Newsletter

As we reach the end of this term, I would like to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your continued support and dedication to our school community. It's been a busy and productive term, and the children have worked incredibly hard. They truly deserve a well-earned break!

I hope that everyone has the chance to enjoy a safe, relaxing, and joyful Easter holiday. Whether you’re spending time with family, exploring new activities, or simply taking some time to unwind, please make the most of this time to rest and recharge.

Thank you once again for your ongoing support. It is greatly appreciated. We look forward to welcoming the children back after the break, ready for another exciting term ahead.

Wishing you all a wonderful Easter holiday!

A huge well done to Kingfisher Class who will be coming in non-uniform after the Easter break!

 

Erica in Y4 is very enthusiastic about her ballet lessons which she was specially selected to attend following her sessions in school led by the Royal Ballet School. Recently she took part in a performance at The Mansfield Palace Theatre and wrote this report about her experience.

On Tuesday 25th March I went to the Palace Theatre for a ballet show. My friends were there and I was nervous. We did a dress rehearsal before we performed then we went on stage. We had practised for 10 weeks so we were ready. Other people were doing performances too and the show went on until 8pm so at least 3 hours.

By Erica S (Y4)

 

This half-term in EYFS, our learning has been filled with excitement as we have explored the topic ‘Let’s Go Outside’! With the arrival of Spring, we have been observing the changes in nature, spotting new flowers, and enjoying more time outdoors. One of the most exciting moments was welcoming our class caterpillars—we have been eagerly watching them grow and learning all about their life cycle. Our outdoor adventures continued with a fantastic visit to White Post Farm, where we had the opportunity to meet and feed a variety of animals, reinforcing our understanding of the natural world. We've had so much fun getting stuck into hands-on activities, sharing stories, and getting creative!

  

Dove, Jay and Magpie have had a fantastic half term! We started the term learning all about animals including humans in science. During this topic, we did some incredible independent writing explaining the lifecycle of a frog. 

A few weeks ago, we took a flight to Spain to kickstart our new geography topic. While in Spain, we learnt some Spanish greetings and numbers, learnt the flamenco dance and tried some Spanish foods. We had a brilliant time and definitely recommend flying with Birklands airline! 
In maths, we have been exploring shape and have learnt about fractions. We have done a fantastic job at applying our new learning in different contexts.
During the half term, we have taken part in some great whole school events- science week, World Book Day, Red Nose Day and our Easter service at church.
We have many more adventures lined up for the summer term and can’t wait for you to join us as we continue our exciting journey through KS1!

We have loved reading our class book ‘The Boy Who Grew Dragons’ this half-term and have written dazzling descriptions about our own dragons. In Swift class, we have also really enjoyed being scientists. We made practical Venn diagrams to classify animals, learnt about different habitats and how animals are adapted to live in them, and have even turned our hands to gardening to improve the playground as a habitat for invertebrates. Hopefully our plants don’t sprout dragons like the book though! Thanks to the lovely weather, we were able to go outside with the rest of LKS2 for our ‘Bring your grown up’ session to enjoy reading a book in the sunshine with our grown-ups.   

 

Siskin Class really enjoyed this half term. As part of our science topic, we had an invertebrate hunt on the school playground and decided that the habitat could be improved for insects. So, we planted bulbs in the flower beds. It was great fun and we are waiting for the flowers to grow. We have also been learning about how vertebrates and invertebrates are classified and asked different questions to sort groups of animals.

One of our favourite activities was making stories based on our book 'The Boy Who Grew Dragons'. We used different techniques to improve our writing and enjoyed sharing our stories.

Everyone enjoyed World Book Day where we dressed up in vivid, colourful costumes and it was great fun doing lots of reading. We enjoyed singing songs in church for the Easter service and Ralph was very proud of himself for stepping in at the last second.

By Siskin Class

 

Woodpecker have enjoyed learning all about living things and their habitats. We explored the outdoors to search for invertebrates and vertebrates, and as part of our plants topic, we planted bulbs and wildflowers in the tyres around the KS2 playground—so keep your eyes peeled for some blooms appearing soon!

