As part of our expedition, The Power of Play, we have had a fantastic time taking part in our Construction Crew! We stepped into the roles of builders, designers and inventors, using our creativity and imagination to bring our ideas to life. We worked together as a crew, taking turns and supporting our friends to solve problems. We showed teamwork and craftsmanship and quality as we designed cars, castles, houses, airplanes, spaceship and rockets.
We have been inspired by the wonderful story The Bog Baby and have been busy getting creative with our own Bog Baby sculptures!
Using clay, we carefully pinched, pulled, rolled and moulded the clay to bring our very own Bog Babies to life. This was a fantastic way to strengthen our finger and hand muscles as we worked with the clay. We had to use lots of concentration and perseverance to shape our creatures exactly how we wanted them.
Once our Bog Babies had dried, we picked up our paintbrushes and brought them to life with colour! 🎨 We are so proud of our finished creations and loved seeing all the different personalities and designs that emerged.
We have also been creating our very own bluebell meadow inspired by the beautiful setting in the story. 💙🌸 We experimented with different creative techniques to create different effects, thinking carefully about the colours, shapes and textures we could use.
As part of our expedition, “How do we show we care?”, we have been thinking carefully about all the different ways we can show kindness, care and love.
This has led us to look beyond our classroom and think about the living creatures that share our school grounds with us. We talked about how we can care for the minibeasts, bugs and birds that we find outside and wondered what we could do to make our outdoor space even more welcoming for them.
We decided to take action and created a brand-new Nature Nook in our outdoor space!
Our Nature Nook has sparked so much curiosity, wonder and excitement. The children have loved exploring, observing and carefully looking after the creatures they discover. We have found ladybirds, butterflies, caterpillars, worms and many other fascinating minibeasts!
Most importantly, the children have been showing genuine care and love for the tiny creatures around them. They have been handling them gently, watching where they crawl and talking about what they might need to live and thrive.
It has been wonderful to see our children not just talking about caring, but putting their ideas into action. Our Nature Nook is already becoming a very special part of our outdoor space — a place where curiosity grows, discoveries are made and kindness is shown to even the smallest creatures.
This week, Class 5 have been thinking about what it means to be a global player. We talked about how children all around the world play different games and how, even though the games might look very different, play is something that can bring people together wherever we live.
We became game explorers and tried out some traditional games from different parts of the world. We had lots of fun learning new rules, practising our skills and encouraging one another.
🇰🇷 Gonggi – South Korea
We used five counters. Four counters were placed on the floor and one was thrown gently into the air. While it was in the air, we had to pick up a counter from the floor and then catch the one we had thrown. Once we mastered one, we challenged ourselves to pick up two, three and eventually four at a time!
🐓 Luta de Galo – Brazil
We played a gentle, non-contact version of this Brazilian balance game. Standing opposite a partner, we balanced on one leg with our arms crossed like a rooster. We could flap our “wings” and make funny rooster movements to try to make our partner wobble — but without touching them! We then swapped legs and tried again.
⭐ Jacks
We used a small ball and five counters to play our own version of Jacks. We threw the ball gently into the air, picked up one counter and caught the ball before it landed. Once we had practised, we challenged ourselves to pick up two or more counters at a time. This one definitely tested our hand-eye coordination!
🌋 The Floor is Lava!
For this challenge, the floor became lava! Working in teams, we had to use hoops, spots or mats as stepping stones to get everyone safely from one side of the room to the other. We couldn’t touch the floor, so we had to talk, plan, listen and work together. We soon discovered that the best solution wasn’t always the quickest one!
After playing all of the games, the children completed a page in their Play Passport to record their experience of being a Global Player. We talked about which games we enjoyed, the skills we used and what we had discovered about play in different places around the world.
The Play Passports are staying safely in school, but Class 5 can still be your teachers at home! Ask them which game was their favourite and see if they can teach you how to play it. You might even have the equipment you need already — counters, a small ball and some hoops or pieces of paper are enough to get started.
We wonder which game your family will choose! 🌍❤️
This week Nursery children have been thinking about, what does caring for animals look like? The children were immersed in pond life through the exciting and magical text, “The Bog Baby”.
In the story two little girls capture a “Bog Baby” from the pond in Bluebell Woods and take him home in a jar. Although the girls love and try to care for the creature, unfortunately he becomes sick. The Nursery children compassionately thought about why he became ill….Would a Bog Baby really eat cake? Live in clean water with shells? Or be walked on a lead?
We learned a super simple song about pets, which sang all about regular pets, but then suggested that someone might have a pet lion. The children were questioned whether a lion would make a good pet? They decided it would not with some of the following reasons; “It would eat you”, “It would scratch”, “It’d be too big” and “It would smash your house”. This showed good reasoning and we were then Slinky Linky Snakes and linked this back to the Bog Baby; as a Lion and a Bog Baby are both wild animals and would be better in their natural environments where they are safe and can live their healthiest lives.
The children worked collaboratively to create two large pieces artwork of the Bog Baby which they have decorated to add extra magic.
They have also created their own Bog Baby that they can take home and care for using salt dough. Each child sculpted and decorated their Bog Baby individually, making choices about how they would decorate it. They are adorable, just look at our beautiful work!
