NEWS
From important school notices to special events, sporting achievements and brilliant work - we'll share it here. You can also download all current academic year issues of our regular school newsletter, the Hamlet Herald.
Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news of what we're up to.
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Latest Hamlet Herald
| 01.12.23 | 08.12.23 | | | |
Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news of what we're up to.
| 01.12.23 | 08.12.23 | | | |
Follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news of what we're up to.
Archived Hamlet Heralds
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What's been going on this month?
November 2023
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This month, Year 3 continued to learn all about the history of the Windrush generation. We looked at the journey the boat took in Geography and we considered the thoughts, feelings and experiences of people on board both pre and post journey. To consolidate our learning, we went to the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton where we learnt so many new facts. We heard about some people’s experiences, such as Claudia Jones and Asquith Xavier, and learnt about the discrimination they faced as they tried to carve out a new life in Britain. Finally, we learnt about the successes of the Windrush generation and looked at some key objects from the time.
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Year 5 have had an incredible experience time travelling back to the Victorian period this November! We enjoyed visiting the Ragged School Museum in Shadwell and the children learnt about what it was like for ordinary families to live during the Victorian era. We were absolutely fascinated some of the household items that were in use back then, such as the mangle, the dolly, and Victorian cast iron stove. In addition, we had the opportunity to experience what it was like to learn in a Victorian classroom. There were many differences: chalk and blackboards instead of whiteboards and whiteboard pens, how boys and girls were separated in the classroom, the way we learnt arithmetic, spelling and handwriting... and rules and expectations back then were extremely different!
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Our first week back of the half term started with an exciting workshop at the Black Cultural Archives. As part of Black History Month and our dedication towards teaching a diverse curriculum, Year 6 went to the BCA in Brixton to learn all about the Windrush Generation. This is linked to their Geography work about Post War Immigration. The morning started off with a quick quiz, where the children were tested about their knowledge of Caribbean countries and the distance between them and England. Then the children had the chance to explore the archives, finding key information about a wide range of important Black historical figures. When the group came back together they compared their answers and even got the chance to deepen their understanding of post war Britain for immigrants of the HMS Windrush by handling some artefacts and making predictions about how they were used.
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October 2023
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October was a short month for us but we managed to pack a lot in before the half term break! We celebrated the end of our Science focus on Animals and Classification by taking a trip to the Horniman Museum. We had a fantastic workshop where we explored invertebrates, vertebrates as well as some mysterious species. We got to peak at fungi under a microscope and hold a dolphin's skull! The highlight, though, was the aquarium, which we all agreed was very peaceful and relaxing. It reminded us of the Studio Ghibli film we had been studying - Ponyo. Sticking with the theme, we all wrote beautiful poems about tsunamis using carefully selected vocabulary. We used watercolours to paint a background and then published our poem over the top. I'm sure you'll agree they look stunning! We finished the half term by celebrating our school talents in Hamlet's Got Talent. Well done to the brave Year 4s who took part! |
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We’ve been busy in Year 3 this month! In Maths, we’ve been using our number bond knowledge to bridge 10 and 100. We used manipulatives such as dienes and pictorial methods such as number lines to support our working. We have also been learning how to make generalisations such as ‘When using two 2-digit numbers to add to 100, where the ones digit is not 0, the tens will add to 9 and the ones will add to 10 – e.g. 73 + 27’.
In Art, we have been learning all about Keith Haring. We have studied his artwork and learnt about his life. We’ve been busy making our own sculptures and we have used papier mache to strengthen them before we paint and mount them next term. |
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Year 6 went to Horton Kirby this week to explore more about World War Two. The children took part in a range of activities to immerse themselves in all things related to WWII. They started the day with an introduction to the 1940s in Horton Kirby. Later, they walked around the village and church yard looking for clues about life during these times. After lunch they played some WWII games on the playground and took part in a mock air raid, where they had to go into the bomb shelter. They even got to look at artefacts from that period of time. Year 6 had a thoroughly interesting day, deepening their understanding of this period in history!
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We have been getting ourselves very 'mixed up' in year 5, studying solutions, mixtures and methods of separation. This week, we were tasked with separating out the ingredients of Alien Soup, which included water, salt, paperclips, counters, flour... and a little bit of soil for good measure! How delicious!
Using our scientific knowledge and skills, we applied a range of separation techniques including magnetism, sieving and filtration. Our filtered water, shown in the photograph in labelled measuring cylinders, is now ready for evaporation to extract the dissolved salt. Obviously, Alien Soup separation is messy work, so a big thanks is definitely due to the helpers who took on tthe washing up! |
September 2023
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Year 3 had a fantastic time at Horton Kirby on 28th September! We learned some new words such as meander, erosion, source, transportation and aquafer. We walked to the river and, after a quick game of pooh sticks, we waded into the water to race our rubber ducks. We stood at different points in the river to see which area of the river flowed fastest. We then moved to a different point in the meander to see if it changed the results – and it did! |
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This month Year 6 have been looking at the book The Arrival in Literacy. We have been creating lots of imaginative language to create a feeling of dread and despair. Using freeze frames, we have inferred the feelings of characters, who have been ripped apart by conflict. We have used high order vocabulary words such as immigration, migrant and crisis in our writing to show our understanding of the process people go through when migrating to another country. So far we have written diary entries, letters and also focussed on grammar features such as semi colons and relative clauses to give our writing sophistication.
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It's been a disastrous start to Year 4 - we've had earthquakes, volcanoes and even tsunamis going on! For their Natural Disasters focus in both English and Geography, the children have been learning about the structure of the Earth, the tectonics plates and how they interact as well as delving deep into technical geological language. . This upcoming week, they will be writing reports about their chosen type of natural disaster using their paragraphing skills to make it accessible and clear for their reader.
As well as this, we have been having a quick revise of our French language skills from Year 3 and acting out our conversations in some fun and memorable ways! we are looking forward to getting started on some new vocabulary all about les animaux! |
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Things have been looking decidedly Victorian in year 5 this month! We set up our art books with some stunning Victorian calligraphy to spell our names. We collaged these on to tea-stained paper to get a beautifully aged effect. Then we got our teeth into our first art topic of the year: Victorian architecture. These fantastic examples show how we have examined the features of Victorian buildings and begun to sketch our own, using view finders and aiming to perfect our sketching techniques.
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June 2023
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Year 5 have been continuing their mummification project this half term, as their chickens are coated in "natron" (a mix of salt and bicarbonate of soda) to drain its body of any moisture. Ancient Egyptians would do this so that the flesh of the corpses didn't rot, and the body could be perfectly preserved. Bodies needed to remain in good condition in order to travel to the Afterlife. In Year 5, we have been putting the chicken through a similar process, ensuring that it is stored in an air tight sarcophagus (Tupperware container) whilst it dries out. After 50 days of the drying process, the chicken will be wrapped in linen and adorned with jewels to ensure it makes it safely to the Afterlife.
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May 2023
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Year 6 travelled all of the way to Yorkshire for a fun-filled residential trip, packed full of new and exciting adventures. The children took on many challenges and they were able to overcome many obstacles that stood before them (including making their own beds!). Some of the activities the experienced were Raft Building, Abseiling, The Leap of Faith, Zip Lining, Problem Solving and Archery. This was a great opportunity for the children to grow independence and resilience and they will no doubt remember this week for years to come!
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This week in Science, Year 5 have been dissecting flowers to learn about the reproductive parts of a plant. First they learnt the technical vocabulary and functions of the parts including the stamen and the carpel. Next the children got into groups and used their dissecting skills (with their hands and scissors!) to peel apart the different parts of some plants. Most of the children dissected a lily, as the reproductive parts were very clear to see. The children then placed the parts down onto a large piece of sugar paper, annotating it with the scientific vocabulary and the part's function. As an extension, the children dissected another type of flower and matched the terminology to the newly dissected pieces. We would like to thank Bartleys Flowers in Dulwich Village for donating beautiful flowers for our Science project.
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Year 4 have had a fantastic time this month, immersing ourselves in our geography topic on India. We started by investigating the physical and human geography of India, creating our own maps to show the most famous rivers, main cities and neighbouring countries. Next, we extended our understanding to encompass world climate zones and created seasons wheels to illustrate the four main seasons of India, including data on average temperature and rain fall. Our geography topic has informed our choice of texts for this half term's English work: Cloud Tea Monkeys and Under the Great Plum Tree. Inspired by these stories, we have written and published super informative fact files on different teas, and compared the features of the two texts to understand how they are similar and different. We are looking forward to building on this work next half term, kicking off with a creative writing week inspired by these fantastic stories!
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This May Year 3 have continued the Greek theme! Last Tuesday we celebrated Ancient Greek Day with Portals to the Past. Our session leader, Mike, was incredibly knowledgeable and we loved listening to the stories and facts about the Greek world. From democracy, to the maths, to theatre, to armour - we experienced so much! As the half term comes to a close, we will culminate our learning with designing and building Greek temples inspired by the Parthenon.
