This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Dear All,
Our Harvest assembly at the end of last week proved to be a lovely occasion. Very much led by the children but with a guiding hand from Reverend Ayoma, the service provided all attendees time to reflect on harvest and what that means to different members of our community. The service also offered Reverend Ayoma the chance to look back at his own time as part of the Rossall parent body, on the very day he was about to drive his son, Sam, down to University. Sam had been at Rossall since Reception before going on to be Senior School Captain, and I am sure that as Reverend Ayoma looked around at some of our youngest children, the very essence of the assembly; growing, nurturing and developing, was not lost on anyone. My thanks and congratulations to all involved in the assembly, particularly Year 6S. For those of you wondering, myself and Mr Rund shook hands on a gentlemen’s conker fight draw!
This week I have been away with Mr Quartermain in Edinburgh at the HMC/IAPS Heads’ conference. There have been a multitude of speakers and sessions that have covered so many aspects of education from ‘safeguarding in the metaverse’ to ‘inspection readiness’ to listening to Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson discussing her journey to success and the barriers she had to overcome. All of these sessions (and many more) provide you with food for thought but probably just as important, is the time spent away from school simply making time to think about school.
I am looking forward to welcoming many prospective as well as existing families into school tomorrow for our first open event of the year. Open Day is always a very proud day as we showcase our buildings but more importantly our fabulous pupils who act as such incredible ambassadors in their roles as tour guides.
I look forward to seeing some of you on Saturday,
Mr M Turner
Headmaster of Preparatory School & Nursery
Year 6
Our topic work on World War I and II has certainly captured the interest of Year 6 this term, and they have produced some captivating creative writing, as well as some outstanding artwork on our theme of ‘Peace and Conflict’.
Our science investigation into how light travels led the class to carry out an amazing light show to match the Blackpool Illuminations using Mr Condon’s CD collection to divert light to hit a target. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experiments, particularly reflecting the light beams into their teachers’ eyes!
This connected perfectly with our World War II work on searchlights, which was enlightening. If anyone finds Mr Condon’s ‘Best of Kylie’ CD please return!
Year 5
Year 5 had a fantastic start to the week having visited Seven Acres Country Park. They observed different wildlife such as a dipper and also kept a very close eye out for a kingfisher! They also, most importantly, learnt all about the river. They were able to see how the river had eroded specific parts of the country park along with also investigating the river flow by playing a racing game with rubber ducks! The Year 5’s loved this challenge. Next in teams, they searched for wildlife in the river – collecting them in a tray full of the river water and identifying what species of animals they were.
In English we continue to focus on the ‘Queen Of The Falls’ book with the Year 5’s writing letters in the viewpoint of Annie’s friend supporting her in her daredevil feat. We have also focused on fronted adverbials and how using these can up-level their sentences within their writing.
In Maths, we continue to look at place value with a particular focus on comparing and ordering digits and rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000 and 10,000.
We have continued to look at different areas of Science; this time moving onto CSI technicians and the different jobs they carry out at a crime scene. They loved learning about DNA, fingerprints, chromatography and geology.
Year 4
My Year 4 class are always ready for a challenge and this was certainly in evidence during our science lesson this week as we began experiments to discover how exposure to different drinks results in demineralisation. This is in relation to acid attack on teeth and the resulting detrimental effects on tooth enamel. The children used boiled eggs to simulate tooth enamel as the eggshells carry some of the same properties and chemical compounds as teeth. By exposing the eggs over a period of time to different substances (water, orange juice, cola, milk and vinegar) the children will be able to see the results similar to the effects on tooth enamel. Hopefully your children will be extra vigilant when brushing their teeth as a result of their observations and appreciation of chemical reactions.
In English, we have continued reading the story ‘Gorilla’ and role-played various scenes which involved eating bananas in a café and watching ‘SuperGorilla’ in the cinema. We have also been getting to grips with fronted adverbials and writing diaries about what it would be like to go to the zoo with a gorilla.
