2021/22
Year 6 Science learning September 2021
We carried out an investigation to find out the direction in which light travels in. We determined that light travels in a straight line. We then discovered that we are able to see things when the following process occurs: rays of light travel from a light source and hit objects around us. The rays then reflect or bounce off an object, and then travel to our eyes. The reflection of light allows us to see the object. We created models and diagrams to show this process.
2020/21
Year 6 PGL Residential trip June 2021
Sports Day June 2021
Year 4 April 2021
Swimming
Year 4 are finally back to swimming, for the past 2 weeks year 4 have been learning how to swim! They have thoroughly enjoyed being in the water and have all made him huge progress, Mr Clark is extremely proud of you all.
Otto: At first I couldn’t swim very well but now I can go a whole length!
Ethan: I loved learning the dolphin stroke, it was fun!
Jamal: I have enjoyed learning backstroke and having free time to play.
Reception January 2020
Trip to Stoke Newington Fire Station
Year 6 November 2019
Design and Technology
This week year 6 have been working on the nativity set for the annual Christmas nativity show along with St Mary’s Church.
Anti-bullying week
As part of anti-bullying week, our Year 6 pupils participated in an workshops with Bigfoot Arts Education, where the focus was having empathy and understanding peoples situations. The pupils focused on how they could help others that felt like they were struggling
Keeping ourselves safe
For keeping ourselves safe week, our pupils worked with young hackney to learn about healthy eating, self esteem, internet safety, peer pressure and healthy teeth.
Year 5 November 2019
History Learning
Year 4 role played their Stone Age games that they had created in English. We progressed to writing instructions on how to play them!
Anti-bullying week
Year 4 took part in a variety of games and discussions about respect.
History Day
Year 5 have been learning about the Stone Ages.
Year 3 November 2019
Year 2 November 2019
History Day
As part of history day, year 2 have been learning about the Tudors.
Keeping Ourselves Safe Day
The London Fire Brigade visited year 2 to teach the pupils about keeping safe in the event of a fire.
Year 1 November 2019
Topic lesson
In our topic lessons, we have been learning about children of the past. In today’s lesson we explored old toys that were played with by Victorian children.
Ja’rayah and Amiyah – We are playing with a whip and top. You have to throw the ball in the air and catch it in the cup.
Synah and Jameela – We had fun playing with this toy. You have to spin the wooden soldier.
Ethan – This looks like a Jack in the box. When you open the key it surprises you with a doll.
Eva – This is a hobby horse. Victorian children used to run around with it.
Gardening
Year 1 had the opportunity to plant some daffodils, crocus and miniature iris seeds with parents of the school Jessica and Katie. We are looking forward to seeing them flower during the months of February – March.
Keeping Ourselves Safe Day
We attended a workshop about the ways we can keep ourselves safe and healthy. We looked at how we keep our teeth healthy. We looked at the type of food we should eat to keep our body healthy. We explored ways we can keep our mind healthy and we also looked at sugar contents in drinks. This really helped us understand which drinks we should avoid to stay healthy and fit.
History
Our History topic is called: Children of the past (toys and schools). In this topic we will be exploring the Victorian era. We will be learning about past toys and games. We will explore what Victorian schools were like as well as learn about Victorian clothing and household objects. We will also learn about Queen Victoria during this topic.
For History day, we hosted a teddy bear’s picnic in our classroom. We all brought in a toy from our childhood.
Most of us have had our favourite toys since we were babies.
Reception November 2019
Trip to Stoke Newington Library
Today was our first trip as Reception Class at St Mary’s, we walked to our local Library in Stoke Newington and the Librarian read us a great story call ‘Something beginning with Blue’. Some of our parents came of the trip with us!
Keeping Ourselves Safe Day
On Keeping Ourselves Safe day we had a visit from some dentists who came into school to explain to us how to brush our teeth to look after them and why this is important to keep our-self healthy. They talked about foods that are okay for teeth and named some foods that can damage teeth, they also demonstrated the best way to brush your teeth. We sat in the hall with Year 1 and at the end of the session we were able to ask questions if we had any.
History
During History Day we focused learnt all about Dinosaurs. We used them in Maths as a counting and number recognition activity. In English we made a wanted poster for a dinosaur that was on the loose in our school. We practised cutting skills when making Dinosaur puppets and created a small world Dinosaur Land!
Year 6 October 2019
PGL Residential trip
09.10.19
Everyone is busy doing archery and trapeze this morning. They are very tired after a busy but fun couple of days. Mayowa is having an extra special day celebrating his birthday!
08.10.19
We all finally fell asleep last night after lots of sweets and running around! Getting up was not so easy this morning but Mrs McKelvey made sure we were wide awake by 7am. Breakfast was good with bacon, hash browns, cereals and toast. Our activities before lunch were aeroball and vertical challenge which was extremely high and scary, but everyone had a go. Lunch next and then we are going to stock up on sweets and PGL stuff at the shop.
