Middle Department News 26 May 2023

Year 3

The sun is finally making a very welcome appearance which makes everything feel better! We are using every opportunity to work outside and get into the sunshine. With that in mind, please ensure that the children have their school caps with them every day next half term. They may leave them in school. You might also consider applying sunscreen, depending on the weather.

English: Debating

Inspired by the success of the Seniors at the Rotary Youth Speaks in winning the National Championships, Year 3 have just started a unit on debating. They started with the motion: School uniforms should be banned and have been thinking about some arguments both for and against. They have started to consider the qualities needed in order to present a good argument and what they should avoid, as well as understanding key rules & practises that should be present in debating. We look forward to seeing the Year 3’s final written arguments and a full debate take place, we have been practising our skills and using the Top Form debating team as our inspiration!

The Importance of Sleep

In PSHE we have been learning about the importance of a good night’s sleep. Following our adventures under canvas we all know just how important sleep is to our ability to think clearly, stay focused and remain in a good mood! We considered some of the things that we might want to avoid just before bedtime and those things that might encourage us to have an excellent night of sleep. We even tried out sleep meditation in the classroom and some children tried it out for themselves just before they went to sleep. Hopefully this half term will be a great chance to catch up on some of our missing sleep!

Verulamium Visit

We are very much looking forward to our trip to Roman Britain when we visit Verulamium after half term. The children will be exploring the museum with links to our Topic focus for this term and participating in a fantastic workshop. Just a reminder that on this day, main school bags are not needed, just a small rucksack to place a lunch into, smart school uniform and a water bottle. We will be leaving and coming back during school hours so no alternative pick up arrangements are needed and clubs will still be attended.

Cricket vs Edge Grove

Both boys and girls enjoyed an excellent afternoon of cricket on Thursday against Edge Grove. Thank you to all who were able to support the Year 3’s in their first ever match.

We would like to wish you all a very restful and enjoyable half term break and look forward to seeing you in a week’s time, refreshed and ready to learn!

The Year 3 Team

Year 4

Diabolical Decimals

To revise and reinforce our learning of decimals, Mrs Routledge’s Maths class worked collaboratively playing a game called ‘Diabolical Decimals’. This helped us to remember some of the concepts we have learnt during our decimals topic.

Beautiful day for………… Reading outside!

4R took full advantage of the sun being out on Wednesday morning and during our English lesson went into our wonderful grounds and sat down and read our class reader ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ together.

It was lovely to be outside and enjoying some sunshine during a lesson!

Anyone for Cricket?!

On Thursday afternoon the whole of Year 4 travelled to Edge Grove School for our first away Cricket fixture of the season. We had a great afternoon playing cricket in the sunshine!

We hope you all have lovely and restful half term! Hopefully we will all be able to enjoy some sunshine!

Thank you for your continued support

The Year 4 Team

Year 5

Spotlight on Humanities

Year 5 have been thoroughly engaged and enthusiastic in their Humanities lessons this term and have certainly enjoyed getting to grips with the topics and activities that have been on offer.

In History, World War II has really captured the pupils attention and we, as staff, have been extremely impressed with their fantastically detailed knowledge. So far, we have learnt about Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler, The Blitz and The Battle of Britain and some classes have had the chance to draw their own spitfires. There is still lots more to come after half term where we will be taking a closer look at evacuees, propaganda posters and D-Day.

Our Geography lessons have focussed on developing some of the map skills that the children learnt in Year 4. Each week, we are using OS Maps or atlases to look at things such as, grid references, compass directions and contour lines. Where’s Wally might even have made an appearance in one of our lessons!

We have continued our work on Judaism in TPR lessons. The children have created Kosher food menus, looked at traditional Jewish clothing and have produced some excellent pieces research on different Jewish festivals.

Despite next half term being short and full of various special events, we still have lots to pack into our Humanities lessons and we are looking forward to seeing the children continue to engage so fantastically well in their learning.

Learning Languages in Year 5

Language learning is amazing fun in Year 5 and it is an opportunity for our children to come together in a linguistic world full of laughter, challenge and creativity. This term, we have learning how to talk about where we live. The children have particularly enjoyed learning prepositions by singing a very catchy ‘preposition song’ to the tune of ‘London Bridge is falling down’. There have been quite a few comments about them having a sore ‘derrière’! You only need to get them to sing the song and do the actions to find out why!

On Tuesday 20 June, the Year 5 children will be taking part in the Café du Lion. This will be an opportunity for our Year 5s to become French waiters or chefs, serving the younger children in the Middle Department an array of tasty French treats and drinks. I am sure this will be a special occasion for all involved and will be a fantastic way to finish the year. 

A huge well done to all Year 5 for stepping up to the challenge, persevering and showing great resilience in this week’s exams. We are all very proud of you! And for all those pupils who were tour guides at our Open Morning, you did a super job talking to prospective parents about Beechwood and sharing with them all the things you love and enjoy about our school.

So now we can start to look forward to our trip to Norfolk.

Key Dates for Norfolk Lakes

Week beginning 22nd May – if you would like your child to have pocket money on the trip please could we ask you to bring this into school in a sealed envelope, named and with the amount enclosed. If you would like your child to bring pocket money but have not yet sent it into school, please do so the first day back after half term.

Week beginning 5th June – please send in any medication your child might need along with the ‘Administration of Medicine’ form is not already sent in. A copy of this form can be found in your child’s Google Classroom.

Monday 12th June – we will be leaving school between 10:30 and 11am

Friday 16th June – we are aiming to be back at school between 5pm and 5:30pm.

Just to remind you that all information about the residential and clothing list can be found in your child’s Form Google Classroom. If you have any questions, please do feel free to email me at ckneller@beechwoodpark.com.

From the Sports Department

ISGA Junior Stableford –Sunningdale Heath Golf Club – 18/5/23

Luke W joined older brother Jack in the 2-man team for this event. Luke, 9 years old, I believe, was the youngest competitor in this U13 field, with fantastic golfers from some of the biggest golfing schools across the UK.

Jack won this tournament last year and put in another excellent performance to try and defend his title. Unfortunately, despite scoring 38 points (off a handicap of 16) it wasn’t enough, but he did secure a 9^th place finish. Luke can be extremely proud of his performance in his first school golf tournament. He scored 29 points and finished in 36^th place in a field of 52 children, all of whom were older than him. Their combined results meant that the Beechwood Park team finished an excellent 10^th out of 26 teams.

From the Middle Department Library

Lost on Gibbon Island by Jess Butterworth

Aspiring gymnast Lark is annoyed to find out that plans have changed and that she must join her mum on a research trip to Cambodia. Unfortunately things go from bad to worse when, rather than arriving in Cambodia, she finds herself shipwrecked on a deserted island. With just a baby gibbon for company and the prospect of brutal storms, scorching sunshine and jellyfish-infested waters ahead of her, things do not look good at all. It dawns on Lark that she must make a plan to escape.

Presented as Lark’s diary with lined journal pages, gorgeous illustrations and a special map of Gibbon Island by Rob Biddulph, this is a fabulous survival story that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Head’s Commendations

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

	Engage	Inspire
Year 3	Charlie M, Lily V, Louis L, Lucina C, Paige W, Lela J	Bea B, Arthur L, Lila N
Year 5	-	Katherine T, Georgia L, Josie D, Ffion MP, Eleanor I, Aria D, Kasper LB, Yasmin LB, Chloe LB, Voila G, Jovan S, Clemmie O