Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire – news bulletin.
Foundation Unit
The Foundation Unit have settled well back into school life and our daily routines. Our new topic is ‘Fairy Tales’. We are focusing on ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children have enjoyed creating their own hens using feathers, they have sequenced the story, made beanstalks out of Duplo and painted characters from the story. We will be planting our own beans next week in the hope that we can grow an enormous beanstalk.
Year 1 and Year 2
Since returning to school last week we have seen our ‘Star Gazer Amaryllis Lily’ bloom. It has 7 trumpets one stem and has grown a second stem as well. Working as a Key Stage, our new History Topic is all about our local environment. We will be studying the history of Ascott under Wychwood. The history of the village dates right back to The Stone Age starting with the Long Barrow. We will be taking time out of the classroom to explore the village by foot, looking specifically at The Long Barrow, The Church, The Railway and Tiddy Hall.
In Art and Design the classes are studying various artists including, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian. We have been replicating some of their work in class.

Year 3
Year 3 have been working hard this week! In geography we have been looking at compass points, the seas and cities around the UK. In history we looked at what the ancient Greeks brought to the world, starting with the alphabet…we were surprised to find Omricon and Delta as parts of the original Greek alphabet, clearly the Greeks had powers to look into the future also! In Science, we’ve been studying living things, and thinking about what it means to be ‘alive’. We are prefix experts in English and have been honing our skills. Year 3 have been wrapping up warm and enjoying the frosty winter weather when playing football and netball this week – lots of rosy cheeks have been returning to the classroom… This afternoon we will be practicing our singing for the spring term production of Olivia. Exciting times.
Year 4
Year 4 have returned in fine form this term and are working incredibly hard. In Maths, we have tackled rounding, mental strategies, symmetry and the written method for division (bus stop method). In English we have been focusing on justifying answers, using evidence from the text and read a very entertaining diary extract on ‘How to handle parents’- watch out for the practical jokes parents! We have learned about fronted adverbials, developing the ability to identify and use them in our own work and in a given text. We are moving to ICT this term, focusing on our presentation skills using Google Slides to ‘branch’ a story and add illustrations. In Science, we have been introduced to MRS NERG and identified the 7 life processes. Our theme in PSHE is to challenge stereotypes and develop the skills to respect and understand others’ opinions and thoughts, whilst studying the life of 2 children in Malawi. A very busy first few days back but a very productive.
Year 5
We have been very busy this week for Year 5 at Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire. We started our new science topic on materials, describing materials scientifically according to their properties and uses. We had fun discussing “silly inventions” like a glass teddy bear and a metal T-shirt, explaining why these materials were not suitable for these products. In Design and Technology, we listened to African music and learnt about African instruments and how they are played. In maths, we have enjoyed investigating 3D shapes.
Year 6
All have hit the ground running, working hard all week. We have been studying angles this week, looking at how they work in triangles and quadrilaterals and working out how to find missing angles. In English, we read an excerpt from a Christmas favourite – A Christmas Carol – where we learnt what kind of man Scrooge (initially at least) is. Using Dicken’s model, the class wrote their own descriptions of a place or person, infusing their writing with a strong sense of mood, either a depressing and dismal or happy and uplifting. In Science, we looked at how we can describe different materials in preparation for this term’s topic on materials and their suitability for what they are used for. Sport this term is football on Wednesday afternoons and Netball on Thursday mornings. We have also begun practising songs for our end of term musical which is very exciting!
Private School Oxfordshire – Windrush Valley Prep School Oxfordshire.