Hello everyone,

We’ve had a wonderful few weeks, including World Book Day and two incredibly successful visits to Hill End. On World Book Day they all enjoyed moving around the school to listen to different adults read, building their perfect reading environments for the classroom and (probably their favourite part of the day) reading outside in the sunshine wearing pyjamas. I would like to thank you all for ensuring that your child was prepared for the trip and, repeating the words of the Hill End staff, they behaved superbly. We are very proud of our collective Stars of the Week, which they 100% deserve.

Last week was also STEM Week, so along with our trip we focused on two science investigations. The first, which we completed on the day when the other class were at Hill End, was to investigate how strong birds’ nests need to be. Children in Year 3 chose their focus question, designed and built their nests, which they then tested against multiple elements including wind and rain. The final nests were left in an area of the school field where children aren’t allowed to go, in the hope that birds may use them to build their own nests.

The children also investigated whether the size of your ear affects your hearing and on Friday we were visited by scientists from Johnson Matthey to use chromatography to solve a mystery. This involved the children testing different pens using water and special paper to reveal the colours within them and successfully establish the guilty culprit by using capillary action, where the different colours in a black pen spread out and are revealed.

This week we are continuing to read the mystery story Mr Penguin and the Lost Treasure by Alex T. Smith as our class book and are moving on to look at Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai in our Literacy time. The children will be building up to writing their own persuasive letters by the end of the term.

In Science we are starting our new topic all about rocks. Over the next two weeks both classes will be exploring the different types of rocks and learning how to group them based on some of their characteristics. In Computing we have moved onto a unit which discusses data. So far we have explored information cards about aliens and played Top Trumps to compare the data. In PE we have been completing some silly challenges or races with the aim of being funny for Comic Relief. Please see the most recent newsletter for information about our fundraising efforts for Comic Relief this year.

A few gentle reminders:

• Miss Green’s class are swimming on Tuesday 17th March.

• Miss Stone’s class are next swimming on Tuesday 24th March.

• Parent consultations are happening after school on Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th March. Please see communication from the office for booking these appointments.

• Homework is set and will be checked along with reading on Thursday. Any planners missed due to the trip being on Thursday last week will be checked this week and all team points will be awarded.

• Please bring in any empty rolls you have as we intend to use them in Art on Friday to complete our Egyptian scrolls.

• Term finishes on Friday 27th March at 1:15pm. After school, the PTA will be running an Easter egg trail. You can sign up on MCAS.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.