School council conference 10th Dec 2024
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On the 9th December, 6 of our school councillors attended the School Council Conference, along with 34 other Luton primary schools. We had the opportunity to share Downside's views about what makes Luton great and what we can do to make Luton even better, to members of Luton Borough Council. This is to help the council with their goal of making Luton a 'child-friendly town' by the year 2040. It's amazing to know that the children of Luton can make an impact, and that Downside have been able to play their part in shaping the future of Luton!

Year 2 - Burning houses 6th Dec 2024
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This week we burnt our houses that were made in the style of those from the Great Fire of London. This showed us how quickly the fire was able to spread due to the fact that the houses were extremely close together and made from flammable materials. All of this helped us with our information report writing.

Year 3 Rockhopper Church Visit 2nd Dec 2024
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Rockhopper visited St Mary’s church as part of their learning about the features of a Church in RE. All the children were given the opportunity to make a Christingle. Thanks to everyone at St marys.

Year 1 Family Learning 1st Dec 2024
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In our final Family Learning session with Year 1, the children made healthy couscous salad

Year author meeting with Peter Brown 30th Nov 2024
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Year 3 enjoyed a Q & A session with Peter Brown, author of the Wild Robot. The children also followed a step by step drawing tutorial to create the Wild Robot!

Science Club- Rocket Balloon 28th Nov 2024
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Balloons, tape, rockets and lots of investigation (and fun)

Parliament Week- Visit from our MP. 27th Nov 2024
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As part of parliament week it was a pleasure to welcome Luton MP Sarah Owen MP to Downside.

Year 3 Church Visit 27th Nov 2024
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King class visited St Mary's church on Monday 25th November 2024. The children explored the church and listened to an informative talk led by the church volunteers.

Year 6 Aviation Careers Workshop 20th Nov 2024
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Year 6 students took part in an incredibly inspiring virtual workshop all about careers in aviation! We heard from a pilot, an engineer and an air traffic controller about their day-to-day roles at work and the skills needed for their jobs. The pilot was particularly impressed by our classes being named after aircraft!

Year R - Autumn walk 18th Nov 2024
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We have been learning about the seasons and focusing on Autumn. We have looked at what happens to trees during the change of seasons. We enjoyed an Autumn walk on the school field and collected some leaves to make crowns with.

Year R - Exploring materials 18th Nov 2024
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In Science we have been looking at exploring different materials to see which is the best fit for the three little pig houses. We decided that lego was the best material because it was strong and the wolf couldn't blow it down.

Year R - library trip 18th Nov 2024
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We went on a trip to Leagrave library. We learnt how to look after books and how to get a library card. We listened to the librarian reading a story and took a ride in the minibuses.

Year R - Information Technology 18th Nov 2024
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In our Computing (Information Technology) lesson we have learnt how to take a picture on the tablets. We know to keep the camera steady so it doesn't go blurry and to always hold the tablets with two hands.

Year R - Antibullying week 18th Nov 2024
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We took part in Anti bullying week and learnt how to treat others with respect. We all signed an agreement as a class that we would treat others how we wish to be treated.

Science Club-dissolving. 13th Nov 2024
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This week, in Science club, the children investigated the rate of dissolving using M & M's and Smarties.

Year 5 Roman trip to St Albans 13th Nov 2024
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As a part of our History unit of work: Romans, we visited the St. Albans Verulamnim. Throughout the trip, children asked some highly thoughful questions as they interacted with real and replica Roman items. They've had the best start to our topic.

Year 2 - Bread making 13th Nov 2024
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This week Chef Paul taught us how to make bread. We are going to be writing instructions in our next writing topic so it was extremely helpful to watch it being made and create our own shapes. We collected lots of lovely imperative verbs and adverbs to use so that our instructions are clear and can be followed easily.

Year 5 ZSL Whispsnade Sustainability Assembly 11th Nov 2024
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Children found out about deforestation and the problem it will cause in the future. They also learnt about the changes which can be made in order to reduce levels of global warming.

Yr 5 & 6 Athletics Team Crowned Zone Champions 4th Nov 2024
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On Wednesday 23rd October Year 5 & 6 children were crowned indoor athletics zone chamipons and will compete in the Town Finals in January 2025.

Year 2 - Anti bullying week 4th Nov 2024
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This week Year 2 completed anti-bullying lessons based on the theme of respect. We made our own class pledge.

Year 1 - Local area walk 29th Oct 2024
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This week the year 1 children enjoyed a walk around their local area to support their writing as well as their Geography unit.

Year 3 meet author Chrissie Sains 25th Oct 2024
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On Wednesday 24th October 2024, children in Year 3 enjoyed a Q& A session with Chrissie Sains, the author of 'An Alien in the Jam Factory'.

Year 4 & 5 Maths Curriculum Walk 24th Oct 2024
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The maths team had a fantastic time on their curriculum walk around Year 4 & 5 last week. They were impressed with the high quality of work. they saw.

Year R - Digital Literacy 24th Oct 2024
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This half term we learnt the very important rule that if something makes us feel sad or uncomfortable on our devices we T-A-G... Tell a grown up.

Year 3 Art 21st Oct 2024
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After weeks of building our skills up with chalk pastels, we completed our final piece today. We all drew the composition of the fruit bowl and then used chalk pastels to create a 3D effect using shading, smudging, hatching and cross-hatching.

