In English we have been learning about describing words. We described a witch; she had a black hat, purple dress and a black t-shirt under her dress. She was a nasty witch, being unkind to lots of people. We have learnt about adjectives and verbs too. An adjective is a describing word and verb is an action. Sometimes verbs are bossy and tell you what to do.  
We have learnt about adding in Maths, we have used cubes and other things in the classroom to help us. We have been learning our number bonds too.  
In class we have dough disco sessions. We used playdoh and squash and shape it. It’s fun! Dough disco helps us with our fingers, they get stronger and then our writing gets better too. It’s makes our hands tough and strong. Mrs Stack plays music when we do it.  
We like Year 1, we get break time now on the big playground. We can play with other children in our year group but not the other years. It’s different to reception but it’s fun too.  
 
Evie, Jaden and Freddie.  ​

This year, here at East Tilbury Primary School, we have adopted a whole school Nurture approach.   A Nurture approach offers a range of opportunities for children to engage with nurturing experiences, giving them the social and emotional skills to do well at school and with peers.  This allows children to develop their resilience and their capacity to deal with situations that arise in everyday life, with increasing confidence.    
This term, we have focused on adults in the classroom developing secure relationships with their class. This has been approached in different ways across the school, including a relaxed early morning time when the children first enter school, the use of emotions boards in the classroom where the children can reflect on their own emotions and celebration boards which celebrate the amazing things that the children have done in the classroom. It has been brilliant to see the relationships that staff have developed with the children and I’m sure these will continue to grow throughout the year.    
This year we have also introduced a whole class biscuit session in the afternoon. This is a time for the class teacher to lead a discussion which allows children to reflect on their emotions and their day in school. Children have really valued this time, enjoying the opportunity to have a discussion with their peers and adults in their classroom.  
As part of the whole school Nurture approach each class will also have a Well-being Ambassador; these individuals have been voted in by their own class.  Each ambassador will meet with Mrs Stevens, Mrs Dawson and Mrs Allen every half term to talk about the well-being of their peers in school and to share their thoughts and ideas on how we can support all children and staff to make everyone at East Tilbury Primary feel happy, safe and well.  Along with Mrs Allen and Mrs Dawson, I am looking forward to meeting with the Well-being ambassadors in the second part of the Autumn term and developing their role across their year group.    
As we develop the whole school nurture approach, we would like to include parents and carers to share their thoughts and ideas on how to support the children both in school and the community. We will share more about this in the near future.  ​

I have enjoyed French lessons so far this term where we have been learning how to describe people. We are now able to have a conversation in French, talking to each other in our new second language.  
In addition, English has been fun! We have written newspaper reports and poetry all about Viking Boy, which is the book we are reading as a class.  
Maths has been a bit tricky, as I have had to remember some of the skills from a long time ago. However, we have persevered and had some fun lessons… even taking part in a class, maths-riddle quiz for Dojo points. 
 
Grace 5MR  ​

We have had another busy week in reception and are nearly ready for our half term break!  
In our lessons this week, we have been learning about people who help us in school. We have learnt that a teacher is a very busy person with lots of jobs to do. We also found out that the mid- day assistants come into school to help us at lunchtime; they make sure we eat our lunch, have a great time playing with our friend, keep us safe and even help us if we get hurt or have an accident. Mrs Stevens came to talk to us too and she told us about her special job as the Early Years Lead. She must make sure that all the reception children are doing the best learning that they can and support the teachers too.  
In maths we have been learning all about more and fewer, we are getting very good at using the new mathematical language that we have been taught. We have looked at different quantities and compared them as well as looking at numbers. Our parents could test out our new knowledge at home in various different ways to see what we have learnt.  
We have also been busy learning about an upcoming celebration this week. We found out that Harvest Festival is a celebration of the food that is grown on the land. We celebrate this in many ways including food collections, church services, volunteering and donating. Some children grew tomatoes and beans during lockdown. They have enjoyed picking and sharing them with their families and we have loved hearing all about it.  
Next week will mark the end of our first half term in school. The children have all settled brilliantly this term, especially as many of them missed so much time at their nursery due to lockdown. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow in the first half term and we are excited to see what the next half term brings!  ​

​Pupils at East Tilbury have been working exceptionally hard during their English lessons, all the way from our youngest writers in Reception, to our veteran writers in Year Six and everyone between!
Our Reception pupils have been looking at people who help us in school; they have been speaking to some of these people too! To show their understanding, they have been drawing some of these people and labelling them, it appears we certainly have a talented group of Early Writers - keep up the great work!
Year One have been exploring narratives and their features and are aiming to recreate their own version of Rapunzel by the end of the week by looking at the key characters within the story. I'm sure we will have some amazing creative writing completed by the end of the week.
The pupils in Year Two have been exploring poetry - in particular, Kennings Poems, they have been constructing poems by selecting an animal of their choosing and creating a word bank to aid their poems and attempt to use alliteration to help with the flow. I cannot wait to read some of their poems!
Year Three are looking at persuasive writing this week. They have been discussing how they would persuade someone to buy a banana, a bike or a holiday.  Through the later part of the week they have looked at the features of persuasive writing including persuasive adverbs and phrases to promote something.
Pupils across Year Four have been exploring narrative writing this week and have been aiming to recreate their own Anglo-Saxon battle narrative. They will be applying the learning which they were taught last week to enable them to independently create their own narrative.
Year Five have been focusing on newspaper reports and have been working on interviewing characters for both direct and indirect quotes. They will be aiming to create a newspaper report which encompasses two of the characters from their class text: Viking Boy.
The Year Six students have been mixing history into their English lessons and they have been looking at 'The Night of Broken Glass' otherwise known as Kristallnacht. Pupils have been considering how it would have felt to be persecuted during WWII, they have then applied their historical knowledge to the context of diary writing as a child experiencing this persecution.

