Ashmead School

Key Stage 1 

Key Stage 1 have had a lovely term learning about Paddington Bear and all things London! We learned about the different artists of Paddington Bear and we all had a try at either sketching, painting or shading our own Paddington Bear artwork. 

We went back in time to explore what happened during the Great Fire of London and answered big questions during Oracy discussions: 'Why did the fire start?' and 'What changed as a result of the fire?' . Year 2 loved watching the re-enactment of 'The Great Fire of London' on the playground, where the children saw how powerful and quickly a controlled fire can spread. 

In Maths, the Year 1 children continued to develop their measuring skills, learning how to measure length, mass and capacity using a variety of equipment. In Year 2, the children consolidated addition and subtraction skills, and are now exploring 2D and 3D shapes, money and times tables.

Everyone has really impressed us with their writing this term. The children's handwriting is beautiful with many Year 2 children joining all of their writing! Year 1 invented and created fact files about their own mixed-up jungle creatures such as the "snager" (half snake, half tiger!) and shared these with Paddington. Year 2 used many different writing genres this term. Their favourites were a non-chronological report about polar bears and letters written as if they were Thomas Farriner in the Great Fire of London. 

In Science, Year 1 learned how to group and categorise animal groups whilst also learn about animal's diets. Year 2 researched and presented facts about animal and human life cycles. We were also very lucky to have our own caterpillars to look after. We loved watching them grow and develop into chrysalides.

This experience also helped us to present information during this year's British Science Week theme: 'Change and Adapt'.


We have all loved the Spring term, and we are really looking forward to starting our new topic next term!  

Up, Up and Away

up up and away overview 24 25.pdf

 Pupil Version

Remembrance Day

The children in Year 1 and 2 learned about the history behind Remembrance Day. We learned all about why we buy poppies, poppy snap bands and poppy keyrings. Year 2 went outside at 11am for a 2 minute silence, and we listened to Mr Stocks playing "The Last Post" on his Bugle and we listened to Mr Kershaw recite a poem.

 

Bubbles

The children in Year 2 enjoyed experiencing bubbles to help them to think of some words for their Bubble poems. 

 Winter Lights

We are very excited to have been offered the opportunity to work in collaboration with Waddesdon Manor on their winter exhibition. This year the theme is fairytales.

The children in year 1 and 2 have been offered the chance to complete an art workshop in order to create a giant turnip.

This workshop will take place during the school day tomorrow (Thursday 10^th October). Aprons will be provided.

In recognition of their participation, each pupil will receive free entry to the exhibition for themselves and a 50% discount for up to two parents and two siblings this winter. When we receive further details, we will share them with you.

 Science

Investigation 1

 We have been thinking about different materials and the suitability of each material and their usages. We used a traditional tale - The Three Little Pigs - to help us to investigate the best type of material to create a house. In small teams, the children created a house made out of straw, sticks and bricks. We all predicted that bricks would be best because they are strong, heavy, durable and rigid. The wolf (hairdryer) visited and in conclusion, we found that the straw blew away the most, only the roof blew off the stick house, and the brick house stayed put.

Materials

We have been learning about the properties of materials. We soon identified that 'properties' were adjectives which made it easier to describe objects like bricks, cardboard, fabric and plastic. 

We were able to use our knowledge of properties to think about why objects are made from particular materials.

Geography

Traffic Survey

We conducted a traffic survey by watching the traffic by our school gates. We stayed for 30 minutes and saw lots of different types of transport. There were lots of cars, buses, people walking and we even saw a lorry! 

Together we decided that walking, using scooters or bicycles would be better for our environment.

We will try to use these when we travel to and from school as well! 

Human and Physical features

We went on a walk around our local area, Walton Court. On our walk we located human and physical features. We were surprised to see more human features such as shops, a vet, a cafe, a doctors surgery and a launderette.

What human and physical features do you see when you walk to school?

Birds of Prey Day

 Kite Day

We have begun the new school year with a fun experience day where we learned about our topic - Up, Up and Away. We looked at different types of kites, learned the song 'Let's go fly a kite' and we made our own kites and flew them in the field. It was such a fun day!

If you would like to sing the song at home, click this link to the video we used.

Classroom Displays

Timetable

Please click on the document below to see the plethora of subjects that your children will cover and learn in, each week. This is an example and may not be the exact timetable that your child has in their class.
• Visual timetable example

Curriculum Overview

• Up Up and Away Overview 24 25 download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineUp Up and Away Overview 24 25
• Visual timetable example download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineVisual timetable example
• Year 1 and 2 Autumn Overview download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYear 1 and 2 Autumn Overview
• Year 1 and 2 Statutory Spellings download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYear 1 and 2 Statutory Spellings
• Year 1 Autumn Term Homework download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYear 1 Autumn Term Homework
• Year 2 Autumn Term Homework download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineYear 2 Autumn Term Homework

Home Learning

• Year 1 Autumn Term Homework Grid
• Year 2 Autumn Term Homework Grid

Completing these homeworks will not only help your child to consolidate their learning but it will also give your child the opportunity to get excited and share the topic with you and your family at home.
We can't wait to see their homework! Your child will also have the chance to show their classmates their work, and they will be rewarded for their hard efforts.