We're thrilled to be embracing technology in the classroom and making computing lessons both fun and engaging for all our pupils. We use a range of tools, including laptops and iPads, to bring computing to life in every classroom. It's wonderful to see how much the children enjoy these lessons—conversations with our pupils show they are really excited about the digital world they are exploring.
Here’s a quick look at what each class has been up to:
• Taylors Class have been using MiniMash to support their learning. This interactive platform introduces our youngest learners to the basics of technology and helps them understand how devices can be used in everyday life. It's an ideal way to start building their digital skills!
• Sandypits Class have been exploring the world of music using 2Sequence. This fun tool allows them to compose their own music, giving them the opportunity to develop both their creativity and technical skills.
• Leylands and Fardings Classes are both focusing on 2Connect to learn about spreadsheets. This helps them understand how data can be organised, represented, and analysed, laying the foundation for more advanced digital skills in the future.
We use Purple Mash, a fantastic resource that supports our teaching across various computing topics. It gives children access to a wide range of interactive tools and resources that make learning engaging and accessible.
We're excited to continue integrating technology into our lessons and watch the children develop their digital literacy skills. It's wonderful to see how much they enjoy computing and how quickly they're mastering new tools and techniques!
Throughout the year, children have built on their learning using the Essex Agreed syllabus. Children are learning to develop their religious literacy by having balanced and well-informed discussions about different religions and worldviews. All children have recently had an assembly by ‘Hinduism Education Services’ on showing respect in Hinduism. Year 5 and 6 continued this during a full day workshop, as an introduction to Hinduism for their upcoming RE big question.
Our summer ‘big questions’ are:
EYFS – What happens in a church?
KS1 – Why are symbols and artefacts important to some people?
LKS2 – What difference does being a Muslim make to daily life?
UKS2 – How has belief in Hinduism impacted on music and art through history?
Children in EYFS enjoyed their introduction to PE in the first half of the autumn term but have now moved on to Dance, in which they have been exploring different body parts and how they move, and looking at repeated actions. Year 1 and 2 improved their ball skills before half term and have now moved on to Dance. All Years in KS2 initially learned netball skills and are also now looking at Dance: Fardings are creating rock’n’roll dances whereas Leylands are developing machine-type dances.
So far this year, we have had two groups of children successful in tournaments. Our Tag Rugby team took second place in a tournament in Writtle and our Ten pin Bowling team came first in a tournament in Braintree. All the children represented our school amazingly.
Unfortunately, the year 5/6 Cross Country tournament was postponed due to weather conditions but has been rescheduled for January 2024. James, our lunchtime coach, has agreed to support the children with their training for this. James also did a couple of training sessions for years 2, 3 and 4 who will be having their tournament next Thursday. We wish them luck!
You may have realised by now that I have taken over as PE Lead from Mr Sime! It has been good fun so far and I look forward to taking PE forwards in the future.
All the children have been working hard in maths since the beginning of the school year in September. Our Reception children have been gaining a deep understanding of numbers up to 5: understanding their composition and how to subitise. They've been looking at patterns and learning lots of new 'maths' vocabulary. Children in Sandypits are taught separately but have both been learning about the place value of two digit numbers, strategies for addition and subtraction. Year 2 children have also been busy learning their 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Both Year 1 and 2 children will end the autumn term by thinking about 'shape. In addition to daily maths lessons, children in Sandypits also have regular 'Mastering Number' sessions - these are designed to ensure children are confident with key maths skills.
Year 3 and 4 children usually work together as Mrs Partridge combines the two year groups' curriculum. Year 3 have been learning the place value of numbers with 3-digits, and learning strategies to add and subtract 3-digit numbers. Year 4 have done similar but with larger 4-digit numbers. All children in Leylands have been working really hard to master all of their times tables.
