Garden Village
Primary Academy
Newsletter

Issue No. 8

29th November 2024

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Headteacher's Message

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Garden Village Primary Academy. The trees are up, the lights are twinkling, and the children are busy learning some traditional carols such as Little Donkey for their first Nativity Performance – The Star of Bethlehem.

Our attendance continues to be fantastic, 97.41%. Thank you for your continued support.

Today was our first Family Celebration Assembly. The children were delighted that so many family members could attend to celebrate the wonderful learning and Headteacher awards for this month's Character Education virtues.

Drawing Club

Last week, Miss Mathews took a trip down memory lane with the children watching the Looney Tunes cartoon Road Runner and Wile. E, Coyote... "beep, beep!” The children were most entertained by the cartoon, and inspired in their Drawing Club drawings and writing. The challenges for this week were to use the vocabulary 'speedy' and 'patience' to draw and label traps for Road Runner and then a machine to help Coyote to catch up with the speedy Road Runner.

Our segmenting for spelling is getting better every single week!

This week we read the story 'Penguin' by Polly Dunbar. This week's vocabulary included the word 'nibble'; the children had great designing a meal for the boy and a hiding place for the penguin.

Thank you for attending the Early Writing parent workshop. Your support is so much appreciated.

Little Wandle - Phonics and Reading

In phonics, we continue to learn some new sounds, blend new words and read more tricky words such as we, me and be. This week we have been beautifully blending and reading words ending with /s/ such as ships, chips, cats.

In the classroom provision, Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild were blown away with our independent caption writing.

Maths

In Mathematics, our knowledge of 4-sided shapes has increased. We can now name and describe a square and rectangle using the vocabulary of sides, corners and long and short.

We have also been learning to use positional language – next to, behind, on top of and under.

Miss Matthews was very impressed with our knowledge of 'day and night'. We sorted pictures of activities, e.g. a child wearing pyjamas and, using the correct vocabulary, could describe which time of day an activity would take place.

Here are some photographs of our composition of number 1-5 learning.

Ordering numbers to ten too!

Understanding the World

In history, we have been learning about the past by comparing our baby photographs to how different we are now. We are very skilled at using vocabulary such as change and grow.

Can you name the babies below? Big clue... some are staff too!

Staff member?

Expressive Art and Design

In music, building on our understanding of celebration, Mrs Burke taught us about Hanukkah – the Jewish festival of lights. We listened carefully to a piece of music and watched the dance called 'The Hora'. After, using percussion instruments, we then went into the hall to learn and perform the dance, it was very fast!

Miss Matthews couldn't resist joining in too!

In art, we have been learning about shades – adding white and black paint to change the shade of a colour.

Physical Education

In PE, we have been learning to control and manage our core strength. We co-operated with our partner to follow Miss Matthews instructions.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

On our first snowy day, Mrs Guild gathered and put some snow onto the tough tray and filled some pots with diluted food colouring. Using a pipette, we explored colour mixing the primary colours to make some secondary colours - orange, purple, green and brown.

Design & Technology

In readiness for making soup in Design & Technology, Reception Maple had a great afternoon tasting a range of different vegetables and fruits, including broccoli, cauliflower, blackberries and plums! Vocabulary such as sour, juicy, delicious were flying round the Special Practical Room.

Advent - Elim Church November Assembly

On Thursday 28th November, we were delighted to welcome back Bev from Elim church who came to talk to us about Advent. We learnt so much about what will happen in the next four weeks during advent. Mrs Burke said we are going to make a Christingle soon!

Children in Need

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Children in Need fundraising event on 15th November 2024.

With our OPOJ Nursery, Reception Maple, raised an incredible £188.

Thank you!

Reading Book Swap Box

Please remember to encourage your child to use the GVPA Book Swap Box to exchange reading books from home.

Reception Morning Snack Reminder

A polite reminder to ensure that you book your child's morning snack and payment is made when booking. Please speak to Mrs Hand if you need any assistance with this.

6th December - Ash End Farm Christmas Nativity Trip

10th and 11th December - Christmas Nativity

12th December - Christmas Jumper Day (Save the Children)

18th December - Christmas Dinner Day

20th December - Christmas Party Day and Last Day of Term

Garden Village Primary Academy News

07 Oct 2024

Reception 2025-26 Open Days and Evenings

Garden Village Primary Academy would like to invite the parents and carers of children who are looking for a Reception class place for September 2025.