In Our PSHE work this term, we have been talking about challenging gender stereotypes and how to be a good global citizen. Even the smallest people can make a difference and we have enjoyed thinking about what each one of us is capable of if we believe in something and work towards it, just like some of our STEM role models: Greta Thunberg and Mary Anning. |
April 2023
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Year 4 have started an exciting new art topic this month, studying the work of sculptor Conrad Shawcross. The children were excited to learn about the artist behind Dulwich Park's famous 'Three Perpetual Chords' and have been exploring the themes within Shawcross' work, including movement, geometry and science. Take a look at these fantastic cover pages, in which children explore, annotate and respond to the art work in their own unique ways, and a superb example of detailed sketching using a view finder.
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April has seen us fully immersing ourselves in Greek Mythology! From The Odyssey to the Gods and Goddesses, we can't get enough. We have become quite the classicists in Year 3 . In English, we have been making our way through Odysseus's trials and tribulations. We have written letters, diary entries and are working up to our own stories. We have also used our reading skills to answer tricky questions about the text.
In RE, we have looked at the creation of the Greek world. From Chaos came Gaia and in turn, the sea and the sky. We read about Uranus imprisoning his own children and then Cronos gobbling up his own children! We produced comic strips telling the story of the Titans versus the Olympians. |
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In April, Year 6 began learning about Mexican folk art, one with many sources of inspiration including myths, stories, festivals and religious art. There is much diversity in Mexican folk art. However, we have looked at a particular style where motifs are used to create units of patterns, resulting in colourful, repetitive and organised pieces of art.
We looked at the geometry of these pieces, including their use of shape, rotation and symmetry. We then created our own cover pages, copying specific patterns and identifying key vocabulary. We are now designing our own repeated patterns to be created intricately of out paper later on this half term. |
March 2023
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Earlier in the month, Year 5 went to the Horniman Museum to take part in an exciting hands on workshop all about African countries. The children were able to learn all about different biomes, climates and country boarders in the introduction, using a huge map of Africa to locate different features. Next, the children were introduced to some amazing items used in different parts of Africa including Benin Bronze statues, wire cars from Ghana's capital Accra and sculls of various animals found in Kenya's Maasai Mara. The workshop allowed the children to get into groups to explore different questions about the items. What do you think it is used for? What makes it important? What makes it distinguishable from other items on the table? Who do you think uses this item? The questions challenged the children to use their enquiry skills and discuss with each other what they thought, making references to the items to justify their answers. Afterwards, the children were told all about the different items and had an opportunity to offer their initial thoughts to the group. The workshop was extremely informative and the children learnt so much about a variety of African countries. When we returned to school, the children reflected upon their experience, writing a post trip reflection that included newly taught vocabulary.
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Year 4 were conquering heroes this month, after a brilliant (and mercifully dry!) trip to Battle Abbey. At the site of the famous Battle of Hastings, we took a tour through the ruins of the Abbey, visited the museum and re-enacted the battle itself at the very spot where Harold Godwinson is said to have perished. This trip - made possible by the year 4 parents and carers who so kindly gave up their time to join us - was a fantastic way to round off a great term of history learning. |
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The big March event for our Year 3s was obviously our trip to Butser Ancient Farm! It is such an amazing place where the children are fully involved in Iron Age life from start to finish. They started the day in an Iron Age roundhouse, sitting around an open fire. It was a majestic experience. Later they took part in an archaeological dig, weaving willow branches to make a fence, coiling wire to create jewellery and carving into chalk as well as a very exciting trip to the gift shop! Earlier in the month, we visited Dulwich and Sydenham Woods to build Andy Goldsworthy-inspired natural sculptures. The children worked in groups and demonstrated fantastic teamwork skills: negotiating, collaborating and incorporating each others' ideas. This work ties in with our Science learning about plants. Our final piece for the term will be a botanical collage using powder paints and floral cut-outs. |
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This half term, Year 6 have been learning about the geography of South America. To begin, they revised previously learnt geographical vocabulary, including hemisphere, climate, latitude and longitude. We then mapped this knowledge to help us understand more about the continent of South America, focussing in particular detail on the Amazon and its far-reaching river. The children noticed the different geographical features including deserts, grasslands, rainforests and mountain ranges, whilst noting the locations of different countries too. |
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We finished up our work on Animals including Humans in March, learning about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet. We also identified the key function of water in our bodies looking at why it is essential to our digestive system, circulatory system and more. We demonstrated the movement of water through our bodies by looking at skittles and how the colour seeped out of them when it entered liquids, thinking about the locations and functions that each colour could represent in our bodies. |
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February 2023
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February has been full of Anglo-Saxon fun for year 4! This week, we were lucky enough to enjoy a visit from Mike Everest from Portals to the Past. Dressed in full costume, Mike brought our invaders and settlers topic to life with his genuine artefacts, Anglo-Saxon board games and even a coded message written in runes! We also got the opportunity to re-enact the famous Battle of Hastings, complete with weaponry and armour, before gathering round the hearth for a retelling of everyone's favourite bedtime story... Beowulf! |
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February is here, the days are longer and we have been obsessed by nature this month! Year 3 were reading The Lost Words - a beautiful collection of acrostic poems - focused on words that have been removed from the children's dictionary. We looked at particular birds, how they moved and what we could compare them with through metaphor. Eventually, we wrote our own poems and published them. We hope you agree that they are absolutely gorgeous!
February also saw us celebrating the Lunar New Year in assemblies and in Music lessons. We learned all about the pentatonic scale and performed a delightful version of Gong Hei Fat Choy. |
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Over the last few weeks in Maths, Year 5 have been practising their multiplication and division skills through the formal written method. The children have demonstrated their understanding through a series of questions which included multiplying 1 by 3 digit and 2 by 3 digit numbers together. They used colour coding to ensure they were able to follow the correct procedure and practised in order to become mathematically fluent. Reasoning and problem solving questions were introduced to give the children a wider context with which to carry out the multiplication or division equations. They wrote "How To" guides, using mathematical vocabulary such as multiplicand, multiplier, product, dividend, divisor and quotient. The knowledge they have gained from this topic will be applied to their next unit of work (area of composite rectilinear shapes). The children have demonstrated accurate fluency of their multiplication facts (as practised on TTRS) and effectively applied it to a range of reasoning and problem solving activities for this topic - well done, Year 5!
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Whilst studying post-WWII immigration, Year 6 learnt about the impact of the British empire, explored culture, migration and race whilst looking into the arrival of Empire Windrush in 1948, as well as understanding the impact of many prominent British immigrants of the last century. The children chose an individual to research, identifying key facts about their early life, their career and their accomplishments and impact on culture in Britain.
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In Art this month, Y6 have been developing their ink drawing skills. We have explored different pattern work in free pen work and have looked at particular styles of Fairy Tale illustrations. Arthur Rackham’s book illustrations inspired us, in particular the dreamlike and sometimes haunting style used in his images
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January 2023
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What a busy month it's been! Year 3 have explored poetry with Benjamin Zephaniah and travelled back to the Stone Age! We were very proud of our recipe themed poems in English and we were all very mature when discussing big concepts such as equality and justice.
In our story, Stone Age Boy, we got to see what it would be like to be transported back in time. We focused on instruction writing using imperative verbs and adverbials of time and manner to add extra detail. We even turned our classrooms into Stone Age camps and made links with our Science learning about Rocks! |
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Year 4 have been practising their toothy grins in Science! As part of our topic on animals including humans, we have been studying types of teeth - from canines to incisors - and their functions. To help us understand how the appearance of each tooth type relates to its purpose, we made 3D plasticine models of the human jaw. Can you spot the different teeth in the pictures below?
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Year 5 spent the first week back after the Christmas holidays finishing off their DT projects, making Victorian pull toys. In their groups, they filled out their design templates focussing on features to make their toys practical and fun. Then they headed to the DT Suite to use the saws and glue guns to create their structures, using their design sheets to guide them. Next they decorated their toys, using paint and colouring pen to create gorgeous designs. Finally they evaluated their toys, playing with them to check the wheels spun round accurately and comparing them to their original drawings in the design part of the process. The outcomes were fantastic and the children demonstrated superb engineering skills when working in groups to create their Victorian inspired pull toys.
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During our ‘Living things and their habitats’ unit, Year 6 have built their knowledge of classification and identifying different living organisms, including micro-organisms, plants and animals. We have learnt more about the 5 kingdoms, including animalia, Protista, fungi, bacteria and plantae, completing investigations to classify animals and micro-organisms (which involved growing mould in our classrooms!) Recently, we took our learning to the outdoors, using classification keys to find out which invertebrates live in our school garden. We collected data and created graphs to represent our findings clearly, practising our pattern seeking skills. |
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December 2022
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Continuing with our work on WWII, Year 6 have been discovering and researching more details about how people in towns and cities protected themselves during air raids in the Blitz. They found out how to build an Anderson shelter, their key properties and the materials used. Since, they have designed their own models of Anderson shelters, focusing on their structural strength, comfort and stability. They have practised their woodwork skills and created a variety of unique designs. Have a look at some of the products in the building stage on the photos below.
