This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear All,
The term continues to hurtle along at an incredible pace – we are already moving towards the last days of January and into the shortest month; let us hope for an improvement in the weather! It has been an immensely busy week; both inside and outside of the classroom. Year 5 visited Turton Tower on Tuesday to study Tudors (clearly also covering some alliteration). The children were able to discover a huge amount about their history topic for the term and also enjoyed dressing up as famous historical characters!
The Year 1 pupils were also out this week, visiting Blackburn Museum linked to their topic, ‘Frozen in Time’. They learnt a great deal about fossils and were keen to display their own knowledge in the sessions. It is wonderful to see some of our youngest learners displaying such fantastic knowledge and understanding of the subjects they are learning about.
The Year 4 pupils have also been learning out of the classroom, albeit not offsite! They visited the Senior School Science laboratories to learn how to use Bunsen burners and to investigate their Science topic of ‘States of Matter’. There really is never a dull moment at Rossall as the pupils lit up the room! Our thanks to Mr Hutchinson for his help in arranging this fantastic opportunity for the pupils.
The cross country team joined up with the Senior School to brave the elements (and the mud) as they travelled to Giggleswick School. Mr Condon was hugely impressed by their resilience and determination in some difficult conditions. Congratulations to all the children who were out of School this week for their inquisitiveness, behaviour and manners – they were all exemplary.
You can learn as much from defeat as you can from victory! Our U11 footballers took part in the Lancashire Schools finals last Friday. Whilst they did not win the tournament, they came away having learnt a great deal from 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats. Sometimes it is good to lose and there are plenty of lessons to be learnt. This photograph was taken before their final game after a rollercoaster of a day… I was proud of the way in which they came together as a team.
I am very much looking forward to seeing many of you at our English Curriculum Evening on Monday evening. The event is dedicated to exploring how children learn to read through phonics; how to help children become more fluent and competent readers; how we teach children to become more confident and capable writers; and how to support children to love reading and read more challenging texts.
It runs from 6pm-7pm and you will have the opportunity to attend two different workshops, running for 30 minutes. This Curriculum Evening is open to parents only. Please sign up using this form to confirm a place at this crucial event.
I wish you all a relaxing weekend.
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
Da Vinci Academy 2024
We’re thrilled to announce the return of our Da Vinci Academy for 2024!
On Saturday, February 3rd at 9:30 am, we extend a warm invitation to children in Year 4 and Year 5 at Rossall and local primary schools for an exciting Taster Morning, including a carousel of exciting taster activities and the opportunity to explore our beautiful campus through tours from current Rossallians.
Following the launch, the Academy will run on certain Saturdays across the calendar year and will involve a mixture of fun sessions spanning Astronomy, Mathematics, Design Technology, Science and new for 2024 Lego Coding and Classics!
Click here to find out more and reserve your place.
Elmer Day and Movie Night
On Friday 2nd February we will be holding Elmer Day, focusing on mathematical patterns, shapes and colours. The children will participate in different activities around this mathematical topic. To celebrate, the children are invited to wear non-uniform with a ‘patterns and shapes’ theme.
Additionally, Rossall Prep School Council, in association with Rossall Rose Society, will be hosting a Movie Night on the same day! This will be open to all pupils from Reception to Year 6 and will take place after School from 4.00 until 6.00pm. The children will also be served hot dogs and drinks.
All the details are in the letter circulated on Wednesday, please make sure to fill in the Jotform before Monday.
Rossall Prep Indoor Athletics Champions!
Rossall’s state of the art Sports Centre was the venue for this annual exciting Indoor Athletics event last Thursday. There were eight Fleetwood schools competing. Every child was able to take part in a maximum of two field and two track events. The atmosphere was electric, especially when the track events started.
The Rossall team performed exceptionally well both on the track and in the field events. Imagine our delight when we were announced as winners of the overall competition, which qualifies us for the District Finals that will take place on February 28th.
Well done to everyone who took part. Thank you to all of the scorers, timers etc. and to Lee Cadwallader our for organising such a superb event. Good luck to Shakespeare and Rossall in February!
Endangered Animal Eyes by Year 6
This term the Year 6 pupils have been drawing animal eyes during their senior school art lessons. They have been working incredibly hard learning how to draw the eyes using a grid so that the proportions are accurate and have been taught how to blend colours softly to create tone. How fantastic do the finished eyes look peeking through leaves!
Year 6
“What you practice grows stronger”
We have been discussing the idea of ‘Growth mindset’ with the children over the last few weeks. The idea that ‘What you practice grows stronger’ is a powerful one that can be integrated into all aspects of our lives. Children understand that incorporating new ideas into their daily routines and practising kindness, curiosity, perseverance, resilience and respect are all vital to help them to become the best versions of themselves. Everyone has times when we think, “I cannot do it”. It is more constructive, as our pupils know to say, “I cannot do it, yet”. One word changes the paradigm of the sentence and our outlook on life becomes a more positive one.
