Heartsease Primary Academy Newsletter - 16th February 2024

joanne.rowley • Feb 16, 2024

Welcome

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are now drawing to a close for the 1/2 term and it has been a busy and exciting one.

Our focus this half term has been on developing confident writers. We are teaching writing through the CUSP curriculum and the areas that we have developed over this term has been to use the model text as a template to help structure the children's writing. This is working well and all classrooms have the model text displayed and annotated so that your children understand what a good piece of writing looks like.

As well as this we have been working with the Norwich writing Project led by the inspiration trust to ensure that our assessment of writing is robust and standardised across the school. This has been an exciting project for staff, particularly in year 3 & 4, who have had intensive training.

So what does this mean for you and your child?

This will mean that your children will be writing quality pieces in a variety of genres that will not only help them in their learning in their current year group, but more importantly give them the skills which can then be built upon in the coming years so that they are confident writers.

Already the difference that this has made has been evident this term, children sharing their writing with me and talking through what grammar and punctuation is required in their writing.

Well done for a very productive term, and I look forward to another productive four and a half weeks from the 26th February.

Enjoy your half term and well deserved rest.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mr N Campbell

Office update

Aspens Select - Lunch ordering system

If you wish to order your child a school meal please note that the orders have to be placed before 9am on the day. If you have not set up your account and need some assistance please visit the school office so we can provide you with your log in details and help with setting up your account. To find the link to access Aspens Select, go onto MCAS, select 'announcements' and the link can be found in this section.

Free School Meals

A reminder that if your child is in Yr2 (Amber and Aqua), they will no longer be entitled to a universal free school meal when they move into Yr3 (Coral/Crystal). You may still be entitled to free school meals and you can check if you are at www.norfolk.gov.uk/neo You could save up to £400 a year.

Head Lice

Please can you check your child's hair regularly for Head Lice and treat if required, thank you.

Diarrhoea/Vomiting

Please be reminded that if you child has an episode of diarrhoea / vomiting they need to be at least 48 hours clear from the last episode before returning to school.

Parent Cafe drop in sessions

Come along and meet with our Pastoral Team and Attendance Officer to discuss any issues or concerns.

Wednesday 13th March

This is an open session for Parents / Carers to attend. The team will be available from 08:30am - 09:30am on the above dates. This session will be held in the Pastoral office, please enter via the main school office.

Refreshments will be available.

We look forward to seeing you there.

World Book Day - Friday 8th March

Following on from the last Newsletter just to confirm that we will be celebrating World Book Day on Friday 8th March as the class photos will be taking place on Thursday 7th March. Children can come into school on Friday 8th March dressed as their favourite book character.

Uniform

On returning to school after the half term break please can we remind parents / carers to make sure that your child is wearing the correct school uniform. If you are unsure of the exact uniform requirements please do visit our website where under the 'parent' section you can find a full list of the school uniform requirements.

On PE days if hoodies / tracksuit bottoms are being worn these must be plain black, no coloured tracksuit bottoms / hoodies should be being worn.

Thank you.

Fortnightly class updates and achievements

Nursery

We have continued with the Nursery rhyme theme over the past two weeks. They have been based around baking and included 5 currant buns, Pat-a-cake and the Queen of Hearts. We set up a bakery for the children to use. They made salt dough items to sell. The children used pennies to buy the different things.

This week we have learned about lots of different celebrations. We tasted noodles, learned how to use chopsticks and made dragons to celebrate Chinese New Year. We were able to taste pancakes to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Finally we celebrated Valentine's Day. We made cards and talked about people we love.

Ruby Class

W/c 05.02.24

This week, Ruby class started learning to find a fraction of a shape - most learnt 1/2, some learnt 1/3. We searched for shapes in the forest. We read and wrote about the Chinese (Lunar) New Year story. We learnt about traditions linked to the New Year and composed traditional music, using only the black notes.

Next week, we will continue learning fractions. We will learn about Australia and read Tiddler in English, linking it to the Great Barrier Reef.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Hunter - For showing good recall of maths learnt a year ago, and picking up the new concept quickly.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Peter - For increased confidence to join in with class discussions.

