Blog by Jo Hurley

In our last session learning about forces, Upper School conducted an experiment to test different sized parachutes. They cut out tissue paper squares of differing lengths (14cm, 20cm, 30cm) and hung playdoh from them to represent the weight of a person. Each group then measured the length of time…

It’s been a very exciting afternoon at the curling rink where 6 children from Year 5/6 have taken part in an inter-schools competition. After playing 5 games against other local schools, they won 2, drew 1 and lost 2. A fantastic effort in a very difficult contest! In the end, our brilliant team…

The children were taught part of a dance routine today which they were quick to pick up and enjoyed learning. After rehearsing this, the class then worked in pairs to come up with their own moves to add to the dance and complete it. The children demonstrated their ideas to each other with a final…

Today the class explored air resistance and the force of surface friction by making balloon rockets out of different shaped balloons and using different types to string to make their balloon rockets move. They discovered that friction slows objects down and stops them; they discussed how smoother…

At this week’s curling session, the children in Upper School were shown how to slide and then release the curling stone down the rink and onto the scoring target. Everyone seemed so much more confident with the skill of sliding along the ice and made good progress towards being able to play a…

Today in our Science lesson, the class were introduced to the concepts of gravity and they particularly enjoyed the awe and wonder of Earth in space when we discussed and watched videos about the sizes of planets and stars. After this, the children focused on measuring gravitational pull using…

What a wonderful afternoon we had at the Flower Bowl learning the very tricky skills of curling. The children were shown how to brush the ice to make the curling stones move faster and then they learnt how to send the curling stone down the curling rink. It is so much trickier than it looks on the…

Some of our Upper School pupils took part in the lessons and carols service at St Peter’s Church this morning. They came to the front and each read parts of the story of the nativity. Abigail told us about Mary and Joseph’s long journey to Bethlehem and only being able to find a stable to stay in.…

Upper School class had a visit from Mhairi, STEM ambassador from the Ogden Trust, who ran two workshops. The one in the morning reinforced our current learning about electricity with practical activities involving making series circuits using circuit diagrams, testing voltage and to extend the…

As part of the Upper School homework activities this term, the children were asked to design and make an advent calendar which could be shared with the class or with their family. Several of these have been brought into school now and they are fantastic! Such a lot of time and effort has gone into…

Today the children Upper School continued their learning about the Banana Trade having read Juliana’s Bananas. They were introduced to the idea of fair trade and spent time thinking about how much money members of the supply chain should be paid for their part in the trade of bananas. We had a…

What a fantastic PE lesson we had with Logan from PNE! We learnt how to play invasion ball games by improving our throwing and catching skills; he taught us different techniques for attack and defence; we learnt about using space and keeping moving to win a goal.