Term 1

Week 8

21st October 2022

Hello everyone

It's the end of term, and the children (and teaching team) are ready for a rest. 

It has been a successful term - with a lot of learning covered. We appreciate that year 3 can feel a challenging leap for children - but please stick with us! We always get there by the end of the year, and it is always amazing to see how far the children come of the year, and how much their confidence grows. We just need to look at how well the children are doing in their times tables to see what they are capable of.  

Next term, will be a history term - and our topic is the Tudors (there will be some dressing up involved!). In Science we will be learning about Light & Shadows and the children will hopefully be making their own shadow puppet theatres. In English, we will be reading and writing about one of the most amazing children's classics, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z9ftb9q (there is also a film the Iron Giant based on the book). 

This afternoon, we only had left a few water bottles, shoes, 2 jumpers, 1 PE kit and 2 Jackets (both unnamed – both quite small, navy). So don’t worry if they didn’t come home today – they will be here next term.

Thank you for your support this term. Enjoy Hallowe'en weekend and we look forward to seeing the children back on Monday 31^st October.

Best wishes. 

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Week 7 

14th October 2022

Hello everyone, 

Just a week to go now until half term, and you can see the children need a break. Lots of coughs, colds, temperatures etc. 

With that in mind, I've tried to make sure that afternoon activities are fun and engaging this week - but apologies that the children came home with muddy PE kits! We had our soil science investigation afternoon, which the children seemed to really enjoy. But did involve a lot of mud attaching itself to their clothes/bodies but a muddy PE kit seemed preferable to a muddy school uniform the day before the weekend. 

Next week, we have some interesting activities planned. 

We will be finishing our Design & Technology project - making soup. The children will hopefully be bringing home some of it for you to sample.

I would like us to visit the village Church on Tuesday to support our RE learning about Christianity - a few parents need to give us permission to take their children on local trips, so Lisa Roberts has been in touch about this. Please do confirm asap. Mrs Vanns will be coming with us, and will support the children's understanding of Christianity in the community. Any concerns or questions, do of course get in touch. 

Mrs Austin will be sharing her artistic skills with the children as we have a Science themed Rock art afternoon.  

I have spoken to the Pure Sports team about a regular football session at lunchtime - providing the children with an adult umpired game and/or skills training. They were very keen to try and get this up and running for the children so fingers crossed.  

Technology willing, we will be doing formal online reading assessments with each child before the end of term - using a new computer programme the school have invested in. This will provide valuable information about your child's reading progress and what gaps and targeted support they may need going forward. 

As always, we are so proud of the children's learning this week. Thank you for supporting them in their home learning and reading. It makes a huge difference at this age to have them read regularly with an adult at home. 

I look forward to catching up with you on Monday for the wellbeing session. If for any reason you can't now make it, do let me know and I will try and phone you sometime in the week for a quick catch up instead. 

Have a lovely half term break. 

Best wishes. 

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

IMAGE FROM VOICES IN THE PARK by ANTHONY BROWNE - OUR CLASS BOOK THIS WEEK

Week 6

7th October 2022

Hello everyone,

Well, we are only 2 weeks away from half term and the shops are already readying us for Christmas. 

This week, the children have been writing descriptions of the park in Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne http://www.anthonybrownebooks.com/bibliography which have really impressed us. 

Again, they are doing well in maths and we are already at the end of our Place value module - pending a mini assessment next week which will clarify what we need to be recapping before the end of term.

We’ve decided that we should do any school trips in the spring and summer terms. Though we will be studying the Tudors next term, it really is very close to Christmas for such an additional expense and a trip to Hever Castle will be much more fun when the weather is lighter and brighter (and the amazing Castle play area, garden and mazes are fully open/accessible!). 

We have now booked the free trip to the Living Land show on 5th May. The only cost will be the petrol for the minibuses and we feel sure the children will enjoy it. More info here. https://kcas.org.uk/living-land/ 

I would also love us to go to Dover before this school year is out. We are currently studying the town in Geography and Dover Castle (for a family visit costing over £60) is free to visit for school groups - and it would fit in well with our early history topic in Term 4, as well as a good introduction to learning about Roman Britain in year 4 and World War II in year 6. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle/school-visits/

Thank you for continuing to read regularly with the children. We have asked them to make sure their reading diaries are signed by you each day that they read to ensure they get the small rewards we have in place. 

Their home learning is impressing us and thank you for sending them in with such amazing artefacts - fossils, George VI threepences, Greek island volcanic rock and many more. It really helps our topics come alive. 

The children continue to show great kindness and lovely manners to the adults, which is so appreciated as we focus on developing the children's learning behaviour and resilience to support the curriculum demands of KS2. 

Celebration tea will be face to face this term, and soon the lucky child will find out it is going to be them! 

I look forward to catching up with most of you on Monday 17th October for the well-being check ins. If you are unable to make that day/time, I am happy to try and rearrange another time - or to call or do a Teams meeting if easier. It is such a useful time to catch up with you all to make sure we pick up on any concerns or issues early so we can come up with some early interventions if needed.  

Best wishes.

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Week 5

30th September 2022

Hello everyone,

It’s been another busy week in Oak Class. 

The children have been making excellent progress with their maths. We have advanced onto partitioning 3 digit numbers flexibly and continue to enjoy our 5 minute memory maths starters each day! 

In English, we have finished up our writing based on the picture book Door by JiHyeon Lee. The children have shown how observant they are and have enjoyed the illustrator’s vibrant drawings. 

