This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.
YEAR 6
| As we near half term and although they are incredibly tired, the Year 6 children continue to embrace all aspects of their learning with real enthusiasm. “Annie” in 48 hours, sporting tournaments, pizza making at the Rossall Kitchens are just a few of the activities that have been taking place over the course of this week. However, the main focus of our learning has been problem-solving, not only in terms of Mathematics but also in relation to the completion of display boards as part of our topic work. The children have been gathering information, creating artwork and designing activities, what they have achieved in a relatively short period of time has been amazing. The knowledge, collaboration and communication skills on show have been most pleasing. The final finishing touches are now being put together before we invite the rest of The Preparatory School to our showcase, where we are hoping they will enjoy entertaining and interactive activities and leave being more knowledgeable about our oceans and wanting to take action in order to make a difference. We hope the Year 6 children have a relaxing half-term, as they need to be full of energy for our return, as there will be five action-packed weeks before they become Senior School pupils! |
YEAR 5
| The half-term comes to an end on a real high for Year 5. We have had an incredibly busy week working on our final assignment for our Topic, ‘Enough for Everyone’. The children have worked collaboratively in small groups to produce a range of materials to showcase their learning. They have created posters, PowerPoints, leaflets and even produced their own mini-documentaries to highlight the need to care for our world. I was impressed with their organisational skills and their teamwork. The knowledge that our children possess about this incredible world that we live in and their passion to look after it, should make us all proud and hopeful. The weather was glorious on Thursday and Year 5 took full advantage! We ventured outside for our Art lesson. We had a closer look at some of the spectacular buildings on our Campus and attempted to sketch them. After a busy and most productive start to the Summer Term, the children really do deserve a break. I look forward to welcoming them all back refreshed and raring to go! |
YEAR 4
| Time flies when you’re having fun and we’ve been having lots of that in Year 4 this week! We have been busy bringing our writing unit and Science unit all about rainforests to a close this week by creating some amazing information texts. I have been astounded by the high quality of Year 4’s writing as they have endeavoured to share important information about the world’s rainforests through their writing. They have not only put together informative and interesting paragraphs but have added additional features such as subtitles, text boxes, rhetorical questions, pictures and diagrams all in a quest to ‘hook’ the reader and maintain their interest. It has certainly worked on me as it has been an absolute pleasure to read and look at their work. You’ve made me super-proud Year 4! All of Year 4 have also been proud of Oskar this week as he received his certificate for taking part in the ‘Junior Maths Challenge’ and receiving a Bronze Award. You’ve all worked so hard this half term Year 4 – have a great holiday before your last half term … Year 5 awaits! |
YEAR 3
| What a fantastic final week of this half term, wrapping up a lot of our amazing units. We finished our English unit by writing our own stories for the book Journey, with a focus on describing characters and atmosphere using similes, adverbs and speech. Such creative and imaginative stories have been produced! In Maths, we finished learning about time and particularly enjoyed measuring the duration of events. In Topic, we finished learning about ancient Chinese artefacts of the Shang Dynasty, before our focus on Ancient Egypt after half term. And finally, we ended our longest Science unit about Plants by creating our own Plant Leaflets, filled with all the fantastic things we’ve learnt about plants in the last 12 weeks. Well done for a wonderful half term Year 3, can’t believe we are nearly into the final leg of the year! |
YEAR 2
| What a wonderful half term we have had! We have thoroughly enjoyed our Digging for Dinosaurs topic and loved creating our healthy dinosaur snacks in the Rossall Kitchen on Tuesday (we also enjoyed eating them afterwards too!) To finish off our dinosaur topic, we learned about the different theories of how the dinosaurs became extinct and we created some persuasive posters. In our literacy lessons this week, we have written our own Dragon Machine story and included noun phrases, exclamation marks and paragraphs. I hope you all have a restful half term break and enjoy the sunshine when it arrives! |
YEAR 1
| This week we have completed our class book ‘The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth’. Finally, our characters Timothy and Oscar found Teddy, the baby mammoth, safe and sound and returned him back to his rightful place before the magic hour ended. What an adventure! We have written our own story about Oscar returning to the museum the following night for another adventure, from helping the T-Rex find his dinner, the knights find their dragon and the triceratops find his mummy. In Maths, we have been learning about position and direction. We have helped pirates find their treasure and used the playground to give and follow directions to our classmates. In Topic we have learnt about and completed research about endangered animals and some of the reasons why they have become endangered. We have looked at artwork by Paul Klee and experimented with watercolours to create backgrounds and patterns. We have also been so excited to finish off the week, and the half term, with Year 1’s first experience of House Challenge Day. We had lots of fun taking part and it was enjoyed by all. Have a lovely half term break everyone! |
RECEPTION