07.10.19
The children arrived hungry and very excited. They have yet to see their rooms as they have busy on the zip wire and challenge course, of which they thoroughly enjoyed.They are looking forward to dinner , settling into their rooms and then tonight’s activity of ‘ambush’ in the woods
Year 5 October 2019
Science Learning
Science project – For homework year 5 created models of the solar system as part of our Earth and Space topic.
Natural History Museum trip
As part of our science topic year 5 visited the Natural History Museum and participate in a workshop – Mission to Mars. Year 5 created Rovers out of Lego that would be suitable to travel to Mars and take information from the planet. Year 5 learnt how to program the rovers using coding and what they could add to their rovers to make their mission successful.
Science learning
Year 5 conducting an investigating, testing the effects of air resistance. They made their own parachutes and only changed one variable to make sure it was a fair test. They decided how they was going to collect their results and drew a conclusion from their findings.
Black History Month
As part of black history month year 5 looked at Benjamin Zephaniah’s poetry. Year 5 read the poem ‘British’ and discussed the messaged that he was sending to his listeners. We discussed the style of poetry that he used to perform his poetry and the main messages. Year 5 wrote poems in the style of Benjamin Zephaniah, focusing on political and social problems within our school or society. Year 5 created these poems using different beats and actions to make their poems more interesting and to keep them in the same style as Benjamin.
Year 4 October 2019
Trip to the Wonderlab at the Science Museum
There were loads of opportunities for our pupils to get hands on with real scientific phenomena. They took part in live experiments at the Chemistry Bar, viewed lightning strike before their eyes, played with forces giant slides and traveled through space under a canopy of stars.
Black History Month- Story mapping and retelling
Year 2 October 2019
Natural History Museum trip
Year 2 recently visited the Natural History Museum to learn all about fossils, they took part in a print making workshop and explored the museum.
Maths learning
Regroup and rename
International Day
Year 1 October 2019
Trip to Pizza Express
For our first trip in year 1, we got the opportunity to visit the Pizza Express restaurant in Islington. We made our very own pizzas using tomato and cheese toppings. We had to follow specific instructions to make sure we made the perfect margherita pizzas. We also got to wear special chef hats and aprons to look the part. The best part of the trip was that we were allowed to take our pizzas home to enjoy with our family and friends.
International Day
Darren from Dance Days came to teach us a special African dance. We had so much fun practicing the routine.
Black History Month
To celebrate Black History Month, we took part in many different activities over the week.
We started off by finding out what Black History month is and why it is celebrated all over the world. We then looked closely at the life of Rosa Parks and discussed how her story has changed the way things are today.
Amore
“ Rosa Parks was frustrated because the bus driver was not being kind”
Finch
“She’s angry because the driver tell her to get off”
We also looked read the story; Handa’s surprise to celebrate Black History Month. We also made props to help us retell the story through role play.
Reception October 2019
RE
We talked about Animals we see in school playgroud (birds mostly). We learnt that a common playground bird is a Sparrow then read a book called ‘A very worried Sparrow’.
We discussed what we could do if we feel worried about something like the Sparrow. We now understand that God loves everyone, he will take care of people and provide for them . . . just like he did for the worried sparrow!
Olivia “worried means fed up and sad”.
Susanna (Did the bird need to be worried) “No because Mummy would always come back”.
Arthur “God is looking after him, he is happy”.
Illy “God made everything”.
Joel “God made birds”.
PSHE
Today we had a PSHE Circle time. We looked at pictures and discussed how we know when other people or ourselves are ‘Feeling Happy’. Our emotion friend (puppet ‘Red’) came to help us all share something that makes us feel happy. When we hold the candle it is our turn to speak, we must show respect and listen to our friends. At the end of the circle time we danced to the song ‘happy’.
To make us all feel happy, Miss Mackay set up ‘Reception Class Special Day’.
Nursery October 2019
Topic Learning
Children were reminded about the creation story, linked to our autumn topic, we talked about the seasons, how summer is main season for growth, and how when the growth has finished the harvest begins. We also discussed people who aren’t as lucky as us and do not have as much food as they need. And that’s why we collect food and hand it to the Church, using the food currently in the hall as an example. Afterwards the children created fruit prints to celebrate the harvest and providing for the needy.
The children were reminded of the creation story where god created everything individually and in a unique way. The children were taken in small groups to listen for sounds of nature as well as signs of autumn, (which we have discussed in topic) afterwards the children used autumn objects to make their own, unique and individual pictures.
Year 6 September 2019
Science learning
Year 6 have been exploring how light behaves, including reflection, shadows and how we see things.
Year 5 September 2019
Hackney Museum trip
Year 5 visited the Hackney Museum to participate in a workshop for Black History Month. Year 5 participated in many activities and learned about the history of Hackney and how it became multi-cultural.
