Nursery - Computing - Ice-Cream Creations
The children approached the interactive whiteboard with high levels of curiosity and engagement, particularly with the vibrant colours and responsiveness of the Purple Mash drawing function. For the newer class members, the activity provided a foundational experience in early digital literacy. These children primarily focused on the cause and effect relationship between their physical movements and the marks appearing on the screen. They explored moving their hands across the board, watching lines and scribbles appear, demonstrating an initial understanding that their actions directly influenced the digital output. Their movements were broad and experimental, indicating the very first stages of control over a digital tool. The older and more experienced children in the class exhibited more refined digital literacy skills and intentionality. These students actively attempted to control their movements to achieve specific shapes, notably working on creating circular motions to form ice cream scoops. Their engagement also extended to thinking about their design, verbally contemplating and selecting virtual "toppings" for their ice creams e.g., "I want sprinkles!", "Strawberry on top!". This demonstrated developing digital dexterity, early planning skills, and the ability to integrate imaginative ideas with the available digital tools. Overall, the activity successfully catered to a range of developmental stages, allowing all children to explore digital mark-making at their own level while fostering early computing and creative expression.
Year 1 - Computing - Animated Story Books
In Year 1, we've been on an amazing adventure, bringing our favourite stories to life! We learned all about animated storybooks and added super cool sounds to them. Get ready to hear our characters giggle, monsters roar, and the wind whisper through the trees! It's been so much fun making our stories sing!
Online Safety - Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo’s long-awaited Switch 2 has finally arrived, blending fresh hardware with fan-favourite franchises. From Mario to Pikachu, the familiar mascots are back – but so too are evolving online features, in-game purchases, and potential exposure to mature content. As ever, it’s essential that parents and educators understand the risks to young players. Among these are GameChat voice communication, camera-based gaming, and potential access to mature-rated titles. This guide outlines what to watch out for and how to keep children safe, engaged and having fun.
Year 2 - Computing - Making Music
Today, the children had an engaging computing lesson focused on "Making Music." They used headphones and eagerly explored music creation on their laptops. Each student was immersed in the activity, observing the colorful interfaces that guided them in composing their own tunes. It was evident they enjoyed experimenting with various sounds and arranging them to create unique musical pieces.
Year 4 Computing - Effective Searching
Year 4 have been putting their information finding skills to the test, learning how to effectively search for facts using efficient questioning in Internet search engines. We have had to determine whether the information we find can be trusted, useful skills that can be helpful in many different situations!
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Online Safety - Youtube Kids
YouTube Kids promises a safe, child-centric experience with colourful visuals, age-filtered content, and robust parental controls. Designed to appeal to younger viewers, the app has grown rapidly, being used by tens of millions of children worldwide. But is it as safe as it seems? Despite YouTube Kids’ safeguards, reports have highlighted worrying issues, such as inappropriate content slipping through filters, subtle advertising, and the use of manipulative design to keep children engaged. Our guide explores how to navigate these pitfalls, offering practical advice for making sure children get the most from the platform – without the risks.
Year 2 Computing - Presenting Ideas
In our Year 2 computing lesson, we learned valuable skills in digital literacy and creative expression. We utilised laptops to develop and present our ideas, focusing on the process of creating a story.
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Online Safety - Violent Content Online
Around 70% of teenagers say they’ve seen real-life violence on social media in the past year. Violent content online isn’t just something young people are occasionally stumbling across – in many cases, it’s becoming a routine part of their digital world. From fights and stabbings to toxic ideologies , disturbing videos are often just a click away on social media or group chats. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide highlights the unseen risks this poses to children’s mental health , sense of safety, and social behaviours. With insights from a leading expert , it offers practical ways for parents and educators to respond with empathy and support – not punishment or panic.
Online Safety -Minecraft
With its limitless opportunities for building, exploring and collaborating, Minecraft remains a global gaming phenomenon. Its broad appeal lies in how open-ended it is – but this also means it’s not without risk. From chatting with strangers on public servers to the grief of having a beloved creation destroyed, young players can face challenges if left unsupervised. Minecraft can also become a time sink for enthusiastic players, with late nights spent crafting and constructing, potentially impacting school and social lives. We’ve created this free guide to help parents and educators understand how to keep young gamers safe – from choosing age-appropriate game modes to setting boundaries around screen time and spending.
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Year 6 Pre Sats Webinar
Year 6 recently benefited from an engaging online webinar hosted by Kooth, which provided them with helpful strategies to support their emotional wellbeing in the lead-up to their SATs next week. The session proved to be a valuable experience, offering reassurance and validating their feelings by highlighting that many students share similar experiences.
Pre School - Computing - To Paint A Butterfly
In Computing the children painted a butterfly linked to our story The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Using the class chromebook the children sat and designed their butterfly on Purple Mash, selecting which colour they were going to use and then smaking their marks using the touch screen.
Year 3 Computing - Exploring Emails
In their computing lesson Year 3 have been learning about sending and replying to emails. They talked about sending safe emails and about reporting emails they are unsure of. Mrs Heald sent the children an email which they replied to, answering questions about their favourite colours and films. They then sent their own email to a friend in class.
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