Roll up ,roll up..... all the fun of the fair!

With Christmas just around the corner, Year six are sadly coming to the end of their fairground design and technology topic. Knowing this, Connaught School kindly invited Newport pupils to participate in a fairground themed activity morning.

Drilling, sanding and measuring skills were much in evidence as the pupils constructed a mini coconut shy in the well equipped technology suite.Professional publishing software was used to design the stall banner. Experts, in the form of ex Newport pupils, from Years 7 -9  were very helpful and welcoming.
The busy morning ended with a PE lesson, again with a fun fair theme. A roundabout of activities saw the pupils showcasing their throwing,running and jumping skills in timed events in the spacious sports hall. Overall, the highest scoring  teams were Leran & Christina from 6M and the amazing Josh W from 6C.
Many thanks go to all the Connaught staff especially Mrs Land and Mr Goss and all our former pupils. We hope our Year 6 families will have lots of fun with their fairground models during the forthcoming holidays.

Marvellous map work!

In Year 4, we have been learning about Nepal.  As well as learning about the culture and religious festivals of Nepal, the children have designed and made a map of Nepal.  Firstly, they cut up some wood and stuck this together to make a frame for their maps. After this, the children designed their maps by drawing the outline of Nepal and adding on different places of interest.  Finally, the children used paper mache and mod-roc to make their maps 3D and then painted them using poster paint. 

The children enjoyed making their maps and they also learned a valuable lesson in how to clear up a magnificent mess!

Racing Robots

Newport Juniors hosted another exciting Rushmoreable schools workshop this week based around the Lego Mindstorm robots that pupils had experienced during the BAE Systems roadshow. Working together Mrs Fieldgate and Mrs Giblen  from Wavell, set the challenge of pupils making and programming their own robots. Year 7 Wavell pupils acted as mentors throughout this day long workshop. Their advice and support was much appreciated by all the teams from the six schools attending. Pupils experienced the "highs and lows "of working with technology; some groups deciding to completely redesign  their robots having assessed their suitability for the challenges, others delighted in modifying their programmes to allow their robots to negotiate their way around the tricky courses.  Everyone had great fun working together and learning new programming skills with a variety of sensors. The day ended with a robot sports day- competition between the teams was fierce but friendly however the results are listed below:
Robot Flat Race Winners : Fernhill Primary
Square Dancing: Joint winners Hawley Primary/Newport Juniors
Zig Zag Challenge : Newport Juniors

Enjoy the videos and pictures! A big thank you to everyone who made the day a great success especially Wavell  School who kindly lent all the Lego Mindstorm  kits. These now might feature heavily on many Christmas lists including Mrs Fieldgate's!

She shoots, she scores!!!

Yesterday, children from years 5 and 6 took part in a hockey tournament at Aldershot and Farnham Hockey Club. Despite the cold weather the boys and girls ended up drawing 3 nail-biting matches and loosing one. A great save from Alex Williams and a tremendous goal from Joanna kept both parents (and Miss Cooke) in high spirits. A special well done to Kai Walters who was the only year 5 on the team. A fantastic effort from all the children. I am really looking forward to our next tournament! Once again a big thank you to all of the parents who provided transport and cheered all the children on.

Miss Cooke

Hunting for habitats!

This week, Year 4 have been learning about animals and their habitats. As part of our investigation, the children created 2 contrasting habitats for a woodlouse and observed which environment the woodlouse settled in.

The children had a great time finding the woodlice, creating different environments and observing the woodlouse's journey!

On our travels, we also made a surprising discovery as you can see in the picture!

Girls are spot on once again!

On Tuesday 8th November, the girls played the next round of the Hampshire Cup against Oakley in Basingstoke.
On a damp pitch and with only 7 players, the girls put on a fantastic performance filled with character and determination and moments of real quality. The hosts started well and were 2-0 up at half-time but we were not being outplayed and Joanna was a constant threat throughout. Mimi scored a great goal from all of 30 yards and Joanna bagged a well deserved brace to make the score at the end of normal time, 3-3!
Due to the light, both sides agreed to go straight to penalties and Billie did her bit in goal by scoring hers and making Oakley miss 2 of their penalties. Ellen and Mimi also both scored and it was left to Molly Smith to convert the winning penalty.
A special mentuion to the Yr6 girls who really took the Yr5's under their wing and all led from the front in their performances and well done to the Yr5's who didn't give up and gave their all once again!
Another superb result for the girls who have done themselves proud once again, making it a Newport double over Oakley and move intot he next round!

Squad:
Billie, Ellen. Mimi, Aleisha, Molly R, Molly S, Joanna

Year 3 Phonics in Action

Every week, year 3 take part in phonics lessons as part of our current curriculum. The purpose of these is to support the children in their understanding of the many different sounds in the english language. Here is a clip from Mrs Paul's phonics group to give you a taste of the different activities the children are involved in.

Newport sunk at CK

Newprt boys were sunk 5-0 on Friday night by a very experienced CK team.
The scoreline doesn't reflect how well they played as a team. Reece, our captain and most experienced player was injured just before half time and CK took the lead just after.
In the second half, the boys lost their defensive organisation and composure and conceded 2 quick goals. However Louie was on great form and stopped many more CK efforts.
Ryan was made captain and he inspired the others with some great tackles and blocks - including one in the face! With the team having conceded two more goals both teams were really tired. Kai and Josh both went agonisingly close to scoring which would have been just reward for their efforts.
Rupesh had a great debut after a tentative start and showed some great control and passes whilst Brook made some great blocks and interceptions when he came on in the second half.
The boys should feel proud of themselves, as they NEVER GAVE UP and were unlucky not to score.
Team: Louie, Reece, James, Brook, Josh , Jake, Ryan, Rupesh, Kai

Budget & Target Success at Building Challenge.

