End of Spring Term 2022

Welcome Back!
End of Spring Term
HAPPY EASTER
This term has seen many celebrations and triumphs: the Pensarn residential, our
Mothering Sunday and Easter services, sporting successes and two furry additions to
our Reception class! It has been a busy but wonderful term and the staff and
children have worked exceptionally hard.
During this term, we have had a number of visitors in school to review teaching and
learning and as part of that process, they have spoken to a number of the children.
All of these professionals have praised the pupils enthusiasm, confidence and
knowledge. They have also praised the atmosphere within school, noting the calm,
purposeful air, the pupils eagerness for hard work and the positive relationships
between staff and pupils. We feel incredibly proud of our school community.
We hope everyone has a wonderful break and
we look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday
19th April.
May the glory and the
promise of this joyous time
of year bring peace and
happiness to you and those
you hold most dear.
And may Christ, Our Risen
Savior, always be there by
your side to bless you most
abundantly and be your
loving guide.

PENSARN
Year 6 had a fabulous five days in Pensarn,
taking part in a range of activities and making
memories to last a life time.
Over the course of the week, they went from
paddling in the sea to rock climbing in the snow!
However, the cold weather did not cool their
enthusiasm.
Centre and school staff both commended the
children for their resilience, positive attitudes and
teamwork. It was a delight to take them and we
are already planning next year’s visit!

WORLD BOOK DAY 2022
World Book Day 2022 at Brereton was a huge success! We are incredibly thankful for the
kind donations of books from parents and the children have loved enjoying them over the
course of this term.
CHURCH SERVICE
All aged worships will be
held at St Oswald’s on:
3rd April
Y2 enjoying our new Reading for Pleasure
books.
We enjoyed welcoming Mystery Readers in
across the school.
1st May
5th June
3rd July
Do come along and join
us!
Whole school assembly.
Some of our wonderful books - thank you!
.
HOLIDAY CLUB
Booking for our May half
term and Summer holiday
clubs are now open!
Library visit
Village book hunt
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POETRY
PERFORMANCE
A huge well done to Tilly who was
our winning representative at the No
Outsiders poetry competition. On
Friday, she performed at The
Storyhouse Theatre in Chester and
despite her nerves, she gave a
confident and controlled delivery of
her poem ‘A New Beginning.’ Well
done Tilly we are very proud of
you!
A New Beginning
Slice out unfriendliness
Slip in a smile
Cook up some compassion
Spoon in a dash of love
Add a dash of friendship
Whisk up some love
Spring gently with some support
Finish with a welcoming smile
Blend in some education
Twist with a couple of books
Scatter with a splash of school
Drop in some joy.
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Spread a drop of belonging
Stir in some kindness
Add in a friend.

CLUBS
Quidditch has been a new offering this year and one
that the children have thoroughly enjoyed!
“The race to catch the snitch is the best bit. It
makes the game really dramatic!”
Art Club had a wonderful time observing, drawing
and painting garden birds. We then used our
observational drawings to create wire sculptures.
“I’ love art club. It’s really fun and helps me to relax
and feel good.”
Jam Coding have enjoyed working with both Key
Stages this term.
“From our first-hand encounters with the pupils, I can
report that they have proven themselves to be some
of the kindest and best behaved children gathered in
one place.”
Shane, Jam Coding
Chess Club has been very well attended this term and
Mr Cotton has been very pleased with everyone’s
progress.
“”I got much better this term. I like playing with the
older children.”

AUTHOR VISIITS
This term, we have been fortunate enough to
enjoy visits from two authors.
Eamonn Reilly shared some of his favourite
stories and spoke to the children about the
importance of reading and how to develop a love
of reading. The children were captivated by his
stories!
Find our more by visiting his website.
SAFEGUARDING
If you have concerns about a
child, please speak to a
member of the Safeguarding
Team. These include:
Karen Winward also visited
KS1 and EYFS to share her
book, Zee Zee Zebra. The
children loved listening to the
story and discussed always
being kind and accepting.
Mrs McLean
Mrs Wood
Mrs Sant
Mrs Hooper
You can also contact
Cheshire East Consultation
Service on 0300 123 5012
(option 3) or the NSPCC on
0808 800 5000
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SCIENCE WEEK
This year’s Science Week was a wonderful celebration of Maths, Science, Engineering
and Technology. The pupils relished the visits from parents working within these
industries and their talks provoked lots of curiosity and discussion. Thank you to everyone
who made time to visit.
CDAT TEACHER
TRAINING
We are excited to announce
that CDAT will be running
their own Schools Direct
teacher training programme.
To find out more, please visit
the postgraduate training
website which can be found
here.
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NEW STAFF
Next term we will Mrs
Roberts who will be
working with Y5 and Miss
Toft who will be working
with Reception to our
school family.
SINGFEST
.
Year 6 produced an extraordinary performance at this year’s Singfest. At the concert,
they gave 100% and relished every moment of the opportunity. Videos of their
performances can be found here.
MUSIC LESSONS
We are currently offering
private guitar, violin and piano
lessons in school. Mrs
McDonald is also able to offer
Brass (trumpet, trombone,
baritone, French horn) and
Love Music Trust are able to
provide a teacher for
Woodwind (flute, clarinet,
saxophone). Please contact
the school office or speak to
Mrs Tice if you are interested.
8

