SHOBNALL PRIMARY SCHOOL
Dear Parents
We have pleasure in presenting the Spring Newsletter which
brings you the latest information and the range of activities
second half of the Spring Term 2013/14
NURSERY
NURSERY RHYMES
This half term the children have been learning about
Nursery Rhymes. We have been focusing on various
nursery rhyme characters each week and children have
enjoyed singing rhymes and taking part in various
activities.
Lots of fun was had when the children created Incy
Wincy Spider with their hand prints and were very
creative when they painted their favourite nursery rhyme
characters.
The children have used their mark making
skills to write a letter to Humpty Dumpty with
some fantastic advice given to him!
Humpty Dumpty was able to sit on his wall
again when children used the large foam
bricks to build a range of walls in various
shapes and sizes.
Children explored various rhythms with the
musical instruments and matched
instrumental sounds to nursery rhymes. They
also enjoyed playing a nursery rhyme lotto
game and were able to identify the rhymes by
listening to rhythms.
Number recognition and counting skills were
developed when children matched mice to the
correct clocks as well as counting the number
of bricks on different sized walls.
Once again children have used their
imaginations to bring their learning to life. We
have become soldiers and marched around
the classroom and outdoors; travelled up and
down a hill; changed into current buns;
jumped around like little monkeys and
searched for our sheep!
Phonics
During our daily letters and sounds sessions children have
become extremely confident in recognising a variety of
letter sounds. As well as looking at further letter sounds we
will be exploring rhyming words during the rest of the half
term.
RECEPTION
RECEPTION CLASS NEWS
This half term our topic has been
‘Fairy Tales’. The children have
listened to numerous traditional tales
and have participated in lots of
speaking and listening activities
through the retelling of these stories
using puppets and role play.
Children engaged in a wealth of new
learning experiences that included
cooking and tasting porridge,
exploring different building materials,
carrying out experiments to find out
which materials were waterproof and
planted seeds in our Early Years
garden.
We have been lucky to have many
visitors to our class this half term to
support our curriculum. Julie Gilbert
carried out a cooking session with all
the children and we had a visit form
the school nurse to talk to the
children about ‘Healthy Living’.
The highlight of our topic was another themed day when the
Fairy Tale characters arrived at Shobnall! Thank you parents
for another tremendous effort with costumes. The children
really do benefit greatly from these themed days as they help
to bring our topics come alive.
At the end of term children learnt the Christian celebrations
and traditions for Easter.
Fun activities for Easter were also enjoyed
.
YEAR 1
NATURE DETECTIVES
Children from years 1 and 2
have joined Mrs Farrington
and Mrs Roberts for a spot of
outdoor nature detective work
in our club this half term.
Children have shown great
excitement in exploring the
school grounds for signs of
spring and became
competitive in a nature
treasure trail! Having made a
leaf identification bag helped
children quickly identify trees
growing around school. Well
done to you all nature
detectives!
This half term the children have continued to be engaged in
their learning. The children in Year 1 have been working
very hard in Literacy and have written fantastic poems. The
children produced a class pirate poem, which all the
children contributed to.
In Numeracy we have been learning to subtract using a
number line. We have been learning to order the days of the
week and months of the year. During our work on time the
children enjoyed playing ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’ The
children have been given an Education City pass, so they
can complete their Numeracy homework on the Internet. If it
is possible, please encourage them to use the site.
Mrs Taylor, Chair of Governors,
has been helping us with our Art
project this term, which focuses
on clay. The whole of Year 1 have
listened carefully and worked hard
to produce a clay egg to be very
proud of!
Playground games
Year 1 and Year 2 children have enjoyed the
playground games during after school club. They have
learnt a variety of new games including splat, fruit
salad, red letter and swim fishes swim. Splat was one
of the most popular games and bought out the
children’s competitive spirit.
YEAR 2
CURRICULUM NEWS
This term in literacy Year
Two have been learning
about Explanation Texts
and as a result they have
written some lovely
explanations about how to
make an electrical circuit.
Year Two have also learnt
about Non – Chronological
reports and have written a
non chronological report
about different subjects.
In numeracy they have
been learning all about
making different values
of money, giving
change and solving
word problems.
In science Year Two
have been learning
about materials and
how materials can
change in certain
conditions.
In history they have
been learning about
Florence Nightingale
and used the internet to
research this famous
historical character.