‘Mary Poppins’ is fast approaching and there has been much excitement as we prepare for the production. Dances, songs and lines are being practised, the children are working incredibly hard. There is now a ‘Mary Poppins’ Google Classroom for the children to join. On it they will find all the songs that they need to learn.
We continue to enjoy reading Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes’. Year 6 have worked hard over the course of the week to put their newfound skimming and scanning skills to the test to collate information about the notorious outlaw ‘Kissing Kate Barlow’. Using this information they have begun to channel their inner journalist and have written a newspaper article about Kate.
This week in science we have consolidated our learning about the heart by extending it to look at the other components in the circulatory system. We have explored where blood travels once it leaves the heart – first to the lungs to become oxygenated, and once pumped through the heart again it travels around the body. We have also begun to look at the components of blood. Watch this space next week for more on this and some photos!
Year 5
Our Year 5 historians became time travellers this week, as we embarked on an inspiring journey to Turton Tower for a taste of Tudor times! On arrival at this impressive Tudor house, we were greeted by Squire William Orrell and his elegant wife Lady Mary. Their warm welcome and insight into Tudor life as we toured the grand house gave us a taste of history that we will never forget.
The children loved finding out about life in Lancashire for the rich and poor 500 years ago, and found wearing Tudor dress particularly amusing, but uncomfortable! The day concluded with a traditional dance, and our hosts were extremely impressed with the talent displayed, commenting that Rossall were Tudor royalty on the dancefloor!
It was a wonderful day of learning and the children have continued to use what they learnt back at school. ‘Please may I use the privy?’ is one expression we won’t forget!
Year 4
In Year 4 this week, we have focused on direct speech. We took on the roles of the two main characters from “Escape from Pompeii”, Tranio and his best friend Livia. With pens in hand, we created speech bubbles about how they should escape the impending volcanic eruption. We have also worked in groups to create a news report on the tragic event. There were some fantastic drama skills and knowledge put into each news report and we enjoyed listening to each group’s work.
Our Year 4 scientists took an exciting trip to the Science department this week to meet Mr Hutchinson – we had so much fun! As we are learning all about states of matter, Year 4 were introduced to safely using Bunsen burners and distinguishing between the safety flame, medium blue and roaring blue flame. We then focused on using a thermometer to measure the temperature of different water baths, the room temperature and our body temperatures. All of this learning will be useful for our final experiment being carried out next week.
During Art, we have been continuing to look at Roman mosaics and use a printing method to create each stone-like tile with mortar between. Our focus was first on the border before moving on to the main part of the artwork. We have also started our individual pieces for our Rossall Elmer!
Year 3
We have had another wonderful week in Year 3. We have continued our foray in the Stone Age, in Topic lessons we have looked at Stone Age homes and how they changed over time, using different materials. Leading on from that we looked at Skara Brae, the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe. We designed our own ‘For Sale’ adverts for Skara Brae homes!
In Science this week we learnt about a certain type of rock – Fossils! We learnt about the fossilisation process and that all fossils are sedimentary rocks. Then we decided to team up with the Year 1s who have also been learning about fossils, and together we made salt-dough fossils! It was lovely to collaborate with some Pre-Prep buddies.
This week in Maths was our final set of lessons on multiplication and division, we finished off by learning about remainders and consolidated our different strategies for multiplying and dividing larger numbers. Next week, on to measuring length!
In English this week we continued reading Stone Age Boy and used this to help us learn about Present Perfect Tense. We also continued to practice writing speech and dialogue. We are continuing to read the Iron Man as our chapter reader, and did some comprehension activities about this book.
All in all, it has been a fabulous week, well done Year 3!
Year 2
What a week we have had in Year 2! The amount of home learning projects the children have brought into school to share with their friends has been fabulous, we have had information sheets, castles made from a variety of materials and some bright and beautiful coats of arms.
On Wednesday we had our visit from Mrs Payne, who worked with the children worked on some collaborative art. The end product is going to be elaborate, so watch this space.
In Maths the children have demonstrated a fabulous understanding of money, and we are quickly reaching the end of the unit, on to multiplication and division next!
We have really enjoyed our literacy work related to our class novel “The Dragonsitter Disasters”. It would appear all you need is a little chocolate to placate the most excitable of individuals, however, please don’t try that at home!
Year 1
This week, Year 1 were very excited to visit Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery for our school trip. We took part in two workshops: Fossil hunters and Portraits. We got to learn about and investigate fossils, and dress up as Victorian fossil hunters. Then, we had a chance to have a look around the museum to look at all the exciting artefacts. Our favourite was the Egyptian Mummy. After this, we looked at the variety of artwork on display and shared our ideas and thoughts about the paintings we saw, before drawing a portrait of our own. Our trip has given us a much better understanding of the setting in our class book, which takes place in a magical museum.
