Magpies' Class Story
Magpie's Shackleton Exhibition









































19/2/24
Unit 4's Stunning Starter
5/2/24
2.11.23
We've had a fantastic start to our Anglo-Saxon unit of work. Pupils have been busy investigating runes, creating shield designs and making a brooch or a buckle replica out of clay. We've also started our new book and pupils have been using their inference skills to work out what characters look like.
8.9.23
Welcome to a new school year!
We have had a busy few days in Magpie Class. All children were amazing especially with getting back into a routine and coping with the heat.
Please enjoy looking through a few pieces of their art work. Pupils based their work on Vincent van Gogh's 'Starry Night' and produced, 'Planet Night'.


9.6.23
We have had a fantastic STEM week in Y5. We started the week with visiting Paignton Zoo and seeing different species, sadly lots of the species are endangered.
Back at school, we continued to look at the impact of climate change on animals. We learnt about this by listening to a talk from the WWF, going on the internet and by using VR sets. We also looked at the size of creatures by using the book, 'Actual Size' and drawing their sizes on our school playground. On Friday, we completed the week by using our research to make these triaramas about endangered animals.
24.5.23
To celebrate a fantastic unit of work, we put on an exhibition for parents and friends. If you were unable to make it, please enjoy seeing our display.






5/5/23
Year 5s have created some fantastic crowns to celebrate King Charles III's Coronation.
28.4.23
Sir Ernest Shackleton
The children are fast becoming experts on Shackleton and wrote some wonderful biographies from their in depth research.
31.3.23
To end this half term, Magpies made bean bag chickens just in time for Easter! We used recycled materials to fit in with our 'What a Waste' unit and we have to say we are pretty proud of the end result!
Have a wonderful Easter break everyone
17.3.23
Magpies enjoyed making special Mothering Sunday cards for important people in their lives.
17.3.23
We set the Y5s the Lego Comic Relief Challenge of making a build to make someone smile. They were asked to get their thinking caps on and show what they would create to make the world a better place and put a smile on someone’s face. It could be something that helps to support the environment and nature, reduces loneliness, or improves accessibility for those with mobility issues. Please enjoy looking at Magpies' entries...
16.3.23
Today we continued with our science unit on materials. We continued looking at reversible and irreversible changes. As a class, we completed an experiment to see if we mix a solution of milk and vinegar together, whether this can be reversed. We discovered that as we mixed the vinegar with the milk, it began to curdle. It separated into clumps of solids floating in thin watery liquid.​ We then used filter paper to separate the solids from the liquid.​ We discovered that the solid which we were left with is a new material. This chemical reaction created a form of plastic called casein plastic.​ We learnt that Casein plastic was quite common from the early 1900s until about 1945. It was used to make buttons, decorative buckles, beads and other jewellery, fountain pens, the backings for hand-held mirrors, and fancy comb and brush sets. ​


6.3.23
We had a brilliant day celebrating World Book Day in our pyjamas. In the school, every year group was given one of the characters illustrated in our school Heart Space as a focus. In Y5, we had James and the Giant Peach. Work surrounded this quote from the book, 'There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven't started wondering about yet'. Activities included writing and performed music for the James and Giant Peach soundtrack; redesigning a front cover for the book; in the afternoon, working together to perform a poem from the book. Along with this, we visited the hall to look at Usborne Books, Dropped Everything and Read at a set time throughout the school and had another teacher visit our classroom to read a bedtime story. What a day!



