Hi everyone! I’m one of the five Year 5 pupils who had the amazing chance to represent our school in the Wondermaths Challenge Heats Round yesterday—and I’m so excited to share our experience with you!

This year, 80 schools from across London took part in the competition, with seven heats happening throughout the week. Only the winning school from each heat is guaranteed a place in the finals—and we’re thrilled to say we came 1st in our heat and qualified!

Our journey started all the way back in November, when 25 of us from Years 4 and 5 began training. After an in-school tournament in March, five of us—Hani (5G), Habibah (5G), Aaron (5ST), Musa (5M), and Pelumi (5K)—were chosen to be on the final team. We’ve been going to Maths Club twice a week and practising every day at home, learning seven different and very tricky games to get ready.

We were trained by our teacher, Mr Gorsia, and had some amazing help from last year’s Wondermaths Champions—Antonia M (5G), Sofia (5G), Tajae (6B), and Abdul (6O). They became our coaches this year and gave up their time after school to help us. Some of them even rearranged their own plans just to support and encourage us. Their help made a huge difference, and we can’t thank them enough!

The competition itself was tough—we had to use all our strategies and quick thinking to compete against 12 other schools. After two and a half intense hours, the results came in: we won our heat! We think we scored 152 out of 200 in the Shapes Round and 184 out of 200 in the 24 Game Round, although final scores are still being confirmed.

This is the sixth year in a row our school has made it to the Wondermaths Finals, and we’re proud to keep the streak going. Thank you to everyone who supported us—we’ll do our best in the finals this July!

Written by Pelumi 5K

Year 1 Update

Last week, Year 1 spent a sunny day at London Zoo. Children got to see lots of the animals they had learnt about in science lessons including penguins, tigers, lions, gorillas and giraffes to name a few. The children were all amazingly behaved with staff at the zoo commenting on how polite and sensible Elmgrove children were.

A huge thank you to all of the adult helpers who made this trip possible.

In English this week, children planned and wrote their own versions of 'The Queen's Hat' by Steve Antony. The story is about a Queen whose hat blows away and flys over, under and through different landmarks in London. Children changed some elements of the original story to write their stories and added prepositions to describe where it flew to in Harrow.

For history, we have learnt about the historical significance of VE day. Children created their own celebratory banners before attending the whole school picnic event on Thursday afternoon which included cucumber sandwiches, scones and juice. Feel free to see our VE day posters displayed on our classroom windows.

In science, children have learnt about different plants we can find outside in the UK. We looked at common flowers and wild plants. This week children went on a hunt to look for wild plants in our school. Children found dandelions, daisies. brambles and clovers to name a few.

In Art, we have learnt about Marianne North, a Victorian botanical painter. In preparation for their own botanical painting next week, children used watercolour paints to explore different tones using primary colours (red, yellow & blue) as a base.

In PSHE we have discussed how we all have different families and friends and no matter how different we all are, we can all be respectful and kind to each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 3 Update

Here is what pupils have got up to this week in Year 3!

English

This week in English, Year 3 began exploring the art of writing thank you letters. Using the beautiful story Cloud Tea Monkeys, the children have started identifying the key features of letter writing. We’ve been focusing particularly on writing in the first person and will soon be introducing the present perfect tense to help enhance their writing.

Maths

In Maths, we’ve been learning to tell the time. The children are becoming more confident reading clocks and have been practising how to tell the time using “past” and “to.” This has involved lots of practical activities and games to reinforce understanding.

Geography

Our Geography lessons this week focused on physical features in the UK. The children learned how to identify and compare physical features such as mountains and rivers, including Ben Nevis and the River Thames, with human features like cities and buildings. This helped deepen their understanding of the differences between natural and man-made landmarks.

Computing

In Computing, Year 3 have been busy creating their own digital comic strips. They’ve enjoyed designing backgrounds, adding characters, and using speech bubbles to bring their stories to life. This has been a fun and creative way to develop their digital literacy skills.

 

 

 

 

 

Year 5 Update

This week in English we have been writing poems based on a storm at sea. This is part of our work around the book: The Matchbox Diary. We used descriptive language to write what it might be like to experience a storm at sea if we were on a boat.

We have also had a focus on learning about why we celebrate VE day this year. We read a report around VE day in reading and then looked at images from the first VE day to write a news report as if we were there. We had a great time celebrating VE Day yesterday and enjoyed the scones and sandwiches that we shared.

Next week we will be moving out of our classes to support the Y6 SATs that are taking place. We will still be covering our learning as usual and thank the children in advance for helping the Y6 with their important tests.

 

 

 

Year 6 Update

We want to take a moment to say a big well done to the year 6 children for all their hard work, determination, and resilience this year so far. They’ve shown great commitment to their learning and have grown in confidence and maturity as they’ve prepared for their SATs.

As we look ahead to SATs week beginning on 12th May, we want to wish them the very best of luck. We are incredibly proud of their efforts, and we know they will approach the week with the same positive attitude they’ve shown all year. Thank you for your continued support.

Maths

In maths, the children have continued with their weekly arithmetic quizzes, using them as valuable opportunities to reflect on their progress and learn from any mistakes. In our reasoning sessions, we’ve been revising key topics and placing a strong emphasis on discussing and understanding different strategies for solving problems.

 

English

This week in year 6 we have been focusing on writing and understanding an information text. The children began the week exploring a variety of examples before beginning to write their own. Previous to this, the children had researched an animal of their choice and made notes to help inform their own information text based on their chosen animal. The writing consisted of an introduction, four main paragraphs and was followed by a conclusion. All of the children worked very hard and maintained the correct writing style for their written reports.