Year 6: Forest School

Today we had our penultimate Forest School session, with only one week to go before the long-awaited campfire! Today the children continued carving, creating butter knives and spoons out of sticks they found on the forest floor. Great teamwork was seen in the den building corner and a challenge to create 'a den that will keep you dry' was almost achieved, as long as the rain fell from above or the right-hand side! We also saw some crowns made with dandelions and friendships bracelets made with knots. 

What another great week, 6KB!

Year 3 and 4: Quad Kids

16 talented athletes from Years 3 and 4 recently competed in the Havering Quad Kids athletics event at Hornchurch Stadium. In this competition, each member of the team took part in a 50m sprint, a 400m run, a vortex throw and a standing long jump; their points from each discipline are then added together to get a team score. 

Every member of the team did brilliantly. In the challenging 400m run, every child took on advice about pacing themselves, resulting in some impressive times. Most importantly, they worked well as a team by congratulating and supporting each other and had smiles on their faces throughout the morning (well, apart from at the end of the long run!). In the individual placings, two of our girls were 3^rd highest overall finisher out of around 130 children in their year group, and we had many other top 10 finishers in the four events. 

After the event, we found out the team results.  Our Year 4 team finished in a superb 4^th place out of 36 schools in the borough, and our Year 3 team came 1^st out of 34 teams - what an incredible achievement!

Well done to the team for representing Hacton so well - we are very proud of you all. 

Year 4: Viking Day

Following on from our Anglo-Saxons work, Year 4 kicked off their last topic of the year with Viking Day. A tribe of brilliantly dressed young Vikings arrived at school ready for a day of activities. We created clay runes (Viking alphabet stones), made shields, baked bread and played some tribe (class) games on the field. We also had a very interesting talk from our in-house Viking expert Mr Manning about Viking gods/goddesses, ways of life and beliefs. We got to hold a Viking helmet, sword and chain mail vest, and watched a demonstration of a real axe in action. 

Thank you to parents and carers for providing outfits for this day; the teachers had a great time and we hope that the children did too. 

Year 2: Colchester Zoo

Last Friday, the sun was shining for Year 2's first ever school trip. 82 smiling faces and 18 excited adults climbed aboard the buses to Colchester Zoo. The trip was planned to sit alongside our science unit of Animals and their habitats but also for the pupil's social development in being away from school for the day and to experience something new. 

Once there, we split into groups and explored! The children especially loved the African area which reminded them of The Lion King. They saw the jolly giraffes being fed, the awesome ostrich displaying their beautiful feathers, the enormous elephants grazing on hay and the weary warthogs relaxing in the sunshine. 

The children were impeccably behaved, so much so that Mrs. Leslie received an email at lunchtime form a member of the public who was visiting the zoo on the same day. He commented, saying that 'I would just like to say how impressed with the behaviour of your group. They are very well behaved and a good advert for your school.' What an accolade to receive!

Year 2 enjoyed their special day out and some were so exhausted that they slept all the way home!

Thank you for an amazing day out and for being so well behaved. We are all very proud of you! 

Readers' Treat: Summer Term

The next two letters have been revealed and we're one step closer to working out what the treat is for this term! 

Each week, the children in both our KS1 and KS2 assembly will be tasked with selecting a number card to remove. Each number card chosen will reveal a letter which will be needed to spell out the treat by the end of the term. 

Let's see if we can have even more of you participating in this round of the Readers' Treat!

Year 3: PSHE

The final unit in PSHE for Year 3 is all about reflecting on our achievements and setting personal goals.

Last week, the children were thinking about how their own mindset could either have a positive or negative impact on achieving their own goals for Year 4. Firstly, we discussed the importance of having a growth mindset and sorted statements into either growth mindset or fixed mindset categories. Then, Miss Peters gave the children some challenging tasks to complete and encouraged the children to stay positive whilst completing them - everyone did! We finished the lesson with creating a list of statements to encourage others to be positive learners and made chatterboxes to always encourage positivity. 

Well done, Year 3!

Awesome Attendance Winners (w/c 20th June)

At Hacton, we have introduced a celebration of our attendance. Each week, as part of our assembly, we will announce who the Awesome Attendance winners are. They will get to have our Attendance cup for the week and will be rewarded with a treat in recognition of their fabulous attendance. 

See below for last week’s figures:

Achievements of the Week (w/c 20th June)

Congratulations to our Times Table winners this week! These pupils have hopped aboard the Times Table train to continue their journey to becoming a Times Table Champion. They have worked exceptionally hard to learn and master their multiplication and division facts. 

Our Achievements of the Week winners should be very proud of their success! 

E for Effort and WOW! Winners (w/c 20th June)

In order to reward our pupils who have gone above and beyond in their learning each week and put in extra effort, each class teacher chooses one pupil to receive the E for Effort cup and certificate. 

Here are this week's winners. Well done - we are very proud of you all!

Hacton Royal Bake Off!

Over the half term break, the children were set the challenge of the 'Hacton Royal Bake Off'! There were lots of amazing entries which made choosing the winners very difficult for Miss Zweistra!

