Menu About Us Information News School Groups GCHQ Visitors Posted by Year 6 Team On 1st December 2021 Filed under Pearl, Year 6 Last week, we welcomed two GCHQ employees who taught us about the history of coding (from the Roman times, to more recently, World War II) and how coding has significantly shaped British history. We were taught about steganography (the practice of hiding secret messages in plain sight). We learnt that people, through history, have used steganography. One way this was done was by shaving someone’s head and writing a secret message before waiting for their hair to grow back! Once their hair had grown enough, they would send the message to the recipient and have their hair shaved off again so the message could be read! More recently, we were told, coders have hid messages within pixelated pictures. We also learnt about transposition. We were tasked with wrapping a slip of paper around wooden sticks (with different-sized diameters). We then wrote a secret message before passing this onto another group who had a different-sized stick. The code didn’t work! We were told that the recipient of the message would need the same ‘key’. We were shown Caesar’s Ciphers (a coding tool) and encrypted messages before passing them to another group who needed to decode the code. After this, we learnt more about coding during World War II. We learnt about the various coding machines used, including: Enigma, Lorenz and the MK2. We also learnt how the team at Bletchley Park used the Bombe machine and Colossus computer to crack German encrypted messages. Finally, we were given the opportunity to explore various WWII artefacts. Pearl Class Make Do & Mend Posted by Year 6 Team On 1st December 2021 Filed under Pearl, Year 6 For the past two weeks, Pearl Class have been learning about the World War II campaign, Make Do and Mend. This campaign encouraged people to get as much wear as possibly out of the clothes they already had. This could be done through making new items of clothing from pieces of garments they already had or by mending their clothes. Toys were also in short supply during the war so often mothers would make their children teddy bears from scraps of material they had. Miss Davis set us a challenge of designing and making a teddy bear using odd pieces of materials. However, before we could do this, we needed to learn how to sew. In our first week of sewing lessons, we were taught how to: create a running stitch, back stitch and over stitch, end a line of stitches and sew 2-hole and 4-hole buttons to material. We displayed excellent resilience and independence during these lessons, making Miss Davis very proud indeed! During the second week, we learnt how to: pin a paper pattern to material, cut fabric carefully, sew two pieces of fabric together with a stitch of our choosing, stuff the teddy bears (with leftover materials) and finish them off with an overstitch to keep the stuffing inside. Some children even added ‘extras’ to their bears such as suitcases, clothes & charms! We are incredibly proud of our teddy bears! Thank you to all of the parents who came in to assist us with our sewing project. C of E going green! Posted by Mr Stagg On 22nd November 2021 Filed under Azurite, Newsletters, Pearl, Year 6 C of E has, for some time, been considering ways to reduce the school’s carbon footprint, improve the playscape that we offer the children (OPAL) and encourage discussion on the importance of sustainability. We felt as though some new trees would be the ideal solution to these issues so, a few months ago, we took the decision to apply to the Woodland Trusts Free Trees for schools initiative. We were successful in our application and last week the final trees were planted! We thought long and hard about which year group would plant the trees and came to the decision that Year 6 would be the most suitable, as it would allow them to leave a true legacy behind them for all future generations who attend C of E. The children worked hard, alongside Mr James and Cate Cody (Councillor for Tewkesbury), to plant and secure a mixture of Silver Birch, Rowan and Wild Cherry saplings. The Trees will take time to grow but we know that they, and future children, will flourish in the new environment which they create. Football Evening Posted by Mr Stagg On 17th November 2021 Filed under Sports, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6 Yesterday, C of E took part in multiple football competitions simultaneously! One of our teams was made up of our Year 5 and 6 girls, who took part in the Tewkesbury Girls ESFA Football competition and secured 2nd place! They had a number of tough matches but showed brilliant determination and teamwork throughout. This commitment meant that it was all down to the result of the final match! The final score was a draw which meant that the overall winner was selected from a goal difference. Well done girls for a brilliant performance! Our other team was made up of our Year 3 and 4 boys who took part in the first half of the League. The boys played a total of 5 matches and showed some real passion and resilience. We will have to wait until the Spring term and the other half of the league to find out whether we can keep our trophy and title of reigning champions! Year 6 learn about Henry Moore Posted by Year 6 Team On 14th November 2021 Filed under Pearl, Year 6 This week, Year 6 have been learning about the official World War II wartime artist, Henry Moore. We began our REAL Curriculum lessons by visiting the Henry Moore Museum in school. The children read interesting facts about his life and observed the various sculptures and drawings he had created during his life. Once back in class, we created an information page all about him. In the following lesson, we learnt about the colours Moore used in his shelter drawings. We then experimented, using various mediums of art including: ink pens, watercolour pencils, oil pastels and charcoal, to create colours similar to his work. In the next session, we observed the figures in Moore’s ‘Shelter Drawings’. We noticed how the figures, whilst sheltering in the London Underground, were usually sitting or lying down. We then practised drawing figures. During our final lesson, we learnt about perspective and the vanishing point. We then recreated one of Moore’s famous wartime sketches which showed the people sheltering underground within the tunnels. The children were super proud of their artwork and their work looks fantastic! Year 5 Create Smoke Rings in Science Posted by admin On 11th November 2021 Filed under Diamond, Sapphire, Year 5 Year 5 pupils have begun their Forces unit in science by creating smoke ring machines ahead of learning about air resistance, friction, gravity and mechanisms! IMG_3824 ESFA Tewkesbury Champions Posted by Mr Stagg On 9th November 2021 Filed under Sports Congratulations to the boys’ football team who represented C of E at this year’s ESFA Football tournament. The boys had some tough matches but were able to win 4 and draw the other 2! This success means that we are off to the County Finals in December! Well done all! Year 6 Dance Workshop Posted by Year 6 Team On 7th November 2021 Filed under Azurite, Pearl, Year 6 On Friday, Year 6 welcomed more visitors into the school. We were fortunate to attend a dance workshop run by H&T Creative (an arts organisation) which taught us all about plastic pollution through the medium of dance. The first task was to sort the everyday plastic items, that we frequently use, into how many years we thought they would take to decompose. We were quite shocked by how long some plastics took to break down completely! After that, we discussed how plastics are made and we worked in small groups to create a dance based on factories producing plastics. Here are some of our photos from the workshop: PC Curtis visits Year 6 Posted by Year 6 Team On 7th November 2021 Filed under Pearl, Year 6 This week, on Thursday, PC Curtis visited Pearl Class to teach them about the role of police in the community. We learnt about the different teams that make up the police, how they retrieve evidence from crime scenes and most importantly, how they keep us safe. During our lesson, we role played a crime scene and assisted PC Curtis in finding a stolen ring from a jewellery shop. It led to the children finding the ring and Miss Davis being taken to the police station for questioning! Luckily, it was all a bit of a misunderstanding as she had picked it up off the floor whilst on a run. The children made sure to check her story checked out and she was acquitted before they found the true criminal- Billy Burglar! The children had a great time with PC Curtis & were very well behaved, listening to his stories with great interest. We look forward to welcoming him back later this month! Year 3 Create Hunting Spears Posted by Key Stage 2 On 22nd October 2021 Filed under Topaz, Year 3 As part of our Stone Age theme, we have carved and crafted our own hunting spears using soap as the spear head, willow branches and twine. The TOPAZ TRIBE look like they mean business! Survival School: Tools & weapons made to hunt and prepare meals with. Recently posted GCHQ Visitors Pearl Class Make Do & Mend C of E going green! 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