It’s been great to welcome the children back to school after the Easter break. As it’s the start of the summer term, the whole school is now thinking about the school value of Justice: what can we do to ensure everyone is treated in a manner that is equitable and fair?

In Oceans this week we’ve been able to explore this theme in more detail as the children have been learning about Humanism and reflecting on how beliefs affect people’s behaviour. We’ve focussed on the question ‘What motivates Humanists to lead good lives?’ and identified how the Humanist golden rule - Do not treat others in a way you would not like to be treated yourself - promotes kindness and care for those in difficulty.

In maths we’re moving from fractions to numbers with decimals with up to two decimal places. The children have been applying their knowledge of number bonds to 10 and complements to 100 in order to deepen their understanding of place value as we add tenths, hundredths, placeholder 0s and decimal points to our mathematical vocabulary.

In PE, we dodged the bad weather and managed to get outside on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. We’ve been concentrating on throwing and catching with control and accuracy as we begin to learn the game of softball, while also developing our coordination and performance skills to create fluent, expressive dance movements in our cheerleading sessions.

We also joined the rest of the school at St Mary and St John’s church on the Cowley Road to experience a Eucharist service, as Christians around the world remember the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Next week: 

On Monday, to mark Earth Day, the children will be examining how plastics end up in the oceans and its unfortunate effects on creatures that live there. Please bring a plastic bottle, tray or container that can be used for junk modelling.

Next week we’ll also be looking at newspaper reports and flexing our sculpture skills as we expand our creativity from mark making to combining shapes into recognisable forms with textures that convey feelings or expression.

And finally! Home learning: It was wonderful to speak to so many of you at parents' evening. Across the phase we had lots of conversations about the children’s Big Maths. So, as we have just finished our fractions unit, this week’s maths home learning is their weekly Big Maths sheet. These are specific to each child’s learning steps and promote fluency by focusing on basic maths skills. Can they beat their last score?

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Oceans Team