Windrush Valley Prep School Oxfordshire school news includes updates from nursery and years 1 to 6. 

Foundation Unit

In Reception at Windrush Valley Prep School Oxfordshire, we have been learning our number bonds to 10. The children have enjoyed exploring with the Numicon and using the whole part model to make 10. In English, we have been reading a book called ‘Ravi’s Roar’. The children have been exploring emotions and why it is important to say sorry if they make the wrong choice. In Nursery, they they have been exploring 2D shapes. They have focused on a circle, square, triangle, rectangle and hexagon. All the children created a Dinosaur by cutting out 2D shapes. They have also been learning the letter and sound ‘e’ during their Phonics lessons.

 

Year 1 & Year 2

This week the children have been submerged into the land of plants. We have been experimenting with white carnations. The children wanted to know how the stem worked on a plant, so we placed the carnations in separate coloured water. This way we were able to see how the stem drinks up the water and feeds it to the flower head. With the coloured water we were able to monitor how the petals received the water and changed colour. We are continuing to monitor our growing seeds in various conditions, which we planted back at the end of February. We have been learning about the Easter Story, looking into the events of Holy Week, these included Palm Sunday, Maunday Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The children have also looked at symbols we see around Easter time, one of which we were able to sample this week, toasted hot cross buns. For History this week we ventured up to the railway and looked at the signal box and station yard. We could see how they transported coal and wood.

 

Year 3

In Year 3 we have been back on Google classroom but the children have worked very hard and have been very sensible. In history we have been looking at the Ancient Greeks and what they ate. We have been doing some instructional writing on delicious Greek pancakes and some of the children are going to attempt their own at home…In geography we have been looking at different mountain ranges around the world. In maths we have been revisiting the column method, looking at multiplication, subtraction and addition. We have been on big adventures in creative writing, imagining different lands at the top of escalators…we finished our session by underlining as many prepositions in our work as possible, consolidating our grammar work this week. The beautiful spring sunshine on Thursday meant a fabulous PE lesson outside. The children are currently conducting an interesting experiment in science and we have some lovely spring shoots in the classroom. I was so proud of them standing up at the Chipping Norton Town Hall…they were apparently brilliant and very confident. Special congratulations to Roly and Mary who both arrived back in school clutching Highly Commended certificates, these are very difficult to get!

 

Year 4

Windrush Valley Prep School Oxfordshire Year 4 – have had a mix of online learners and classroom-based learners. All of them have been superstars and very patient with each other. In addition, we had an outing to the Chipping Norton Music Festival where we performed our poems and reading. Everyone performed so well and should be incredibly proud of themselves, achieving many ‘Highly Commended’ certificates. In RE we have been learning about special places for Christians and why they are important. In English we have continued learning about paragraphs and how they help the reader to identify different themes and subjects in the text. In Maths, we have been adding, subtracting and dividing money using written methods- we have some budding accountants in the making! We look forward to having all of friends back in school next week.

 

Year 5

Year 5 had a very busy and exciting week. It was Chipping Norton Music Festival and they performed brilliantly and were a credit to the school. Extra congratulations go to two of our pupils who were awarded special certificates by the adjudicator. In maths we have been revisiting long multiplication and pleasingly everyone found this tricky method easier this time round. We have also been practising for our class assembly on Monday. The theme for our assembly is “Perseverance” and we have enjoyed reflecting on times in our lives when we needed to dig deep, keep trying and not give up.

 

Year 6

Year 6 worked very hard on using algebra to solve missing number problems and in English we looked at two poems that dealt with the past appearing again in the present. Frightful weather kept us indoors on Wednesday for games but we made up for it on Thursday outside in beautiful sunshine. In history we looked at the Berlin airlift of 1948 and drew some interesting parallels with the current situation in eastern Europe. In geography the class are looking at how we would work to conserve energy (another particularly relevant topic!) and practical steps that can be taken to do so.

 

Sports

Windrush Valley Prep School Oxfordshire Year 5 boys, together with some members of Year 4, played at Akeley Wood U10 Football Festival. The boys performed very well. They showed good sportsmanship and teamwork.