News
June 2018 – Music Hub Award Winner
Mr Hardy was nominated for the Norfolk Music Hub in their innovation award category, reflecting on his enthusiasm and approach to the teaching of high quality music.
Mr Hardy, the Junior School music lead has been working with Miss Coombes, the Infant School music lead and they have used Music to draw the two schools closer together. Our first training as a combined staff group was a singing workshop which was an incredible success and great way to break the ice when bringing two lots of staff together. They applied for and received the Hub’s bespoke project grant which we used to fund a series of steel pan workshops for Yr2 and Yr3 children to play alongside one another. Not only was this an amazing opportunity for some really top quality instrument tuition it helped with the younger children’s transition to KS2. (It also added some much needed focus on Music from around the world.) After attending a Singing Playgrounds workshop Mr Hardy formed a singing group of Key Stage 2 children who have learned some of the songs and have visited the Infant School playground at lunchtime to teach these to the younger children
In terms of innovation, Mr Hardy has introduced making music with technology to each of the Year Groups – Yr3 using the fantastic ‘Isle of Tune’ online program, Year 4 using MadPad, Year 5 Scratch and Year 6 Garage Band which led to a group of Yr6 students running a lunchtime Garage Band club.
The amazing loan of Samba instruments from the Hub has enabled Mr Hardy to start teaching Yr 6 a term of Brazilian percussion (with a great deal of help from John Owen from Neatherd High School and by joining Norwich Samba to give himself a crash course in an area of music he had had no previous experience of) again trying to give children a more global idea of Music.
Mr Hardy has been playing and teaching ukulele for 16 years and has a very dedicated Ukulele Club who have recently performed at a concert organised by BTEC Music students from Neatherd High School.
Mr Hardy has also ensured equality of access for all students, regardless of physical difficulties and carried out some research into open tunings and spending an afternoon with a child and her uke a uke blu-tacked to a table and various plectrums and sticks to use as slides they were jamming together playing ‘Three Little Birds’. She is now a stalwart member of Uke Club.
At the awards ceremony, Mr Hardy was one of 3 Norfolk Music-Coordinators shortlisted. In the speech, the judges recognised his engagement with the Music Hub over the last 2 Years, the work he has done with Miss Coombes to use music to bring the federation together, organising the steel pan workshops; the whole federation staff singing workshop; taking children from Juniors to do Playground Singing with the children at the Infants at lunchtime , the inclusion of music technology in each Year Group; the Yr6 Samba lessons; the ongoing Ukulele club and the efforts to be fully inclusive.
We are pleased to say Mr Hardy was chosen as the winner of the award for innovation in music co-ordinators 2018. Congratulations Mr Hardy!
Art in Spring at Toftwood Infant
This term we have been getting busy throughout the year groups! Reception have been looking at the themes fantasy and people who help us and been getting creative exploring these.
In year 1 the children have been learning about the topics, weather experts and our amazing earth! They have been busy learning about Andy Goldsworthy the outdoor artist and creating sunset pictures while thinking about the country of Africa.
In year 2 they children have been creating artwork ready for their Toftwood Tate display in the Summer, focussing on the artist Monet, and painting pictures of the pond and creating mud huts with natural found resources and clay.
Live Music Summer 2 2018
The junior school were treated to music through the ages on Tuesday 5thJune as the Live History of Music Show performed for us in the main hall. After a rendition of the Doctor Who theme song (so we could travel back in time!), the children listened to music by Vivaldi and Mozart and learned that the oldest recorded instrument was a flute/recorder-type instrument from the Ice Age. They were also treated to a segment of John Cage’s 4’33’’ – a song written to be totally silent – and movie soundtrack music from John Williams (Star Wars and Jaws). The performance ended with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – which the Year 3s couldn’t help but join in with.
Music in Spring 2 2018
In Spring 2, the children were very lucky to experience some live music. Miss McTavish and Mrs Harrison sang and played the guitar while the children walked in and out of their celebration assemblies.
