Thank you from Cassatt!

Dear Parents and Carers of Cassatt class

Thank you all so much for your generosity, kindness and of course all your support throughout the year. It has been a pleasure to work with you all. Have a wonderful summer break!

Best wishes

Miss Lawrence

Mrs Cantel and Mrs Williams

Year 5 Aspirations: Game Makers

In year 5, we have been designing and creating our own computer arcade games. We used our creativity to develop a story set over several levels. Each one was harder than the previous. We then designed the promotional cover for the game. App games are incredibly popular now and we aspired to create one that could compete with those already on the market.

Throughout the process we used imagination, collaboration and clear targets to create our game.

Aspirations Week - Hairdressers!

On Wednesday, Year 1 was transformed into a hairdressing salon as part of Aspirations Week. We watched videos to help us learn how to style hair in different ways and then partnered up! We took it in turns to style each others' hair using clips, bands and hair gel. It was so much fun!

Igniting Aspirations: Artist!

Reception have been so lucky to have lots of visitors this week for Aspirations week! This afternoon, we heard all about being an Artist from Logan's mummy, Emma.

  Emma spoke a little bit about her favourite kind of art, which was painting with oils. We had a look at some of her completed pictures, some of which took her 40 hours or more to finish! 

The pieces of art were so realistic that they looked like they were photographs!

The children couldn't wait to practise their artistic skills during choosing time.

We had to remember that it was okay to make mistakes because they help our brains to grow!

Igniting Aspirations: Butcher!

Today, Reception had a visit from Ethan's dad, who works as a butcher!

Mr Hornsby spoke a little bit about why we have butchers and how we end up with food in our shops.

We learnt all about the role, including the uniform that needs to be worn, 

the tools that are needed and even how burgers and sausages are made! 

Later, the children set up a food shop using playdough produce and tools, charging customers for their tea time sausages, burgers and meatballs!

Budding authors, editors and publishers

As part of igniting aspirations week, Year 4 wrote, edited and published a Vikingology book. This week, we even had the opportunity to do an author reading and book signing at Waterstones in town. This was a fabulous experience and the children wer3 fantastic ambassadors for Windhill. Well done Year 4.

Reception Escape Room!

Today, Reception took part in Mrs Pyne's Escape Room challenge! The children had to be problem solvers and solve lots of different puzzles to escape the room.

We had to piece together puzzles of teen numbers, build towers using the language of 'more', make tricky repeating patterns, put numbers back in the right order on Mrs Pyne's calendar and we even has to guess the names of shapes from specific clues!

The children really enjoyed themselves!

Oliver: "I liked the one where you had to fix the numbers because I like fixing problems!"

Mary: "I enjoyed it when we had to guess the shape, because I could ask lots of questions"

Ethan: "I liked putting the patterns in the right order because I solved the problems"

Ava: "I liked the puzzles because I could put together the tricky numbers!"

Igniting Aspirations: Crop Scientist!

Today in Reception, we learnt about being a crop scientist! Mary's mum came in to talk to us about her job as a crop scientist and what it involves.

The children learnt all about what plants need to grow, and what might stop a crop like wheat from growing well. Sometimes plants don't grow very well and it's up to people like Mary's mum to act as problem solvers and experiment with different ways to grow crops.

Did you know, in a wheat field the size of our classroom, there would be enough wheat to make flour for 103 loaves of bread? That's why it is so important for crop scientists to find out what makes crops healthy... so farmers can produce more food!

The children listened very carefully and demonstrated some excellent estimation skills!

Inspiring Aspirations: Video Game Artist!

Today Reception was really lucky to have a special visitor!

Mr Neal visited us to talk to us about his job:

Video Game Artist!

Mr Neal told us about the different jobs that go into making a video game:

Director
Artist
Producer
Tester

He showed us a video of the game he helped to make:

The children asked some brilliant questions like:

"How many games have you made?"

"What sort of games do you make?"

"Do you play the racing games against the computer or against other people?"

Year 5 Newsletter

We have been preparing for our graffiti exhibition. We have written discussions about whether graffiti is art or crime. We have included our own personal pieces of graffiti, sprayed furniture and rehearsed our presentations.

Rock Bottom Rocks!

