THEECHO ECHO ECHO
Summer 2016 Edition
St Margaret’s Leads the Way in Technology! Computing at St Margaret’s has gone from strength to strength this year and children across all ages have enjoyed considerable success. Additionally, following an extensive external assessment this term, we are thrilled that St Margaret’s has once again been awarded the prestigious ICT Mark. The award recognises our success in developing the strategic use of technology in both administration and across the curriculum.
For parents, this provides confirmation that the children here are attending a school at the forefront of modern technology. We firmly believe that this can and should be used in every aspect of learning and that it is essential that children are equipped for the modern world. The future looks very exciting too and in September we are thrilled to be replacing the existing PCs in our Computer Suite with the latest Apple iMacs, which
will enhance the children’s exposure to a wider range of creative opportunities, as well as gaining the experience of another platform. Congratulations to the staff and children for a wonderful ‘technological’ year, culminating in this award, which has highlighted the amazing ICT work that takes place here each and every day!
Welcome to the Summer 2016 Edition of The Echo As we reach the end of the academic year 2015/16 there has been much to reflect upon since Easter and indeed a great deal to look forward to over the coming months. Whilst the celebrations on Open Day marked the formal end of the school year, the contributions of both the staff and children continued in earnest right until the very last moment, as confirmed by the outstanding events in the final two weeks! The entire St Margaret’s community is looking forward to the challenges that the new academic year will bring, and sending our children on to the next class or school, confident and well prepared, remains at the heart of all we do.
I send especially good wishes to all of our leavers, both children and staff, and hope that in addition to everything they have learnt, they have established lifelong friendships. We wish them all well and look forward to hearing of their successes in the future. ‘How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.’ Finally, this edition of The Echo will provide you with just a snapshot of some of the many exciting things that have taken place this term. I hope you enjoy reading it and I send you and your families good wishes for a relaxing summer!
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SUMMER 2016 EDITION
Outdoor Maths for 4NC
Kindergarten Enjoy Planting
The children in 4NC have made line graphs OUTSIDE! They noticed the wonderful new playground markings and were determined to use them in their lessons. In both Maths and Science the children have been using line graphs to record data. They started off learning how to draw and label the axes, and then they looked at labelling each line and remembering to include the units. Various children marked out the different points. Everyone needs to remember to be exact….look at the feet!
This term the children in Kindergarten enjoyed growing their own vegetables. They collected soil in their plant pots and carefully placed seeds into each pot. They took turns to water them each day and were pleased when they began to grow. After half term, the vegetables were planted in the outdoor classroom and the children loved seeing them grow taller! Kindergarten learnt that plants need water and sun to grow, but also that not all seeds that are planted grow into plants. Everyone looks forward to seeing how the vegetables taste when they have grown!
Weighty 1H
Up, Up and Away in Reception P!
The children in 1H have explored the measure of ‘weight’ in Maths. First, they discussed how to measure weight and estimated who would be lighter/heavier than each other. This led to an in-depth exploration of how height and width can/ cannot affect the weight of an object. The children then enjoyed working in a group and chose a mixture of natural and man-made objects to weigh, using a balancing scale. Using their understanding of measure and weight, first they had to estimate which object would be ‘lighter’ or ‘heavier’ and then weigh them to see if their estimate was correct. They had great fun using the scales and comparing their estimates with each other.
The children in Reception P have been amazing wildlife explorers this term and one of their tasks was to nurture caterpillars through their lifecycle. First, they all chose a caterpillar and placed it in a special pot with super food in to help them grow. They observed the changes over time until one day the caterpillar’s chrysalis appeared. After just 7 days the butterflies hatched and fed on the juice of oranges until they were released up, up and away on their adventures.
