Balby Central Primary AcademyOur blogs
Date: 24th Nov 2020 @ 2:51pm
Today we got the bikes and scooters out. We had so much fun riding them around our outdoor area especially going down the hill where we went really fast! Some of us were a bit wobbly to begin with so we had to work hard on our balance and make sure we looked where we were going so we did not crash into anyone!
Date: 23rd Nov 2020 @ 6:59pm
Please take a look at some of our fantastic maths work!
Date: 22nd Nov 2020 @ 5:56pm
As part of our DT project, learning about, designing and creating periscopes, Year 5 learnt about different types of joints this week: we then assessed these, considering which would be the most/least effective in order to create our own periscopes. It was a messy lesson but it was fun!
Date: 22nd Nov 2020 @ 5:50pm
This week for "Anti-Bullying Week", Year 5 created ther own Haikus with a shared message of "uniting against bullying". The work will also be proudly displayed in school. We are so proud of how mature and thoughtful the children's poems were - they really did have some beautiful, powerful messages to make.
Date: 22nd Nov 2020 @ 4:35pm
Brilliant Biomes
As part of our work on the many biomes over the world, this week Year 6 have been focusing on The Tropical Rainforest.
We looked at the features of a rainforest, the locations where they might be found, the animals we might see and of course the many layers it has. We loved learning about this as ir gave us some background knowledge about the Amazon Jungle which is where our class text ‘The Explorer’ is set.
We were then very excited to make our own biomes in a jar- this is called a terrarium. To do this we used stones, charcoal to filter the water, moss, some soil and of course a tropical plant. We finished with a spritz of water to help the 'water cycle' take place. This should hopefully mean that now our lid is on our jar it will create its own climate and it will not need watering again!
A few weeks ago we also learnt about the chaparral biome. So because we had so much fun we decided to make an open terrarium using slightly different materials. We used sand to mirror the terrain in the desert and used plants that grow naturally in this climate- cacti!
Have a look at our terrariums below.
Date: 22nd Nov 2020 @ 2:09pm
For our Thrive session this week we focused on mirroring. We sat opposite our friend and had to copy each others actions without using our words. Eye contact and concentration were really important as we followed what our friend was doing. This activity works on developing relationships with others in the class.
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 4:13pm
In D&T Year 2 have been testing materials to see which would be the best material to use to create a bag for a soldier. We decided the bag must be waterproof, strong, flexible and comfy. After testing many different materials the children decided that fabric would be the best material overall. We had lots of fun testing the materials and got a little bit wet!
R.E - The lost sheep & the good shepherd
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 4:04pm
After focusing on the religion of Islam in the first half term, the children have moved onto learning more about Christianity in R.E. We read the story of the lost lamb and the good shepherd and discussed why every sheep was so important. We then re-told the story and turned it into a story cube. Here is an example of what the children produced.
Look at what we have been up to this week!
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 2:49pm
This week in Art we have been sketching our figures in readiness for starting our wire sculptures next week. We practised our Iron man poses and our partners identified the different body parts we used to perform our pose.
In Maths this week we have be learning to interpret data. We have used tally charts, frequency tables and pictograms. We have also drawn our own bar charts using our own data sets.
There's a Monster in the Shed...
Date: 19th Nov 2020 @ 8:28am
A strange thing happened the other day. Reception were outside and we heard a noise from inside the shed. We investigated and listened carefully and decided there must be a monster in the shed! We planned and built a monster trap and we haven't heard a noise since. We will keep checking though - just in case!
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be flat?
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 7:48pm
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be flat?
Well, if you were to ask the children in Year 3 , they would be able to tell you exactly what it's like! This half term, we have been on a reading journey with a young boy called Flat Stanley. We have loved learning and writing about all the things he can do now that he is flat. One particular adventure that we enjoyed writing about was when Stanley saved the day by posing as a painting in the Famous Museum and helped capture two sneak thieves! Here is just a sample of some of our work.
Letters from Sunny the meerkat!
Date: 16th Nov 2020 @ 4:02pm
Year 2 have been reading the story Meerkat Mail in class during Autumn term 1. The children enjoyed completing a range of work based on the story from learning about animals in science to looking at countries in Africa and around the world in geography. Our main writing task for this book was to write a letter as if we were the main character Sunny and send it to our Meerkat family telling them why we were unhappy and had to leave. We were super impressed with the quality of the children's writing and how they presented their work beautifully writing up in handwriting pen for the first time.
Date: 16th Nov 2020 @ 10:45am
This week in Science we have been learning about solids, liquids and gases. We investigated changes of state to help Willy Wonka keep his chocolate river flowing.
In Writing this week we have produced wanted posters for the Iron Man using persuasive writing skills as part of our Book study approach. Over the past two weeks we have learned many techniques to produce our posters both in written form and using the laptops.