Today, we’re spending the whole day immersed in art, creating our 3D landscapes. We’re using different media for each layer, bringing together everything we’ve learned from our topics this term.

The Nightingales create a piece of pure dance magic! 

Our Year 5 pupils took to the stage at the Mansfield Palace Theatre on Tuesday 25 March 2025, as part of the incredible Catapult Dance Festival. This exciting event, organised by Inspire Youth Arts in partnership with Next Door Dance and supported by Captivate, was a true celebration of creativity, featuring 160 young dancers from across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

The theatre was buzzing with energy as an audience of 384 people packed out the stalls, ready to enjoy a night of brand-new dance performances. The evening premiered newly commissioned works, alongside performances from Inspire Youth Arts' talented dance groups and invited guests.

Our Year 5 students had the fantastic opportunity to work with dance artists Georgina Saunders-Fazzani and Megan Hockey to create a unique piece of dance, According to Darwin. Inspired by the scientific work of Charles Darwin, the children used their knowledge of evolution and adaptation—topics they have been exploring in science and English—to shape their choreography. The dance reflected the gradual development of species and Darwin’s adventurous work as an explorer, bringing science to life through movement!

Throughout the project, the children have developed new dance skills, including balance, strength, and coordination, while also having the chance to express themselves creatively. Their hard work, enthusiasm, and teamwork truly shone on stage, making us all incredibly proud!

A huge well done to all the Year 5 dancers—you were amazing! 

Should you wish to watch the event, click on the link below on Saturday 5th April between 6pm and 9pm. 

https://www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on/events/catapult-dance-festival-broadcast/

 

Goldcrest have been working incredibly hard over the past half term to develop and perfect the skills and knowledge needed to tackle the SATs after Easter. Pupils spent the past few months earning points for their class teams by competing in grammar and arithmetic games. You may have noticed Year 6 students dressed in their pyjamas this week... This was a reward for the hard work and dedication they continue to show us. We also transformed the classroom into a cinema to watch Moana in the afternoon (if you ask a Year 6, they might tell you why we chose that film in particular!) Some Year 6 pupils have also been invited to attend a weekly tea party with Miss Shaw, Mrs Peters and Mrs Allen in recognition of their kindness and empathy during such a challenging term.

 

It hasn't just been SATs revision and tea parties, though! Goldcrest have also loved learning about Australia for our Topic focus this half term. Science week meant that we could try making our own non-Newtonian fluids (the mess was worth it) and think creatively about AI solutions to water pollution. A highlight for us would have to be working with Mrs Stanton in music and performing at the UKS2 music showcase. Overall, the past half term has been a huge success and we can't wait to see what next term brings!

In Art this half term, we began learning about perspective. One-point perspective is where all the objects in the picture go towards one vanishing point, so two-point perspective is where you use two vanishing points. Mrs Allen, a talented artist, said, “Year 6 have worked hard on this artwork.”

Mrs Allen couldn’t have taught us perspective better. Erin created a beautiful Japanese gate surrounded by cherry blossom using on-point perspective, and it continues to go unmatched.

In our opinion this has been the best art topic by a good deal, and we are going to finish it by using our perspective skills to re-create our own bedrooms. Some people in Kingfisher think it will be easy, some think it will be hard, but Mrs Allen thinks we are completely determined and – believe it or not – so far no-one has proved her wrong! Everyone enjoyed our topic.

By Alyssa and Maria

Thank you for making the Mother's Day Afternoon Tea event a wonderful experience for everyone.  You can see pride and love in the photos.

 

 

The Asda Cash Pot for Schools is a community initiative run by the supermarket Asda. It aims to support local schools by providing them with funding to help enhance their educational resources and activities. Schools can apply for a share of the "Cash Pot" to fund projects or purchases that will benefit their students, such as new equipment, books, or playground improvements.

The funding is typically raised through Asda’s customers, who can support schools by voting for them in their Asda.

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part and nominated Birklands when shopping.  YOU raised an amazing £480.99!