Reception (Jasper / Jade Classes)

W/c 05.02.24

This week our focus has been learning about Chinese New Year and how it is celebrated. The children have enjoyed many activities such as dragon dancing, making lanterns, collaging fans and lanterns as light catchers. They have reenacted the story of the Great Race, ( how the Chinese Zodiac has 12 animals in a repeating cycle). Our maths learning focus has been comparing lengths using the terms longer, shorter, longest and shortest. The children have also been writing and painting the digits in Chinese and counting to 10.

W/c 12.2.24

Another great week of focus and learning. We have been reading The Runaway Pancake and discussing comparisons with The Gingerbread Man. We looked at the reasons behind the celebration of Valentine's Day and collaged,painted, coloured cards for family and friends celebrating kindness and caring. We enjoyed sampling different types of pancakes. The weather stopped our planned pancake race but we hope to do this later. Our maths focus has been estimating whether objects are heavier or lighter than one another, and then using balance scales to find the answer. We continue to practice counting daily.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Jade Class - Ethan, Skylar and Riley

For their superb co-ordinated dragon dancing to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Jasper Class - Zion

For being imaginative in creating characters from the stories we have been reading using playdough and the art area.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Jade Class - Norbi

For explaining to the class why the balance scales tipped up and down with different objects . Great use of key vocabulary and connectives.

Jasper Class - Reggiei

For being so focussed and trying really hard to write words and phrases independently.

Year 1 (Onyx/Opal Classes)

The past two weeks we have learnt about the life of Sir David Attenbrough. We have used bread, flour and sugar to construct a building. In science we learn that humans and mammals have senses such as sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell. We learnt about the climates in relation in the equator. In maths we have recapped numbers to 20 and measure, length and capacity.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Opal Class - Hasan

For improved reading; individually reading words by spotting special friends, fred talking.

Onyx Class - Mia-Kaci

For always working hard,having a positive attitude to learning helping others.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Opal Class - DJ

For always listening and thinking hard in all subjects.

Onyx Class - Oakley

For outstanding writing.

Year 2 (Amber/Aqua Classes)

In English this week we have been learning personal response, we compared a poem and a story and talked about how the characters shared similar experiences and stories.

In Maths, we have been learning about fractions, in particular, recognising halves, finding halves, recognising quarters and finding quarters.

In History, we have been learning about Edith Cavell and what happened to her.

In Science we have been learning about waterproof materials that are absorbent.

In Computing, we designed our own mats for the B-Bots as we are learning about algorithms.

In Geography we learnt about sketching maps and drawing our local area. We learnt about keys and the main features a sketch of a map must include.

It's been a great week this week and we can't wait to learn more.

Amber and Aqua have been set some challenges this week to improve their organisational and listening skills and have been working hard on their learning behaviours in class.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Aqua Class - Aurora

For brilliant effort with presentation and understanding in all learning.

Amber Class - Elsie

For being such energy and fun to Amber class and making us all laugh! Elsie is an amazing friend and always has time for everyone. Well done Elsie!

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Aqua Class - Fredrick

For outstanding progress in writing. You have beautiful handwriting, always remember punctuation and write sentences with precise vocabulary.

Amber Class - Amelia

For her exemplary role model behaviour, always making positive behaviour choices and for excellent progress in her writing.

Well done Amelia, we are so proud of you!!

Year 3 (Coral/Crystal Classes)

Year Three have been learning which metals are attracted to magnets. They found that pennies changed their materials - they used to be made from a bronze alloy and were not attracted to magnets. Then they started to have a steel core because it was cheaper and now they are. Test some pennies at home with us and see if we can find what year they changed. In geography, we have been studying the UK. We now know some famous landmarks around the UK - from the Giant's causeway in Northern Ireland to the Angel of the North. Why not tell us about some famous landmarks you know: perhaps we could google them together and then look up where they are on a map! Or look up these ones we didn't study in class - the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, Conwy Castle in Wales, Durdle Door in England and Cave Hill in Northern Ireland. Can the children tell you which is natural and which is human. You could also look up the Roman Baths in Bath as we begin the Romans as a topic next term!