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Meanwhile, in History lessons, the children have been learning more about rationing and VE Day. In doing so, they have been honing their skills of comparing, looking at differences and similarities between now and then, using specific historical vocabulary and reflecting on what we can learn from the systems in place then and the impact the celebrations would have had on society’s hopes for the future. We are very proud of their historical descriptions, explanations and conclusions. Have a read of some of the children’s finished work below.
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In the last few weeks, Year 5 have taken a short walk across the Village to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to study a painting of Queen Victoria for their History unit on the Victorians. The children were given specially designed "Hamlet" questions about the painting of the monarch that they completed on an activity sheet made by the gallery. The children spent time working in groups of 6 to locate the painting, study it and draw it. Afterwards, the children had time to create some sketches of their own, enjoying time to leisurely walk around the space and soak up the cultural experience.
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Year 4 have been so lucky with trips this term! On December 7th, we enjoyed a trip to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to view the M.K. Čiurlionis: Between Worlds exhibition along with the gallery's extensive permanent collection. Widely credited as Lithuania’s greatest artist, Čiurlionis created works that explore humankind's relationship to the universe and nature. We applied our sketching skills to reproduce parts of our favourite paintings, and looked for echoes of Henri Rousseau's work in the representation of flora, composition, and the use of light and shade to highlight elements of the foreground and background. Take a look at some of our sketches below. The quality of work is so fantastic, it looks like year 4 could have their own exhibition at the gallery!
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In Year 3 this month, we have been working hard to produce non-chronological reports about cities we have designed. From lava rivers to wishing bridges to electric mango power stations - we really let our imaginations go wild! We created reports that allowed our readers to easily access information by using headings, subheadings and clear paragraphing. We also practised writing multi-clause sentences and trying to start our sentences with conjunctions.
When we were finished, we began publishing our reports. We were able to draw pictures of our different landmarks and use captions to explain them. We are very proud of our work and we might even compile all of our beautiful reports into one big book!" |
November 2022
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In Year 3, we have been looking at animal and human skeletons in Science. One of our favourite lessons was looking at and dissecting owl pellets. These are the regurgitated bones and fur that an owl cannot digest. Yum! We were able to identify the different bones of a rodent's body - it was especially exciting when we found a whole skull! At first, some of us were a bit squeamish but we all got stuck in eventually. We classified and then grouped the bones - classifying and grouping is one of our key scientific skills. Some of us even tried to reconstruct a whole skeleton |
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This month Year 5 have been focusing on finalising their Victorian house art project. At the beginning of last month, the children learnt about all the features of a Victorian home, acquiring new vocabulary words and understanding the uniqueness of 19th century London architecture. They have explored local buildings, getting into groups to create a design of a Victorian home. Afterwards, the groups took their initial designs and drew them onto a piece of cardboard and stuck paper straws down on features like the bay windows and porches of the building. Once stuck down, they got messy by gluing tissue paper in strips using their fingers! The final lesson will involve painting the 3D structures and will be displayed in Turney Hall.
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Year 4 have been working with watercolour and observational sketching in art this month. Our focus artist this term is French painter Henri Rousseau, famous for his colourful jungle scenes. Working on small studies, we have explored shading and depth using watercolours as well as line and tone work when sketching. We think Rousseau would be impressed with our efforts! |
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In Science this month, our Year 6s have deepened their understanding of the science behind how our eyes work, starting by looking at optical illusions and then looking at diagrams of different parts of our eyes and their functions. After this, the children drew detailed diagrams using focusing on their scientific drawing skills.
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In celebration of Black History Month, Year 6 have also been studying the work of Emmett Chapelle, an inspiring scientist who discovered how bioluminescence takes place in living organisms. The children looked at Chapelle’s life history and achievements, and the impact his work has had on science today. To demonstrate their learning, the children created informative posters including diagrams, key scientific vocabulary as well as historical facts.
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October 2022
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Year 3 went off to Horton Kirby and had a wonderful time measuring the speed of the river and generally getting very wet feet! We took part in three different activities: racing ducks down the river at different points to learn about the speed of the water, making rivers in mud trays to learn about flood plains and flood defences as well as watching a slide show of the journey of the River Darent. Back at school, we wrote amazing stories about Pinky the Duck and her journey from the River Darent out to the sea!
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In Art, we have been learning about Keith Haring and practising our sketching techniques. We learnt about tone and shading, creating different effects with our pencils. Later, we did some observational sketching alongside Haring-inspired sketching. We thought the results looked amazing! |
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This month, Year 4 enjoyed a trip to the Horniman Museum as part of our science topic on living things and their habitats. We really enjoyed our classification workshops - including identifying some fascinating mystery objects and classifying some enormous creepy crawlies. Next up, we took a tour around the galleries and visited the famous walrus, before embarking on a stroll around the gardens to find micro habitats - and a few real-life bugs too! Picture warning: if you don't like giant, hairy spiders, we recommend that you look away now.
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In the last few weeks Year 5 have been lucky enough to go on not one trip, but two! They visited the Charles Dickens Museum in North London to have an authentic Victorian experience. In groups of 10, the children were taken on a guided tour around the author’s house, which he lived in between 1837 – 1839. They got to take a peek into all the rooms including the kitchen, washroom and bedrooms, discovering Victorian inventions that would have revolutionised daily life. Our Hamleteers were thrown into Victorian life, learning all about washing dollies, non-electrical irons and manual butter churners! They also learnt about the importance of Charles Dickens’ novels – even getting up close and personal to the actual desk where he finished Oliver Twist (a book very closely linked to their Literacy text, Street Child by Berlie Doherty). When the children came back, they wrote a reflection of the trip using historical language into their History books.
A week later and in celebration of Black History Month, our Year 5s travelled to Brixton to visit the Black Cultural Archives to learn about Changemakers in the Victorian era. They researched the lives of some influential Black figures including an inventor, a model, an actor and a composer using primary sources to inform their findings. Once in groups, they presented their information in a variety of forms including drawings, acting pieces and miming performances. Our Hamleteers were able to develop our school value of Independence, as they were only guided on how to present their information – they were left to come up with the performances independently! Upon their return to school, Year 5 wrote up the information they learnt about the particular Black historical figure into their History books and even challenged themselves to answer the question: What would you ask this person if they were alive today and why?
A week later and in celebration of Black History Month, our Year 5s travelled to Brixton to visit the Black Cultural Archives to learn about Changemakers in the Victorian era. They researched the lives of some influential Black figures including an inventor, a model, an actor and a composer using primary sources to inform their findings. Once in groups, they presented their information in a variety of forms including drawings, acting pieces and miming performances. Our Hamleteers were able to develop our school value of Independence, as they were only guided on how to present their information – they were left to come up with the performances independently! Upon their return to school, Year 5 wrote up the information they learnt about the particular Black historical figure into their History books and even challenged themselves to answer the question: What would you ask this person if they were alive today and why?
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This month, Year 6 have been learning about Pacita Abad’s fascinating life and her colourful masterpieces using a variety of mediums. Her work on migration and identity has inspired us to look at how her figures and faces are portrayed in her artwork, and how we would like our own individual uniqueness to be portrayed.
In our art lessons, we have created cover pages; this included replicating pieces of her artwork, noticing the patterns, colours and shapes, and learning key facts about influences in her artistic life. Later on, we began working on our proportional sketching skills, providing specific constructive feedback to our partners on how we can make improvements each time. |
September 2022
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In Year 3, we have been looking at Place Value and Number in Maths. We played a game called Towers of Ten and then thought it would be fun to put all of our towers together. It snaked right around the classroom! After that, we wanted to know how many cubes we had altogether. We decided to count in tens - a skill called unitising. But we had too many tens that we lost count! Someone came up with the bright idea of creating new group - hundreds. We organised each group of ten tens into one hundred and then it was very easy to find the total.
We have also been breaking 100 up into different parts. We used our representing skills to show this in different ways: number lines, part whole models, calculations, drawing dienes, bar models and more! |
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Our geography topic got off to a shaky start in year 4, when we re-enacted an earthquake in our classrooms! Returning from lunch, we found our classrooms had been destroyed by an unexpected quake, and practised the earthquake drill - drop, cover, hold on! Luckily, it turned out that the tremors had more to do with the teachers than tectonic plates... and it didn't take too long to tidy up! Using this stimulus, we considered how it would feel to experience a real-life earthquake and created comic strips detailing our ideas.
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This term Year 5 will be studying the Victorians as their topic, discovering all about daily life of Victorian children, understanding the cultural changes of the era and debating the impact of Queen Victoria's reign. As well as learning about the Victorians through Berlie Doherty's fictional story Street Child, Year 5 will be studying Victorian architecture in order to create a 3D sculpture project in Art. Pupils have had the chance to go out into the playground and sketch one of the school buildings (which luckily happens to be Victorian!) in order to develop their understanding of the key Victorian features. They have had the artistic freedom to decide whether to sketch large images of the whole building or to focus on specific features including the steep rooves and the brickwork. The children are at the beginning of the process and will build on their skills week by week, culminating in a three dimensional structure, which they will work on in groups at the end of this half term.
