After much deliberation by our Head Students and I, and subsequently a whole school vote, I’m delighted to share with you the final design by Teddy W, of our vision mural. It was wonderful to see the different interpretations of our vision that the children produced and it was so hard to narrow our entries down to a top three but everyone was delighted that our winner really captures the inclusivity, diversity and togetherness that our vision promotes. Over half term, we are very grateful to have two parent volunteers who will begin work on the mural which will be located on the wall of the stairwell where it goes up to Cowell and Coehlo classes. 

In line with our school vision, we want to ensure we are providing the children with the best extra-curricular offer both as part of the curriculum and with after school opportunities. We are currently undertaking a review of after school clubs and welcome and suggestions you may have for any new clubs you would like to see at Trinity. Please share any suggestions with the school office. 

We continue to focus on supporting any pupils or families who are at risk of low attendance. Our whole school attendance has dropped slightly to just below 96% this term. This may be related to seasonal illness, but we would love to see this rise again over the upcoming term. Please visit the attendance page on the school website if you have any questions or queries about the support we offer in this area. 

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to complete the recent parent survey. Your feedback is very important to us as we work together to provide the best learning environment for your children. Thank you in particular to those of you who took the opportunity to provide positive feedback for individual staff members. This has been shared with staff and really does make a difference when the team are working so hard. Once we have analysed the survey results and shared with the governing body, we will respond to share any actions or next steps that we will be taking as a result of your feedback. 

We have much to look forward to in the second half of the spring term, including World Book Day, Henley Youth Festival and our Easter celebrations. I hope everyone has a very enjoyable and restful half term break. 

DAHL - Sofia, Jake, George C, Sofia, Isaac and Evan

COWELL - Finn, Grace, Laura, Charlotte and Zak

COEHLO - Evie, Archie, Aroha, Alice and Max

PILKEY - Avani, Lisa, Thea, William and Fred

PALMER - Leo, Maria, Celeste, Zoe and Winston

ZEPHANIAH - Eve, Max M, Millie, Ed and Bailey

RUNDELL - Tabitha, Sienna, Hugo, Alice H and Edward R

In Reception our Learning Means the World (LMTW) topic is Jurassic Park we have been looking at different kinds of dinosaurs. We have been looking at how archaeologists can find fossils and learn about how dinosaurs lived. We have been looking at what dinosaurs are herbivores and carnivores and have made our own dinosaur eggs and fossils.  

In Phonics, we have been learning the sounds long oo, short oo, ow, ee, oa, ear, air, igh, or, ur, er, ar, ai. We are continuing to blend simple words. We are reading and writing CVC words and continuing to learn our tricky words. 

In Maths we have been:

• Finding 6, 7 and 8 
• Subsisting 6, 7 and 8 
• Representing 6, 7 and 8
• Combining two groups to find out how many there are together
• Find 1 more or 1 less to numbers to 8

In Literacy:

• We have been working on the story ‘The Snail and a Whale’
• We have been thinking of words to describe a whale's journey to different countries and what he might see there
• We then wrote a postcard from our journey and learnt what sentences we use to sign off a postcard.

Our new LMTW topic is Jurassic Park and we have been looking at: 

• To know that, in the past, people used stone tools and created art on walls of caves
• To know that fossils are impressions in rocks of plants and animals that lived a long time ago
• To know and identify the names of some large dinosaurs
• To know and identify the names of some small dinosaurs
• To know that some animals no longer exist
• To know that species that no longer exist are classed as being extinct
• To know that humans existed in prehistoric times and that they lived differently to the way modern humans do today

In KS1 this half term, the children have been immersed into the life of a pirate during their English and Learning Means the World. They have learnt about pirate punishments, the captain’s code, singing sea shanties on board a ship, the jobs of a pirate and what a pirate eats and drinks. A particular highlight was when the children dressed as pirates for the day and sampled eating dry crackers and drinking root beer, during which they thought of adjectives to use in their writing! All this knowledge has enabled them to write a superb non chronological report, using subheadings, topic information and thinking questions, to share what they know with others.

In addition to this, the children have been learning what a push and what a pull is, and how a force can move an object. They have investigated how far an object can be flicked and how far different objects travel on different surfaces. Following this the children have learnt about how boats might be moved on land and transported into the water. The children enjoyed making a trailer as part of our DT topic. We have been learning about Madagascar as an island country, its capital, its population and the animals that live there. The children have revisited their learning from last term about the seven continents and five oceans and extended their knowledge about the continent of Asia.

During our Art lessons, linked to the theme of ‘Land Ahoy!’, the children have been learning about the primary colours and have explored what happens when they mix two / all of the primary colours together. Following this the children explored what happens when they add white to a colour. Finally, the children used their colour mixing and adding white skills to create their own sea picture.

The children have also learnt about physical features, compass points and coordinates. They particularly enjoyed creating their own treasure maps and giving compass and coordinate instructions to get to specific features on maps. The children consolidated their knowledge of coordinates by playing a game of battleships.

Children in KS1 have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Forest School this term. They have explored the outdoors, made ‘delicious’ treats, built shelters, investigated minibeasts and learnt how to be safe while still having fun in the mud!  Sadly, the Forest School cafe is open to other year groups after half term, which your washing machine will be pleased about! 

What a busy half term of learning the children have had! It has been wonderful to see the children so engaged in their learning and completing their own home learning research about pirates and Madagascar. Thank you for your continued support.

