Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School Newsletter – Summer Term 2021 – Week 6

This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.

YEAR 6

It has been extremely rewarding to see the enjoyment that all the Year 6 children are experiencing from participation in sporting fixtures this term, and the camaraderie, team spirit and commitment on display at netball, football and cricket has been tremendous.

Along with this weekend’s ‘Annie’ production, the children are relishing the opportunity to showcase their range of talents in all areas and it is wonderful to be taking part in fulfilling group activities once again.

With House Challenge Day to look forward to at the end of next week, before we begin our final half term in Prep School, I know the children will be making memories that will stay with them for a long time. Let’s enjoy each moment, Year 6, and make this final six weeks together amazing.
Year 6 on a beach clean this week to make a difference in our community.

YEAR 5

“The possibility of creation from paper is infinite” said Akira Yoshizawa. Year 5 had a fun and challenging afternoon trying to prove his theory!

We were fascinated to discover that the ancient art of origami has inspired designs for numerous pieces of hardware on NASA missions, allowing scientists to pack more technology into smaller space-bound packages. For example, the agency is working on a piece of hardware called Starshade, which looks like a massive sunflower and could be made compact using what is known as an iris-folding pattern. This pattern allows Starshade to be packed down into a space small enough to fit atop a rocket; the object could then unfurl to its full diameter of about 26 meters in space, according to NASA. Starshade would be used to block the light of distant stars, working in conjunction with a space-based telescope to enable clear observation of the star.

We have started small with slightly less complicated origami. Rabbits, butterflies and frogs were all created with great glee and satisfaction and at times, a little frustration! Who knew a small sheet of paper held such secrets ( Akira Yoshizawa of course!)

We have had a super week using and applying our knowledge of decimals in a variety of problem-solving activities.

The Paperbag Prince has been given his land back and is now enjoying the peace and quiet with his animal friends.

Year 5 continue to work hard across all areas of the curriculum. They constantly surprise and delight me with their appetite for learning.

YEAR 4

I thought I would use this week’s newsletter to tell you about how wonderfully impressed I have been with Year 4’s open-mindedness, tolerance and respect for others.

In our RS lessons this term, we have been learning about ‘People of Faith’. The children were particularly inspired by the story of Malala Yousafzi which led to some fantastic discussions as the children showed their curiosity, asked questions and shared their thoughts as they learnt about her incredible life.

Luckily for us, Dawood was on hand to answer any questions about Islam and also brought in a Qu’ran and prayer mat to show us. Asked whether or not they agreed with what Malala did this is what one of the Year 4s wrote ‘ I agree with Malala. I believe in equality and no one is more important than anyone else.” If only the rest of the world was ‘a bit more Year 4’ I think it would be a much happier and more peaceful place!

YEAR 3

Another wonderful week for Year 3! In English, we have started writing our own stories to go with the book ‘Journey’ using the writing style of Berlie Doherty (author of Tilly Mint Tales), focussing on using similes, adverbs and speech marks.

In Maths, we are learning how to tell the time to 5 minutes and to exactly 1 minute – a very useful and important skill!

For Topic, our TARDIS has landed us in Ancient China for our visit to the Shang Dynasty, another civilisation built around a river.

In Science, we learnt about the first female botanist, Jane Colden, and went outside to draw our own scientific observational drawings. We’ve also started our final ‘Plants Leaflets’ to show off everything we have learnt about plants in this unit!

Well done for a fantastic week everyone!

YEAR 2

This week Year 2 have become designers! We have designed our own healthy dinosaur snack that we will be making next week in the Rossall Kitchen and applied our learning of carnivores and herbivores teeth to design our own dinosaur toothbrush. We have designed some spiky toothbrushes to clean carnivore teeth with meat flavoured toothpaste and flat-headed toothbrushes for herbivores.

In Maths, we have started a new unit on problem-solving which is making us reason and apply all of our knowledge we have learned throughout Year 2.

In Topic, we learned about the supercontinent Pangea and had great fun trying to recreate it from the outlines of the current continents. 

YEAR 1

Have you seen the missing mammoth?

This week, we have continued the search for Teddy, the missing mammoth and found ourselves in the world of the dinosaurs. We have created missing posters to help us in our search for Teddy and have written excellent descriptions of him.

We have completed research using information books to find out about extinct animals, including dinosaurs and mammoths, and worked in groups to find and write facts about different extinct animals.

We have continued our work on self-portraits and have painted a self-portrait using our observational skills to think carefully about colour mixing to try and find a matching colour for the tone of our skin, hair and eyes.

In Maths, we have been learning about quarters of shapes and quantities and solving word problems involving fractions. We know how important it is to share into equal parts, after all, who wants the smaller slice of pizza?

RECEPTION

Outdoor play fosters children’s intellectual, emotional, social and physical development. And by being outside and surrounded by nature, children experience an ever-changing and free-flowing environment that stimulates all the senses.

We are very lucky to have free flow provision in our class and even luckier to receive some new equipment all made with natural materials by our amazing joiner Andy!

The children have loved exploring our new water wall and water tray. We have been learning about weight and using some fantastic vocabulary when using our new big balance. There has also been some fantastic problem solving with our new ramps, sending cars, balls and water down various declines.

Most of us spent ample time in nature as children, climbing trees, exploring rocks and bugs, or even just playing games outdoors with friends. Little did we know that these fun activities were actually building our brains, bodies, and characters for later life.

Today, ample research has shown that nature exposure has numerous long-term benefits and we certainly love getting out and about in Reception. Usually, we are found in our small woodland area, last week we made ‘Stick Men’ and enjoyed playing on our tyre swing. We have been learning all about frogs this week so we ventured somewhere new … to our school pond, hoping to find some frogspawn, tadpoles or froglets. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any but the children were not disappointed as they found lots of water snails instead! Who knows where we will venture next week?

