Alexandra Primary School
As part of our ‘who lives on the farm?’ topic Nursery had a special visit from The Ark Farm. The children got to meet a dog, pig, donkey, ducks, sheep, rabbits and goats. During the visit the children found out lots of interesting facts about the animals. They had the opportunity to stroke the animals and ask the farmer questions.
The children were very excited to meet the animals that we have been reading about in stories. They have been talking about the visit a lot and have enjoyed looking back at photographs. We can’t wait to put the memory boards that the children helped to make up on in display in our classroom.
On Thursday 7th July, six Year 5 students took part in the C8 debating competition at Brentford School for Girls. Armed only with their cue cards and mental agility, they were able to argue their points eloquently and concisely. After eliminating their opponents in rounds one and two, the team found themselves in the final.
The opposing team were very good, tensions were running high but our team managed to successfully defend their case and win the debating competition. Congratulations to Alex, Pavneet, Nadia, Maira, Divija and Ayushi. A stellar performance from six incredible APS students.
On Tuesday 21st June,
Miss Hynes and Miss Katie took the Year 3 APS Astronauts (Shrinika, Avner, Chrissa, Manvik, Zaha and Nafay) to a water rocket challenge at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. The aim of the challenge was to launch a rocket powered only by water/air pressure and land it in designated target zones, whilst trying to earn additional bonus points by time of flight.
They had an amazing day at the challenge and are all really looking forward to sharing their bottle rocket creating skills with the rest of Year 3!
The school had a wonderful time celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee.
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There has been lots of ‘egg-citing’ learning in Reception! A farmer came with a special delivery of eggs in an incubator. The following day the special eggs had started to hatch and over the next 2 days we had 9 beautiful chicks.
A little yellow chick hatched first, shortly followed by another and then a little brown chick. We learnt that the yellow chicks were male and the brown were female. We had 7 male chicks and 2 female chicks.
Once the chicks had hatched we waited for them to fluff up and transferred them to their brooder. We enjoyed watching them get up to all kinds of antics in the brooder. We found it funny when they sat in their food bowl or jumped around the brooder.
We enjoyed the experience of holding them as they were so soft.
The chicks grew so quickly that they needed to go back to the farm where they had more space and would be able to roam around freely.
It has been an amazing learning experience for us and there was a real buzz of excitement in the Reception classes. We will not forget the little chicks!
As part of our ‘who lives on the farm?’ topic Nursery had a special visit from The Ark Farm. The children got to meet a dog, pig, donkey, ducks, sheep and goats. During the visit the children found out lots of interesting facts about the animals. They had the opportunity to stroke the animals and ask the farmer questions.
The children were very excited to meet the animals that we have been reading about in stories. They have been talking about the visit a lot and have enjoyed looking back at photographs. We can’t wait to put the memory boards that the children helped to make up on in display in our classroom.
As part of Nursery’s Spring 2 "People Who Help Us" topic we invited our attached Community Police Officer Julie Dracup. PC Dracup spoke to the children about her role and explain the use of her policing equipment. The children were able to explore the equipment and ask questions.
We also had a visit from Dr Pakkiri, who is a parent and a paediatrician at West Middlesex Hospital. Dr Pakkiri talked to the children about how their bodies work and when they might need some doctor’s help. The children were amazed to listen to each other heartbeats and look in each others mouth and noise.
On Wednesday 4th May, the APS choir performed at the O2 arena for the Young Voices concert. After an hour and a half of travelling, we finally reached the O2 and made our way inside. Once we climbed the many stairs to get to the top, we entered the arena itself. It was huge with lots of lights and what seemed like millions of seats! After we ate our lunch, we met the conductor and rehearsals were under way. We also met the Beatbox Collective, who showed us how to beatbox. We practiced our songs and in between, met more dancers and singers, some of whom had been a performer like us when they were at Primary school. We even had a beatbox competition between us and the parents – I think you can guess who won?! I was very happy to attend, as the concert was amazing. I felt happier when I saw my parents who had come to watch me take part. I really had an amazing time at the concert.
Sansitha
Year 6 were enthused at the start of the Spring Term when we had a visit from the History Man, who bought to life the stories, events and facts of World War 1. The children had the opportunity to learn about and explore primary historical sources such as weaponry, clothing, soap, photographs and war strategy. They were taken back to 1918 and were amazed to learn the turning point that some believe started WW1. Through looking at old maps they learned about power struggles, lack of fuel, the length it took to travel across The Channel.
The day allowed them to immerse themselves into life during that time, whether it was from putting on the heavy army uniforms, carrying the guns which they said were long and difficult to move with or the smell of the disinfection soap. This understanding allowed them to display the APS values of respect for those that had fought, to understand the true meaning of resilience, collaboration and responsibility when you were being relied on to deliver much needed supplies and to keep others safe. It was a wonderful launch into a fascinating topic and what they discovered was evident throughout the work they produced during the term.
Throughout the Spring half term, the children were learning about the different shelters used during the Second World War (Anderson, Morrison and Communal).
During the topic, the children have been looking at different structures across the world and using this knowledge to build and test protypes. They took this information forward along with discussions with their group to plan their shelters, in this case Anderson shelters. Children had to think about the set criterion when planning their shelter, it needed to provide protection, fit six children and had to be strong.
During the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshop, also known as a STIXX workshop. The children worked in small groups to create air raid shelters. The children had to modify their designs within groups and they created newspaper sticks which were then assembled to create the structures. During the construction stage, the children displayed many of the APS values, using their problem-solving, perseverance and resilience to provide strength and structure, teamwork and collaboration to decide who would be making the sticks, who would hold up the structure and who would attach the fittings.
