This week has been British Science Week. The theme this year is ‘time’ and to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of British Science week at Mapplewells, all year group have taken part in a practical investigation based on the theme.

In Year 4, the children were investigating the time it takes for chocolate to turn into a liquid. The children were observing if chocolate is a reversible change. They discovered that chocolate can be turned back into its original state.  

Thank you to everyone who took part in Dress up for Digits today to support the NSPCC. The children took part in fun maths activities across their key stages and we raised a total of £180!! All of which will make an enormous difference help the NSPCC support children

The cross country season has begun with Mapplewells cross country team entering their first event at the Ashfield District Qualifiers last week. We're absolutely delighted to share that the team enjoyed a truly brilliant set of results. 

In a tough contest involving 13 schools from across the district, our amazing team bagged two medals, for a first place finish from Arlo and a third place finish for Maddie, and an excellent 5 top ten finishes that each qualify for the District finals next month.

A huge well done and congratulations to the whole team for such a fantastic set of results, and here's wishing the you all good luck in the District finals in February. 

Last week F2 received a letter from the King as he had heard we were learning about our country and were going to be learning more about London. He told us that the Queen used to love having afternoon tea and he thought it would be a good idea for us to have our very own afternoon tea in the hall. We wrote a letter to Mr Whittle to see if we were allowed and luckily Mr Whittle said YES! Hooray! Therefore, on Monday we all had afternoon tea in the hall, we had sandwiches, crisps and scones, it was delicious! This week we have been busy writing a letter to King Charles to tell him all about it.

We are really excited about the new curriculum enquiries the children will be studying during the spring term. Our curriculum driver for this term is Geography, meaning all of our enquiries have this as a focus. All of the enquiries have been carefully planned and thought out by the school staff based on our curriculum principles of Memory, Opportunity, Vocabulary, Equality & Equity (MOVE).

Children will take part in a 'hook' event to introduce them to their new enquiry, have access to experts, read a range of informative and key texts and have a range of experiences to support their learning before presenting their new knowledge in their authentic outcome at the end of the enquiry.

Each of the enquiries is supported by a Knowledge mat. This contains all the new vocabulary, sticky knowledge and key facts the children will need to know for their enquiry journey. These can be found on the class pages1 along with details of the autumn enquiries.

This terms enquiry questions are:

EYFS: What makes Britain Great?

KS1: What makes the UK unique?

Yr 3/ 4: How can our planet show us anger?

Yr 5/ 6: Is human need greater than others