On Thursday 4th July, approximately 120 pupils from Windhill21 performed an outstanding and humorous production of ‘ Rock Bottom’ at the Rhodes Centre in Bishops Stortford.

The breathtaking show took us back to the Stone Age and followed the story of Bobby Cobblestone (BC) the inventor, trying to gain the attention of the stupefying celebrity ‘Lady Lava’. Foot stomping songs such as ‘Spell on You’ and ‘Down Low’ blew the audience away whilst the biggest laughs of the night were reserved for the Three Amigoes and their endless one liners.

The talented children showed acting, dancing and singing ability to rival any local school. One audience member described the sell-out performance as ‘ a great way to end the year with a bang!’

Reviewed by Summer Bishop and Sumaiya Ahmed.

Getting ready!

This week Nursery have been preparing for the next steps in their education at Windhill21 with a very successful "move up" morning with their new teachers on Thursday.

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the week the children visited the kitchen staff and had a practice at carrying their own lunch trays and eating at the special tables in the hall. Miss Tyler even gave the children some very special lunchtime stickers for being so good on their visit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children are well prepared and eager to join Reception in September!

Year 2 Newsletter

This week we have been tieing up our topic this term thinking about whether we still need castles now. We have also looked at the fantastic castles the children have created at home using the knowledge they have acquired over the topic! In Science we have continued to look after our plants and hope to see them grow even more in the next week. Maths has seen us creating patterns and the children have completed some brilliant repeating patterns using the ipads. Here is a QR code if you fancy trying this at home:

Year 4 Newsletter

Unsurprisingly, Year 4 are not exactly winding down for the end of term! This week sees the launch of our exciting Vikingology books at Waterstones.  We have learnt to be authors through drafting, editing, typing and publishing our works, not to forget the amazing illustrations that we have done in the style of the renowned author Cressida Cowell.  We are sure you will agree that the 'Rogues gallery' that we have prepared ready for Waterstones looks like an achievement in its own right!  Another highlight of the last fortnight has been our performance poetry.  All three classes have enjoyed innovating and performing 'Jabberocky' by Lewis Carroll. New to year 4 this year, we have also been learning about sound in Science through a number of practical hands on activities.  Who knew that sound travelled so well though solids or that we could produce a full octave using only a few bottles and varying amounts of water? In maths, we have been preparing for year 5 by exploring place value up to millions.  Our favourite activity was 'Crooked Millionaire'...perhaps something that we won't quite aspire to during Aspirations Week!

Year 3 Newsletter

Year 3 have been really busy preparing for our nature trail grand opening which is on Thursday 18th July 2019 at 1.30pm at Windhill21. The children have helped us bed in the posts by filling in the rest of each hole with soil and then stamping down to compress it around the base. The children have also been completing their nature trail information cards ready to share with our guests on Thursday and the rest of the school.

The children have been loving our art unit of photo montage and collage and we hope you were able to see what fantastic work they have been doing in their homework. This week the children have taken their own photographs for their final pieces and have chosen either to use their photos for photo montage or collage. They will be bringing home their final pieces soon. This is an example of one finished piece from Towns class!

In maths over the past few weeks we have been learning about pictograms. The children even made their own large class pictogram using real class data!

Year 6 History Town Trail

What an amazing couple of weeks.  Last week, the year 6’s impressed us all with their fabulous performance of Rock Bottom.  The children showed extreme talent and contagious enthusiasm for their show.  They were a real credit to the school and all you parents and careers.
The whole of year 6 were immersed in history this week when we taken on a journey around Bishop’s Stortford by local historian Jono Forgham.  The children were encouraged to be history detectives and were given historical clues to work out events of the past.  We visited St Michael’s Church, the Corn Exchange, Market Square, Castle Park and many, many more places of interest.  Please do ask your children all about it to see how much they remember!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Year 1 had the most fantastic day today at Frinton! We had lots of fun singing 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside' on the coach and we were so excited when we arrived. Once we were all unloaded and had eaten our snacks, we ventured down to the beach where we played games, had races and built sandcastles. We loved digging tunnels and hole in the sand! After our picnic lunch it was time to paddle! We absolutely loved splashing around in the sea and some of us got very, very wet! The entire day was brilliant and the children were amazing throughout. Thank you so much to the adult helpers who made the trip such a success.