Darwin Class

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21 hours ago
Posted on 13th Feb 2026 by

End of half-term.

It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the halfway point of the spring term. The weeks have flown by and what a busy, purposeful half‑term it has been. ‘Darwin’ has been full of energy, curiosity and plenty of hard work; it’s been wonderful to see just how much progress all of the children have made.

Recently, the weather hasn’t always been on our side and there have certainly been plenty of rainy days. As ever, the children have made the very best of indoor wet‑play — creativity, collaboration and a lot of laughter have brightened even the greyest afternoons. Their resilience and good humour have been a real highlight.

As usual at the end of a half-term, we have the privilege to select a recipient for Star Pupil. This is always a challenge and I wish we could award twenty‑five! After much deliberation, we have chosen Isabella. Isabella has not only worked incredibly hard in all of her lessons but has also put in a lot of extra effort at home. As a result, she has made phenomenal progress and should feel incredibly proud of all of her achievements.

As we look ahead, I think we are all very much looking forward to lighter evenings, drier days and the sense of renewal that spring always brings. For now, we hope everyone enjoys a well‑earned rest over half‑term. (Don’t forget that maths club begins after half-term – see dates listed on this class page. Maths Club runs from 3:15 – 4:15 after school on a Monday and is free of charge. I would encourage all Year 6 pupils to attend as many sessions as they possibly can!)

Details about homework for the break can be found in the homework section below.

All the best, Mrs. E.

Darwin class members making the most of rainy-day indoor breaks.

 

What is the significance of the books on the reading chair?

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2 days ago
Posted on 12th Feb 2026 by

Half-Term Homework.

Maths Homework – Year 6.

(Year 5 will have been given maths homework by Mrs. Brotherhood.) Year 6 pupils have had their target books updated in light of our recent assessment. I have chosen a target for each pupil to work on and have supplied some questions for them to complete. The children have also identified their own target to work on. Resources to support this can easily be found online. I have included a few useful sites for revision below:

Revision – arithmetic. 

Revision – reasoning.

Defenders of mathematics revision game.

Online self-testing activities

 

English Homework – all Darwin Pupils.

Follow the following links to find out about key features of English:

Metaphors and similes

A task to complete has been sent home on paper. An alternative task can be found here.

Synonyms and antonyms 

A task to complete has been sent home on paper. An alternative task can be found here.

(To access the alternative tasks, use your first name [space] initial of your surname.)

 

All homework is due in on Monday 23rd February.

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2 weeks ago
Posted on 31st Jan 2026 by

Friday 30th January Update

Look at our fabulous new reading chair, complete with screen adaptation of David Almond’s Skellig and a pomegranate. You will have to see if your child can tell you the significance of those items!

Certificate winners:

Last week, Oli H was awarded the writing certificate for his outstanding recount work. He worked really hard during the editing process to ensure that his spelling and punctuation were accurate. The red certificate was awarded to Lake for his excellent, productive week and his kindness in helping others around the school.

This week, the red certificate has been awarded to Oliver D for his amazing effort in our English lessons. We were all really impressed with his writing! The maths certificate was awarded to Annabelle B for her determination (and success) in mastering percentages this week.

We won the attendance award too, so we need to think of a way to celebrate that next week (not karaoke though – never again!!).

This week’s homework is to complete the task/tasks in individual maths target books and bring them in on Monday so they can be updated.

Apologies for the late page update this week!

Mrs. E.

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4 weeks ago
Posted on 16th Jan 2026 by

Homework Friday 16th January

There are two tasks this week:

Task 1 is a maths task (Year 5 children will have a task set by Mrs. Brotherhood). The Year 6 task focuses on consolidating our ability to order and round decimals. It was sent home on paper today and is due in on Monday morning.

Task 2 is a preparation task. The children (Year 5 & 6) need to research who ‘Highwaymen’ were. They have brought home a prompt sheet to help them to find relevant information. The children do not need to create a presentation or any extended writing, notes will do. What is important is that they come to the lesson with prior knowledge about highwaymen. This homework is due in on Wednesday.

 

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4 weeks ago
Posted on 16th Jan 2026 by

Friday 16th January Update

We have enjoyed our first snow-free week back in school! We have particularly enjoyed reading Skellig, which we finished today. We are very much looking forward to watching the screen adaptation next week, to see how it compares and contrasts with the book.

Our certificates this week:

Jolame was awarded the reading certificate for his excellent reading with Mrs. Burrows this week and Heath was awarded the red certificate for his concentration and diligence in maths.

Details about homework can be found in the section below.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs. E.

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1 month ago
Posted on 08th Jan 2026 by

Snow day/Homework

Maths (Year 6 only – Year 5s will have been given maths homework by Mrs. Brotherhood).

