Our Classes

In the Autumn term we start out in our new class by finding out about 'Ourselves' and each other, making lots of new friends on the way! We also meet our Buddies from Year 6 who help and support us. We find out we are all different and we are all special.

Having learnt what makes us tick, we then look into our homes and other habitats, including the world 'Under the Sea' and bug habitats… We find out all about the Three Little Pigs and the homes they build.

We read a variety of stories and find out all about Rainbow fish who helps us learn how we can make new friends by sharing. We meet the Octopus who starts with ‘o’ sound and other weird and wonderful creatures.

We learn all about numbers all around us and have lots of fun using them. 

We work really hard at our phonics so that we can start to ‘hear’ the sounds that make words and use them to read and write. 

Heading towards Christmas we investigate ‘traditional tales’ in our topic of 'Stories and Celebrations'. We love these stories and listen intently to different versions to spot the differences and similarities. 

We end the term finding out about the greatest story and celebration of Christmas, the most important story of all, retelling the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.

In the Spring term we take a look at 'Toys'. We use our research skills to find out about toys in the past and compare them to the toys we play with now. We love teddy bears, old and new, and we find out lots about an exciting bear hunt as well as a teddy bears picnic…

Then it's Spring time and we look at 'Growth and Change'. We plant all sorts of seeds and bulbs and wait patiently to see what happens – a bit like Jasper in 'Jasper’s Beanstalk' by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen. We also think about ‘Jack and his beanstalk’… but watch out for our giants!

In the Summer term we venture off into ‘Space’ to have lots of adventures. We learn about the planets and even meet aliens. We think about caring for planet Earth too. We end the year on a beach, we explore and find out what we like about the beach and what we might find there… We look at a lighthouse and we think about staying safe at the beach. We find out about sharks and enjoy playing and investigating with water and sand. Then we are surrounded by pirates! We even look for treasure… How many gold coins can we find? It’s okay though because most of them are friendly pirates.

Over the year we learn lots about sounds all around us and numbers all around us as well as reading lots of stories, we learn how to find out more about things and we complete lots of challenges and learn how to try hard and get better at things, but most of all we make friends and have fun!

In Year 1 we enjoy learning through practical activities and engaging topics.

In the autumn term we travel back in time and go walking with dinosaurs! We make our own dinosaur eggs and fossils and also go on dinosaur digs where we patiently excavate our fossils, just like Mary Anning. We learn about all the various dinosaurs; what they ate, how they moved, their similarities and differences and compare these to humans and animals we know today. Later in the term we use maps and atlases to locate the various continents where fossils have been found and look at how the world has changed since the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

In the spring term we travel to outer space! We explore different materials and decide on the best material to design and build our own rocket and moon buggy. We look at non-fiction texts and carry out research on the first man who travelled to the moon. We compose our own fact file about the launch and make a timeline of his life. Our classroom role play area is transformed into a NASA space station and we write a recount of our experiences in space.

In the summer term we go under the sea! We learn about the different marine creatures that inhabit our oceans and how they are adapted to survive in different environments. We compare the lengths of some of the largest fish and mammals in the sea with everyday animals and we discover why food chains are so important for our ecosystems. We finish this unit with a special trip to the beach to explore nature trails and hunt down fossilised remnants of different ocean species. 

In Year 1 we work hard and always try our best! We enjoy our practical learning experiences and we are enthusiastic about learning new things, but above all else we have fun.

Throughout the year we take part in many interesting and challenging activities.  In the autumn term, we begin by studying twisted tales and get creative by writing our own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. During this term, the children study animals and how they grow, we particularly enjoy looking at British birds and the different habitats across the UK. In Geography, we will travel the United Kingdom with Sunny the Meerkat, learning about our physical geography and seas. We also journey to the Crimea to meet the important nurses who changed health care and nursing forever; Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. We will take part in a drama workshop to bring Florence Nightingale to life!

As we get closer to Christmas, we will make moving fairy tale pictures to celebrate traditional and twisted tales, as well as practising our acting and singing skills ready for our Nativity performance! We also have an exciting trip to Colchester Zoo to take part in the Christmas Penguin Experience, where we learn all about penguins, their habitats and whether they would be a suitable choice to pull Santa’s sleigh!

