20th March '26

We can't believe that we only have one more week to go until we break up for the Easter holidays. We hope that some of you are able to join us next Wednesday for our Easter Service in church.

There has been lots happening this week. We started with forest school on Monday for Year 1 and Year 2. There was lots on den making, playing in the pond, a hunt for different objects and sawing. The children all used a hacksaw to cut up their piece of wooden dowel in preparation for making the axles on their cars that they have designed.

In Literacy the Year 2 children wrote their non-chronological reports about a made up animal, for example a "cog". This made up animal is a mix of a dog and a cat. The children wrote about where their animal lived, what they looked like, what they liked to eat etc. The children used sub-headings in their report and had to think of a fun fact for at the end. They were very imaginative!

In our spelling lessons, Year 2 have been thinking about words that end in "y" and what happens when you add "es" to the end. The "y" changes to an "i". For example, I fly, he flies or one strawberry but two strawberries.

Science and design and technology were linked this week. The children in Year 1 and Year 2 finally started to make their cars that they had designed using the knowledge gained from their scientific investigations. We used cardboard to make the body of the car as it is stronger than paper and it is flexible. The children also made a "chassis" from cardboard. This will support their wheels and axles which we will put together next week. The axles will be made from wood because wood is rigid. The children didn't want the axle to bend.

In maths, Year 2 were introduced to the division symbol. This was linked with grouping. The children had to think about how many items they had to start and then put them into equal groups of a specific number. They then had to see how many groups they would be able to make.

For example, I have 15 apples and I put them in bags of 5. How many bags will I have? The children would draw the apples in groups of 5 until they reached 15. This drawing then shows how many groups you would have. We then looked at counting up in steps of 2, 5 or 10 to also find the number of groups. With the apple problem, you would count in 5s along the number line. Each jump of 5, represented a bag of 5 apples  - 5, 10, 15. They would need 3 jumps. This meant 15 divided by 5 equals 3. We then thought about how 3 x 5 = 15.

Please continue helping your child with their 2x, 5x and 10x tables. It was lovely to hear at parents' evening how much the children were enjoying TT Rockstars at home.

We could hardly believe that the day had arrived, as Year 1 and Year 2 came excitedly through the gate and into their classrooms, the rooms were full of excitement......anticipation.......and of course.....high vis jackets! This could only mean one thing it was time for us to go full STEAM ahead and make our way back in time and see our History come to life!

When we arrived we were given an introduction to the museum and learnt that originally most of the area was farmland before the area was used to build trains!

We couldn't believe how loud the works hooter was and were amazed to here that they are soon celebrating the 40th anniversary of the works closing! We even got to have a go at turning the wheel to make the works hooter sound and imagine what it would be like hearing it everyone morning, we weren't too sure how we would feel about it!

It was then time to explore deeper into the museum and see how the trains were made, from the crafting of the parts of the train to the making of the carriages, we were all fascinated by how much work went into making these incredible machines....

As we moved through the museum our eyes grew wider as did the noises of excitement!

One of our favourite moments was when we got to see the Caerphilly Castle Train and actually go underneath it! It was an amazing experience, for some of us we had never even seen a train before, let alone seen a train that close up! Wow....what a moment to share together

We even got a chance to 'drive' our very own train and what a fantastic job we did! Full team ahead!

After all the excitement of the morning it was soon time for lunch, which we were certainly ready for! In the afternoon we took part in a workshop that took us back in time to the beginning of the railways, where we enjoyed learning all about the History through a story. We even got the dress up, with some of us taking on the role of the famous father and son Robert and George Stephenson, Brunel and Daniel Gooch as well as of course some workers!

Just look at how much fun we had at our workshop...................... 

We really can't think of a better way to end the week! It truly was 'living life in all it's fullness' and was such a pleasure spending a day with all of the children who soaked up every experience possible during the day, we can't wait for our next adventure. It was so lovely to hear them saying "When can we go back?" and "That was the best day ever!" 

We had a wonderful time making memories together!

Have a wonderful weekend making more memories together, we can't believe there's only one more week till Easter!

Don't forget that next Wednesday is our Church service!