Ordering Decimals.

  1. Watch this very short video: How to order decimals
  2. Complete this online activity until you are confident: Put decimal numbers in order (Year 6 maths practice)
  3. Complete the maths sheet (double sided – sent home today).
  4. Bring your completed work into school on Monday.

Children also have their maths targets to work on. I would like the to see the target books again by the end of next week.

Reading (Years 5 & 6)

Close reading and summarising.

  1. Read the text ‘The Rush for Gold’ – sent home today.
  2. Summarise the text. What is it about? What are the main points? (Working through paragraph by paragraph can be helpful.)
  3. Answer the questions about the text (sent home on paper today today).
  4. Bring your completed work into school on Monday.

Writing (Years 5 & 6)

Write a draft dialogue (conversation) between Dionysus and King Midas.

  1. Watch this short film for inspiration. King Midas.
  2. Write a dialogue between King Midas and Dionysus. You can use your imagination here.
  3. Before you start to write your draft, refresh your memory about how to punctuate speech. 
  4. Write your speech. Remember when you write a draft, you need to focus on the quality of the content.
  5. Once you have your ideas written down, you can check and correct any spelling errors and review your speech punctuation.
  6. You should have a quality draft text now, which you can bring into school on Monday for our English lesson, where we will continue to work on them and make them shine like a polished pebble!

Spellings (Years 5 & 6)

We are currently looking at words ending in -ous. More information about these words can be found on the spelling section of this page. We will have a re-test on these words towards the end of next week – no earlier than Wednesday.

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1 month ago
Posted on 08th Jan 2026 by

Welcome back!

Believe it or not (looks out of the window) it is now the spring term! As you will be aware, there are severe weather warnings across the country, including our area. With this in mind, I have given the children in Darwin their homework, plus some additional tasks, today. This can be completed tomorrow, should the school have to close. (We will update you about this as soon as we possibly can.) Further information, including helpful links to videos and games, can be found in the homework section below.

The Year 6 children have brought home their maths target books today. I have glued in a summary of their autumn assessments in reading, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar and maths. I hope you find the information useful.

Stay warm; stay safe!

Mrs. E.

 

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1 month ago
Posted on 08th Jan 2026 by

Spelling Focus Weeks 1 & 2 January

Words ending -ous

We have completed our baseline test and the children know which words they can spell accurately already and which ones they need to focus on learning. We will have an interim test next week and the final test the following week.

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2 months ago
Posted on 05th Dec 2025 by

Darwin Homework Friday 5th December

All of Darwin.

This week there is a short reading comprehension task to complete (sent home on paper today). This is due to be handed in on Monday.

Year 5 pupils have been given maths homework by Mrs. Brotherhood.

Year 6 pupils have two questions about co-ordinates to complete. This is due in on Monday.

I would like to see all maths target books at least once before the end of next week.

Mrs.. E.

Click here to play a co-ordinates game!

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2 months ago
Posted on 05th Dec 2025 by

Darwin Update Friday 5th December

So, it is now December. The school Christmas tree is up; advent calendars are being opened and we are now allowed to ‘mention’ Christmas in Darwin class – but only briefly, yet!

This week has been an interesting and varied one. In maths, we have reached the end of our fraction work, for now, and have started looking at position and direction, specifically co-ordinates. We enjoyed sharing the questions we created for homework on Monday – I think I may have some future exam writers in the class! On Tuesday afternoon, we had a visitor in school who told us what it is like to be Jewish – we learned a lot. We had a house meeting on Wednesday morning to plan our special ‘house afternoon’ in the final week of half-term and Code Club on Monday was as well attended as ever – Bigtrak had a great time completing a phenomenal track in the hall.

This week’s certificate winners are:

Haiden was awarded the writing certificate for the excellent start he made to his non-chronological report about Tongo lizards. Jolame was awarded the red certificate for his kindness in ensuring that nobody was left out during this week’s PE session. Well done, both!

Next week, there are a few events planned for Darwin class:

On Monday (as long as the technology co-operates) we are attending a live comic drawing session online with a book illustrator. The session is entitled ‘Jingle Smells’, which is intriguing. On Tuesday, Darwin class will be having their Christmas lunch; on Wednesday morning (technology allowing, again), Darwin class are taking part in a Micro:bit Christmas themed ‘code along’ – these are always good fun. On Friday, it is, of course, the trip to Ironbridge, which I am sure everyone is looking forward to enormously.

Our writing assessment is currently nearing completion, which means I will shortly be able to complete this term’s assessments and send the information home to you. I am aiming to do this by the end of next week but, if not, certainly before Christmas!

Information about this week’s homework can be found in the section below.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. E.