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Crystal Class - Sara and Scarlett B

For working hard in and out of school to improve their karate skills and technique. You have been great role models for the rest of the class and you have shown confidence when competing outside of school. Crystal class are proud of you!

Coral Class - Freddie

Freddie has really used his learning this week in his writing. He is using the model text to support him in creating a piece about Norfolk towns and villages. He has used a main topic sentence and supporting statements to inform others about these places. Well done, Freddie!

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Crystal Class - Scarlett-Jo

For taking every opportunity to learn from challenging experiences and situations. It's been lovely to see her reflecting on these and working hard to make positive choices around school. Crystal Class are proud of you!!!

Keep being AMAZING!!

Coral Class - Maja

For making excellent contributions to class discussions and increasing her understanding through good listening and hard thinking. She is applying her new learning well in all subjects. Well done Maja!

Year 4 (Garnet/Topaz Classes)

It has been an exciting two weeks for year 4. We have picked up where we left off with our history, learning all about The first raid at Lindisfarne and the reasons for why they might have done it. In art we have been exploring techniques such as ombre and wet-on-wet to create some wonderful pieces. In Maths we have been exploring fractions, learning about how some fractions can be grouped into families of equivalent fractions. In English we have been writing a persuasive advert, trying to convince people to buy our own inventions.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Topaz Class - Harry

I am continually impressed with his engagement and concentration during lessons. Keep up the great work!

Garnet Class - Mason

For showing an increasing independence in his learning, producing some fantastic examples throughout the week.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Topaz Class - Avery

Her enthusiasm and engagement in maths this week has been absolutely wonderful to observe. Brilliant!

Garnet Class - Freddie

For having a fantastic week,showing just how good of a leaner he can be!

Year 5 (Emerald/Sapphire Classes)

Over the last two weeks, Year 5 have finished their stories based in Ancient Greece and have moved on to exploring the poem 'Heards of Cows?. This poem uses a variety of types of word playing including puns such as the title. In mathematics the focus has been on decimals up to three decimal places. These have then been connected to fractions. All of the groups have been working hard on their understanding of these concepts. In Religious Education we explore the idea that 'I think therefore I am' which was devised by the philosopher Descartes - A difficult concept that lead to some interesting discussion. We have come to the end of our art block in which we focused on textiles and college. The children learnt about the skill of applique where other materials are attached to the original piece to give texture. See above for some examples.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Emerald Class - Sofia

Throughout the week you have written an excellent 3rd person narrative with great examples of dialogue and description.

Sapphire Class - Max

For being extremely kind and helping another member of class with their learning. Well done Max.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Emerald Class - Laila

For being a super star this week, her engagement in every lesson has been phenomenal - keep it up!

Sapphire Class - Kirill

For his excellent contribution to the class discussions especially when explaining his calculations in mathematics.

Year 6 (Diamond/Quartz Classes)

W/c 05.02.24

Diamond Class have been learning about explanatory texts in writing this week, we will continue next week.
In maths we are continuing to learn about decimals.
In History we continued our learning of the Windrush Generation

Quartz class has had visitors from UEA in all of this week for our Into University Programme. The children have taken part in a large number of activities, including product design, creating a group presentation which they will present at the University on Friday upon their graduation.

Bees Knees - Week commencing - Monday 5th February

Quartz Class - Layla

For her excellent participation in the Into University programme this week. Layla has participated brilliantly in each activity, working well and helping others.

Diamond Class - Courteney

For being so determined to understand decimals this week and completing all the tasks.

Bees Knees - Week commencing Monday 12th February

Quartz Class - Poppy

For her extra reading comprehension work and always remaining focused on her work. Well done!

Diamond Class - Orlagh

Her writing is always amazing and interesting to read.

Additional Forthcoming events / Dates for the diary

Last day of term

Friday 16th February

Return to school

Monday 26th February