Year 5 Art 21st Oct 2024
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Year 5 children are half way through their sculpture unit. They created an armature of a sea creature using plastic and cardboard, used modroc to cover and secure and finally used sheets of modroc to add texture. We can't wait to see the finished sculptures.

Year 5 reading 21st Oct 2024
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In Year 5, children enjoy using Oxford reading Buddy and reading good old paper copies of books.

Reception SEND Sports day 21st Oct 2024
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Some of the children in reception had an extra awesome sports day in the sunshine. Lots of fun and some amazing skills on show. Well done to everyone who took part.

Year 4 Maths 21st Oct 2024
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Children in year 4 have been learning to use column subtraction with exchanges and using efficient methods of subtraction.

Year 6 Spitfire Class at Dunstable Downs 21st Oct 2024
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Year 6 students have had the most amazing week exploring the beauty of Dunstable Downs. From hiking to orienteering, den-making to rolling oranges downhill... we have had hours of fun! Some of us were also lucky enough to see the paragliders in action.

Year 6 Tempest class at Dunstable Downs 21st Oct 2024
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Year 6 students have had the most amazing week exploring the beauty of Dunstable Downs. From hiking to orienteering, den-making to rolling oranges downhill... we have had hours of fun! Some of us were also lucky enough to see the paragliders in action.

Year 6 Stirling class trip to Dunstable Downs 21st Oct 2024
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Year 6 students have had the most amazing week exploring the beauty of Dunstable Downs. From hiking to orienteering, den-making to rolling oranges downhill... we have had hours of fun! Some of us were also lucky enough to see the paragliders in action.

Year 6 Lancaster Trip to Dunstable Downs 21st Oct 2024
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Year 6 students have had the most amazing week exploring the beauty of Dunstable Downs. From hiking to orienteering, den-making to rolling oranges downhill... we have had hours of fun! Some of us were also lucky enough to see the paragliders in action.

Year 3 Maths 20th Oct 2024
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This week in Year 3, the children have been learning how to add two 3 digit numbers together using the column method. To support their understanding, they used counters and Dienes to visually represent the addition.

Year 5 Maths 20th Oct 2024
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Our focus this week is: Multiplication. The children have been learning about what the following words mean: - multiples - common multiples - factors - common factors

Year 6 Maths 20th Oct 2024
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This week in maths, Year 6, children have been applying their knowledge of negative numbers and solving problems, including those involving temperature.

Year R Maths - WB 14th October 18th Oct 2024
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This week in maths we have been learning all about numbers 8 and 9. We have practised number formation using our number rhymes and have made number block characters 8 and 9. Our maths tables have activities focused on numbers 1-9.

Year 2 Maths - WB 14th October 18th Oct 2024
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This week we have been focusing on addition and subtraction. We started by counting forwards and transferred this skill to adding on a number line. Then we moved to counting backwards and subtracting by drawing our own number lines.

Year 1 - Information Technology (Autumn 1) 18th Oct 2024
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This half terms unit was 'Technology around us'. Year 1 have been working hard to log on to the Chromebooks and explore the mouse and keyboard this half term. They have been developing their understanding of technology in general and how it can help us.

Year 1 Maths - WB 14th October 18th Oct 2024
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This week we worked on our number bonds to 10.

Year 2 reading mornings 17th Oct 2024
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Every Thursday from 8:45 until 9:00 we open the doors to our wonderful parents so that they can hear us read. Here are some photos of us reading with our parents.

Year 2 - Open Classroom 17th Oct 2024
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This week, the whole school have enjoyed opening the classroom doors to parents. Have a look at some photos from Year 2 enjoying guiding their parents around the classroom, showing work and exploring their favourite educational apps.

Parent and Community coffee morning. 17th Oct 2024
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Our annual Parent Coffee Morning took place on Wednesday 9th October 2024 and was a huge success.The turnout was fantastic, and parents took away a lot of information and advice. All the agencies were highly impressed with the parent turnout and engagement.

Year 5 meet author Hannah Gold 16th Oct 2024
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Year 5 children joined the multi-award winning bestselling author, Hannah Gold for the official schools virtual launch of her highly anticipated new book: TURTLE MOON, her thrilling new illustrated animal adventure for kids.

Year 3 meets author Chrissie Sains 16th Oct 2024
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Year 3 loved meeting author Chrissie Sains virtually this week. They have loved reading her book, An Alien in the Jam Factory, this half term. It was lovely to ask Chrissie so many of questions.

Year R - Art 15th Oct 2024
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This week we have been learning how to paint mix to make brown. We have used the primary colours , red , yellow and blue and used this to paint a bear.

Year R - Literacy - Goldilocks 11th Oct 2024
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In our Literacy lessons this week we have been learning the story of Goldilocks and the the three bears. We have learned about the characters feelings and have use role play to retell the story.

Year R - Computing - Information Technology 11th Oct 2024
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This week in computing we learnt what a digital device is. We learnt new words such as 'device and machine'. We used these words to role play with digital devices in our focused learning time.

Year R - Maths 11th Oct 2024
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In maths this week , we have been learning to recognise and write numbers 6 and 7. In our outdoor learning lesson we learnt about size language - baby bear is the smallest , mummy bear is bigger and daddy bear is the biggest bear.