: Blog items
Date: 21st Nov 2025 @ 11:23am
This week Acorns have been exploring the celebration of Diwali.
We have enjoyed sharing songs and stories, exploring light up toys and lamps in our 'Bucket time' sessions and creating Diva lamps.
We have had so much fun.
Date: 21st Nov 2025 @ 11:13am
This week was the launch of Switch of Week.
It was began on Monday as a whole school assembly where the children were reminded about saving electricty at both home and school. The elctricity metre was read by Redwood class and the Eco Warriors have been checking around school to make sure light swithches, plugs for screens and laptops were switched off to save electricty.
This should help reduce our electricty bill and climate change.
Date: 21st Nov 2025 @ 10:59am
We have been learning about irreversible changes in science. Last week, we looked at the three things needed for a fire and discussed what would happen if one of them was missing. We used jars to reduce the amount of oxygen and observed the results. This helped us understand that combustion is an irreversible change. We also observed how the flame was extinguished when the oxygen supply was reduced. As the jar covered the candle, the flame began to shrink and eventually went out because it no longer had enough oxygen to keep burning. This demonstrated that all three elements of the fire triangle—heat, fuel, and oxygen—are essential, and removing even one will stop the fire.
This week, we investigated different substances to find out whether they were acidic, neutral, or alkaline. We then poured vinegar (an acid) into bicarbonate of soda (an alkali) to see what would happen. We observed a chemical reaction and learned what occurs when acids and alkalis mix.
Parent Forum 20th November 2025
Date: 20th Nov 2025 @ 4:22pm
Meeting Date: Thursday 20th November 2025
Agenda Items
- Online Safety
- Xmas disco
- Xmas Fair
- Fundraising ideas
Welcome
HM opened the meeting and welcomed all attendees.
Online safety
HM highlighted her concerns regarding how vulnerable children can be when using electronic devices and accessing the internet. She emphasised the importance of supporting parents in keeping their children safe online.
It was suggested that Holker, our IT support provider, be contacted to request whether a member of their team could attend our Together Time event on Tuesday 25th November. They would host an information stand for parents, offering guidance on online safety and responsible device use.
Xmas Disco’s
This year, the Christmas discos will be held across three evenings:
- Monday 8th December – Nursery, Reception Year 1 & 2
- Wednesday 10th December – Year 3 & 4
- Thursday 11th December – Year 5 & 6
Entry will cost £2.50 per child, with an option to pay on the door, and will include a drink. A tuck shop will also be available.
Foundation and KS1 pupils will additionally receive a biscuit with their drink.
The PTFA will support by wrapping Pass the Parcel gifts — one set per class.
Jarek will organise sweets, prizes, and wrapping paper.
Christmas fair – Wednesday 3rd December – 3.30-4.40pm
This year’s stalls will be similar to those at the summer fair and will include:
- Hook-a-Duck
- Tombola
- Face painting
- Sand art
- Bottle tombola
- Year-group stalls featuring items made by the children
- And more
HM has also invited Highfurlong School to run a stall selling items made by their pupils.
There will be a raffle, which tickets are sold in the front office and will also be on sale Tuesday 25th November at KS1 and KS2 gates.
Local businesses have been contacted to donate raffle prizes, following the success of this approach for the summer fair.
Hot dogs will be available from the main kitchen in the hall, and additional snacks will be sold in the dance studio with support from the PTFA.
A Christmas Grotto will also be running, with time slots bookable through the school office at £3 or £10 for a family of 4.
The PTFA will be helping to organise the raffle prizes, tombola and make the sweet cones.
They have also kindly volunteered to support Santa by wrapping all the gifts for the Christmas parties.
We’re excited to share that a pantomime will be visiting our school this year! As this is a special event with associated costs, we’ll be running a few additional fundraising activities throughout the year to help support it. Your continued involvement and support make these opportunities possible for our children, and we truly appreciate it.
Additional fundraising ideas
After the summer fair, we held an after-school tuck shop using the leftover items and raised £80.00, which was a great success.
Other suggestions
We have discussed a few additional fundraising ideas, including:
- Balloon Race – HM will organise this in the New Year
- Cake Sales and Hot Chocolate Stalls
- Tuck Shop using any remaining items from the Christmas Fair
These small events add up and make a real difference, helping us fund special experiences for the children.