In the spring term we become immersed in the story of the Great Fire of London. To begin, we travel back in time to 1666 and learn how different life was then. We create a timeline of events and look at artefacts to help us understand how the fire spread and eventually stopped. In computing, we learn how to use algorithms by programming robots. In our art lessons, we become architects as well as expressive painters, exploring and using a range of different painting techniques. 

In the final term we get ready to make the step up to Key Stage 2. We investigate animals' habitats and plant growth and learn about the importance of plants and how they support life on earth. We spend time tending our Year 2 garden and growing lots of different plants from seed, as well as studying butterflies through a hatching cycle. We write our own fabulous stories based around Max and the Wild Things, which we then read to our 'buddies' in Reception class. We also create Wild Things poems containing imaginative vocabulary which everyone enjoys reading out loud, especially when we hold our hand sown Wild Thing puppet! In PSHE we look forward to our journey into Year 3 by thinking about our dreams and goals and reflect on all that we have achieved during our time in Year 2!



Year 3 is full of fun and engaging activities that captivate the children in their

learning and intrigue their curious minds.

We start off the Autumn Term by engaging in our topic “The Prehistoric World”

throughout this term we learn about the lives of people in the Stone Age and

even try to become one of them! We make stone age artefacts, examine stone

age “muck” to find out about the diets of hunter gatherers and much more! Our

topic underpins our art lessons as we begin to use a new media of charcoal to

create some stone age cave paintings. In our writing lessons we create

instructions on how to wash a woolly mammoth, but we also take a break from

the stone age to write newspaper reports about a sneaky fox and underwater

poetry.

In addition to this we learn about forces and magnets in our science lessons as

well as some rather interesting scientists. We also start creating some stop

motion animation in computing, which is always an exciting unit for the children

to produce their own short films!

After the Christmas break we immerse ourselves into our ‘Rumble in the

Rainforest’ topic as we learn a wide variety of facts about the Amazon Rainforest

in South America and turn our classroom into a rainforest. We have a great time

learning about what life is like in the rainforest and how the rainforest is used by

the local people. It is always good to compare this to our local area, so we enjoy

a fieldwork trip to Castle Park.

Additionally, we study a variety of famous scientists that have had an impact on

our environment and animal preservation as we learn about the importance of

looking after our earth. This follows into our English as we read ‘Greta and the

Giant’ and write persuasive letters about deforestation. We create our own

stories based in the rainforest and explore various types of animal poetry. In DT,

we get creative whilst developing our practical skills as we design and produce a

hand sewn rainforest creature. Alongside all of this, we learn how to play short

tunes on the recorder, to the joy of all the surrounding classrooms!

As we enter the summer term we focus on our ‘Roman Invasion!’ topic. We learn

about the lives of others in the era and explore the impact that the Romans have

had on Britain and our great city. We explore significant events for the Roman

army and place these on a timeline whilst also studying various Roman artefacts.

In DT we design and create our own Roman shields inspired by the ones we

would have researched and then we take these into our own class battle! Within

this topic we take our first school trip of the year to Colchester Castle and get

fully immersed into our city’s wild history! During our school trip, we learn a lot

about Queen Boudica and we write non-chronological reports about her impact

on Colchester.

In the autumn term, we kick off the year with our ‘Curious Creatures’ topic. This topic is based around our science unit about Living Things and their Habitats, which sees us explore and classify organisms. All of our English work is then centred around animals and mythical creatures, and we write persuasive adverts for animals, nonsense poems based on ‘The Jabberwocky’, and mythical hybrid creature character descriptions. In addition, we learn about the natural history of Earth, design and build our own bug hotels, and explore the geography of rivers. We also go on our first school trip of the year, to Colchester Zoo, and learn about the importance of animal conservation.

With the arrival of spring, we begin our new topic – ‘Adventurers and Explorers’. This topic sees us ‘explore’ some of the most famous adventurers and explorers in history, and focusses on the first Europeans to discover the Americas. This leads perfectly into our geography unit where we learn about the diverse human and physical geography of the continent of North America. For our English lessons, we write both fictional and non-fictional writing about adventures, in the form of a recount and an adventure story. During this term, we also go on our second trip of the year, to pizza express. Following this, we design, create and evaluate our own tortilla pizzas!

