Southfield Summer 2 Newsletter

‘Ex Corde Vita’

HEADTEACHER INTRODUCTION

As we draw to the end of the academic year and the of the summer term it has been reminiscent of the season with beautiful sunshine days and soaring temperatures. We have been humbled and once again reassured by the return of many familiar summer traditions which have been on hold over the last two years. Against the back drop of a very hot day we enjoyed a fantastic sports day! Congratulations to Shakespeare house for winning the day and seizing the trophy this year. Healthy schools week was a triumph and all enjoyed the healthy breakfasts and the wonderful visits to the school from tai chi, Japanese drumming and so much more!

Uniquely this term we celebrated the very special event of Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee and the school was awash with union jacks, 1950’s style games and music as we celebrated street style parties. The art work from the week was spectacular as were the super letters written to her Majesty. The commemorative coins and enjoyment will be etched on our memories for years to come as we look back on such an important moment in our history.

Developing and enriching our pupil’s cultural capital is a central tenet of our aim at Southfield and we were thrilled to see our pupils exploring a vast range of educational visits and experiences this term. Year 2 and 4 visited the Tate modern and Year 3 visited St Paul’s Cathedral. School visits to the Natural History Museum took place and Year 6 visited the Royal Courts of Justice and participated in a Mock Trial. Year 5 once again participated in our annual Shakespeare performance which was a spectacular event. Our school choir lifted all our spirits with a superb rendition of all the songs they had been learning this term. We also watched some fantastic Year 2 and Year 4 class assemblies which we all enjoyed.

Our children have coped amazingly well with the heat over the last few days and enjoyed soaking each other and the teachers in the water activities. We say a fond farewell to our brilliant Year 6 this week and they have enjoyed a special Leavers’ Assembly and party and on Tuesday performed a breath-taking and west-End style production of Oliver. We are so proud of them and wish them all best wishes at secondary school.

I wanted to take a moment to thank my wonderful staff team for always going the extra mile running lunchtime clubs, after school boosters and being an inspiration to work with. Similarly to our hard working governors for all their incredibly hard work for the school. Of course a huge thanks to our amazing children for whom we all strive to offer the best education and experiences possible.

I wish you a great summer ahead and look forward to welcoming you back on Monday September 5th.

Dr Jones Headmaster

CLASS ASSEMBLIES This half-term we had a number of class assemblies.

2 Mozart focused on Henry VIII, they had learnt about him in their History lessons. They gave us information about all his wives and how some of them didn’t have a pleasant end to their life!

2 Verdi taught us about the digestive system and ended the assembly with a great song.

4 Mahler’s assembly focused on the book they had been reading called ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’. They acted out the story and shared all the work they had done linked to the story including newspaper reports.

Well done to all the children in these classes, they put on three great assemblies and we enjoyed watching all of them!

JUBILEE WEEK At the start of this half term we celebrated the reign of Queen Elizabeth II with platinum jubilee events taking place over a week.

The whole week’s curriculum and learning was dedicated to the celebration with English and Mathematics lessons centered around the Queen and her reign. Children wrote letters to Buckingham Palace. Each class experienced a drama workshop and PE lessons focused on fun and exciting 1950’s style games! Each class also made an exciting artefact using their design and art skills.

Every year group also had a 1950’s style street party in the playground with lots of food, games and fun. Thank you to all the parents and class reps for supporting us with this and providing lots of food.

All the children and staff had a great time celebrating and learning about the reign of the Queen.

At the end of the week all children were presented with a beautiful and special commemorative coin featuring Queen Elizabeth II in a presentation case to keep as a reminder of the special event.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE WEEK Healthy Lifestyle week was amazing!

All the children at Southfield primary school had taking part in our annual Healthy Lifestyles Week. A whole week dedicated to learning about health and fitness.The week was filled with a range of different fun and exciting educational workshops that helped to promote a healthy lifestyle through Healthy Eating, mental well-being and physical fitness These wonderful workshops included: Capoeira, Zumba, Middlesex Cricket, Cheerleading, Boxercise, Japanese, Drumming, Tai Chi and Ballet.

Every day the children started their school day with a morning “shake up” and on Wednesday our wonderful PTA team organised a delicious healthy breakfast for all children to enjoy.

Alongside the amazing workshops, at the end of the week the children took part in their first sports day in two years.

