We have had a lovely start to the term at Spring Brook Primary. The new classes are gelling nicely and the children are working so hard. It’s been great to welcome back Mr Bloska and Mr Hopkins, our Music and PE teachers, and we also have a new coach from Manchester City working with us who is called Marcus. He is really enjoying working with your children and has been very complimentary about them in his sessions.

We have also welcomed two new children to school, Danyaal and Jayden, with a few more set to join us soon. Lots of our children have changed both classes and teachers and this can be a little unsettling for them at first, however I’m pleased to say that we have had a really super start to the year and your children have had a very productive time.

Our class topic this term is The Vikings and Class 1 got stuck into the topic by making their very own butter. I must say it looked delicious as I’m sure you can tell from their faces..

They have been doing some revision during their literacy lessons on the different word classes and impressed Miss Fell and Mrs Elliott by how much they had remembered..

I popped in to their art lesson and saw them hard at work on these Viking boats. They were taking their time and ensuring they worked carefully – I’m sure they will look great when they are finished..

Class 2 settled round their camp fire to listen to the story of Beowulf. The story will be the focus for the half term in literacy and links to the topic of Anglo Saxons and Vikings. The children listened really well and have watched short animated clips of the story to understand the theme and plot better. Don’t they look comfortable snuggled up listening to the story? They have had a fantastic few weeks and are already starting to really gel as a group..

Mrs Lawrie and Mrs Pulman have also seen some fantastic work in Class 3. I jumped out of my skin when an unruly gang of Vikings jumped in front of me, but luckily it was only the children hiding behind these fantastic masks. Haven’t they done a good job of them?

They ended their first week by working together to make some gingerbread men biscuits – although I’m not sure that any of them made it home!

Rudolf and Luke worked particularly well together – well done boys..

Kaiden has settled into his new class well and set himself the task of joining up all of the link-chains in our tub. Can you see how far it stretches down the corridor? We went to get a metre rule to see how long it was and with some assistance from Rudolf, Emily and Tyreece he found out that the whole thing measured a whopping 13 metres – wow!! He was very impressed with his efforts..

The only thing to dampen our spirits has been the rain which unfortunately often waits until playtime. Now, we have a motto at our school that ‘we don’t rust’ which means you will see us out in most weather, but it is really important that all children bring with them a waterproof coat to school so that they can do this. As a result of the rain, a few children chose to stay in instead and play Boccia – you can see Haiden and Connor playing together here..

I think I have been most impressed this week by the lovely displays of team work I have seen around school. Children have been going out of their way to help one another, mostly unprompted, and it has resulted in a very calm atmosphere in school. All of our visitors this week have commented on it, so let’s hope it stays this way!

Class 1 have been learning in Maths about using column subtraction to solve word problems. They have done very well with this as you can see from the examples here..

What is really pleasing is how they are able to check their own work and not become anxious if they make a mistake – they simply re-check their calculations and have another go. For a group of children who’ve struggled with their resilience in the past, this is great progress..

In English, they have been reading James & the Giant Peach and they have written some diary extracts this week as part of their learning. They’ve tried hard to include all the features of a diary..

Mr Bloska has been using a variety of instruments in Music and here is a picture of Abu concentrating hard..

We have some exciting news as far as our Music curriculum is concerned… For many years I’ve heard about a huge concert that schools take part in at the Manchester Arena called YOUNG VOICES. In February, Spring Brook will be taking part for the first time and we cannot wait! We are hoping to take about 20 children (we gave everyone the opportunity to attend) and they will join approximately 8,000 other children to belt out some fantastic songs during the concert in the evening. Parents and families are able to come along in the evening to watch the actual performance that the children will have spent all day rehearsing. It really is a very special day and something the children will always remember. Mr Bloska and Mrs Wilson will be helping us all to learn the songs…Greatest Showman, Coldplay and even a bit of Kylie to name a few! Watch this space for more news…

Class 2 have been very busy in Science. Mr Cruz tells me they conducted an experiment to see how yeast ferments and reacts to different food stuffs. The balloon caught the gas released and Jacob suggested it was helium because the balloon seemed to go up. This prompted further investigations where the children weighed in their hands a balloon with the mystery gas and one with normal air. The mystery gas was heavier and when dropped fell to the floor faster. 3 tea lights were placed in a bowl at different levels and vinegar was mixed with bicarbonate of soda. The gas started to fill the bowl and because it was denser than normal air the gas stayed at the bottom and the flame went out. The children were told the gas was carbon dioxide and the children were able to deduce that carbon dioxide is denser than air..

In English, Class 2 have been reading Beowulf. They have been learning how to construct a character description thinking about all aspects of the character, not just what they look like. To practice this as a group, they wrote one about me!! It was really lovely to read what they thought about me – I particularly liked the line that said “she gives a sense of calm and it has even been said she hovers like an astronaut!” I’ve never been described like that before. Emily’s writing shown here is her character description of Grendel from the book Beowulf. Hasn’t she done well? She was very proud of this piece of work..

Class 1 have been following instructions to draw some Celtic Knots..

Donovan worked really hard on his Viking artwork as you can see..

Harry was very proud of his work too and wanted to show you the alternative story ending which he wrote independently..

Don’t forget that this Friday it is our Macmillan coffee morning from 10.15am till 11.30am and we would be delighted if you can come and join us. If you are able to bake or buy anything for us to sell there, please send your donations into school this week. Your support as always is appreciated.

See you all soon,

Miss Thomason
Head of School

You can find our all blog entries here

Click here to read this week’s blog from Graham