Thank you very much to Mrs Harrison and Miss McTavish for providing such a wonderful experience for the children.
Ashley said, “I didn’t know that the teachers could play the guitar and sing!”
Amelia said, “I liked how they sang in tune and Mrs Harrison played an instrument as well.”
Sport Relief March 2018
On Friday 23rd March we held a federation wide ‘come dressed sporty’ day in aid of Sport Relief 2018. The children came to school wearing sports wear from trainers and football shirts, to rugby tops, cricket kit and gymnastics leotards, the children looked fantastic – well done. Through donations we managed to raise a brilliant £298.95 at the Infant School and over £300 at the Junior School.
We had been practising the song ‘Step It Up For Sport Relief’ at the Infant School during our singing assembly times and the children learnt the actions to go with the chorus as well as helping to make up actions to the rest of the song. The whole school, from Nursery to Year 2, came together on Friday morning for a mass performance of the song. It was truly amazing to see all the children joining in and being active.
Design and Technology – Spring 2018
Nursery
The Nursery children visted the Resources Room for the first time. The children really enjoyed making gingerbread men together, which was part of a class reward. The children followed a recipe and got the opportunity to add ingredients and decorate their own!
Reception
Children in Reception classes have continued to have access to a variety of modelling resources and have been developing their ideas based on their own interests. Some of their work has inlcuded building sledges during the snowy weather and a fire station, linking to their topic ‘People who help us.’
The Reception children have also made chocolate crispy cakes. They carefully used the scales to weigh the correct amount of each ingredient and practised stirring their mixture before putting it into the cake cases.
Year 1
During Book Week, Year 1 enjoyed making vegetable Gruffalo Crumble alongside their Julia Donaldson learning. This recipe used lots of healthy ingredients and made the whole corridor smell amazing. The children enjoyed chopping the vegetables themselves and measuring the correct amount of each ingredient before tasting the finished product. Lots of the children really enjoyed this dish!
Year 2
During their Air, Land and Sea topic work, Year 2 have been learning about the importance of eating healthily. They have explored the main food groups of carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, protein, dairy and fats and have designed their own healthy sandwiches. The children tried to include as many of the different food groups as they could when completing this task.
At the end of this piece of work, the children made and tested the sandwich they had designed. Some of the children discovered some very interesting sandwich combinations!
Year 2 have also used junk modelling resources to create their own baskets. They did this having to meet two criteria: all designs had to have a handle and they needed to hold tomatoes. The finished baskets had to transport tomatoes without the fruit being squashed. The children really enjoyed testing their creations. After the testing, the children discussed what went well and what could be done next time to make the baskets even better.
Science Spring 2018
Nursery
The children in Nursery have enjoyed exploring magnets and finding out what is magnetic and non-magnetic.
They have enjoyed testing their ideas such as which objects will float and sink.
The children have also enjoyed using the computers to find out the answers to their own scientific questions including “What do monkeys eat?”
Reception
As it has been so Wintery recently, the Reception children have enjoyed exploring the snow and ice!
They have also enjoyed using Scientific equipment to explore things around them, taking a closer look at what they can see and testing their ideas.
Some of the children also decided to make their own ladybirds after reading the story ‘What the Ladybird Heard.’ They talked about how many legs insects have and other body parts including antennae.
Year 1
Year 1 have been learning about materials and their properties. They went on a material hunt to find different objects around the school and recorded the object and what material it is made from.
They also discussed the properties of different materials and how we can describe what they are like. Then they tested the properties of different objects such as seeing if a sock was bendy, a piece of Lego was waterproof and if a window is transparent!
Year 2
Year 2 have also been exploring different materials around us. They have learnt about natural and man-made materials and have sorted these into groups.
They have also thought about the suitability of different materials for different purposes. They had a problem to solve as they had some sea creatures which were stranded on the beach and they had to create something to help them get back to the sea when water was poured onto it. They had to consider the best materials for the job by thinking about their properties.
