Junior Music Festival 2026

The main highlight of our week was undoubtedly taking part in the Junior Music Festival at The Hexagon in Reading on Friday evening.

For many months, the children have been learning the songs for this year's theme, Making Waves. It was wonderful to see all of their hard work finally come together in such a spectacular performance.

I am incredibly proud of the Owls. Friday was a very long day, with rehearsals throughout the afternoon before the evening performance. The weather was warm, but the children showed fantastic perseverance, resilience and enthusiasm throughout the day. They behaved impeccably at The Hexagon and were a real credit to themselves and our school.

The performance itself was phenomenal. The children sang with confidence, energy and joy, and it was lovely to see them performing alongside hundreds of children from schools across West Berkshire. The atmosphere was incredible and the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

A huge thank you to Mrs Oberholzer, who took over the music preparations this term and has worked hard to help the children learn and memorise the song lyrics, actions and sign language during their music lessons. Her patience and commitment ensured that the children felt confident and well prepared for their performance.

I would also like to mention the incredibly talented Katie Minien, whose musical direction helped bring the whole festival together. It was a wonderfully organised event and a fantastic celebration of music.

Finally, thank you to all the parents for their support. The children looked fantastic in their sea-themed costumes and accessories. The colourful outfits, headbands and creative touches made the evening even more special.

We are incredibly proud to have received our Junior Music Festival certificate but, more importantly, we are proud of every single child who took part. They were absolutely brilliant.

Science Week

One of the highlights of this week was our whole-school Science Day. The day began with an assembly led by Mrs Chapman, who introduced the children to the exciting Great Egg Drop Challenge.

The children then worked in their house teams to design and build a device that would protect a raw egg from a three-metre drop. They could only use a limited selection of materials, so they had to think carefully, work together and solve problems as a team.

Throughout the challenge, the children explored scientific concepts such as gravity and air resistance. It was wonderful to see them discussing ideas, testing designs and learning from their mistakes.

The house captains did a fantastic job leading their groups and helping everyone work together. There was a real buzz around the school and the children thoroughly enjoyed finding out whether their egg protectors were successful.

A huge thank you to Mrs Chapman for organising such a fun and engaging day for the whole school.

 Shakespeare

This term, we are reading What's So Special About Shakespeare? by Michael Rosen as part of our English learning.

The book introduces the children to the life of William Shakespeare in a fun and engaging way. They have particularly enjoyed the humorous illustrations throughout the book and have loved spotting the references to some of Shakespeare's famous plays.

So far, we have read up to Chapter 2 and have already learned a great deal about Shakespeare and the world he lived in. One part of our learning that really captured the children's imagination was learning about the Globe Theatre. They were fascinated to discover that the original theatre was carefully dismantled and transported across the River Thames to Southwark, where it was rebuilt.

Many of the children could not believe that an entire theatre could be taken apart and moved to a different location!

To help bring our learning to life, we explored a virtual tour of the Globe Theatre and looked at photographs of what it looks like today. The children were fascinated by the open-air design and enjoyed imagining what it would have been like to watch one of Shakespeare's plays over 400 years ago.

Over the coming weeks, we will continue to use the book to learn more about Shakespeare's life and achievements. Our final writing outcome for this unit will be a biography about William Shakespeare, where the children will use the facts they have gathered from the text to write their own informative piece.

We look forward to sharing more of our learning with you as the term progresses.
 

Reminders for Next Week

With temperatures expected to reach 35°C next week, please ensure that your child comes to school prepared for the hot weather.

Please remember to:

• Apply sunscreen before school

• Send your child with a named sun hat or cap

• Ensure they bring a named water bottle filled with water each day

• Children may wear their summer school uniform

We will be encouraging the children to drink plenty of water throughout the day and will make use of shaded areas wherever possible.

Thank you for your continued support. We hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to another exciting week of learning.