through age-appropriate discussion and resources, the children began to understand how decisions and events over time can have significant consequences.

A particularly thought-provoking part of the lesson was when the class considered the idea of appeasement. Together, we explored the different viewpoints—looking at reasons why some people supported appeasement, as well as arguments against it. The children showed great maturity in sharing their opinions and listening respectfully to others, demonstrating excellent critical thinking skills.

It was a brilliant first lesson that sparked plenty of interest and questions. We are looking forward to continuing our journey through this important period in history and discovering even more together. Well done, Year 3, for your enthusiasm and fantastic effort!

Year 3 had a fantastic time taking part in this year’s Sports Day, embracing every moment with enthusiasm, teamwork, and plenty of smiles.

The children enthusiastically rotated through a series of exciting activities designed to challenge their skills and keep them active. One of the highlights was the foam javelin throwing, where pupils showed great determination as they practised their aim and tried to better their distances with each throw. It was wonderful to see their perseverance and growing confidence.

Another favourite activity was the cup stacking challenge. The competitive spirit was high, but equally evident was the support they showed one another, cheering on their friends every step of the way.

The relay races brought plenty of energy and excitement to the field. The children demonstrated excellent teamwork as they worked together to reach the finish line. The races were closely contested, with everyone giving their absolute best effort.

Speed jumping was another energetic event that kept hearts racing. Pupils worked hard to maintain their rhythm and improve their stamina, showing resilience and determination as they challenged themselves to keep going.

Throughout the afternoon, Year 3 displayed excellent sportsmanship, celebrating each other’s successes and supporting one another with kind words and encouragement. Most importantly, they had fun! The sunny weather added to the cheerful atmosphere, creating a perfect setting for such a memorable day.

Well done to all of Year 3 for their fantastic participation and positive attitudes—you made the day truly special!

In Year 3 and Year 4 maths provision, base 10 resources play a vital role in helping children build a concrete understanding of place value when adding two 2-digit numbers. By physically manipulating tens and ones, pupils can clearly see how numbers combine, regroup, and exchange, which deepens their conceptual understanding beyond abstract methods. This hands-on approach supports confidence and accuracy, laying strong foundations for more complex written addition strategies later on.

In today's lesson, we made learning more meaningful by working practically with coins to deepen our understanding of adding and subtracting amounts of money . The children  practised how to work carefully with pounds and pence, remembering the important steps involved. We encouraged them to start by working with the pounds first before moving on to the pence, helping them to stay organised and avoid common mistakes. This structured approach allowed them to tackle calculations with greater accuracy and clarity.

We also explored the important concept that 100 pence is equal to £1. The children used this knowledge to convert amounts between pounds and pence, which deepened their understanding of how money works. They quickly realised how useful this skill is when adding totals or giving change, and many were proud to demonstrate their ability to regroup pence into pounds when needed.

Year 3 continued their art journey by combining paint and stitch to create textured landscapes inspired by land and water. The children used their sketchbooks to develop ideas, experiment with colour mixing and practise different marks. They then applied these skills to fabric, painting backgrounds and adding stitched details to create texture and movement. This helped them to understand how different materials can be used together to build interesting and expressive artwork.

In our Year 3 and 4 maths provision class, pupils explored adding and subtracting 10s using place value counters to deepen their understanding of number structure. By physically manipulating the counters, they could clearly see how the tens column changed while the ones remained the same, building confidence and accuracy. This hands-on approach supported engagement and helped pupils develop a secure foundation in place value concepts.

Year 3 have made an exciting start to their new art topic, Cloth, Thread and Paint, all in one creative day! We explored the work of artists like Alice Kettle and Hannah Rae, discussing how they combine fabric, thread and paint in imaginative ways. The children recorded their ideas and responses in their sketchbooks. We then focused on mark making, looking closely at how artists use different lines and patterns to create texture and movement. The children experimented with their own marks, building confidence and beginning to develop their own artistic style. It was fantastic to see so much creativity and enthusiasm! 🎨

Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed their third PE lesson focusing on strike and fielding, and it was extra special as both classes came together for the session. The playground was full of energy, teamwork and enthusiasm as the children worked hard to develop their skills.

The lesson was organised into a range of skill stations, each with a different activity to support throwing, catching and batting. Working in pairs, the children took turns practising their techniques, encouraging one another and celebrating their successes along the way.

At the throwing and catching stations, pupils focused on accuracy, control and safe techniques, gradually increasing the challenge as their confidence grew. The batting activities were a real highlight, with children practising striking while their partner helped retrieve and return it. 

Bringing both classes together created a fantastic atmosphere and gave the children the opportunity to work with different partners, building communication, cooperation and sportsmanship. The children showed excellent listening skills as they followed instructions and moved sensibly between stations.

It was wonderful to see how much progress the children have already made within the strike and fielding unit. Most importantly, everyone took part enthusiastically and had lots of fun while being active and learning new skills.

Well done, Year 3 — we’re very proud of your effort and teamwork during this exciting PE lesson!

In our Reading into Writing lesson, linked to our GPS focus and non‑chronological report genre, we explored the purpose and use of sub‑headings. Pupils took part in a carousel of activities designed to deepen their understanding. They arranged a non‑chronological report using the correct sub‑headings, added appropriate sub‑headings to an existing report, and matched sentences to the correct sub‑headings. Two further table activities focused on creating effective sub‑headings for given topics, using examples based on Our School and Space. This supported pupils in recognising how sub‑headings help organise information and guide the reader.

As part of our Reading into Writing journey, we focused on the Immersion in Reading phase using the genre of non‑chronological reports. We previously explored a WAGOLL to identify and discuss the key features of this text type. Today, we examined a different non‑chronological report and used Post‑it notes to identify its features. We discussed how many features can be recognised without reading the text in full, such as the title, subheadings, images with captions or labelled diagrams, paragraphs and fact boxes. We then skimmed and scanned the text to identify technical vocabulary related to the specific subject of the report. Finally, we cut out the features and organised them onto a sheet to deepen our understanding of how non‑chronological reports are structured.

In our Year 3 and 4 Maths provision class this week, pupils have been developing their understanding of adding across 10 using Base 10 resources. Children used tens and ones blocks to physically represent numbers, helping them see how ones can be regrouped into a new ten. This hands-on approach supported confident discussion and problem-solving as pupils explained their thinking. By the end of the sessions, the children showed improved accuracy and understanding when applying this strategy independently.

This term in PE, Year 3 have started a new unit called Strike and Fielding, where we will be learning the skills needed to play rounders. One of the most important skills we are learning first is catching.

Today, we had lots of fun practising throwing and catching with a partner. We focused on watching the ball carefully, getting our hands ready, and using soft hands to catch it safely. Once we became more confident, we made it trickier by throwing the ball in different directions and further away to challenge our partners.

Everyone worked really hard and showed great teamwork and encouragement. We are looking forward to practising more skills as we continue learning how to play rounders this term!