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Middle Department Notices

New Reading Scheme in the Middle Department

We are very pleased to announce that this term the Middle Department is implementing a new reading scheme, Accelerated Reader. The scheme will be rolled out over the next couple of weeks and is designed to help all pupils become better readers, irrespective of their level. 

Importantly, this scheme specifically seeks to celebrate everyone’s individual reading success and nurture a love of reading.

We are very appreciative of the reading support our pupils receive at home and recognise the importance of this support in pupils’ reading progression.  We do not envisage any material change in our home reading culture as a consequence of this exciting new approach.

You can read more information about the scheme here; however, please feel free to contact our School Librarians, your child’s Form Teacher or English teacher if you have any further questions.

Thank you.


Extra Online Support Available For You

If you are keen for your child to get some extra online support with English, Maths and reasoning skills,  I would recommend that you subscribe to ATOM Nucleus. You can read more about it at https://atomlearning.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

Parents can opt to trial Atom Nucleus, the at-home platform, with their children in the same way that they might buy a revision guide. If you decide to try ATOM for free, enter BEECHWOODPARK20 when you sign up and you’ll receive 20% off your first payment. 

Depending on the monthly subscription you sign up to, Atom Nucleus will allow your child to access:

  • Personalised learning journeys across English, maths, science, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning. The learning journeys include tens of thousands of individually designed questions, as well as videos, helpsheets and explanations to accompany every question.
  • Unlimited mock tests: use Atom’s mocks to support familiarisation. Atom’s tests are designed to mirror key senior school entry assessments including the ISEB Common Pre-Tests, CEM and GL 11+ exams.
  • Custom practices: use Atom’s data to identify areas for improvement and set custom practices in those areas.
  • Live and on-demand lessons: lessons are hosted by experienced teachers in tricky topics across many exam types. 

If you have any questions on how to get the most out of Atom Nucleus, email support@atomlearning.co.uk and ask to be invited to one of their regular Parent Webinars. 

Best wishes

Mrs Clarke

Director of Senior School Admissions


Word of the Week House Competition 

This year, we are making the Word of the Week a House competition and would like the children to help choose the words of the week for the year.

Pupils can suggest a word –  it can be a noun, verb, adjective or any other word class but we would like them to try to make it as unique and interesting as possible! The best submissions will be chosen to be Beechwood’s Word of the Week throughout the year – winning words will gain House Points!  Please use this form to submit your words.

 

Good luck from

The English Department

 


Competition Success

Well done to Joshua G in Year 3 for his entry into this year’s National Numeracy Day Number Heroes competition.

His Monster Truck entry was selected as one of only 19 runners up from 8,500 entries. Wow!


This week in Year 3

What an amazing start the Year 3s have had to their time in the Middle Department! They have settled into the new classrooms and their new routines extremely well and are now beginning to navigate the breadth of the School with increasing confidence.

We hosted a very successful Welcome Evening, which many parents were able to attend. Following the presentation, they toured the Year 3 area and got to know the Year 3 team. We do appreciate how tricky it was for some parents to make the meeting, so we have ensured that all of the notes from the meeting are now in the three Google form rooms.

Year 3 has also started our Forest School rota and 3O were lucky enough to go into the woods on Thursday. It was an absolute joy to be outside while the weather was so mild and it gave us all the time to get to know each other a little better in a relaxed setting. 

Michaelmas 22 Sept - Yr 3 Forest School
Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 3 Team


This week in Year 4

The children have settled into Year 4 very well and are enjoy our new topics.  This week we have been learning about the Anglo-Saxons and where they fit within the history of the UK, how we decide if something is living or non-living and the different continents of the world.

Year 4 W/C 12 Sept 2022

Why not continue your child’s learning at home by discussing what the difference between invading and settling is; asking if fire is alive and how we know; or challenging them to work out how many continents they have visited?

Notices

Timetables

Your child’s weekly timetable can now be found in their Google Classroom.

Forest School Dates

  • 4I –  4I – Thursday 22 September
  • 4P – Thursday 22 September
  • 4L – Monday 3 October

On the day of your child’s Forest School session they are to come in wearing School Games kit with clean trainers or school shoes (not the footwear you will wear in the woods) and they should also bring in their school uniform to change back into.  

Please also remember to pack waterproof clothing, wellies or sturdy outdoor shoes and layers, warm socks and gloves if the weather looks like it might be cold or wet.

Stationery

Just to remind you, children can now use a pen to write with in Year 4.  It needs to be blue, free-flowing ink, not a biro.  With many children’s stationery looking the same it would also be worthwhile labelling each item with your child’s name.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 4 Team


This week in Year 5

The Year 5 pupils have really impressed us in the way they have started the academic year.  They have embraced the new academic challenges, shown real maturity in the way they have collaborated and contributed in the classrooms and, so far, their organisational skills look very promising indeed! They are most certainly ready and raring to go! Thank you to all of our Year 5 families for their support and help in making the start of the new academic year so smooth and enjoyable.

Year 5 Class Photos September 2022

Science is off with a bang, or rather a push, a pull and a twist as the children start to investigate forces and their effects. Most of our science lessons are based in the labs and the hands on nature of the learning makes for an exciting year. In Maths, the children have collaborated over puzzles, games and problem-solving tasks as they build strong number foundations. There is great excitement over the first Minimus lesson of the term and just as much anticipation over the new projects in Art, DT, Music, Drama and Computing. As a pastoral team, we could not be more delighted by this excellent start to the year and we warmly welcome Izzy in 5K to this fabulous year group. Alongside the energy and fizz, the children have shown great sensitivity over the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II and we hope that Monday’s Bank Holiday offers you a peaceful day of reflection as a family.
Year 5 W/C 12 Sept 2022

Best wishes

The Year 5 Pastoral Team


From the Middle Department Library

The Shop of Impossible Ice Creams by Shane Hegarty:

Limpet’s mum is opening an ice-cream shop, full of her favourite new flavours: mushroom and tuna ice cream, Roast parsnip and gravy. Limpet’s not sure about this. He likes a nice, safe life. His favourite ice-cream flavour is vanilla. But when wicked Mr Fluffy arrives with his Mega Emporium of Amazing and Spectacular Ice Creams, Limpet knows he’s got to fight back. And there are magic ingredients on his doorstep which can solve all his worries

The Shop of Impossible Ice Creams is a light-hearted easy read, great for easing children back into reading if they’ve had a bit of a summer break. Each small chapter is peppered with fun illustrations.

 

 

 

We are aware of a couple of websites which reward schools with free books after parents have purchased.  We thought we would share details below in case this was of interest to you.

https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/our-purpose

https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/


 


Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Mr Balfour’s Commendations:

Nurture Engage Inspire
Year 3 Lucinda C Joseph R, Ali O George G
Year 4
Year 5