PUBLISHED 07 May 2021
Today, the Prep School pupils have been delighted to take part in the NSPCC Number Day by raising money to help fund vital services such as Childline. The children were encouraged to come into school wearing a digit to raise money for this much deserved charity!
There were so many fabulous ideas, including homemade t-shirts, hats and costumes, not to mention Mrs Blinston’s wonderous playing card top hat! The children took part in fun maths activities in their class bubbles, which included ‘Who wants to be a Mathionaire’ with all year groups competing to see which class got the furthest, plus lots of game-based maths activities during lesson time. It was brilliant to see so many children encouraging each other and persevering with difficult puzzles and problem solving! All the classrooms and outdoor areas were buzzing with positivity and competitive rivalry.
Pupils were awarded tokens for every challenge they completed, with the class that received the most tokens to be rewarded with a free extra playtime and mystery prize next week! Additionally, the class teachers awarded children individually with raffle tickets for those children who could give examples of how they’d used maths in real-life situations outside the classroom.
In next week’s assembly, lucky winners will be pulled from the raffle drum to win some exciting prizes! Thank you to everyone for supporting today’s event, we’ve all had a smashing day! Well done to Mr Rice’s Year 6 reporters who did a great job broadcasting live news and commentary of the day… it was clear how much you all enjoyed the responsibility. No doubt we’ll get to see more of what they got up to in next week’s assembly!
We’ll also find out who’s won the raffle prizes in our live draw! Well done again everyone! Now, here’s some more reporting from a selection of other year groups, highlighting how they spent Number Day! We hope you enjoy the pictures too!
Reception activities – Knockout fun with Battle Dice and Skittles!
Reception class enjoyed a fun and lively day of Maths challenges and games to include ‘What’s My Number’ with the pupils drawing numbers on each other’s backs and then guessing the correct number through enquiry asking if it’s a bendy number or greater than 5 or smaller than 10. What a hoot! They also played battle dice, rolling the dice three times, before adding up their scores and seeing who scored the highest. If that wasn’t enough, they also ventured outside to play plastic bottle skittles – adding up what they knocked down and then additionally blending numbers with their exercise, counting star jumps and bunny hops! Fantastic effort reception class!
Y3 activities – A blended approach!
Year 3 had a fantastic time blending a range of number activities with their curriculum. They really enjoyed completing the ‘Maze Adventure’ which tied in nicely with their English unit on ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’! They also had great fun playing Bingo and took part in a variety of measuring activities and investigations completing the ‘Measure Me’ task! In the afternoon, pupils got busy with their Round Square activity relating to ‘Service’ by raising the awareness of Childline in school which also related well to their PSHE studies. I am sure you will all be impressed by some new Childline posters which will be appearing around the school soon! Finally, there was lots of tension and excitement with ‘Mathionaire’ in Year 3 and they were quick to answer too! Great job all of you!
Year 4 activities – A mixed bag!
Year 4 chose to do Buddy’s Key challenge – completing a mixed bag of 10 maths puzzles and challenges to complete whilst racing against the clock to beat Buddy! Each problem solved revealed a piece of Buddy’s broken key, that needed to be put back together again! Other games included ‘Addition Hunt’ searching for coloured numbered balls with pupils given the task of finding the most balls and adding together their values to create the highest number! In the afternoon, pupils chose an Eco Round Square challenge to organise an environmental ‘clean up’ highlighting the importance of looking after the local environment and protecting wildlife on our beaches. Well done Year 4, your posters and fact files were amazing!
Year 5 activities – Mazes and Parabolic Curves!
Year 5 have enjoyed a maths packed day! They proved fiercely competitive with the KS2 ‘Who wants to be a Mathionaire’ quiz battling it out against the other year groups. Mrs Whitaker seized the opportunity to dig out her fantastic ‘problem-solving’ giant mazes she made a few years ago to include the ‘no right turn maze’ and the arrow maze! Finally, the pupils created some very impressive parabolic curves blending Maths with Art, designed curved shapes from the intersection of straight lines. They made sure to connect points that were at a 90-degree angle and soon realised the greater the points placed, the more compact the curve. I am sure you’ll agree, this is going to make a fantastic display! For their Round Square initiative, Year 5 ventured out into the garden planting their wide range of home-grown seedlings whilst thinking about sustainability and environmental management. Top job Year 5!
Year 6 activities - Reporting at its best!
This morning the Year 6 children enjoyed stretching their minds with a range of problem-solving challenges. They explored a range of topics to help them with their looming final summer assessment… to include fractions, percentages, ratio, probability, averages and statistics. This was followed by battleships and ‘Mathionaire’. Lots of fun and laughter was enjoyed by all! In the afternoon, the pupils donned their Round Square caps and discussed some very serious issues affecting our world such as human trafficking and learning about how the NSPCC is constantly funding initiatives to help prevent this terrible crime. They then put pen to paper and wrote letters to their local MP offering ideas to prevent human trafficking, whilst in turn, raise awareness and of course protect vulnerable children all over the world. A huge well done to the International Leaders for delivering a very responsible and mature broadcast. A special mention is due to the Leadership team for their help producing and directing a vast range of ‘Round Square’ related stories and for outstanding coverage and reporting on other year group activities throughout the day at school. Finally, a big thank you to the Service team for their wonderful ‘raising awareness’ campaign to promote the services Childline offer.