Summer Term 2 has started beautifully! The children returned to school refreshed, excited, taller and, for many in Year1, with lots of new teeth! 

In school, we are busy preparing the children for the transition into their new year groups and also welcoming the new Reception cohort. Mrs Hand is daily unpacking the new resources for the next academic year too. Thank you, Mrs Hand!

Attendance to date is 95% – just slightly below the school target of 96%. 

We are so proud of every child. Here are some highlights from the first two weeks of the term. 

Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild are delighted with the learning in Reception. Every day, the children are growing in confidence and independence too. Here are a few highlights from the past two weeks:

Drawing Club and Literacy

Last week in Drawing Club, we read The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord. Using the vocabulary ‘ginormous, the children drew the wasps, how the villagers could catch the wasps and a different insect that would visit the village.

This week, we have read Superworm by Julia Donaldson. Using the vocabulary ‘heroic’, the children have drawn Superworm, Superworm’s sidekick and the wishing well. We are so proud of how the children continue to challenge themselves with their writing!

Communication & Language

Reception have been learning how to be a good ‘talk partner’ on the carpet, and they have been practising having two-way conversations to describe an ‘I can see’ picture. Reception first watched Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild show them how to be a good talk partner, before practising it themselves. Reception know that they must sit knee to knee and look at their partner when they are talking and listening. We will continue to use talking partners to stimulate discussion and encourage a two-way conversation. Well done Reception!

Phonics and Reading

Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild are so proud of how the Reception children are applying their knowledge of phase 4 phonics to write words of increasing complexity! The children loved completing different writing challenges, including ‘crack the code’ where they identified initial sounds to create a phase 4 word. Great work everyone! Our Reception children love to write, and they do not stop practising independently in the provision.

Our Reception readers are fantastic! Their fluency, comprehension and decoding are incredible – it is a pleasure to read with them at school! Please remember to sign the reading diaries when the children read their phonics book at home.

Mathematics

In Maths, we have finished our learning about patterns. We have used loose parts to finish, copy, and create complex patterns, sometimes even starting mid-repeat! We have also been practising movement and sound patterns in the hall. We enjoyed taking it in turns to model a pattern for our friends to copy. This week, we have started to look at maps and directional language. We have been making maps in the small world provision. We have also enjoyed working in groups to programme the bee-bots using positional language such as forwards, backwards, left, and right.

PSHE

In PSHE, we have learnt about what exercise is, why it is important, and how it can help our body. Reception knew lots about exercise, and they enjoyed telling Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild about the ways they love to exercise! Their favourites include running, swimming, boxing, riding a bike, walking and gymnastics! They learnt about what happens to our bodies during exercise, and they felt our hearts and heads before and after completing small exercises. In the provision, Reception enjoyed doing push-ups and squats to build their muscles!
This week, we have learnt about how yoga can help our bodies to stretch, relax and stay healthy. At the end of the session, we explored guided relaxation by practising some belly breathing techniques.

Literacy Tree

In Literacy Tree, we have been enjoying the delightful story Stanley’s Stick. On our very first day back, we discovered a mysterious magic stick on the classroom carpet! The children’s imaginations came alive as they decided what their sticks could be - from flutes and microphones to walking sticks, magic wands and even hair curlers! After reading the story, the children have used it as inspiration for their writing. They have been learning to join their ideas using the conjunction ‘and’, and have written in role as Stanley, creating thoughtful thought bubbles and imaginative postcards from his perspective. Their writing is becoming increasingly accurate, and we are so impressed with how their handwriting is improving week by week.

Maths

In Maths, we began the summer term exploring position and direction. The children have learned about quarter turns, half turns and full turns, and they had great fun going into the hall to practise their left and right with the Cha Cha Slide and the Hokey Cokey! They also followed instructions carefully to guide a teddy around a grid treasure map and enjoyed singing ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ to help learn about ordinal numbers. We have now moved on to place value within 100, where the children have been practising counting in tens and reinforcing their skills through games such as snakes and ladders.

Phonics and Reading

In Reading and Phonics, the children continue to go from strength to strength. Their fluency is developing beautifully, and it has been wonderful to hear them beginning to naturally use expressions when reading aloud, really bringing stories to life. We are incredibly proud of how hard they all worked during the phonics screening check – every single child approached it with such a positive attitude and determination, and they truly made us proud. We cannot wait to share the results with you in the coming weeks! In our phonics lessons, we are now nearing the end of our Grow the Code chart, and the children are so excited as they realise they are “completing” all the different sounds. It is fantastic to see their confidence and independence as readers continue to flourish.

Music

In Music, we have been learning all about tempo! The children had to move around the room pretending to be deep sea divers, dolphins and turtles moving to the speed of the music. They had to listen carefully to hear if the tempo changed. 

History

In History, our budding explorers have been learning all about real-life adventurers! The children have thought carefully about where they would go and what they would discover if they were explorers themselves. They have also come up with some fantastic questions for Dame Ellen MacArthur and Mary Kingsley, including, “How did you sleep on the boat on your own?” and “What was your favourite animal in Africa?” We love seeing their curiosity and thoughtful questioning develop!

Computing

This term, the children were introduced to the on-screen programming – ScratchJr. Using the Chromebooks, the children have designed their own sprites and backgrounds. Skilfully, they have created animations using programming blocks. In two weeks, the progress made by all has been outstanding!

Sports Premium 

This term, we have been granted a sum of money to enhance the provision of PE in school. In consultation with the children, we have purchased a range of resources to make lunchtime and playtimes more active and fun. 

It is wonderful to see so many children walking, biking and scootering to school. Please be extra mindful on rainy days about parking.

If you need to drive to school, if possible, please park on Eagle Drive and avoid parking directly outside of school. 

Thank you for your co-operation.

During the week 29th June -3rd July, GVPA will be participating in Festival Week alongside the nine other Fierte Trust schools and other schools across Tamworth. 

In school, Miss Phoebe and Pip were incredible choreographing our dance, which we will perform at Tamworth Castle Grounds on Saturday 4th July.

For further information about the Trust, please use this link: Fierté Multi-Academy Trust - Home

Telephone: 01827 214630

Office Email: office@gardenvillage.fierte.org

Headteacher / SENCO: headteacher@gardenvillage.fierte.org