The day was filled with lots of different Traditional sports day activities from egg and spoon races to shot put to 100m sprint with medals being won at the end race.

It was overwhelming to see all the Southfield parents participating in the sprint races.

After a whole week of collaborating in their house teams and during Sports day. I have the pleasure to announce that the winning house for the Healthy lifestyles week Coveted ‘Southfield Primary House Cup’ is: Shakespeare.

Well done to everyone!

CONTEXTUALISED CURRICULUM This half term children have been on a number of trips and this has reinforced all they have learnt in school.

Year 1 have visited The Natural History Museum and enjoyed taking part in the dinosaur-themed ‘Super Stegosaurus’ workshop .

Year 2 enjoyed hearing from Floella Benjamin and also visited Tate Modern.

Year 3 also visited Tate Modern and have a tour of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Year 4 visited Tate Britain and The Tower of London.

Year 6 visited the Royal Courts of Justice and participated in a Mock Trial.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOING? EYFS NURSERY Our topic this half term was animals.

Our first week back was all about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and in our role play area we had an area to have tea with the queen. We also had a Jubilee party in the playground.

Thanks parents for all your help in making our party so special!

The second week was healthy schools week: our country was Brazil so we turned our classroom into a rainforest and learnt all about the amazing animals of the rainforest for the next two weeks. We also had healthy food from Brazil and made our own smoothies.

We also had our first ever Sports day which the children enjoyed immensely working hard in their teams.

EYFS

From then on our role play area has been a veterinary clinic for all the sick and injured animals.

NURSER

We have spent the remaining weeks consolidating all the early Learning Goals required for nursery children.

We consolidated our numbers to 20 and have been finding different ways to make 10.

We have finished our phonics for nursery and Miss Gibbons has been impressed with the children’s listening skills when learning the sounds.

We have had an amazing journey this year and we now we are preparing to move onto our new adventures, wherever that may be. Good luck everyone!

RECEPTION Summer 2 in Reception was filled with lots of work through engaging and fun activities around our topic of Under the Sea.

RECEPTION

The first two weeks of the term, however were extra special as we celebrated the Platinum Jubilee with a fun filled week full of activities allowing us to learn more about the Queen. We all wrote a letter to her in hope she might respond! In the second week of the term we focused on Healthy Lifestyles and had plenty of opportunities to get our bodies and minds fit!

To top the week off, we had our very first Sports Day in Southfield Park.

Over the next couple of weeks, in our Communication and Language as well as Literacy lessons, we continued to explore our topic through Creative Writing stories- with our favourite one- The Rainbow Fish.’ We created our own characters and wrote stories using adjectives and extending our sentences as we are now getting ready for Year 1! We all became engrossed in collecting facts about sea animals and made our own booklets about sharks, jellyfish, octopus, whales and many more.

RECEPTION

In Maths we continued to explore measurement. We read ‘How Long is a Whale?’ in our Maths Through Stories and discussed length, size and weight talking about sea animals. We also continued to build on our knowledge of making sums using coins. We are now becoming confident finding change from 10 and 20p- very helpful when we go shopping, indeed!

Last but not least, we had lots of fun exploring the water cycle, flora and fauna of the seas as well as learning about pirates! We took part in a fun Drama workshop ‘Pirates and Mermaids’ by the Performance Theatre Group. We continued our pirate and mermaid adventures in the outdoor area, pretending we are the Pirates on a treasure hunt! What a fun term this has been!

KEY STAGE 1 YEAR 1

Summer 2 was a brilliant term here at Southfield, and a fantastic way for us to mark the end of Year 1.

The Summer 2 half-term began with our Phonics Screening Test, and we are so proud of the amazing results achieved by the year group. The children have worked diligently at their phonics all year, and it was amazing to see the fruits of this in these results!

Week 1 and 2 of this half-term were also busy because of our Jubilee Week (Week 1) and Healthy Lifestyles Week (Week 2). From garden parties to painting wind chimes, Zumba to boxercise, these were two action packed weeks and the children had a whale of a time during both. The Sports Day was a particular highlight of our Healthy Lifestyles Week, and we were very proud to see each and every child taking part, trying their best and – most importantly – having fun!