3.3.23
In today's CLL lesson, we pretended that a new Anaerobic Digestion Plant was being built in Monkton Heathfield. Children took on being in the role of different groups of people:
- Local Home Owners
- Local Farmers
- Local Sustainability Group
- Local Council
- Local Wildlife Group
- Parish Council
They thought about the situation from their characters point of view. We then staged a debate to share the range of views.
28.2.23
Year 5s had an amazing workshop run by Gary from Carymoor Environmental Centre. Gary reminded pupils, in a whole school assembly, of reducing, reusing and recycling. He was impressed by their knowledge on what waste goes in which container.
Year 5s then had a separate workshop where they played a 'rubbish relay', learnt songs and how we can all make a difference to the planet by cutting down on our waste.
Gary's visit was very inspiring and the children are looking forward to continuing with their learning around this theme.
24.2.23
Welcome to the new half-term. Magpies have made an excellent start on our topic. They've been looking at the problem of waste in our environment, particularly the issue of food waste. Over the week, they have been shocked by:
- An estimated 45% of lettuce in the UK is thrown away
- Around 24 million slices of bread are thrown away in UK households every day.
Pupils have been busy predicting what our class text, 'What a Waste!' could be about and learning how to make notes which we will be using for future work.
Next Tuesday, we have got a workshop from Carymoor Environmental Centre titled, 'Slim my Waste!' which we are all looking forward to.
10.2.23
What an amazing half-term it has been learning about the Aztecs! The children have completed their challenge of writing an Aztec myth and accompanying this with an illustration. Please enjoy looking through some of the work the class have produced.
30.1.23
Year 5 had a brilliant trip to the Brick and Tile Museum in Bridgwater last Monday. They enjoyed exploring Aztec replica artefacts, creating Day of the Dead masks and also found delving into Bridgwater's history of tiles fascinating.
Day of the Dead Workshop
4.1.23
Happy New Year and welcome to the spring term. Y5s had a very successful start to the new term as they created and performed a play script for the Aztec myth of, 'The Rabbit in the Moon'. Please enjoy looking through our photographs.
The Rabbit in the Moon
12.12.22
King Alfred Escapes!
For their create piece, Y5s have been busy writing their story of when King Alfred escapes Guthrum's threat. This is the time when he hid in the marshes not too far from our school.
Please enjoy reading a few of their openings:
5.12.22
We have been busy looking at the nativity story and the different roles involved. Children have had the extra challenge of interpreting the story from a different character's point of view. Please enjoy seeing a selection of their work.
28.11.22
We have recently been trying to improve our writing by using 'slow writes'. This is where pupils are given a set format which they have to follow, e.g.:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here is what two pupils worked together to create:
Alone Beogard stood. Beogard, who was standing by the farm, listened intensely to the conversation inside of the barn. In the distance, he saw seven strange boats just off the shore. Beogard was old but was a strong warrior. Inside the barn, he stood still against the wall because he was scared to be seen. Although, he was brave he had a feeling of scare inside him. Luckily, he had his freshly sharpened sword with him in his belt if he was attacked. Beogard wanted to leave, immediately.
24.11.22
Pupils have been busy finding out about village life in Anglo-Saxon times. They started looking at the style of house and learnt that some houses in the village are made from wood, some from wattle and daub and some from all three. The buildings were used for housing as well as workshops.
They also learnt why the Saxons weren't as interested with Roman settlements such as Cirencester, St. Albans and London.
We even attempted to make our own replica Anglo-Saxon houses out of paper...photographs to follow!
11.11.22
This week we have been busy finding out all about King Alfred the Great. Here's a sample of some of the work we've been completing:
2.11.22
Welcome back to a new half-term. For this half-term, we will studying the Anglo-Saxons and King Alfred.
On Tuesday, we had our stunning starter. Please enjoy looking at some of our work:
Break the Rules - Friday 21st October 2022
17.10.22
What a busy half-term we've had! Along with completing other activities, pupils have been busy writing their diary entries for Perseverance. We are going to be sending a selection of them to Markus Motum (the author of 'Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover').
Please enjoy reading a selection of them:
4.10.22
We have been busy recreating one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings, 'Starry Night.' Inspired by our topic if 'Earth and Space,' we used our learning of the planets and created our own paintings 'Planet Night.' We hope you like them as much as we do!