Weekly School Update – A Busy and Rewarding Week!

This week has been incredibly busy, and we are so proud of all the hard work and determination shown by everyone across the school community.

A major focus has been our summer term assessments. Students have approached these with great maturity and resilience, giving their very best in each subject. It has been fantastic to see the positive attitudes during test sessions, and the determination to succeed. These assessments are an important opportunity for pupils to reflect on their learning and celebrate the progress they have made throughout the year.

Alongside this, we have also been taking part in RSE Week. This has been a valuable and engaging time for our pupils, providing them with the knowledge and understanding needed. Lessons have been thoughtful and age-appropriate, encouraging discussion, respect for others, and self-awareness. We are proud of how maturely students have engaged with these important topics.

It has been a week that truly reflects both the academic focus and personal development that we value so highly. Balancing assessments with meaningful learning around well-being and relationships has shown just how capable and adaptable our pupils are.

As we move towards the end of term, we would like to congratulate everyone on their continued effort and positive attitude. Keep up the great work — you have all done brilliantly!

This week, we began our exciting new history topic all about the Romans and what a fantastic start it was! The children were immediately engaged as we explored who the Romans were and learned some key facts about their lives, achievements, and importance in history.

To help embed their understanding, we used a fun and interactive activity called “Tell Me More” cards. The children really enjoyed this, as it encouraged them to think more deeply, ask questions, and share interesting facts with each other. It was wonderful to see their curiosity grow as they discovered more about this fascinating civilisation.

Using their new knowledge, the children then completed their task, applying the facts they had learned. They showed great enthusiasm and confidence, demonstrating that they were already beginning to build a strong foundation of understanding about the Romans.

This first lesson truly hooked the children into the topic, and we are very much looking forward to continuing our journey back in time to learn even more about Roman life!

We had a fantastic Art Day filled with creativity, experimentation, and inspiration! Our learning was inspired by the work of the famous artist Vincent van Gogh, whose expressive style and bold use of colour helped guide us throughout the day.

In the morning, we explored different shading techniques, learning how artists use light and dark to create depth and form. We then put these skills into practice by sketching our own sunset scenes, carefully applying shading to bring our drawings to life.

Next, we investigated colour mixing. Using only primary colours, we experimented with creating a wide range of new shades. We also learnt how to make tints and tones by adding white and black, helping us understand how artists achieve subtle variations in colour.

In the afternoon, we began working on our final pieces. Inspired by Van Gogh’s distinctive style, we used the impasto technique, applying thick layers of paint to create rich texture and movement in our artwork. It was wonderful to see everyone’s creativity shine as each piece developed.

We are very excited to sharing our finished pieces at our Art parent workshop next week!

This week in Science, Chestnut Class began an exciting new enquiry: “Does the number of seeds within one plant pot affect the growth of plants?”

To explore this question, we planted cress seeds in pots containing different numbers of seeds. We discussed our predictions, thought about how plants might compete for space and nutrients, and talked about how to make our test fair.

Over the next few weeks, we will:

• Observe our cress regularly
• Measure the height of the plants
• Record these measurements in a clear table
• Compare the growth between pots with different seed quantities


This investigation will help us understand how living things grow and what they need to thrive. We’re excited to see how our cress develops and what conclusions we reach as young scientists.

This week in indoor PE, we practised our tennis skills. We focused on how to hold the racket correctly and where to face when hitting the ball. We then worked on our accuracy by aiming at cones placed around us in a rectangle.

After that, we worked in pairs to complete a rolling rally. We challenged ourselves to see how many times we could continuously hit the ball to our partner. Everyone tried their best and improved their coordination and control.

This week we had an exciting visit from Portals to the Past to help us explore the Stone Age. We began with an assembly all about life in the Palaeolithic Period and how early tribes travelled to find food. We looked at how this changed throughout the Stone Age Period.

The children then explored a range of fascinating artefacts, including flint, a reindeer antler used to digging, a Stone Age rattle, fur for keeping warm, a bag, and a pot for storing objects.

Next came a quiz! Teams raced to complete the Stone Age quiz using the information boards, showing brilliant focus and teamwork.

We also experimented with Stone Age Communication. Working as a tribe, the children had to build a stone circle without seeing the model. The chief couldn't touch the stones, and the tribe had to use a communication chart to pass on instructions.

