Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you have all had a wonderful time at Christmas and managed to spend some quality time with each other. Thank you all for your kind words, cards and gifts – we really appreciated them. The children have bounded back into class this week, all eager to share their memories of Christmas with us. They have also been very kind to me, I have been slightly under the weather and have had little voice, they have really looked after me. This morning the children went to mass with the whole school to celebrate the feast of the epiphany and the new year. Thank you to the readers who read beautifully and to Erin and Baxter for taking the offertory so reverently.
This half term’s Jesuit virtues are being curious and active. This week, we have been encouraging the children to ask questions to develop curiosity and to be active learners, taking full responsibility for what they are able to do. This year, the children will be challenged to be resourceful learners who are active in their own self-evaluation. They are certainly active when it comes to leadership. This week they all met in their leadership teams to check that the roles that they were doing were right for them and to improve on anything that they were doing. We are now ready and raring to go next week! The digital leaders are planning on delivering a computer science programme of study to their groups and the librarians have all chosen novels to read alongside their classes. I am really excited to see how they continue to develop over the next term and for their leadership skills to continue to grow.
Learning
The children have dived straight into learning this week; I cannot believe how much they have accomplished. A big focus this year already has been writing. We have so many examples of writing in our class, the children are getting better and better with each piece. This week the children wrote their Outcome 3 of the biography unit on a Tudor monarch of their choice. This led into a fascinating discussion about Elizabeth I in history as the penultimate lesson of this unit. In the words of Pedro, “my brain is melting.” This describes our maths lessons this week – formal division with 2 digits. This is process that we are just getting to grips with and already the children are tackling it with such confidence. Next week, we will be moving onto fractions and shape work.
Assessment
True to my word, the end of year assessment will not be mentioned formally until after February half term but I wanted to give you an insight into how we will prepare over the next coming months. There is still a vast proportion of the curriculum that I need to teach in class, therefore the formal preparation is still some weeks off. The first time the children will meet a formal practice paper will be the week after half term. This will be their first opportunity to take a paper and to see what it is like. Please continue to support your child and to check their homework as all of this is great preparation for the assessments. The pace of things in class will really ramp up this half term and we will be moving through the curriculum at a much quicker pace.
There is no need to do anything other than this as we move forward. The children will do brilliantly if they are active learners and they try their best. I look forward to chatting to you about their progress and achievements at parents’ afternoon and evening on Wednesday 11th March 2pm - 7pm. These are the only appointments that I will have available to discuss progress so please make sure you book yourself in for an appointment when they are released on Monday 13th January 5pm.
Have a wonderful weekend with your family.
Mrs Gregan and Mrs Webster.