Autumn Term at The Mall

We hope everyone enjoyed the half term break. The children have done incredibly well during the first half of term, taking part in swimming galas, mock interviews, football tournaments, insightful trips and showing such enthusiasm in lessons.

Reception have settled in fantastically to the school. They have gotten in routine well with Mr Selby and Miss McManus, and have joined us for whole school assemblies since the start of term. Already, the children have shown great progression in their weekly PE and swimming lessons with Mrs Patterson are becoming more confident in the water each week. They have made brilliant friendships during their first half of term and we can’t wait to see them flourish further. During our Harvest Festival, the children confidently sang in front of their parents and the rest of the school, an incredible achievement during their first few weeks at school.

Year 1 have been learning about the human body this term. They have learned the names of each body part, with the help of our school skeleton and took part in a fantastic drama workshop with Perform, working on their communication skills and how we can understand messages using our body language and facial expressions. They have excelled in their art lessons, creating self-portraits in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, using fruits to make their own faces.

Year 2 have enjoyed trips to a Gurdwara and to the Museum of Steam and Water, as they have learned about Sikhism in their RE lessons and the water cycle in their science lessons. Testing evaporation has been a highlight for many of our Year 2 pupils, who enjoyed taking part in an experiment with Miss Lever, measuring if puddles had reduced over time.

Year 3 have been focussing on their maths work this term, taking part in many fun activities with Ms Lawrence to improve their numeracy skills. The children enjoy working in teams to solve maths problems together. In science, they have enjoyed researching animals and creating a profile on them and explored creative writing in their ICT lessons by making their very own comic strip.

This term, Year 4 have enjoyed their first science lessons in our lab with Dr Miller. They have loved using Bunsen burners, weights and water to test various theories. Their favourite project was testing Galileo’s Leaning Tower of Pisa theory, by dropping golf balls and weights from a height to see which would land first. They had a lot of fun testing this in our theatre and in the playground, to see the how the difference in height effected their results.

Sport is a big part of our pupils time at The Mall, and Year 5 have been getting stuck in! This term they have been enjoying gymnastics in their PE lessons with Mr Box and Mr Alvarez, working on their flexibility and balance. In their English lessons, they have broadened their vocabulary with Dr Newton to help them with future creative writing tasks.

Year 6 are preparing for their 11+ exams, with future school meetings and practise interviews. They all show brilliant determination to achieve their best. They have enjoyed an insightful trip to Heatham House, taking part in Junior Citizens Day, learning how to react appropriately in real life cautious situations such as making a 999 phone call. Our U11 team took the title of champions at our recent football tournament against 6 other local schools. They also another interesting trip to Winchester Science Centre with Dr Miller, with the opportunity to see an impressive planetarium show, learning a lot about space.