Special events
8th July
Our Trip to Lakeside
On Friday we went to Lakeside for a fun-filled day of activities. First, Redberry ventured down into the woods for an art workshop. We collected lots of natural resources like twigs, leaves, pine cones, petals and seeds and used these to create patterns and faces in clay. We then washed our hands thoroughly before having a picnic in the outdoor amphitheatre. We had a quick play on the adventure playground before heading into the Lakeside Theatre for a story-telling workshop. There, we met Nit-Wit and Betsy who we helped to tell the story of 'The Gingerbread Girls', featuring many members of Redberry! Nit-Wit made us laugh a lot! We had a great day out and we learned loads about our local environment and how to structure stories.
20th - 24th June 2016
Sports Week
This week, we have absolutely LOVED all the activities Miss Nicholls (the school Sports Co-ordinator) planned for us during Sports Week. We started off the week by meeting the world's tallest professional basketball player - we felt very small! Then, on Wednesday, we had a very exciting 'Football Freestyle' taster session. We spent the day trying to perfect our 'keepy-uppy' and 'around the world' tricks. They are so tricky! On Thursday, we had the chance to learn a Rio Carnival dance. Redberry really impressed Brooke (the dance coach) with our dance skills. We had great rhythm! On Friday, we learned some really exciting new games from Dan (the fundamentals coach) and we also explored how we could move our bodies in funny new ways. Ask us how to race like a gorilla or a frog! Finally, on Friday afternoon, it was time for our Sports Day. We worked together to try and win as many points for our teams as possible. But, before we started, we talked about how it didn't matter if we didn't win - we decided to just be happy for the people who did win. Well done, Redberry. You are super sports stars!
Wednesday 15th June
The Day the Geckos Came to Visit!
On Wednesday, Dan and Becky from the local pet shop came to visit us. With them they brought some friendly geckos and the geckos' lunch! We found out that geckos don't eat sandwiches, pasta or curry for lunch like us...they eat live minibeasts like crickets, mealworms and grasshoppers! Yuck! Dan and Becky explained that they had brought two different types of geckos (bearded geckos and leopard geckos) and they set us the challenge of working out any similarities and differences between them. The Redberries put their Reflective Owl thinking caps on and came up with many fabulous ideas. Fantastic work, Redberry! Well done!
Friday 10th June
Kidnap the Parents - An Art Extravaganza!
On Friday, we learned all about Andy Warhol and Pop Art. We particularly liked Warhol's 'Marilyn' print and how he had been really creative with his choice of colour. We decided that we wanted to experiment with colour too, so we kidnapped our parents and asked them to help us create our own Andy-Warhol-style portraits. We each had our own 4 colours and we alternated these in our pictures to great effect! Our pictures looks absolutely amazing so if you'd like to see them, look out for the display in school! A big thank you to all of our parents for attending this fun event and to Miss Potter and Miss Taylor for organising it!
Wednesday 25th May
Minibeast Madness!
This half term we have been investigating minibeasts. To celebrate everything we've learned, we decided to come to school dressed up as our favourite creepy crawlies and perform our 'Caterpillar Boogie' show to our grown-ups! Some of the lovely ladies from the SureStart Centre volunteered to do some face painting and made us look absolutely incredible! We had a wonderful day! Thank you to all of our parents for helping us with our costumes and for singing along at our show. Also, thank you to SureStart for decorating our faces so beautifully.
Friday 20th May
Our Trip to Beeston Library!
On Friday we went to our local library in Beeston. We met the lovely staff who talked to us about how to use the library. We found out that we can borrow more than 20 story books, information books, joke books, poetry books, story CDs or DVDs at any one time! We listened to 'Shark in the Park' and we were great at doing the actions and predicting what might be lurking in the park! We looked around the library and we all chose a book to check out on the self-service machines and take home! Now we all know where the library is, hopefully we can return soon with our grown-ups!
17th March
The Library Bus!
We were lucky enough to board the Library Van again this week and have the chance to discover some new and exciting books. Some of us enjoyed reading information books about racing cars and and dinosaurs, and we demonstrated that we are able to use a contents page effectively. Others of us read story books about princesses, football, aliens and beanstalks! Thank you to Chris from ELS for taking the time to visit us!
15th March
STEM Week - Bring a Push or Pull Toy to School for the Day!
As part of our investigation into forces during STEM week, we all brought a toy to school that could be operated by a push or a pull. We had a great 'Show and Tell' session where we all had a chance to explain how our toys worked. We had some great discussions and really enjoyed the day! What sort of toy would you have brought to school?
11th March
Snuggle up with a Book and Kidnap the Parents
As part of Book Week 2016, we took part in lots of exciting reading events! We brought cushions and cuddly toys to school so that we could spend the afternoon snuggling up with our favourite books! Some of us got into really comfy reading positions! We also kidnapped some of our parents again and made them cuddle up with us (and some very delicious chocolate cakes) so that we could enjoy some stories together. We managed to kidnap some members of Year 6 too, who told us some fabulous stories! Which story are you going to snuggle up and read next?!
3rd March
World Book Day!
On 3rd March it was World Book Day. We all came to school dressed up as our favourite characters from books and we spent the day listening to, and telling, stories. We had a visit from famous poet, Andy Tooze, who made us all laugh with his funny rhymes. We particularly loved his poem, 'Baby in a Buggy', so we decided to perform it to the whole school. We also had a visit from a pirate who read us a pirate story and taught us how to speak like pirates!