Year 5 - Reading into Writing - Stories from other Cultures
Date: 20th Nov 2025 @ 10:35am
This week in Year 5, our Reading into Writing journey has taken us on an exciting exploration of stories from another culture. We have been analysing WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like) based on Aboriginal tales, focusing on their unique features, themes, and language. This deep dive is helping us understand how cultural context shapes storytelling and is preparing us to draft and write our own stories inspired by stories in the Dreamtime.
Year 4 - Finding Features in Texts
Date: 20th Nov 2025 @ 8:01am
As part of our 'Reading into Writing' journey, pupils in year 4 have been identifying the features of play scripts. After a class discussion exploring a examplar play script, pupils worked in pairs to identify the features in a range of examples, including extracts from Jack and the Beanstalk and George's Marvellous Medicine. Pupils will now begin to plan, draft and publish their own play script.
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 9:39pm
Nursery have been learning about Autumn and the different Autumnal objects you can find in the park, your garden and the woods. The chidlren have been using their imagination to create faces using conkers, acorns, pinecones and leaves. I think you'll agree, they did a wonderful job!
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 9:33pm
Nursery have been learning about Autumn and all the different autumnal objjects you can find in park, your back garden and the woods. The children have been putting their imaginations to good use by using conkers, acrorns and leaves to create a face. I think you'll agree that they did a superb job!
Nursery Like to Ride Their Bicycles
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 9:22pm
Nursery had an absolutely amazing time on the balance bikes. They learnt all about keeping safe on the bikes, how to steer carefully around obstacles and most importantly - how to stop! They whizzed around the playground with great skill!
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 5:14pm
In Science, we looked at sorting types of foods into the 5 different food groups. We sorted the foods into ‘Carbohydrates, dairy, fruits & vegetables, fats & oils and proteins’. We used our oracy skills to talk about what it is important to have a balanced diet and what we gain from each food group.
Year 3 - History Museum Loan Box
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 4:56pm
This week, we had an exciting opportunity to dive deeper into our History topic through a museum loan box, filled with fascinating artefacts from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The children were captivated as they explored each item up close, discussing what it might have been used for and how life would have been very different thousands of years ago.
Inside the box, we examined a range of tools and everyday objects, including an antler tool, sewing kit, hand axe, blades and scrapers, fire kit, sickle, spoke shave, pot, coins, bone needle, and a purse. The children were especially intrigued by how people created tools from natural materials and used them for hunting, preparing food, building shelters, and making clothing.
This hands-on experience really helped us visualise how early humans lived, survived, and adapted. The artefacts sparked brilliant discussions and thoughtful questions, showing just how engaged the children are with this topic.
We look forward to continuing our journey through prehistoric Britain over the coming weeks!
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 4:45pm
Year 3 PE: Finding Balance and Calm Through Yoga
This week, Year 3 took part in a peaceful yet powerful PE session focused on yoga. The children explored a range of poses including Fox, Warrior 3, Tree, Boat, Dancer, Side Bend, Three-Legged Downward Dog, and Half Moon. Each pose challenged them in different ways—testing balance, strength, and body awareness.
One of our key learning points was how to flow smoothly from one pose to another, connecting movements with control. The class enjoyed experimenting with gentle transitions, discovering how shifting their weight and engaging their core helped them stay steady.
We also practised holding each pose for four seconds, using a few simple tips:
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Focus on a still point to help with balance
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Spread toes or fingertips to create a strong base
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Keep the core tight and muscles engaged
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Breathe slowly and steadily
Breathing was a big part of our session. The children learned how deep, calm breaths can help settle the body, reduce wobbles, and support a sense of grounding—skills they can use both in PE and during the school day.
Year 3 showed fantastic concentration and enthusiasm, and it was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they moved, balanced, and breathed with purpose. A beautiful, mindful session!
Date: 19th Nov 2025 @ 1:28pm
This week, we found a fun new brain break to have a go at! We enjoy having a break and then being ready for the next lesson.
Year 6 - Knife Crime Awareness
Date: 18th Nov 2025 @ 3:37pm
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🔪 Risks and consequences – carrying a knife can cause serious harm to yourself and others, and it is against the law.
