C'est plus tropical!  What incredible weather...so good in fact that the frogs have filled the pond with spawn - it's brimming with it...over 20 blobs at the last count!  Also, nearly all the daffs are out, as well as the blossom...we even have bumble bees buzzing about.  Joyful.  

So, Lower School started their sessions with a challenge to help Flame (King of the Munchkins) - Zamadeth (King of the Goblins) had stolen the Munchkin's vegetable sack and spread the contents over the field - the children were challenged with filling out a vegetable inventory so Flame knew what was were - we decided to do the inventory in French so that the Goblins wouldn't be able to tell what we had found - 'Il y a deux haricot vert.' and all that!

Following HC and story, we rotated round our four Greta themed challenges - National Grid, Greta script, animal habitats and bird feeders.  Re the bird feeders: Lilias in Courage bobbed hers in the wood last week and there was a robin nibbling from it during our session today!  Nibbletastic!

Upper School have become artists for their starter - we critically evaluated previous-children's drawings of plum blossom and used our findings to help us to have a go at drawing blossom off our own plum trees (we had a 'cheat-sheet' to help us set out our picture) - so far, the pictures have been exceptional (we used the experience to enjoy a bit of 'forest-bathing' also).  

Post HC and story, the children rotated round their Maya challenges - Maya sword cutting, Maya sword design and Tulum modelling.  

This afternoon, Team Equality have been trying to get to grips with the complexities of the Mayan Calendar. In doing so, we also begun to learn more about the Mayan number system and the hieroglyphics that were used as part of the Maya writing system.

The Mayan Calendar Round has four rings which indicate a number, a day, a number and a month. For example, 3 Kan 8 Pop. We were surprised to learn that for the calendar round to return to the same date would take 52 years! For anything spanning more than 52 years, they used the Long Count. 

Well done to the boys and girls who received certificates in today's Achievement Assembly. You have shown an excellent attitude to learning thoughout the week and made excellent progress.

Well, the warm weather has arrived...what a difference a week-off makes!  The blossom is out, a couple of daffs have opened up and it won't be long before the frogs spawn in the pond (it was the first week in March last year).  

In Lower School, children have been learning about the impact of humans on the planet and will be exploring this further through the book 'Greta and the Giants (GATG)'.  

As a starter to their session, LS children were challenged to make a sculpture of one of 16 animals in a tray...their peers had to guess what the animal was - children had to be observant of the features of the animals and resourceful in finding natural resources to represent these features.  

Following this, we had four challenges: bird-feeder making (bowsaws, sheath-knives and drills needed here); drama linked to a playscript adaptation of GATG (English links here); animal habitat creation (supporting Science and themes in GATG); National Grid exploration and modelling (linked to work on the climatic impact of energy generation).  

Upper School children have started their sessions by exploring 16 photos and pictures which all had a common theme...they were taught strategies to analyse the pictures and had to discuss their thoughts with a partner and then with another group.  

The common theme was Empire / Colonisation, and this supported their classroom topic, The Maya.  

Following their starter and a HC, we then undertook a challenge to map and model the ancient Maya city of Tulum, and another to design and make our own Maya sword, the macuahuitl - here we learned about Maya art and employed the DT skills of marking, measuring and cutting using a coping-saw.  

Today, the children in Team Endurance have been putting their animation skills into practice as a culmination to their art topic. They had great fun learning about just how difficult and time-consuming the process of animation can be whilst telling their own stories in moving images.