Staff

Class Teacher: Mrs Katie Coleby 

TAs: Miss Katie Richards and Mrs Patricia Taylor

 

Useful Information

Children have both PE and Forest School on a Wednesday, so they should come into school wearing their PE kit for the day. This helps us move smoothly between activities and ensures everyone is dressed appropriately for outdoor learning.

Phonics homework is set every Friday, and library books are also changed on this day. Reading books are changed every Monday. 

Spring 2

Week 2 

Week 1 

Maths 

This week we have been learning all about Chinese New Year through a wide range of exciting activities. The children listened to The Great Race and enjoyed sharing their favourite parts with a partner before retelling the story using props and role‑play. They explored new vocabulary linked to celebrations and compared how people in England and China celebrate special occasions. One of the highlights of the week was tasting traditional Chinese foods such as noodles, prawn crackers and fortune cookies. The children predicted what each food might taste like, tried them, and talked about which they preferred. We also looked at pictures of other Chinese dishes and discussed how they are eaten during celebrations. The children learned to say “Happy New Year” in Chinese and used this in their play, especially in our Chinese restaurant role‑play area, complete with bowls, chopsticks, woks and red decorations. They also acted out the story using masks and a pretend river.

Throughout the week, the children explored Chinese writing, had a go at forming some Chinese letters and numbers, and created their own Chinese New Year cards. They worked together on collaborative art projects, including making dragons from paper plates and tissue paper, and used scissors and pencils to develop their fine‑motor skills. They also enjoyed creating dragon dances, using fabric to form long dragons and experimenting with different movements. We looked at the Chinese Zodiac, found China on a world map, and discovered which animal represents this year as well as the year they were born. It has been a vibrant and engaging week full of storytelling, creativity, cultural exploration and hands‑on learning.

 

Spring 1

Week 6 

Look Up

Maths 

This week, the children have been learning about Mae Jemison, the first Black female astronaut, and exploring some of the stories she has written. We talked about having aspirations and the children shared their own wonderful ideas about what they hope to do when they grow up. In PE, we finished the term with calming and imaginative space‑themed cosmic yoga. During Forest School, the children played a trust game where one partner was blindfolded and guided safely across the field by a friend, helping them build confidence and teamwork. Our creative work included making foil space pictures and colourful collage art inspired by space. A highlight of the week was our Space Launch workshop with parents, where the children proudly shared their learning and had lots of fun—photos will follow soon.

Week 5 

Look Up

 Maths 

 

This week, the children have completed their Drawing Club work by exploring the story’s setting and creating their own exciting adventures. They packed a bag for a trip to the moon, carefully deciding what they would need and using their phonics knowledge to write labels for each item. We also learnt the planet song, had fun singing together, and practised ordering the planets in our solar system. During Play and Learn, the children pretended to be planets orbiting the sun, bringing science to life through movement and imagination. In PE, they developed their coordination by bouncing a ball and passing it to a partner. Forest School was a sensory highlight as the children made “smelly pots” and even discovered something exciting, which is now proudly displayed in Reception. As part of our topic work, the children enjoyed watching the first moon landing and learning all about Neil Armstrong, deepening their understanding of space exploration.

Week 4 

The Way Back Home

 

We’ve had such a fun and busy week in class. The children loved writing their postcards from the Martian to the boy. In Drawing Club, their ideas really took off as they sketched exciting ideas for new tools that the boy could use to help fix the Martian's spaceship. Our creative work continued in Expressive Arts, where the children made fantastic moving astronauts using split pins and designed colourful space backgrounds to go with them. In Understanding the World, we explored how objects fall to the ground when they are dropped, and the children enjoyed linking this idea to splatter painting, watching how the paint fell just like real objects do. They have been busy during play and learn time making astronaut helmets and have fun on the bikes outside. It’s been a week full of imagination, creativity, and discovery.