Life in the Junior School

Welcome to Reception

We were excited to welcome our new Reception children to WGJS in September, the second year of Infants at WGS and an extremely popular entry point with growing waiting lists! Mrs Samra joined us as our new Reception teacher and she has been a fantastic addition to the Junior School team. Reception have settled in wonderfully, adjusting to new routines and proudly wearing their new school uniform. They have even ventured off site for their weekly swimming lessons.

In the first half of term, the children had fun learning about each other in their ‘All About Me’ topic. They painted their own self-portraits and also had a visit from Bob the Senior School skeleton to help them learn about different body parts!

Recently, as part of their topic ‘Changing of seasons and celebrations’, they discussed harvest and participated in a bread making session, also linking in with the story of The Little Red Hen. The children learnt about instructional language, following a list of instructions to make their own piece of bread and then taking a turn at writing their own instructions. Well done Reception!

Communication Through Time

Year 2 have been looking at different types of communication and the ways in which people have communicated over the years. The children watched a film about the carrier pigeon and discovered that pigeons were used to deliver information and even medical supplies during the First World War. For a long time this method of communication was able to evade enemy detection. The children made their own 3D pigeon and attached a message to its leg. Year 2 have also looked at telegrams and the invention of the telephone. They had a go at making a simple version of a telephone using plastic cups and string. It was a real surprise to find out they could hear each other even with this primitive version of the modern-day telephone.

A Majestic Learning Experience!

Congratulations to Mr Griffiths

Appointed as Deputy Head of WGJS, James is now in his 8th year at Wolverhampton Grammar School and during his time in the Junior School he has taught as a Class Teacher in Years 4, 6 and Reception as well as being a Games and Maths Coordinator and Assistant Head for the

Year 1 royally enjoyed their topic work on the splendour of ‘Castles, Kings and Queens’. They explored the different parts of a castle and talked about who might have lived there. They studied kings and queens throughout history and made shields and model castles based on what they had learnt. A highlight was the trip to Warwick Castle where Year 1 were toured by a historian, looking around the castle grounds, moat and armoury and feeling the weight of a large sword which was almost the same size as them. A falconry display was also taking place, so the children were able to learn about many different birds of prey.

The Victorians

Year 5 have been learning all about the Victorian era in Humanities this term. They began by focusing on Queen Victoria, researching her childhood, coronation, reign and relationship with Albert. They learnt lots of interesting facts using videos, podcasts and a range of different websites. As the term progressed the children looked at other related topics including the top ten Victorian inventions that remain influential in our lives today, the different toys that children would have played with, the tough existence of the workhouses and the Industrial Revolution.

Life in Ancient Egypt

Year 3 had a fascinating morning exploring the world of Ancient Egypt with Birmingham Museums. In two special online sessions the children were able to immerse themselves in the world of Ancient Egypt thanks to the wonders of technology.

In the first session our museum guide was able to talk about artefacts that were thousands of years old and some had been sent to school for the children to hold and touch in the classroom. She described the different uses for the artefacts and the materials that would

Finally, history came to life in a funpacked visit to the Black Country Museum where the children were able to experience Victorian life first hand. The day started with a show in which everyone learnt a lot more about how tough it was to be sent to work down in the mines. After this, everyone headed off to explore the different types of Victorian houses before experiencing the strict regime of a Victorian classroom.

They discovered that school life was very different in those days and were very glad that they had Miss Austin and Miss Bassett rather than the rather formidable canebearing school mistress that took the lesson that day!

Vikings

have been used to make them. Next the children were treated to an interactive guided tour of the Egyptian Gallery in the Museum. The children were particularly struck by the close-up of two real life Egyptian mummies.

They were able to view x-rays of the mummies and see inside the sarcophagus. Following the museum session Year 3 have been making their own canopic jars from clay. Canopic jars were used to store the entrails and other visceral organs extracted before the bodies were embalmed.

Year 4 have had a busy term learning all there is to know about the Vikings! From long boats, to houses, Viking portraits to weaponry there has been plenty of cross-curricular work involved. The children looked at different Viking settlements and villages and learnt that some of the street and town names are still around today. In English they read The Saga of Erik the Viking by Terry Jones and used their imagination to write their own chapter of the book.

Here is a short extract from the chapter written by Siddak Ghuman:

“It had been a day and the storm was raging and the hail stones were chucking it down like mad giants crying unstoppably. Then Sven the Strong cried, “There’s an island over there!” Just through the thick hail you could make out a minute island on the horizon. When they reached the island they all hiked up the mountain, which was rocky and steep, then they started hunting for wild boar, passing through lush green forests…”