UKS2 – Newsletter – 19/01/24

It has been a busy week in UKS2!

In Forest School, UKS2 participated in an event run by the charity organisation Samaritans called ‘Brew Monday.’ The third Monday in January is sometimes referred to as ‘the most difficult day of the year’ or ‘blue Monday.’ Knowing this isn’t true, the Samaritans say it’s time to stop this myth about Monday being ‘blue’ and instead start a conversation over a brew by reaching out and connecting with either family, friends, colleagues and loved ones to chat, listen and laugh. Therefore, in our sessions today, all the pupils in UKS2 had the chance to do just that! Using the kelly kettles and their fire lighting skills, pupils created a mixture of hot beverages including a fruity tea using blackberries, raspberries or blueberries or a mint tea using lemon mint or mint leaves from plants in our school kitchen garden. Pupils split their team into three, one to light and build the fire, one to prepare the drinks and one to split wood into thinner strips using bill hooks. After an hour in the cold, we found there was nothing more satisfying than a hot drink to warm the hands and body! 

In maths, Year 6 pupils worked in pairs to answer a number of    reasoning questions based on angles. They needed to use their prior knowledge to help them answer the questions. This included; angles on a straight line add to 180°, angles about a point add to 360°,  opposite angles are equal and angles in a triangle add to 180°.

All pupils managed to complete the questions to a high standard and showed of all their working out!

Today in PE, UKS2 completed their second session of their new topics. In badminton, the children progressed from the underarm clear to the overarm clear. Once they had developed their skills in performing each stroke, they were challenged to put these into continuous rallies. 

In dance, the children continued with their sequences, focusing 0n rhythm, teamwork and communication. They adapted and improved their routines, by including new features such as jumps, kicks, slides and moving in different directions. 

In English, the children in UKS2 used Now>Press>Play to gather more information about Charles Darwin’s journey aboard HMS Beagle. After listening to the experience on the interactive headsets, the children added further information to their timelines of Darwin’s journey.