Larch: Spring 2, week 6, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 3rd Apr 2025 @ 10:36am

The Easter holidays are almost upon us! Well done everyone for all of your hard work over the past six weeks, you all deserve a well-earned rest.

We began our week by completing our star write all about the Vikings, discussing the question 'were the Vikings truly vicious?' through the form of a formal information text. I can't wait to mark these over the holidays and may well be sending some copies hom for parents to read! On Tuesday, we had our SATs parent meeting so a big thank you to all of those who attended. On Wednesday, Larch won an extra break time due to their excellent attendance - this was on the same day we celebrated our great attendance by having an own clothes day! 

Have a good rest. Stay safe and we'll see you on Tuesday April 22nd.

Many thanks,

Mr P

Larch: Spring 2, Week 5, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 28th Mar 2025 @ 7:56am

This week, we have worked hard drafting a formal text based around the Vikings which challenges the stereotype that they were all raiders. We'll be writing this all into our Star Write books early next week so I'm looking forward to seeing yet more excellent work!

We have also begun our RE topic on Judaism and learned about the significance of the Torah.

In Science, we have been learning about evolution, paying particular attention to variation among different species. For one of our activities, we had to design what we thought the offspring of a dalmation and poodle would look like by considering which characteristics would be inheritied from the mother and father. We will continue with our work on evolution next week :)

Larch: Spring 2, Week 4, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 20th Mar 2025 @ 4:34pm

Well done on another fabulous week, Larch! We started our week off really well and were rewarded with two Kid's Choice sessions for having over 96% attendance on Monday and Tuesday. Keep it up next week as I know there are some ace prizes still to be won in the Easter Attendance Competition! 

We have also enjoyed our pizza-making skills in DT and, I have to say, they looked and smelled so good! 

It has also been lovely to see you complete some excellent descriptive writing on 'The Nowhere Emporium', you've all produced some fantastic work and I can't wait for you to put them into your Star Write books.

Larch - Spring 2, week 3, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 14th Mar 2025 @ 12:36pm

Another lovely week for Larch class, well done everyone! We started our week off in fantastic fashion with our trip to the Jorvik museum at York. Here, we learned about the Viking way of life and were transported back in time to get a feel for how a typical day-in-the-life of a Viking would look like. We were also treated to a whole host of 'interesting' smells along the way! After that, we visited the 'Dig' museum and took on the role of archeologists as we dug up some items from the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking eras! Finally, we paid a visit to Barley Hall, a picturesque medieval townhouse tucked away down one of the oldest streets in York. 

We were also paid a visit from the school nurse this week for a very important discussion about the effects of vaping. Larch, your behaviour during this vital talk was exemplary. After the session, we created some posters to raise awareness for children, parents and carers on the effect that vaping has on the body. 

Have a great weekend!

Larch - Spring 2, Week 2, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 7th Mar 2025 @ 11:40am

We’ve had a very exciting week! I loved looking at your ideas for videogames in our Computing lessons, especially how you planned to keep your videogames game safe for younger players with features such as profanity filters and banning systems for griefers. I'd like to pre-order the ultimate edition for all of them! I’ve attached some pictures for you to show your parents/carers.

Happy World Book Day! You all look so fantastic in your costumes!

Larch Week 1 (Spring 2), by Mr Pattinson

Date: 27th Feb 2025 @ 1:42pm

Well done Larch for a fantastic first week back. This week, we began new texts The Nowhere Emporium in Reading and Can We Save the Tiger? in Writing. To begin our writing unit, we put ourselves in the shoes of a group of villagers who had their livestock killed by a tiger, we had a great discussion about the complex issue of humans living in an animal’s natural habitat and the consequences that may occur because of that. This resulted in some lovely work based around emotive language which I have attached below. We will continue to learn about a wide range of animals which are endangered.  

We have also spent some time learning about healthy and unhealthy relationships in PSHE as well as forced marriages and consent in the UK. All of which are hugely important things to know.

One final shout out to you all for winning the extra football slot on Friday due to your excellent lining up at break time! Congrats!

I’m really looking forward to next week as we are due to begin our next History topic on the Vikings. See you on Monday!

Larch - Week 6, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 13th Feb 2025 @ 4:44pm

It’s the final week of the half-term and what a lovely week we’ve all had. At the beginning of the week, we celebrated Safer Internet Day and focussed on online scams and how they can be spotted. We spent some time looking at online profiles and how we can make small, simple steps in order to keep ourselves safe in an ever online world.