A group of year 6 pupils travelled to Westfields Junior school in Yateley to compete in a tough building challenge. Newport pupils, as shown by the pictures, proved to be excellent team players working quickly and carefully to plan their complex structure made from a wide range of different coloured bricks.

Only Meila and Liam, in their roles as project manager and site engineer were able to view the architect's model for only 30 seconds at a time! The rest of the team had the tough task of turning their plans to a model building. As with real life construction projects, tough penalties were imposed for extra trips to the architect's office and over/mis ordering the wrong bricks.

By using the skill of checking their balance sheets carefully throughout the task(just like we do with maths problems back in class), the team was complimented by the judge, Jane Sheridan of First Partnership, for having the lowest budget build however the team just missed out on a prize as it was a couple of bricks away from the architect's original.

Well done to Newport's brilliant builders: Liam, Meila, Mitchell, Leran, George and spokesman , Dominic.

BAE Systems/RAF Biomimicry Roadshow

Newport Junior pupils in Years 4-6 had a very special visitor who helped them learn more about biomimicry. Brains, a larger than average, robot was the guest star in the BAE systems/RAF engineering workshop. The "fact packed" fun show educated its audience of both pupils and staff in the fact that engineers use nature to help them develop new products that help us live in the modern world.
Most people are aware how incredibly strong spider web silk is however it can also reflect UV light. A fact that has been used to produce glass with a spider silk like material embedded into it that prevents birds crashing into the windows of tall sky scrapers.
Dolphins are able to detect a Tsunami before it can cause tremendous devastation , as witnessed on the coast of Japan earlier in the year. Engineers are researching how the dolphins do this and hope to copy it to provide an early warning device. Even the humble mussel has been found to produce a non toxic waterproof glue that has been copied by scientists and is safe to use in a whole variety of situations that need ecofriendly but effective sticky glue.
Year 6 pupils went on to participate in a creative nature workhop and a Lego mindstorms robot challenge. Guiding the little robots round a tricky track laid out on the floor required great team work and programming skills.
The afternoon ended all too soon but we hope Brains will soon come back to visit us again next year.

A delightful Diwali day (well...afternoon anyway!)

On Tuesday 1st November, Year 4 clebrated the Hindu festival of Diwali. This 5 day festival is the most famous in the Hindu calendar and is known as the festival of light. During Diwali Hindus also celebrate the new year on the 4th day.

In Year 4, to celebrate Diwali we made diya lanterns, designed rangoli patterns and created a raita dip.

A Visit from the Armed Forces

Before half term, as part of our learning about teeth, three dentists from the armed forces came t0 visit year three. They talked to us about the different teeth, how to brush them properly and what we could do to keep them healthy. The children were even given a pack which included a toothbrush, dentist mirror and disclosing tablets.... expect lots of pink/blue tongues at home.

The children all really enjoyed it and learned lots of different facts about teeth.

Aeronautical engineering; The Bulldog Dart

Year 5 were following instructions this week.

Getting tied up in knots was only the beginning as the pupils were asked to make paper planes by following instructions. Ryan and Zac showed everyone how to tie reef knots.

It was very apparent that Michael was the most accomplished paper plane engineer when he made a Bulldog Dart and Harrier in no time at all.

The children completed the week by working in pairs to tackle an assault course created by Miss Crompton in the hall .

Who said English lessons were boring?

Space cams completed

Year 5 have finally completed their space cam mechanisms this week.

The children have really enjoyed cutting wood pieces and dowelsto create their cams mechanisms.

Courtney's cam was regarded as the most creative cams mechanism by her classmates.

Well done Courtney!

Year 6 River Dance

On thursday afternoon 6C performed their renditions of Rhianna's 'Umbrella'. The pupils had spent weeks learning zumba and boc qua moves and incorporated some of these moves into their own dances. It was lovely to have such a big turn out of parents. Thank you so much for those of you who managed to attend. Here are some pictures capturing some of the children's moves.

Girls are penalty queens!

Last week the footballers from Newport took on their Year 5 and 6 counterparts from Hatch Warren in Basingstoke in the Hampshire Cup. In an evenly contested match the girls eventually won 3-2 in a sudden death penalty shoot out after a 1-1 draw. Newport's goal was scored by Joanna Seaman after a good pass from Molly Smith. The girls worked really hard, Billie produced superb saves and saved the vital spot kick, Ellen and Amelia were solid in defence and Meila shone in midfield with a great work rate and moments of real quality when in possession and Joanna was a constant threat up front.
All of the squad played their part in a tough match and were a credit to the school and themselves.
Squad: Billie Turner, Amelia Higgs, Ellen Tooley, Meila D'Santos, Molly Ralls, Molly Smith, Aleisha Clegg, Joanna Seaman

The girls will return to Basingstoke to play Oakley in the next few weeks, hopefully in a less nerve-racking contest!

Marvellous mod-roc madness!

On Friday afternoon Year 4 went crazy and created movement sculptures using mod-roc. In previous lessons, they had sketched different movements, chosen their favourite movement and created the base of their sculpture using pipe cleaners. It was the first time Year 4 had used mod-roc and we think they might just have enjoyed the experience! Take a look at the photos and decide for yourselves!

Year 3 learn the violin!

This half term year 3 have been learning the violin. We have a special music teacher from the Hampshire music service come in every Monday.

We have been learning pizzicato (plucking).

We have been learning bowing.

We have learnt the four different strings, G D A E and we have started to learn some tunes to play with our new skills.

Have a look at out pictures from our lesson on Monday.