Usually, in Fardings, Year 5 and Year 6 children have separate maths lessons. Since September, they have been doing lots of work on general arithmetic, using both mental and written methods. Year 5 have worked with numbers up to 1,000,000 and Year 6 have used numbers up to 10,000,000. Fardings have also spent a lot of time on times tables to ensure faster recall of facts. At the moment, Fardings are learning about fractions: equivalent fractions, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
Times Table Rockstars Club takes place every Friday lunchtime and, at the moment, is run by Hugo in Year 4 and Ava in Year 5. All children from Year 2 upwards are welcome to attend - a fun way of improving confidence with times tables.
Geography continues to be an exciting lesson for pupils at Terling Primary school. Children at Terling enjoy finding out about different countries, cities and how it compares to their own home. Throughout this term, EYFS have been learning about themselves and their local environment. Year 1 and 2 have learnt about the 7 continents and remembered a fantastic song to help with this. They have had a very exciting visit from Arctic explorer and will be learning about an Arctic village, Tuktoyatuk. Year 3 and 4 will be locating some European countries and capital cities. They have focused on Italy, learning how tourism can impact physical geography. Year 5 and 6 are learning about the G7 countries and Russia, with a focus on Greece. They will be comparing Greece to the UK, learning about tourism and the difference in climate.
In Terling, art is everywhere:
Art is everywhere,
In our words and on our walls,
We are artists here.
We learn from artists,
Inspired by their methods,
We flourish and shine
We talk about art,
In our lessons, and at lunch,
In picture news too.
You will find our art
In sketchbooks and on display,
Proudly being shown.
Here at Terling school,
We learn, practice and produce.
We celebrate art!
Dear family and friends,
The new school year is well under way and we are hard at work improving our reading and writing skills throughout the school. We are excited to be using a new phonics program called Little Wandle, which the children have settled in to using on a daily basis. Taylors class are learning their phonics sounds and are beginning to write words independently and Sandypits class are continuing to build on their phonics knowledge and apply this in reading more confidently.
We are continuing to use Jonathan Bond’s writing curriculum, which I am very pleased to say produced a great improvement in the children’s writing last academic year. The children are continuing to improve and are enjoying writing in many different styles, including factual reports, scene stories, diary entries and poems. In KS1 the focus at the beginning of the academic year is always on sentence structure and applying phonics and spelling rules to their writing.
Our wonderful school library continues to grow, as the children enjoy a vast choice of authors and genres. We have introduced a program of ‘Paired Writing’ across the school to help some children to boost their confidence and fluency when reading. This has been enjoyable for both the children and adults involved.
In Taylor's class, they learned with glee,
About their families and history.
“My grandad's beard was long and white!”
“But mine wore flares and danced all night!”
They mapped the world, both near and far,
To see just where their roots all are.
“Did my great-gran meet a dinosaur?"
No, Toby, she shopped at the corner store!
In Sandypits class, they made a line,
Of their lives from start to this present time.
"When I was born, Mum said I cried!"
"I walked at two, and I did it with pride!"
They saw the toys their grands once had—
No tablets, no apps—just balls, and jacks.
Imagine no Wi-Fi! That’s not fair!
But they rode bikes without a care.
In Leylands, they travelled far and wide,
To the Stone Age lands and Iron Age ways.
Hunting for food with a pointy stick?
Or farming with tools made of stone so thick!
A visit to Wandlebury taught them loads,
Of flint-tipped spears and ancient abodes.
"Did they have TikTok?" Winnie guessed.
No, but their campfires were the best!
In Fardings, they cranked the history gears,
To the Industrial Revolution years.
"What changed back then?" Ms Bacon asked.
Factories, machines, and steam took hold!
But smog was thick, and kids worked hard,
While rich folks strolled in their gardens grand.
Still, they marvelled at the good it brought:
Trains, cities, and inventions wrought.
This week it has been British Science week and we have had lots of wonderful science lessons and activities taking place across the school. The theme this year is 'Change and Adapt' and we have been very fortunate as a school because the ducklings arrived in Sandypits last week, so lots of the children have had the chance to observe change taking place in the classroom.
