On Wednesday, Puddlebridge Class had lots of fun taking part in the 2024 GoConstruct K’nex challenge. This event, which involves around 180 schools from Hertfordshire and surrounding areas, is an […] […]
Today in science, we began our learning about the circulatory system. We learnt about the heart and what it does. Many of us chose to draw our own diagrams – […] […]
Today, Danes Class enjoyed participating in the 2024 GoConstruct K’nex challenge. This is an engineering challenge involving around 180 schools across Hertfordshire and surrounding areas. Led by our local STEM […] […]
YEAR 2 SCIENCE Our unit on Materials began with us investigating properties and exploring the suitability of different materials, to discovering inventors of new materials and understanding the process of […] […]
Our Spring class trip was very exciting! We were lucky enough to be invited back to St Christopher School in Letchworth, to visit their on-site animal centre. After a ride […] […]
When we went into the Forest School area last week we noticed that something had been digging up the ground. We decided to investigate and try and find out what […] […]
In Design Technology this half term, we fired up our creativity as we designed and made our own money containers. We started off exploring a wide range of different purses […] […]
Our English unit on explanation texts began with an in depth look at ‘Monsters: An Owner’s Guide’ by Jonathan Emmett and Mark Oliver. We loved reading this book! It’s a […] […]
To celebrate World Book Day this year, each class read The Invisible by Tom Percival. The book centres around very important themes, including poverty, gratitude, invisibility, community, empathy and hope. […] […]
We have learned about the journey of a letter. From when it is written by the sender right up until it has been read by the receiver. We have written […] […]
What a fantastic day Years Four, Five and Six had visiting Tower Bridge! This visit supported our learning in Geography and DT. In Geography, our focus is Rivers so it […] […]
We have loved this book and have written our own instructions on how to wash a variety of different animals. […]
In Maths, we have delved into the intricate world of fractions. Our exploration has involved comparing and ordering fractions, converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers, as well as identifying […] […]
Year 4 have been learning about the digestive system in Science. We started off by learning about the different types of teeth and used plasticene to model our own teeth. […] […]
Year Six really enjoyed their rowing session – despite it being very hard work! During the session, they learnt how to improve their rowing technique whilst competing in various fun […] […]
In Shackadell class we absolutely love maths! In the Early Years we spend a lot of time mastering our maths skills especially in counting. We love to use maths manipulatives, […] […]
Following on from our learning about Superheroes we have been learning all about people who help us in real life. We have been reading books such as ‘Real Superheroes’ by […] […]
We have been experimenting with axles and wheels. We have looked at two main types of axles – fixed and rotating. Here are some of our practice models. We then […] […]
In maths, we have been developing our geometric reasoning. First, we revised some of the language associated with two dimensional shapes before moving on to explore some of the properties […] […]
As part of our learning in geography about North America, we worked in pairs to carry out our own enquiry about different North American capital cities. We made a class […] […]
In English, we have enjoyed reading the touching story of the life of palaeontologist Mary Anning. We read two books: Stone Girl, Bone Girl and The Fossil Girl. This unit […] […]
Between the 8th January and 19th February Shackadell will be taking part in the RSPB’s Big School’s Bird Watch. We have been looking at different types of birds and how […] […]
In PSHE we have been learning about how to take care of our teeth and the importance of a healthy diet and brushing them twice a day for 2 minutes. […] […]
We have been reading this book in our English lessons. Here is some of our lovely writing. We have looked at writing instructions, creating similes and retelling the story in […] […]
We had to investigate which material would be best suited for making an umbrella. We tested four different materials: plastic, paper, felt and foil. We predicted that foil and plastic […] […]
We will be looking at toys from the Victorian era up to toys today. We will be investigating how and why toys have changed over time. […]
Our first few days back in school after Christmas were full of exciting Art and Design Technology. Before Christmas, we worked on sketching and block printing in the style of […] […]
We have had an amazing time this week exploring the ice created by this very cold weather! We spent time hunting around our garden for ice that had been formed […] […]
Our PSHE unit this term focused on teamwork and communication. We learnt how to use non-verbal body language and listening skills to understand other people better and improve our skills […] […]
What an exciting start we have had to the term! On our very first day back after the Christmas break, we enjoyed a DT day. We began by learning about […] […]
This week we were thrilled to perform our Nativity – The Sleepy Shepherd. We have worked really hard to learn our lines, songs and dance moves in order to perform […] […]
We have been reading Christmas books all about posting – “The Jolly Postman” and “Paddington’s Christmas post”. This week we created our own Christmas cards for our parents. We were […] […]
