Nursery to Year Six Highlights : Edgbaston High School

Seaside trips!

The Nursery girls have been enjoying talking about Summer holidays and sharing photographs from home of visits to the beach. The girls loved discussing their experiences and spotting similarities and differences in the seaside scenes. To develop their mark-making and early writing skills, the girls created their own postcards this week. After carefully observing seaside images for inspiration, they drew pictures of things they had seen or might see at the beach. They then practised tracing and writing letters and words to describe their drawings. They produced some wonderful postcards while building their confidence as early writers!

Making a splash!

The Kindergarten pupils have made remarkable progress during their weekly swimming lessons this academic year. Despite a couple of pupils being understandably anxious back in September, all pupils quickly embraced the opportunity to develop their confidence and water skills, demonstrating great enthusiasm and determination. From their first lessons to their most recent sessions, the children have shown significant improvement in a range of important swimming techniques and all have made pleasing personal progress. The pupils now jump into the water confidently and some have even progressed to jumping in unaided. Many pupils independently float and swim on both their fronts and backs. All perform push-and-glide movements with increasing control and confidence. Alongside their swimming achievements, the pupils have also made excellent progress in their independence skills, becoming much more confident and efficient when dressing and undressing before and after lessons. The Kindergarten staff and Swimming teachers are incredibly proud of all the pupils have achieved this year and look forward to watching them continue to build on these valuable skills as they move into Reception.

Money, money, money!

This week in Reception, the girls have been learning all about money. The children worked on recognising and naming all the different coins. They practised counting groups of coins and worked hard to find the total value. We also explored buying items and giving change for amounts up to 10p. The girls showed great enthusiasm and problem solving skills as they used their mathematical knowledge in fun, practical activities.

Toy Makers!

Over the past few weeks, Year One have been making their very own cup and ball toys as part of our Toys topic this term. They began by using yoghurt pots and paper mâché to create the cup shape. Once they had dried, the girls painted a base colour before carefully adding their own colourful patterns and designs. They have shown wonderful patience and creativity throughout the process and were very excited to take their finished toys outside to test them in the playground!

Developing Musical Skills

In Year Two, pupils have enjoyed developing their musical skills through learning to play both the violin and the recorder, culminating in a joint concert in which the two classes performed their prepared pieces to one another before exchanging instruments to broaden their experience. Alongside acquiring practical techniques on these string and woodwind instruments, pupils have also strengthened their understanding of music theory, as each performance involved reading notation from the treble clef stave and maintaining accurate timing in coordination with accompanying backing tracks. In addition, pupils benefited from specialist instrument demonstrations, with the flute introduced by Miss Jones and the classical guitar by Mrs Larner.

Practical Capacity Work in the Sun!

This week, Year Three took their learning outdoors to put their understanding of capacity to the test in a fun, hands-on way. Following a series of class-based lessons where pupils explored capacity using a range of containers, it was time to bring the learning to life on the playground! Armed with an assortment of bottles of different shapes and sizes, the children began by estimating how much liquid each one could hold. There was plenty of discussion and reasoning as estimates were made — some surprisingly close and others delightfully imaginative! Next came the measuring. Using water and measuring jugs, the children carefully poured and recorded the actual capacities of each bottle. It was wonderful to see teamwork in action, with pupils taking turns, double-checking results and celebrating accurate estimations. To finish off their investigation, the children were presented with a big challenge: estimate and then measure the capacity of a large bucket. The sunshine added an extra layer of enjoyment to the session, making it a truly memorable learning experience. Well done, Year Three — fantastic fun and fantastic learning!

Relocation, Learning & Determination

Year Four have been keeping cool in the library while using laptops to develop their sentence structure and report-writing skills. Despite the extreme heat, they showed great resilience and determination, relocating to the library where they could stay cool and continue learning comfortably. Working hard on their laptops, the children focused on developing their sentence structure skills as part of their report writing, carefully considering how to organise and improve their ideas. They demonstrated excellent perseverance and should be proud of the effort they put into producing high-quality written work.

Bringing History to Life!

The Year Five girls enjoyed a fantastic Victorian workshop led by Professor McGinty, who brought the past to life in a fun and engaging way. Through lively storytelling, interactive activities and plenty of humour, the pupils discovered what life was like during Victorian times. There were lots of laughs throughout the session, but the workshop was also packed with valuable learning. The girls reinforced their knowledge of Victorian schools, daily life and customs while taking part in hands-on experiences that made history memorable and exciting. Professor McGinty’s enthusiasm and entertaining approach ensured that everyone was fully involved, making the workshop both educational and enjoyable. It was a wonderful opportunity for the girls to deepen their understanding of the Victorians while having great fun along the way.

I'd Like To Make You an Offer

Our Year Six pupils have been developing their entrepreneurial thinking, creativity and teamwork this week while taking part in Dragons’ Den projects. Working in small groups, the girls have designed and developed their own unique inventions, carefully considering how their products solve real-life problems and appeal to potential customers. Throughout the project, pupils have explored the world of business by creating prototypes, calculating costs, designing marketing materials and preparing persuasive pitches. They have demonstrated impressive innovation and collaboration as they refined their ideas and responded to feedback. The culmination of their efforts will take place next week when they present their inventions to parents in a special Dragons’ Den showcase. The girls are eagerly looking forward to sharing their products and convincing their audience to invest in their ideas. We have been incredibly impressed by their enthusiasm and ingenuity. We cannot wait to see their final presentations.

History Club Bring Stonehenge to Life!

Tuesday’s Prep assembly was led by Miss Deacon, History Coordinator in the Prep School, and the current Year Five members of History Club. The assembly explored the mystery and significance of Stonehenge, with a particular focus on the summer solstice and its connection to the famous prehistoric monument. At the start of the assembly, the audience was challenged to consider three important questions. The History Club members then confidently answered each one in depth, sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm for the topic. The assembly also featured eye-catching artwork created by a local artist to mark the summer solstice, helping pupils to appreciate how Stonehenge continues to inspire people today. Miss Deacon explained that she believes the builders of Stonehenge would have made excellent Edgbaston High School Prep students, as they embodied the school's values of perseverance, creativity, excellence and aspiration. She also encouraged pupils to follow the builders’ example by staying curious, working together and continuing to ask questions about the world around them.

Nursery to Year Six Highlights