We finished by practising our hunting skills, using foam javelines to 'hunt' a mammoth.

It was a fantastic, hands-on workshop and the children learned so much about life in the Stone Age. 

Chestnut Class had a wonderful time celebrating World Book Day this year. We all came to school in our pyjamas so we could truly curl up and get cosy with a good book. The children loved settling down in their comfy outfits, ready for a full day of stories and activities. 

We began our morning with the story of Gustavo the Shy Ghost. We talked about the characters, shared our thoughts and enjoyed reading the book together. The children completed a range of creative activities linked to the story, which have now been added to our special Chestnut Book of Books.

Our second story of the day was The Bear and the Piano. The children drew the front cover, wrote a message in a bottle and created their own thoughtful reviews of the story. 

To finish our day, we explored the beautiful book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. The class were inspired by the magical world of books and enjoyed producing more pieces for our ever-growing Book of Books.

We have had a fantastic World Book Day, exploring a range of wonderful stories and creating lots of lovely work to celebrate our love of reading. Chestnut have certainly shown how special books can be!

This week in our indoor PE session, we focused on developing our running skills. The children practised keeping their bodies upright, lifting their knees straight up and down, using their arms to help with balance and speed, and running on the balls of their feet. Everyone worked really hard to refine these techniques, and it was brilliant to see their confidence grow as the session went on.

This week in gymnastics, Chestnut Class have been working hard on developing their rolling skills. We focused on three key rolls: the log roll, teddy bear roll, and egg roll.

The children practised each movement step by step, thinking carefully about body control, smooth transitions and how to keep their shapes tight and consistent. They learnt how small adjustments—such as straight legs in a log roll or a tucked body in an egg roll—can make a big difference to the quality of their movements.

Everyone showed brilliant determination and teamwork, supporting each other to improve and perfect each roll.

Our focus this week in gymnastics was on exploring three different balances. The children practiced each balance individually, concentrating on control and posture. After this, they worked in small groups to combine the balances into a short sequence. This teamwork encouraged creativity and collaboration, as each group designed their own unique routine.

It was fantastic to see everyone working together and showing great determination!

This week, Chestnut Class had an exciting DT Day! We began by learning all about hygiene and safety when preparing food, including why it’s important to wash our hands, clean surfaces, and use knives carefully. After that, we explored the ingredients for our soup by doing a taste test to decide which flavours we liked best. We then practised our knife skills, chopping a variety of vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and onions. Finally, we tasted and evaluated our soup, thinking about what worked well and what we could improve next time in terms of taste, texture, and presentation. It was a fantastic day full of teamwork and new skills!

In our History lesson this week, we were up and coming film directors making a movie trailer for a film all about Grimsby in the 15th-16th century and the impact King Henry III had on Grimsby. The Abbey and Nunnery were shut down. The land was given to the rich who helped the King. People had to go to a new kind of church and follow new rules.

We had a wonderful day at the Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre! We explored the fascinating history of the fishing industry, learned about life for fishermen and their families, and even stepped aboard a traditional trawler. This visit links perfectly to our history topic, where we are learning about the history and origin of Grimsby. Our curiosity shone through as we asked thoughtful questions throughout the day, making it an enjoyable and educational experience for everyone.

We had a fantastic Art Day where we delved into the fascinating world of Cubism. Inspired by artists like Picasso, we explored how abstract shapes and perspectives can transform everyday subjects.

To begin, we experimented by cutting up images of faces and musical instruments, rearranging them to create bold, abstract compositions. This activity helped us practise our pencil control and apply a range of shading techniques we’ve been learning.

Later, we created our own Cubist-style self-portraits, combining geometric shapes, varied angles, and expressive shading. To finish, we took time to evaluate our work, reflecting on what we liked, what we found challenging, and how we might improve next time.

It was a brilliant day full of creativity, exploration, and artistic growth!

This week in Computing, we watched a short clip of Batman and discussed how the story could be told in an alternative way. As a class, we explored different ideas and then created our own storyboards to plan out a new version. Using these storyboards, we worked in iMovie to design and create our own trailers. This gave us the chance to practise our iMovie skills before moving on to turning the whole story into a complete video later in the topic.