Over the course of the summer term extension in Primary, our pupils in different classes have been undertaking different projects, focusing on a range of different areas, including studying different authors, writing styles, and geography!

Dolphin / Blue Whale Classes (Grade 1) – Beatrix Potter

The Dolphins and Blue Whales have been learning about the fantastic world of Beatrix Potter. They first read 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' before being introduced to other characters that Beatrix Potter created. The children had been creating their own characters that belong in Beatrix Potter's stories as well as creating water coloured landscapes in the style of Potter's illustrations.

They then planned and created their own shoe box woodlands for their character to live in. The children independently created their shoe box woodlands where they presented so much creativity and imagination.

Turtle Class (Grade 2) – Ancient Egyptians

The Turtle Class have been studying Ancient Egyptians over the last few weeks, writing diaries in the style of Ancient Egyptians (even soaking them in tea to "age" their work), creating Ancient Egyptian "death masks", and making maps of different parts of Ancient Egypt.

Stingray Class (Grade 2)

The Stingrays have been working on a whole class collaborative art project in July – making two fantastic butterfly mosaics.

In English, pupils have been setting peer Challenges: correcting deliberate punctuation mistakes in written in their partner's sentences and making 'words within a word' games, as well as word games using phonics patterns.

In science, they have been conducting investigations into material properties and their suitability for different purposes.

Piranha Class (Grade 2) – Where the Wild Things Are

Piranha class have been working on a book project about 'Where the Wild Things Are'. The children have enjoyed learning the story and doing many activities around it. We made Max's boat from recyclable items and the children raced them from one end of the water tray to the other, with Tom Tang being the fastest.

The children also wrote a book review, describing the wild things with the children using some fantastic adjectives. We designed a new wild thing and a different setting for Max to travel to, but I think the children mostly enjoyed getting messy when we made papier mache Wild thing heads.

Penguin Class (Grade 3) and Seal Class (Grade 4) – Research on different countries

The Penguins and Seals have spent July undertaking research on different countries around the world – making displays and travel brochures for countries including Japan, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, Singapore and Russia. Having conducted their own online research using the school laptops, the children produced some fantastic displays highlighting key landmarks, famous people, information regarding the demographic of the country, as well as delicious food that can be found there.

Swordfish Class (Grade 3) – Comic Books

In the Swordfish class, our project was to make superhero vs supervillain comics. To prepare for this we learned about what things make effective heroes and villains (such as heroes being brave, friendly, colourful etc. and villains being angry, greedy, ugly etc.

After this we designed our own heroes and villains with powers, motives, weaknesses and more!

Next we learned all about onomatopoeia and how this is used in comics to convey noise during battles and when the characters are using their powers. Finally, we put all of this together and created our comics which all look great!

Barracuda and Walrus Classes (Grade 4) – James and The Giant Peach

The Barracuda and Walrus classes have continued with their study into the famous Roald Dahl Book, "James and the Giant Peach".

Orca Class (Grade 5) – Making Obstacle Courses

The Orcas July Project has centred around planning an assault course with different resources available, and writing instructions for game play and safety.

We also created a brochure for our theme park.

On the final day of term, we spent time competing against each other taking on the assault courses we had planned out.

Tunafish / Narwhal Class (Grade 5) – The Witches

Tunafish and Narwhal classes spent July studying the book by the famous children's author, Roald Dahl, called "The Witches" – listening to the audio version of the book, learning about the different characters and the storyline of the book and how using different language can impact on the reader.

Dragonfish Class (Grade 5) – The Big Five

This has been a busy but fun two weeks in the Dragonfish class as we approach the end of term. During our extension classes, Dragonfish class explored the "Big 5 Animals of Africa.”

In our English lessons, we focused on journal writing. After watching a travel vlog on a safari visit to Sabi Sands, a game reserve in South Africa, we wrote a 3-day journal about the visit.

We used our research skills to investigate The Big 5 and then made fact cards on each animal during our Topic and IT lessons.

We also had a very entertaining experience making mosaics for the very first time – this involved first drawing the animals, colouring the backgrounds and thereafter putting the mosaic together with little pieces of coloured glass tiles.

Overall, a very busy summer term extension and our pupils and teachers are certainly in need of a well deserved rest! See you in September!