Friday 20 January 2017

Week Ending 20th January 2017


It's been a cold, crisp week this week, with sharp morning frosts, and bright afternoon sunshine!

We have all settled back into the swing of school life, and plenty of work is eagerly being done in all the classrooms!  Children in Badgers Class have been doing some investigative mathematics, and have found out all about lines of symmetry.  Otters have been looking at different materials and sorting them into groups.  Squirrels Class children have been practicing letter writing - they wrote a letter to the fairies asking for fairy cakes... and the fairies granted their wish!



Children in Hedgehogs Class have been very busy and creative this week, and have explored textile art, modelling with plasticine, working with construction tools and lots more.  They have been looking at traditional storytales, and enjoying activities linked to these.  This week they read Hansel and Gretel, and  went on their own walk into the forest, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind them,  They then enjoyed watching from the classroom as birds flew down to eat the breadcrumbs!  They also read The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and used their construction skills to build bridges from paper and other materials.




 

EBA Enterprise children in Foxes Class learnt how to make bread this week.  They had a lovely sticky time kneading the dough!  We hope the finished product proved to be tasty...



On Thursday, a group of Year 6 children took part in a Cross Country Tournament at Vandyke School in Leighton Buzzard.  It was a great race in perfect running conditions, though rather tough as the children were running against Year 7s from other schools.  Our children were very pleased to discover some familiar faces though, as they met up with friends that have left EBA and are now competing for their secondary schools!



On Friday, the Year 6 EBA Enterprise team had a wonderful day!  The money that was raised through generous donations from local companies last term was put to good use, as we were able to fund a visit from Young Enterprise  - a national charity that provides business education programmes for students.  Three of their representatives came in to give the children a challenging but thoroughly enjoyable day of hands on learning.

The children were split into four groups, and each group was a "business."  They had to decide on the product or service that their business would deliver, and consider their own personal strengths before assigning managerial roles to their team.  The business had to have a name, a logo, slogan, and strategies based on market research.  They had to consider the finances of their enterprise, work out the profit margin and pitch for a loan!

They then went into production, manufacturing bracelets from beads.  These were subject to quality control, and some were rejected due to manufacturing defects!  Others were good enough quality to sell, and so make a profit.  The children had to record their findings at every step of the process, and report back to their investors and the rest of the class.









It really was a great experience for the children, and we are sure that they learnt a lot.  We were all very proud of how well they behaved for our visitors, and how sensibly and confidently they all rose to the challenge of running their own business!