The Explorer Descriptive Writing
Date: 15th Nov 2020 @ 3:25pm
The Explorer
Katherine Rundell
We may have only just started reading our new novel study book, but we are already completly engrossed with the story. This week we have focused on producing some incredible pieces of descriptive writing. In class, we have looked carefully at vocabulary, sentence types and how we can create clear images in the readers head. Have a look at some of the writing we have produced below.
Date: 15th Nov 2020 @ 1:15pm
Nursery class have worked hard, using a variety of materials, to create poppies for Remembrance Day.
Date: 15th Nov 2020 @ 12:56pm
The Nursery children have made a wonderful start to the school year!
The children have been enjoying learning lots of new skills and exploring the environment in and out of the classroom.
This year we have been very lucky to have new provisions added to our outdoor area including a very popular new sand pit and mud kitchen.
We have been looking at Nursery Rhymes, discussing characters, settings and actions. We have built walls for Humpty Dumpty, spider webs for Incy Wincy and building boats to row! Their imagination has been inspiring.
The children have worked very hard in the classroom and have enjoyed building and creating masterpieces! Below are some lovely images of the hardwork they have produced this half term.
Date: 12th Nov 2020 @ 3:38pm
Last half term Year 2 were looking at African art with the end goal of producing our own collage inspired by African artists. We appraised African artists such as John Ndambo, Fred Mutebi and Edward Saidi Tingatinga. We practised a variety of drawing techniques using shade and thickness of lines. We planned our collage thinking about the materials we would like to use and used pencil crayon to produce a final plan. Finally we used glue and a variety of materials to create our collages.
Date: 11th Nov 2020 @ 8:59pm
We have been very busy in Reception exploring our classroom and outdoor area.
As part of our technology work we have been taking selfies using an ipad. We had to hold the ipad, turn the camera to face us and press the correct button. As well as all of this we had to make sure we showed our best smiles!
We may have got wet but it was brilliant exploring capacity. We looked at containers of different shapes and sizes, predicted which would hold the most water and investigated to see if we were right!
We have had such a lot of fun exploring our outdoor area. We have used our imagination to turn the crates into a train and went on a journey to the beach, forest and lavender hills. There have been many cakes baked and dinners cooked in the mud kitchen, we may get messy but we develop our motor skills, imagination and language at the same time. We have been exploring the tubes rolling balls and cars and seeing how fast they go.
Look at how hard we have been concentrating to complete the jigsaw puzzles in the classroom. We have worked together and looked carefully at the pieces to see where they go. We have been very proud of ourselves when the puzzle is finished!
Date: 9th Nov 2020 @ 7:42pm
Stone Age Boy
As part of our landing point for our new book, Stone Age Boy, we made our own fossils. Can you use your eagle eyes and work out what the fossils are?
As well as this, we became fashionistas by creating Stone Age jewellery! We learned about the types of materials that the Stone Age people used to make their jewellery from, how items were made and the types of decorative patterns that they used. We hope you like our interpretations!
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 12:00pm
Welcome to my first blog on our new school website! We will also be welcoming communication from our school governing body and from class teachers as they share news about children’s learning.
It has been a challenging start to the new academic year, yet one filled with much celebration for the achievements across school. I cannot describe how proud we have all been to see such resilience from our children in all year groups. They have settled well into their new classes, adapted to change in their environments, followed new routines, developed new skills and recalled knowledge from previous learning. Last half term certainly felt fast paced and the learning environments around school certainly reflect the hard work from the children. Reading has been a real priority with Read Write Inc well established for our younger readers. Children are really engaged in learning sounds, reading books, and writing with care. Further up school children have enjoyed books including Put Out the Light, Flat Stanley and Granny exploring other texts linked to subjects and learning.
Learners in Early Years settled so quickly to full time education, discovering, and exploring both in their classroom environment and in the outdoor area. Each morning I am welcomed with a very cheery good morning, as they learn to use sign language and start their learning together. It is exciting to see their confidence grow each day. Over the half term Mr Walsh has added a mud kitchen for children to explore in the Early Years environment with their new garden area.
Training for staff has focused on reading, behaviour approaches, high expectations and how to sequence learning in small steps; all key areas in our plan for excellence at Balby Central. We have also welcomed new staff in school and specialist provision including a trained therapist, a speech and language therapist and mental health workers.
New ways of working have seen great improvements too, from 66% wearing PE kits in Spring 2020 to nearly 100% wearing PE clothing. Our half term heroes saw 279 children with 100% attendance in October and overall attendance for the first half term was 94.9% with 97.1% attendance on our best day. We are looking forward to seeing the results of Never Late November as we return to school. A team in school are available to support any family with attendance and routines and have seen some real success stories.
The support of families in our community helped us to raise a staggering £215.40 on ‘Wear Yellow Day’ for Mental Health Awareness. Staff wore pink at the end of half term and raised £78 for Breast Cancer Awareness; two great charities to support.
To end the first half term parents have received a report from their child’s teacher to share progress and their half term achievements, with follow up phone calls with the class teachers to discuss these further. As we move to the next half term, we look forward to sharing achievements from each year group. Each team has shared their best bits from the first half term, enjoy finding out a little bit more about children across school.
