Middle Department News 16 June 2023

Year 3 Swimming Gala

The Year 3 children had their very first swimming gala this week. The weather was beautiful, the parents were plentiful and full of voice and the children did amazingly well. Despite a few pre-performance nerves, they swam brilliantly and should feel extremely proud of themselves. All Houses did very well, but it was Saunders House who were victorious this year, in spite of stiff competition. Thank you so much to the Sports Department for their excellent organisation, resulting in a very smoothly run event.

Musicians’ Concert

Thursday was a very busy day for many of the children, competing in the swimming gala which was preceded by the Musicians’ Concert. The children performed with confidence and enjoyment and the audience were very appreciative; thank you to everybody who made this possible – our wonderful Music Department and for the encouragement given at home to keep practising.

Kind regards,

The Year 3 Team

Notices and Reminders

Year 3 Forest School

We have one final Forest School session, which will be for the whole of Year 3. This will be on Monday 26 June. Please send the children in on that day in their School games kits.

Next Week’s Music Class

Year 3 we will have class concerts in the pupils’ class music next week. 3D are on Wednesday. 3O and 3P are on Friday. Pupils can play a piece of their choice. Please bring instruments in on those days.

Year 4

Electricity

This week in Science, Year 4 were investigating which materials were electrical conductors and which were insulators. We created our own circuits using wires, a battery pack and a bulb. We then put a material in the circuit to find out whether it was an electrical conductor or insulator. If it was a conductor the bulb lit up and if it was an insulator the bulb did not light up.

Before we carried out our experiment we had fun learning about how the components in an electrical circuit worked. Everyone enjoyed our electrical investigating!

Viking Longships

In History, we have been researching Viking Longboats and then, in the spirit of the value of the fortnight, we have collaborated to make posters showing our findings. Take a look at some of 4B’s fantastic creative work! We will share photos from today’s fabulous Viking Day in next week’s newsletter.

Bubble Maths

Year 4 were paid a visit by the Maths Department this week, where they were taught a special lesson on shapes. We created a bubble maker out of string and straws and then tested them outside in the sunshine. Then, we discussed the different types of shapes and how we can translate a shape.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Year 4 Team

Year 5

What a wonderful week Year 5 have had in Norfolk! We have canoed, rafted, had a go at archery, crate stacking, bouldering and much, much more! We hope you have enjoyed the photos we have shared this week – there are MANY, MANY more to come next week…!

Fairy-tale Plays

Year 5 pupils were given the challenge to bring four different rap fairy-tale play scripts to life in their drama lessons. The plays were were written to give all children the opportunity to have a speaking role, and we all enjoyed the modern, humorous twists given to the traditional stories. Each class demonstrated amazing collaborative skills to stage their plays with an array of props, costumes and brilliant actions to accompany the raps. They were thrilled to perform to Years 2-4, and their older siblings, as well as to you all! If you would like to re-live the plays, we have included some links below:

Jack and the Beanstalk (5CB) https://youtu.be/aeFXBm9ipGs

The Three Little Pigs (5B) https://youtu.be/maIQ_SSyqto

Snow White (5D) https://youtu.be/ZsIpfosDPDo

Cinderella (5K) https://youtu.be/FNgDa73RaJo

We are sure that the children will sleep very, very well this weekend…..

The Year 5 Team

From the Middle Department Library

Until the Road Ends by Phil Earle

Silva’s dad is obsessed with Romans to the point where they live practically on top of Hadrian’s wall and now he’s started a live action Roman role play company. However it’s not all gone quite to plan and instead it seems her Dad might have actually time travelled to Rome! There’s only one thing for it, Silva must follow him – the fact of her family depends on it!

Roman themed, laugh-out-loud fun with short chapters and engaging illustrations.

Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Mrs Cussans’ Commendations:

	Engage	Inspire	Nurture
Year 3	Ade O, Laikley SC, Ali P, Alexander F	George G, Sophie C, Amaye K, Oliver WG	-
Year 4	Florence D, Alex L, Henry H, Magnus G, Sam S, Idris C, Bea F, Elodie N, Sebastian T, Alex O, Joe G, Sienna L, Simran G, Tom P, Lottie L, Alexa F, Benji H, Sam S, Magnus W, Aeron C	Gabriela M	Penelope B
Year 5	Natalie HR, Jonas S, Malin SL Scarlett B, Aanay D, Ronan G, Georgie J, Lily B	-	-