We have been learning all about space and how real astronauts travel to space. We have looked at the types of vehicles they use including rockets and space shuttles. We […] […]
This term, Haffydown have explored the different ways to measure, using a range of different instruments. Our practical lessons have included pouring, weighing, estimating and counting with meter sticks, rulers, […] […]
Hot and Cold Places In Haffydown, we have had a fun start to our Geography lessons this side of Christmas! Our learning so far has covered the 7 continents, the […] […]
We were excited to have a visit from our local Police Community Support Officers. They told us all about their jobs and we got to look at the police car. […] […]
In art, we have been practising our observational drawing skills by drawing poppies of Remembrance. This built upon our previous learning about how to create texture and depth in our […] […]
On Friday 10th November the whole school walked up to the church to take part in a remembrance service. Pupils from Year 6 read prayers and some of them performed […] […]
In the lead up to Remembrance Day, we have been thinking about the symbolism associated with poppies and why people choose to wear them. In order to develop our pencil […] […]
We have been learning all about Diwali. We read a brilliant book called ‘Little Glow’ by Katie Sahota which explains about lots of different festivals. We loved making our own […] […]
Our focus for Art Day was Andy Goldsworthy, a British sculptor, artist and environmentalist. Goldsworthy creates Land or Earth Art, which is art that is made directly in the landscape, […] […]
In English, we have written leaflets to provide essential information to anyone wanting to explore mountainous terrain. First, we needed to become experts ourselves; we did lots of reading from […] […]
We will be looking at work from Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Jean Metzinger. We looked at some work by the impressionist artist, Claude Monet. We used finger painting […] […]
Our Local Area We looked at some of the different types of maps people use. We then saw an aerial photograph of our school and made a sketch map of […] […]
What gifts might Christians have given Jesus if he was born in their town? We have been talking about giving gifts and we thought about the gifts that The Three […] […]
To link with our learning about Roman Britain, we have been looking at mosaics in Art. We learnt about how mosaics were used to decorated the floors in Roman villas […] […]
We have been reading one of our favourite books ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson. We have created 3D and written story maps to help us to retell the story. We […] […]
Haffydown had a brilliant day visiting the British School Museum in Hitchin to explore our local history unit – Joseph Lancaster. When we arrived, we were given aprons and caps […] […]
In science this week, we explored electrical resistance. Our learning question was ‘Does the length of the wire affect the brightness of the bulb?’ Most of us thought that the […] […]
This half term, we have been reading poems from Matt Goodfellow’s book, Bright Bursts of Colour. By looking at his poems, we have been able to explore a wide range […] […]
We were really excited to go on an Autumn walk around the village. We invited our families in to join us as we walked around the village looking for signs […] […]
In English, Haffydown have been reading Robert Munsch’s ‘The Paper Bag Princess’. The story details the heroic adventures of Princess Elizabeth, who attempts to save Prince Ronald from a fearsome […] […]
Our History unit in Haffydown this term focuses on our local history. Our learning has centred around Joseph Lancaster, a significant historical figure in education, who set up the Monitorial […] […]
We have been learning all about colours and colour mixing. We read a fantastic book called ‘Mixed’ by Arree Chung’. It tells a story of a city of Blues, Reds […] […]
This week, our learning in English has been focussed around Michael Rosen’s poetry collection called ‘On the Move’. We have been inspired by reading many of the poems which are […] […]
On Wednesday 4th October, Danes and Puddlebridge classes spent the day in St. Albans. Our morning was spent visiting Verulamium Museum to support our learning about Roman Britain. During our […] […]
We are excited that we get to take part in cooking club. Joyce, our wonderful cook, helps us to learn about healthy eating and cooking. We made some really delicious […] […]
Our Learning Question this half term is – ‘What do Christians believe God is like?’ We are looking at some of the parables that Jesus told. […]
We are looking at animals around the world and how we can create art with them. We are going to do observational drawings, create animal patterns, make a totem-pole and […] […]
We are learning about animals including humans. We are looking at the different groups of animals and their diets. We are grouping animals based on similarities and differences. We are […] […]
We thought about how we could have a happy class. We wrote our rules on leaves and displayed them on our ‘Pear Tree’. […]
This Thursday is National Poetry Day and the theme this year is Refuge. Today, we talked about migration and some of the reasons why people might migrate. We choose the […] […]
We are learning about three significant nurses that changed the way nurses and hospitals worked for the better. We are learning about Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. We […] […]
We love playing in the water and are able to learn so much about scientific concepts such as floating and sinking and how bubbles are formed. During child-initiated learning (CIL) […] […]