4B’s Extraordinary Earth and Space! In Science, 4B have learnt all about the Earth, Moon and Sun. During the first session, Miss Giles worked alongside Mr Browne and the children were taught how to use the iPad app ‘Popplet’. 4B had to create a series of Popplets to organise their thoughts about the Earth, Sun and Moon; this enabled them to insert images and text, as well as learning how to use a new app. Once 4B had shared their ideas, they were given some modelling clay and asked to mould the relative sizes of the earth, moon and sun. This generated lots of prior discussion in their groups and some quite different results. All the groups had realised that the sun was quite a bit bigger than earth and that the moon was smaller than earth but they were surprised by the actual differences! Did you know that if the sun was the size of a 70cm diameter beach ball, the earth would be the size of a blueberry and the moon the size of a pinhead? Towards the end of the programme of study 4B used the school iPads to create an iMovie to include photos, text and voice-overs packed full of information that they learnt throughout this half term.
Beanstalk Adventures for 1W In 1W the children have had lots of fun learning all about Jack and the Beanstalk. They made their own puppets and acted out the story, recording each other on the iPads. They also each had their own bean to plant and look after, and had great fun watching the beanstalk grow and comparing the different heights. The children went to the storyteller’s chair in the wildlife garden and retold the story. They then worked really hard to write their own versions of Jack and the Beanstalk during Big Write. In Design and Technology, 1W worked together to create the giant’s castle using junk modelling and Mod Roc; they are rightly proud of the finished product.
OPEN DAY, PRIZE GIVING & SPORTS AFTERNOON 2016
THEECHO ECHO ECHO
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SUMMER 2016 EDITION
2T Create Living Portraits The children in 2T have studied the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, a 16th Century Italian artist who is best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish. The children looked carefully at some of his works of art and tried to decide why he had used particular fruit, vegetables and meats for the features of his portraits. They then used their observational skills to look at the shape and form of fruit and vegetables at home, and with a little imagination they created some amazing collages of their favourite Julia Donaldson character. Leading on from that the children used their skills learnt from earlier in the year to recreate pastel pictures. They had to think carefully about colour, shape, texture, form and proportion. If only vegetables were always that interesting…
5C’s Hinduism Experiences
Colour Changing Chrysanthemums in 3R Science took 3R on an awe-inspiring journey as they learnt firsthand how water travels around plants and flowers. In order for the children to witness the journey of the water, they added food colouring to a test tube. They then predicted that the plant would change to the colour of the food dye wherever water was needed. To all of their astonishment, everyone was blown away when only a couple of hours later the white Chrysanthemums had started to change colour. This prompted a subsequent experiment, devised by one of the children, to use a time lapse camera to capture the incredible progress of the dye. The children learnt that all areas of the plant required water in order to survive. It was wonderful to see ICT enhancing the children’s enthusiasm for Science.
Superhero Challenge in Reception C!
‘Grammar in the Garden’ for 5G
Reception C are superheroes in disguise! This term the children have been encouraged to demonstrate a broader range of effective learning skills. They engaged in team challenges such as planning, designing, building and evaluating a class model of a Wildlife Park. They worked collaboratively to build individual features using Mod Roc, before combining a range of textures and techniques. Reception C are motivating themselves to complete a range of individual challenges in the Challenge Zone role-play area. Levels of self-esteem are beginning to soar as the children focus on flying high into Year 1!
Beyond the boundaries of the classroom walls lies a wealth of learning opportunities; 5G have embraced the outdoors to inspire many aspects of their learning this term. The children have enjoyed grammar in the garden, percentages on the playing field, reading around the grounds and studying sand dunes in Swanage. In the local community, the children have thought of others whilst brightening the centre of Calne with pots full of flowers. Although walking from Calne to Chippenham was enormous fun, it also gave everyone the chance to support Julia’s House, our school charity, and think of others. Come rain or shine, you can find Year 5 outdoors with their clipboards and pencils searching for inspiration to enhance their learning from the world around them!
Throughout this term’s Religious Education lessons the children in 5C have learnt about Hinduism. British Values are embedded in our school culture and so an understanding and respect of other cultures’ beliefs and values were a focus of these sessions. Initially the children investigated the many Hindu Gods and Goddesses; their representations and key characteristics together with how they are worshipped both at home and in Hindu Mandirs. Key Hindu festivals including Diwali and Holi were discussed and compared with festivals from other religions such as Christmas and Easter. The children also looked at Hindu traditional stories including myths and creation stories. In Maths they investigated both lines of symmetry and rotational symmetry. Everyone enjoyed creating traditional Hindu patterns using their knowledge of rotational symmetry. The culmination of the children’s studies was a fabulous Hindu Workshop where everyone participated in different activities including dressing as Gods and Goddesses.
