UKS2 – Newsletter – 22.12.23

We have had lots of festive fun in UKS2 this week…

We had the pleasure of watching LKS2’s Christmas performance on Tuesday, which was very entertaining! As well as taking part in a range of different Christmas activities across the week.

On Monday, our Forest School sessions focused on celebrating the prospect of longer days and the return of Spring by working as families to hold a Yule Party! Children had to organise themselves into families and then into smaller groups to create a fire to symbolise light and warmth in mid-winter. Part of the family also were tasked with making a decorated Yule Log which represented greenery and new life. Armed with secateurs, child had to forage around the school grounds for evergreen material then used palm drills to connect them to a log. The third part of the family team had to prepare a non-alcoholic mulled wine. Using a combination of fruit juice, caster sugar, cinnamon sticks, star anise and cloves, pupils followed a recipe to make a delicious drink which was heated on the fires. At the end of the session, we all came back together to celebrate around the fire pit with our decorated Yule Logs and warm (alcohol free) mulled wine which went down a treat! Happy Yule!

In English, we have been writing and publishing our adventure narrative on the myth, Theseus and the Minotaur.

In Miss Barnicoat’s maths group, they all created their own games in groups linked to ‘mental strategies’. They used their knowledge of mental addition and subtraction strategies to help them create their games, working out in their heads as they played. Miss Boyd’s maths have been continuing with long multiplication, mainly focusing on the written method. Mr Kershaw’s maths group have been learning how to use BODMAS to help with the order of calculations, and Mrs T’s maths have been continuing with their fraction and angle work. 

In Science, we have been observing the evaporation of a salt water solution over the last 2 weeks. We collected our data from our tables and recorded it into a line graph. Then, we looked at irreversible changes in more detail. We discussed a range of different changes, such as an egg being heated, and talked about what the term ‘irreversible’ means. We then created our own material by mixing a tablespoon of white vinegar with 250ml of hot milk. We observed the changes as they happened. When we sieved the mixture to separate the two materials, we were left with a watery liquid and a clump of plastic called casein plastic! 

All the UKS2 staff would like to say a huge thank you to parents for their kindness and generosity when sending us cards and gifts this Christmas. It is never an expectation for gifts to be sent in or money to be spent on us. We are all extremely grateful. 

School will resume again on Monday 8th January 2024.

All of UKS2 would like to wish you a very merry Christmas, and we will see you all again in the new year!