Cutting is one of the skills that we spend a long time working in Shackadell class. Some of us are learning to control scissors by snipping paper and some of […] […]
In Science, we are learning about electrical circuits. We have enjoyed our beginning this learning sequence by building circuits using different components (batteries, bulbs, motors and buzzers) and representing these […] […]
We have had lots of fun settling in to our classroom. We have been learning all of the rules and routines. We know how to use all of the equipment […] […]
In English, we are looking at Roman Myths. We will be developing our writing skills including experimenting with figurative language, varying sentence structure and how to use a range of […] […]
What another great show! So much talent in our school and it was wonderful to see all of the children performing together and having fun! Well done to each and […] […]
What a fantastic day we had! After thinking that we may not even be able to go yesterday when our coach broke down, we were very grateful to travel in […] […]
We have started reading this book in English and are really enjoying it. We have already produced some lovley pieces of work. […]
We have been discussing groups which we belong to. We talked about how we feel included in these groups. We wrote about a place or group where we felt we […] […]
Today, Years Five and Six had an extended PSHE session in order to complete their First Aid training. They learnt lots of important knowledge and life skills in order to […] […]
Today, we used a range of strategies to understand Shakespearian language. Once we were familiar with the extract from Act 1 Scene 3, we prepared a reading of the extract. In this […] […]
We were thrilled to invite Rabbi Neil from a local Jewish school to come and talk to our pupils today. He lead worship this morning, teaching us all about Jewish […] […]
We have been learning how to create quizzes in Purple Mash using 2quiz. We began by creating a simple picture-based quiz for young children. Purple Mash offers different question types, […] […]
Today, we have begun to explore the wonders of the Fibonacci sequence. We discovered lots of patterns within the sequence. It really was wonderful to hear so much excited ‘maths […] […]
This term, Year Four are learning all about Living Things and Their Habitats. As part of this unit, we have learned that scientists classify animals and plants into different groups, […] […]
This week, we have made our own pencil cases. We learnt how to use a sewing machine last year when we made cushions so we were able to refine our […] […]
Year 3 have been practising their French speaking and using the phrase “J’aime..” which means “I like.. “. Scan the QR code to listen to hear the children saying what […] […]
We have been learning about the different coins we use. We used Cuisenaire rods to help show the value of each coin. […]
Please scan the QR code to listen to Danes Class playing their recorders. […]
This term in history, we have been learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and about Thomas Clarkson who devoted his life to campaigning to abolish the trading of enslaved human […] […]
We are enjoying our maths learning based upon the book ‘The Number Devil – A Mathematical Adventure’. In this book, we meet twelve-year-old Robert and the Number Devil who brings […] […]
In DT, we have been making bread. We began by sampling some different breads from around the world. We compared their taste, their texture and their appearance. Some of our […] […]
This term in PSHE, we are considering our short-term and long-term goals and the step we can take to achieve these. We began by looking at different qualities and strengths […] […]
We are so very, very proud of everyone in Year Six; last week, they completed their SATs assessments with such determination and enthusiasm. Despite some tough papers, they stayed positive […] […]
We have now completed our sequence of science lessons about the properties and changes of materials. We have learnt about reversible and irreversible changes – we were amazed to discover […] […]
Year 2 explored the school grounds and found different habitats as part of our learning about Living Things and their Habitats. We found a woodland, grassland and hedgerow habitats. We […] […]
In Design and Technology we have been looking at different vegetables that we could use to make a healthy salad. We tasted some existing products and evaluated these. We then […] […]
We are learning about what plants need to grow. We planted our sunflower seeds and wanted to test what they needed. We planted our seeds in soil and put them […] […]
We are learning about China this half term. We can use an atlas to locate major cities and rivers. We are looking at bordering countries, seas and oceans. We are […] […]
We were lucky to have 15 minutes without rain to find the eggs that Mrs Baker had hidden around the field. When we got back into class the heavens opened […] […]
As part of our DT, the children designed and created their own smoothie. We discussed the importance of balanced diet and how to include a variety of fruit and vegetables […] […]
We enjoyed our challenge to design and make a Moon Buggy or Mars Rover. First, we needed to research these vehicles to learn about their features and functions. Next, we […] […]
We throughly enjoyed writing our own non-chronological reports about the imaginary planet, Pandora. These were inspired by the book ‘Planetarium’ by Raman Prinja. We published these in our own class […] […]
This half term, we have read Fly, Eagle, Fly!, a traditional African parable retold by Christopher Gregorowski. As part of our learning, we listened to a speech by Archbishop Desmond […] […]