Inside our School: Headteacher Highlights ​​​​​​​

Hello! We’ve had a really lovely term here at Aurora Keyes Barn School, making it quite challenging to narrow down the highlights to share with you.

Exploring ‘Bright Lights, Big City’

This term our topic is ‘Bright Lights, Big City’. We’ve enjoyed learning about different landmarks, including a visit to Brockholes locally and exploring some of the major London landmarks. We learned about the UK, capital cities, and the physical features of the environment.

Embracing Seasonal Changes

We’ve really enjoyed our side topic for this half term ‘Seasonal Changes’ too. We began the topic by experiencing the season – we did this on a day that was most definitely Winter so enjoyed a warming hot chocolate on our return. We visited Haslem Park where we saw the lake frozen over and felt the crunchy ground beneath us. We’ve learned a lot about how our environment, plants (with a lovely creative piece on apple trees) and animals change through the seasons and went on to learn all about the weather. The boys proved themselves to be fantastic weather forecast presenters and learned a little about how meteorologists use science to predict the weather.

Numeracy Triumphs

The children have worked hard on their Numeracy. The Red Group spent time looking at number bonds, estimating, comparing numbers up to 20 using <, > and =, ordering numbers, and solving worded problems. They have moved on to their next addition and subtraction module.

The Blue Group have explored money, solving problems with cash, including making an amount, calculating change, and solving two-step problems and have begun a multiplication and division module.

The Green Group have explored fractions at greater depth with improper fractions, adding and subtracting fractions, mixed numbers, and equivalent fractions.

Literacy Achievements

In Literacy, we have worked hard on our phonics knowledge and seen a big improvement in reading throughout the class. We’ve worked on handwriting, capital letters and full stops, completed comprehension pieces on several stories, and created postcards from our imaginary trip to London. We’ve seen a big improvement in reading throughout the class.

Exploring Stories in RE and Music

In RE we’ve learned about the story of Purim – the boys particularly enjoyed creating graggers to shake whenever they heard Haman’s name in the story. In Music, we’ve explored tempo, considered how music makes us feel and how we might move to fast and slow music.

Experiences Beyond the Classroom

We’re really pleased with how the boys are developing their swimming skills and have all made good progress in both swimming and PE.

The boys have enjoyed a range of activities in Enrichment classes, ranging from creating our bird feeder (which is a big hit with some very interesting birds visiting us!) to learning life skills such as shopping. We’ve crafted birds, made birdhouses, and created gifts for our VIPs. Our bird feeder is a big hit, with some very interesting birds visiting us.

Nurturing Social Skills and Friendships

In PSHE the boys have discussed any issues that have come to light, and have focussed on their VIPs this half term, and how they can support and encourage each other and be good friends.

Socially, we’re really happy with how the boys have been playing together and are impressed with the friendships they’re developing. They’re enjoying the Xbox in class and are learning to play nicely on it together. Many of the boys love playing together on Dojo Island, while others choose to colour, engage in a crafty activity or play outside.

Celebrating Achievements and Looking Ahead

This half-term we’ve given the class over 2000 Dojo points which is a huge achievement as a class and is the result of lots of hard work and good behaviour for which every member of the class should be very proud.

One of the biggest highlights was celebrating the successes of the boys with a class trip to Billy Bob’s play centre. It was a fantastic outing, and since we missed pancake day we enjoyed some delicious waffles instead to make up for it!

Aurora Keyes Barn School in Salwick, is a specialist, independent primary school for boys aged 5-12 who face challenges associated with additional social, emotional or mental health needs.