Middle Department News

This week in Year 3

English  

In English, this week, we have started looking at a new book about the relationship between a brother and a sister. We enjoyed exploring a dilemma in the story, using the drama technique called ‘Conscience Alley’. We also loved creating and describing a new setting, in a world based in the magic and suspense of Fairy Tales.

Science:  Home Learning 

We have already started to receive lots of pictures, via the Google classroom, from your home learning project on Chocolate Rocks. Please do keep them coming in! We love looking at them. We will be creating a display of the pictures they send in and the children will have until Sunday 6th February to complete the work.  

Geography 

Having learnt about the countries, cities, rivers and seas, we now turn our attention to familiarising ourselves with the locations of some of the counties of England. We had great fun completing a Counties quiz, searching for the clues in the courtyard and corridor and using our knowledge of the compass points to answer correctly. Would you know, for example, how many counties have the word Yorkshire in their name? Or which counties border Somerset?  

Forest School 

Having been hopeful that Forest School would happen this week, we had to postpone slightly due to staffing issues. 3O’s session will now take place on the Friday of the first week back after half term, so we may even get some slightly warmer weather! We will keep the sessions for 3I and 3M on their original dates and will keep you informed, should these change.  

Pupils should wear School Games kit for the session. Pupils should arrive at school in their Games kit and remain in it for the rest of the day. We will remind your child to bring their Games kit home on a Thursday but would appreciate you giving them an extra reminder. We would recommend either short/skort and skins or tracksuit bottoms plus Games top and tracksuit top or hoody. 

Additional layers will undoubtedly be necessary especially at this end of the term. These do not have to be BPS kit but must be brought to school in a bag and only worn for the FS session. 

Gloves and a hat are essential!  Don’t forget to send appropriate footwear (wellies, hiking boots, old trainers) and two pairs of socks can be useful to help with cold feet! 

Session Dates: 

3I:  4 February 

3M:  11 February 

30: 25 February – NEW DATE 

Further dates to be announced later in the term. 

The Year 3 Team

This week in Year 4

Despite the cold weather recently, things have been hotting up in Year 4, as we began our next unit of work in English. This week, the children have been transported back into time and have found themselves on a Viking long boat as part of a raiding team as they continue to write their narrative stories based upon a Viking adventure.  

In Science, we have been exploring the effects exercise can have on our heart rates as we practised counting our pulse rates. Some of us were more successful than others at locating a pulse!

Elsewhere, in Drama, the children have been delving into the word of TV adverts as they have worked in pairs and small groups to create their own adverts based upon some new products they have invented which range from a flying robot that cleans, ‘radiator sweets’ where some are hot and some are cold, a gymnastic doll and a simple wooden furniture polish. 

Reminders: 

Forest School

Next week, 4L will be having their first Forest School session of the term. A reminder will be posted in the Google Classroom the day before. 

Pupils should wear School Games kit for the session. Pupils should arrive at school in their Games kit and remain in it for the rest of the day. We will remind your child to bring their Games kit home on a Thursday but would appreciate you giving them an extra reminder.  

We would recommend either short/skort and skins or tracksuit bottoms plus Games top and tracksuit top or hoody. 

Additional layers will undoubtedly be necessary during this current cold spell we are experiencing.  These do not have to be BPS kit but must be brought to school in a bag and only worn for the FS session. Gloves and a hat are essential! 

Don’t forget to send appropriate footwear (wellies, hiking boots, old trainers) and two pairs of socks can be useful to help with cold feet! 

Aylmerton

Thank you to those of you who have returned the parental consent form and where needed, the medication form. If you have not yet, please could we request that these forms are completed and returned by next Friday 4th February.  

Also, please can we ask that you give permission for your child to attend the residential by using this Google Form Link 

Finally, as part of the parental consent form, there is a section for the date of your child’s last tetanus jab. This is an important piece of information that we do require and Matron has asked me to inform you that to find this out you can either consult your child’s red medical booklet or phone your local GP surgery who will have it on their records.  

Thank you!

The Year 4 Team

This Week in Year 5

This week in Year 5 has been a happily busy one, with the pupils enjoying their learning topics uninterrupted by assessments. The geography topic of BRAZIL is off to a colourful start as the pupils have honed their global location skills and started to learn more about this enormous country, its diverse physical features, climate and settlements. There have been several pupil requests for a Year group trip to Rio de Janeiro already!

