Well done to Oaks for a great start to this year! Year 1 have settled into the classroom fantastically and have been taking on all the new lesson types in their stride.

A shout out to Year 2 as well for coming back that bit more grown up and ready for the new challenges of this year.

Our Movers and Shakers topic has started on a great note with Oaks learning about our local hero - Alan Turing. They created mini fact files about him and his job during World War Two. Towards the end of this half term, Oaks have looked at significant explorers from history. Discovering Christopher Columbus’ journey to America and the treasures he brought back to Europe. Then finding out all about Neil Armstrong and his brave trip to the moon. Our end of half term mini project was to create a triorama displaying what Oaks had learnt about Neil Armstrong.   Next half term, Oaks will be learning about two significant activists - Rosa Parks and Emmeline Pankhurst. 

In Art, Oaks developed some firm foundations in relation to colour. They have learnt the primary colours and explored what the secondary colours were through paint mixing. Oaks were introduced to the colour wheel and how it shows the relationship between the colours.  We ended the unit by completing the colour challenge. Oaks were tasked with creating a colour pallet by mixing different colours of their choosing and picking their favourite template. Some of their pallets and final colour challenges were put on display in the hallway.

Well done Oaks for a fantastic year! Year 1 and Year 2 have done very well this year, trying their best in all the topics we have done and having some really great learning experiences.They have come so far academically and personally which makes them ready for their next step in our school. 

We have wrapped up our Magnificent Monarchs topic by working in pairs to create presentations about what we have learnt. Not only were Oaks learning new computing skills in Powerpoint but they also had to recall their learning from history to make an informative presentation. They’ve become very adept at navigating file explorer and the features of Powerpoint to format text boxes or text. Oaks even tried their hand at inserting and formatting pictures which they safe searched for on Kiddle. 

In history we have been learning about different monarchs and their reigns. Oaks created timelines to show all of the families or houses that have ruled the UK since the Anglo-Saxons and we then focused on 6 significant monarchs across time. Oaks have learnt about the Battle of Hastings, using roleplay to reenact the events and create a photo timeline in their books. We also explored the Feudal System creating our own diagrams to represent the hierarchy and writing factual explanations about the different levels. 

We’re wrapped up our year with Sports Day which all of Oaks are very excited about. The next week, we will be hosting our Year 2 graduation ceremony where we celebrate and say goodbye to our Year 2 moving up to KS2 next year. 

It has been a lovely start to Summer this half term and to Oaks’s new topic Magnificent Monarchs. We have started learning about the history of British royalty, all of the different houses that have reigned and some of the most famous monarchs. 

Our Art unit this half term has also gotten us to explore portraiture and the significance of royal portraits. We have had fun combining modern art mediums such as photography and drawing software to create historically inspired art pieces. Those of you who came to the Sharing Assembly would have seen a fantastic sample of the royal portraits Oaks photographed of each other. 

A big thank you also to Maples class this half term for all their hard work and dedication curating and conducting the Milton Keynes Museum takeover day for Oaks. We were able to learn so much from Year 5 and 6 on our tour of the museum, looking at the historic toys, visiting the Victorian classroom and the life size model street.