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This month, Year 6 have been reading and exploring the text ‘Drawn Across Borders’ which tells the stories of 21st century human migration both in refugee camps and on the move. The children have been learning key vocabulary to ensure they can understand and infer from the vivid illustrations and explanations. In addition, the children were lucky enough to attend a talk led by Bethan Evans from Migrants Organise. She shared key facts and information that helped the children understand more about the processes behind claiming asylum and the importance of inclusion and integration. Later on this term, the children will use this information to write their own letters to the government about the importance in enabling safer routes for migrants. |
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July 2022
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Post-SATs, Year 6 have been super busy preparing for their end of year production. They successfully performed three shows to students of DHJS, as well as parents/carers, at the MCT at Alleyn School. Year 6 have also been working incredibly hard on their Year 2 Fairy Tale books, which we read and gave to the Year 2 students at Dulwich Village Infants School! In the process, we have enjoyed writing our own fairy tale stories, as well as illustrating them using traditional pen and ink techniques. |
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Year 4 have been honing their sewing skills this month - with only the occasional tangle!! Using sparkly embroidery thread, we have been transferring our mandala designs on to colourful felt to create beautiful fabric coasters. We've learned back stitch for embroidery, and will be using whip stitch to back our felt circles with patterned fabric. The finished products will be just perfect to keep water marks off our favourite furniture! |
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In our summer term D.T project, Year 3 have begun looking at the artist Louise Bourgeois. Her work is inspired by her admiration for her mother, describing her as ‘reasonable, soothing and indespensable’. Within her art, spiders were used as a symbol of her mother and you can spot them in many of her pieces. We found out that her parents were tapestry repairers and she used fabric in her work regularly. In our textiles project, we decided we would identify symbols that represent what is important to us in our lives. We came up with lots of ideas! We will then sew these onto chosen pieces of fabric using running stitch. See below for some of our research and our early designs.
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June 2022
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Year 5 have been learning not just how to “Walk like an Egyptian” but also how to mummify chickens and write in hieroglyphs! Thanks to the fantastic Portals to the Past organisation, the children have a wonderful time during their Ancient Egypt day! |
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In June, Year 3 have explored a new medium in Art. We are beginning to use oil pastels to explore colour and blending techniques. This is linked to our artist of the half term, Jean-Michel Basquiat. We are working towards creating an oil pastel and collage portrait, using inspiration from his motifs and symbols within many of his famous pieces. See below for some of our colourful, creative explorations in our sketchbooks.
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English has been somewhat... tempestuous... in year 4 this month! We have been immersing ourselves in Shakespeare's Tempest and using the richness of the language to inspire our own descriptive vocabulary, similes and personification. Using these elements, we have written, published and performed our own poetic storm spells. Take a look at some examples of our tea-aged paper, beautiful handwriting and spell-binding illustrations below.
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May 2022
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Year 5 proved that they were indeed bloomin’ marvellous when they visited Kew Gardens to learn more about their Art, Science and Geography topics. The children enjoyed a day visiting the Palm House, the Hive and the Temperate House. They sketched flowers, investigated plants and even mapped their routes! |
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Well, what did Year 6 NOT do this month?! We have been super busy flying through trees and being fancy visiting the theatre.
On our residential visit to Kingswood, Green Park, we took ourselves out of our comfort zone. We had a fantastic week sleeping in lodges or glamping tents and spending our days jumping off the leap of faith platform or shooting down the zipwire. Once we returned (and had had a good sleep!), we had our gala dinner and theatre trip. Chef Fabrice put on an amazing gala dinner spread for us before we headed into town to watch the fabulous music Frozen. This has inspired us to put on an amazing production in the Summer 2 term! |
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Science has been a cacophony of drums, shakers and elastic band guitars in year 4 this month! As part of our topic on sound, we've been investigating how sounds are created, how the ear works, and how the volume and pitch of sounds can be changed. We've had the opportunity to use a variety of investigation types, including fair testing, pattern seeking and comparative testing, and have been developing our skills when it comes to planning investigations and writing conclusions. The teachers are hoping that our next science topic - electricity - is a little easier on the ears!
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This half term, Year 3 have built their own temples. They began by researching ancient Greek architecture, looking at the columns, pediments, friezes and capitals. We spotted similarities with buildings we have seen in London and found out more about who these temples were built for. In our design lessons, we chose which Greek gods or goddesses our temples would be dedicated to and chose careful pictures and patterns that would be particularly symbolic. Once we got into the D.T. suite, we used different equipment to measure, cut and join our wooden structures. We had to be very precise! We later returned to the classroom to apply our roofs, pediments, friezes and columns. We were very proud of our woodwork skills.
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April 2022
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Year 6 were lucky enough to have a visit from Mexicolore! Ian brought in some incredible Maya artefacts, from codices to a sun stone! We took part in some traditional chanting, heard from Ian’s wife Graciella – who taught us some traditional Maya customs – and created an amazing procession. We learnt so much and had a fantastic morning
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Year 5 had a very interesting visitor today to kick off our Science learning about living things and their habitats. Adrien Barnet is a professor of rainforest ecology based in Brazil and today he shared his knowledge, passion and respect for the Amazon Rainforest to an enraptured young audience. Thanks you Adrien!
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Year 4 are having a tea-tastic time in English this half term! Since returning to school, we have stepped into role as official tea tasters, creating emotive descriptions for a range of exotic flavours and aromas. Our book, Cloud Tea Monkeys, is full of vivid descriptions of the tea plantations of India, which we have brought to life in different media. Take a look at these fantastic examples of work!
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In Art, Year 3 are going to be printing using polystyrene and ink. To begin, we have practised our sketching skills, replicating mythical creatures including Medusa, Hydra and a Griffin. The focused on getting our proportions accurate and adding detail using different pencil techniques. We are really proud of our final products. |
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This term, Year 3 are studying Ancient Greece in Humanities, The Odyssey in English and Greek mythology in R.E. We have enjoyed building connections across the curriculum and learning more about ancient Greek culture and beliefs. We studied the creation story to begin, looking at the role Gaia and Uranus play. We created our own visual dualisms to represent what they symbolise and their powers. See some of our creative examples here. |
March 2022
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In Science, Year 6 have been developing our knowledge of evolution by pretending that we were aliens with different mouths landing onto new planet. We had to see which mouth worked best for each food source. We then learnt that this happened in real life and studied Darwin’s finches |
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Following on from our excellent work in maths on co-ordinates, Year 6 have been learning all about grid references. We used them to find cities in and around Brazil, extending our knowledge of 4 figure, 6 figure and even 8 figure grid references! |
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Year 5 have been cooking up a storm! The children explored the delights of Victorian food and made themselves mouth-watering Cottage Stew.
Peeling, chopping, weighing, measuring, melting, stirring, simmering and boiling were just a few of the cooking skills the children used. They even washed and dried up after themselves. Needless to say, the results were delicious! |
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Year 4 had a really exciting start to the month, kicking off our learning about the Vikings with a visit from Mike at Portals to the Past. In full period costume, Mike taught us to play the board game fox and goose and showed us some incredible Viking weaponry and other artefacts. In the afternoon, he took us through some Viking army drills and even taught us to spear wrestle! Obviously, these skills will come in very handy when we round off our Invaders and Settlers topic with a (weapon-less!) re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings at Battle Abbey. Vikings, Tyr!
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To enrich our history learning, Year 3 visited Butser Ancient Farm to discover more about life in Britain during the Iron Age. We created wattle fences using hazel branches, used tools to create our own copper rings and created chalk carvings using flintstones, chalk and dock leaves. It was fascinating to visit a replicate roundhouse and to imagine what life would have been like with less advanced technology and resources |
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This month, Year 3 have been developing their painting skills using powder paint. Whilst developing our painting techniques, we have been considering how to create subtle differences between shades of one colour. This will form our backgrounds for our plant inspired final pieces. |
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February 2022
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Year 6 have had a fantastic time in music this month! We have been learning Samba style and we have used lots of different instruments including drums, snares, agogos and tambourines to follow an awesome beat. We even learnt how to follow hand signals to make sure we knew where we were in the music.
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This term 5TS and 5G performed their class assemblies to parents and carers. They did a super job of remembering all their lines and projecting their voices, informing the audience of Victorian customs and filling them in on some more gruesome facts about Victorian sanitation and diseases. 5G brought the laughs, performing an assembly where they had written the script themselves. They also shared some of their stunning silhouette based art work in a memorable moment of audience participation. For 5TS’s, they blasted out the famous song Food Glorious Food from the film adaptation from Charles Dicken’s novel Oliver Twist. Thank you to all parents and carers who attended both assemblies.
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CSI Hamlet!