In Maths the key topic of ‘Fractions, Decimals and Percentages’ is keeping the 4 maths classrooms very busy indeed and it is always exciting to see the pupils develop deep understanding and confidence in this as the term progresses.

In English the pupils are enjoying their work on myths and legends; we wonder whether it might inspire some fantastical stories for those attending the Creative Writing Club?

In Science this week, pupils have been learning electricity and light. Here are some photos of 5D getting some hands-on experience with circuits, and 5AB using their knowledge of light, and the properties of materials, to make shadow puppets in different shapes.

In French this week, 5CB had fun playing charades and Pictionary, taking it in turns to guess the animal and write the word in French.  Bravo, tout le monde!

We were very pleased to hand out some smart new homework diaries ready for this week and already the pupils are showing their initiative in making good use of them. There is so much to remember in the busy Beechwood week and it is very helpful to have the chance to jot down reminders of prep tasks, LAMDA rehearsals, music lessons and fixtures from week to week.

Speaking of LAMDA, we would like to say a big well done to all of the pupils who took their exams this week: we were so impressed by the hard work and enthusiasm of all of the pupils involved.

The Year 5 TED Talks are well underway with most pupils having presented to their form class. Here you can see Sai’s powerful presentation on learning through failure. Over the last couple of weeks topics have been extremely wide-ranging and pupils have really developed their understanding of effective presentation skills. Watch this space for details of our TEDx conference where a number of Year 5s will present their talks live for a wider audience.

More photos below have been added to the gallery below.

Next week will see our young musicians step up for their practical music exams and we wish them very well too.

The Year 5 Team

Message from Mrs Clarke, Director of Senior School Admissions

‘Planet Bofa’  Presentation for Parents of Year 5 Pupils, 1900 on Monday 31 January 2022

Planet Bofa is an excellent website which can help children prepare for admissions tests to senior schools. Next week in Future Skills, Year 5 pupils will receive log-in details for the Planet Bofa website.

The website will help pupils to prepare for 11+ Maths, English, Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning assessments. It supports their work in School and is extremely useful for exam preparation, even at 12+ and 13+ level.

On Monday, I will present a short, interactive Zoom meeting to demonstrate the platform and to show you how you can support your child to get the best out of the Planet Bofa resources. It will last for about 30 minutes, but I will stay on the Zoom afterwards to answer any questions that you may have.

If you would like to learn more about Planet Bofa, please join me on Zoom using these details:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71769385993?pwd=ye6ZaooEPZbgKGW2n7VqI-bpZtcAlR.1 

Meeting ID: 717 6938 5993

Passcode: Beechwood

For security, please rename your Zoom window with your child’s full name, even if they are not with you. Year 5 pupils are very welcome to watch the presentation with parents too.

Mrs Clarke

Director of Senior School Admissions

Co-Curricular Clubs

It has been lovely to welcome a new group of creative children to Sew and Craft club this term. The first project is well underway with the children hand decorating linen aprons with fabric pens. They are yet to add handmade pompoms and small appliqué elements to finish off their projects and we can’t wait to see the finished aprons.

Mrs Balfour & Mrs Proctor

From the Art Room

There has been some wonderful Art going on this week, both at home and in School.  Well done to Safian (Year 4) for some fabulous fun-filled drawings from home, to Penelope (Year 3),  Jasmine (Year 5)  and to Florence C (Year 5) for their great recreations of two Paul Klee paintings,  and to Lizzie K (Year 3) who took on the challenge of drawing this complex image by Kandinsky. What amazing results!

Mrs Kelway-Bamber

From the Library

Jamie McFlair Vs The Boyband Generator, by Luke Franks & Sean Thorne

Jamie McFlair is a no-nonsense heroine; all is looking rosy as her favourite boyband is due to perform on TV, until her evil uncle Barry Bigtime gets involved.  He’s created his own rival band, however his evil plan is not limited to just boybands. As Jamie discovers his basement ‘boyband generator’ machine, it falls upon her to stop him in his tracks before it’s too late – perhaps some worn underpants and chocolate milkshake can come to the rescue!

With a hilarious storyline, quirky fonts and Davide Ortu’s dynamic illustrations, this new series will appeal to readers of David Baddiel and Kid Normal

Head’s Commendations