hands on learning Tag

This morning at the Key Stage 2 Prize-giving ceremonies, we celebrated our students’ 2020 academic achievements.

As I watched the students celebrate their progress this year, something that really struck me was the adaptability and resilience of both our students and our school. In keeping with Covid regulations, both ceremonies were live streamed on Facebook. I suspect that if at last year’s Prize-giving, someone had told us that we would be broadcasting the next one to parents at home and at work, all the way across the city, we would have been very sceptical – but here we are!

Our students have achieved amazing results this year, and they have done so while adapting to online learning, face masks, social distancing, and so much more. Their achievements, always something to be celebrated, invite particular respect given the challenges they have faced.

Today, we took the time to celebrate our Prize-giving recipients’ achievements. I would also like to take a moment to congratulate each and every student in this school. You have been amazing this year – you can all be so proud of yourselves!

To our Prize-giving recipients: well done! We are so proud of you! Congratulations on your amazing achievements – I hope they inspire all of us to keep working hard next year!

Hannah Kirkaldy
Key Stage 2 Teacher

In Year 1 we have been working on the school Ipads. In our Geography lesson we used a program called, ‘ARMAKA.’ This is a fun, educational game where you can create your own world and put what you want into it.

We have been following the travels of Barnaby Bear around the world this term and we were able to create a new virtual place for him to visit using this program.  The students had lots of fun creating underwater scenes, or a Japanese scene, a busy day in London and many more, and during the Barnaby dress up day they could walk around and explore the spaces they created.

Many families have tablets and devices at home and this program can be used by the whole family to have fun and get creative together. All you need is some space!

Charlotte Cronje
Year 1 Teacher

During the last two weeks we have been learning more about pets in Pre-Reception. Pets encourage self-esteem, responsibility and nurturing by handling, caring for and in some cases, playing with the pet.

There are many benefits to having a pet in the family. Pets teach students very important life lessons. Students and pets enjoy playing as well as having a cuddle during nap time. Students need to understand the responsibility to look after a pet. A pet gives unconditional support when a student is sad, angry or upset. A pet can teach the student to trust the pet. When the student takes care of the pet, they learn to be kind to others through taking care of the pet’s basic needs.

Other skills students learn includes respect when they learn the boundaries when the pet is eating or sleeping. Students would also learn to be patient when teaching their pet a new trick. Students growing up with a pet do so with more empathy towards animals and more empathy in general. When pets show their unconditional love, it boosts the student’s self-esteem.

To supplement the theme of learning about pets, we did various art activities and the students had the opportunity to draw their own pet or a pet they’d like to have. We also did a numeracy activity where we had to count the pets.

Martie van Dyk
Pre-Reception Teacher

I want to see Egypt and raft down the Nile.

I want to see all of their stones in a pile.

I’ll meet an old Pharaoh and wear his cool hat

Or eat with the woman who knew the first cat.

But while I wait (since it might be a while)

I’ll dress my dog up in that white mummy style (by Steve Hanson)

And that is exactly what our Year 3’s did and boy did they dress up to the nines!  After weeks of learning all about the history, geographical features, Egyptian society, pharaohs and pyramids, it was finally time to hold our iconic Egypt Day!  We were graced by the presence of pharaohs, queens and even a few mummies.

Our day kicked off with an Egyptian Best Dressed Fashion Show.  The students strutted their outfits to the tune of ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and our esteemed judges chose the three best dressed Egyptians.

After all that hard work it was time to eat. Each student was supplied with a specialised food box and feasted on a selection of middle eastern/Egyptian cuisine.  There were dates, falafel balls, mini pitas, humus, grapes and a juice to quench their thirst. YUM!

Once our Egyptians were satiated it was time to do some belly dancing with Nadia from the School of Belly Dance. Suffice it to say, that we DO have some VERY talented male belly dancers!

The day ended with the Year 3’s finally settling down to watch the iconic movie, Prince of Egypt. A fabulous day was had by all and we had some exhausted Egyptians making their way home!

Mandy Goch
Year 3 Teacher

This term in Geography we learnt about the travels of Barnaby Bear. On Friday, the 6th of November 2020, we held an ‘International Barnaby Bear Day’, where we celebrated the places that he has travelled to. Despite the rain, we were still able to have fun and enjoy the day.

The Year 1’s came to school dressed up in the clothes worn by the people in a country of their choice. They all looked wonderful, celebrating their own cultures as well as the cultures and heritage of other countries.

Each Year 1 student had a chance to present and talk about their selected country, the culture, what is found in the country, the people and most of all, the food they eat. Some children brought food from their chosen country. It was really interesting seeing what they brought, and hearing what they had to say about each country.

For some of the activities during our special ‘International Day’, Mrs. Cronje read stories from London and the famous landmarks, Mrs. Cordner taught the students how to do line dancing to the famous song, ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, and the students coloured in pictures from Mexico.

