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St George's CE

Oak

2023 - 2024

Spring Term 1

As we move towards the halfway point of the academic year, it is always good to reflect on the children’ learning journey and notice the huge improvements they have made. The children have a real sense of pride in the presentation of their work, in their books, and they are always eager to demonstrate what they have learnt. This has been shown in their balanced argument writing which began with the children researching the implications of deforestation, in the Amazon rainforest, and led to a wonderful whole class debate where the children put forward arguments from the Brazilian government, the indigenous people and the logging companies amongst others. This debate really got to the heart of the issues and this was reflected in their wonderful balanced arguments. Leading on from this, the children researched the potential impact of building a dam on the Amazon river and then planned and wrote a balanced argument on the implications. This produced wonderful work and demonstrated the maturity of the children’s writing.

As we look forward to warmer days, the children have already had the opportunity to complete work on the Oak class balcony. This is a fabulous resource that allows the children to complete their activities in the fresh air. I would, once again, thank the PTA for providing the parasols for the tables for these activities to take place. Further outdoor learning, this half-term, has included the visit to Salisbury Cathedral which was a wonderful learning opportunity. The children were amazed by the sheer scale of the building and thoroughly enjoyed learning about different parts of a cathedral (such as the font, the altar and the choir stalls). The spirituality workshops allowed the children to reflect and the stained glass window activity allowed the children to demonstrate their creativity. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day! The Wessex Water Education Team visited the school and the children learnt about the company’s role in ensuring clean water provision. The children had the opportunity to complete a model, linking pipes to buildings in a grid, and worked well together to do so.

Learning about the Americas, in our Geography topic, the children researched the countries of both North and South America – placing these on a map. They explored the 50 states of the United States of America and researched information about a chosen South American country. The children really enjoyed researching and drawing famous American building and then chose one of these building to build in Design and Technology using a variety of materials.

As the children continue on their learning journey, it is wonderful to see all of the wonderful opportunities that the school provides to fulfil its commitment to allow the children to ‘Live Learning: Love Learning’. Looking at the calendar for next half-term, I can already see that we have planned an art workshop and a maths visit to the Swanage School amongst many other activities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all, once again, for supporting your children’s learning and I very much look forward to next half-term’s opportunities!

Oak Class Spring Term 1 2024

 

Autumn Term 2

I have been really impressed with how hard the children in Oak class have worked this term. The World War Two topic has been particularly special and I have been amazed by the quality of the home learning: propaganda posters, cooking using World War Two rations and research into the ‘Funnies Tanks’ deployed on D Day. The creativity and imagination used in these tasks was amazing and we all enjoyed sharing them! For the last two weeks of term, the children have been reflecting on just how terrible war is. We completed a visit to St George’s church which inspired us to create war memorials on the nature trail. The children followed this up by reading ‘Remembrance’ poems and planned and wrote their own poems. The children also thoroughly enjoyed the whole class reading books during this topic, particularly the diaries of Anne Frank and Flossie Albright. I know that some children enjoyed them so much that they have put in a special request to Santa to receive them for Christmas!

Another highlight of this term has been the visits of Mr Keys, from the Dorset Music Service, to teach the children how to programme music on a Digital Audio Workstation. The children took on board all of the programming techniques and composed fabulous electronic musical pieces. They learnt about pitch, adding a vocal track and programming a backing track for a video. The range of compositions was amazing and the children produced work that they can be really proud of!

The school were very fortunate to receive 30 Micro:Bit robots from the BBC. These are a fantastic resource for programming and the children can programme them to complete a variety of tasks such as: rolling a dice, programme a rolling script and changing symbols. Oak class were the first class to trial them and they thoroughly enjoyed following the programming and watching the robots complete the activities. A big thank you to Mrs Astle for ensuring that we received this wonderful resource!

Our PSHE lessons this half term have focused on 'Valuing Differences'. We have talked about respecting others, not judging and the importance of tolerance and respect in the diverse society in which we live. The children are always encouraged to share their learning with you, where we hope these discussions can continue.

 

Autumn Term 1

The children have settled really well into Oak class this half-term and have completed fabulous learning! On Tuesday afternoons, Mr Keys (from the Dorset Music Service) has been teaching the children to programme music using a Digital Audio Workstation. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning this programming and are beginning to programme their own musical compositions using the techniques that they have learnt.

Learning about World War Two this half-term, the children had the opportunity to visit the Bovington Tank Museum and learnt so much about life on the Home Front. They heard about the life of an Air Raid Warden together with how the Women’s Land Army supported the production of food (which was in very short supply). Completing the replica shop activity, they found out about how little each person had as a ration together with what domestic life was like without the assistance of modern appliances. During the afternoon, they children explored the museum in smaller groups and it was wonderful to observe how engaged they were with their learning!

This term we have been reading War Diary, by Marcia Williams, about a young girl (called Flossie Albright) who lived on an estate near Dorchester. It is a beautifully illustrated diary about the life of a young girl during World War Two. The children have used it as an inspiration to write wonderful letters that are written in the style of the young girl together with illustrations. Such wonderful work!

As we head towards the half-term break, it only remains to thank you for supporting your child’s learning- the home learning has been amazing and I am very much looking forward to the Autumn 2 term!

 

 

Oak Class Autumn Term 1 2023