NURSERY

“Some old fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat..”

This week has been all about outdoor adventures for us at Rossall Nursery. The Sanderlings room have enjoyed exploring the woodland space, where they enjoyed toddling and crawling over the grass hills, as well as pulling to standing on the trees. Our youngest members have also had fun developing their gross motor movements in their garden space, where they experimented with climbing, crawling and sliding on the soft play equipment. As always, the children have enjoyed lots of sensory experiences too, a firm favourite was definitely bubbles and water in the outdoor area. There really is nothing like the excited giggle of babies happy in their play. 

Sandpipers have enjoyed daily outings on the school grounds in a variety of settings. They decided to go on a bear hunt along the sand dunes, especially enjoying the “long wavy grass.” As no bears were found, the children improvised and became bears themselves.. we hope our growls and roars didn’t scare anyone! The children in Sandpipers have also enjoyed several visits to the petting farm, where they were able to observe and handle some of the smaller animals. The Secret Garden has also been well used, where the children enjoyed creating hiding spaces in the plants and trees. It was also a great opportunity for the children to expand their awareness of nature, birds and bugs.

Our Rossall Preschoolers have enjoyed their first visit to their new classroom, which they enjoyed so much they didn’t want to leave! In Preschool, we have also enjoyed visits to the petting farm, where the giant bunnies prompted lots of inquisitive thoughts “how did they grow so big?” and “why are the other rabbits smaller?” A trip to the beach was a wonderful opportunity for the children to create their own artwork, using sticks, shells and seaweed they had collected. Well-being Wednesday meant smoothie making this week, the children learnt about ways to keep their bodies healthy and well-nourished, it was lovely to hear the children volunteer to share their smoothies with the babies in Sanderlings room.. who certainly enjoyed them.

The rain was no deterrent for us on Thursday, we all know the best part of a rainy day is jumping in puddles! 

AWARD WINNERS

RECEPTION – This weeks certificate of achievements go to Josephine and Junior.

Josephine has written some super sentences to describe the bear from our story ‘Silly Doggy!’ and it was lovely to see her write beautifully with letters of a consistent size.

Junior has thoroughly enjoyed learning about frogs this week and used great observational skills to paint a beautiful frog picture using the appropriate colours.


YEAR 1 – This week’s certificates go to Matilda and Isla for fantastic descriptive writing in Language.

YEAR 2 – This week’s certificates are awarded to Jude for super progress and determination in reading, and Spencer for amazing effort and enthusiasm in his reading. 

YEAR 3 – This week’s certificates in Year 3 go to Samuel and Christiana for their perseverance in Maths with telling the time! 


YEAR 4 – This week’s certificates are awarded to Zizi for being knowledgeable in her Topic work about Jupiter, and Lex for showing creativity in his writing.

YEAR 5 – This week’s certificates go to Vivian and Amiee for amazing origami skills.


YEAR 6 – This week’s certificates are awarded to Bella (6R) for outstanding artwork, Lake (6R) for her leadership and commitment in sport, Ranveer (6S) for outstanding enthusiasm in sport, and Aaru (6S) for outstanding effort in all activities .
Aran took part in the footballs finals day at Highbury (Fleetwood Town’s ground) and his team, Thornton Cleveleys U10 won the Coulton Cup Final. Aran played superbly and scored the equaliser, his team then powered on to the win. Well done, Aran!

SPORT

The Rhinos on the Charge at Wyre and Fylde Football


Congratulations to the Year 6 Footballers for a fantastic team performance at the Wyre and Fylde Football Tournament this week that took place at Poolfoot Training Ground. The team represented the school admirably with some wonderful victories and the teamwork and support that the players demonstrated was superb. Well done, Rossall!

Year 6 Cricketers in Fine Form against Westholme

The U11 Cricketers welcomed Westholme this week for an enjoyable and entertaining match. In glorious conditions, Rossall opened the batting and set an impressive total of 58. 

Rossall’s controlled and accurate bowling restricted Westholme from scoring any boundaries and in reply, they scored 28.

This was another fine victory for the team and it is wonderful to see the confidence that the team are showing as they gain more and more experience through match practice.


Under 11 Rounders v Westholme
Rossall hosted two U11 rounders matches against Westholme on Wednesday this week. Rossall managed to field two strong teams, as well as giving a few girls from Year 5 the opportunity to play. These were the first rounders matches the Rossall girls had played since they were in Year 4!

There were some strong batting displays from both Rossall teams. The fielding was slick and polished. The overall superb team effort from both teams resulted in two emphatic wins. Well done, girls!


Netball tournament at Stanley Park
A fantastic afternoon of netball took place at Stanley Park last Friday afternoon and was superbly organised by Lee Cadwallader. Fifteen teams took part from all along the Fylde Coast.

Rossall took two teams of extremely keen Year 6 girls along to the competition, and after a great afternoon of netball, Rossall A team were crowned champions – with an undefeated record!

It was fantastic to see all that hard work and training pay off. Well done to all the girls you did yourselves and Rossall proud!

TOP TENNIS COACHING FOR PUPILS IN YEARS 3-6

We are thrilled that Top Tennis Coaching will be hosting morning tennis sessions for our students in Years 3-6.

Beginning on Tuesday 27th April we are running a 5 week coaching program for students at Rossall School

Year 3 & 4 – Tuesdays, 7.45-8.30am
Year 5 & 6 – Thursdays, 7.45-8.30am


at the Rossall Sports Centre.

Head towww.toptenniscoaching.co.ukto book your child’s spot!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICTURES FROM THIS WEEK