Last week, FS1 immersed themselves in learning about Christmas celebrations. The children have been learning about the characters in their core text, The Nativity Story, and then performed in the story at St John’s Church. The children joined in a guided writing session, writing a letter to Father Christmas. The children have also been studying patterns this week which helped them to create some beautiful patterns for their calendars.

This week saw the stars in FS2 shine! Both performances were magical and one or two of the children asked if they could do it again! During outdoor sessions, the children built Santa sleigh and each time improved their design by adding wings, sat nav and a telescope. We have been learning and singing Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. The children have been thinking about, and writing, Christmas wishes for children all over the world. They were extremely thoughtful, wishing every child to have a bed, food, shelter and to be happy. Their busy week concluded with a trip to the Leeds Playhouse. The children were excellent representatives for the Pre-Prep and we all thoroughly enjoyed the show. 

The Year 1 children were fantastic in their performance of ‘Beep Beep Bethlehem’ Nativity and left the audience speechless with their big voices, wonderful acting and great singing. This week they were very excited to receive a letter from Sir Henry Sewell asking them to use their skills as experts in Castle life. He had become ill with a fever and was unable to inform his kitchen staff what they needed to prepare for Lord and Lady Lannister. Luckily, Year 1 children have learned a lot about food in the middle ages and were able to prepare menus for the kitchen with lists of food for them to make. The children loved applying their knowledge to meet the challenge. The visit Simon Murray, author of Icky Doo Dah, led to some creative 3D art work in the style of his books and he praised the children for their work.

It is no surprise that Year 2 have also been embracing everything to do with Christmas! The choir and narrators did a fantastic job supporting the FS1 nativity in St John’s Church, singing beautifully and delivering the story clearly and with confidence. The children have also been busy making various Christmas themed decorations to bring home this week. In literacy, the children have been working on their use of expanded noun phrases to improve their word choices during independent writing. In numeracy, they have learnt about symmetry and worked practically using 2D shapes. In science, an investigation about the strength of various types of paper initiated lots of discussion.