Randwick Church of England Primary
School
Kestrel Class 2025 - 2026
Miss Newbould
Welcome to Kestrel Class
The Kestrel Class team
Class Teacher: Miss Newbould
Class Teaching Assistant: Mrs Bird
PPA Cover Teacher: Mrs Chastney on Tuesday afternoons
Together, we work hard to create a classroom environment which inspires confidence and a love of learning. Our learning is theme-based and this is reflected in the look and feel of our classroom. From surviving Prehistory to flying over France, we use our Geography, History and Art topics to draw together our other learning.
We are passionate about creativity and are always thinking about the next artistic project we can do as a class. We believe that learning should be fun and that the new skills learnt should be applied in real life situations and challenges.
How we learn in Kestrel Class
- We focus on building their independence and the children will be taught how to use different resources to help themselves (word banks, dictionaries, maths resources).
- Much of our learning involves teamwork and children having the opportunity to discuss their thinking.
- We will be supporting the children to develop confidence and resilience. We talk a lot about Growth Mindset and the importance of believing that everyone can improve with effort and practice.
- We love feedback in Kestrel Class and children are encouraged to give each other helpful feedback, improve their own work and listen to the feedback from adults.
Spring Term 2 2025-26
Hold back the river?
This term, much of our learning will be connected to our Geography topic.
In English and Guided Reading, we will be reading The Wind in the Willows, poetry by Valerie Bloom and a picture book called The Rhythm of the Rain
In Geography, we are exploring rivers and the changes and impacts human developments have had on them. We will explore the casues of flooding and ask whether rivers should eb altered by people.
In our DT lessons, we will be exploring levers and linkages to create our own articulating river picture book.
In Science, we will be continuing to study and investige states of matter and the changes between solids, liquids and gases and the water cycle.
Knowledge Organiser
These Knowledge Organisers show all of the sticky knowledge (facts that we want to stick in the children's heads) and vocabulary that we want children to be able to know by the end of the topic. You might like to ask your child about some of these words or ideas at home. Find this term's knowledge organisers for Science and History by scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Reading in Kestrel Class
When children first join us, we assess their reading and support them to choose books from a selection that closely match their reading level. Adults in class regularly talk to children about their reading and support them to find books that they are interested in and motivated to read. Over their time in Kestrel Class, the children will move up through these reading stages. We call these books 'Daily Readers' as we expect the children to be reading at home a little every day.
Reading Passport
Kestrel Class Padlet Reading Passport
Our reading passport books in Year 3 and 4 have such a range of exciting fiction and non-fiction texts. These will always be available for your child to read and borrow from class. Once your child has read seven of these books themselves, they can bring their passport into school to be awarded a £5 book token.
Our texts this term
By Kenneth Grahame
Since its beginnings as a series of stories told to Kenneth Grahame’s young son, The Wind in the Willows has gone on to become one of the best-loved children’s books of all time. The timeless story of Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger has delighted readers of all ages for more than eighty years.
Friendly Rat, mild-mannered Mole, wise Badger, and kind—but conceited—Toad all live on the banks of the Thames. While Mole and Rat are content to go out in a row boat or travel the roads in a caravan, Toad prefers the excitement of motor cars. He’s already wrecked seven! While his friends try to keep him out of trouble, his passion for cars eventually results in his being caught and kept prisoner in the remotest dungeon of the best-guarded castle in all the land. Somehow, he has to escape and get home but what will he find when he gets there?
The Wind in the Willows is a book for those “who keep the spirit of youth alive in them; of life, sunshine, running water, woodlands, dusty roads, winter firesides.” So, wrote Kenneth Grahame of his timeless tale of Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad.
By Grahame Baker-Smith
The first book in the award-winning non-fiction picture book series The Elements from Kate Greenaway medal-winner, Grahame Baker-Smith.
Issac plays in his favourite pool on the mountainside...
As rain starts to fall, he empties his little jar of water into the pool and races the sparkling streams as they tumble over waterfalls, rush through swollen rivers and burst out into the vast open sea.
Where will my little jar of water go now? Issac wonders.
On the other side of the world, Cassi welcomes the rain to her parched village . . .
From tiniest raindrop to deepest ocean, this breathtaking celebration of the water cycle captures the remarkable movement of water across the earth in all its majesty.
Important information
PE Days
Kestrel Class will have PE (swimming this term) with Mrs Chastney every Tuesday afternoon. Please send your child into school in their PE kit on this day. On weeks with no Forest School, Kestrels will also have PE on a Friday. Please can children also come into school in their PE kits on these days.
Uniform
General uniform:
Dark blue sweatshirt/cardigan, light blue polo shirt, grey trousers/skirt/shorts, grey/navy/white socks or tights, dark coloured school shoes or boots in winter. Your child also needs to have a waterbottle in school every day.
PE kit:
Randwick PE Shirt, navy shorts/cycling shorts/skirt, trainers, change of socks (white/grey)
In cold weather, navy blue joggers/leggings and a school sweatshirt are recommended
Forest school kit:
Navy blue joggers, usual t-shirt and school jumper. They can wear their shoes/trainers to school and bring their wellies with them in a bag. Don’t forget a waterproof coat!
- Please clearly name everything -
Helpful Websites
These are websites that we use to support your child's learning in school. Your child might like to build on thier learning at home and complete thier own projects. Do get in touch with me if you would like a copy of the children's school log in details. Most of these websites will also allow you to set up free accounts for projects at home.
On Scratch, children can use coding to build a whole range of creations: https://scratch.mit.edu/
Book creator allows children to make thier own eBooks: https://bookcreator.com/
Brush Ninja is brilliant for creating animations: https://brush.ninja/
Chrome Music Lab allows children to explore music and compose thier own pieces. We particularly use the Song Maker app: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/
DK Find out is an online encyclopedia for children. We often use it to complete research for science, history and geography topics: https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/
Spelling frame supports children with learning the spellings for their year group and has a range of games that the children enjoy: https://spellingframe.co.uk/
Doodle Maths and Tables
All children from Year 1 upwards have a Doodle Maths and Doodle Tables account set up. We ask children to practise doodling regularly at home to build on their maths learning in school. Each week, one class will be awarded the trophy for 'Top Doodling Class' for the most number of children in the 'Green Zone'. There is also a certificate and small prize for the child who has impressed us with regular practice at home.
You might like to download the apps at home if you have a device your child regularly uses. Please get in touch if you need another copy of your child's password.
Guardians - Defenders of Mathematica is a brilliant gamified maths program created by BBC bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/guardians-mathematica?exitGameUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbbc.com%2Fbitesize%2Farticles%2Fzn2y7nb
Get in touch
If you wish to contact me, please use this email address: [email protected]