In Fardings the children all took part in a shadow investigation using torches, in Sandypits the children all explored the properties of materials practically, by twisting, stretching and bending a variety of materials. When I stepped into Leylands classroom today, it was full of fun and joy as the children were all designing their very own animals with various adaptations. The vocabulary being used was wonderful to hear too. Taylors class have been looking at how things have started to grow in our garden and around us and the changes we can see.
As a school we will also enter the British Science week poster competition. We can choose and send up to five entries. We will announce this next week, and the poster will need to be handed in to Mrs Roberts by Tuesday 1st April.
Perhaps you could all explore the theme at home this weekend. You could carry out an experiment, design your own animals, read some stories that link to the theme or even enjoy a TV program or film that links to the theme.
We celebrated our bronze MyhappyMind award at the bginning of this term. We’ve worked incredibly hard for the award and it reflects how well our children and adults are progressing with the programme. We have started this academic year with revisiting the topic ‘Meet Your Brain’. This module is focused on giving children a foundation knowledge of the brain and teaching them how they can look after their minds to be at their very best. Children across the school have learned about Team HAP. Team HAP represents the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Ask your child if they know what those terms mean. As well as myHappymind, we also have regular PSHE lessons (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education). This term, those lessons focus on family and friendships, safe relationships and respecting ourselves and others.
What a busy year it has been so far!
Autumn Term finished with the wonderful Reception/KS1 Nativity, where the children achieved a great standard of singing and have learned how to project their voices, blend with one another and learn more complex melodies as they sang. The Christmas service at the church was amazing, with the children learning to sing in parts and harmonising together. What an introduction to the season.
Spring term has started with a rhythmical bang!
The choir have been working so hard to raise money and to learn the songs for Young Voices. This Monday we participated in a choir of 8200 children at the O2, experiencing working with a professional conductor and musical director, alongside many amazing singers and musicians. This was such an extraordinary experience!
Another exciting venture for Leylands and Sandypits classes, is the opportunity to have a music teacher visiting every Friday afternoon for 10 weeks. Sandypits are learning to play music on chime bars, while Leylands are learning to play ‘Doods’, which are simplified clarinets. All the children are loving the experience.
Look out for more songs and music as we continue throughout the rest of this school year.
This half term, we are all learning from the “I am learning Spanish” unit from Language Angels.
In Taylors, children are learning the numbers from 1 to 10 using Spanish songs and repeating them in their day to day activities. Can your child count from 1 to 10 yet?
Sandypits are reviewing ‘los números’ (1-10) through counting and using them in conversation. They have been learning the responses to the questions ¿Cómo te llamas?
and ¿Cómo estás?
Across Leylands and Fardings, children have been using their previous knowledge of answering ¿Cómo te llamas? and ¿Cómo estás?
by putting their responses into a conversation. They have also been using games and crossword to write ‘los números’.
Each month, Señora Meares leaves us a Spanish challenge. Do you know what this says?
This week has been Children's Mental Health and we have been exploring Place 2 Be's theme of 'Know yourself, grow yourself!' Place to be have teamed up with Here4You to explore the importance of self-awareness and expressing emotions. Here4You is supported by The Walt Disney Company, and through the characters of Pixar’s Inside Out and Inside Out 2, the resources we have used this week in class and as a whole school have encouraged everyone in our school to discover how getting to know who we are can help us build resilience, grow and develop.
We had a whole school assembly about this year's theme on Wednesday and we spoke about how knowing ourselves can help us to understand our own wellbeing needs and make better choices that will support our own mental health and wellbeing, as well as that of others in our community.
The whole school took part in a 'walk and talk' activity in which children had conversation cards and asked each other questions as they got outside in nature and increased their physical activity too. Each class also had class discussions and activities focused around our personalities and our own personality islands, just like Riley has in inside out.
As a school we don't just make time for our mental health and wellbeing on special weeks such as this, but all year round. We have implemented MyHappyMind, which has been a huge success and the strategies children have learnt to use in order to self-regulate are wonderful. We also participate in stillness activities as a whole school on Thursdays to develop our own spirituality and wellbeing.
If you would like to use more resources at home or continue to talk about this year's theme with the children. Here is the link to Place2Bes page for families. https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/
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