Westwoodside Church of England Academy

On this page we will share our learning with you. We hope you enjoy looking at what we do both inside and outside of the classroom.

R.E. - The Christian Creation Story

In R.E. we have been learning about the Creation Story. We have studied Genesis in our bibles and have discussed how God created the World in such a short space of time.

Inspired by his work we created two displays, one for our classroom and one for the KS2 shared area - we are determined to spread the message that after 7 days, God 'saw that it was good.'

Sharing our learning in the KS2 shared area - hopefully Year 6 will learn more about the Creation story from our display.

We are proud of our classroom display, each table worked on producing one day of the week.

Our display shows the joy that we feel towards the Creation and how God is all powerful.

Doing our research by reading Genesis in the bible.

Just how was all this possible???

Reflecting and contemplating just how God managed to do such a great job in so little time.

We think we can explain it.

Science - We love getting 'hands on'.

At the start of our new science topic on life cycles, we recapped on some of our previous learning.

We revisited the different parts of a flower and labelled up a diagram using scientific vocabulary. We each dissected a tulip. Once dissected, we placed the individual pieces onto paper and labelled the various parts of the flower. Here is what we achieved.

Times tables

Year 5 had a great time testing each other on their times tables knowledge.

Literacy

In Literacy we are learning all about biographies. In this lesson we discussed some of the features and the structure of a biography. We were given a dissected text about Jane Goodall (Chimpanzee Champion), and had to work out some of her life events and achivevements and place them into chronological order.

Friendship

During Summer 1, our school value is friendship. At the start of the term we made friendship bracelets for our reflective display and of course, for each other.

Teamwork

A helping hand

Miss B getting involved too

Friends

Good work

I've done this before

Friendship counts

Looks like Adam had fun!

Using Base Ten to help us understand decimals.

Working together

We get it now...

Working it out.

Nearly there...

Looks a bit wobbly!

Success, we did it.

We were first.

Maths can be fun.

Year 5 Easter Service

On Thursday 31st March, Year 5 led the Easter service in church. The whole school turned out despite the heavy snow showers and blizzard like conditions. Year 5 had been rehearsing over the previous few weeks and it was great to see it all come together in a thoughtful and professional way. Well done Year 5, you did the school proud and deserved all the praises and well done comments. Happy Easter everyone.

Composing our nerves before our audience arrives.

Making sure that we look the part.

Thanks Reverend Zammit for your kind words.

Here we go...

The opposition are about to make their move.

Telling the Easter story in a clear and confident way.

Being a narrator was an important role.

Everyone had a role to play.

Jesus blessing the bread and wine.

Sharing with his disciples.

A thought provoking scene.

What will happen next?

Jesus is arrested and taken to court.

Crucify him.

He's alive!

Easter Jubilation - dancing, singing and handing out gifts.

Roman Empire Day

We spent the day learning about Roman life. We got to touch and sketch Roman artefacts, play games and have a go at being a Roman soldier in a legion/army.

I'm in charge

Looking good!

Not quite the right fit.

Maybe a smaller size required?

Sketching the Roman helmet

Roman swords

Preparing to go into battle

CHARGE!!!

Be afraid!

Not quite marching in line

You can't see us!

Trying on a soldier's armour

It's heavy

We can just about see you Adam!

Taking it seriously

ATTACK!

Pancake Tossing Day

The PTA arranged a sponsored pancake toss. It was great fun but not that easy!

Tchoukball - learning a new skill in P.E.

Tchoukball is a fast-paced and fun-filled sport suited for all ages and abilities.

The rule of three – everything works in threes

You have 3 seconds with the ball, 3 passes and 3 steps (if you catch the ball in the air, if you catch it standing or kneeling this counts as on movement and two steps still remain).

Here we go...

Lining up to take our practice shots. Trying to hit the net and not the frame.

Catch it!

The harder you throw the ball the faster it rebounds back at you.

Good shot!

Keep your eye on the ball.

Here it comes...

Get ready to catch it.

It's getting competitive.

Both sides found their competitive sides. Well done all.

Over here! Over here!

Finding space and passing the ball are two important ways you can help your team win.

This is fun.

We had fun taking oart in our first Tchoukball match. With lots of practise we will get better and better.

GOAL!

Both sides scored lots of goals, Miss Thomson lost count (she's not the best referee!)

World Book Day 2022

Wow, what an amazing turnout of costumes and fantastic ideas.

Miss Thomson did her bit!

Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Believe and follow the yellow brick road!

4/5T - You are AMAZING!

We had a great day and enjoyed the book swap, fashion show and writing a comic strip story.

