Stowe Valley Postcard Competition 

The postcards were really fun because we chose one, two or three of Stowe Valley’s values (Kindness, Confidence and Resilience)to represent in a picture and a few words. We were allowed to use different media types such as watercolours, oil pastels and acrylic pens. Twelve winning entries would be chosen to be part of a calendar and ALL of the entries would be shown in an exhibit at Compton Verney near Easter. My favourite element of it was the fact that all of our perceptions of the three values were slightly different.   

Ottilie,6MC

PSHE- Celebrating Differences 

This half term in PSHE, we are learning about Celebrating Differences. This week, we looked at the story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah’s dream and talked about the importance of respecting other people’s differences and beliefs.

Emmanuel was a boy born in Ghana with only one leg, and because of his disability, his father left him and his mother to look after themselves. When he was old enough to go to school, he couldn’t walk there on one leg, so his mother carried him the two miles to school every day. Eventually he became too heavy for her to carry, so he hopped the whole way on his own.

At school he didn’t have any friends, so he bought a football and told people they could play with it only if they became his friend — and many agreed. Emmanuel turned out to be really good at football. His best friend even taught him how to ride a bike with one leg!

Years later, his mother became seriously ill, and Emmanuel tried to get a job to help pay the bills. Sadly, two years later, she passed away because her body became too weak. After this, Emmanuel decided to ride a bike across all of Ghana wearing a shirt that said “The Pozo” or “The Disabled One.” He wanted to prove that disabled does not mean unable. Along the way, he spoke to many disabled people about their struggles, and he completed the journey in just ten days.

“In this world we are not perfect, but we do our best.” — Emmanuel

Mikael 

English- Darwin’s Dragons

This half-term we have learnt lots of things about Darwin and his voyage around the world. We have been reading Darwin’s Dragons and learning about Syms Covington’s journey. We have been writing a diary entry from the point of view of Syms and starting when Syms washes up on the shore of the unexplored, isolated island, and ending where he manages to escape a beast. It has been really fun writing as Syms, and I know it gets really tense when he gets swept into the air by a sky beast the size of an elephant and gets dropped into the air over and over again until he thinks he can’t take any more and then hides in seaweed until the beast disappears. He then tried to sleep and when he woke up the beast was staring at him in the face! He then heads inland to try and find some trees. That is all we’ve read so far, but I think everybody thinks it’s fantastic.

Sam 

Geography- Marti the Hammerhead Shark 

This week, as part of our Geography learning, we explored a story about a young hammerhead shark living in the Galápagos Islands. The story follows Marti on his long migration from the Galápagos Islands to the Cocos Islands, highlighting the incredible journey many marine animals make each year. One of the main messages of the story is the importance of the MigraMar conservation project, which works to protect sharks and other species that travel through these waters.

After listening to Marti’s story, we had the choice to either write a diary entry from Marti’s point of view or write a letter supporting the conservation project. This helped us understand both the science behind migration and the reasons why conservation work is so important.

We also learnt about some of the risks sharks face on their journey — the biggest threat being industrial fishing, which puts many species in danger. Hammerhead sharks aren’t the only animals at risk; other marine creatures like sea turtles, manta rays, and whale sharks can also be harmed by large-scale fishing.

Overall, learning about Marti helped us think more deeply about how humans can protect the amazing wildlife living around the Galápagos Islands.

Mason 
 

Homework- Endangered animals

This week our homework was to research an endangered animal using the WWF website. We explored different species that are at risk and learnt why they need protecting. Some people chose animals like green sea turtles, iguanas and snow leopards, while others picked completely different creatures.

We could present our learning in lots of different ways- writing on a post-it note, creating a poster or even just writing a few sentences about the animal we chose. Most people decided to make a poster, and they looked fantastic with facts, pictures and interesting information. It was a great opportunity to learn more about endangered animals and think about how we can help protect them.

Poppy and Gennah

Warwick School- Science lesson

On Friday, we went to Warwick School to experience some secondary school science. Our class walked from our school to theirs, and when we arrived, a few Warwick students met us and guided us to the science lab.

First, they showed us a little trick using a cloth and a plastic stick. They rubbed the stick on the cloth about ten times and then hovered it over small circles of stapled paper — and somehow the paper stuck to the stick! This happened because everything is made of atoms, which contain protons and neutrons in the centre and electrons circling around them. Rubbing the cloth on the stick caused electrons to transfer onto the stick, giving it a negative charge, which then attracted the paper.

We also used a Van de Graaff machine to see how static electricity can make your hair stand on end and even move objects without touching them. It was a really fun and fascinating way to learn about electricity!

Mikael