Rothesay Classic Birmingham Tennis Tournament Trip

We bought some tickets for the Rothesay Classic Birmingham Tennis Tournament, to take some of our Year 4/5 children to experience a large professional sporting event. Many of the world’s top players were in the draw, including Caroline Wozniaki and Heather Watson. The children were able to watch the matches on the 2,500 seater main stadium court, join in with some sporting activities and watch some of the players practise on the surrounding courts. We had many comments about how well the children were behaving and we hope they enjoyed their experience! They were even able to take away a ball that had been used on the courts by the players!

Fun at SAF Playgroup!

Miss Matthews had a wonderful time today at SAF Playgroup.

It is an opportunity for parents to get together and chat, while their little ones socialise and play in our lovely school.

Miss Matthews is a lovely mummy herself and will always ‘lend an ear’ to our families to chat about life with youngsters!

She looks forward to meeting lots more of you soon and building an even bigger, supportive community of parents.

Our playgroup runs every Wednesday 2-3pm.

The Huge Benefits of Snack Time!

Snack time in nursery is an opportunity for lots of amazing learning!

It is a nurturing and social daily event in which children develop their self-regulation and executive function skills by sharing out the china plates and cups and working together to ensure everyone’s needs and wants are met.

This week, during our learning about plants that we can eat, the children noticed seeds in the watermelon! This is crucial scientific knowledge, needed to understand the structure of plants later in year 1. The children used their knowledge of subitising to recognise groups of seeds. They explored different representations of quantities by lining up the seeds. Adults were able to develop children’s reasoning skills through word problems and the use of stem sentences.

“I can see you have eaten a seed because there is two left and one and two make three altogether.”

“I have given her two seeds, how can I make two into three?”

The children also enjoyed poppy seed biscuits that they had made during their play.

Our Reading Ambassadors Have Been Busy In Assembly!

Our Reading Ambassadors have been busy helping Mrs Tomlinson and Miss Reese during our weekly reading assembly.

They have been showcasing some of the amazing books we have in our school library, specifically the books that show a range of diverse characters.

Our reading assemblies are planned so that staff address key, global issues and develop children’s understanding of the British Value of tolerance and respect for others. For example, last week it was Earth Day and so the children read all about Wangari Maathai and how she started the Green Belt Movement in Africa and advocated women’s rights.

A Visit From Lauren The Veterinary Nurse

Children have access to a wide range of role-play resources in the EYFS. They can use these in order to develop their vocabulary, imagination and story-telling skills. Our Home Corner is a constant feature in our setting in order for all children have access to nurturing, homely resources that reflect their lives and culture.

Practitioners enhance the role-play provision to link to the overarching theme during each term.

The Vets has just opened in order for children to develop, use and apply their knowledge of animals.

Practitioners plan cultural capital experiences, carefully at key points, so that children can access and use resources purposefully. Today Lauren a Veterinary Nurse visited. The children learnt about her uniform, equipment and role. They learnt new vocabulary such as swab, sterile and gown and the meaning of these words by exploring resources and singing songs.

A Time For Celebrations; Ramadan and Easter

During the spring term children in nursery and reception learnt about a range of celebrations from different religions and cultures in order to develop their knowledge of People and Communities. This also supports the school value of being respectful and prepares them for their future lives.

The children learnt about the Muslim celebration of Ramadan by looking at books, artefacts and participating in crafts. They learnt that the moon is very important to some Muslims who participate in Ramadan and talked about the countdown to Eid and fasting. The children learnt vocabulary related to clothing some Muslim’s wear like a hijab. One of the children brought in a hijab from home which further enriched children’s learning and made the new vocabulary even more meaningful.

The children learnt about the Christian celebration of Lent and made pancakes at forest school. Practitioners layer children’s knowledge through a range of experiences. They read and acted out the runaway pancake, luckily ours did not run away and we managed to gobble it all up! The children were able to safely sit around the fire. The children and staff explored the Christian story of Easter through storytelling eggs and designed Easter cards. The children participated in an ‘Easter Tea Party’ which was decorated with salt dough crosses they had made a Christian symbol of the cross.

Practitioners were able to draw out connections between the two religions with children.

 

 

Year 4 Pioneer Trip

In March some of the Year 4 children went on their first residential trip to the Pioneer Center. The children created new friendships, improved their teamwork skills, showed resilience and made life long memories. They had a BRILLIANT time!