Romans - Testing Bridges

Linking in with our History topic, we spent some time today investigating why arches are so strong.

In groups we had to work as bridge engineers to try and work out what sort of arch is the strongest. We tested different heights and spans and to make sure it was a fair test, all weight had to be added to the span.

Some of our arches were more successful than others, but we had fun trying to work it out.

Having fun with fractions

We have been learning all about fractions this week. We can explain what a numerator and denominator are and we have learnt about Unit and Non-unit fractions. We have worked with fractions greater than 1 and improper and mixed fractions. Using a fraction wall diagram has helped many of us.

Celebrating Chinese New Year 2022

We had lots of fun celebrating the Chinese New Year.

In maths, we made traditional Tangram puzzles from geometric shapes. We then wrote own Christian names in Chinese onto paper scrolls.

Everyone took part in a chopstick challenge. We had to see how many items we could pick up with our chopsticks and then place them onto a plate. Items included noodles, rice grains, pompoms, pasta shapes, sultanas and of course the good old brussel sprout!

Science - Materials

In Science we have been conducting experiments to see what happens when differemt materials are mixed with cold water.

We spent some time predicting what may happen and how we could ensure that each experiment resulted in a 'fair test'.

We all enjoyed working together carrying out the experiments and writing up our results as we conducted each one.

Working together to ensure a fair test was conducted.

We had to be accurate with our timings. 60 seconds on the stopwatch please!

Keep stirring for 60 seconds and then having to observe any reaction between the material used and the water.

Double checking that we have measured out the precise amount of water, not a drop more or less than 200ml.

Writing up our observations and results was just as important as the experiment itself.

Everyone liked the Vitamin C tablet experiment - the reaction with the water and the smell of orange made us all smile.

The stock cube experiment was more contentious and split opinion. Should the cube be put into the water whole or broken up and crushed first? We discussed whether all teams had carried out a fair test on this one.

Teamwork leads to success, although it got a little messy at times.

Science can be fun!

Forest Schools Day - session 2

Today we continued with our outside learning, with a second sesson of forest school's activities.

We started the day sorted and cutting willow branches and old tree stumps. Working in pairs and teams was really important. We continued our activities inside Lawson's Wood building dens and a bird hide. It was great fun and we can't wait to do it all again in March. Here are some of the activities that we got up to.

Geography - Using our enquiry skills to research the physical features of Italy.

We used both modern day technology as well maps and of course, the good old atlas!

Using technology to assist our research. Remember to cross-check your findings.

Cross checking our findings using the internet and an atlas.

Thinking about how we can use our research to help us understand the physical features of Italy.

Mapping the rivers and mountain ranges, using a key to explain the information.

Working together on producing our best work.

Locating where in the World Italy is and how close to home it is.

Nearly there, just the major cities to add in now.

Art - Roman Artefacts

In Art we have been practising our drawing skills by creating pencil sketches of different Roman artefacts.

English - Experience Lesson

In English we have been studying 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell. In this session, we were challenged to design and make a raft from the resources around us, just like the main characters had done in the book.

Let's give it a go...

Lots of teamwork was required from planning to building the finished raft.

Many hands make light work

Trying to not get a knot in the string was tricky!

Looking good!

Looks like things are starting to take shape.

Let's try that again

Talking it through

The Winning Team!

Well done for showing perseverance and teamwork.

It floats! Success all round.

Just not sure if it would survive a trip down the Amazon River.

The Explorer - Planning and presenting our plans to escape the Amazon Jungle

R.E. - Why do Christians Celebrate?

In October, Rev. Zammitt came to talk to us about confirmation and how this is an important celebration in the Christian church.

Learning lots...

Rev. Zammit also answered some of the many questions that we had prepared prior to his visit. We learnt lots more about different ceremonies that take place both inside and outside of the chruch environment. We really enjoyed our session with him.

Maths - Learning about Area.

We were 'hands on' today learning about how to work out the area of different items. We used post notes to estimate and then calculate area.

Maths - Calculating perimeter.

Today we were calculating the perimeter of objects around the school site.

Items included the top of the picnic tables, a brick, the P.E. sheds and the number square.

It as a team effort - all hands on deck trying to measure accurately. Our partners helped to record the information on their worksheets.

Keep going George, you are doing a great job!

Maths - Calculating perimeter

Some items were easier to measure than others. Teamwork was definately required.

It was a really cold day, but we didn't let that stop us from having fun with maths.

Remembrance Day 2021

In art we took inspiration from our Remembrance Day celebrations to create our own pieces of art. We used pastels to create the background and then black card to create the images of grieving soliders.