In Science, we have moved onto learning about fossils - what they are and how they are formed. The children took home a piece of play dough and a shell to help them explain to you how fossils are formed. 

We had the first Oak Class Milkshake party, to reward those children who are making good choices, doing their best and being kind and respectful. Thank you to Mrs Hardcastle for stepping in to make that happen for the children. 

Next week we are into October already! It’s starting to feel pretty autumnal too. 

Have a great weekend. 

Best wishes. 

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Week 4

22nd September 2022

This week, the children went on a rock hunt! Apologies if you now have a house full of rocks - but the children enjoyed digging for them and we found a wonderful selection of natural and man-made. Even a piece of relatively old looking pottery and a child's tooth!

I am looking into the children going to the Living Land event at Detling in May next year. It is a free event and if the minibuses are available that day the costs would be minimal. More details below.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Best wishes.

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Week 3

15th September

Hello everyone,

Another action packed week. 

This week, our free harp lessons started in year 3. This year, all children will have the chance to learn the harp with our music teacher Nicky. They are in 3 groups - each group will have lessons for 2 terms - the first group will be with Nicky up to Christmas. 

This is an incredible opportunity and we are sure the children will enjoy the experience (images below). Thank you to Miss Hooper for organising this for us. 

Dan the skipping man was with us on Thursday. And on Friday, is our second celebration assembly of the term, already! Who will it be this week?

A quick reminder to send children in with raincoats as the weather is certainly rather unpredictable this time of year and we like to ensure they get outside at break and lunchtimes. PE kits were sent home for washing and will be needed back on Monday. Thank you for the swift return of the recorders!

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend. 

Oak Class teaching team

Week 2

9th September 2022

Hello everyone,

How can it be the end of the week already? And what a week for us and the country. 

This week, we have started our memory maths lesson starters to support children's wider recall of key mathematical facts and vocabulary - and Miss Leigh has been so impressed with the children's maths skills and language. 

The class enjoyed learning about how to improve their balance in PE this week and finding out about how this is useful in gymnastics. Reminder PE kit is needed on Monday & Wednesdays. 

In Geography, we recapped about the continents and oceans of the World - with the use of the amazing playground map outside that Miss Hawkins arranged for us over the summer holidays. 

In Science, we are learning about rocks, and the children found out that certain rocks can float! We also looked at some fossils and started to learn about the three types of rocks - sedimentary (the white cliffs of Dover), metamorphic (cause by extreme pressure) and igneous (volcanic rocks such as pumice and obsidian). 

The children have brought home their recorders after an enthusiastic start on Friday (many apologies for this but they are so keen to practise!). Please, please could they come back to school on Monday for another lesson later in the week. 

Miss Hooper will also be sharing some amazing music news shortly about offering free harp lessons to ALL year 3 children this year. 

Mrs Austin (with an i, Miss Leigh) has been reading and completing running records with the children all week to ensure we have an accurate reflection of their reading level. She has been very impressed with their reading and we will shortly be choosing a few children to go on our Building reading stamina programme this term. She has also enjoyed the children’s enthusiastic response to learning French this year. 

Finally, on Friday we spent much of the day discussing and commemorating with the children about the passing of The Queen (as the French would call her). The children wrote a short fact file about her life, and enjoyed watching the times she made us laugh - such as meeting Paddington Bear and James Bond escorting her to the 2012 Olympics. 

Home learning was sent home on Friday with the relevant resources (a few handwriting booklets are left to go out on Monday). If you can just make a note in the purple home learning book if they have been using Mathletics and TT rockstars that week. (Passwords in the back of the home learning books and on the target sheet.)

In Mathletics, children can receive certificates:

• Bronze Certificate– 1000 points earned in a week
• Silver Certificate– 5 x bronze certificates. 
• Gold Certificate–4 x silver certificates (20 weeks of sustained effort!)

Sir Linkalot spelling app

SIR LINKALOT
Access details for Hadlow:

To access it on a laptop, Mac, Chromebook or PC (therefore IWBs):

1. Type in the browser itself where you normally type www (not a search engine)...app.sirlinkalot.org (with no Ws before it) 
2. Click on the log icon (for log in) at the top right 
3. Click on 'Have a 2021/22 access code?' (not 2020/21)
4. The promo code is Hadlow2022/23

To access it on a tablet, iPad or phone: 
1. Download it from the App Store, Play Store or Amazon 
2. Tap on 'log in' (top right)
3. Click on 'Have a 2021/22 access code?'  (not 2020/21)
4. The promo code is Hadlow2022/23

Here’s to week 3!

Best wishes. 

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Oak Class teaching team

Week 1

1st September 2022

Welcome to Oak class!

We hope you had an amazing summer holiday and Mrs Austin and Miss Leigh are looking forward to welcoming the children to Oak class this week. 

Below is a copy of the presentation given to parents on 1st September which includes key information about Oak Class. 

Please also click here for a link to this term's timetable. PE will be on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Drop off is 8.50 am and pick up time is now 3.25pm for Oak class. 

This term, we are focusing on Geography and finding out more about the United Kingdom. In English, we will be exploring some incredible picture books together and in maths we will be starting to work with 3 digit numbers. 

Any queries, please do get in touch - our email is oakclass@hadlow.kent.sch.uk.

Here's to an exciting and successful year of learning!

Best wishes. 

Miss Leigh & Mrs Austin

Land of Hope and Glory &

the power of pictures