KEY STAGE 1 YEAR 1

Our much anticipated trip to the Natural History Museum was another highlight of the Summer 2 half-term, as we all had a great day out learning about the past. The children took part in the dinosaur-themed ‘Super Stegosaurus’ workshop, where they had the privilege of getting up close and personal with the famous Dippy the Diplodocus.

In terms of our curricular work, ‘Materials and Magnets’ was the theme of our Science work this half-term, while the children learned all about ‘Parliament and Prime Ministers’ in our History lessons, which proved to be more topical than we might have anticipated at the beginning of the term! We covered a range of different non-fiction themes in our English work this half-term, while in Maths the children continued their work on multiplication and division, before moving on to Measurement. Length, Weight and Capacity were the focuses of this work.

Overall, it has been an unbelievable year in Year 1. We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing group, where each and every child brings something special and different to our Year 1 family. As teachers, we are so proud of how the children have grown over the year. We will miss you all, but can’t wait to see you all flourish in Year 2; Ms Tamber and Ms Kemp are lucky to be getting such a wonderful group.

YEAR 2 Year 2 have had a wonderful Summer Term!

This term, Year 2 completed their Key Stage One SATs. They worked extremely hard and performed exceptionally well. We are so very proud of them and they should feel incredibly proud of themselves for all that they achieved!

The children continued to consolidate their knowledge in their lessons for the duration of the term.

‘Powerful Voices’ was the children’s history topic this term, and we were fortunate enough to attend BFI: Southbank to see Baroness Floella Benjamin talk. She shared her story of coming to a new country at a young age and some of the trials and tribulations she faced. It was an uplifting and inspirational experience.

They also went to ‘The Tate Modern’ Art Museum, where they observed beautiful modern pieces of work and had a try at drawing some of them themselves. In addition to this, the children visited ‘The Globe Theatre’ where they were given a tour of the grounds and then participated in their own performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – they really enjoyed using their drama skills.

YEAR

Both Year 2 classes performed brilliantly in their assemblies. 2 Mozart took their audience through time to the life of Henry VIII and his six wives and 2 Verdi travelled through the digestive system. The children were phenomenal, learning huge amounts of lines, actions and their songs, and it was clearly enjoyed by all.

KEY STAGE 2 YEAR

Key Stage 2

Year 3

Year 2 had a fantastic time during our themed weeks of ‘Healthy Lifestyle’s Week’ and ‘Jubilee Week’. Both were jam-packed, full of activities and workshops and the children had a wonderful time celebrating both.

KEY STAGE 2 YEAR 3 Year 3 have had a brilliant second half of the Summer term filled with an abundance of special activities such as Jubilee week, Healthy Lifestyle Week and also two school trips. One to the Tate Modern and the other to St Paul’s Cathedral where we had a walking tour which was incredible and enjoyed by all.

YEAR 4

In English we have been looking at non-fiction texts and we have learned to write different genres such as biographies, where we write about the Queen, and Instructional Writing. For our instructional writing we were able to link this to our Design and Technology lessons and write out the recipe and method for Tzatziki. I know both classes thoroughly enjoyed this and have told me that they recreated the recipe at home.

In Maths we have been working on our knowledge of fractions. We are working on ordering unit fractions with the same denominator as well as comparing fractions with different denominators. We have also taken time to revisit some topics such as multiplication and time.

Whilst in Creative Writing, the children have been developing their narrative voice, writing their own versions of a series of books based around the school’s TRUE values. In Real Life Maths we put our prior knowledge to the test on our tube tip into London. We were able to plan our route and duration of the journey to successfully reach Blackfriars Station.

Year 4

During our Healthy Lifestyle week, we were able to enjoy a variety of workshops such as Zumba, Cricket, Cheerleading and Japanese Drums. We found all of these activities exciting and both Year 3 classes made us proud with their readiness to try something new.

YEAR 4 It has been such a fantastic second half of the Summer term filled with a wide variety of enjoyable events and activities. Jubilee Week and Healthy Lifestyle Week were a wonderful start to the half term, and we were fortunate to take part in two school trips in one week!

We visited both the Tower of London and Tate Britain, which proved to be two wonderful days out.

YEAR 5

During our Healthy Lifestyle week, we were able to enjoy a variety of workshops such as a Boxercise class, Yoga and Meditation, Tai-Chi and Japanese Drums.