FORD GREEN HALL
Year 3 had a fantastic, immersive experience learning about rich and poor Tudors on their recent visit to Ford
Green Hall. They looked at food, clothing, housing and lots of other topics as part of their very memorable visit.
9

KNITTED BIBLE
This term, we were lucky enough to have the loan of 34 knitted Bible
scenes from St Georges United Reform Church in Hartlepool. Starting
with creation and finishing with Jesus’ breakfast on the beach, after his
Resurrection, the scenes showed key events and teachings from the Old
and New Testament. Each class had the opportunity to explore the Bible
scenes chronologically and talk about them and there was much awe and
wonder. The children were very keen to talk about their favourite story
from the Bible and more importantly explain what it continues to teach
Christians today.
BRERETON TEDDY BEARS
It was lovely to welcome children and parents into school for our first
baby and toddler session. The children made Easter cards and
bonnets, decorated biscuits and took part in an Easter egg hunt.
Our next session will be on Thursday 28th April - do come along!
Follow us on our new Facebook page.
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FARM VISIT
Year 1 had a wonderful time at Mr and
Mrs Davenport’s farm.
NORTHERN BALLET
Year 3 had the privilege of
taking part in a workshop run by
Northern Ballet. The company
visited as part of their work at
Crewe Lyceum, performing
'Pinocchio - A Ballet for
Children.' The children loved
moving like puppets and exploring
the different movements.
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WORSHIP
Collective Worship
During Lent, our focus in Collective
worship has been Jesus the Waymaker.
The Ethos Council triggered our
focus by helping us think about how
we can follow Jesus’ example in
showing kindness to others. Whether
it’s small acts of kindness that
brighten the lives of others or the
bigger questions of how we can help
those in real need, we know that a
kinder world is a better world. Each
class was given a Jar of Kindness to
be filled when kindness is shown to
them and a kindness post-box has been
used to send messages of kindness to
people across school. Secondly, we
focused on acceptance, looking at
Jesus’ example where he reached out
to people on the fringes of society, the
lost, the ill, the lonely. We re-enacted
the story of Zaccheaus and how he
changed after meeting Jesus and then
we explored what the story of the good
Samaritan teaches us about
acceptance.
Next, we explored what it means to be
bold. Jesus was courageous and bold
as he avoided the temptations whilst
in the wilderness. We thought about
the things that tempt us and the
advice we both give and receive that
help us stay strong and make the
right choices.
Our final focus in Lent has been on
forgiveness and Jesus’ final words on
the cross before he died ‘Father
forgive them, they know not what
they are doing.’ We discussed how
easy we found it to forgive others
and how we felt when we forgave
others and how we feel when we are
forgiven.
Visits to St Oswald
We have continued to enjoy our visits
to St Oswald’s and the children have
enjoyed worshipping there together.
They have learnt about miracles, such
as Jesus walking on water, as well as
discovering more about Holy Week.
Thank you to Rev Sandi and the
team at St Oswald’s for hosting us
every week.
Open the Book
This half term we welcomed Open the
Book who shared the Easter story with
us through drama. They focused on
the events from Palm Sunday
through to the last supper, Jesus’
arrest and trial, his crucifixion and
ultimate resurrection on Easter
Sunday morning. Open the Book have
organised an Easter trail around
Sandbach for families on Saturday
2 nd April. Details of this have been
circulated through book bags this
week.
Bible Explorers
This term, Y5 and Y6 have thoroughly
enjoyed their sessions with Barry
from Bible Explorers.
Mothering Sunday EYFS and KS1
service
It was lovely to see so many parents
walking down with us to Church and
supporting their children and the
school for this Mothering Sunday
service. It was so pleasing to see the
children’s confidence and enthusiasm
in the way they wished to read prayers
and talk about their Mums. As
Sandi said, the singing was wonderful
and several of us had a tear in our
eye as the chorus of ‘My Lighthouse’
resounded around the Church filling
the quiet and the candles lit for
Ukraine shone out to spread their
light.
Easter Service KS2
On the final day of term, Y3-5
visited St Oswald’s to celebrate this
special time of year. Rev Sandi discussed
different symbols of Easter
and their importance in reminding us
about the real message of Easter. It
was wonderful to hear the children
singing so passionately too.