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⚖️ Legal impact – even having a knife without using it can lead to arrest and a criminal record.
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❤️ Staying safe – the police encouraged pupils to make positive choices, avoid peer pressure, and speak to trusted adults if they feel worried.
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👥 Community role – everyone has a part to play in keeping schools and neighbourhoods safe.
Eco at Boundary- Switch Off Week
Date: 17th Nov 2025 @ 6:59pm
This week was the start of Switch- Off Week!
It was launched on Monday with an assembly reminding children of how to save electricity at school and at home and the reasons why.
The Eco Warriors read the electricity meter on Monday and they will be monitoring the number of lights and plugs that are switched off around school.
"We need to switch off electricity to save money- electricity is expensive" Lacey.
"You could try and wash your clothes by hand and then put them outside on a washing line to dry" Rose.
"I will switch off the lights in my classroom" Isaac.
Date: 17th Nov 2025 @ 6:27pm
Today we began our History journey by developing our understanding of what toys are like today. Together, we worked to distinguish old and new toys and sorted them by colour, shape and material. We then thought more indepth about our favourite toys, how they work and why we enjoy playing with them.
Date: 17th Nov 2025 @ 6:19pm
In Year 1 this week we are reading the story 'Leaf Man.' We began the week by unpicking the key vocabulary in the story, learning the meaning of any new words and retelling the key parts of the story. Throughout the week we have then printed our own leaf character and written sentences to describe where our leaf character may travel. We have also completed lots of different activities in our provision, including creading AB patterns, matching numeral to quantity and accurately counting within 10.
Date: 17th Nov 2025 @ 11:55am
We started off the lesson by using our Oracy skills to explain what we could see in pictures from the First World War. Then went on to mind-mapping as many adjectives about the trenches and what is was like living in these horrible conditions. We then used these adjectives to write our own descriptive sentences.
Date: 17th Nov 2025 @ 9:12am
This half term out Computing unit is 3D modelling using Tinkercad. This week we have learned how to place objects on the work plane, change the size of the shapes and combine shapes together.
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 3:57pm
This week we have been exploring travelling by cars as part of our travel and transport topic. We have had lots of fun exploring a variety of resources including a garage, roads and car park, with lots of ramps and new cars.
Acorns have been developing their social skills, playing skills and turn taking skills through a variety of activities with these resources. We have also been developing our communication skills with the support of choice boards and visuals.
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 3:24pm
Acorns explored Remeberance Day through poppy art. We enjoyed collaging poppies and choosing different colours to create our poppies.
We went outside with Redwoods to lay our poppy's alongside our remembrance area. Some of us enjoyed looking at the remembrance area and some us us planted our poppies independently.
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 2:13pm
To fundraise for Children in Need the children in Year Two wore something spotty, stripy or Pudsey themed while bringing in a donation for charity. The children loved seeing each others outfits and listening to how their money will support this amazing charity!
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 11:59am
As part of Anti-Bullying week the children have been learning how to recognise kind and unkind behaviour amd know who to tell if someone is one kind. We talked about who our trusted adults are in school and at home. On odd socks day the children enjoyed wearing and making odd socks to celebrate diversity and individuality.
"I'll try Mrs Clark if some is unkind" Sydney
"Pushing people is unkind" Lockie
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 11:41am
Reception have been learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali- 'The Festival of Light'. The children have been finding out how Hindu's prepare for the celebration by cleaning and decorating this houses. The learnt what a diva lamp is and that rangolli patterns are made to welcome guests to their homes. We found out that they have many special traditionsincluding visiting their temple, sharing a special meal with their families, wearing speacial clothes and even setting off fireworks. the children enjoyed making Diwali cards for their friends, paintng rangolli patterns and even making their very own diva lamp to take home.
"Diwali is the festaval of light" Rohan
"They celebrate good over bad" Ava
"They wear special clothes and have food with their family" Lockie
"The light a diva lamp" Isabel
Date: 14th Nov 2025 @ 10:36am
Today, the children celebrated Children in Need. They came to school dressed in something spotty or stripy and donated money to the charity.
In the afternoon, we had a whole school assembly to celebrate this good cause.
Take a look at our photos!