It was great to see all getting involved!
Thirty-eight children have just returned from an action-packed three-day residential trip to Sayers Croft in the heart of the Surrey countryside. On arrival, we were met by our leader, Kate, who showed us our ‘home’ for the next three days – ‘Holmbury.’ After making up beds and unpacking, we had a fire-drill and a chance to look around our surroundings before heading off for lunch. The afternoon’s activities were varied and challenging in different ways – caving (in a fibreglass tunnel network), archery and nature art. Despite some worries about crawling through dark tunnels, everyone gave it a go and came out with a fantastic sense of achievement and having had a lot of fun!
In the evening, we set off for a guided walk through the grounds, listening to the sounds of the night in the countryside and admiring the stars before heading back to the dormitories for hot chocolate and bed-time.
The last day came around all too quickly. The morning was spent pond-dipping – who could believe the incredible variety of creatures found in the water? A final activity showed excellent team skills as children competed to build a giant catapult and shoot their sponges the furthest. Then, back to the dorm for a quick lunch and on to the coach for the journey home with lots of stories to tell!
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On Wednesday 16th October, some of our Year 5 children were fortunate enough to attend a question and answer session with British astronaut Tim Peake at The Science Museum in London to support their learning on Earth and Space this term. It was fascinating to hear him talk first-hand about his experiences on the International Space Station, where he spent 6 months, and the training that he had to go through prior to his mission. While we were there, Tim Peake was also presented with a special award from the Royal Academy of Engineers for his work in promoting engineering across the country. More information on this can be found at https://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2019/october/academy-and-raspberry-pi-celebrate-top-award-for-a
The children should be congratulated on their outstanding behaviour during the trip and they were a credit to APS. Perhaps after this inspirational visit we now have some budding astronauts or engineers amongst us.
On Thursday 10th October, Years 4 and 5 learnt about how to stay safe around lorries. They learnt about where drivers can see and where they can’t, including cycling on the inside. It was interesting to know how long it takes a lorry driver to break and where is safe to cross the road (90 metres, depending on the speed). Using a balloon to demonstrate, the lorry driver showed the children how little speed is needed to run over anything with the huge tyres. They were reminded that getting anything from under a car or lorry is extremely dangerous. The children gained a lot of essential safety information in their sessions which will help them to keep safe when walking or cycling!
Year 5 were lucky to travel to Whittle and Spark in Shepperton for an adventure-packed day of outdoor learning. They learnt how to handle sticks safely to make dens, toasted bread over a fire and identified a whole host of insects and even arachnids! Luckily, the weather was on our side and an unforgettable day was had by all.
The topic for Year One is ‘Moon Zoom’. To celebrate this topic we had ‘Space Day’. The children made their space outfits for homework and had a parade to show them off. They were amazing! There was a winner and a runner up chosen from each class for the most creative ones! These were very difficult to choose! The children spent the day participating in a range of space linked activities including making their own astronauts with moving parts and cooking. We also had a role play room called ‘The space room’ with a range of space linked objects and games. It was wonderful to bring the theme to life! A huge thank you to the children, parents/carers and staff who made this day successful!
Year 2 were very excited to have a visit from Mrs Wellbake, Samuel Pepys’ maid. She had travelled in time all the way from 1666 to come and see us. During her stay she told us lots of details about The Great Fire of London. We found out about how it started, how the fire spread and even how they managed to put it out in the end. Some of Year 2 were lucky enough to dress up at important characters from history, such as Samuel Pepys, the Lord Mayor of London and King Charles II. Back in class we were able to use what we had learnt in our writing and are now working on our own newspaper reports.
On the 14th January, year 4 embarked on a journey: ‘The Orient Express’ to explore their new history topic based on The Shang Dynasty. We were very impressed with the children’s engagement with their learning throughout the day. The children worked with a professional dancer to learn and perform a Lion Dance. It was a treat to see the finished performances at the end of the day! The children also learnt how to write Chinese symbols and used artistic techniques like calligraphy to reproduce these. Year 4 practiced problem solving skills when working together in the ‘Chopsticks challenge’ to pick up different objects using chopsticks in a set time! Overall, it was a very enjoyable day for all.
Well done to
all children who took part in this years Christmas card competition.
All of the teachers found it incredibly hard to pick winners from
the fantastically festive masterpieces. Overall, the year group
winners were:
Year 6, Ariana in 6C
Year 5, Reyhan in 5M
Year 4, Joelin in 4H
Year 3, Gaurav in 3H
Year 2, Shaindhavi in 2B
Year 1, Shivaani in 1TB
Congratulations to all
of our winners!
On Friday 16th
November, ten children from across Year 5, spent the morning at Kingsley
Academy’s annual Primary Maths Challenge. This event is designed for
pupils who enjoy mathematics, with activities that encourage pupils to work in
a team and develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Two
teams from Alexandra entered the annual Challenge. For the third year
running, one of our teams came first while the other came forth in a
tightly-fought competition. All the children demonstrated excellent
team-work and problem-solving skills – congratulations!
On the 4th
October 2 representatives from Bradford Swissport Ltd came to school with an artic lorry to teach Lorry awareness/ safety to our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. They were shown all of the blind spots from a drivers perspective and why they should never crawl under a vehicle to collect a lost ball as well as being given lots of information about height , weight and stopping distances.
We were all amazed to hear that at 30mph the lorry would need the length of a football pitch to stop safely.
All of the children had the opportunity to climb up into the cab of the lorry and see first hand how restricted the drivers view really is.
Thank you to all the parents for supporting children in making their costumes for Roman Day!
The day was a huge success and the children had a great time.
Their favourite activities included making Roman shields and trying Roman food!
