Reading into Writing: Blog items
Date: 16th Apr 2026 @ 2:22pm
This half term in Year One, we have begun reading How to Catch a Star. The children have already shown great enjoyment and enthusiasm for the story.
So far, we have been retelling the story in our storytelling corner, using props and role play to help bring it to life. We have also been sequencing the story by matching sentences to the correct parts, helping the children to develop their understanding of beginning, middle and end. The children have enjoyed retelling the story in their own words, sharing their ideas and interpretations with confidence.
We are looking forward to continuing our learning and exploring the story further over the coming weeks.
Date: 15th Apr 2026 @ 4:27pm
Date: 14th Apr 2026 @ 9:31pm
This term the children in Reception will be trialling our new handwriting scheme- Kinetic Letters. This scheme is designed to strengthen the body, train correct movemnet patterns amd help the children develop a fluent, confident handwriting style that supports their wider learning. This week we have been focusing on improving our posture by adopting a range of different animals stances designed to strengthen our bodies in preparation for writing. These stances included the meercat, the penguin, the stone lion, the bear and the lizard. We have been practising these stances throughout the day aswell as our daily handwriting session. We have also been learning the 6 basic movement patterns down, up, push, pul, slide and flick. We have been practicing them in the air, in our sand trays and on our brand new Kinetic Letters hiteboards. The children have throughly enjoyed this new and exciting multi sensory approach and we can't wait to monitor the impact of this new programme.
Year 2- Following instructions !
Date: 13th Apr 2026 @ 4:33pm
In this lesson we looked at following a set of instructions. We followed a set of instructions to make a paper windmill. After making the windmill, we spoke about what features in the instructions helped us to make the windmill.
Acorns - Core words Here & There
Date: 2nd Apr 2026 @ 11:07am
For the last two weeks, we have been developing our understanding of the core words, here and there. We have learned to say them, sign them or use visuals to support our understanding. We have practised reading and writing the words and our favourite has been signing them in our songs, especially Old McDonald, which has help us to learn the words in context.
Date: 1st Apr 2026 @ 4:07pm
This week, Year 1 have been busy becoming instruction experts—and what better way to practise than by creating our very own disgusting sandwiches!
We began by learning all about imperative (bossy) verbs, such as put, squash, mix and spread. These helped us give clear, direct commands in our writing. We also used time conjunctions like first, next, after that and finally to help us order each step carefully.
Once we were confident, the real fun began! The children planned and wrote instructions for some truly horrible creations—think soggy lettuce, mouldy cheese, slimy banana skins and a sprinkling of green slime for good measure. They worked hard to structure their writing accurately and make each step easy to follow.
Year 5 - Reading into writing - Oracy
Date: 30th Mar 2026 @ 5:21pm
Today in Year 5, we focused on developing our cognitive skills as part of our Oracy Voice 21 work. We began by recapping our physical oracy skills while reading cinquain poems, which we are exploring as part of our reading‑into‑writing sequence. After this, we moved on to our cognitive skills by creating a one‑minute elevator pitch.
We discussed how to construct a persuasive argument and considered what we might say if we had the chance to speak to Miss Moyes. The children thought carefully about strong points they could make, using clear reasoning and justification to support their ideas.
Date: 27th Mar 2026 @ 3:40pm
🌟 Spelling Bee Success! 🐝📚
Today, our school was buzzing with excitement as children from Year 2 to Year 6 took part in our annual Spelling Bee! 🏆✨
Over the past few weeks, pupils have been working incredibly hard to learn their spellings. From tricky letter blends to confident articulation, they have shown real dedication. 💪🧠
When the moment arrived, each participant demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage. Taking the stage in front of the whole school is no small task, yet our spellers stood tall, spoke clearly, and gave it their very best. 🎤👏
We are incredibly proud of every child who took part. Their effort, determination, and enthusiasm made today a wonderful celebration of learning. 🎉📖
A huge well done to all our super spellers! 🌈⭐
🌟 Year 3 Spelling Bee Success! 🌟
Date: 27th Mar 2026 @ 1:56pm
This morning, a wonderful selection of our Year 3 children took part in an exciting Spelling Bee, and what a fantastic event it turned out to be! Each participant was challenged to learn a set of spellings in preparation for the competition, representing their house teams with enthusiasm and determination.
From the very first round, the children showed impressive recall, confidence, and teamwork. Their hard work at home and in school really shone through, and they demonstrated brilliant focus under pressure. It was clear to everyone watching just how committed they were to doing their very best.
