Book Creator | Curriculum Newsletter

Forthcoming events:

October:
23rd to 27th - Half term holiday
30th - Return to school

November:
1st- Year 1 & 2 Bedtime stories (4:15-5:15pm)
2nd- Reception Bedtime stories (4:15-5:15pm)
3rd - Prospective parent tour (3:30pm)
9th - Year 5 & 6 Cinema trip
14th - Cornish Schools Parliament Day, County Hall, Truro
17th - Year 3 Elm Class Cinema trip
17th - Children In Need day (non-uniform, wear bright colours)
20th - Prospective parent tour (3:30pm)
22nd - Year 2, Year 3 Ash Class & Year 4 Cinema trip
24th - Year 1 Cinema trip

December:
5th - Nursery Christmas Sing-A-Long (2:15pm-3:pm)
6th - Rocksteady Christmas Concert
11th - Year 2 Christmas performance (9am & 3:20pm)
12th - Year 1 Christmas Nativity (9am & 3:20pm)
13th - Year 3 & 4 Christmas performance (9am & 3:20pm)
13th - Reception Class Christingle Service, Charlestown Church (4:30-5pm)
13th - Christmas Jumper Day & Christmas Lunch
19th - Last day of term (2pm finish)

Year 5 & 6 Christmas performances - Date/time to be confirmed

We would welcome any feedback you may have on our half termly newsletters. Please contact the school office using the following email address to share your comments. Thank you.

Email: hello@sandyhill.org.uk

Head of School Welcome

A warm welcome to everyone, including new children and families starting with us this academic year. It's been fantastic to see so many new, smiling faces enjoy welly walks and playtime games, learning to read, sharing 'All about Me' boxes, making lots of new friends and much, much more..... our Nursery and Reception pupils have certainly settled well into school life!

Of course, the start of a new school year brings changes for everyone and all children across the school have been true Sandy Hill STARS, with seamless transitions. As always, even in these first few weeks, there have been many super events and experiences for the children: Blue Peter Badge opportunities for reading (thank you to our parents and carers for your support with this), a fire engine visit, NFU Harvest Festival live, National Marine Aquarium evolution-themed workshop and STEM activities, School Parliament and Eco Warrior manifesto pledges, Macmillan Bake sale, plus wider career experiences bringing learning to life.

Thank you to all our parents/carers and our whole staff team for your continued support which makes all the difference. I look forward to us all continuing to work together to ensure the children have the best possible learning, experiences and opportunities, thriving both academically and in character. I hope you enjoy a safe, happy and fun half term and look forward to welcoming everyone back for the festive half term ahead!

Art

This term for art, our focus is on learning the skill of drawing. We have been learning about using different types of medium in our artwork for example pencils, crayons, pastels and oil pastels. We have all shown great self-motivation and perseverance.

Here is a look at what some year groups have been learning in art this term:

In Early Years, art falls within the 'Expressive Arts and Design' area of learning. Children have explored artists and their work, using this as a stimulus for their own masterpieces and self-portraits.

Year 1 have been learning and experimenting about using different mediums in their art. They have practiced drawing patterns and thicknesses and used them in drawing their own portraits.

Year 5 have been practicing their drawing techniques on drawing faces to finally create their own Edo King. They have learned how to draw the features of their faces and drawn faces to show expression.

Computing

In computing lessons, the children have begun their Internet Safety units across the school and it has been fantastic to hear about the learning from each year group so far. In Key Stage 1, the children have familiarised themselves with the ways in which we can present ourselves online and in real life and had lots of discussions about 'trusted adults' and age related content.

In Key Stage 2, the children have discussed their identity online Vs real life, appropriate content, kind and unkind messages and their overall online reputation. We have also been using the Chromebooks for cross curricular learning with the introduction of Spelling Shed and continuing to use them as a brilliant resource for practising times tables on TTRockstars and taking reading quizzes on Accelerated Reader!

We all enjoyed taking part in a variety of unplugged activities from Barefoot during National Coding Week, from following instructions to build Lego models in Year 4 to creating gratitude trees using algorithms in Year 3.

In exciting news... we have been very fortunate to receive a box of new Micro:bit's through taking part in the BBC Micro:bit Next Generation campaign and we cannot wait to get stuck into using these!

Design and Technology

At the beginning of the term, pupils at Sandy Hill Academy enjoyed the first two DT days of the year! Textiles and Sheet materials was our key area of learning for this half term. The children became immersed in practical, hands-on learning, understanding how to design, make and evaluate products made using these key materials.

Here is a look at what some year groups have been learning in DT this half term:

Year 2 explored a range of pop-up books to support their ability to design their own based on the Tales from Porth story 'Goolan'. They learnt about different moving mechanisms to include in their pop-up books to make their stories come alive!

Year 4 enjoyed using their creative talents to design Celtic purses, whilst learning new skills including using running stitches for seams and stitching on their buttons.

Year 6 became immersed in their World War Two topic of learning during their DT days. They created some fantastic toys and pillows as part of their 'Make Do & Mend' DT sewing project.