29th April

On our return from the Easter holidays, we were all astounded by the differences Spring had made to the school grounds and the seeds we had planted in the final week of last term; everything was so much bigger and brighter, and the apple trees in the school grounds were filling up with fluffy white blossom.  We also took the chance to plant some potato’s in sacks.

The trip to Bishop’s Waltham was very exciting and the first time for many of the children to ride on a local bus.  All walked to the bus stop happily and paid individually for their ticket saying “Bishop’s Waltham please”.  We were lucky enough to go upstairs and occupy the front seats. 

We headed to the Palace Gardens for lunch and then after a quick toilet stop, headed down the High Street to see what different shops there were and what they sold.  We then went inside St Peter’s Church and noted that it was bigger than our church in Upham.  The children were thrilled to see a large Easter garden near the front of the church and there were beautiful flowers decorating so many areas of the church too.

We then made our way to the library where the children looked around the children’s section and chose books to look at and share.  We were then lucky to have a story read to the whole class by the librarian.  We also bumped into Mrs Baber  and her daughter and watched how they used the library machine to return their books. 

We finally made our way back to Priory Park to meet our parents and went via the duck pond which is much bigger than Upham pond.  We saw coots, mallards and a couple of ducklings too.  The children behaved beautifully throughout the whole trip and were a real credit to the school.  They also found out many things that were different between a village and a town and also many similarities too.

8th April 2022

There was a lot of excitement when thicker planks of wood were added to the outside provision which could hold the children's weight.   Bridges and slopes were made with children having to problem solve how to make the planks stable and how to transport them safely.  Cars were then added to the play with the focus shifting from the children traversing the planks to the cars travelling down the planks.  They really did enjoy themselves.

As we've been encountering different countries in our stories and exploring where they are on maps, we took time to try and construct aeroplanes which would take us to those countries in teams.  The children used a variety of large loose parts to tackle this and found it was quite tricky to focus on the entire shape of the plane.  Instead groups and individuals concentrated on different parts that interested them, such as the gangway or the wings, and shifted their play into smaller parts of the plane.  We did eventually end up with one large plane and one smaller plane.

We have continued learning about Easter and the significance of what the cross means to Christians.  The children spent some time with their buddies this week working together to make Easter gardens which included a tomb and a cross.  

The children enjoyed joining in with the Easter egg hunt organised by FUS around the school grounds with their buddies and the rest of the school.  The egg and spoon race was great fun and they also enjoyed following a Easter egg treasure hunt where they had to read clues hidden in eggs to find out where to go to next, the ultimate goal being the surprise chocolate bears.  The Easter bunny also dropped by with letters and a big present and an egg hunt which caused great excitement.

1st April 2022

The children really enjoy their PE lessons in the hall.  All have made good progress in balancing, moving across and jumping from equipment. Some are able to cross the monkey bars and climb a little on the ropes.

This week, we have been learning about the Easter story.  The children made paper palm leaves and re-enacted the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.  They used song and instruments to sing a celebration song about Palm Sunday to try to recreate the joy the crowd felt in the story.