What a busy start to this school year it has been! The children have been working really hard and we are all so proud of how well our new Reception children have settled in.
So far already this term we have had some lovely events including…
Language and Culture Day
On Language and Culture day, the children travelled around in their House groups to visit four different countries: Kenya, Australia, Morocco and Croatia.
In Kenya, the children painted safari pictures and tasted different fruits which grow in Kenya including pineapple, kiwi and mango. They painted Maasai tribal necklaces using pictures to help them. They also loved retelling the story of Handa’s Surprise with their friends using the story sack.
In Australia, everyone enjoyed learning all about Uluru, one of Australia’s most recognisable landmarks. They listened to Aboriginal digeridoo music whilst creating pictures of Uluru, shared an Aboriginal dreamtime story and used scrap colouring to create pictures inspired by Australia.
In Morocco, it was great to explore the souks (markets) and look at authentic souvenirs including plates, lanterns and tajines. The children learnt about the landscape, symbols and food of Morocco, even getting to try Moroccan hummus and basbousa, a semolina sweet cake. They also worked really hard to create their own mosaic tiles for the display.
In Croatia, everybody learnt how to say some Croatian greetings. They enjoyed dancing a traditional Croatian folk dance called the Kolo and also did some great sketches of the city walls of Dubrovnik, Krka waterfalls and the Diocletian’s Palace at Split. They designed their own traditional Croatian costumes and enjoyed trying gnocchi and palacinke (pancakes).
Harvest Festival and Farmers’ Market
Our annual Harvest Festival was held in the church. The whole school joined together to sing some lovely songs and we were also treated to a fantastic performance of Big Red Combine Harvester by children in Mars class. Venus performed their acrostic poem to tell us all about what Harvest is. Saturn taught us about how Harvest is celebrated in different countries around the world, thinking about the countries we had visited during Language and Culture Day! Jupiter had researched all about the work of Food Banks and explained to us how important they are to help people in our local community. Thank you to everyone who brought along contributions for our local Food Bank – they are so appreciated.
After the Harvest Festival, everyone headed back to school for our Farmers’ Market! Mars sold their fantastic scarecrow jars, Venus’ chutney was a hit, Saturn’s bird feeders flew off the shelf and Jupiter’s delicious muffins were very popular. It was brilliant to have so many other stalls as well. Thank you to everyone who came along to support the event.