I find it hard to believe that we are almost at the end of Term 4 – the last two terms seem to have flown by!

The children have really responded well to the introduction of the Dojo rewards system and are highly motivated in the pursuit of dojos.  Most of our parents are connected and able to check how well their children are doing throughout the day. 

During Term 3 the children enjoyed learning about the different jobs people do and how they help or inspire us, as part of our creative curriculum topic of People.  We focused on two people; Queen Elizabeth I and Jesus. We rounded off our learning with a visit from one of the parents, Mrs Neall, a vet, who brought a variety of veterinary equipment and animals with her.  This linked really well with our Science learning about animals including humans.  The children enjoyed learning to name different parts of the body not just in English but French too!  The Year 2 children were lucky and enjoyed weekly tennis lessons.

During this term, the children’s learning has been linked to our topic, Space, which we are continuing next term.  Railways Class have enjoyed fantastic learning activities, particularly, the mobile planetarium day and all of this term’s science investigations.  The children have worked hard and have had two opportunities to present their learning to their parents.  The first was during our joint Castle and Railways Class Mothers’ Day Service, which was well received.  The second was our recent class assembly, despite very last minute substitutions due to ill health and jitters, the children were fantastic, confidently explaining their learning on multiplication, days of the week, RE and science experiments – which were explosive!

Welcome to Railway Class!

Science and art are merging somewhat this term as the children investigate colour.  So far they have revised the primary and secondary colours and then investigated the results of mixing them in different proportions.  They have also made ‘caterpillars’ and investigated which colour caterpillars were the easiest to find in the garden.  They were surprised that the prettiest, more brightly coloured ones were also the ones most likely to be eaten by hungry birds! 

In geography, and to link with this term’s topic, Festivals around the World, the children have been learning about the continents and oceans of the World.  How many can they remember?  What can they tell you about the festivals they have learnt about so far?

We have already started rehearsing for the Nativity.  A letter has been sent detailing your child’s part and costume.  Please keep the 15th December 2015 free for our performances at 1.30 ad 5.00pm.

Thank you for all of the brilliant homework your children are producing; any opportunity you give your child to practise reading, writing or number work at home is really beneficial and much appreciated.

Thank you also to those of you who were able to attend our class assemblies.  The children love to see familiar faces in the audience.  For those of you who have not been able to attend, have a look in the gallery at the photos of our wonderful learning.  More photos from Festivals around the World will be posted throughout the week.

Mrs Earll-Shand

We chose the name Railways for our class because we have so many beautiful railways, stretching across the Kent countryside.

We are a combined year 1 and year 2 class, so have a hands on, interactive, multi-sensory approach to our learning.

This term our Creative focus is Patterns, and we kick started our understanding of this with a Pattern Investigations Day!  This theme has continued throughout our learning and across the subjects.

We are really looking forward to sharing this exciting year with you!
Mrs Earll-Shand  & Mrs Ford