Y1 NEWS
D&T
Mechanisms
Geography
English
Story Maps
RE
Palm Sunday
Meeting Reception’s
rabbits
Detectives Day Jam Coding Chinese New Year
Forest School
For more information about life in Year 1, please go to our class page on the school website, where you will find blogs,
gallery items and useful documents.
14

YEAR 2 NEWS
It has been a thoroughly enjoyable term with Year Two.
Within the first week of the second half term, we enjoyed a variety of
activities to celebrate World Book Day. After our whole school assembly,
the children were eager to dive into some more books. I therefore
welcomed them to my restaurant for an exclusive book tasting! The
children ‘tasted’ a starter, main course and dessert of books and then
collected their thoughts about each book onto their menu. We also
welcomed some visitors into school: Jude from Holmes Chapel library and
two mystery readers! It was so exciting to listen to our Year Two parents
read their favourite stories. Thank you so much for your book donations
for our reading for pleasure box which we have thoroughly enjoyed over
the half term.
The third week of the half term was British Science Week. Mr Cotton
organised a variety of exciting activities and experiences across the school.
In Year Two, the children waited eagerly all week for a slime investigation,
an exciting way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon. Having made our own
slime, we investigated how far we could stretch the slime before it would
break. This was an excellent opportunity to apply lots of mathematical
measuring skills. We were also very lucky to welcome some parents into
school to talk about STEM within their careers. Mrs Williams shared her
knowledge as a dairy farmer and vet; Mr Canning told us all about being
a pilot; and Mr Millward demonstrated a variety of uses for drones.
Within history, Year Two have been very interested to find out about
three significant queens: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Queen
Elizabeth II. To conclude our unit, we sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth II
and we can’t wait to see if we receive a reply! We are all now looking
forward to the upcoming Platinum Jubilee.
Our RE learning has once again been enriched by lots of discussion, acting,
hot seating and questioning. We have focused particularly on the Parable
of the Lost Son and the Parable of the Lost Coin. This has helped us to
think about what salvation means to Christians as we recognised that God
is a forgiving and loving father who is always determined to find and
forgive us.
A particular highlight this half term was our pizza day! First, we
conducted a taste test, using cocktail sticks to taste and score a variety of
topping combinations to help inform our pizza designs. I was very surprised
to discover some more unusual flavour combinations scoring so highly! It
was then time to make the pizza. This involved a carousel of three
activities: designing the pizza boxes; chopping the toppings using a claw grip
and bridge hold; and adding our chopped toppings to the pizza bases.
This enjoyable DT experience also helped us to produce some excellent
instruction writing – pizza recipes! Our other genre of writing (a circular
narrative) was inspired by our key text ‘A River’ by Marc Martin. We
have particularly focused on our descriptive writing within this unit, thinking
about each sense to help the reader to imagine.
At the centre of our No Outsiders lesson for this half term was the book
‘The Odd Egg’ by Emily Gravett. To deepen our understanding, we
acted out the story as well as asking and answering a variety of
thoughtful questions. After considering what we would do if we heard the
other birds say, “That’s not a real family”, we concluded that, if the
duck wants to look after a croc, then he is allowed to. All families are
different.
We were delighted to return to Church on two occasions this half term.
Together with Year One, we enjoyed Reverend Sandi’s service as we
listened carefully to help understand the significance of Palm Sunday and
joined in with some actions. How truly wonderful it was to welcome
parents and carers to join us for our Mothering Sunday service. After a
lovely walk together in the sunshine, we were delighted to be in Church to
worship together. We all agreed that it was very emotional to hear all of
the children singing so joyfully together once again.
Year Two, it was another half term to be very proud of. I look forward
to the highlights that the next half term will bring!
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YEAR 3 NEWS
PE
Gymnastics
Science
Investigating the different parts of s plant.
No Outsiders
RE
Re-enacting the Lat Supper
History
Baking Tudor biscuits.
Forest School
Constructing Tudor houses.
16

