Art & DT: Boys are now entering the first stages of their practicals. Year 4 and 5 have started measuring their wood, ready to cut parts out for their picture frames and bento boxes. Year 6 are designing their mazes ready to cut. Year 7 meanwhile are doing some photography for their portrait project and Year 8 have started researching eco-houses, ready to create their own soon.
Computing: In our Computing classes, Year 1 students are gearing up for their TV chef video project, while Year 2 are diving into effective search strategies and introductory coding. Year 3 students are exploring shape drawing with Logo, Year 4 are delving into animation using PowerPoint, and Year 5 boys are busy coding their own football game. Meanwhile, Year 6 boys are engaged in Microbit coding, experimenting with random number generators. Year 7 students are utilizing Excel for modeling various scenarios, and Year 8 are honing their coding skills with Python. The enthusiasm across all year groups for these diverse topics is palpable.
English: In English, Year 3 have been enhancing their creative writing skills by writing about the carnival in Rio De Janeiro and imagining what it would be like to be there! Year 4 have been studying the life of Shakespeare and writing about Elizabethan theatre. Year 5 have been exploring the features, strengths and weaknesses of types of adverts. They have also begun comparing the effect of advertising features on consumers. Year 6 are studying George Orwell's Animal Farm. They have used the text as inspiration for creating passionate pieces of persuasive writing, using a range of classic techniques. Year 7 have explored how Shakespeare presents various forms of love in Act one of Twelfth Night. Year 8 have bounded back after their mock exams and are drafting short stories depicting Victorian understanding of 'madness'.
French: Year 3 have impressed Madame Delhalle with their mid-year assessment results this week. In a 68 mark test, Elijah in 3S scored an outstanding 99% and Aiden achieved an astonishing 100% - what brilliant achievements! Vast numbers of housepoints and crests were given to reward the boys' efforts. Meanwhile, boys in Year 5 have been revising vocabulary for clothes items and tackling some irregular adjective agreements, whilst Year 7 have worked on their future tense writing, looking forward to their Easter holiday plans!
Geography: There has been lots of discussion, questioning, investigating and learning over the last few weeks in geography. The boys have produced some excellent work during their lessons. Year 3 have been leaning all about environment and sustainability with a focus on our school environment. Year 4 have been studying transport with a focus on road safety and the safest routes to school in the local area. Year 5 have been learning about developing and developed countries with a focus on factors that indicate how developed a country is. Year 6 have been learning about the ever-changing weather and different types of rainfall. Year 7 have been reinforcing their knowledge on settlements and different ways land is used. Finally, Year 8 have worked extremely hard on the Common Entrance Mocks and are now focusing on different types of industry and economic activities.
History: Two of our boys have succeeded in reaching the second round of the Townsend Warner Prize which is a challenging test of their general historical knowledge. Kamran in 6S came 37th and Karson in 8MMC came 50th out of 1,275 entries. What an achievement! Year 5 had an exciting day as evacuees last week on their trip. They particularly enjoyed baking carrot cookies using a rationing recipe book. Year 3 are continuing to exploring life in the Shang Dynasty, which happened at the same time as the Bronze Age in Britain. Year 4 have been working hard on creating their own Anglo-Saxon information booklets, following extensive IT research in lessons.
Maths: This week in the Upper School, our boys competed in the first round of the Inter House Math Challenge. Each year group had to answer 20 questions in under 40 minutes with each question becoming more challenging than the Last. All boys did incredibly well and put their critical thinking skills to the test. Congratulations to all boys who progressed through to the finals, they will be representing their Houses in the final of the Inter-house Maths Challenge on the 14th March. 38 boys in Years 5 and 6 also competed in the bonus round of the Primary Mathematical Challenge. They performed incredibly well achieving, 14 bronze, 10 silver, and 2 gold badges. In addition to this, all boys have been busy preparing and revising key units in preparation for next week's Spring term assessments.
P.E. & Games: The hockey season got into full swing this week with every year group in action against local schools. The U13 squads won all three matches with the A team dominating the play in the first half against Kingswood House. Arthur and Keller were superb and secured the 10-7 win. The B team played fantastically well winning 6-0. Petro controlled midfield and Aaron was prolific up front, Henry scored a great late goal to seal a super victory. The C team also won 3-0 with Zachary scoring two goals in his very first hockey match. The Year 3 boys played hockey at home and all enjoyed some fun mini matches and Year 6 teams were unbeaten winning all three matches against Reigate. Year 5 play today away against Weston Green, good luck boys!
Science: From investigating action men parachute jumps to the hearing ranges of different animals, the labs, as ever, have been a busy place for learning through experiments. Year 3 have just started the rocks and soils topic in which they will be learning about how different types of rocks form and the properties of different soils. In Year 4 boys have either been continuing with the sound topic and learning about how sound travels through different mediums, or they have been learning about changes of state. Year 5 have either been continuing with their parachute investigation, learning about renewable energy resources and how our use of non-renewable resources impacts our planet, or learning about different types of cells. Year 6 have investigated neutralisation and how effective different indigestion tablets are. Year 7 boys have either been learning about the reflection and refraction of light, or how different instruments create different sounds and the difference between ultrasound and infra sound. Year 8 had a very successful week completing their science mock exams last week and have since continued with their forces topic.
STEAM: In STEAM Year 1 have been investigating which materials are best to make a polytunnel. Year 3 have started to plan their model fairground rides and Year 4 are enjoying making their own computer games using pixel art. Year 5 are just finishing their Leaders Award and have started to learn to code Lego models, and Year 6 are just about to embark on a new cross-curricular activity with PE!