In History, we delved deeper into the lives of Anglo-Saxons and designed a village from the raw materials available at the time. The children thought carefully about how to make their village as historically accurate as possible. However, I’m not so sure they had Wi-Fi routers installed around the settlements of England during this time. The class certainly keeps me on my toes with their curiosity about the world and their passion for its future.
Year 3
Another jam-packed week in Year 3 and it is hard to believe how quickly time is flying by!
In English we have been continuing with our phonics, spelling, comprehension and grammar – this week we learnt about how conjunctions can join sentences together. We have been using paragraphs to write about the life of the seal from Seal Surfer – paragraphs are tricky to grasp but the children are doing very well with them!
In Maths we are now using our place value knowledge and applying it to addition and subtraction. We have been trying to get our heads around exchanging tens and ones, which is also a challenge that the Year 3s are not shying away from!
In Topic, we learnt about how erosion changes the coastlines, and drew our own erosion comic strips. We have done a lot of Science this week, we have learnt more about skeletons: the scientific names for bones and also types of animal skeletons (endoskeleton, exoskeleton and hydroskeleton). We also learnt about muscles and how they relax and contract – to demonstrate this we made our own models of moving arm muscles using card and string!
Overall a week filled with fun and learning, well done Year 3!
Year 2
It just keeps getting busier and busier in Year 2, we have been working hard in all areas of the curriculum, our number knowledge is ever improving and we have been working hard on addition and subtraction to 100. We did get a little carried away on Wednesday and started reading bigger and bigger numbers till we reached numbers in the hundreds of thousands.
We are almost at the end of our book for this half term. Troll Swap has been the inspiration for lots of fabulous writing and the class have really enjoyed the story, especially when Mr Rund does a burp, obviously this is purely for artistic effect and not because he ate too much pudding at lunch.
The children have continued to learn about the influence and impact of Florence Nightingale and completed a fabulous class timeline that can now be found hanging from the classroom ceiling. However, the highlight of the week has to be Science, the children have been learning about life cycles of various animals including frogs, birds and humans.
Not only this we have also been learning a little about exercise and its effect on the body. The children loved the practical activities involved and have been given the challenge of creating their own short exercise regime in relation to this. We will be trying some out on Monday, so please keep away from burpees!
Year 1
Our focus this week in class has been to write neatly and to start using the joins in our letters too. It’s been fantastic to see everyone in Year 1 trying their hardest and we are now forming our letters at a smaller size. We’ve worked hard to use our newly learned phonics sounds in the words we write this week, as well as learning about verbs and writing verbs too. As we have been learning about Antarctica, we have created some superb pieces of art based on life in Antarctica. It has been so interesting learning about the climate of Antarctica and how it wouldn’t be a comfortable place to live! We also learned about the discoverers from over 100 years ago who first tried to explore Antarctica, braving the cold, dry, windy land! We all decided it would be amazing to visit but we learned that we would need to be well equipped for it. In Maths this week we have continued working with numbers, ordering amounts and comparing amounts; we are getting very secure with this! Finally, we’ve also had another topic this week of showing and giving acts of kindness to the people around us even if we aren’t friends with them. Well done Year 1!
Reception
When you’re out and about with children, we aim to enable them to take risks, not prevent them. Risk taking is good for children: taking risks is exhilarating, and children want and need to take risks. Our role as adults is to make sure we enable this, without placing them in actual danger. It’s essential to evaluate the hazards honestly, not just focusing on the worst-case scenario, but also considering the likelihood of serious injury and what children will gain by participating in the activity. This is called the ‘risk benefit’ approach to play, and in the UK it has been developed and recommended by the Play Safety Forum, the Health and Safety Executive, and even the Department for Education.The Reception Class have loved taking risks and being out and about around our fantastic campus this week. We have climbed up mountains (well, they were mountains according to the children), explored forests, looked for wildlife and cautiously ventured near an overgrown pond! T
he physical skills children can practise, the excitement, the connection with natural materials and the ‘real world’ around them, developing strength, coordination, agility and body confidence is amazing. The positive language we use with the children and encouragement to talk through their decision-making, builds confidence throughout all our activities. We have plenty of time to play, whether it’s in the playground, Secret Garden, the beach or on the fields. Being generous with our time is one of the most important things we can do to help children become more active and more body confident. Some of the cautious ones at the beginning of our expedition were the ones running and rolling down the hills and wanting to be the leader next time!