In English we have been focusing on writing non-fiction texts, based on our learning from Jubilee Week and Summer 1. Not only did we write our own fact files about Her Majesty, The Queen, we also all wrote her wonderful letters! We also wrote our own visitor guides to South East London, providing information for tourists on certain cities such as London, Brighton, Canterbury and Dover. We used our knowledge from the previous half term to demonstrate our understanding of this part of the country.

4 Mahler were also thrilled to be able to perform their class assembly to 4 Bach and Year 5, as well as parents and teachers. We decided to tell the story of ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo, our class novel from the Spring term. We enjoyed reading this story together so much and loved following the journey of Michael and Stella as they fell overboard the Peggy Sue and joined Kensuke on the island. We’re so proud of our assembly and we hope you all enjoyed!

Year 5

In Creative Writing, we have continued to develop our narrative voice through writing our own versions of a series of books based around the school’s TRUE values.

In Maths we have been taking a closer look at angles and shapes, as well as interpreting and using data. We completed our Multiplication Tables checks after practising all throughout the year. We’ve all worked hard to get the best score possible, not only at home but at school as well.

It has been such a wonderful and prosperous year for us all in Year 4 and we can’t wait to see the next school year has in store for us!

YEAR 5 In our final half-term, we have scaled the dizzying, fictional, Parisian heights of Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, where we have enjoyed the charming tale of Charles and Sophie Maxim – on their heart-warming quest to search for Sophie’s long-lost mother after she was discovered floating in a cello case in the English Channel as a baby. In Maths, we have mastered long multiplication, explored the divisional depths of short division and navigated through a multitude of fraught, fractional calculations – such as converting mixed numbers into improper fractions and vice-versa, finding equivalent fractions and comparing fractions through equal numerators and different denominators. We have also added and subtracted fractions with mixed numbers and improper fractions – exploring different methods and demonstrating our understanding through mastery and reasoning questions.

YEAR 6

Our historical studies have built on our prior knowledge of the Industrial Revolution into the reign of Queen Victoria, which heralded significant change. We studied a variety of primary sources – from photographs to coroner reports and posters – to uncover the impact of urbanisation on the poor and the grim realities of life in a workhouse after the Poor Law of 1834. We also learnt about those who prospered in an age where Britain pioneered industrial change, culminating in Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851. In Science, we have ventured from space to meteorology. We have learnt about the different layers of the atmosphere and how vital it is to life on Earth – including learning about the Ozone Layer and how it protects us from the Sun’s UV rays at an atomic level. We can also now identify the six air masses the affect the UK weather – although this probably won’t help us predict our seemingly temperamental and changeable weather on these shores!

Year 6

In Art, we have been inspired by our National

YEAR 6 Year 6 have had a massive end to their amazing final year of primary school. This term has been action packed full of trips, extra-curricular activities and of course the much anticipated production.

This term, Year 6 participated in Forest School which they absolutely loved. They enjoyed learning how to make fire using flint and constructing shelters under the watchful eye of the amazing staff at Forest School and parent helpers. They learnt how to make some humbling tea from nature and used tools to whittle, paint and sculpt things out of wood.

Year 6

LEGOLAND was truly the highlight of the term which would not have been possible without our wonderful parent helpers. The day trip was a huge success with pupils participating in a STEM workshop. In the workshop we learnt about forces and gravity and how they impact the rollercoaster at LEGOLAND. Pupils discussed the science behind how it worked with the very knowledgeable leader and then had a chance to use Lego to make simulations of the real life rollercoaster.

To finish off the school year, Year 6 became emotional during their leavers assembly in which they were each greeted by Dr Jones on stage and presented with their Year Book. Pupils were entertained by a slide show which showed photos throughout their time at Southfield Primary School – it was a very moving ceremony. To top it all off, the children were greeted at the bottom of the stairs with the traditional snake formed by all other classes!

Possibly one of the most anticipated events at Southfield Primary School is the Year 6 Production.

Year 6 have been working hard on the production of Oliver! A great amount of work and use of drama techniques saw the production make a huge success of which all pupils and teachers involved in the process can be proud of.

We could not have asked for a more amazing cohort of students – their commitment, resilience, dedication and humour is a credit to them.

‘Ex Corde Vita’

Email: admin@southfield.ealing.sch.uk

Southfield Primary School Bedford Park Chiswick London W4 1BD Tel 020 8994 6173