YEAR 3
This term in Literacy, we have been learning about
information texts, focussing on adverts. We have learnt
about the features and purpose of adverts and wrote
simple adverts to try and persuade people to buy
objects in the classroom. We then moved on to writing
an advertisement for a ‘Friend for a day’, the children
really enjoyed this and certainly worked hard to include
lots of positive, persuasive language along with other
features of adverts. We have also looked at the
‘Authors and Letters’ Unit, we have been using Dear
Greenpeace, The Jolly Postman and Little Wolf’s Big
Book of Badness to familiarise ourselves with the
features and layout of letters before writing letters of
different styles to a variety of characters in the books.
In Numeracy, we have been
learning about division along a
number line. We have been
using the number line method
to find fractions of numbers and
solve word problems. We have
also been focussing on our
class target which is to use a
number line for subtraction.
We have been very fortunate to
have had Mrs Whetton helping
us with our D&T lessons. We
have been sewing and making
cards for special occasions.
This has involved learning the
basic stitches and then
adapting these stitches to
create other patterns. The
children worked very hard and
the results have been fantastic.
Our science topic this half term has been light and shadows. We
have learnt about how shadows are formed and how they
change during the course of the day. We planned and carried out
investigations on the playground. At different times during the
course of the day, we measured shadows and looked at their
position. We found out that as the earth turns, the sun appears to
move across the sky and so the shadows also move.
YEAR 4
NUMERACY: In numeracy this half term, we have
been learning about handling data, which has
included investigation questions, collect data and
selecting ways to display this data, such as in bar
charts and pictograms. We have also learnt about
using written methods for addition and subtraction,
as well as using metric units of measures.
GEOGRAPHY: In geography, we have been
learning about different European countries. So far,
we have learnt about the Netherlands and Greece.
In addition to this, we have been learning about
Australia as part of multicultural week. We found out
where Australia is and we used iPads to research
answers to questions about Australia.
Science: In
science this half
term, our topic has
been ‘Circuits and
Electricity’. We
have investigated
how to make a
complete circuit as
well as how to
make bulbs
brighter and
dimmer.
YEAR 5
CURRICULUM ITEMS
YEAR 4 CURRICULUM MATTERS:
LITERACY: In literacy this half term,
Year 4 children have been learning
about stories from other cultures. We
focused on Aboriginal stories, such as
‘What Made Tiddalick Laugh’ and then
we moved on to writing our own
stories set in another culture.
We have also begun learning about
play scripts. As well as reading ‘The
Twits’ play scripts, we have also
begun adapting ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia
Donaldson into a play script.
In literacy this term we have been looking at diary and
recount writing. The children have been learning all
about the features we need to include in writing in this
genre: past tense, 1st person and time-ordered events to
name but a few. They have also been practicing their
grammar, in particular, embedded clauses and sentence
development.
During our numeracy lessons we have been exploring
angles. We have recapped the names for different types
of angles. We then improved our skills in measuring
angles using a protractor, not as easy as it looks
sometimes. The children have also been building on
their knowledge of timetables, word problems and the
four main operations we use every day; addition,
subtraction, division and multiplication.
In science Year 5 have been researching how a flower
reproduces. First we identified the different parts of a
flower and then looked at different ways that seeds are
dispersed. We have investigated what is inside a seed and
we have carried out our own seed dispersal experiment by
casting a range of seeds onto the field. We will be
checking in on that experiment weekly to see which ones
survived and which ones did not and the reasons why.
BIKEABILITY
Year 5 had the chance this year to take part in the Bikeability course.
The children came to school with their own bikes and helmets and
took part in a series of skill tests. During these skill tests they had to
learn how to ride their bike in a safe manner on the road after
practising in the playground first. The children all enjoyed the
experience and hopefully they will carry on using the skills they have
learnt when on the road, (I will be watching!)
Our History topic this
term has been on the
Indus Valley. We
located where in the
world it was and
looked at the ways it
developed over time.
Did you know it was a
Bronze Age
civilization? Along
with Ancient Egypt
and Mesopotamia it
was one of three early
civilizations of the Old
World.
CAKE BAKE
On non-uniform day,
some of the year 5
girls (Teal, Lizzie,
Faye, Phoebe,
Emily, Imogen,
Charlotte and
Gracie) made cakes
to sell. They did thiss
to raise money to
help support the
work the Burton
Y.M.C.A do for
people in this area.
SWIMMING
The children are continuing to do well in their swimming lessons at
the Meadowside Centre. I am pleased with the effort that some of
our less confident swimmers have made - they may well be enjoying
a swim-tastic summer holiday! Year 5 swimming lessons have now
finished and another year group will take up swimming after the
Easter Holiday.