Nursery (Miss Jenkins and Mrs Gilson)
In Nursery we have been very impressed by the maturity of the children whilst problem solving, the children are discussing and finding ways to work together. We have also been very impressed with the children's independence, they are keen to put on their own coats, hats etc and look after themselves! The children have shown real enthusiasm towards maths, joining in with counting activities and participating in maths meetings.
Reception (Mrs Lakin and Mr Smith)
In Reception we have been really impressed with how well the children have settled straight into full time school they have shown great resilience, determination and a desire to investigate and learn. The children have formed friendships and created bonds with each other and the adults in the setting, collaborating well to learn through continuous provision. Language development has been great - some children who were not talking at all are now answering the register and talking to their friends in provision. Children are developing their ability to talk in full sentences and using their story language in play.
Year 1 (Mrs Hodgson and Miss Bouttell)
Year 1 have really enjoyed our new five-day timetable for reading a story! They are fully engaged with all elements of the plan, especially the role-play when they can become the characters. Children have been trying very hard to be more independent and use their talk partners to help progress their learning. We were impressed with how the children engaged with learning about Mary Seacole and Barack Obama as part of Black History Month, asking many questions and showing great interest in the lives of significant people.
Year 2 (Miss Shaw and Mr Short)
We are really pleased with the children's retention of phonics and proud of their results in recent phonic testing. The quality of the children's work in art has been amazing! From the very first week the children have produced some fantastic artwork using a wide range of skills such as painting, hatching stippling and collage. The fact that the children settled in so quickly after a lengthy time away from school has been very impressive, including how mature and sensible the children have been following our new school rules.
Year 3 (Mrs Drake and Mrs Hogarty)
From the first day of term, the children in Year 3 have been really enthusiastic and ready to learn. They have really enjoyed finding out about The Stone age and Flat Stanley. They have approached challenges with confidence and determination to succeed - particularly with their weaving. Each morning there are lots of smiley face at the door and children are consistently displaying 'ready, respectful, safe', trying hard with our learning superpowers too. It is lovely to see them making friends within their new classes as well as maintaining previous friendships. Finally, we are proud of how Year 3 have settled back in to school life and we cannot wait to see the amazing work they will create next term. They have already shown wonderful progress this year - really aiming to be the best that they can be.
Year 4 (Miss Giddings and Miss Wales)
Children in Year 4 have worked hard to settle back into school life that is a little different to what they remember. They have moved into a brand-new year group, with new teachers and support staff, in an environment that is not like any they have ever seen. Our own superheroes have shown their own skills in many ways since they started back to school. They have shown a great love for stories and have thoroughly enjoyed our first story, showing a real keenness to read and understand further. We are excited to see what our children produce as they come back next half term, with the same energy and drive to try their very best.
Year 5 (Mr Mynett and Mrs Rehman)
Year 5 have shown great energy and enthusiasm in the classroom, desperate to showcase their ideas, knowledge and learning. They have worked hard to meet the targets that we have set for them: collaborating with each other, being "ready" for learning and being independent. Children showed great attitudes towards our book: they have been fully immersed in their learning and produced some superb pieces of writing! It has been a pleasure to see how much they have enjoyed 'Put Out the Light'. We have also been so impressed with the maturity, integrity, and respect that all the children showed towards Black History Month and in the incredible poems that they wrote to mark the occasion.
Year 6 (Miss Talbot and Mr Snape)
In Year 6 we have been impressed with attitudes as children have returned to school. They have shown a great maturity and resilience to learning. They have shown determination when we have set them a challenge and they have worked incredibly well as part of a team. Granny Day was a great success, with some amazing costumes! We were even more amazed at their acting skills! Who knew so many Grannies and Grandads taking part in Olympic Games would be so incredibly funny to watch and so real! The day was a great success and a fabulous way to launch our book. We cannot wait for the next half term to see the progress the children make! What an exciting year it will be!
Mrs Cooke
Date: 29th Jun 2020 @ 10:14am
As part of our science topic we have been learning all about our teeth. They can now tell you what each tooth is called and explain it's role, explain what good dental hygiene is and share ways in which to protect our teeth. During discussions, the children decided to investigate what exactly happened to our teeth when they were exposed to particular liquids. There were some very suprising and slightly digusting results! Why don't you ask the children about what they found out!
Date: 29th Jun 2020 @ 10:13am
Butterfly Blog
Mr Smith has been looking after the butterflies at home, please look at the imaged to see how we got on. 4 butterflies emerged in the end and spent a few days building their strength before being released. We tried lots of different fruit for them to eat. Their favourites were apple and watermelon.
Over the Easter weekend, it was time to release the butterflies. The weather was perfect for them, bright and sunny with no wind. One of them didn’t want to come out and Mr Smith had to help it on it’s way. Once it left the net, it sat on the wall and enjoyed the sun before flying away.