Date: 25th Mar 2026 @ 4:07pm
This week in Year 4, we have been continuing our work on blog writing—and this time, we teamed up! Pupils paired up for a shared write, helping each other plan, draft, and edit their ideas. Working collaboratively allowed them to discuss vocabulary choices, check each other’s punctuation, and think carefully about how to make their writing engaging for an online audience.
Throughout this half term, the children have been learning what makes an effective blog, from using a clear structure and interesting details to writing in a friendly, informative style. Last week, they applied these skills by writing about our exciting Science Day, capturing their favourite experiments, activities, and discoveries.
This week’s shared write gave pupils the chance to revisit that event and refine their blogs even further. They supported each other brilliantly and produced some fantastic pieces of writing.
Year 5 - Reading into Writing - Fable Writing
Date: 25th Mar 2026 @ 12:26pm
Year 1- The disgusting Sandwich
Date: 23rd Mar 2026 @ 7:58am
Over the next two weeks, Year 1 will be focusing on the wonderfully funny—and delightfully yucky—story The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards and Hannah Shaw. The children will explore the adventures of the hungry badger and the sandwich that will become progressively more and more… disgusting!
Throughout our learning journey, the children will sequence the key events of the story, using pictures and simple sentences to help them understand how the sandwich will change along the way. They will also practise retelling the story in their own words, building their confidence in speaking, listening, and expressive language.
After that, Year 1 will step into the role of real instruction writers. They will learn all about imperative verbs—those bossy words that tell us what to do—and then use them to create their very own set of instructions on how to make a truly disgusting sandwich. From “squash it,” to “drop it,” to “mix in the mud,” we can’t wait to see the imaginative creations they will come up with.
It will be a fantastic learning journey, and we know the children’s enthusiasm will shine through. Stay tuned to discover what will make their sandwiches so deliciously dreadful!
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 3:42pm
📚 This half term, we have been developing our narrative writing skills by creating our own stories inspired by Rock, Paper, Scissors.
🎬 To begin, we watched a short silent film that introduced us to the three main characters—Rock, Paper, and Scissors. Without dialogue, we had to pay close attention to their actions, expressions, and interactions to understand the emotions and relationships portrayed in the video.
🧠 As a class, we discussed what we thought the characters were feeling, why certain events happened, and how their personalities could be shown through descriptive writing. We also explored how music, movement, and timing in the video helped build tension and atmosphere.
✍️ Using the film as our inspiration, we planned and wrote our own narrative version of the story. We focused on developing:
- 🌟 Strong character descriptions
- 🌈 Detailed settings
- ⚡ Powerful verbs and figurative language
- 📖 Clear story structure with a beginning, build-up, conflict, and resolution
🖊️ Each pupil then drafted their story, edited it carefully, and created a polished final version. We are extremely proud of the creativity, imagination, and effort shown in every piece.
🌟 Have a read through some of our fantastic stories and see how we brought the characters of Rock, Paper, and Scissors to life!
Date: 10th Mar 2026 @ 2:28pm
Over the next couple of weeks, our focused book is 'Supertato'. This week, we have began to explore the new areas, retold the story of Supertato using items on the storytelling table and sequenced the story accurately. Throughout the next couple of weeks, we will continue to explore the story and describe the characters from the story.
Date: 9th Mar 2026 @ 7:56pm
As part of our topic 'Let#s go Wild' we have be describing animals using a range of vocabularly in our oracy lessons. Firstly we ensured we could name all the different animals and then bagan to explore their different features.
"The tiger is stripey" Cherry
"Elephants have a long trunk and big ears" Noah
"Giraffes have a long neck" Leena
We practiced building our own sentences using the widgets as a prompt. Some of use even used adjectives and the conjunction and to extend our sentences further. To help use reinforce our learning we drew, painted and created our own animals in the classroom provision. We then used our phonic knowledge to add labels and begin to write simple sentences on our own.
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 5:01pm
Today, we celebrated World book day by dressing up as characters from our favourite books. Once we returned from assembly we did a circle time in class to tell our friends who we dressed up as and why we had chosen that character. Then, we drew our characters and used descriptive language to describe them. Throughout the day, we have enjoyed completing reading challenges, participating in quizzes and doing reading themed activities. Well done Year 1- you all looked amazing!
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 1:50pm
Year 5 celebrated World Book Day in style with a fantastic day full of books, creativity and fun. The children came to school dressed as their favourite book characters, showing off a wonderful range of imaginative costumes inspired by stories they love.