Monday morning was rather dramatic in Year 4, as children returned to Village Hall to discover a crime scene! Luckily, PC Begley, Detective Inspector Simms and Detective Sergeant Oddie were on hand to investigate. Witness statements indicated that, between 9.03 and 9.40, a very large individual had collected metal objects - including chairs, wires and scaffolding - and attempted to eat them! Pupils in the area reported hearing banging, clanging and crunching. The prime suspect is the Iron Man - known to Year 4 as the main character in this half term's book by Ted Hughes. |
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In Art, we have been practising our use parallel and perpendicular lines to create unique optical illusions. We began by studying Bridget Riley, a locally-born artist. Everybody saw and felt different things when we looked at her Op Art. Using her pieces as inspiration, we began creating our own Op Art patterns in either monochrome or multicoloured patterns. |
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In February, Year 3 have been continuing their work on multiplication and division, focusing on the 3s and 6s. We have impressed ourselves with the array (no pun intended!) of different ways we can represent our known multiplication facts and our knowledge of sharing and grouping. The children have developed their understanding of using bar models and part-whole models to show division equations and have used sophisticated vocabulary to describe their mathematical thinking. See below for some of our different representations of multiplication and division! |
January 2022
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Year 6 have turned into clay sculpture artists! We are rounding off our learning about the artist Henry Moore by creating our own sculptures based on refugees. Moore’s work is built to look like natural rock formations and so we crafted our sculpture out of one piece of clay, giving the impression of human form. |
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The children have also gone back in time and visited the Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, where the writer and his family lived for three years. At the desk in the picture, he penned “Oliver Twist”, “Nicholas Nickleby” and finished “The Pickwick Papers”. |
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Year 5 are having a stellar start to 2022! They have started their Earth in Space topic with two wonderful talks from visitors. First, the Wonderdome landed in Turney Hall and the children were treated to a fantastic planetarium show. Then we were lucky to be visited by the distinguished astronomer Dr. Diego Garcia, from UCL, who spoke about the origin of Earth, the formation of our Solar System and the environmental threats our planet is facing. He even brought along a small – but heavy - lump of meteorite, which the children were allowed to handle.
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We've been having fun with furry, feathered, slimy and scaly friends this month! We kicked off our animals and humans science topic learning about food chains and food webs, before moving on to find out more about our very own teeth. A visit from Zoo Labs really brought our learning about animals to life; we got to meet some very friendly snakes, spiders, frogs and giant snails, and found out about their varied eating habits. Would you have been as brave as our year 4 pupils (and teachers!) when meeting these beautiful but unusual creatures?!
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Year 3 had an exciting return to school after the Christmas break. In class, they have tried their hands at many new roles including time travelling, gardening and singing. In Science, the children have been learning about how to classify and group of rocks based on different characteristics and how to make careful observations of organic matter and living creatures that make up the soil in our school gardens.
Our new English topic took us back in time to the Stone Age in preparation to learn which survival skills are essential during this prehistoric time and to gain a better understanding of the challenges our ancestors would have met each day. The children are now practising their instructional writing skills to create their very own Stone Age survival guide for any fellow time travellers. In D.T, Year 3 took part in the annual smoothie competition. The children carefully designed and planned their smoothies according to health, appeal, texture and taste. They then collaboratively created their smoothies and tested them with their group. Mrs Purcell judged the finalists - a tricky job given how delicious they all were! |
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December 2021
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From all the children and staff at Dulwich Hamlet, we wish you a very merry Christmas!
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November 2021
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In DT, Year 6 have been making Anderson and Morrison shelters. First, we learnt how to saw safely and how to handle glue guns properly to join wood to make a sturdy structure. Then, we covered them with corrugated card and thought about how they would be furnished. When they’re finished, we are going to test that they are fit for purpose by dropping V2 rockets (glue sticks) onto them to see if they’d keep the user (a family) safe. |
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Year 4 have been getting to grips with states of matter in science this month. So far, we have categorised materials into solids and liquids (which got more than a little messy when it came to paint, glue and soil) and investigated the behaviour of gases using sweet-smelling peppermint oil. We have also demonstrated our understanding of particle theory by representing the molecules in solids, liquids and gases using.... Cheerios!
Disclaimer: This news article is not sponsored. Other hoop-shaped cereals are available. |
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Year 3 have studied Windrush linked to our ‘Waters of the World’ topic and we were lucky enough to visit Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. When we were there, we had the opportunity to hear about different people’s experiences or moving to Britain from the Caribbean in the 60s. |
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In Year 3, we have been continuing our work on Keith Haring in our Art lessons. We have built our own sculptures using cardboard, paper and tape, painted them using bold primary colours and created a unique, pattern-filled background to help frame our sculptures! |
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In Maths, Year 3 have been focusing on building 3-digit numbers and comparing and ordering them. We have started to build our awareness of where they sit on a number line and how to describe their positioning. We’re getting really good at justifying our ideas using mathematical vocabulary too! |
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October 2021
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In Science, Year 3 have been continuing to explore ‘light’. We experimented with creating different sized shadows by changing the distance of our light source whilst practising our different scientific skills including planning, recording, communicating and measuring. We later created a maze and challenged ourselves to use our knowledge of light and reflections to bounce light around obstacles.
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Year 3 have been looking at the lives and achievements of Ignatius Sancho, Mary Seacole and Olive Morris this month. 3GR focussed on Olive Morris, a local icon who campaigned for equal rights and believed everyone deserved a safe home to live in. Inspired by her work, they created collages that represented their interpretations of ‘home. 3H listened to Ignatius Sancho’s music and used watercolours to reflect how they felt as they listened and 3F created artwork using naturally grown resources, including herbs and plants, inspired by her work in medicine. |
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Year 5 have been demonstrating their rhythmic talents in music lessons: They have been learning how to play the African drums, including djembe and djun djun. They have even, through the songs they have been taught, learned phrases in indigenous African languages, including Wolof, Mandinka and Bambara. |
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Year 4 have been getting creative this month, writing Ponyo-inspired stories for our first ever creative writing week. Set in underwater worlds, our engaging story openers focused on creating vivid images, emotional responses and questions in our reader's minds. We applied our understanding of fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases to set the scene, before sending our characters off on their exciting quests! 
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This month, each Year 6 class visited the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. We made our own documentaries about different objects in the museum, including lots of dates and facts that we had found. Afterwards, we explored the different galleries and really solidified our knowledge about World War 2. |
September 2021
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Year 5 have been enjoying taking part in African crafts and activities as part of our topic about that continent. Thanks to dance and art expert, Kwame, the children have been learning new moves to music and creating wonderful sculptures from re-cycled milk containers. They were also taught how to produce abstract African-style paintings, using a few simple brush strokes.
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What an exciting month Year 6 have had! We have kicked off the year with a multitude of trips and visits. On Thursday 16th September, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Bethan Evans. She works at a charity called Migrants Organise and she spoke to us about asylum seekers and their experiences when fleeing their homes. We felt really inspired by her visit and we wrote letters to Boris Johnson explaining how we felt people fleeing war-torn countries should be treated |
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The Young Shakespeare Company came to visit us and performed a dramatic retelling of Macbeth. We loved chanting ‘All Hail Macbeth, King of Scotland!’ and learnt so much about the story. The performance has really helped our understanding of the play and we’ve used some of the drama techniques in our lessons already |
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On Wednesday 22nd September, Year 6 visited Horton Kirby in Kent. We travelled back in time to 1940 and experienced life as an evacuee from London. We heard stories of Peter, a real evacuee, and what mischief he got up to with the soldiers in the village, sat in a real Anderson shelter and took part in a real 1940s lesson. At playtime, we were great at beating Mrs Shreeve at cup-and-ball – we clearly have better hand-eye co-ordination!
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This month, Year 4 have been getting hands-on with their science work on living things and their habitats. On our trip to the Horniman Museum, we identified microhabitats - including an incredible fungus - in the gardens and hunted out different animal groups - and a certain, well-known walrus - in the natural history gallery. The highlight, however, was handling and classifying real animal specimens in our classification workshop. Some of the animals were tricky to group due to their unusual characteristics but we certainly enjoyed giving it a go! |
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In Maths, Year 3 have been learning about place value of 2 and 3-digit numbers using concrete resources to begin. We explored how we can count a value more efficiently by building towers of ten or skyscrapers of hundreds. After this, we have learnt how to represent 2 and 3-digit in different ways and how to decompose these numbers into their different parts.
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Year 3 have been getting their teeth sunk into our new literacy topics already! We were shocked to discover some photographs had washed up on a beach during the summer holidays. However, there is something very peculiar about these. We studied the photos in our literacy lessons, learnt new vocabulary to describe what we saw and began to infer using illustrations from our class text ‘Flotsam’. We’re excited to find out what else is occurring on the ocean floor later in the story. |
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June 2021
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Year 6 have been working hard to publish some beautiful fairy tale books for the Year 2 children at DVIS. After editing our books to make them really personalised, we created some beautiful illustrations using our pen and ink illustration skills.
It’s going to be hard to part with these books, they are so beautiful! |
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Year 5 have been learning about plants and botanical paintings which really took root when they visited Kew Gardens as part of their Science and Art topics. We enjoyed discovering some of the weird and wonderful plants in the Temperate House and the Palm House. The exhibition about colour in nature and botanical paintings was fascinating as well. We also staged a botanical name hunt, in which the children identified a wide range of trees in the grounds, reading the Latin and common names.
