Hawks Class
Class News Autumn Term 2025
12.9.25
Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to Hawks Class and our first class email of the school year! It has been an absolute pleasure to welcome all of the children back to school and our lovely class. Everyone has settled in really well and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other last week, before moving into our English and Mathematics classes and beginning our foundation learning this week.
Our History topic for the term is ‘The Atlantic Slave Trade’ and we began the topic by listening to some evocative slave songs and then considering the definition of a slave. We thought about the fact that slavery has existed throughout history in many different cultures, looking at primary sources from Ancient Greece and Rome. Children were then presented with a series of pictures taken from the time of the Atlantic Slave Trade and, thinking like historians, we considered what we could see in the pictures, what might be happening and what questions we had arising from the pictures. Children were really engaged in their learning and are very keen to learn more about this important topic.
In Geography we have started our new topic for the half term – investigating rivers. We started by recapping our knowledge on the water cycle, something children would have been familiar with from their Science learning in LKS2. The children enjoyed creating their own diagrams to explain the process of the water cycle and included key vocabulary such as precipitation, infiltration and condensation. Ask your child if they can explain the process to you! Next week, we’ll be investigating rivers further as we look at how rivers erode, transport and deposit materials.
Our topic for this half term in Science is light and we will be exploring the ‘Big Idea’ that 'Objects can affect other objects at a distance'. We had a very exciting start to our learning as we carried out an experiment to prove how light travels. Using a torch as a light source and several pieces of card with a small hole in the centre, we were able to prove that light rays can only travel in a straight line. We recorded our findings by drawing and labelling a diagram of our experiment and then wrote up our findings; making sure to include lots of key vocabulary. Amazing scientific learning from all the children, well done everyone!
It has been great to see all of the children coming into the classrooms well prepared for their learning. In addition to the basic equipment, we would also appreciate all children having a whiteboard pen, green biro and glue stick to hand for each lesson; if children have run out of any of these pieces of equipment, they can be bought from Mrs Francis’ ‘shop’ at very competitive prices!
Thank you to all of those children who completed the Summer Reading Challenge. We have loved reviewing the work that has been completed and sharing it with whole class. The children have been thrilled to receive their house points for the work that has been completed.
Congratulations to Ella who has been awarded Hawk of the Week. Saraya and Oliver have been awarded Handwriting Hero and Heroine for working hard on the handwriting this week. Well done children!
I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing the children back in school on Monday.
Mrs Shilvock
26.9.25
Dear Parents and Carers,
The weeks are certainly flying by as we come to the end of Week 4! We have been thoroughly enjoying our learning in Hawks Class and I have been so impressed with the levels of engagement, hard work and enthusiasm from everyone.
What helps Hindu people as they try to be good? That’s the question we’ve been exploring during our Religion and World Views learning this term. We have enjoyed wonderful and thoughtful discussions with the children are we have explored the idea of important concepts in Hinduism. To help us with this we looked at a story from a Hindu sacred text called the Mahabharata. It teaches Hindus lots about being human. We shared the story of ‘The Man in the Well’ and then considered the message that was being shared in this story. We learnt that Hinduism teaches it is very easy to focus on the physical world, our physical bodies and unimportant things, but for Hindus, the important thing to do is to focus on the true nature of themselves and how to make the world a better place.
Having previously carried out an experiment that helped us to understand that light only travels in straight lines, this week in Science we set out to challenge this thinking. We looked at what a periscope was and how they have been used throughout history. We learnt that they are used to see over and around obstacles. The children were fascinated to learn how they had been used in World War I and II in the trenches to see over the top, monitor what the enemy were doing and to protect them from enemy fire. We looked into the science behind a periscope and how mirrors and angles are used to reflect the light to allow the light to travel along the periscope and to your eye. A highlight was then making and testing our own periscopes. We had such fun taking the periscopes outside looking over and around obstacles - what a great lesson!
In our PSHE lessons, we have been considering the different relationships that we have with people and why they are important. So far, we have considered the importance of being able to work collaboratively as part of a team. We learnt that we have to listen to each other and be prepared to compromise in order to reach a successful outcome. We then moved on to understand that there are times when we will not always agree and in these times we will need to consider strategies we can use to resolve conflict. These are such important life lessons and it was great to see the children discussing and sharing their opinions so sensibly.
Congratulations to Rhys and Reggie who have been awarded Hawk of the Week over the last two weeks. Our Handwriting Hero and Heroine go to Marcus, Yayha and Nieve and Poppy for fantastic handwriting. Well done children!
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Shilvock
10.10.25
First of all, thank you so much to everyone who was able to come to see Hawks class assembly today and support the children. The children were so enthused and engaged in the making of the assembly and were very clear about all the information they wanted to share with you. I was so proud of each and every child for their contribution and how we all came together to produce something so amazing. Well done everyone!
