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Middle Department News
This week in Year 3
Egyptian Day
Our long-awaited Egyptian Day finally arrived and, as hoped, it proved to be an excellent adventure. The children and adults in Year 3 all came dressed as Ancient Egyptians or intrepid Egyptologists. We spent the day imagining that we were in the 8th year of the reign of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti. We experienced life in the ancient city of Akhetaten on the day a new high priest to the Aten sun disk was appointed.
We worked on a number of activities in readiness for the ceremony, including: mummification, making canopic jars, carving, tomb painting, ink making and writing, amulet making, bread making, perfume cone making and making shabti dolls. A very hands-on morning!
The afternoon was spent showing the power and majesty of Akhenaten and Nefertiti in the royal court of Amarna. The children broke into different groups to rehearse their roles: in the Royal Court, or as slaves, actors, dancers or priests. We even finished with a feast! It was a wonderful learning opportunity!
Year 3 House Matches
Despite the cold, the children were wonderful and had a great afternoon of sport. The Year 3 teachers all came out to support and we were very happy to see parents back again in School supporting Matches. Congratulations to all the Houses! Scroll down to the Sports section to see photos.
Christingle
This Friday afternoon we celebrated Christingle and were very happy to have the help of Year 3 parents. The children made their Christingles earlier in the day, in preparation for the service. They read and sang beautifully and really put us in a Christmas mood!
Our fabulous Middle Department Christmas tree is in position and needs decorating! We would like to invite any child in the Middle Department, to help us dress the tree; they may bring in a bauble, suitable for outside use, for a minimum donation of £2 to the charity The Children’s Society. Thank you to those who have already brought in a bauble and made a donation. Please do continue to bring in your baubles and click here to make your donation.
Year 3 Festive Forest School
We are very lucky to have a Year 3 Forest School morning on Friday 3rd December. Please could you send your child in on that day in their Forest School kits, with their uniforms in their bags to change into afterwards. As it is a festive morning, we would love the children to wear a Christmas hat to help them get into the holiday spirit! Ho! Ho! Ho!
REMINDERS FOR YEAR 3:
COSTUMES FOR CHRISTMAS CRACKER PERFORMANCE
The children are busy rehearsing and can’t wait for the performance. As a reminder, please could you supply the costumes as listed below for your child. Could we please have the costumes in School on Monday 6th December, in a named bag. Many thanks.
As we continue preparations for our forthcoming Christmas Cracker performances. With rehearsals going well, Mrs Hegarty has now turned her attention to costumes. Much of what will be needed will be provided for by the school but in addition to this, please could we ask that your child also has the following for the performances:
3O – Christmas jumper + any colour joggers / leggings + Santa hat & / beard (Mrs Jarvis has lots of beards!!)
3M – Christmas jumper + any colour joggers / leggings
3I – Christmas jumper + any colour joggers / leggings + reindeer antlers / festive hat / festive headwear
For footwear, could all Y3 & Y4 children please wear brightly coloured/Christmas socks and their indoor trainers that they would use in PE.
If you have any questions about costumes, please feel free to email Mrs Hegarty at l.hegarty@beechwoodpark.com
In English, we have been focusing on developing our ability to write descriptive sentences. Using a short-animated film called ‘El Caminante;’ we have looked at describing settings based upon what can be seen, heard, smelt and felt. Here is just a snippet of the great work we have had the pleasure of reading this week.
chimed.”
We are really looking forward to our Year 4 residential trip which will take place between 22nd March and the 25th March 2022. We will be visiting Aylmerton Field Study Centre which is near Cromer, Norfolk. We would like to invite you all to a short information presentation which will be held on Wednesday, 19th January 2022 between 4:30 and 5:30pm. Further details will follow nearer the time.
enjoyed finishing off their superb robots in DT and the Van Gogh recreations carried out in art are stunning (see more below)! Pupils always return from art and DT sessions buzzing!
Nine-year-old Holly Carroll and her family live the merriest of lives in a house with year-round fairy lights and Christmas trees, a carol-singing toilet and a diva donkey who thinks he’s a reindeer. But when Holly goes to a new school with a singing Santa backpack and first day Christmas cards (during a heatwave in September!), she realises not everyone shares her enthusiasm for spreading cheer. In fact, when the neighbours try to remove the Carrolls from the street and Holly discovers a group of children that may not get a Christmas at all, her snowglobe world begins to crack. Is the world’s most Christmassy girl about to lose her Christmas spirit?