This week in Year 3

Following the success of the Dress Rehearsal on Wednesday, the mood was extremely buoyant in Year 3 and the children certainly didn’t disappoint! They sang and danced and thoroughly enjoyed themselves and delighted the audiences in both performances. Well done to those children who stepped in at the last minute. Enormous thanks to Mrs Jarvis and Mrs Hegarty for all the hard work put into the performances over the course of the term. Thank you, too to Mr Gambrell for his technical support and to the Year 3 parents for their fantastic support. The children had a wonderful time and should feel rightly proud of themselves. Here are just a few photographs – more to follow in the End of Term Newsletter:

Notices

Please see the changes to the timing of the House Matches in Miss Macpherson’s piece in the body of the newsletter. Year 3 matches are now on Tuesday (from 1400 to 1515). Pupils should come in games kit. Pupils may go home with their parents at 1515 if they wish but must let Form Teachers know; normal school will continue for those who stay until 1615. There will be tea and coffee for spectators by the Sports Hall. Year 3 don’t need to be in sports kit on Wednesday. Uniform, Christmas jumper and a pair of football boots or muddy trainers will be fine for house orienteering

Final reminder that we will be having our festive Forest School on Monday, so layer up! A festive hat would definitely help keep them warm and merry at the same time!

Warm and festive regards,

Una Oatham, Libby Mann, Sophie Porter and Pauline Pope

The Year 3 Team

Achievements outside School

Aveer Koshal (3M) started his Krav Maga journey in June 2021. He achieved his yellow belt in June 2022 and he recently got awarded his orange belt in November 2022!

Overall, Krav Maga training offers a lot of tangible mental and physical self-confidence benefits to children. It can also serve as a fun and positive after-school activity that teaches them valuable lessons and instils patience, respect, discipline, and ethics.

Krav Maga prepares the trainees in the subjects of self-defense, self-protection, fighting and combat skills, as well as skills to defend others, all in unique and comprehensive teaching ways. Krav Maga was developed in Israel, under realistic demands and conditions for the battlefield.

Anyone between the age of 3 to 80 years old can start learning Krav Maga even if they are completely new to the world of Martial Arts and have never done any type of training before as the simplistic movements used make it possible and easy for anyone to learn.

Well done Aveer!

This week in Year 4

Christmas Forest School

The bitter chill in the air this week has certainly made it feel more like Christmas. On Monday, Year 4 wrapped up warm as they took part in a joint session to celebrate the end of term. An array of festive hats were on display as the children drunk hot chocolate, built dens, made mud pies and, mostly importantly, had the opportunity to toast a marshmallow and make a s’more!

Year 4 were enjoying the pottery cellar this week, finishing off their Hundertwasser themed clay tiles!

Year 4 Staff Handovers

With the end of term fast approaching, we head into the final week of Mrs Lane and Mr Ip’s time with their forms. Both teachers will be incredibly sad to say goodbye but know the children will be in safe hands as they pass on their responsibilities to Mrs Farrell and Miss Bailey respectively. Miss Bailey has been spending an increasing amount of time with 4I and has met with Mr.Ip to discuss class routines, lesson planning and each individual child. Miss Farrell has spent a few days visiting Beechwood and has also had the opportunity to meet her new class and learn all about them and the way they are used to living and learning at Beechwood. Although the new year will bring some changes for many Year 4 pupils, please rest assured everything is in place to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.

The Stars Come Out

Congratulations to Year 4 on their fabulous performance yesterday and today! Here are a few photos – more to follow in the End of Term Newsletter:

Notices/Reminders

Tuesday 13 December – House matches 1400 – 1515
Wednesday 14 December – Christmas Jumper day and House Orienteering (children will need sports kit and football boots/trainers that can get muddy)
Thursday 15 December – Last day of term (1145 pick up)

Year 4 House Matches are now on Tuesday (from 1400 to 1515). Pupils should come in games kit. Pupils may go home with their parents at 1515 if they wish but must let Form Teachers know; normal school will continue for those who stay until 1615. There will be tea and coffee for spectators by the Sports Hall. Year 3 don’t need to be in sports kit on Wednesday. Uniform, Christmas jumper and a pair of football boots or muddy trainers will be fine for House Orienteering

This week in Year 5

In Year 5 it’s that wonderful time of year again….no, not the Christmas build-up but.. the great JELLY investigation in Science!