Science Learning
Year 5 created space documentaries, using their presenting skills. They used all the research they gathered and used it to create some amazing documentaries.
RE Day
Year 5 took part in a number of different activities for RE Day. They learnt how to draw self portraits, make bread, meditation and our new mission statement and school values. In the afternoon year 5 used abstract art to re-create their visions of Jesus’ miracles
Aspirations Day
In Year 5 the children got to hear about many different jobs and the steps they would need to take to achieve these jobs. Year 5 met a doctor and got to listen to their own hearts beats. They also found out what it would take to be a makeup artist and how exciting the job is. Finally, they met a 999 call centre assistant that helps all of the community and plays a very important role in our society. Year 5 also dressed up in the jobs that they aspired to be, they had an opportunity to share their aspirations with the class.
RE learning
In RE we have been looking at the different miracles that Jesus performs. Our big question today was What is the difference between magic and miracles. We look at the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine. Year 5 tried to perform their own miracle by turning their water into wine.
Science learning
we created fact files based on a planet. We looked at different features of each planet, these included: astronomy, habitability, physical characteristics and fun facts. We worked in groups and all had different jobs, they included: researchers, writers and designers. Once we had made our fact files we presented it to the class, before we did our presentations we worked on our presenting skills
we have been learning about the Earth and moons orbit. We learnt how the moon orbits the Earth, while the Earth is orbiting the sun. We re-created this through role play.
We used our art skills to create landscape pictures of space and the solar system using different materials.
Year 3 September 2019
Maths learning
The children have been worked in groups to explore using the place value grids and dienes to add amounts.
English learning
The children explored images from Anthony Browne texts, they looked for things that were puzzling/ hidden/ unexplained or ‘out of the ordinary’. We discussed why Anthony Brown chose to draw these images and what the author wanted us, the reader, to feel or think.
Year 2 September 2019
Maths learning
Adding
Science learning
Maths Learning
Number bonds
RE Day
English learning
Year 2 have started their new topic, they learn’t about lots of different materials that we use every day and their properties.
Aspirations Day
Can you guess what we want to grow up to be?
Year 1 September 2019
RE Day
We participated in Godly play with Patrick who works at St Mary’s church. Patrick told us about the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. We really enjoyed joining in to retell the story using props. We created a stain glass art work of the fish that Jesus used to feed the five thousand people and we made bread, just like Jesus did for his people. We also did some meditating to finish off our RE day. This really helped us to focus on being calm and relaxed. It gave us a chance to think about all the things that we are grateful and thankful for.
Library visit
Every Tuesday morning, year 1 visit Stoke Newington library. We have a story read to us by one of the librarians and then we get to choose a story we want to bring back to school with us. The books we bring back to school are always read to us, one at a time, before we have to give them back the following week. We love visiting the library and choosing new and exciting stories every week!
Aspirations Day
We dressed up in the different costumes that we one day aspire to be like. Carise came to tell us all about her job as a vicar and Zoe came to tell us all about her job as a make-up artist
Reception September 2019
Nature learning
First we made a mind map to re-cap ‘The Creation Story‘.
Next we looked at some ‘wow’ pictures of the beautiful world that god created. These pictures made us feel “happy” and they look “special”. We talked about what we think is special about gods world.
“Fish” – Filip. “All animals” – Illy. “Flowers and Animals” – Eabha.
Our activity was to created a picture of something we think is ‘special’ from the world god created.
Raheem created a picture of “fish under the sea”.
Ilaria loves “trees and parks” so she used pencil to draw a picture.
Kahlo created her own mind map of 7 days of the creation story.
RE Day
This week was RE Day, it was split into 4 activities to learn and celebrate the new St Mary’s Mission and Values statement. We read and acted out the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 during ‘Godly play’. We discovered meditation and how we use that as a time to reflect spiritually. As a whole class we made bread, and ate it all! This will inspire our writing on Monday. We looked at stained glass windows and talk about how we find these in churches, we made our own to put up in school.
What is precious to you?
We talked about what precious means and thought of examples of what is precious to us. We learn’t about the world that god created in 7 days and how the world is Precious to god.
Nursery September 2019
RE Learning
Description: In this lesson we discussed that we all have things that are special to us, Mr Dale showed the children a picture of him when he was a child, with his favourite toy. As well as pictures of his current favourite possession. In a circle using our class teddy Milo, we discussed what was special to us and why. Then we talked about what Christians believe is special to them. Afterwards the children drew and painted objects/ people that were of importance to them.
This lesson started with a recap of the story and discussion of individual days, afterwards the children helped to create a collage of the creation story, evidence of which is on display in the hall.
The children were read the story of creation, this was discussed as a class with lots of reminders as to what happened on each day. The children were encouraged to act out the various stages of creation, before drawing pictures to represent light and dark.