Following on from learning about fossils, we then worked collaboratively with Year 3 to make our own fossils using salt dough.
In Maths we have continued to learn about teen numbers, using different visual representations and resources.
We have also been busy creating our contribution to the school Elmer which will be displayed somewhere in Blackpool for visitors to see as part of Elmer’s Big Parade Blackpool, in partnership with Brian House.
Reception
Even the youngest children role play, but the activity takes on whole new meanings and imaginative potential with Reception pupils.
Whether it is playing mothers and fathers in the home or superheroes battling villains in a magical land, role play has always been a crucial part of children’s play and development. We are increasingly aware of the importance of this kind of imaginative play, and opportunities for it have opened up as we dedicate more time to outdoor play.
The children’s imaginative play is becoming more complex, expanding a simple premise like a bus journey with their own experience and imagination. Their creativity, detail, use of language and social interaction are all increasing significantly. The children are using more open-ended resources and their imagination and social skills are developing so they can imagine what it is like to be someone else.
Inspired by our book ‘The Naughty Bus’, the children have created an imaginary bus out of crates this week. The bus journey started inside and then ended with the bus being made outside as the weather during the week improved. The children then created a bus stop, designed their own bus tickets and paid for the journey with buttons! The bus has been full of children, teddies and dolls, enjoying meals and even having a sleep on their imaginary journeys. The Bahamas seemed to be the number one destination! The children are now very excited for our journey in a bus next month!
Nursery
“Play is the work of the child” – Maria Montessori
This week in the Nursery we have focused on Physical development.
The Sanderlings
This week The Sanderlings have been encouraged to climb inside and underneath objects such as the cube storage and under the slide. Miss Schofield, Miss Heatley and Mrs Beddis have been helping the older babies build up their confidence in climbing the steps of the Montessori slide and helping them to figure out how to climb over the top to come down the slide safely.
The Sanderlings have also strengthened their fine motor skills whilst enjoying the sensory experience of practising making marks in paint and shaving foam.
Finally, action songs have continued to be a firm favourite for the babies, and “Head Shoulders Knees And Toes” was a particular source of inspiration this week as it allowed the babies to use their whole bodies.
The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers have been practising fine and gross motor skills. The children have been encouraged to practise different ways of moving outside, meaning plenty of walks around our environment and lots of opportunities for mark marking. There have been lots of opportunities for kicking, throwing and catching in ball games. The children have also been running and skipping to show all the different ways we can move with our bodies.
The Sandpipers have also been pretending to be the Gruffalo, the big bad mouse and some of the other characters from the book. The children loved getting into character and acting out the story.
Hand-eye coordination has also been a focus this week. The children have been supported on the trikes and balancing beams, and have developed new skills by peddling on the trikes and showing confidence on the beams. During music and movement, The Sandpipers talked about exercise and its effect on our bodies.
Finally, The Sandpiper team has been encouraging the children to hold pencils in a tripod grip as well as encouraging using scissors safely.
Pre-School
This week the Pre-School children have explored the sensory room. The children have enjoyed the calm and positive environment alongside their friends. They utilised their gross and fine motor skills to press the sensory lights into various patterns and played the group time games as a team.
Some of our older children who are getting ready to go into Reception took a trip to see Mrs Trippier, they are all looking forward to joining in with the ‘Talking Tins’. For the ‘Talking tins’ activity, the children collect their favourite things from home and bring them back inside the tin to talk to the class about what’s inside their ‘talking tin’.
Towards the end of the week, the children visited Mrs James at the Rossall kitchen to make cheese and vegan cheese pizzas. The children independently made their own pizza to take home and share with their families.
Awards
Year 6
This week, certificates have been awarded to Eleanor for applying herself fully in her learning, particularly in maths; Amelia for challenging herself in lessons, particularly Geography; Karan for excellent collaboration during English lessons and Jude for showing excellent perseverance during Mathematics lessons.
Year 5
This week’s certificates have been awarded to Lara, for outstanding Poetry and interest in our History work, and Ethan for outstanding knowledge and ability to recall our learning.
Year 4
Our certificate winners in Year 4 this week go to Henry for excellent focus and effort in his conduct and to Mykhailo for having an all round positive attitude in his learning.
Year 3
The certificates in Year 3 this week go to Valencia and Beau who both worked beautifully with their Year 1 buddies, being wonderful role models.
Year 2
Well done to Olivia and Jessica for winning certificates this week for outstanding effort with their home learning.
Year 1
This week’s awards are for Clark, for excellent Maths work with Mrs Roberts, and Isabelle, for fantastic fossil and portrait work during our trip.
Reception
This week’s certificates of achievement go to Harry and Hashvini. Harry is a polite and friendly little boy, who is kind to his peers and teachers. Hashvini has been trying hard in all her activities, especially with her phonics and reading.