During the run up to
Easter, in R.E. the children
have been learning why
Easter is important to the
Christian faith. We started
off by following Jesus
entering Jerusalem and
why we celebrate Palm
Sunday. To the events of
the last supper and the
lead up to the crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus.
3D models have been the focus in DT this term. We
have been using different materials and using different
ways of constructing them to make a variety of bugs. I
have linked this to our science unit by looking at how
important insects are to our ecological environment and
the part they play in transferring pollen from one plant
to the next.
YEAR 6
The Children in Year 6 are all working extremely hard in
preparation for their SATs in May. They are currently
undertaking a number of focussed activities and past test
papers to enable them to achieve their full potential within the
tests.
The class thoroughly enjoyed their insight into Mexico during
Multicultural Week (as the information booklet shows!)
We will remain focused on SATs work after the Easter Break
and ensure that all the Year 6 children achieve their full
potential.
CLUBS
AFTER SCHOOL
HOCKEY CLUB
The After School
Hockey Club has been
preparing for inter
Schools tournaments.
This term has seen a
fantastic turnout for
The Hockey Club with
31 children attending
lessons at Shobnall
Leisure Complex.
On March 28th, the
Year 3 & 4 Teams
competed against
teams from
17 other schools at
Shobnall Leisure
Complex in the East
Staffs
Inter School
Competition. Both
teams represented the
school very
Well and were just
below the quarter final
qualifying places.
Friday 4th April saw the Years 5 & 6 Teams
going to Shobnall Leisure Complex for
their competition.
Again both teams did extremely well and
represented the school very professionally.
However , it was the Shobnall A team that
qualified for the Quarter Finals and, after a hard
fought game, progressed to the Semi Finals..
The semi finals saw two very equal teams
fighting for the honours and at half time, it was
0-0.
The second half saw both teams having
chances, but it was Richard Wakefield that
managed to get the ball into the goal to win 1-0.
Particular mention must go to the Year 6 players
in both teams, especially to Callum Thompson
and Phoebe Chilton for a fine performance and
to Bronwyn Parr for an excellent display of
goalkeeping in the B Team.
Thanks go to Mrs Hill for walking the children
down to training each Wednesday and to the
staff for taking the children to the tournaments.
The players are now looking forward to the Dove Valley competitions in May.
NETBALL CUP – SATURDAY 29TH MARCH
Shobnall Primary School had two representative teams playing in the Dove Valley Knock-Out cup on Saturday 29th March at John
Taylor High School.
We were blessed with beautiful weather for the event and the children certainly enjoyed the occasion. The A team began the
tournament in strong fashion, defeating a very strong Rykneld 5 – 3 which resulted in the children’s confidence soaring and then
we won the following game against William Shrewsbury B team 9 – 0. Sitting proudly at the top of group C meant that when we
played Rolleston, the winners of this clash would progress through to the semi-finals. We started the game quickly and with our
first attack, we scored which then eased the tension and by half time we were 3 – 0 up. We slowed down in the second half and
allowed Rolleston to score but fortunately we won 3 – 1.
We played William Shrewsbury A team in the semi-finals and were narrowly defeated 3 – 2. We played incredibly well and all look
forward to the league tournament which continues in May.
The B team were a joy to watch and it was encouraging to see three
year 4 players represent the school for the first time with other children
who were fantastic ambassadors for the school. Unfortunately the
children didn’t manage to win a game but the heads never dropped, the
smiles remained and the parents played a huge role in encouraging the
children in the games they played. I very much look forward to the
netball competitions next year as the children displayed great promise
and hopefully we will have more success next year.
A huge thank you to all parents and children who were required to get
up early for the event, it is greatly appreciated.
Shobnall A: Georgie Cross, Emma Beresford, Bronwyn Parr, Grace
Mellor, Isabel Dixon, Alex Gibson and Marcus Tolley.
Shobnall B: Jayden Gilholy, Oliver Bower, Joey To, Jasmine Jones,
Ella Riddell, Georgia Edge and Phoebe Chilton.
NEEDLE CRAFT CLUB
One of the After School
Clubs that has been held
this term is Needle Craft.
The children have enjoyed
learning to sew buttons on
and a special stitch called
Blanket stitch. When they
mastered this they then
produced a pencil case of
their own, decorating it by
making a pattern in buttons.
They then went on to try
their hand at knitting so
mums beware you may be
receiving a scarf this
Mothers Day or maybe next
year.