Y4 NEWS
During the spring term, I have had the pleasure and privilege to teach our fantastic Year 4
class.
I would like to begin by thanking both the parents and staff for making me feel so welcome
(particularly Mrs Wiggs, who has been the constant in Year 4 this year). Particular
thanks to the children for their positive attitude to learning new things and their consistent
hard work.
We have had a very busy term and we have produced some amazing work. In English, we
have learnt a number of new skills and published three great pieces work. In Guided Reading,
we have read extracts from many exciting fiction, non-fiction, and poetry books.
In Maths, we have learnt how to multiply and divide 3-digit numbers and worked on
fractions and decimal numbers. I am extremely proud of all the hard work that both the
parents and children have put into improving their times table skills.
In Science, we have learnt about the three states of matter. We were also very lucky to
have two exciting visitors during Science Week. We also enjoyed conducting a science
experiment around worms.
During our History topic this term, we learnt about The Windrush Generation and how it
has impacted on Britain today. In Geography, we have focused on different jobs, jobs
sectors and what different countries produce.
Our P.E topics have been Gymnastics and Cricket and I am pleased to inform you that
Year 4 have some super gymnasts and talented cricketers. We were also very proud of
how Year 4 pupils represented Brereton in both Netball and Basketball tournaments at
HCCS.
In R.E, we have been lucky enough to have visited Reverend Sandi at St Oswald's
Church three times and to learn about salvation and the Holy Week. Just before Easter,
we ran a very eggciting egg project for homework and the children produced some amazing
models .
We have also introduced two new members to the class: Lindblad’s Lion and Pirie’s
Penguin. The children’s have loved sharing their adventures. We also had Lobo the Bear
visit us from Sweden and the children wrote postcards to the Swedish class that Lobo
belongs to.
Finally, I would like to wish Mrs Pirie a happy return to her class and I can’t wait to see all
the amazing work the year 4’s produce in the summer term.
A very Proud
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Mr Lindblad

YEAR 5 NEWS
The children in Year 5 have worked so hard this term and
should be so proud of everything they have achieved. In English
we started with our Space topic using the text, ‘Where Once
We Stood’ which was a very interesting true narrative of astronauts’
experiences of walking on the moon. We used this to
write our own exploration narratives based on what we thought
it would be like to land on Mars for the first time. The children
used their knowledge and learning about space and Mars from
their Science and Computing lessons to help to inform their
writing. Following this, the children learnt about the difference
between formal and informal language, and the importance of
audience when writing a formal report about their Mars landing.
After half term our writing took a very different direction as
we experienced the delights of Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock
Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles. We have spent the
last few weeks immersing ourselves in the story and language
and have now written our own cliff-hanger narratives about
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
In Science, the children began the term by studying Space with
Miss Hancock, learning about the movement of the planets and
the phases of the Moon. Unable to take the children on a trip,
we brought the trip to our classroom (virtually!) when Jodrell
Bank delivered an exciting online session. Here we learnt about
the sizes of the planets in relation to each other. Excitingly, we
also made our own spacecraft out of an empty bottle and
watched as we launched them in the classroom.
In history we went back in time to the Shang Dynasty learning
about the different Shang kings who ruled, their ways of life
and about Fu Hao, who’s tomb was discovered less than 40
years ago! The children were very curious to learn about the
different items that were found in her tomb and what this
taught us about the Shangs. We also linked our Forest School
sessions to our history work: we used clay to make ‘dings’, we
cooked some Chinese food on the campfire and made our own
ceremonial weapons.
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Leading on from the Shang Dynasty, we studied China in geography
this half term. The children used atlases to find out
about the countries that bordered it and how the country is split
into different provinces. After learning about the human impact
on the physical landscape, the children produced some super
newspaper reports about the effects of desertification. In Forest
School we worked together to make a ‘Great Wall of China’
thinking about how we could make the actual wall, the pathway
and the watchtowers.
In PE, we have been working on teambuilding skills, learning how
to work as a team, listening to each other and communicating
effectively both verbally and non-verbally. We ended our unit
with the challenge of ‘crossing the swamp’, getting our team
safely across using just two tyres and two planks of wood.
Sometimes things didn’t quite go as planned but the children
were really good at supporting and encouraging each other and
working together to achieve success!
In DT this half term we have been working on researching,
designing and making a model F1 car. First they researched the
features of an F1 car and how it is aerodynamic. Then I was
blown away by the children’s intricate drawing skills when drawing
their designs- they were amazing! Finally they worked as a
team to follow instructions to make and test their cars.

