Teaching Team: Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Mrs Chavush and Mrs Bullen

willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Term 3! The adults working with your child this term will be Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Mrs Chavush, Mrs Bullen and Mrs Chadwick.

Our topic this term is ‘What is the same and what is different?’ Our topic work will form the basis for our learning related to the Time and Place curriculum on Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, our Science work on seasonal changes and animal groups and our Computing topics about programming a robot and sorting data.

During Term 3, as part of English and Communication work, we will be learning about non-chronological reports and how to write them. We will be using labels, lists and captions to record our ideas. We will also be discussing the difference between fiction and non-fiction texts. During Term 4, we will be planning and writing a superhero narrative.

In our Time and Place lessons, we will be learning about significant individuals who have contributed to national and international achievements, such as Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, and thinking about how their lives were different to modern day life in terms of transport, communication, housing, hygiene and supplies.

In Science lessons, we will be learning about animals including humans and finding out about different animal groups and their characteristics. We will also be learning about seasonal changes from winter to spring and will make a weather chart to look at how the two seasons differ.

In our Design and the Arts lessons, we will be mixing primary colours to create secondary colours and will be adding white to colours to create different tints. During the term, we will be looking at the work of Miranda Lloyd and her use of line and colour in her artwork. We will also be looking at ‘The Great Wave of Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai and some of the artwork of Alma Thomas, Romero Britto and Beatriz Milhazes. We will be looking at their use of geometric shapes, patterns, colour and collage and use these as inspiration for our own artwork.

In Maths, we will be learning about place value within 20, addition and subtraction for numbers up to 20 and place value for numbers up to 50. We will also be learning how to measure length, height, weight and volume. 

In our RE lessons, we will be learning about Christianity and the concepts of Gospel: What is the Good News that Jesus brings? (Term 3) and Salvation: Why does Easter matter to Christians? (Term 4).

In our Sport, Exercise and Health lessons, we will be developing our gymnastics skills, performing dance routines to explore movements to music, learning about team building and practising how to send and receive a ball.

In our Computing lessons, we will be learning about how to move a Beebot robot by programming commands into its control pad (Term 3). In Term 4, we will be learning how to put data into groups according to observable features.

Just a few reminders:

PE Kit

This term PE will be on a Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning.  PE Kits should include a house T-shirt, shorts and plimsolls or trainers. Long tracksuit-type trousers are useful in the winter months for outside PE. Ideally your child’s PE kit should be in school every day. Long hair needs to be tied back for PE so please ensure your child wears a hairband to school. Ideally earrings should not be worn on PE days or will need to be removed prior to the PE lesson. If your child is unable to remove their own earrings, please provide some microporous tape so the earrings can be covered. Please ensure that your child’s belongings are labelled.

Water Bottles

Please make sure your child brings a labelled water bottle to school every day. We kindly ask that bottles are filled with water only rather than juices or squash. Please do speak to us if this is an issue.

Drop off and Collection Arrangements                                                                           

Children should arrive at school between 8:30am and 8:45am and go into school via the Willow Class outside area. If you arrive after 8:45am, please send your child via the main entrance/office so that we are aware they have arrived and can make sure their lunch choice is recorded.                                                                                     

At the end of the school day (3:15pm), the children will come out via the Willow Class outside area and will need to identify who is picking them up before they go out of the gate. The playground can become quite congested so please move away from the outside gate once you have collected your child. If someone else is collecting your child after school, please tell a staff member in the morning or telephone the school office if arrangements change during the day.

Toys and Games

We ask that toys and games from home are not brought into school. The children are provided with pencils and paper so do not need to bring these in from home.

If you have any concerns or queries about information included in this letter or any other matter relating to your child’s education, please do not hesitate to contact us via the class email address: willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk. 

Many thanks,

Mrs Pring and the Willow Class Team