Alongside that, what a wonderful few weeks we’ve had in UKS2! The children have done fantastically well this week during our assessment week. The children tackled papers with determination and enthusiasm and are eagerly awaiting their results; these will be shared with the children next week. Throughout the assessments, we have reminded the Year 5 children that they are just at the start of their journey towards SATs and so these assessments are purely to give a baseline for the teachers.
The children have been enjoying nurturing and caring for our array of plants in UKS2. These were planted during the first week of term and the children were delighted in seeing their first spinach and kale leaves form which will be happily devoured by our guinea pigs.
We have also been embracing nature in our art lessons, as children have been researching about the life and work of Antoni Gaudi. The children were fascinated to learn how he was inspired by nature, studying things like trees, bones and shells to design his structures. This research helped them understand how natural forms can influence creative work, sparking some excellent discussions about organic shapes and design. We took inspiration from the nature all around us and completed some incredible observational drawings of leaves, berries, flowers, shells and feathers. We will then use these to support us as we plan to redesign the UKS2 building in the style of Gaudi.
Our Geography lessons have taken a creative turn. To consolidate their learning about the water cycle, the uses of rivers and the problem of pollution, the children began the planning process in order to write imaginative diary entries from the viewpoint of a water droplet. This approach made complex concepts like condensation and evaporation relatable and will allow them to express their understanding in a fun, narrative way.
We dove into human biology this week, focusing on the fascinating structure of the eye in science. The children did a truly fantastic job of identifying and labelling the different parts, from the pupil and iris to the retina and optic nerve. They showed impressive concentration and accuracy, demonstrating a solid grasp of how this vital sense organ works.
Finally, we celebrated finishing our first full English text, "Journey to Jo’burg," which was a powerful and moving experience. The story provided an important introduction to the historical injustice of Apartheid in South Africa. The children showed wonderful empathy when writing a deeply reflective diary entry from the main character Naledi's point of view, helping them to connect personally with the themes of courage and equality.
Hawk of the Week for the last two weeks has been awarded to Saraya and Niamh. Our Handwriting Heroes and Heroines have been Freddie, Reggie, Annabelle and Ada. Well done to all of these children.
Please could I ask you to have a look in your child’s backpack over the weekend as a member of the class had lost their pencil case. We are looking for a black pencil case with a gold name written on it. Our hope is someone may have picked it up by mistake or it has been accidentally put into the wrong back pack. Many thanks for this.
Have a lovely weekend together and enjoy all the autumnal colours,
Mrs Shilvock
24.10.25
Dear Parents and Carers,
It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know the children this half term. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing new friendships formed, existing ones strengthened and seeing children celebrating various successes in their learning. I’m a very proud teacher of the wonderful Hawks Class.
In computing, the children have been learning all about online systems, investigating how Amazon creates efficient systems and processes to help in the day-to-day running of their business. We put our skills to good use by developing our own system at Lark Rise – our digital library. The children have thought about how to improve our current system so it is user-friendly and books can be quickly logged back into the library. To help with this, the children have learnt how to create and share Google Forms, how to use formulas in excel to interpret the data and they also created wonderful posters and videos explaining how the book return system works. We’re excited to launch this and the Reading Ambassadors are already excited to use the data to suggest future book purchases to Mrs Lang.
In history, the children have been thoroughly captivated in our learning on the transatlantic slave trade. We will continue to learn about this important topic next term but we ended this half term with researching and then creating a factfile on the life and experiences of Harriet Tubman. Ask your child to explain why she is so important and about her incredible bravery and determination. We have been so impressed with the children and their maturity and sensitivity when learning about this important topic.
In science, we ended our learning on light with a carousel of science experiments, where the children were about to see refraction in action. This was part of our celebration of Biology Week, where we were inspired by Mrs True’s wonderful assembly to kick-start the week. We have all really enjoyed this topic and the children have created wonderful pieces of work to share their learning, really showing their ability to work scientifically. We look forward to more science next term!
In art, the children enjoyed working in groups to complete Trencadis designs, which were made famous by Antonio Gaudi. The children used mosaic tiles to create a nature-inspired piece of work. We then used these creative skills to think about how we could redesign our key stage block. We were blown away with the children’s creativity and we definitely have some budding architects.
Hawk of the week for the last two weeks have been Freddie and Nicolas and handwriting hero and heroine have been Rhys, Ali, Indiana and Sarah. A huge well done to all of these children.
Homework for the half term has been set on Google Classroom in Falcons Base Class. The children have been tasked with creating a poster promoting someone who has made a significant impact in the black community. This ties in really well with both our English and History work and is part of our celebrations around Black History Month.
Wishing you a wonderful half term break with your children. I hope you all have an enjoyable and restful week after a very busy half term! I look forward to seeing the children after half term and hearing all about what they have been up to.
Mrs Shilvock