Y6 NEWS
Y6 have been working incredibly hard this term and we are
very proud of all that they have achieved.
In English they have been using the text 'Rose Blanche'. They
children have written their own narratives and bravery award
speeches. They are demonstrating much greater awareness of
managing formal and informal writing. Their stamina for writing
has improved and they are really considering their audience. We
are having a particular focus on technical accuracy and the
children are working well together to proofread and correct their
work.
They have continued to work incredibly hard in maths covering
topics on algebra, measure and ratio and proportion. They have
been looking at test style questions focussing on reading the
question carefully and thinking about the methods needed to
solve problems. We have noticed a big improvement in children's
arithmetic and times tables skills.
then moved on to the human body including the circulatory system
and the effects of exercise on the heart. The term's science
ended with science week where children took part in a
range of activities including categorising worms!
In history children have been studying early Islamic civilizations.
They have learned about Baghdad and how the city influenced
civilizations of the time. They have also studied trade routes and
the importance and value of goods such as silk, spices and gold.
I am certain that Y6's highlights of the term will be their wonderful
performance at Singfest and their residential visit to Pensarn.
We have seen them grow in confidence and maturity. They
have demonstrated all our school values and made wonderful
memories as you can see from the photographs.
In science they have been learning about how we see. This has
included how light travel and how the human eye works. They
19

RECEPTION
A busy term, learning about animals.
We were so lucky this term to see the arrival of
our very own pet rabbits; Daisy and Dusty. The
children love caring for the rabbits and I would
like to say a big thank you to all the parents,
helping us
The children have enjoyed working with Mr Simmons in the
forest, to create shelters for the animals that might live in
our woodland habitat. They have gone on to write an
information book to teach visitors about the animals that live
in Brereton Primary School’s woods.
We have celebrated World Book Day, British Science week, Mother’s Day and
the build up to Easter, by making pancakes, acting out Palm Sunday and we
have done some traditional Easter games. All the children took part in our
Reception egg rolling competition.
I was impressed with the buddy artist we have in Reception who
took inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy to create their very own
natural sculptures using rocks, shells, sticks, leaves, ice and then
mixed our own resources in.
20

SPORT
Thank you to Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School for
continuing to host competitions and festivals over the Spring
term. We look forward to more in the summer!
READING QUIZ
To make a change from our usual holiday book review challenge, over Easter
we’d love the children to have a go at completing a quiz all about some famous
stories. Our Patron of Reading, Mrs Winward, has written different quizzes
for Reception / Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and these can be found on
Showbie. If children need help with some of the questions, they can ask an adult
or use the internet. We hope that the children enjoy this activity and that they
may be inspired to read some of the books that feature in the quizzes.
Children whose completed quiz sheets are uploaded to Showbie will receive a
treat and anyone who completes all of our holiday book challenges throughout
the year will be entered into a prize draw to win an Amazon voucher.
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DATES
Tuesday 19th April - Pupils return to school
Tuesday 19th April - PTA meeting in the school hall at 6:15pm
Thursday 21st April - Mad Science after-school club starts
Friday 22nd April - Cheshire Cricket Club after-school club starts
Sunday 1st May - All age worship at St Oswald’s
Monday 2nd May - Bank Holiday
Wednesday 4th May - Y2 trip to Nantwich
Wednesday 4th–Friday 6th May - Y4 trip to York
Week beginning 9th May - KS2 SATs
Week beginning 16th May - KS1 SATs
Week beginning 23rd May - KS1 SATs
Monday 23rd May - New parents meeting in the school hall 6:30pm
Friday 27th May - Break up for half term
Monday 6th June - Inset Day
Week beginning 6th June - Y1 Phonics Screening
Week beginning 13th June - Y4 Multiplication Check
Friday 17th June - Father’s Day Present Room
Friday 1st July - Y6 Prom and school disco
Saturday 2nd July - Garden Party
Wednesday 6th July 6pm - Y6 Performance
Thursday 7th July - Y2 residential to Tattenhall
Friday 8th July 2pm - Y6 Performance
Wednesday 13th July - Y6 Leavers’ service at Chester Cathedral
Friday 15th July - Sports Day
Friday 15th July - Leavers’ Service
Wednesday 20th July - Last day of term