DRAMA CLUB
Years 3 and 4 who attended
the drama club have enjoyed
performing the play ‘Peggy
the Pint Sized Pirate’.
This was about a pirate who
was not very tall and said
she could not be a pirate
because of her height. But at
the end she proved to
herself and others that this
was something she could
and did achieve.
Well done to the performers
in Years 3 and 4!
ART AND CRAFT CLUB:
Art and craft club was open to
children in Years 3 and 4 and was
very well attended. Children made
pictures frames, key rings and
containers, as well as origami
frogs. The picture frames were
made using tissue paper, which we
then decorated with glitter paint
and buttons. The key rings were
made out of wood and children
created their own designs on these
using felt-tip pens. Children
decorated the containers using a
combination of felt-tip pens, glitter
paint and adhesive gems. The
children who attended approached
each activity with enthusiasm and
they even remembered to help tidy
up at the end!
GIRLS FOOTBALL (Y4, 5 AND 6)
Girls Football has been very enjoyable and popular this term
with children developing their ball control and shooting
skills. The football club has also provided the opportunity to
enable the football team to practice working as a team
during friendly football games towards the end of the
session. This teamwork will hopefully show in matches that
we are due to play later in the school year.
WORLD BOOK DAY:
World Book Day was on 6th
March and to mark this
occasion, Miss Smith and
Year 3 children delivered a
special assembly on this.
Miss Smith discussed with
children the purpose of
World Book Day and there
was a game which involved
guessing all of the teachers’
favorite childhood books. All
children received a World
Book Day voucher, which
can be used to purchase
one of the specially
commissioned World Book
Day books or to receive a £1
discount off other titles. In
addition to this, the day was
marked by a special World
Book Day theme lunch.
CHOIR CLUB
The choir is a very busy, lively and rewarding part of
Shobnall School life. The pupils have a weekly
singing lesson, experiencing a wide range of music
through performance and listening.
This term they have been practising songs from musicals, one
particular favourite has been , ‘I Just Can’t Wait to be King!’ The
pupils have been taught by their choir master, Mr. Mansfield, in a
enjoyable and fun way. The children are now eagerly awaiting
participation in the forthcoming Music Share Concert, further details of
which will be notified shortly.
BADMINTON CLUB
It is always a great pleasure to
report on the progress of
Shobnall Junior Badminton
Club. And the members who
comprise it.
The overall good news is that
every single member of the club
has improved markedly over the
past few weeks. Clearly we
must have a great bunch of
talent in the club.
KS1 SAT’S MEETING
Thank you to those parents
who attended the SATs
meeting. This was an
opportunity for parents to
ask questions about the
forthcoming SATs week and
discuss any worries which
they may have. The
structure of the week was
discussed and past papers
were used as examples to
demonstrate the
organisation of the reading,
writing and numeracy
assessments.
If there are any further
questions please feel free to
ask, we have an open door
policy.
SCHOOL NEWS
MULTICULTURAL WEEK
This year's Cultural Diversity Week ran from 17th to 24th March 2014.
The ever popular week kicked off with an enthusiastic start. There was
a wide range of activities planned for pupils through food, dance,
music, crafts, arts. It was is an opportunity for children to come
together to share aspects of their culture, and celebrate the benefits
multiculturalism brings to our country. To find our more take a look at
our wonderful information booklet on Multicultural week which has
been circulated to all pupils.
SCHOOL COUNCIL
It has been raised to the attention of the School Council that children in
school would like more sports equipment that can be used during
playtimes. The School Council have therefore acted upon this and
have been busy collecting ideas for a fund raising event, and are now
in the process of making a final decision. Further information will be
given out soon!
HOW DOES THE SCHOOL ENCOURAGE ALL
CHILDREN TO BE FIT & HEALTHY?
All classes have two PE lessons per week. From Year
1, one of these lessons is with a specialised sports’
coach. The school also provides a good selection of
play equipment at lunchtimes, such as hoops, ropes
and balls, to encourage children to be active. There is
also a rota at lunchtimes that enables children to
organise team games for girls and. These are facilitated
by staff but organised by the children.
There are also free sports’ clubs after school for the
school teams. All these teams have to have at least two
girls on the pitch when they play in competitive
matches. The children have been really successful in all
the competitions particularly in netball, and football and
hockey.
FREE SCHOOL MEALS UPDATE
Did you realise if your child is eligible for free school
meals? School receives free funding and this helps to buy
extra resources and Teaching Assistants who support your
children both individually and in groups in all classes.