26th February
Meeting David and his wonderful guide dog, Elliott!
Redberry and Laurel Classes have recently been thinking about acts of kindness. It makes us feel really happy when we are being kind to others and when other people are kind to us. We have decided that we want to be kind and support a really good cause in the community, so we are now trying to sponsor a set of three guide dogs. We contacted the Guide Dogs Association who put us in touch with David, a member of the blind community, and his guide dog, Elliott. On Friday, David and Elliott, and David's chauffeur, Graheme, came to school to meet us. David told us all about the wonderful ways in which Elliott, his guide dog, helps him at home and when he's out and about. Elliott is so clever that he can find his way to the supermarket and pick out David's favourite cereal! We also told David how we plan to raise £300 so that three puppies can be trained as guide dogs. He really liked the sound of the disco we will be having and the dog-shaped biscuits we plan to bake and sell!
29th January
Our Trip to Perlethorpe!
On Friday, despite forecasts of gale-force winds, Redberry Class ventured on a trip to Perlethorpe Outdoor Education Centre. We made sure we were wrapped up in our warmest clothes and shoes, ready for a day in the countryside! We had a wonderful time re-enacting some of our favourite fairy tales and exploring the great outdoors!
Perlethorpe - Part 1
The Three Little Pigs
Redberry enjoyed re-reading the story of The Three Little Pigs with Keith. We crept as quietly as we could through the woods, on a lookout for any sign of the Big Bad Wolf. We stumbled upon three little houses during our adventure: one made of straw, one made of sticks and one made of bricks. Some of us had the chance to show off our wonderful acting skills and we brought the story to life with our 'chinny chin chins' and our 'huffing and puffing'!
Perlethorpe - Part 2
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
After we scared the Big Bad Wolf away, we decided to cross the troll's bridge. Keith told us the troll was fast asleep so we split up into groups and tiptoed across! Shhhh! Just as the last group were crossing, the very hungry troll woke up with a roar, but luckily we were too fast for him and we crossed the bridge safely. Once we were on the other side, we enjoyed reading and acting out the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Perlethorpe - Part 3
Blindfolded Adventure Trail
After a morning of story-telling, Redberry were keen to let off steam after lunch. We each found a partner and worked together to cross the adventure trail safely. To make it really challenging, one member of each pair wore a blindfold and had to listen very carefully to their partner's instructions. It was quite scary not being able to see where we were going but we all worked really well with our partners to make sure there were no accidents!
Perlethorpe - Part 4
Den Building
At the end of the afternoon, we found a big bag full of homeless animals. We worked together in our groups to build dens for these animals so that they would have somewhere warm and dry to live. Which den do you think would make a good home? Can you see what some of us used to create a carpet with?
13th January
Hinduism Workshop
On Wednesday, Redberry were lucky enough to attend a workshop all about Hinduism. It gave us the chance to show off what we have recently learned about Diwali, and we were also able to find out even more about Hinduism. We dressed ourselves in traditional Indian scarves, we played on labyrinth games (which Hindus use to help them concentrate during prayer), we smelled delicious incense fragrances, we decorated our arms with bangles, we read information books, and we looked at representations of the Hindu gods. It was a really lovely and informative session, and Redberry listened and behaved beautifully! Well done!
18th December
Christmas Jumper Day!
On the last day of term we were able to wear our Christmas jumpers and our jeans to school in order to raise money for a range of great charities. Whose outfit do you like the best?!
16th December
Whitepost Farm
On Wednesday Redberry class boarded a double decker bus and set off on a Christmas adventure to Whitepost Farm! We had a super day out, meeting and learning about lots of different animals. We even got to feed some very greedy ducks and goats! Some of us were a bit shocked when the goats licked our fingers! We all washed our hands with lots of soap and hot water before we ate our lunch, to make sure there were no goaty germs on our fingers! After lunch we got to meet Santa and he asked us if we'd been good this year; of course, we all said...YES! Hopefully he will remember some of things the Redberries told him might be on their Christmas wish lists! Thank you, Santa..and thank you to all of the Mums and Dads who came with us on our special Christmas trip!
20th November
Peppa Pig's Birthday Party!
We spent the whole week preparing for Peppa Pig's birthday! We each wrote a list of things we needed for the party and then we set to work! We practiced our our favourite party game (musical statues) and wrapped up huge presents in our outside area. Some of us got a bit tangled up in the wrapping paper when the wind blew! We also baked some delicious cakes and collected rain water to make cups of tea with! On Friday we had the most wonderful party and I think Peppa loved her special day! Redberry made sure Peppa got to wear our birthday hat and they helped her to eat her delicious cake! Yummy!
Friday 13th November
Children in Need
On Friday 13th we decided to come to school dressed as our favourite superheroes so that we could raise money for 'Children in Need'. Even the teachers dressed up for the day! We thought about some of the reasons children might be in need of our help and we enjoyed dancing along with Pudsey Bear and some of our favourite CBeebies characters. Thank you to all of our grown ups for their generous donations!
6th November
Kidnap the Parents
On Friday 6th November we decided to kidnap our grown-ups again so that we could all read together. The visiting adults and the Year 6 helpers were really impressed with how good Redberry have become at blending to read! Well done, Redberry!
...and we also kidnapped our parents and made them read with us!
Friday 25th September
The library van visited us at school!

Thursday 3rd September
Our first day at school!