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This month, year 4 have been fully immersing themselves in the world of wizards, storms and Shakespeare! As part of our work on the Tempest, we have written, performed and published fantastic storm-summoning spells. We have also delved more deeply into the story and the motivations of the main characters, including Prospero (the wizard) and Caliban, his rather unfortunate servant! Take a look at these photos of our work and performances.
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In Art, Year 3 are using a oil pastels to create different tones and textures. The children have been working on how we can use the space in our sketchbook to creatively explore different mediums. This skill we are working on in preparation for our work studying the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
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We have had a brilliant start to the summer term. Year 3 are exploring our new text, The Imnvention of Hugo Cabret, which is filled with detailed sketches and ambitious vocabulary. Already, we have used this story to write a diary entry from the perspective of the main character, Hugo, and looked at interesting language to describe settings. We have also been developing our understanding of why the author makes certain choices to have an impact on the reader. See some of our interesting insights below!
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May 2021
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Life is blooming marvellous in Year 5 this month!
As part of our Science and Art topics, the children have been drawing, painting and dissecting plants and flowers – with spectacular results. In our study of the botanical artist Marianne North, we have been sketching and painting real-life specimens, practising colour mixing to represent flowers and leaves. In Science, we have been finding out about life cycles and dissecting plants and flowers to investigate the roles that various parts play in the reproduction of the organisms. |
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We have been switching things up (!) in year 4 this month. Working on electricity in science, we've been learning the essentials of electrical safety, creating circuits and even designing our own switches. We've had lots of fun getting hands on with the different components, investigating why circuits work - or don't work - and what materials make effective switches. We'll continue with our electricity learning after half term too, investigating conductors, insulators and famous electrical scientists.
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It has been a very busy month for Year 3. We have been completely enthralled by the story of Odysseus and his adventures meeting mythical creatures. We have been learning about the key characters and their differences, as well as building our understanding of narrative writing; we practised punctuating direct speech, using expanded noun phrases to describe and using time adverbials to add detail to our sentences. See the pictures below for some of our imaginative story writing and editing!
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In Science, we have been working on our enquiry skills by completing fair tests and pattern seeking in different investigations linked to forces. We discovered that the smoother the surface, the less friction there is when an object moves against it. We also found out that age of children in our class doesn’t necessarily have an effect on our quickly we can push someone in a box across the carpet (this was a lot of fun!)
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In Science, Year 6 have been learning all about the circulatory system. We have learnt about how the heart works, how blood is pumped around the body and about the importance of other organs such as our lungs. In our lung capacity experiment, we had a variety of different cylinders that we filled with water. We blew bubbles in the water for as long as we could with one breath to work out how much air we could fit in our lungs. Some of us have very big lungs, as you can tell from how quickly we blew the water from the containers! |
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April 2021
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This month has been all about catapults! In DT, linked to last term's humanities topic of invaders and settlers, year 4 have been measuring, sawing and gluing to create fantastic - and functional - firing machines. We researched different types of catapult, learned the technical names for all the different parts, and really enjoyed the opportunity to use the facilities in our brilliant DT suite. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the process, however, was the testing! Mrs Begley very much regrets offering herself for target practice. Who knew these tiny machines would fire so far!?!
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Year 3 have started the summer term off with a bang! Our topic this term is Ancient Greece. We have started to learn all about The Odyssey, reading and hearing about Odysseus’ adventures and the mythical creatures he met as well as the mythical events that occurred along the way. In R.E, we are studying the first- and second-generation Greek gods and goddesses and learning about their special powers and unique characters. We were very lucky to spend a day immersed in Ancient Greek culture during our visit from Portals to the Past. We learnt ancient Greek strategy games, learnt more about politics and took part in our very own ancient Olympic games. In D.T, we have found out about ancient Greek temples and then designed and built our own in line with our favourite Greek god or goddesses. It’s been an exciting April!
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March 2021
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In Year 5 the children have been having fun with fractions. Using their knowledge of factors and multiples, they have been learning how to find equivalent fractions and how to simplify and expand. They moved onto adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. Take a look at the amazing posters they designed to explain these multi-step calculations! |
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In March, Year 3 started their literacy unit on Up! The film has inspired both our descriptive and information writing. On our return to school, we were shocked to find a thief had visited the Year 3 classrooms. Surprisingly, the thief had stolen a bite out of all of our teachers’ chocolate bars. We started to use the clues to work out who the culprit was, and soon realised a snipe was up to no good.
Along the way, we have learnt lots of new vocabulary, talked about the characters and the emotions they go through and built on our knowledge of different clauses and phrases. We will soon be designing our own birds and writing our own non-chronological reports on them. Watch this space |
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In English, year 4 have been studying Ted Hughes' The Iron Man. Using drama, we retold the events of chapter three - The Return of the Iron Man - depicting events and characters through movement. We discussed how to use shapes, levels and expressions to portray the interactions between characters without using dialogue. Can you spot the Iron Man in these pictures?
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February 2021
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In February, Year 3 began to learn more about plants. We learnt about germination, the function of different parts of the plants and the key requirements to help a plant grow. We were so impressed with the different plant dissections that happened both at Key Worker school and at home. The children used excellent scientific vocabulary and made interesting observations. We’re looking forward to finding out more about the power of plants, germination and seed dispersal over the next few weeks.
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Year 4 started this half term's English topic with a bang.... and a crash, clang, crunch! Our remote learners returned from half term to find that something strange had happened in Village Hall. Mr Simms and Ms Oddie discovered metal objects - from bikes to badminton rackets - strewn all over the floor, and even spotted some enormous tooth marks!
A very stern Detective Inspector(!) arrived to take witness statements from the year 4 team and spoke to Miss Harris, who was a key witness. The children (ahem... Police Officers) completed Crime Scene Reports on the incident, using the evidence presented to identify possible suspects. Many believed Ted Hughes' Iron Man was to blame. Will he be caught before he chomps through more of our metal?! |
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January 2021
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Who says you need a laboratory to do science experiments? So far this half term, our year 4 children have proved just the opposite! Our home-learning professors have studied the effect of different drinks on our teeth, using eggs to represent enamel. Many predicted that cola would be most damaging to the egg shell, but it was the sugar and acid in the fruit cordials that resulted in the eggs losing almost all their shells.
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As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also been studying the digestive system, recreating the passage of food through the stomach and intestines using sandwich bags and socks!
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In Science, Year 6 have been experimenting with bread decomposing in a comparative test. We came up with some variables to consider how we could make it decompose faster and chose to cover the bread slices with three different things – salt, vinegar and the bacteria found on our hands and faces. We have been checking our bread slices every week and so far we have discovered that salt has made our bread go rock hard, vinegar has made our bread go soggy and bacteria….well, just look at the pictures above! At the end of the month, we are going to examine our results and think carefully about why each piece of bread has decomposed in the way it has. We will use our Science learning from this term on living things to help us.
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In Art this half term, Year 3 have been studying a local artist, Bridget Riley. We discovered that she was born in Norwood and moved to Cornwall during the way. She uses lines and shape to create optical illusions within her pieces of artwork. In Maths, we have been learning about horizontal, vertical, parallel and perpendicular lines so we used this knowledge to create our own pieces of Op Art. Here is a fact file about Bridget Riley, made by a member of 3H, and many pieces of Op Art made by children across Year 3.
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December 2020
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This month, year 4 have been busy in the kitchen! We adapted recipes to make our own polar explorer soups, full of carbohydrates for energy and vegetables for essential vitamins and minerals. We practiced essential cooking skills - chopping, measuring, frying, simmering - and thought about kitchen hygiene and product packaging. Finally, we got the opportunity to taste our delicious, hearty soups. Notes for next time? Those chilli flakes are seriously spicy!
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In Maths this term, Year 3 have been exploring 3, 6 and 9 times tables. We have shown our understanding of these in different ways, including using arrays, pictures and bar models. We have now sped up our recall of these multiplication facts, applied them to solve division problems and have begun to spot patterns and relationships between the times tables.
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Year 3 have been focussing on our sketching and painting skills this month. We have been exploring using watercolour to create different shades, tones and effects when painting scales and fish. When sketching, we have tried out different types of pencils whilst exploring the impact of pressing down harder, holding the pencil differently and the speed we work with the pencil. Have a look at examples of this creative process below.
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November 2020
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Year 5 travelled back in time and became Victorian school children for the day when they visited Horton Kirby Education Centre. The centre is based in a former school, which was set up as it appeared in 1901. Our 21st century children adopted the names of pupils who attended the school almost 120 years ago. They were taught the three Rs, Victorian-style and some children even had to wear the dunce’s hat! They took part in Drill – or PE – and played Victorian games. They also investigated antique artefacts such as carpet beaters, irons and peg dolls.
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In Humanities this month, year 4 have been retracing the steps of Ernest Shackleton and his crew on their ill-fated voyage on the Endurance. We used a range of primary and secondary sources - including photographs and diary entries from the expedition - to understand the challenges that the crew faced when their boat became stuck in the Antarctic ice. We also found out about the essential role of the James Caird lifeboat - now safely located right here in Dulwich - in successfully rescuing every member of the crew. Finally, we used the evidence we had gathered to answer the big question: was Ernest Shackleton a hero?
