Our Year 1 Toy Sharing Morning was such a joy! Parents and grandparents joined us for a warm and welcoming start to the day, bringing along cherished toys from their own childhoods — from old teddy bears, cars and trains to ‘Lights Alive,’ books, and many more fascinating treasures. The children loved exploring these special items and had great fun playing with wooden trains, tiddlywinks, dominoes, and Jenga. Thank you to everyone who came along and made the morning so memorable!

Badgers

Badger Class have enjoyed another fantastic week of learning and collaboration.

On Tuesday, the Year 5/6 pupils from the Junior School joined us for a shared reading session. It was wonderful to see everyone gathered in the hall, reading together and talking about their books. Later in the week, on Thursday, we were delighted to read with the Owls and Hedgehogs. The children took turns visiting the library with Mrs Grace, where they shared stories and supported one another. It was lovely to watch the Badgers acting as positive role models, confidently using their phonics skills to read aloud and engage the younger children.

The class have also impressed Miss Osborne with their excellent teamwork across History, Science and Computing. They collaborated brilliantly to label the properties of different materials in Science, sorted old and new toys into categories during History, and supported one another with debugging activities while sharing the iPads in Computing.

Another impressive week of learning, cooperation and kindness from Badger Class.

Robins Class had another fantastic week at Tree Huggers! The children loved sculpting with clay found in the ground, planting seeds and preparing our planters ready for growing. They also enjoyed building bug houses and continuing to develop their dens in the forest area. It was wonderful to see their creativity, teamwork and innovative den building ideas.

Milestones Museum 

KS1 had a wonderful time on our trip to Milestones Museum. Although the coach journey felt quite long, the children enjoyed chatting with their friends and playing a variety of games along the way. The museum staff were extremely impressed with the children’s knowledge and the vocabulary they used throughout the day.

We took part in a range of workshops and had the opportunity to play games that were popular in Victorian times. Some of the favourites included tiddlywinks, pick-up sticks and Farmer’s in the Den. It was lovely to see the children bring these games back to school and continue playing them in their classrooms and on the playground.

The children also enjoyed exploring the museum and learning more about life in the past. The journey back to school was much quieter, with many children taking the opportunity to have a well earned sleep!

On Thursday and Friday, the children wrote about their favourite parts of the trip at school. A selection of their work can be seen pictured below.

Robins Class had a great second Tree Huggers session! This week was a little muddier, but that only added to the fun. The children worked brilliantly together to improve their dens from last week, showing fantastic teamwork and problem-solving skills. They added amazing extra features such as fences, seating areas and even clever ‘security’ trip wires to protect their dens!

Today marked our final art day of the block, and the children created their very own “Castle and Sun” landscape paintings. They began by experimenting with different shapes in their sketchbooks to design their unique castles and suns. After break, it was time for paint! The children applied their knowledge of primary and secondary colours, mixing them to create new shades. Some children even asked for white and black paint to make their colours lighter or darker, showing real curiosity and creativity. It has been a fantastic block of art, and we are already excited for the next one!

What another wonderful day full of art and painting!

Today, we explored warm and cool colours and looked closely at different artworks that used these colour types. The children made some fantastic observations. One child shared that a picture made them feel “like I am sailing on the sea, reading stories to myself and feeling calm,” while another described a piece as making them feel angry because it reminded them of The Colour Monster. It was lovely to hear the children confidently linking colour to emotion.

We then got out our sketchbooks and experimented with warm and cool colours. We began with the primary colours and mixed them to create secondary colours, enjoying seeing how new colours were formed.

After break time, we learned about tints and tones. The children discovered that adding white makes a colour lighter, while adding black makes it darker. They thoroughly enjoyed experimenting, mixing, and creating their own unique colours.

It has been another fantastic day of creativity and exploration, and we are very much looking forward to our third and final art day on Monday. 

We have had a wonderful first day of art. The children were introduced to the artist Paul Klee and explored key vocabulary including subjective, camouflage, cubism and inspiration. We discussed what it means to be an artist, and it was lovely to hear the children talk confidently about how everyone can be an artist, even when they find things tricky.

The children then looked closely at some of Paul Klee’s artwork, sharing their thoughts and observations on Post-it notes. It was fantastic to hear their ideas and interpretations, many of which are captured in the photos below.

After break, we focused on primary colours. The children drew a range of 2D shapes and painted them using only red, yellow and blue. In the afternoon, we explored secondary colours, with the children mixing their own paints and creating prints using sponges. Miss Osborne’s carpet looked wonderful as the artwork was left to dry!

The day ended with time for the children to choose their own activities, and it was brilliant to see their own Paul Klee-inspired creations taking shape.

We cannot wait for day two!

Robins Class had a brilliant start to our Tree Huggers sessions! We wrapped up warm to brave the cold and had an excellent time exploring the outdoors. To start, the children collected sticks and leaves to create wonderful animal pictures on the ground. They then worked together to build dens and animal houses in our forest area. Miss Arthurs and Mike, our Forest School lead, were so impressed with their cooperation, creativity and resilience. We’re already looking forward to seeing what adventures await us next week!

We’ve had a fantastic start to the term in Badger Class! The children became scientists, exploring different materials and discussing the difference between a material and an object. We also began our new history topic  comparing toys from the past with the ones we play with today. We learned new words like recent, earliest, past, and present, and shared our favourite toys from both now and when we were babies.

In Jigsaw, we began our Dreams and Goals unit, thinking about how to break big goals into smaller steps. The children spoke about goals they have already achieved and discussed their ambitions for the future. The Badgers are going to be astronauts, teachers, designers, scientists, and so much more!

We also enjoyed a visit to our school library. It was wonderful to see the children sitting together, sharing, discussing, and reading books. Each child chose a book to borrow and enjoy.