They took part in an exciting assembly where everyone celebrated the joy of reading together. The pupils also tested their book knowledge by taking part in a fun and challenging book quiz.
One of the highlights of the day was a live session with Cressida Cowell, the author of the How to Train Your Dragon series. During the session, the children learned more about the book, discovered how the story and characters were created, and even had the opportunity to learn how to draw some of the characters.
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 1:45pm
This morning we took part in a ‘What am I?’ themed world book day quiz. We then created our own riddles for our characters. We then looked at what makes a good book cover and we created our own. Finally, we made bookmarks for our reading books. We enjoyed listening to lots of stories today and we loved dressing up!
Year 3 Celebrate World Book Day 2026!
Date: 5th Mar 2026 @ 11:48am
What an incredible World Book Day we have had in Year 3! Mrs Rose and Miss Edge (also known today as Snow White and Happy!) were absolutely amazed by the creativity and effort the children put into their outfits as they welcomed the children into the classroom. Our classrooms were filled with a magical mix of characters, from Willy Wonka and Where's Wally to Dorothy from Oz, a Roman soldier, Matilda, Disney princesses, action heroes, Mr Men characters, Harry Potter, Darth Vader and even some brilliant David Walliams characters. We began our day with a whole‑school assembly, thinking about what we find fun and how reading can bring joy, imagination and excitement into everyday life.
After assembly, we had the fantastic opportunity to join V&A Schools Live: Primary Read and Draw-Along webinar. We listened to the wonderful Cressida Cowell, who shared how she carefully planned her How to Train Your Dragon series from the very beginning, using meticulous notes and ideas to build her world. She also read from her collection, transporting us into the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless. The children especially loved the step-by-step draw‑along where they created their very own illustration of Hiccup. It was a brilliant experience that inspired creativity, storytelling and a deeper love of reading across the year group.
Year 5 - Characterising speech in Reading into Writing
Date: 4th Mar 2026 @ 11:41am
Today in Year 5, we explored how to characterise speech. The children imagined what a bear might say in different situations and then enriched their dialogue by adding emotion, actions and thoughts to bring the character to life.
They carefully considered how the bear was feeling and showed this through expressive word choices, detailed action beats and insightful inner thoughts. It was wonderful to see how confidently they applied skills from previous lessons, including the use of fronted adverbials to add variety and detail to their sentences. They also demonstrated a secure understanding of how to punctuate direct speech accurately.
The children will then apply this to their fable planning later in the unit.
Date: 27th Feb 2026 @ 7:30am
The first book we have explored in Year One this half term is Monkey Puzzle. After we had read the book, we thought about who the main characters are, what the book is about and where the story was set. Then, we used our knowledge to sequence pictures from the book and match the correct sentences to the picture. Yesterday, we began to retell the story in our own words and have enjoyed exploring the Monkey Puzzle themed provision around the classroom!
Date: 26th Feb 2026 @ 10:09am
As part of our new Reading into Writing Journey, we are looking at fables. Some children in Year 5 have taken their WAGOLL immersion to the next level and, taking the features which they have identified, have improved a WAGOLL which had missing features. This lesson also involoved some more complicated Computing skills as they had to edit an existing document, spell check and correct the formatting as well as improve the text itself! Well done Year 5!
Year 6 - Letters of persuasion
Date: 23rd Feb 2026 @ 4:38pm
Year 6 Begin Their Persuasive Writing Journey!
This week, Year 6 have embarked on an exciting new writing adventure: letters of persuasion! Our mission is to learn how to write confidently and convincingly—just like real campaigners, activists, and opinion leaders.
To kick things off, we explored a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like). By reading it carefully, we pulled out all the key features that make persuasive letters so powerful. We spotted things like:
- Strong opening statements
- Clear arguments backed up with evidence
- Emotive language to make the reader care
- Rhetorical questions that make you stop and think
- Powerful conclusions that leave a lasting impression
Once we understood what makes a persuasive letter successful, we moved on to reading a range of other examples. This helped us build a toolkit of useful stock phrases, such as:
- “Surely you agree that…”
- “It is essential that…”
- “Have you ever considered…?”
- “Without immediate action…”
We also learned how important it is to use the right register—that means choosing words and tone that suit the audience. Whether we’re writing to a headteacher, a local councillor, or even a famous figure, we now know how to sound polite, confident, and persuasive.
Year 6 are already showing fantastic promise, and we can’t wait to see the brilliant letters they produce next. Watch this space for updates on our writing journey!
Date: 23rd Feb 2026 @ 12:19pm
