In literacy the lions have been looking at some amazing books, the first one being the arrival by Shaun Tan, this book really allowed the lions to use drama to convey their feelings and allowed them to get into role. The second book we looked at was Tuesday by Wiesner, this again led to fantastic work, with the children creating their own flying froggy character. We had great fun!

Due to the snow at the beginning of last term, the lions finished off their WW2 work at the beginning of this term. This was a brilliant topic that the children fully immersed themselves into. As a result of the incredible work and enthusiasm displayed through the WW2 topic the children went on a visit to Stibbington for an evacuation day. We had an absolutely fantastic day and the children took on the characters and lives of an actual child that was evacuated to Stibbington during the war. The children were met by a billeting officer, were shown round the village, had a WW2 themed lunch, went to school and even did a gas mask drill! It was wonderful. The highlight for me had to be the air raid that we encountered, we all squashed into the Anderson shelter where we sang songs and did our times tables.

The lions have also been busy practising for a dance festival that was held at Stamford Arts Centre- this is a lovely opportunity for the children to work together and show off their skills. The children worked extremely hard making up routines and perfecting their movements. I am extremely proud of all the hard work they put in and again, the drive and enthusiasm they showed.

Next term the lions have the SATS to look forwards to, these will be taking place the week commencing the 10th of May for the year 6’s and the following week for the year 5’s. SATs club will continue to run for the year 6’s wanting to take part. In the run-up to May we will be spending time in class preparing for the tests. Also next term we will be auditioning KS2 pupils for parts in our summer production- Mrs Martindale, Mr Shawley and I are very excited about this and can’t wait to see the children’s acting abilities.

Our topic next term will be focused around the Victorians with a more detailed look at Victorian children. I hope the children enjoy this as much as we have enjoyed learning about WW2.

Well done Lions, keep yourselves safe, have a great Easter and I will see you for a lovely summer term.

In RE we enjoyed a visit to Little Bytham church to complete our topic on Christianity. The children had a very successful term doing dance and gymnastics at Witham Hall. Mrs Welch, their coach, was full of praise for their efforts and said that they were the best group for their age that she had ever taught!

Next term, Tigers are looking forward to focusing on a historical topic – the Tudors. We hope to have a class trip to Burghley House to find out about life in Tudor times at first hand. Alongside this we will be studying teeth and eating in Science, designing and making a healthy meal in DT and PSHE and portraits in art.

The art work that has been produced by Leopards this term has been gorgeous. Using the Great Fire as inspiration the children have created a large scale display, layered paintings, collages, watercolour impressions as their information book covers and pencil sketches. Currently, we are just putting the finishing touches onto the fire engine we have individually designed and made this term.

The children have also become scientists this term coming up with and carrying out experiments to find out more about forces. They have worked fantastically as a team and we had a lot of fun seeing how far we could make water travel, almost as much fun as Mr Shawley who joined in soaking us with the pressure hose!

Next term we are hoping for great weather (fingers crossed) as our topic will be ‘In the Garden’. This should give us the opportunity to spend lots of time outside, whether it be over at the allotments or down at the Spinney.

Now that the sun is trying to shine we have been able to get out into the early years garden to play and explore and the chickens finally have someone to play with!!! After the Easter break we will be outside a lot more planting seeds and looking at the flowers blooming as well as venturing over to the allotment as part of our up coming topic on ‘changes at spring time’.

For the last few days of this term, however, we are really enjoying looking after and observing our 5 new chicks which have hatched and are growing rapidly! As well as thinking about the Christian festival of Easter. We have been problem solving with play dough eggs and egg boxes in Problem Solving, Reasoning and Number, making egg music shakers to explore sound in Creative Development, writing chick information books in Communication, Language and Literacy and much, much more! – we will all be ready for a nice Spring break!

On behalf of the Foundation Stage and Key Stage One Team may I say a huge thanks to all of you for your continued support with everything you do for the children but in particular, the reading and homework you have fun doing together at home. Don’t’ hesitate to come in to chat to any of the team about anything at any time – we are here to help! Have a lovely break. We look forward to seeing you all ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed on Tuesday 20th April.

On Thursday 25^th February Tigers class from the Bythams School walked down to Little Bytham church to learn about Christianity. We met Reverend Sue,then we sat down and had a look at the stained glass windows. They were so beautiful.

Then Morgan and Mark dressed up in vestments and surplices. After that we rang the bell, it was really hard. Then Mrs. Martindale played the organ.

After that we went outside and saw the Anglo Saxon door and the sun dial which tells the time. Then we were looking at the graves and we walked back to school.

By Lucie Oldham

The date for the start of work on the planned new building is now Monday 25^th January 1^st February and is due to be completed on the 14^th May.

Due to Health and Safety regulations, the corridor up to the three classrooms at the top end of the school will be sealed off. The school car park will be out of action during this time, as the building contractors need the site for their vehicles and equipment. In addition the route around the car park will be sealed.

At the end of the school day, parents collecting children should use the main entrance to the school and walk through the doors opposite. In the small playground there will be a covered walkway. Parents are asked to walk through the small playground and around to the back of the large playground where children will be released.

 Please note, to avoid congestion at the front of the school, children travelling on the bus will be released first, we will not be releasing children for collection until the bus has departed.

We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time.

Yours faithfully,

James Shawley
Head Teacher

Towards the end of term we started our topic on Light and Shadow and have also undertaken many Christmas DT and craft-based activities, including baking spicy Christmas biscuits, constructing decorations and making boxes.

All the children took part in our Christmas carol concert in the outdoor classroom.  We were fortunate to have a perfectly still and starry night for the performance, and the fairy lights adorning the outdoor classroom certainly added to the festive atmosphere!  Many thanks to FOBS for providing the refreshments and particularly to Guy Turner for spending his afternoon putting up the marquee and organising the generator.  It was a magical occasion!

Next term we are focussing on a geographical theme, water.  This will provide many opportunities for the creative curriculum, including identifying oceans, seas and major rivers of the world (geography/mapping), the water cycle (science), evaporation and condensation (science), how water reaches our taps (local geography), the effects on people of droughts and floods (geography and PSHE), animals and plants that live underwater (science/habitats), paintings of water (famous artists e.g. Monet, Turner), water transport (history), water poetry and literature (literacy).  The list of related topics is endless!

The class has been lucky enough to have an “Indian day” as a result of our Buddhism theme this was great and the children had lots of fun.  We made 9 different Indian dishes, ranging from meat curries, to samosas, to Indian bread!  The children also did some research on the computers to find out more about India, its cultures, traditions and geography.

Lions have also had a fantastic surprise when the school purchased 15 new laptops!  The children have been having a great time exploring these and using them for their work!

The children have also produced some astounding Art work with Mrs Hammond, which has been linked with Aztecs and Christmas.

Next term our focus will be on Britain since 1930.  An excellent topic which will link well with all the curriculum areas.

Have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

The final celebration that we found out about was Hanukkah.  This is a Jewish celebration.  The miracle of Hanukkah was that a candle that was only meant to last for one day lasted for 8 days.  We decided that this would be something we could teach Cubs Class and so the children got into groups and made up some very interesting presentations for the younger children.  These were fantastic when they were shown to Cubs on our Hanukkah themed day!

As well as all of this, we have also spent the term working hard on our nativity, “The Stars Come out For Christmas”.  I hope you had the opportunity to come and watch it.  We are all really proud of all the hard work we put in to produce a fantastic show.  So well done to all the Leopards children this term!