"They will soar on wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31)
Respect / Responsibility / Courage / Trust / Perseverance / Compassion
Year 4 have loved having the chance to join Year 5 for Forest School. Year 5 have taught them the big three rules of Forest School: 1. Look after myself. 2. Look after others. 3. Look after nature.
Year 4 Child: “Wait, we are allowed to climb trees?”
What better way to conclude our exploration of sculpture than a visit to the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia? The Sainsbury Centre has a fantastic collection of sculptures and other art works, some dating back thousands of years and others created this year. Children explored the Sediment Spirit exhibition (https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/whats-on/sediment-spirit/), Permanent Collection and outdoor Sculpture Park. Within those three sections of the day, children were given freedom to explore their own interests. Some chose to explore as many of the thousands of exhibits as possible, while others became captivated by individual artworks and spent a long time with them.
After a picnic lunch in the Sculpture Park, we went into the studio to create some sculptures of our own, led by artist Hannelore Baxter who introduced students to reflective artworks by artists Lygia Clark, Lynn Chadwick, Rana Begum, and Anish Kapoor, who all use sheet metal within their creative practice. Students then created 3D forms from flat materials and played with lighting and colour to create sculptures that might reflect, refract, and perhaps even move. Through the use of photography, students were encouraged to imagine their work on a much larger scale as maquettes for huge sculptures or perhaps even buildings. By placing tiny human figurines in, on and around our sculptures, the scale suddenly became huge! It was fascinating to think about how people interact with sculpture and the buildings we live in.
A big thank you to FOSS for paying for the whole trip!
Our Ukulele Ensemble and Salsa Band both performed at the Norfolk County Music Festival last Friday with excellent results. Our Ukulele Ensemble were given the highest marking of ‘Outstanding’ for what the judge called “an exceptional performance, both artistically and technically.” The confidence of this group comprised of 41 children from Years 4 to 6 grew as the performance went on and the last song, ‘Green, Green Grass’ by George Ezra, was described as having “fantastic confidence and strength of rhythmic playing, particularly on the stops. Love expressive singing. Nice keyboards too.”
Our Salsa Band received ‘Highly commended +’ for “a generally correct and creditable performance with greater evidence of artistic interpretation.” Children also had to persevere through some technical hitches. We are very proud of all the children who took part, for the dedication to practice and their performances on the day. A big thank you goes to Mr Leaver, Mr Bell and Mr Weitz for their support and time in getting the children ready for the performances.
Video links:
Salsa Band: https://fb.watch/qZrDZoeQ0B/
Salhouse Ukulele Ensemble: https://fb.watch/qZs66pb5Ix/
To complete our RE unit on the Big Question “What does it mean if God is loving and holy?”, Herons walked up to All Saints Church to explore and reflect.
We began this unit thinking about the staggering number of people in the world today who have a religious faith – 2.6 billion Christians and 2 billion Muslims. Then we zoomed in on the Christian religion and looked briefly at the huge variety of beliefs and practices all within the same religion. We noted that, despite all of their differences, one key concept that unites all Christians is the idea of a God who is both holy (divine; perfect; separate from and ‘above’ us) and loving. And if God is both holy and loving, then Christians feel a duty to worship. This beautiful church in our village, with its magnificent architecture, is itself an act of worship designed to glory in a holy and loving God. We finished our visit with a rehearsal of Silent Night/Stille Nacht to hear the beautiful acoustics in the church.
Our amazing Salsa Band is back with several members making their debut in this performance.
In this insightful debate, Heron’s class was divided into three groups. The first group presented arguments favouring the Stone Age, the second supported the Bronze Age, and the third consisted of the audience, who had the opportunity to pose questions to the panel.
We are now deep into this wonderful Science-Fiction novel by Christopher Edge. The search for alien life has captured the children’s imagination. Stories from our fantastic authors coming soon!
Herons are working hard in their Invasion Games unit in PE, learning to attack and defend territory and create space for teammates in football. These same skills can be applied in other invasion games like basketball, tag rugby and handball.
