The children enjoyed participating in the Herts For learning Year 5 maths challenge which was held at Martins Wood School. They were challenged to compete against 18 other schools and completed 4 rounds of extremely challenging Maths problems and reasoning questions. The children worked really well s a team and despite not winning really did themselves proud with their determination and excellent teamwork. Well done.

Our Fantastic Finish

Our Year 5 fantastic finish was excellent! It was Anglo-Saxon themed and we had a blast!

In the main classroom, we created our own amulets from clay. These amulets were used as good luck charms in Anglo-Saxon times. We had already designed our own and then used a variety of tools to carve and shape the clay to create them. We had an excellent time!

During the week, we were busying trying out Anglo-Saxon recipes to share with our adults. We made honey oat cakes and a barley and vegetable stew. Surprisingly, everyone hated the stew! But the honey oat-cakes were the prize winner with the tastes of the children.

There were a number of other stations to visit with our parents. We had the opportunity to learn how to play Anglo-Saxon games, solve riddles, write in runes and find out about punishments used during the period.

We had a wonderful time and enjoyed sharing our learning with our adults.

Today, Year 5 had a surprise visitor! Emperor Honorius entered the classroom and explained why the Romans were unable to help protect Britain against the Picts and Scot. The children got a chance to explore what the Romans had done for Britain as well as think about how the people of Britain might have felt when the Romans retreated back to Rome. This launched our Angry Angles and Smashing Saxons topic and the children are looking forward to finding out more about what happened next.

Year 5 join the 'Mini Police'!

The Year 5 children have enjoyed the beginning of their weekly 'Mini Police' course. So far they have learnt about anti-social behaviour, what this means and the consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator.  As you can see they love wearing their fluorescent jackets, which really get them into the spirit of each session.

Lots more learning to do so keep checking in to see what next weeks session is all about!

Children in Year 5 had a fantastic music day. They learnt to play the steel pans with Mr Mari and had the opportunity to learn a few chords on the ukulele which they then put together to create a basic piece of music.

The children were excited to receive a visitor on Tuesday afternoon from Knebworth House. They heard all about the Watch Tower, which is beginning a huge renovation. The children listened to the 'vision' of the Watch Tower and the many educational opportunities which will be available there in the future.

An App is in development which will show children the view from the Watch Tower at different points in history. This is what they needed our Year 5 experts for - so the children began by drawing annotated pictures of Anglo Saxon villages which will be used by the App producers to add content about this time period.

Watch this space because we hope to test and review the App later in its development and eventually go and see the new renovated Watch Tower!