This week, the children have been enjoying the wonderful story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. We explored the story in a variety of fun and hands-on ways that supported learning across different areas of development.

The children strengthened their fine motor skills by using tweezers to pick up and collect "worms" for the baby owls. They also enjoyed retelling the story using props, helping to develop their communication, language and storytelling skills as they remembered the characters and events.

Our creative activities included painting beautiful owls and practising gluing and sticking techniques to make collage owls using a range of materials. The children were very proud of their creations and loved sharing them with their friends.

It has been wonderful to see the children's imagination, creativity and confidence grow as they brought the story of Owl Babies to life! 🦉🍂✨

📰 Year 6 Begin Their News Report Writing Journey!

This week, Year 6 embarked on the first lesson of their exciting new writing unit, learning all about news articles.

To start our journey, we explored a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) news report together. As a class, we carefully examined the text and identified the key features that make an effective news article. Using highlighters, we located and discussed important elements such as the headline, byline, orientation, photograph, and caption. We also talked about the purpose of each feature and how they help to engage the reader and communicate information clearly.

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After our shared learning, the children applied their knowledge independently. Working both on their own and with a partner, they analysed a range of different news reports, searching for and identifying the features we had discussed. It was fantastic to see the children using their teamwork skills, explaining their thinking, and confidently spotting the structural elements within each text.

This lesson provided a strong foundation for the unit ahead, and Year 6 are already developing a keen eye for what makes a successful news report. We look forward to seeing these skills put into practice as the children begin crafting their own newspaper articles over the coming weeks!

📸 Keep an eye on our Year 6 page for updates as our young journalists continue their writing journey! 🗞️✨

This week in Reading into Writing, the children have been enjoying the wonderful story Handa’s Surprise. They have loved listening to and discussing the book, as well as exploring the different characters, animals, and fruits featured throughout the story.

To begin our learning, the children sequenced the events of the story, helping them to develop their understanding of what happens first, next, and at the end. They worked hard to recall key events and put them in the correct order.

Building on this, the children had a go at retelling the story in their own words. They focused on applying their early writing skills by using capital letters at the beginning of sentences, leaving finger spaces between words, and remembering to finish their sentences with full stops.

We have been very impressed with the children's enthusiasm and growing confidence in both reading and writing. Well done, everyone! 🌟

Today, Year 5 had the exciting opportunity to take part in a live online event hearing directly from NASA engineers Howard Hu and Branelle Rodriguez. This linked perfectly with our current learning in science, where we have been exploring the Solar System, the planets, and the evidence that helps us know the Earth is round.

The session also connected with our guided reading lessons. Recently, the children studied an interview with British astronaut Tim Peake, and they have been learning about the crew who will take part in the Artemis missions. During the event, the children learned more about the Orion spacecraft and the Artemis II mission, gaining an insight into the work of the engineers and teams who make human space exploration possible.

The event inspired curiosity, deepened the children's understanding of space travel, and helped them make meaningful links between their science and reading learning.

Acorns' topic this term is What Makes Me Me? To support our learning, we have been enjoying the sensory story All About Me. The children have engaged enthusiastically with the story through a multi-sensory approach, exploring a range of exciting resources using their senses. These activities have provided lots of opportunities for fun, while also helping to develop engagement in group activities, as well as improving focus, concentration and shared experiences with their peers.

Have a look at our learning!

Year 4 have made a fantastic start to our new Guided Reading approach and are thoroughly enjoying the experience. They have been focusing on getting to know the text in depth, exploring vocabulary, characters and key events to develop a deeper understanding. The children are also learning how to answer comprehension questions effectively, using evidence from the text to support their ideas and build confidence in their reading skills.

📚🎤 Year 6's First Prosody Session of the Year! 🎤📚

This week, Year 6 enjoyed their first prosody session of the year during Guided Reading, and it was a fantastic success! 🌟

Our focus was on using our voices effectively by projecting clearly, speaking with confidence, and reading with expression. Prosody helps us bring a story to life, making it more engaging for both the reader and the listener.

💻 To help us practise, we used a teleprompter to read along with part of a story that we have been exploring in class. This allowed us to concentrate on our fluency, pace, volume and expression while keeping up with the text.

👏 We were incredibly impressed with the effort shown by everyone. There was some excellent prosody on display, with pupils using clear voices, expressive reading and great confidence throughout the session.

⭐ It was a brilliant start to developing our reading skills this year, and we can't wait to see our confidence and fluency continue to grow in future sessions!

Year 4 Reading: Building Skills with Reading Eggs

In Year 4, pupils regularly use Reading Eggs to help develop their reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and confidence. The programme provides engaging reading activities, interactive lessons, and quizzes that support children as they become more fluent and independent readers. Reading Eggs is designed around the key elements of successful reading, including phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. 

Children enjoy working through activities at their own level, receiving instant feedback and rewards that help keep them motivated and engaged. The programme also includes a wide range of texts and comprehension tasks that encourage pupils to think carefully about what they read.

While Reading Eggs is a valuable tool in school, we encourage pupils to use it regularly at home as well. Even a short amount of practice can help strengthen reading skills and build confidence over time. Reading Eggs can be accessed on a range of devices, making it easy for children to continue their learning beyond the classroom.