| Every week there are plenty of child-initiated activities available in class, where we use the children’s interests to develop play by offering a breadth of opportunities and resources for the children to use in a variety of ways. Last weekend, one of the children had made a kite at home, which has since created a great interest in kites within the class. We have made different types of kites and tested them out on the field. The children have asked for a role-play shop this week and are starting to understand and question money-related basics. They are learning to understand that different coins have different values and pennies lead to pounds. The highlight of the week was being allowed to spend some money in the school shop. We have now finished our book ‘Silly Doggy’ where we had to design an animal enclosure using any of the resources within the classroom. The children were very creative with their choices and worked together to help improve each other’s models. It has been lovely to see how the children have been inspired to create their own storybooks, I think we have lots of budding authors in Reception now! Child-initiated play supports children in having ideas and being in control of their learning. It enables them to learn through first-hand experiences, allowing them to choose how to use the resources to do so. Child-led activities may start out as an adult initiated activity however by allowing the child space and time; the child may extend the resources and ideas given to create their own experience. It is important to strike a balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities to meet best the children’s outcomes. |
NURSERY
| Our love of the book, ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ continues with Sandpipers creating some ‘swirly whirly snowstorms’ using marbling inks. The children love being introduced to new techniques to focus on. They have also created a pathway of trays interrupting the different sensory experiences in the book, mud, water, grass and snow. An extra soak in the bath is needed after this activity! We have moved the room around slightly to create a bigger role play area as it seems to be a firm favourite. The language you hear is amazing, the imagination is incredible and the enjoyment is a pleasure to watch. Cups of tea are often on offer alongside a glass of something that you have to so ‘cheers’ to! Preschools motivation for ‘Move it Monday’ is great to see. Instilling the importance of exercise at a younger age is so important for their future. This week, they moved like animals and it was up to the staff to guess which animals they were and imitate them. In our Tuesday Magnifico Martes session, they were introduced to the song ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.’ The children are able to pick up the words very quickly and remembered them during the song. However, to embed the learning further they are asked to point to the different parts of the body separately and this can be tricky. We know that children learn from repeat, repeat and repeat so we will continue with the song for the next couple of weeks. On ‘Wellbeing Wednseday’ the café was open for milkshakes. The children enjoyed making different flavours, blending the fruit, mixing in the milk and finally tasting. Strawberry won the vote of the favourite flavour. Sanderlings have enjoyed different types of textures available for them in the tuff trays. This includes foam, paint, oats, cloud dough and cereal. The children used their fine motor skills to pick up and move about the materials. A sunny afternoon allowed the soft play to be out in the garden, giving them an opportunity to improve their physical skills. Climbing is a key role in gross motor development. Climbing helps to improve spatial and directional awareness, motor skills and memory. Climbing at an early age teaches children to adapt to new and unknown environments and encourages goal-setting, determinant and planning |
AWARD WINNERS
| RECEPTION – This week’s certificate of achievement go to Oskar and Harry: Through recent Literacy work, Oskar has been inspired to create his own amazing storybook, complete with illustrations and text. Harry has been very keen to complete all tasks asked of him this term and has even occasionally come back and done more without being asked.  YEAR 1 – This week’s certificates were awarded to Abrianna for excellent story writing and Zach for great effort with his handwriting.  YEAR 2 – This week’s certificates were awarded to Archie for amazing determination in his reading, and Eryn for super creativity in the Rossall Kitchen when making our dinosaur snacks.  YEAR 3 – This week’s certificates for Year 3 go to two children who showed true perseverance and dedication towards their Plants Leaflets for Science: Karanjot and Ahill!  YEAR 4 – This week’s certificates for Year 4 go to Reuben and Jack for being excellent ‘thinkers’ in Maths solving some tricky money problems!  YEAR 5 – This week’s certificates for Year 5 go to Maya, Ruby and Daniel for fabulous teamwork to write and produce a documentary. Also to Vivian and Oskar for being awarded a UK Junior Mathematics Challenge Bronze Award.  YEAR 6 – This week’s certificates in Yeart 6 were awarded to Sophie and Adhil for outstanding written work, Lucas for effort in his written work, and Coco for development in creative writing and English language.  |
SPORT
| U11 WYRE AND FYLDE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT On Thursday 20th of May, the Rossall Year 5 and 6 girls participated in the Under 11 Wyre and Fylde Football Tournament that took place at Poolfoot Farm.  The teams consisted of a large number of players that had only recently taken up the sport. This made it even more impressive that Rossall was so successful, both Year 6 and Year 5 did exceedingly well in their early games. Making their way into the way semi-finals undefeated, the Year 6 competed against Shakespeare School, the final score was 0-0, which meant extra time was required. Unfortunately, Rossall conceded a goal. They then played Carlton Green and drew, meaning that they ended the competition joint third. The tournament has not only been great to play in, but to play amongst such a warm and supportive team has had a massive impact on how the girls see sports. This has been very joyful and the girls are looking forward to their next games.  By Annabel C |
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! |
