Year 5

Year 5 have been working extremely hard this week. 5M performed their very informative class assembly on our IPC topic ‘The Holiday Show’. They shared the whole learning journey with the rest of the school, from thinking about tourist attractions in different countries, to comparing how New Eltham and Swanage have changed through the years, to our residential trip to Swanage (which included a fantastic song!) to our exit point next week of making a holiday product for the discerning tourist! We hope to see lots of Year 5 parents next Friday at our ‘Holiday Showcase!’ Next week we also have the Year 5 & 6 swimming gala to look forward to on Tuesday.

In maths this week we have learned how to estimate and measure angles using a protractor, calculate angles on a straight line and around a point as well as daily times tables tests and mental maths tests. In English we have completed comprehension exercises, grammar exercises as well as using Malala Yousafzai’s book “Malala’s Magic Pencil” to create their own idea of how they could change the world if they had a magic pencil!

Year 4

Year 4 had a wonderful time last Friday making their own chocolate bars with guidance from Mrs Dourmoush. Linking to our science learning, the children were excited to see the chocolate turn from a solid into a liquid and then back to a solid again. Ms Scott, Mrs O’Sullivan and Mrs Fowler Wright were very jealous of the delicious looking chocolate bars that the children brought home - we hope you enjoyed them.

We all became artists this week and employed a variety of techniques to create volcanic inspired art. We have considered warm and cold colours and used the primary colours to create our own colour wheels. It was wonderful to see the children experimenting with colour and using collaging and layering to create their final piece.

With the help of a sixth-form mentor from Eltham College, some of the children in Year 4 have been learning to play chess. This is a wonderful way to learn to think ahead more and has been shown to develop children’s logical and mathematical thinking.

Year 3

We have spent another busy week with our current Maths, English and IPC work. Number lines and subtraction have dominated Maths this week. In the second of these areas, the children faced the issue of whether to ‘count on’ or ‘count back’ with a problem such as 109-83. Ask them which method they would use and why!

In English we have started to prepare for a longer piece of writing surrounding the inspirational figure, Malala. Some of the children were able to write convincingly as if they were Malala at a particular point in her life. Some of us also honed our interviewing and acting technique as we ‘went into the television studio’, to interview Malala. We definitely have some great camera operators in the making too! We also began a new Reading Comprehension scheme which seemed quite challenging but was well attempted - well done, everyone.

Finally, on Thursday we had our “Sound Workshop” as part of our IPC topic, “Turn it up”. It was absolutely brilliant to hear Dan explain how to make sounds using amazing technology, and to see the children thoroughly enjoying themselves!

Year 2This week the children have been learning addition and subtraction in their maths lessons along with near doubles to help them make this quicker. In their IPC topic of Let’s Celebrate, the children have been comparing modern Christmas traditions to Victorian ones. They have created a calendar for next year using an app called Prisma. They have been practising hard for their play each morning and are looking forward to performing in front of you all. This weekend, homework is to just brush up on their words ready for Monday. They are very excited to go to the pantomime this afternoon. Next week they will be making piñatas, so we would like as many old newspapers you may have to use for this activity. Hopefully, you have received the timelines the children created last week.

Year 1

This week, we had a special visit from a past teacher and friend of St Olave’s, Mrs Waterhouse. She came to talk to the children about the toys and games she used to play as a child. The children asked lots of thoughtful questions and enjoyed hearing about a variety of toys from the past. Year 1 have also been learning about the past by looking at historical paintings; ‘Children’s Games’ by Pieter Bruegel and ‘The Toy Shop’ by Peter Blake. The children compared playground games that they play today with games identified in the 1560 painting. They were interested to spot some similarities. In Maths, Year 1 have been practising their subtraction and developing different methods of recording this. We are looking forward to opening our class calendars in the countdown to Christmas!

Reception

The last of the props have been made, the script has been tweaked and the children in both Reception and Nursery are excited and ready to perform ‘Christmas Counts’ to you all next week. The Christmas decorations are up in the classrooms which all adds to the atmosphere and the children have continued to make cards, class Advent calendars and all things Christmassy! A snow flurry in the playground this morning brought gasps of delight from the children as well.

After we had put together the newsletter last week a ‘major incident’ happened in the classroom and all the children were involved in their various emergency services capacities. One child in particular not only impressed his friends but also the teachers as he carried out CPR and explained exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. Well done Henry.

Nursery

Winter finally arrived in Nursery this week, and the children were greeted with the sight of sparkling snowflakes falling all around the classroom. On Thursday real snow fell and the children were excited to run around the playground trying to catch the snowflakes on their tongue. They were disappointed that it didn’t settle because they wanted to build a snowman, so we decided to make our own snowmen out of socks and rice!

The children have also been very busy this week learning all about the nativity story as well as practising with RSJ and RC for our upcoming Christmas performance called “Christmas Counts”. To continue with the festive theme, they have been designing their own Christmas tree decorations, using salt dough and cookie cutters.

On Friday the children got to open the first door of their advent calendar and enjoyed a fun filled Christmas party while the rest of the school went to see a pantomime. What an exhausting week!

Monthly Draw

The 3rd monthly draw has just taken place and the following people were winners:

Mrs Kiley £37

Benedict (1M) £27.75

Christopher (6I) £9.75

A letter will be sent out shortly with details for the next term.

Active Travel

Now it is getting darker in the evenings, we are encouraging the children to make sure that they are visible when they are walking, scooting and cycling. The Junior Travel Ambassadors will be running a stall selling reflective items and high visibility jackets in children’s sizes after school on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th December. It will be after school from 3:10 until 3:55, in the area where the children are collected. Items on sale will be from 50p up to £8.

Clubs

On Thursday our X-wing miniatures club members were lucky enough to have a visit from Ben Scott, who is the manager of ‘The Games Workshop’ in Bromley, for a miniatures painting workshop. Ben has over ten years experience painting miniatures and shut his shop especially to come and work with us!

The club members were taught how to thin acrylic paint properly, correct brush technique and how to shade and build up colours.

Everyone concentrated really hard and managed to produce a beautifully painted ‘Space Marine’ which they got to take home with them. We are all eagerly awaiting Ben’s next visit to us!