Extra funding means extra help for your child!
We do not need to know personal details as this can be
done directly by visiting www.staffordshire.gov.uk (free
school meals) however, if you wish to talk about this in
confidence or are unsure, please seek advice from the
School Bursar, Mrs Rebecca Bridges, by arranging a
mutually agreeable appointment. Remember all
applications and all discussions are treated in the strictest
of confidence.
Nothing ventured…..Nothing gained!
Healthy life style learning is part of the science and
personal and social curricula and includes healthy
eating, exercise and drug awareness at the appropriate
level. The school provides free fruit for all children in the
four plus and years 1 and 2 and promotes healthy
behaviour through regular school assemblies.
PE KIT
Can we please remind all parents
that pupils
need to bring in an indoor and an
outdoor P.E. Kit
After the Easter Break (including a
pair of pumps and/
or training shoes)
PARENT SURVEY
Thank you to everyone who was able to take part in
the parent survey last term. Feedback was very
positive with the vast majority of parents showing at
least good satisfaction with the school. There will be a
display at parents evening that shows a summary of
your views and how some of the key issues raised are
being addressed to make the school even better.
Thank you for the high level of positive comments.
EASTER
EGGSTRAVAGANZA
On Thursday 10th April
we will be holding our
Annual Easter
Eggstravaganza by
decorating eggs! The
children are invited to use
a variety of resources
such as Pom poms,
glitter, pipe cleaners,
paint etc. to create their
own design and then
name it . Our school
Council will be judging
the entries. We hope that
parents will take a look at
all the entries for the
themed Easter Egg
Competition on our
school website following
the competition judging.
TALENT SHOW
The X Factor style Talent Show! The final will be
coming to Shobnall. In the audition rounds we had
singers, dancers, comedians, musicians and even
magicians. All the children loved watching and
encouraging each other to perform, prior to selection to
the finals which will be watched by the whole school on
Friday April 11th. A massive well done to all the acts
who showed tremendous courage to audition and
perform. Special thanks to Mr Mansfield and the School
Council who will be judging the event.
What a wonderful way to end the term!
SHOBNALL
SCHOOL OPEN EVENING
Tuesday 1st April saw the hall transformed into a
beautiful arena of displays from the Antarctic to Mexico.
Our staff, pupils, PFA and Governors were all on hand in
the hall and in the classrooms to show you what
wonderful work our children have been undertaking this
term.
The sampling of school dinners was a real hit (as were
Mrs Taylor’s homemade items on the Gardening Club
stand!). A huge thank you to everyone who attended
and, in particular, thank you for all your positive
feedback. For those of you who were unable to attend,
we will provide an information booklet showing you the
wonderful displays and the children at work in the
classrooms throughout the evening.
PFA
Shobnall School, Parents and community always
seem to enjoy a game of chocolate bingo and
this year was no exception. It is always a well
supported event in which huge numbers of
families and friends enjoy the participation of
playing for Easter Eggs or other Easter goodies.
It was great to see so many familiar faces and
the competitive edge is still there every year as
people strive to win some of the fabulous prizes
on offer. It never ceases to impress me the
amount of parents who attend this Bingo with
their professional ‘dobbers’!
A huge “Thank You” to all who gave up their
evening to attend this event and support the
school and the PFA in valuable and essential
fund-raising, it is, as always, greatly appreciated
and big thanks must go once again to Mr Jones,
our official Bingo Caller and of course the PFA
representatives and staff who gave up their time
once again to ensure that the hall was set up and
refreshments were on hand for all those in
attendance.
If you feel that you could spend a small amount
of time to support our small and dedicated team
of PFA members for our forth-coming Summer
Fair then please speak to Mrs Dixon in the office
who will only be too glad to receive your kind
offer for help.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
School Closes on at 3.30pm on Friday 11th April 2014 for Easter Break.
School re-opens on Monday 28th April 2014 at 8.45am
After School Clubs start w/c 5th May 2014 and finish week ending 23rd May 2014
School closes to pupils on Thursday 1st May 2014 at 3.30pm
Friday 2nd May 2014 – INSET DAY
School re-opens to pupils on Tuesday 6th May 2014
SATS TEST WEEK – MONDAY 12TH MAY TO FRIDAY 16TH MAY 2014
Please note these dates are fixed nationally and are none negotiable by the school.
If your child misses a test during these weeks they can not be retaken at a later date.
The staff at shobnall primary school would like to
take this opportunity to wish you a safe and
wonderful Easter Break.