A short story, written as a homework task by Philippa Robinson.

Please click on the following link to view it. (Acrobat reader is required)

The crow and the fox

On Monday 30^th November 2009, on a very cold day, Form III travelled to Skipton to visit the castle.

We have been studying the Middle Ages in our history lessons and needed to know what it would be like to live in a castle. On the way to Skipton we saw some spectacular sights as all the fields had been flooded due to the extremely heavy rain. In some fields we couldn’t even see the tops of the dry stone walls.

When we arrived at the castle, a tour guide showed us around and gave us some very interesting information about the history of the castle. We climbed into arrow windows to see what it would have felt like to be an archer. Once in the window we could see for miles and miles and could appreciate what an excellent defensive position the castle occupied.

After a picnic lunch we travelled back to school and were treated to some lovely hot chocolate from Chef Lizzie - they didn’t have that in the Middle Ages!

Form III has been looking at different sources of information. As part of our literacy lesson we listened to, then wrote, our own radio broadcast. The children worked in groups of four to write a script for a broadcast about garden birds. These photographs show the children ‘performing’ their broadcasts for the rest of the class. We had a lovely time and the broadcasts were excellent.

Dr Zaman came to visit Form III. We are doing a Science topic on ‘Teeth and Eating’. Dr Zaman came  and gave us lots of information about looking after our teeth. He also gave all the children a ‘goody bag’ with tooth brushes, toothpaste, timers and all kinds of lovely things. Did you know that if a shark loses a tooth it grows another one, and another, and another, and another…………..?

How proud we all were when The Royal British Legion presented one of Form III’s pupils with a certificate, in appreciation of the excellent work carried out over the last five years on behalf of the Poppy Appeal.

These two girls brought their special Eid clothes to school. They told us that they wear these beautiful clothes to celebrate the end of Ramadan. All the children were interested and had lots of questions about the Eid celebration. 

As part of their study of the local area, Form III visited Manor Heath’s Jungle Experience. We talked about the park as it was before it became a park, when it was actually the grounds of a very large mansion house. The children were amazed by the heat and humidity in the Jungle Experience and, unlike the terrapins and other creatures that we saw; they would not like to live in a jungle after all!

This term, Form 3 have been learning songs and playing games with a little French clown called Zozo, who travels in a hot air balloon with Moustique, his cat, and Fleur, the flower who sits in his hat.

On Thursday May 22^nd, the children proudly performed ‘Zozo’s French Party’ for an invited audience of parents and grandparents.  They had learned their parts well, and performed with confidence and enthusiasm. It was a lot of fun for everyone!

Literacy

Form III have been acting out the myth about Polyphemus, Odysseus and Poseidon. They acted out the parts of all the characters. When they had done this, we talked about all the feelings and actions of the characters. We improvised with costume! Poseidon held a metre stick instead of a trident and Odysseus wore a school cap. The children had a wonderful time and then were able to write a sequel to the myth.

These two girls are very enthusiastic about literacy and love writing stories together. They have recently written a story entitled ‘Orange’ which they sent to Jacqueline Wilson - a very well-known author. Here they are, very excited, with a postcard from Jacqueline Wilson who loved their story and was full of encouragement for their writing. We may have two famous authors in the making!

 Numeracy

Here are Form III hard at work with a numeracy assessment. We like assessments as they recognise our hard work and achievement and also show us what we need to do better.

Here is one of our boys showing the class his electric colour wheel. He made the wheel by attaching a battery box to a battery using positive and negative wiring. The two discs of colour used all the colours of the rainbow but when spun the colour appeared bluey grey. Do you know why this was?

Science

We have been looking at different types of rocks and soils. One of the boys ‘made’ a volcano! Here he is making it erupt using bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, washing up liquid and food colouring. We think it’s pretty impressive.

 History

Form III made a whole fleet of Viking longships. Here are three very proud designers with their work.

Children from Form III made the most of the lovely sunshine to help Mr Kirkham plant comfrey, marjoram and parsley in our herb bed.

They also had a look in the pond and found some frogs’ spawn - looking forward to lots of lively, little, leaping frogs!