4 minute read
Upper School
Year 5
One of the main observations made by all who have had contact with this Year 5 is how they have matured as the time has progressed. Another is how cohesive both classes have been, always offering the hand of friendship to each other. The challenges of the year have helped develop this mature approach, but the kindness and team spirit have come from within and it has been a pleasure to witness.
Early in the Autumn Term, the two classes had individual trips to Selborne, as part of their science topic on the lifecycles of plants. Dissecting flowers in a ‘real lab’ environment made the children feel like grown up scientists, with gasps from microscopes and profound observations. Time walking around Gilbert White’s beautiful gardens brought the valuable day to a calm and peaceful close. The residential trip to Cobnor was replaced by a day trip instead. But what a day! It was certainly action-packed with archery and team building activities on land and canoeing and kayaking on the water. The children returned to school somewhat scruffier than on departure but full of smiles and stories to tell.
The Maths curriculum was enhanced by a ‘Maths Hats Day’ and an escape room activity where the children needed to solve a number of mathematical problems to win keys to open doors and make their way through a maze of rooms. They all loved it! Term was brought to a festive close with 5G’s assembly about Christmas, following hot on the heels of 5R’s assembly about teamwork. Although filmed rather than live, it was still wonderful to see the children giving their best performances on stage.
Although not together for most of the Spring Term, the children were fantastic at adapting to their home learning environments and really embraced their live lessons and class time. On return to school, it was encouraging to see that their academic skills were very much where they should be and for the last three weeks of term, much time was spent enjoying being together again ‘in the flesh’ before a well-deserved Easter break.
This Summer Term flew by. The children have worked tirelessly, played furiously, managed to get in some sports fixtures and a Shakepearean drama workshop. They have performed a song from Oliver, making very convincing Victorian orphans and filmed two more assemblies – Space by 5R and Tudors by 5G. Although the end of the year was abruptly curtailed by a return to home learning for the last three days. Our amazing children just took it on the chin and there was 100% attendance for every one of the three days – incredible. What a year and what a year group!
Year 6
No doubt it has been a challenging year, a year when the Junior School values of resilience, resourcefulness, reflectiveness, responsibility and respectfulness have been ever-present and reflected in the efforts of the children.
In the first term the children’s teambuilding skills were put to the test at PGL, where activities included archery, Jacob’s Ladder, zip wires and The Giant Swing. The children needed to work as a team to support and encourage each other and most found the courage to take the plunge and enjoyed the ensuing sense of achievement.
At the start of the Summer Term, the children rolled their sleeves up for an action-packed citizenship curriculum. Although trips to London and France were out of the question, the children threw themselves into the activities that were able to go ahead. Nurse Julia introduced the children to basic first aid where they applied a range of bandages, slings and looked at epipens and how they work. The children also practised putting each other in the recovery position and learnt about bleeding, sprains, head injuries and choking. The much-loved Masterchef challenge returned: the children found a recipe, selected and budgeted for their ingredients and created a tempting menu with cooking instructions. They were encouraged to cook a simple meal safety and hygienically, while showing an understanding of a healthy, balanced diet. Washing-up proved to be a new skill for many!
Other highlights of the citizenship curriculum included Lifesaving in the Senior School pool, learning invaluable lessons about how to save themselves should an accident occur near water. The also met via Teams with the Houses of Parliament Education Centre, learning the processes and make-up of parliament and having a very informative Q&A session with Damian Hinds, MP for East Hampshire.
As part of their English curriculum, the children studied Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. They wrote agony aunt letters from some of the characters, created montages and freeze-frames from key scenes and filmed news reports from significant moments in the story. When it came to learning their lines, the children had a fundamental understanding of the characters and plot, which helped enormously. Despite the continued restrictions, Year 6 were determined to perform their play to an audience and so, with Covid rules in place, two masked family members were treated to a live performance! The children thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and showed great camaraderie in supporting each other during the two separate performances.
Although many fixtures and trips were cancelled, the children showed their true colours by embracing all that home schooling offered. Those events that could be reorganised and rescheduled were and the children topped their year off with a hugely successful play, Sports Day and Leavers Assembly, thankfully with parents present.