In Computing, the Year 3 pupils have been practicing their typing, editing and formatting skills using Google Docs on the school iPads. 
This week, we reflected upon our experiences at this school.  Here are some of the observations the pupils made: 
 
AJ (3JP) 
My favourite thing in East Tilbury primary school is playing with my friends, the teachers and learning.  I love my school. I enjoy Art the best because we get to create stuff in our book. 
 
BA (3JP) 
I always play with unusual friends. It is good.  My favourite subjects are maths, history and science. 
1. Maths is my favourite subject, maths is so important to me. 
2. History is important to me because I just liked it in year three as my friends and I work together. 
3. Science is good, I like it. 
 
HRB (3JP) 
My best school memory is in Year 2 because I had all of my friends in my class and we all played together at break and lunch time, we had a blast together. 
My favourite teacher is Ms Brittin because she takes me round to Little Angels after school. ​

Year 5 have well and truly settled into the new way of life at ETPS! They have enjoyed seeing their friends after a long time away, getting back in to the school routine and adapting to the changes… all with enthusiasm and self-responsibility.  
Our overall unit of study is The Vikings, which has linked to much of our class work. For example, we have created timelines and written notes on Viking ways of life.  Ask your child to give you a rendition of Loki the Joker to appreciate the endeavour shown in our music lessons! Over the past week, we have been making scientific observations about what materials insulate heat and next week will look to test out electrical conductors. In PE we have been orienteering and team building. 
Each day we have focused on a variety of techniques to revise and strengthen our mathematical understanding; rounding, mental addition and subtraction, worded problems and roman numerals have all been enjoyed. In English, last week, the children wrote some descriptive free verse poetry about being in a Viking village and this week will be writing a recount based on the story of Viking Boy.  
Last Tuesday, the whole year group were tasked with creating a mandala using shoes and stories about shoes. This took place on the war memorial in the afternoon – all the children in year 5 had their chance to talk about shoes and the history of Bata with the volunteer helpers. They even had the chance to pick their favourite pair! ​

It is great to see children back in school enjoying science!
So far this half term, Year 6 have been learning about electrical circuits and this week conducted a class experiment to test how voltage can affect the brightness of a bulb. Year 1 and Year 5 have both been exploring materials, with Year 5 also using circuits, but to examine whether materials are conductors or insulators.
Year 2 and Year 4 have been studying living things, with Year 4 classifying and grouping them by their characteristics.
The learners are really enjoying this - even applying their scientific language in descriptive diary entries in English!
​Year 3 have been braving the outdoors this week; exploring rocks and soils in the local environment. 

In light of the restrictions imposed on us by COVID-19, we will be unable to have parents on the school site. However, we want to be able to communicate with you all the success and wonderful learning your child has been engaged with so far this term. Therefore, your consultation will be via a telephone call with the class teacher. We will have the same booking process as last year (see link below). To access this please visit the school website. On the homepage there will be a parent consultation section and follow the instructions below:
- click book now
- select your child’s class
- choose your preferred time. Add a message (optional), pupil name, your name, email and the telephone number you wish to be contacted on the evening of your appointment
- check details are entered correctly and click submit


Appointments will be spaced 10 minutes apart from 3.20pm until 5.50pm on both Tuesday (13th Oct) and Wednesday (14th Oct). Please make sure to book your slot as soon as possible so that you can have your preference. Please make your booking by Friday 9th October at 2pm. If you are struggling to get online to make your appointment please contact the office. The booking system will be live from 3pm Friday 2nd October. 


The purpose of the call will be to discuss how your child has settled into their new class and to discuss the learning that has taken place. In light of the current pandemic, your child’s social and emotional wellbeing has been a top priority for us this term and this meeting will be a good opportunity to focus on this aspect of your child’s life.


So that this process can run smoothly we request a few things from you. Firstly, make sure that your contact details when you make your booking are correct (particularly the number for the teacher to call). Secondly, at the time of your appointment be ready to answer an incoming call from the school number. If you miss this call please do not call back, the teacher will wait two minutes and then call you again. If you do not pick up on the second call, unfortunately the teacher won’t be able to hold the meeting with you.


The children and teachers have all been working so hard in these unprecedented times and they look forward to being able to talk with you during your meeting slot. Thank you for your ongoing support.