Risky outdoor play has always been an integral part of childhood, and we must remember that the biggest risks to children are in their own homes and travelling in vehicles, not on the playgrounds and fields of Rossall School.
Nursery
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
Maya Angelou
It has been a creative week in The Sanderlings. The Sanderlings have taken part in lots of activities that have involved their whole bodies to reinforce and strengthen their gross and fine motor skills. Miss Schofield started by putting a large piece of paper on the floor to encourage the babies to free colour whether this be on their tummy (practising tummy time) or sat up using whole body movement to create marks. The babies have enjoyed an Autumn song time in their garden, singing along to all their favourite nursery rhymes whilst observing the changes in the weather as we transition to a new season. Mrs Beddis kept the creative theme going by making marks using flour on the tables. The Sanderlings were really interested to see that we can make marks in different ways and not just with crayons on paper. Finally, the babies have been driving their own little trains down the train tracks, a firm favourite in the Sanderlings room, the trains twisted and turned down the track encouraging the babies to voice new words associated with movement and travel such as twist, turn and far away.
The Sandpipers have added relaxation to their timetable and have enjoyed their first meditating session this week. Miss Southern turned off the main lights, turned on our fairy lights and encouraged us to relax and listen to the music being played – it was so relaxing we almost fell asleep but there were far too many fun activities planned to be a part of. The children have been on a search for Autumnal items, such as leaves and acorns, which they then painted in orange, brown and red then stamped the shapes onto paper. With the weather being extremely wet this week, The Sandpipers have also enjoyed a walk jumping in puddles, it was lovely to get out and about in our wellies and puddle suits. The Sandpipers book of the month is ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson, over the coming weeks you will see all the activities that the practitioners have planned for the children linked to this book.
The Preschool children have been super busy this week. The children have had two extra-curricular lessons this week, both of which were a massive hit. On Monday Preschool danced with Mrs Harris and on Thursday Preschool went cooking with Mrs James. The Preschool dance lesson focussed on fine motor and listening skills as well as recognition of animal sounds. Preschool’s book of the month is ‘Rainbow fish’ by Marcus Pfister, the first activity linked to this book was all about what makes us unique. Miss Emsley talked to us about how the fish in the book all have different scales and linked that to our unique attributes such as hair and eye colour. Our teacher time has focused on early addition and subtraction observing what happens when we add or take away more objects. Finally, Miss Simms taught us about positive affirmations and how we should see the good in ourselves, the children we encouraged to say things they like out loud.
Awards
Year 6
Awards this week go to:
6R
Daisy and Molly for: Outstanding Role Models
6S
Xanthe for: Outstanding Effort in all classwork
Lex for: Outstanding creative writing
Year 5
Certificate winners this week:
Mia for fantastic efforts in Maths, English and Science and Reuben for fantastic efforts in Maths.
Jude and Seluleko for having outstanding behaviour and impeccable manners during the Year 5 river trip.
Year 4
In Year 4 our certificate winners this week are Jude for outstanding enthusiasm in all activities Lara for excellent work in English and Maths.
Year 3
The Year 3 certificates go to Emma and Sophie for their fantastic writing in paragraphs this week.
Year 2
Certificates this week go to:
Harry for fabulous improvement in presentation of work.
Roco for fabulous concentration during our lessons.
Year 1
This week our awards in Year 1 go to:
Teigan for working hard in writing and for writing as neat as she can all week!
Nektarios for listening to and following instructions really well each day!
Reception
This week’s certificate of achievement go to Xander and Theo, Xander always uses superb manners in all aspects of school life. Theo has gained a more positive attitude to all activities presented to him. Well done to both children!