We are delighted to see Year 4 pupils developing their reading skills and enjoying their Reading Eggs journey! 📚✨

🌟 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! 👏

📚✨ Year 6 Library Adventure ✨📚

This week, Year 6 had a fantastic trip up to the school library—and what a brilliant time we had! 🏫➡️📖

As soon as we arrived, everyone settled into the cosy reading spaces, ready to explore the wide range of books on offer. From colourful picture books 🎨📘 to exciting stories full of adventure, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

One of the highlights of our visit was sharing picture books together. 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Even though we are one of the oldest year groups in the school, we loved diving into these beautifully illustrated stories. The artwork helped bring the stories to life, and we enjoyed discussing the characters, themes, and hidden meanings. 🖼️💡

Reading with friends made the experience even more special. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑📚 We took turns reading aloud, listening carefully, and sharing our thoughts. There were lots of smiles 😊, laughter 😂, and thoughtful conversations along the way.

Spending time in the library reminded us how enjoyable reading can be. It’s not just about learning—it’s also about imagination, creativity, and relaxing with a good book. 🌟📖

We can’t wait for our next visit!

📌 Year 6 Top Tip: Don’t forget—picture books aren’t just for younger children. They can inspire readers of all ages! 💬✨

Year 5 were delighted to welcome Nathan Parker, a Blackpool-based performance poet, author and spoken word artist, into school. Nathan, who is proud of his northern roots, shared his journey from growing up in Blackpool to becoming a successful writer and performer, explaining how his experiences, challenges and surroundings have shaped his work. 12

During the session, Nathan spoke openly about his upbringing and how he discovered a love for writing, using poetry as a way to express real-life thoughts and emotions. He performed some of his own poems, showing the children how spoken word poetry brings writing to life through rhythm, voice and performance. 3

A key part of his visit was challenging the children’s ideas about what a poet ‘should’ look like. Nathan encouraged them to think beyond stereotypes and introduced them to a wider world of poets, including influential voices such as Maya Angelou and Benjamin Zephaniah, helping pupils see that poetry comes from many different backgrounds, styles and experiences.

The session was highly interactive, with Nathan leading fun and engaging writing activities that inspired creativity and confidence. The highlight of the visit was a whole-class collaborative poem, where every child contributed their own ideas and lines. Guided by Nathan, the class worked together to shape their thoughts into a powerful shared piece of writing, celebrating their voices and imagination. 4

Nathan’s energy, honesty and relatable approach made a lasting impact on the children, leaving them inspired to continue writing and to see themselves as poets in their own right.

In Year 4, shared reading plays an important role in our weekly Guided Reading sessions. By reading together as a group, pupils build confidence, fluency, and a deeper understanding of texts in a supportive environment.

Shared reading allows children to hear fluent reading modelled by adults and peers, while also giving them opportunities to join in, discuss vocabulary, and explore meaning. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, make predictions, and share their ideas, helping them feel more confident when talking about books.

These weekly sessions also support pupils who may feel less confident reading independently, as everyone works together and supports one another. Over time, children grow in confidence, accuracy, and enjoyment of reading.

Shared reading helps foster a positive reading culture in the classroom and encourages pupils to see reading as something to enjoy and share. It has been lovely to see Year 4 becoming more confident, enthusiastic readers each week.

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.

Year 5 enjoyed an exciting visit to The Attic, our school library, where they had the opportunity to explore a wide range of new class reading books. The children thoughtfully browsed the shelves, sharing recommendations and enthusiastically telling each other about stories they had previously enjoyed. They spent time reading the first few pages of several books that caught their interest, carefully considering which one would become their personal choice. The session was filled with animated discussions, curiosity, and a genuine love of reading, as each child selected a book they were excited to take back to class and explore further.

 

In Guided Reading this week, we focused on building confidence and expression through poetry. We explored a poem about returning to school after half term and talked about how the feelings linked to our own experiences. We used an I say, you say approach to practise prosody and intonation, listening carefully to how the poem should sound. Some of us then bravely read the poem aloud to the class, using clear voices and expression.

📚 Year 6 Class Novel Update 📚

Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed reading Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman this term. The novel sparked lots of thoughtful discussion and encouraged pupils to think deeply about challenging choices and moral dilemmas. It prompted mature conversations and helped develop empathy and understanding. Although emotional at times, the children found it engaging and very memorable. A powerful story that led to great learning conversations in class!

 

In Year Two, we have been using active spelling to help us learn and remember our spellings. The children loved building words, shaping letters with pipe cleaners, using drawing pads, and practising rainbow writing. These hands-on activities helped us embed our spellings in a fun and memorable way, keeping everyone engaged and excited about learning. Fantastic effort, Year Two!

Today, our Year 4 children have been busy exploring a brand‑new reading resource in school: Reading Eggs – and the response has been overwhelmingly positive!

From the moment the children logged in for the first time, there was a buzz of excitement around the classroom. The colourful design, friendly characters and interactive activities immediately captured their attention. For many pupils, it didn’t feel like “work” at all – more like a fun challenge they couldn’t wait to get started on.