Nursery to Year Six highlights

Tyrannosaurus textures!

Nursery have been discovering different textures this week. This has provided a wonderful opportunity for the girls to get hands-on with a range of materials whilst expanding their vocabulary as they have described what they can feel. Our learning extended outdoors, where we brought the dinosaurs with us to see how we could use the texture of mud to create different marks and strokes. They loved noticing the patterns left behind as they experimented with stamping and swiping the dinosaurs across the paper. 

Oral Health Day!

This week, the pupils in Kindergarten celebrated Oral Health Day!  Westbourne staff and pupils were privileged to welcome Dr Mirza and Mrs Bashir to school to tell us all about their dentistry jobs.  They helped the pupils learn about which foods and drinks are good for oral health and how to brush their teeth effectively.  They also kindly brought in gifts for the pupils and resources for them to explore at school!  After the talk, the pupils had great fun practising the skills they had learned.  Thank you Dr Mirza and Mrs Bashir for making Oral Health Day so enjoyable and informative! 

Autumn Leaves!

Our Reception girls enjoyed spending time outside in the Autumn sunshine, exploring the playground and nearby trees for interesting leaves! They looked for different shapes and colours, chatting and comparing their finds as they went. Once they had gathered enough, they sat together on the grass to make leaf rubbings, carefully placing each leaf under a sheet of paper and rubbing over it with crayons. The activity filled the afternoon with curiosity and laughter as they watched the patterns appear and talked together about the changing world around them. 

Street Detectives!

On Tuesday, Year One went for a walk around Chad square to support work in their History and Geography topics. They were asked to be detectives and try to spot different types of houses and street furniture in their local environment. The girls saw detached, semi-detached houses as well as counting how many doors there were on a row of terraced houses. They also used their counting skills to see how many floors there were on the flats on Richmond Hill Road. As street detectives, they spotted lots of street furniture on their adventure too. We spotted a bus stop, post box, lamp posts and we talked about the need for double yellow lines. We also went in the local shop to do some shopping for Mrs Redden, who was very pleased with our purchases! Fortunately the weather was kind and we had beautiful sunshine for our walk. 

The workshop offered plenty of hands-on learning opportunities, as the girls worked together to “put out” a smouldering building using water buckets, pumps and hoses. Through teamwork and perseverance, they experienced first-hand the challenges faced over 350 years ago. This practical and engaging approach to history helped to deepen their understanding and brought their classroom learning vividly to life. It was a fabulous day full of enthusiasm, curiosity and collaboration – one the girls will remember for a long time to come. 

 

The Fascinating World of Maps

Year Three have been diving into the fascinating world of maps. They began by learning about the importance of scale, first creating a map of their classroom without using scale and then recreating it to scale. By comparing the two versions, they were able to spot key differences and understand why scale matters. Next, the pupils explored their school grounds, using a map of the buildings to label different areas. Through this activity, they discovered that symbols are a clear and efficient way to represent features on a map. Each student then designed their own unique set of symbols to label various parts of school. 

 

Remarkable Life and Achievements

As part of their work to mark Black History Month, Year Four girls have been learning about the remarkable life and achievements of Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon. Known as a child prodigy, Dr Imafidon achieved her first A-level at just 11 years old and went on to become one of the youngest ever graduates from the University of Oxford. She is now a leading voice in technology and co-founder of Stemettes, an organisation that inspires and supports girls to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). 

Year Four thoroughly enjoyed researching Dr Imafidon’s life and reflecting on the barriers she has overcome to promote diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. In English, they have written motivational speeches encouraging other girls to follow their dreams and embrace opportunities in science and technology. Their thoughtful and creative pieces of work are now proudly displayed in their classrooms. This inspiring project has not only deepened the girls’ understanding of the importance of Black History Month but also encouraged them to think ambitiously about their own futures as innovators, engineers and scientists of tomorrow.

 

 

Year Five Explore the Allotments for Writinng Inspiration 

Year Five set off on an exciting adventure to our EHS allotment as part of their English writing project. The walk was filled with curiosity and creativity as pupils took photographs to inspire their upcoming setting descriptions. The children are currently working on imaginative stories about a small person living in a garden. To help them visualise their ideas, the visit encouraged them to look closely at the natural world around them—the towering plants, winding pathways, colourful flowers and hidden corners that might make the perfect home for a tiny character! 

Armed with iPads, the girls explored the allotments carefully, searching for interesting textures, shapes and colours to spark their imaginations. Some children focused on the leafy undergrowth, imagining a miniature door tucked beneath the vegetables, while others were fascinated by the tall sunflowers and buzzing bees. The visit gave the class a wonderful opportunity to combine outdoor learning with creative writing. Teachers were delighted by how engaged the children were and can’t wait to read their final setting descriptions, filled with detail and imagination. Year Five's writing promises to be as rich and colourful as the gardens that inspired them! 

 

Energy tubes!

Year Six brought their understanding of electrical components and circuits to life by building their own working circuits to test whether different materials were electrical conductors or insulators. A highlight of the lesson was using an energy tube to explore electricity on a larger scale — the girls discovered that a tiny current could pass through their bodies as they held hands, causing the tube to light up and make sounds! When they held a copper or aluminium strip between two people, the circuit was also completed, clearly showing that these metals are excellent electrical conductors.