Foundation

Apple

In English, Apple Class have been exploring the traditional tale Jack and the Beanstalk. They have enjoyed creating story maps and developing their descriptive vocabulary, using exciting adjectives. Building on their understanding of story structure, the children have begun planning and writing their very own fairy tales. Throughout their writing, students have continued to focus on sentence structure, capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

In maths, the class has been developing their understanding of numbers through practical activities, games and problem-solving. Some children have been exploring number bonds and addition, while others have been strengthening their place value knowledge and learning different strategies for addition and subtraction within 100.

In geography, the class has been travelling around the world without leaving the classroom! The children enjoyed identifying the seven continents and five oceans, exploring maps and globes, and discovering how climates differ around the world. 

  

In Science, the topic of Living Things and their Habitats has sparked some wonderful curiosity! We have explored different habitats, investigated how animals and plants depend on their environments, and discovered how food chains show the relationships between living things. The children have particularly enjoyed hands-on activities, sorting challenges and building their own food chains.

We are incredibly proud of the progress being made. We continue to celebrate every achievement, big or small, and ensure that learning is engaging, meaningful and most of all, fun!

Cherry

Cherry Class have been busy exploring the topic, All About Me! They have been learning about ourselves, our families and the people who are special to us. We enjoyed looking at how we have grown and changed since we were babies, recognising similarities and differences between ourselves and others. We have also explored the important roles of people who help us, including dentists, opticians and other people in our community. Our learning about the senses has provided lots of opportunities for hands-on exploration. As well as exploring the five familiar senses, we have been discovering how our bodies help us understand the world through movement, balance and body awareness. Throughout the topic, we have been developing our communication, independence, confidence and understanding of ourselves and others. What a busy and exciting first half term in Cherry Class! 

  

Primary

Pine

In Geography, Pine Class has been learning all about tropical rainforests.  They have explored the climate and water cycle, discovered the different layers of the rainforest, and investigated how animals and plants have adapted to survive in this unique environment. An exciting trip to the Living Rainforest, provided students with the opportunity to see some of these amazing adaptations themselves!  

  

Willow

In English this term, Willow class has been exploring a range of different text types, with a particular focus on postcards. Through the key texts, The Jolly Postman and The Snail and The Whale, pupils have developed their understanding of the purpose and features of postcards, while also building their vocabulary and descriptive language. 

Elm

In Topic, Elm Class have been learning all about the world and natural disasters. They began by creating their own playdough models of the Earth before exploring a range of natural disasters, including tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes. They  also investigated how coastlines are formed, learning about fascinating natural features such as caves and arches. It has been an exciting topic, helping the class develop their understanding of our planet and the natural processes that shape it.

In Science, Elm Class have been learning about the human body, focusing on how we change as we grow older. They then explored the circulatory system, discovering how the heart pumps blood around the body and learning about the different components that make up our blood. Through these activities, the children have developed their understanding of how our bodies work and what they need to keep us healthy. 

 

Beech

In geography, Beech class explored the layers of the Earth. The students made models of Earth by adding layers of coloured modelling clay. 

They also learnt about volcanoes and enjoyed making their own volcano eruption simulation. First, the children made a paper mache volcano model. Then, using the chemical reaction between bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, they generated pressure to simulate a volcanic eruption. 

 

Oak

Oak Class have been learning the life skill of making sandwiches. They independently chose fillings for themselves, as well as selecting favourites that their family members like to eat.  The class enjoyed making their sandwiches and showed good spreading and cutting skills.  In a food tasting session, the class tried different crisps with differing textures and tastes. All the class had different favourites. The least favourite were the root vegetable crisps!

    

Drama, Music, PE and Forest School

Lower school students enjoy art, drama, music, PE and Forest School classes with our subject experts that teach all age groups at school. 

See our News from the Art Department article for more information on art at Heathermount this term and see lots of pictures.

A highlight in drama, was the Foundation students getting to try out our new Shadow Puppet Theatre and creating some fabulous performances for their class to watch! Well done Apple & Cherry.

In Forest School students have been developing their outdoor cooking skills, learning to safely prepare food using Trangia stoves.

Students have been learning to play a variety of different instruments in music. Cherry class have been exploring percussion instruments, Oak class and Stars have been learning the Ocarina, Elm class have been learning about the Beatles and have played one of their songs on the Glockenspiel,  Pine class have been learning the PBone. A PBone is a plastic trombone and before they could play they had to learn to Buzz into the mouth piece!