Spring term
April 15th 2016
Dear Parents & Carers,
We are all delighted with the start the children have made to the new term. They have come back full of energy
and enthusiasm. Willow and Maple class have even had their first drumming lesson with our new set of djembe
drums! Each class teacher has provided an overview of the topics your child will experiencing this term, if you
have any questions about any aspects of your child’s learning or wellbeing in school, please do not hesitate to
get in touch.
Mrs Wilson is sending home an eligibility letter for free school meals with tonight’s newsletter. If you haven’t
filled one in before, or your circumstances have changed recently, please complete it and return to school.
Completing this form will ensure you will receive free school meals, but also generates further income for the
school. Please contact the school office if you are unsure about any aspect of completing the form.
Children are eligible to receive free school meals (FSM) if their parents are in receipt of any of the following
benefits:
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Income Support
Income-based Job Seekers’ Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit, provided they are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income
of no more than £16,190
Please find below a list of dates and clubs for the term ahead, as soon as we have new dates we will include
them in the Friday newsletter.
You can also find information on the school website,
www.gillaslaneprimaryschool.co.uk and also the parent’s Facebook page. The new Facebook page is managed
by Mrs S Robson, Mrs T Teasdale, Mrs A Robson and Miss M Oliver and we are very grateful for all of their work
in creating this. Simply search on Gillas Lane Primary School on Facebook.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Clubs this term
Lunchtime French club, Cinema club & Messy Michaels once a month
KS2 Football
Lunchtime running club, Gardening Club, Dance club, (Samba)
KS1 football
Lunchtime dance club
Monday 18th April
Wednesday 20th April
Thursday 21st April
Monday 25th April
Wednesday 27th April
Thursday 28th April
Wednesday 4th May
Monday 23rd May
Diary Dates
Nursery open afternoon
Tennis session Y3/4
Konflux theatre in school – Y5/6 Midsummer Nights Dream – performance
Parents from Y5/6 are invited into school at 2:45pm
Yoga sessions with YogaPupz – taster sessions for a new after school
club starting soon.
Year 2 trip to Gateshead/Newcastle and The Angel of the North
Tennis session Y3/4
Cricket assembly
Swimming assembly
Y1/2 Wild Fowl + Wetlands visit
Hit the Surf
Spring term
April 15th 2016
Attendance
Well done to Mrs Daley’s Juniper class!!! An amazing 99%!!!
Cherry Tree class – Nursery – Mrs Finch
We are looking at all things Spring in Nursery this half term, from April showers to growing flowers!
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at farms and baby animals. We will be looking at the life of
a farmer, the food you can grow at the farm and also the animals and machines at the farm.
We are very excited to have a visit from some very cute fluffy baby chicks today! We will hear the story
of how they hatched in the incubator and we’ll all get a chance to hold one!
Some of the children have enjoyed being able to stay at Nursery for lunch and an afternoon of fun
with Miss Tumelty! If you would like to join in and have your child enjoy one of our cooks delicious
dinners whilst you enjoy some free time then please speak to a member of the Nursery staff and we
can book your place.
Don’t forget this Monday is our open afternoon at 1.15pm. There will be fun activities for the
children, some refreshments and a chance for you to hear some of the exciting experiences we will be
hosting for you and your child to come along and enjoy together. See you there!
Holly class – Reception – Miss Miller
In Reception this half term we will be learning all about fairy tales and jungles. We will be
learning about lots of different animals and where they live. In Maths we will be learning all about
time and money. We will learn the days of the week, months and to recognise coins. For PE we will
be concentrating on healthy eating and how to stay safe and healthy.
Spring term
April 15th 2016
Willow class – Year 1 – Mrs Johnson
Year 1 Summer term ( 1st half)
This half term the children in Year 1 will be continuing our Farm to Fork topic; learning about the
process of food production and cooking our own dishes.
English - Our lessons will focus on narrative, poetry and non-fiction texts. We will be focussing on fairy
tales, fantasy stories and stories from different cultures, information texts and recounts. We will help
the children to understand the feelings of the characters they encounter and to look at the
consequences of their actions within the story. Phonics teaching will continue with the use of the
RWinc phonics programme.
In Maths - this half term’s teaching includes counting and using numbers to 100 and beyond, number
sequences, place value, i.e. how many tens and units, number bonds to 10 and beyond, doubles and
counting in steps of 1s, 2s,5s 10s, odd and even numbers, addition and subtraction (to include finding
the difference), simple multiplication and division and mental calculations. In our work on measures
we will be looking at length and height. Work on shape and space covered so far to include 2D and 3D
shapes, position, direction and turning will be reinforced.
In science we will re-visit the Seasons and we will go on walks to spot signs of Spring and Summer and
compare and contrast these with Autumn and Winter. The children will observe and describe the
weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies. We will also be studying animal
groups (including humans) and plants. We will visit Washington Wildfowl Park as part of our studies.
P.E. will be on Mondays and swimming is on Tuesday afternoon.
Juniper class – Year 2 – Mrs Daley
A busy time for Year 2!
This term we will be studying sculpture in Art. We will be looking at the fantastic
work of Anthony Gormley and going to visit the Angel of the North and looking at
all of the incredible buildings and sculptures at Newcastle Quayside.
Science will help us discover the amazing world of how plants grow, we are already growing our own
peas and spinach.
In Literacy and Numeracy we will be preparing for our KS1 SATS. We are working so hard and
improving all the time. If parents would like to support with learning at home – the BBC bitesize KS1
website includes some fun and helpful activities, please follow the link below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/levels/z3g4d2p
Spring term
April 15th 2016
Monkey Puzzle class – Y3/4 – Mrs Shovlin
Monkey Puzzle have completed their work at Seven Sisters and have been busy making bird feeders
this week.
Our topic this term is living things and their habitats. We are also working hard with our ICT skills on
the laptops and tablets.
PE lessons are Monday afternoon and Thursday mornings, please can you ensure your child has a full
PE Kit in school for these lessons.
Maple class – Y4/5 – Mrs Dodds
Our topic this term is The Olympics. In the first half term we are learning about the
history of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece. We will look at the opening ceremony
and how it differs to current day. In our DT lessons we will design and make Olympic
torches, hold our own opening ceremony and try some of the sports which were played over 2000
years ago. In the second half term we will look at the modern Olympic Games and how it differs to the
ancient games.
In our science lessons we will be learning about the life cycles and habitats of a range of animals and
plants. We will also be growing and cultivating a range of plants using a variety of different techniques.
We are hoping to arrange a visit to a local wildlife area to study the habitats of plants and animals in
our local area.
In our numeracy lessons this term we will continue to practise formal written methods for the four
operations and begin to learn about the angles and symmetry in shapes. Work on data handling and
plotting graphs will help us monitor the growth of our plants from our science lessons. We still need to
continue leaning our times tables at home.
Literacy lessons this term will have a big emphasis on grammar and punctuation and developing the
skills of editing and improving our written work.
Beech class - Y5/6 – Mrs Todd
In Beech class year 6 begin the countdown to their SATs. Pupils are trying hard to consolidate their
knowledge and skills needed for these. Keep up the good work!
In English the children will continue to develop their reading and writing skills in a range of tasks and we
have an exciting visit from a theatre group next Wednesday to support us to study Shakespeare.
In maths pupils will continue to develop more efficient methods of calculation and also develop their
problem solving skills and their understanding of both 2-D and 3-D shapes. A secure knowledge of tables is
crucial to work efficiently in this area of maths so please encourage your child to practise these facts
regularly.
In our topic we are looking at changes linked with science. Using photographs, we are trying to identify who
the children have inherited their good looks (features) from.