The pupil have once again donned disposable aprons, rolled up their sleeves and pitted their chopstick skills against one another as they have battled to move cubes of jelly from one plate to another, while being thwarted by the stickiness and friction! Once Mr Kneller and Mrs Balfour had so kindly covered the whole lot in cooking oil (the jelly rather than the pupils, although it was tempting..), the pupils achieved record-breaking jelly moving times and the competition became fierce! It led on to some interesting discussions about oil in vehicle engines and in frying pans, about wax on skis and the dangers of wet roads and bald tyres. It is always very special hearing the pupils making connections and sharing their understanding of the wider world.

All of the Year 5 pupils have enjoyed an exciting term in the labs and, as we bring our study of forces to a close with some investigations into magnetism, we look forward to our topics of light and sound next term.

In Humanities, all four classes have enjoyed their end of term topic lessons. The theme of the term in Geography has been Europe and the pupils have developed strong location skills, an understanding of the physical and human variety of the continent, its capital cities, seas and oceans, languages and flags. It was so encouraging to see the children’s wonderful online quiz scores as they identified the different European countries under time pressure and compared their scores to those of the start of term. As the song (nearly) goes, what a difference a term makes…

It was a great treat to provide a Year 5 audience for the Year 3 and 4 Christmas show dress rehearsal this week and to get a sneak peak of the treats in store for families and friends. What a star and fun-filled show they put on. Our own Christmas Concert and Carol Service take place next week and we are looking forward to seeing many of you there as we share these special end of term events.

All of the Year 5 pupils have enjoyed their creative writing in English lessons this week, using the Christmas tree in the Entrance Hall as inspiration for their language and ideas. It was a joy to read their vivid and thoughtful descriptive writing.

Thank you to all of our Year 5 parents for your support of prep tasks, sports matches, music practices, charitable donations and costume days this term. It has been high-octane, fizzy and fun and the children have been a joy to teach.

We wish you all a very happy holiday.

The Year 5 Pastoral Team

Meeting the King

Jovan (5D) and his sister Easher had an amazing time earlier this week when they were invited, with their family, to the King’s visit to Luton. They were amongst the lucky ones who got to shake hands with the King himself, and even spoke to him too! It was a wonderful experience which they will never forget… they also made the news!

Read about their day below:

The morning started with meeting the Kings Guard, then having light breakfast with the Chief fire officer (Mr Andrew Hopkinson). We then went to our zones, silver and gold, silver was downstairs to meet with his majesty and gold was upstairs but we could also go to all zones.

We were in the gurdwara itself where our holy book is (Guru Granth Sahib), listening to the prayers being read, when His Majesty the King entered the room and said a prayer by the holy book and was welcomed with a Saroopa, which is given in the temple to people. This is a special honour, recognizing the services and contributions made by the person being blessed. The King sat with the congregation and said a prayer before leaving to perform the grand opening of the Plaque. He then spoke to people before he left.

The congregation was gathered to try and catch a glimpse before His Majesty left; as Jovan and Easher’s grandfather was involved in the development and building of the new temple he was with a select few VIP’s that were able to go under the barrier to get closer to the King to bid him farewell. Easher and Jovan were able to stand next to him and so were lucky enough to get to shake his hand! Jasmine, Jovan and Easher’s older sister caught the whole thing on camera!

The children were also lucky enough to meet The Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst hand Helen Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Helen has since retired and this was her last project getting the King to come to our temple.

It was truly a spectacular day that Jovan and his family will remember for a long time!

From the Middle Department Library

Any books borrowed this week or actively being read can be retained for the Christmas holidays. Please could Pupils check their bags and bookshelves at home, so that any other Beechwood books are returned before Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Beechwood Librarians.

We are pleased to include the Beechwood Holiday Reading List for the Middle & Senior Departments, highlighting some of the most recent book releases available for Christmas presents and holiday reading. The selection covers a wide range of reading levels and interests – we hope there is a book for everyone to curl up and enjoy this festive season.

The Library Team

Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Mr Balfour’s Commendations:

	Engage	Nurture	Inspire
Year 3	Ethan G, Bertie G, Olly C, Poppy R, Freddie R,	Alex F	-
Year 4	Madeleine F, Freya B, Evie M, Olivia C, Annabel M, Sienna L,	-	Ellie S, Olivia W, Emily B
Year 5	Niky S	-	Samual B, Sam C, Joshua R