The Shire

What an exciting couple of weeks we’ve had in The Shire! We have completed the live action filming, so now we’ll be working hard on our 2D stop-frame animation.

However, the most exciting thing was a visit from Alfie’s dad … a real-life police officer.

With rapt attention, the children were thoroughly engaged in learning what a police officer does (“catching baddies”) and what he wears on different occasions. We were all surprised by the Riot Helmet armour. It was amazing! It can definitely be considered as armour! We saw what a police officer needs to have to hand – and would you believe it’s a pen and notebook? Police officers really do not want conflict; Alfie’s dad was keen to point out that talking and communication are key. He kindly answered a huge range of interesting questions – but perhaps the most common was about driving at speed!

The children all had the opportunity to try a range of headgear, and they really enjoyed the experience.

A huge THANK YOU to Alfie’s dad – we all agreed, you were AMAZING, and we wish you had been able to stay longer.

Tennis & Cricket

We had enormous fun in our first tennis session with Coach Ryan. We look forward to practising our skills for the rest of the term.

Pupils from years two and three took part in a cricket festival with other schools in the Chipping Norton Schools Partnership which was hot and great fun!

Y1 Phonics Check

We are so happy that the Phonics Check has now been completed – well done to all the children.

Year two pupils have been sewing hats as part of their textiles project. They are learning different stitches, and learning to use sharper needles and sew Robin Hood, princess and clown hats from felt. 

As part of learning about the Jewish religion the children have baked Challah bread which is eaten on Friday and Saturday as part of Shabbat. Jaiden said: 'It was so good' Alfie said, 'it was sweet and delicious.'

The sweet peas in the shire's garden are blooming!

The Pixies Class

The Pixies have been captivated by the pair of pigeons that have been building a nest in the tree outside their classroom. They are eager to see if any baby pigeons appear. 

The pixies have started to sew and make templates for their bear blankets. They have started to learn stitches on binca and have decided on which designs the bears would like on their blankets. They thought Daddy bear would like a bow-tie or hammer, Mummy bear flowers, butterflies and love hearts and baby bear would like teddy bears, clouds and owls?!

The Dragons Class

Pupils in the Dragons class have been studying the designs of William Morris and have been inspired to create their own designs of wallpaper.

Then the pupils have been comparing William Morris' style with the designs from Rennie Mackintosh and looking at what makes Art Deco style. 

On a very hot day the year three pupils took part in a Cricket Festival at Chipping Norton School, they enjoyed their time despite the heat!

The Dragons class are continuing with their sewing skills and creating felt animals and their animation and live action filming for the end-of-term premiere.

The Wizards class

Last week, the Wizards continued to find out about different textiles: they found out how silk is made as well as drawing a life-cycle of a silkworm. The children were surprised to find that silkworms are extinct in the wild and only exist in silk farms or as pets!  They also discussed other natural fibres including wool and cotton. 

In the kitchen, pizzas were on the menu with the children using some of the herbs from our garden in the sauce and courgettes as part of the topping. Another culinary triumph! 

Linked to our topic We are Textile Designers, the children have continued with their embroidery and lots of children have now finished. I'm sure you will agree that they have done an incredible job. 

Chipping Norton GCSE music students visited the year 5s this week. Students performed for them using a variety of different instruments, then pupils worked in groups to compose music based on the book ‘Dancing Dinosaurs’.

Children from year 6 and year 4 attended the Cricket Tournament at Chipping Norton School on Wednesday and came a magnificent second: they coped brilliantly with the heat and won 3 out of 4 games. They only lost their final game by 1 run. Well done to all who were part of the team and especially to Charlie, who was a great captain.

During brass sessions this term, the children in both Dragons and Wizards are polishing their pieces in preparation for an end-of-year brass assembly: this will take place on Tuesday 8th July at 9.15am; you are very welcome to come along.