In PE, we finished our unit on gymnastics and were able to demonstrate all that we have learned with a mini gymnastics routine.

It has also been Arts week! As a class, we looked at the work of Roy Lichenstein and ‘pop’ art. The work you have produced in your sketchbooks is absolutely fantastic and so expressive. Well done, everyone.

I hope you all have a lovely half-term. Stay safe and we will see you all on Monday 24^th February.

Larch - Week 5, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 6th Feb 2025 @ 5:10pm

What a fantastic week we have had! This week has been a celebration of all things to do with mental health and we have honoured this topic in lots of different ways. In addition to completing many mindfulness activities in class, we have enjoyed another 'break the rules' day and a very special VIP assembly is planned for tomorrow. Get your vocal cords ready for a huge singalong! A particular focus of this week was recognising our strengths and understanding the importance of growth through building resiliece and celebrating what makes us all so amazing and unique.

We have also completed our unit on the world's oceans (and learning about the impact of plastic pollution on the planet), finished our unit on algebra and enjoyed writing a blog in Writing. Well done everyone for all of your hard work!

Larch - Week 4, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 31st Jan 2025 @ 7:56am

Well done for all of your hard work this week, Larch! In Geography lessons, we have been looking at the effects of plastic pollution on the environment; this culminated with our trip to Carr Mill Dam. Over the course of our walk (in the lovely sunshine), we gathered information on the number of litter left around the local area and the results were quite shocking.

We have also spent some time making an animal database on Microsoft Excel based around our recent work on classification. The database sorted each living thing by their classification, diet, how they reproduce and if they are a vertebrate/invertebrate. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mr P

Larch - Week 3, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 23rd Jan 2025 @ 5:13pm

This week, Larch have have immersed themselves into a variety of different topics. In Writing, they have enjoyed watching 'Alma'; an award-winning short film about a young girl who visits a mysterious toy shop and I'm really looking forward to everyone's star writes next week. In Maths, we have started our unit on algebra by looking at function machines and substitutions. In Reading, we have been reading 'The Lady of Shalott'; a poem set in Camelot. We have also finished our work on classification in Science and everyone has produced an excellent poster on the work of Carl Linnaeus. Well done everyone! Our lessons culminated with a fantastic investigation showing the process of adding yeast to warm water and sugar...which in turn produces carbon dioxide through a chemical reaction. I don't think Larch will forget that lesson (especially the smell!) for a long time!

We have also been very lucky to have a special guest this week. On Wednesday, our entire school was visited by Max, a nine-year-old published author who has written two books based around his experiences of living with people who have autism. His visit was wonderful and we thank he and his parents for giving us their time. We also made a trip to Moss Bank Library and engaged with some activities based around Holocaust Memorial Week - a hugely important and poignant week for millions of people across the globe. During this visit, we learned more about the Nazi occupation of Europe and the experiences of Anne Frank and her family.

I'm looking forwward to seeing you all next week, have a great weekend!

Larch Class - Week 2, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 16th Jan 2025 @ 4:37pm

It’s been another great week in Larch class – we’ve all been very happy to finally get outside for some fresh air at break and lunch time. In lessons, we have continued our work on The Highwayman and completed our star writes (which are all looking superb!). It has also been Maths Week so we have been working hard on a range of different activities involving prime numbers and factors. Speaking of Maths…a huge shoutout to both Khalid and Emily for their excellent job representing Larch in the Times Tables Rockstars competition this week!

Larch class enjoyed some Kid's Choice time this week thanks to their excellent attendance last week. Keep it up and hopefully we'll get another very soon!

In curriculum lessons, we have continued our work on classifying both animals and plants in Science and looked at the importance of not conforming to unfair gender stereotypes in Computing by creating an online avatar which challenges stereotypes for boys and girls. In French, we have looked a range of different aspects of travel such as learning the names of counties, continents, how to travel to certain places and how to include all of this into a spoken sentence.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

First Week Back - Larch, by Mr Pattinson

Date: 10th Jan 2025 @ 12:36pm

Hello and welcome to the Larch class blog! This week, we have started our work on ‘The Highwayman’; an exciting poem written in 1904 about a lone rider and his forbidden love. In Maths, we have been looking at converting metric units such as mm to cm and miles to kilometres. Next time you’re on the road, see if your child can show off their converting skills!

We have also started our Science unit on classification and have been learning the names of different continents, countries and methods of travel in French. Overall, a very exciting week and the children have done really well without being able to go outside. Hope you all have a safe weekend.