It has been great to welcome the children back after half-term and to see them settling back into their routines so well.

This Week

In English, Columba we have begun exploring Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian, the story of a young evacuee who leaves London for the countryside as war approaches and goes to live with an elderly man. We explored a character’s inner conflict through drama and wrote an inner monologue. We also created contrasting atmospheres using sensory description and prepositional phrases.

In Aquila, we have used the opening scene from Narnia, the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe to explore writing our own evacuation story. We’ve explored using a range of clauses and ambitious vocabulary to set the scene in a train station.

In Maths, Columba Class focused on cube numbers, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000, and multiplying and dividing by multiples of 10, 100 and 1,000. Aquila class has been continuing our work on fractions. We have been looking at multiplying fractions with integers and with fractions.

In History, both classes started a new unit exploring the key events of World War II and the major leaders involved, as we consider the question: Whose war was it? We learned about and explained who was involved in World War II. Later in the unit, we will examine the significance of the Blitz and World War II for people in our local area.

Next Week

In English, we will continue reading Goodnight Mister Tom. Columba will draft a formal welfare report in role, using complex sentences and a range of punctuation, including question marks and exclamation marks. We will then edit our writing for register, sentence boundaries and tone. Aquila will write an evacuation story, using speech you impact the reader and to move the story forward. We will edit for language choice and grammatical features.

In Maths, Columba Class will begin a unit on fractions. We will find fractions equivalent to a unit fraction and to a non-unit fraction, recognise equivalent fractions, and convert improper fractions to mixed numbers. Aquila class will be continuing working on fractions, looking at dividing fractions and finding a whole of a fraction.

In History, we will compare a story with real evidence about evacuees, investigate different children’s experiences of World War II, and understand the impact of World War II on people in our local area.

On the 11th November, Columba and Aquila class will be gathering at the Commonwealth War Graves at Botley Cemetery at 10:45am for an Act of Remembrance. We welcome all families and members of the wider community to join us.

Open morning

As part of our Open Day on Saturday 7th November, we are delighted to welcome a local community artist who will help us begin a journey of capturing and celebrating the legacy of North Hinksey CE Primary School as we move forward with our building works.

Throughout this academic year, we will be working alongside Amy, our artist, to co-create a special art installation that honours the school's rich history and heritage while celebrating its future. We know that North Hinksey holds a very special place in the hearts of our community, and we want this project to reflect the memories, stories and experiences of the many people who have been part of its journey.

The first stage of this community art project begins on Saturday, when Amy will be supporting members of the community to create small pieces of collage artwork and share their memories of North Hinksey. We warmly invite everyone to take part – whether you are a current pupil or family member, a former pupil who attended North Hinksey at any point in its history, or another member of our wider community.

We would love to see as many people as possible joining us for this first stage and contributing to something that will become a lasting celebration of our school's story.

If you are unable to attend on Saturday but would like to be involved, there will be further opportunities to contribute throughout the academic year. We will share details of these in due course.

Home Learning

Please complete the Maths Practice Journal – Week 7 and return it to school on Monday.

Please also encourage your child to practise on Times Tables Rock Stars regularly. Let us know if you need their login details.

This week’s spelling focus for Columba Class: the c sound can be spelt -que and the g sound can be spelt -gue at the end of a word. Many of these words come from French.

This week’s spelling focus for Aquila class: the silent b sound.

Aquila class have been given new log books. Please ensure that these are kept safe and are in children's bags. We will use them in spelling and our English lessons to note down words we are frequently spelling incorrectly.

On Monday Aquila class will be visiting Rewley Road fire station to participate in Junior Citizens. This visit takes place within the school day and children will be back before the end of school. Please ensure children have a warm coat and appropriate shoes for the day. At the fire station, children will be presented with scenarios that require them to think about how to keep themselves safe.

Our PE days this term are a Tuesday (gymnastics) and Friday (fitness).

Upcoming dates:

7th November - Open Day 10am-12pm

9th November - Aquila (Y6) Junior Citizens trip to Rewley Road. 

10th November - Aquila (Y6) SATs meeting 5pm online. Link will be shared on WhatsApp.

13th November - Flu Vaccinations

10th December - Columba (Y5) Carol Concert at UNIV college hall. More information to follow next week. 

11th December -  HSA Christmas Bazaar 5pm- 7pm

11th December - Christmas Dinner Day - children can wear Christmas Jumpers

14th-18th December - Spirit Week - details to follow

17th December - Upper School (2-6) Christmas Service at St Peter and St Paul led by Aquila 10am

18th December - Term ends at 1pm

Thank you for your continued support,

The Upper KS2 Team

Dear Parents and Carers,
It was lovely to see so many of you on Wednesday and to talk about how we can work together to best support your children. Our next parents' evening is on Wednesday 21st October.