3H Enjoy Wiltshire Sculpture Extravaganza! As part of their Art & Design lessons, the children in 3H have been learning about how sculpture can impact upon its environment and really improve a space. They studied how different sculptures can evoke different emotions in different people. This provided an opportunity for the class to look at both national and local sculpture examples. The next part of the programme of study involved a visit to local sculptor Richard Cowdy who is well-known for his Calne pigs and sheep. Everyone was warmly welcomed into his workshop to see the processes involved in creating a range of sculptures. The children were inspired by this visit and commended on their superb questioning skills. From this they were all eager to get going with their own sculpture ideas. Just like Richard, they decided to use clay to form their individual dragon sculptures to link with their work on Wales. These took excellent shape, with each dragon having its own individual personality. Finally, the most eye-catching piece was a collaborative sculpture using geometric shapes and bright colours. The shapes are able to be slotted together in different ways, thus creating a truly unique sculpture each and every time.
2J Investigate Habitats The children in 2J had great fun investigating different habitats in their Science lessons to see what living things they could find. The habitats that they were studying were the wildlife garden and field at school, and the river and meadow at Castlefields. They used a circular quadrant to sample the habitat in the chosen areas and were very excited by what they found. They thoroughly enjoyed the walk to Castlefields (despite the rain!) and seeing the ducks on the river caused a lot of excitement! When the class returned to school the children completed a habitats booklet and created Venn diagrams to find out whether any of the same plants or animals were found in the different habitats.
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Year 6 Black Rock Residential
Year 6 Visit Clifton Suspension Bridge
At the beginning of May, Year 6 left St Margaret’s for a residential trip in the beautiful Somerset countryside. They stayed at Hill House, near Bridgewater, sleeping in large dormitories. Each day the children took part in various challenges and outdoor pursuits at Cobbs Cross farm or in the Mendip Hills. The activities on offer were kayaking, mountain-biking, caving, climbing, archery, high and low ropes and finally raft building. The children learnt many life skills; resilience, perseverance, tolerance, collaboration, teamwork and overcoming fears. The whole week was a wonderful experience for them all.
In the Spring and Summer terms, Design and Technology work in Year 6 looked at Bridges. The children undertook focused, practical tasks; considered how triangulation adds stability and strength to structures and how paper can be reinforced by folding techniques. They learnt vocabulary associated with bridges – the difference between an arch and a beam, the span and abutments of a bridge and the necessity for pillars in wide decked bridges. At the end of May, Year 6 visited the iconic suspension bridge at Clifton in Bristol. They learnt about the maverick British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and were informed of the many interesting twists of fate that led to the eventual building of the bridge from Brunel’s challenging plans. The children then returned to school to build their own bridges, working with strict design criteria that their bridges needed to meet. The question is – do we have any budding engineers or designers in Year 6? Will we see any iconic structures in their work or influences from their trip to Clifton?
Culinary Delights for Year 6 Near the end of term, both Year 6 classes enjoyed cooking a menu for their own lunch; with the help of some intrepid parents, they created a three course meal. Groups of children with a parent helper were responsible for preparing a course; learning how to make the pastry tarts, chopping for the tomato and cheese salad or creating the banana splits with fruit salad. As part of their EcoOL sessions the children had planted radishes and lettuce, which they harvested for the salad. In addition, they created place settings and decorated the table beautifully. We need to say a huge thank you to all the parents who helped and especially to Mrs Maddock who was responsible for co-ordinating the whole event.
St Margaret’s Preparatory School, Calne, Wiltshire, SN11 0DF Tel: 01249 857220 Fax: 01249 857227 Email: office@stmargaretsprep.org.uk Website: www.stmargaretsprep.org.uk