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On 17th November, Year 6 visited Horton Kirby Educational Centre. We really enjoyed travelling back in time! We explored the village, learning about key sites and their war stories, including numbers 55 and 56 School Lane that were nearly hit by a bomb. After a quick game of Pooh Sticks, we were lucky enough to handle some real WW2 artefacts, including an unopened bottle of Dandelion and Burdock – we definitely didn’t want to drink it though! We had to wait safely in an Anderson Shelter when the Air Raid Siren sounded but luckily we got the all clear to head into our afternoon lesson which included plane identification and addition of shillings and pence.
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In Humanities, we have been learning about the journey many people made from the Caribbean to the UK in 1948 on the Empire Windrush. We made comparisons between countries in the Caribbean and the UK, learnt about why many people made this journey and what their expectations were versus the reality on arrival into the UK. Our workshop on Windrush helped us to understand more about the emotions and experiences many people had
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This November, Year 3 have been studying Benjamin Zephaniah’s poetry. We are big fans! Some of our favourite poems include ‘Vegan Steven’ and ‘Vegan Steven’s Clothes’. We have had some outstanding performances from the children, who focussed on their spoken word skills including intonation, volume, pace and clarity to engage their readers. We used inspiration from Zephaniah’s famous and powerful poem ‘The British’ to write our own based on our class. We initially spent time discussing who we are, what makes us special and what we value as a community, and we wrote our poems in a style of a recipe. See just a handful of our impressive poetry below.
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October 2020
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As part of our science unit on ‘Living Things and Their Habitats’, Year 4 has been busy developing their understanding of what constitutes a living thing, drawing on key vocabulary such as ‘reproduction’, ‘respiration’ and ‘sensitivity’ in order to discuss the difference between a real duck and a rubber one. As we moved through October, this learning was applied to the context of the Dulwich Hamlet garden, where the children engaged in classification fieldwork in an effort to determine which were the most common invertebrates at school, with the woodlouse emerging as champion! To top off this exciting, investigative topic, we were thrilled to be able to take the children on their first school trip of the year – an excursion to Dulwich Woods – where they discovered a range of microhabitats and enjoyed getting good and muddy in the process!
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As part of our learning on WW2 this term, Year 6 have been studying forgotten war heroes. One hero we studied was Victor Brown, a Jamaican Navy officer who saved 42 lives when a torpedo hit the side of the oil tanker he was on.
We discussed the discrimination soldiers from the Caribbean and Africa faced when attempting to join the war efforts for Britain and reflected on how these attitudes changed as time went on. A moving documentary we watched where Victor Brown reunited with his ship mate, Winston Murphy, made us realise just how lucky Britain was that so many people were willing to risk their lives for their country. |
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Year 5 have been exploring the effectiveness of thermal insulators by seeing which material would be best to stop ice men melting! They first identified the difference between thermal insulators and conductors, categorising different household items into each group. Using this knowledge, they chose three materials out of plastic, bubble wrap, cloth and tin foil for their ice men to wear, wrapping the pieces of material around them and waiting for timed intervals to see how much water melted. They carefully measured the water that had melted and decided which, out of the three, was the most effective insulator (so which material prevented the ice men from disappearing!) Finally, they used their findings to create a graph and make scientific conclusions based on the evidence. The children unanimously decided that tin foil would not be a good material for the ice men to wear, as metal is a conductor of heat.
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So far in October, Year 3 have been learning new vocabulary to help us explain how rivers work including ‘meanders’, ‘deposition’, ‘erosion’ and more. We were very lucky the sun shone down on us on our visit to Horton Kirby Environmental Education Centre. We tested the speed of the river using a rubber duck named Pinky, and demonstrated erosion using Lego and mud. We were inspired to write stories about Pinky’s journey from source of the River Darent to the tributary where it joins the Thames.
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We’re also budding scientists in Year 3! We have been learning about light and conducting different experiments to work out what material makes the best shadow puppet and how we can change the size of a shadow. We have learnt new scientific vocabulary to help us explain our thinking and drawn diagrams to demonstrate how light works.
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September 2020
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In Art, Year 6 have been exploring the work of Roy Lichtenstein to begin our Pop Art unit of work. We researched his life and explored some of his most famous pieces. Then, we had a go at recreating his work in a similar style!
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In Art this week, Year 5 have been creating mixed media responses to Oliver Jeffers' beautiful book, "Here We Are". |
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This month, year 4 have been getting hands on with our Humanities topic – Natural Disasters. So far, we have imagined the outcomes if an earthquake took place here in school, and begun to investigate the structure of the Earth using… nectarines! First, we practised the ‘drop, cover, hold on’ earthquake drill, and wrote comic strips showing the possible impacts of our imaginary earthquake. Then, we identified the ‘crust’, ‘mantle’ and ‘core’ of our nectarine models. What will we think of next?! |
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In Art, Year 3 have been using watercolour to create backgrounds inspired by the landscapes and objects natural world and our feelings. We then looked at typography and experimented with writing fonts that reflect the meaning of the word we are writing. Have a look at our pictures for some examples! We are going to combine these two techniques to create our final pieces linked to our whole school text Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers. |
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In Maths, Year 3 have been learning about the place value of 3-digit and 2-digit numbers. We have been exploring representing these numbers in different ways, using concrete resources and different models, including bar models, part-part whole models and more. We have also been working hard to use mathematical vocabulary when explaining our thinking.
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June 2020
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Teaching is looking quite different at the moment. Look out for your times for live google teacher Meet sessions.
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May 2020
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Virtual Parent and Carer Cafe |
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March 2020
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Dear Parents and Carers
Three Eastery Doodle Maths Messages: 1. Please note that there is a Spring Maths Challenge with a chance to win goodies. Details here https://www.doodlemaths.com/spring-challenge/ 2. Pupils will now find Easter accessories in My Pages and they can spend their hard earned DoodleStars buying Easter eggs and unlocking Easter bunnies. 3. Parents should note that Parent Dashboard features have been increased to allow you to support your child’s learning even more at home. This means that linked you can access parents.doodlemaths.com and monitor your child’s progress, recalibrate their accounts and add Extras. Doodle Maths are also running daily parent webinars guiding parents on how to use Doodle to support learning at home. Happy Doodling |
February 2020
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Year 6 have been busy in the kitchen making Mexican style burritos. They have learnt, amongst other things, about reducing liquid, slicing, mashing, presentation, food hygiene and why it's a bad idea to put too much chilli powder in your sauce.
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We were honoured to be selected to be the featured school for the Young Voices 25th Anniversary which is being celebrated next year. We have already signed ourselves up!
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In Science this month, Year 3 have been studying the different types of rocks and their characteristics. We also investigated what soil is made up of, finding organic matter, live plants and insects! We even found an Ash tree seed in its earliest stages of growth. This was fascinating to consider the changes this plant will undergo. Later on this month, we looked at fossils, and researched information about the famous palaeontologist, Mary Anning, who was not recognised for her work until after her death. We recreated the fossilisation process using clay to represent the ocean floor, shells to represent the organism that had died and plaster of paris to represent the hardened layers of sediment.
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During the past week, Year 4 have spent their Science lessons focusing on teeth. The children discussed the transition between milk teeth and adult teeth and enjoyed sharing details about losing their teeth and how many they currently had! Afterwards, they found out about the types of teeth that we have and what their role is. Finally, using modelling clay, the children carefully created models of their teeth with some more realistic than others!
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January 2020
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Year 6 travelled to the Old Kent Road Fire Station to complete the Southwark Junior Citizenship Scheme. Over the course of the afternoon, the children took part in a variety of activities aimed at boosting their confidence and keeping them safe as they become more independent Londoners. The interactive activities, including a very accurate simulation of a tube and bus stop, were a fun way of introducing and reinforcing important messages about fire safety, city wildlife, independent travel and being mindful of your surroundings - rather than just your mobile phone!
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The children of Year 5 have been truly reaching for the stars as part of their Earth in Space topic. They even boarded a mysterious UFO-style vessel which appeared overnight in Turney Hall. Needless to say they were relieved to discover it was in fact a mobile planetarium. Thanks to the Wonderdome, the children were given their very own solar system show, complete with commentary by an expert presenter.
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This month, Year 4 have been on a visit to Tate Britain for a very special occasion! In one of the galleries, there were some familiar faces in the artwork...ours! Last year, we took part in the Steve McQueen Year 3 project and we were so excited to see our pictures amongst thousands of others in the gallery. We made our presence felt in the gallery by shouting ‘WE ARE HERE’ and we completed some fun activities such as creating a slogan for Year 3 children everywhere. Later on, we went into some of the other galleries and drew our favourite painting.
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In January, Year 3 have begun to look at the different shades and textures you can create using different pencil types. We explored using a variety of ‘B’ type sketch pencils to play with patterns, and then considered which would most likely be present on marine life. In Art, we really enjoy using our sketchbooks are to collect and experiment with different techniques.