LMTW 

This term, we’ve been covering Citizenship with Rights, Rules and Responsibilities and a link to Parliament.  The children considered the Rights, Rules and Responsibilities for setting up a new children’s park.  We also thought about how we learn best.  Some learn best through visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learning and they had to do activities to reflect on what works best for them.  In Music, Cowell class have been doing some musical theory and learnt about the treble clef and bass clef.  We enjoyed discovering musical notation and how many beats there are to each note. 

 Reading 

Cowell class developed a real passion for Philip Pullman books and this term, completed The Firework Marker’s Daughter and also Rat Boy.  This has tied in with our comprehension skills, discussing, answering questions and writing a paragraph to summarise what has happened in each chapter. 

Maths 

Cowell class have covered the x2, x4, x8 and seen patterns to double or halve numbers.  They have split 19x8 to make 10x8 and 9x8 to make mental maths manageable.  We have also realised that if we don’t know 7x8, we could do 3x8 and 4x8 and add them together. 

Writing 

We’ve all enjoyed Journey.  A picture book and we have told the story with fronted adverbials, dialogue, similes, metaphors, etc.  Valuable time has been spent on editing to ensure that they all included the success criteria; they referred to a tick list to acknowledge what should be in each paragraph and checking.  Many enjoyed sharing their stories and proof reading together. 

PE 

Lacrosse has really been a highlight this term. We are so lucky to have our coach who sets up games to teach the skills and then small games to work on attack and defence.  We will all remember ‘stop, squat and scoop’ when playing lacrosse and getting the ball into the lacrosse stick.  We have been working on Dances to perform in the LKS2 play and hope that you are helping your child with their moves!  A clip was sent to all on Google Classroom with the dance routine. 

In Year 5 and 6 we have had a fantastic start to the new year. We learnt about the 4 elements, the impact they have on the world and natural disasters they can cause. The children enjoyed learning about volcanoes, how they are formed and the impact they have as well as earthquakes. Towards the end of the term we have moved onto our new topic 'Wars of the world'. The children have been learning about the route causes of conflict and the impact this has globally. Children have shown a keen interest in learning about WWI and WWII. 

Year 6 have been swimming this term - learning key swimming strokes as well as how to be safe in water. Thank you to all parent volunteers who supported us to take the children each week. Year 6 also enjoyed a workshop by the local police - this was a very informative session and the children engaged brilliantly.

In children's mental health week the children enjoyed taking time to reflect on how they can take time to look after their mental health, particularly thinking about this year's theme 'Know Yourself, Grow Yourself'.

PC Michael Dix from Thames Valley Police came to talk to Years 5 and 6 about the law and how the police deal with reports of bullying, misuse of social media and anti-social behaviour.

We have been discussing the importance of libraries in schools and communities. Inspired by our current English lessons based on the book 'I believe in Unicorns' we made our own protest posters - the children really enjoyed putting forward their opinions and thoughts on the topic

As we move into the next term we are looking forward to Henley Youth Festival, World Book Day, fundraising opportunities and the return of Forest School! 

Cross Country

Cross Country on Saturday 25th January at The Oratory was a muddy course with children running between 700m and 1500m, increasing by age and quite the incline to the finish. Very well done to everyone who took part, won medals and completed the course without slipping over!  It was great to see you there.

We had another good turn out at Shiplake College on Saturday 1st February for the Cross Country event. Huge congratulations to everyone who took part, and to those who left with medals around their neck. Trinity did really well.

Please remember we have Cross Country Lunch Club every Wednesday and Friday at 12.30pm (weather permitting). All you need are your trainers in a bag so shoes can be changed - we don’t want mud in the classes! You don’t need to come every Wednesday and Friday, just come and see what it is like. And remember, three laps of the field will get a house point for your house.

Girls Football

Ten girls from Year Five took part in a football tournament at The Oratory on Wednesday 5th February, and they were incredible!

First match against Whitchurch, 4-0

Next match against Chandlings, 3-0

Third match against St Anne’s, 3-0

Storming to the winners match, Trinity worked so hard and beautifully as a team showing great encouragement to one another and true team spirit, subbing themselves in and out fairly and taking turns in goal. St Piran’s were a cut above and took first place, but Trinity were the only school who managed to score against them and came in a phenomenal second out of eight schools participating.

Mrs Evans says ''I'm so incredibly proud of our girls, and thank each and every one of them for all their hard work and fantastic team spirit.''

Pen pal club has started again and we have taken on some new year 4 students who will be sending letters to new brainstorm school. We are looking forward to continuing to learn from the students in Uganda. 

Look out in the Weekly Bulletin for news about what we will be doing for Comic Relief after half term.

Children's Mental Health Week was 3rd - 7th February. The children started the week with an assembly about mental health and listened to the story of 'The Magical Yet.' This book focuses on turning negatives into positives when helping children cope with the inevitable difficult learning moments they all face. Throughout this encouraging and uplifting book it reminds the children that they all have things they haven't learned...yet!  CLICK HERE to watch a video of the story being read aloud.

This year's theme for Children's Mental Health Week was 'Know yourself, grow yourself' and the children have spent time in their classes thinking about embracing and building their self awareness, by developing resilience and nurturing strong connections with others. Some questions which the children have discussed include:

• What’s your favourite thing about yourself? 
• Where do you find joy and happiness? 
• What has been the hardest thing you have done today? 
• What would you do if someone said something negative towards you/your friend?

The children have talked about the importance of their physical and mental health. The children's ideas of how they could stay mentally healthy included: exercise, eat healthily, get enough sleep, do activities they enjoy, drink water. Following this, the children thought of ideas of how they can improve their mental health, such as less screen time, going for a walk, talking to a friend or adult and doing something they enjoy.