In our final term, we have our big history unit – ‘The Anglos Saxons and Viking Invaders’! This sees us pick up from the history of Britain taught in Year 3, when the Romans begin to leave. We then cover the settling of the Anglo Saxons and the Viking invasions, and finish with the Norman conquest of Britain. We will explore poetry about the Norse gods as well as writing our own Viking sagas. In art, we will focus on sculptures, by designing and creating food sculptures. Alongside this, we will design and create smoothies, focussing on the sustainability and seasonality of different fruits and vegetables. Year 4 will also attend a series of swimming lessons at Leisure World as part of the P.E. curriculum.



Year 5 is amazing! We begin the year looking at World War 2 as a significant event in British history. The children discover what it was like to live as someone during the war looking at artefacts from the era, recreating historical artefacts and we explore the lives of others from the era through novel studies and a class performance. The children look at the historical significance of key events; the changing geography of the world as a result of the war; and in an attempt to really embed the realities of the time we are invited to take part in a four day residential visit to Norfolk – this is also a great opportunity for the children to develop some independence and responsibility!

Following Christmas the children explore how the events of World War 2 led to the next big human endeavour - space exploration. Through film and novel studies we explore the space race and the journey to the moon. We study some key historical figures such as Newton, Galileo and Copernicus and visit the Science Museum. The children have lots of opportunities for exploring forces through several DT projects and will also learn about the Solar System and more specifically the Earth. This is a particularly fun topic and the children always enjoy the challenges associated with it.

In the summer term we explore the Ancient Greek civilization and the influence they have had on the modern world. The children look at artefacts from the era and use them as inspiration for their own creations. English sees the retelling of myths and legends based on the stories of the time, giving ample opportunity for the children to get creative and demonstrate their writing skills!

The class is fast paced and very busy but the year flies by! We learn a lot, but above all else we have fun.

Year 6 is always a very busy year at St Thomas More’s! We enjoy our extra roles and responsibilities throughout the school: our Buddies in Reception, making sure they get to know our school and always have a special friend when needed; our House Captains who motivate their teams each week which culminates in Sports’ Day during the summer term, plus many other jobs and tasks we are trusted with throughout our school year. 

We begin the academic year by looking at our topic ‘The Rights of the People’ when we look at: the structure of the UK Parliament; how new laws are passed and the importance of debate; the role of the Suffragette movement and our rights as citizens. We even ask the question, ‘why is it important to ask questions?’

In the Spring term we travel further back in time and look at the ‘Life and times of Shakespeare’, studying the early years of the Bard and his move to London, his plays and sonnets, primarily focusing on the tragedy of Macbeth and try to understand the motivations, thoughts and feelings of the various key characters and convey this through our writing. ‘Double, double, toil and trouble’...the children have lots of fun bringing the language to life while they perform some classic Shakespearean lines.

During the summer term we travel even further back in time and find ourselves on the banks of The Nile when we examine the lives of the Ancient Egyptians, finding the answers to the questions: who were the Egyptians? What was life like in Ancient Egypt? How did they live and work?

Woven within our topics across the year we also look at the UK: the landscape and characteristics of each of the countries; how people have affected the landscape; explore different industries as well as understanding different types of energy sources. As we further our scientific knowledge, we wonder where we get our eye colour from; which of us can roll our tongue; how animals are classified and how some species have evolved; how does light travel; how do we see colour? 

There are so many highlights to our academic year in Year 6 and the one many look forward to with excitement is when we spend a week together on a residential trip, taking part in lots of exhilarating adventurous activities as well as exploring the local area. We work really hard over the year, but we have lots of fun along the way!

At the end of the school year, while we reflect on our time at St Thomas More’s, we celebrate our journey, looking at how far we have come as we make the transition to our new schools. As it comes ever closer to saying goodbye, we celebrate our time and our achievements at our school with a Year 6 musical production and at our final Leavers’ Mass together with the whole school community and our families before we say good luck and goodbye to all our friends!