Paying attention to detail, we then studied Victorian sketches of fish, which were typically completed without colour and in pencil. Using these pictures, we created view finders to study only small sections of the fish, and then used newly learnt drawing techniques to recreate. The children had a good opportunity to draw from observation, practise detail and repeat patterns whilst working with a variety of scales. Our next step is to create water colour pieces, transferring our pattern techniques with pencil to paint. |
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Our Eco-Council's #Plasticfreeschool campaign was launched last term and is continuing to gather pace. We conducted a "Trashmob" to find out what kind of plastic was being dropped in our environment
Our Eco Councillors are now drafting letters to challenge our political leaders to sit up and take notice. We have also been invited to speak at a local event: SPEAK UP FOR THE CLIMATE by DaWNCC Dulwich & West Norwood Climate Coalition with Lambeth FoE on Saturday 8th February at 1pm. We would love to see some of you there to support our pupils! |
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December 2019
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This term, Year 4 put their MasterChef hats on and cooked some hearty Polar Explorer soup! We carefully followed the recipe, weighing out ingredients and making sure we were accurate. We also developed our knife skills and learnt about how to be safe in the kitchen, especially around hobs while we were adding to our stock! The resulting soups were delicious and the bowls were scraped clean!
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It has been a busy term in science for Year 3, as we have been studying animals, including humans, discovering how our diets, skeletons and muscular systems are different. We visited the Horniman Museum to make observations of different skeletons, sketch and find out new facts about the living things that exist in our world. Have a look below at some of our sketches we completed during our trip.
We were very lucky to do some dissecting this month! Recently, we found out that owls cannot digest the bones, despite their carnivorous diet. They regurgitate something called an owl pellet which includes the different bones of the animals they have consumed. We pulled these apart, studied the bones inside and categorised them according to their shapes and size. We were even able to identify which type of animal it is, either a rodent, mole or shrew. Have a look at what we found here, if you’re not too squeamish! |
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On Thursday 5th December a group of children were lucky enough to take part in filming the official World Book Day trailer, which will be used on the website, Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites. You'll be able to see the finished product from January 9th by logging onto the World Book day website.
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In Science, Year 6 have been very busy learning about electricity. Using their knowledge of the universal circuit symbols, the children designed their own circuits using wires, cells, bulbs and switches. In groups, they used these circuits to create fantastic, fully-functional lighthouses. To deepen their understanding, the children went on to investigate how increasing voltage in a circuit affects the brightness of a bulb. Using data loggers enabled our budding scientists to take accurate measurements and draw meaningful conclusions using scientific vocabulary.
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November 2019
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It’s been a busy few weeks for the children in Year 5!
They were warmly welcomed to the East Dulwich Gurdwara where they observed and learned about the celebrations marking the birth of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The special trip, organised by Arjun’s mother, involved visiting the prayer room and eating with members of our Sikh community. We are so grateful for the warm hospitality extended to us. They also visited the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, where they examined and evaluated artefacts about three prominent and important black Victorians – actor Ira Aldridge, composer Samuel Taylor-Coleridge and engineer and inventor Lewis Latimer. Did you know that, thanks to Lewis Latimer, Electric Avenue in Brixton was one of the first streets to be lit with electric lighting? |
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On the 12th and 14th of November, Y4 went to Dulwich College to learn more about Ernest Shackleton’s journey on the James Caird as part of our Polar Explorers topic. We were shown paintings of the boat on its journey through dangerous, icy waters and we even got the chance to hold a 150 year old balaclava that the crew used to keep warm! When we saw the James Caird, we were very surprised by its size and we didn’t think it would be very comfortable to travel in – you could only crouch and only got to stand up for 4 hours a day when you were navigating the ship!
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This November, Year 3 have been busy learning more about this fascinating city that we live in. We took a trip to Southbank and walked from Blackfriars Bridge all the way to the Golden Hinde, learning many interesting facts about famous landmarks along the way. As we walked, we noticed differences between old and new architecture and admired the views of St Paul’s from south side of Millenium Bridge. Outside of the Tate Modern, we created ‘messy maps’ to help us navigate along the river. We also had the opportunity to sketch the London skyline whilst sat on the north side of the river, using our careful observation skills and techniques learnt in our art lessons. Learning about our city will help us to design our own back at school, thinking carefully about the key role rivers play in our cities, as well as transport, architecture, tourism and more.
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We are delighted to see more children engaging with TTRS this week.
Next week is Maths Week 2019 so as part of our commitment to make maths exciting and high profile in our school, we are taking part in a competition next week called Rock Out 2019 and it’s all done online via play.ttrockstars.com For every correct answer to a multiplication or division question, your child will earn their class a point. The Times Tables Rock Stars platform will calculate the class average (the number of correct answers per pupil in the class who play during the competition hours). Winning classes in the school and in the country as a whole will be the ones with the highest average. All game modes (Gig, Garage, Studio, etc.) will count but only from games played between 7.30am and 7.30pm on Monday 11th, Tuesday 12th, Wednesday 13th, Thursday 14th, Friday 15th and Saturday 16th. The spirit of the competition is supposed to be fun so please encourage and support your child to the extent that it doesn’t cause high stress levels or impact on family plans. We suggest a limit of half an hour a day outside school hours – some will play more, some will play less. Happy Rocking. |
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October 2019
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On Monday 7th October, Year 4 visited the Horniman museum. This linked in with our science topic of living things and their habitats. Upon arrival, we sat in the gardens and sketched some of the habitats we could see for mini beasts. We chatted to the gardeners who were weeding and they showed us some of the mini beasts in the soil such as worms and snails. Afterwards, we visited the amazing aquarium to observe underwater creatures in their habitats and we considered how these compared to the habitats in the gardens. We were extremely excited to visit the ‘Brick Wonders’ exhibition and we made some amazing habitats out of Lego after viewing some incredible Lego sculptures of different habitats such as the jungle. Finally, we took part in a fact finding hunt in the galleries and learnt a lot about how animals adapt to their habitats over time. |
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34 Year 6 children performed Julius Caesar at school today, before their big night at Greenwich tomorrow. The rest of the school was a fantastic audience and the actors were magnificent. Watch this space for photos from the theatre! |
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In October, Year 3 were learning all about light in Science. We have identified natural light sources and artificial light sources, learnt about how shadows are formed and considered how reflection happens. Did you know that animals including glow worms and deep-sea anglerfish can produce their own light? Using our new knowledge, we conducted different experiments to find out what effects the size of a shadow and how to make light travel around the corner using mirrors. We have been focussing on how to conduct our investigations to make sure our tests are fair and that we are measuring our results accurately. We are definitely a bunch of budding scientists in Year 3!
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September 2019
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Year 3 visited the River Darent in Horton Kirby in September to learn more about rivers and where they come from. The children had the opportunity to get into the river to test the speed of the water along a meander, using Pinky the duck to help us with our measurements! We also measured the depth of the water at different points along the meander and noticed differences on the inside and outside of the bends. Back at the centre, we built our own rivers using trays and soil, and tested their strength by adding in lego bricks to act as buildings. To end our trip, we studied the changes along the River Darent over time and compared it to the Thames and discussed the impact that plastic pollution is having on the wildlife in our rivers and oceans.
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July 2019
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Thanks to everyone who came to our art exhibition this year, what creative and talented students we have! |
June 2019
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It came down to penalties. Amazing goalkeeping meant that the first few penalties were saved. Then Year 6 got one past the goalie! And that was it. A harsh result for Year 5 but well done to Year 6. Amazing support from the fans. Amazing teamwork. #WomensWorldCup #Lionesses
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May 2019
21st May 2019
Y6 spent three nights camping on their Woodland Adventure trip, having lunch by the fire, zipping through trees, sing-songs and bedtime stories and lots more fun! |
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April 2019
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Y5 spent a week in Dorset and had an incredible time! |
March 2019
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In Year 6, we have been reading Munoz Ryan’s ‘The Dreamer’. It’s magical realist retelling of Pablo Neruda’s childhood has been encouraging all of us to dream big dreams.
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February 2019
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28th February Year 6 have been looking at the abstracted sculpture of Henry Moore and responding with their own interpretations of the artist's work inspired by their Humanities topic of Refugees and Immigration. |
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January 2019
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Y4 Retelling the story of Beowulf, which includes a few unfriendly faces!
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November 2018
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The staff and children have generated a short list through a series of in-class debates. We want YOU (Parents & Carers) to help us select the core values that make a Hamleteer. Please fill in a voting slip with your top 3 values from the shortlist, fold it once and either pop it in our ballot box under the shelter outside the office or ask your child to do so for you. Voting Starts Monday 3rd December & closes Wednesday 5th December. |
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7th November Year 4 had a great time on their trip to Horniman Museum, finding out about how animals are classified in the Natural History exhibit |
October 201817th October
Y6 working hard constructing Anderson Shelters |
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September 2018
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28th September Such an incredible opportunity our talented students experienced on Friday, performing on behalf of Young Voices for BBC Music Day on top of the O2! |
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5th September 2018
BREAKING NEWS: Earthquake in Year 4! Will there be any aftershocks? Be prepared... |
July 20189th July 2018
Years 3&4 enjoying the athletics competition at Dulwich College |
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