As part of our Tranquil Tuesday Crew the children we introduced to The Tales Tool Kit resource which helps children create and structure stories, developing language and excitement through 4 key points; character, setting, problem and solution. Our stories were focused around animals which weren’t pets this week to link in with our expedition.
Our Thoughtful Thursday Crew engaged the children in a step by step tutorial of drawing their own Bog Babies, following the teacher model. Their listening and attention was superb, almost as good as their artwork! To check in we consolidated whether or not the Bog Baby Would prefer to live in clean or dirty water? The children expressed their opinions and gave reasons for their answers confirming that he would prefer to be in the pond, in the mud, water and plants.
Just a magical week Nursery, You are Being Kind, Working Hard and Getting Smart!!
On Monday, the week beginning the 14th September the Nursery children were greeted by our “Kindness Elves” who had brought them another text and some buckets? The children were excited to know why the elves had brought them a pair of buckets.
As we investigated further into our first case study of what does caring look like? The children explored the text “Have you filled a bucket today?” I was talking about emotional buckets and the children were very excited to think that they each had an invisible bucket. We thought about what we could fill our buckets up with and the children suggested; “water”, “sand”, “slime”, “dinosaurs”, “worms” and “sea creatures”. After reading the text it became clear that we needed to fill each others buckets with happiness and kindness, which would in turn fill up our own buckets. We thought hard about how we could do this and the children were guided and encouraged to sort things that may fill up their or other peoples buckets or also quickly empty them.
We all tried to adopt the name of being a “Bucket Filler” by being caught doing kind things for our friends and grown ups in class. When the children were caught being kind or spreading happiness, they made it onto the Kindness bucket list and were given the title of a “Bucket Filler!” Our class bucket was bursting!
The children made their friends or special people out of pebbles, using their fine motor and creative skills to show who filled up their buckets. They also produced some beautiful drawings inside a bucket, of things that made them happy and filled their buckets. Great work Nursery!
We had a wonderful Outdoor Crew this morning, making the most of the beautiful sunshine! We started by circling up together for our check-in, taking some time to connect, share and enjoy being together outdoors.
We then had lots of fun taking part in Mrs Jackson’s nature scavenger hunt, exploring our surroundings and seeing what we could discover. It was lovely to see everyone working together, sharing ideas and enjoying the fresh air.
A brilliant morning of connection, teamwork, exploration and lots of sunshine and smiles!
What a wonderful week our Reception children have had exploring and learning in the great outdoors! It has been fantastic to see our youngest children showing such enthusiasm and developing their independence as they settle into life at school.
Through a range of outdoor activities, the children have been developing their teamwork, resilience and determination. They have worked together to build exciting obstacle courses, putting their coordination, balancing and problem-solving skills to the test. They have also been practising the letters they have been learning in their phonics sessions, taking their learning outdoors in a fun and engaging way.
There has been plenty of opportunity to get active too, with the children enjoying team games such as football and cricket, as well as activities designed to keep them moving and fit.
Perhaps most special of all has been watching new friendships begin to blossom. It has been lovely to see the children’s confidence growing each day as they become more familiar with their new surroundings, make new friends and discover all that Reception has to offer.
We are incredibly proud of how well our Reception children are settling in and can’t wait to see what adventures and learning opportunities the coming weeks bring!
Our children have been exploring both indoor and outdoor environments, using their creativity and imagination to make marks in all sorts of different ways during choosing time.
Choosing time is such an important part of Early Years. It is when children have the opportunity to lead their own learning, follow their interests and apply the skills they have been developing in meaningful, purposeful ways. This is when we often see real learning taking place!
It has been wonderful to see our children understanding that we can make our marks everywhere! We have spotted:
Children writing their own kindness messages in our Message Centre.
Children creating their own wonderful paintings and pictures in our Painting Area.
Children making amazing models in our Construction Area and then writing labels.
Children writing a special sign for our bug house outside.
Children recording their mathematical ideas through recording.
We love seeing children realise that writing isn’t just something we do during a handwriting lesson. Writing has a purpose everywhere! Whether it is leaving a message for a friend, labelling a model, creating a sign or recording an idea, our children are beginning to see themselves as writers.
We have also started our daily handwriting sessions, and we have been blown away by the children’s concentration and enthusiasm! We have been learning all about our 4 P’s:
Posture – sitting comfortably and being ready to write.
Pencil grip – holding our pencil in a way that helps us to write effectively.
Paper – making sure our paper is in the right position.
Pressure – using just the right amount of pressure when we make our marks.
It is wonderful to see how much pride the children are already taking in their handwriting. They have shown fantastic concentration and are working so hard to develop the foundations they need to become confident writers.
Keep making your mark, Class 1!
Yesterday Y2 undertook amazing fieldwork to Doncaster Gallery, Library and Museum where we dove head first into toys through time.
Throughout the morning, Class Six spent their time in the Timeline Of Toys workshop. We discovered what the oldest toy ever was, how the teddy bear got its name and even about Doncaster’s special link to Paddington Bear. After all of our amazing learning we even got to explore and play with lots of different toys – we covered everything from diablos and pick up sticks to stacking dolls and marbles. We had the best morning!
In the afternoon, we spent our time wandering around the museum and art gallery. We look at fossils, dinosaur eggs, oil paintings and even a real life sun bear!
The children were all absolutely amazing, they listened, showed respect and were incredible mascots for our school. They should be incredibly proud of themselves! We are so so proud of them!!