It was a lovely day and we all learnt so much! Thank you to the students and the parents for all the effort they put in to make the day so memorable.

Wendy Menton
Year 1 Teacher

For the next few weeks the Foundation Stage students are learning about Pets.

This week, one of my Pre-Reception students, Jan Pani (5 years old), brought his hamster Matt to school for the day. He showed the other students how he cares for his pet. We were very entertained by the little hamster, even though he slept most of the day. Jan and his sister Mia also have a pet rabbit called Hiccup. They wished for a bunny for Christmas. Mia wrote a letter to Santa asking for one. On Christmas day they found Hiccup in their garden. He is so cute! Jan said he would also LOVE to have a tarantula as a pet, I am not sure what his mother would think of that!

Aaron April (5 years old) showed us his pet fish and parrot. His fish are all called Nemo. His parrot’s name is Sky. Sky loves dancing and singing. The April family have had Sky sins Aaron’s birth and Sky and Aaron are growing up together. Aaron also loves horses and goes riding as often as he can.

Jadey Howes (5 years old) has two dogs, Axle and Harley! She says they are brother and sister Staffies. She helps her mom and dad every day to take care of them by feeding them dog food and filling up their water bowls. She likes to brush their short hair with the doggie brush and gives them both BIG, tight hugs. Harley, the black dog, likes scratches on her tummy, while Axle gets very jealous and always pushes his sister out of the way so that he can get all of Jadey’s attention. Jadey loves both her dogs so much and likes to give them doggie treats when they have been very good. They have so much fun playing together outside!

We spoke about all the different pets you can look after. The students were amused and fascinated by all the animals. Pet animals can range from the usual ones we know of, to some unique ones. Some of the students chose to have fish, birds, a guinea pig, mice, rabbits, a tortoise or even a snake as a pet.

Pets provide so many benefits for children!
– Feeding and caring for a pet encourages childhood responsibility.
– They provide a connection to nature and teach respect for other living things.
– Sharing the love and care of a family pet forges an additional common bond among siblings.
– Cuddling a pet is knowns to reduce stress, loneliness and anxiety.

Cindy Nunan
Pre-Reception Teacher

 

 

The subject ScienceBiology is the amalgamation of three different areas of science namely: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. During each term we cover work from all three areas.

Biology is the study of living organisms where we delve into the structure of cells and how they are arranged to ultimately form different organisms. We look at how these organisms are adapted to live in different habitats and how human activities are impacting fragile ecosystems. Lastly, we discuss the concept of species and the systems that biologists use to classify organisms into different groups, based on features they have in common.

Chemistry is the study of chemical substances that form the Earth and our Universe. We learn about the different states of matter and the changes occurring in the particles of matter when it changes from one state to another. Next we compare the differences between metals and non-metals, as well as studying the properties of different materials such as plastic and glass. Another interesting area of Chemistry is investigating material changes. We studied acids and alkalis and did a practical investigation on the effect they have on substances called indicators. Red cabbage juice is an example of an indicator which changes to different colours, depending on whether it is added to an acidic or alkaline solution. Students had to make their own red cabbage indicator in class and add it to a variety of unknown solutions. They had to observe the colour change to find out whether a solution was acidic (pink/red colour), alkaline (green/blue colour) or neutral (purple colour). Much fun was had and students unexpectedly stumbled upon neutralization reactions when they added the acidic and alkaline solutions together at the end of the experiment and saw the colour change back to purple. We ended the Chemistry section of the book by studying the different types of rocks and minerals that make up the Earth and how different processes can weather them away over time. When certain types of rock weather away they reveal the fossils of organisms that lived millions of years ago. These fossils tell cryptic stories that gives a glimpse of what life on Earth was like in the distant past.

Physics is the study of nature and properties of matter, energy, and forces. Students investigate forces in a variety of practical ways. One practical challenge was for students to lift a plastic container using only rice and a chopstick. Thanks to the force of friction between the rice and chopstick, students were able to achieve the seemingly impossible. We continued delving into the world of Physics by discussing different stores of energy as well as energy changes. Energy does not disappear, but simply changes from one form to another. The last part of Physics covered in Year 7 investigates astronomy and how far we have come in our understanding of our planet, solar system and galaxy. It gave us a true sense of how tiny we are in the universe when comparing the size of Earth to some of the largest stars discovered so far.

ScienceBiology takes students on a very diverse educational journey and lays the foundation for all three areas of science on which to build in future years.

Marlene Feltoe
Year 7 ScienceBiology Teacher

In History and Geography this term, the Year 3’s have been learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their country. This has been a thoroughly exciting topic to learn about and one that the students have embraced with great enthusiasm.

This past week, the Year 3 students had the opportunity to make their own mummy by drawing the outline of one and using their cold glue skilfully in creating its bandages.  After this, the students learned about the many steps to the mummification process and included these steps beneath their mummy creation.

Even though this activity got quite messy, much enjoyment was derived from it!

Alexia Holmes
Year 3 Teacher