Well done to everyone who took part! 

Year 6: Forest School

With many children out for transition days at their new secondary schools, all of the remaining Year 6 children came down to Forest School to enjoy an afternoon in the sunshine. The children made brilliant dens this week incorporating the tarpaulins and ropes. Some children continued to make dream catchers whilst others perfected their weaving skills. We saw friendship bracelets being made for each other as well as masterpieces with sticks, wool, imagination and flair. The tree and rope swing continued to be popular, with the swing going higher this week than the last few! 

Year 2: Music

This week, Year 2 have been learning about musical riffs (a short, repeated phrase, often played by a lead instrument) and what it means to improvise. We listened carefully to a well-known lead riff by Guns & Roses (Sweet Child of Mine) and used percussion instruments to improvise spontaneously. 

The children very much enjoyed experimenting with a variety of instruments. 

Readers' Treat: Summer Term

There has been a buzz of excitement this week as the next round of number cards have been removed. The children are already eagerly making their predictions as to what the treat could be and the countdown is officially on! 

Each week, the children in both our KS1 and KS2 assembly will be tasked with selecting a number card to remove. Each number card chosen will reveal a letter which will be needed to spell out the treat by the end of the term. 

Let's see if we can have even more of you participating in this round of the Readers' Treat!

TTRS Winners (w/c 13th June)

To run alongside our Times Table Journey, we have introduced Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) to help our children to develop a secure understanding and quick recall of their times table and division facts. 

Each week, class teachers will select a child in their class to enter the TTRS draw. At random, one child in KS1 and one child in KS2 will be chosen to win a prize. 

To be in with a chance, you need to be regularly using Times Tables Rock Stars: Play (ttrockstars.com). Good luck! 

Here are this week's winners!

Achievements of the Week (w/c 13th June)

Congratulations to our Times Table winners this week! These pupils have hopped aboard the Times Table train to continue their journey to becoming a Times Table Champion. They have worked exceptionally hard to learn and master their multiplication and division facts. 

Congratulations to our Reading and Poetry Superst★rs this week! To achieve this award, all of these children have either read poems or books by their year group authors (Bronze is 5, Silver is 10 and Gold is 15). A big well done to this week's winners who have demonstrated great commitment and dedication to reading. 

Our Achievements of the Week winners should be very proud of their success! 

E for Effort and WOW! Winners (w/c 13th June)

In order to reward our pupils who have gone above and beyond in their learning each week and put in extra effort, each class teacher chooses one pupil to receive the E for Effort cup and certificate. 

Here are this week's winners. Well done - we are very proud of you all!

Awesome Attendance Winners (w/c 13th June)

At Hacton, we have introduced a celebration of our attendance. Each week, as part of our assembly, we will announce who the Awesome Attendance winners are. They will get to have our Attendance cup for the week and will be rewarded with a treat in recognition of their fabulous attendance. 

See below for last week’s figures:

Year 2: History

This term, our Year 2 historians are learning about a significant person from the past. 

This week, Florence Nightingale visited the children at school for an interactive workshop in which they were transported back 200 years to learn about schooling, growing up and hospital conditions in Victorian times.

The pupils then went on a journey with Florence to Scutari as part of her team of nurses and worked with soldiers during the Crimean War. They learnt about the changes Florence made during the battle and what happened in her life when she returned to England. 

The children were enthralled and captivated by the workshop - we're so proud of them! 

Year 6: Macbeth

Year 6 have been immersed in the murder of King Duncan whilst studying 'Macbeth.' We entered the crime scene this week and were horrified to see two swords and two goblets. The children have been in full detective mode and have been discussing and identifying all the possible culprits - the number of suspects they had was unbelievable! 

Not only have Year 6 identified who they think committed the crime, they have also let their imaginations run wild into thinking about how Duncan could have been murdered. In relation to this awful crime, the children are writing newspaper articles informing the Scottish public of what is known at this stage of the crime. 

Year 2: Literacy

To begin our new story book for our English topic 'Flat Stanley', the children have had the opportunity to follow a set of instructions to make a kite. The children used a plastic bag, dowel rods, string and tape to create their kite, and then added the character Flat Stanley to the front.

Once all kites were made, the fun really began! After listening to the famous song, 'Let's go fly a kite' we skipped downstairs into the sunny playground and let the children go wild with flying their kites! 

It was a fun experience for the children which will hopefully inspire some super creative writing over the next couple of weeks.

P-HIC: Upminster Windmill

In glorious sunshine, our P-HIC children walked through the park to Upminster Windmill where they were greeted by ‘Mrs Abrahams’, the wife of a miller. Throughout the trip, the children were able to learn about the history of the windmill and what it was used for. They were very impressed by the fact that the windmill was built in 1803 and is still standing today! 

To bring the windmill experience to life, the children were able to dress up as farm and windmill workers from long ago and were able to have a go at grounding the grain into flour. 

After a lovely lunch in the garden, the children made their very own windmills. What a fantastic morning!

Year 6: Forest School

6KB had another lovely sunny afternoon at forest school this week. We saw lots of new skills being learnt including carving, weaving and den building. We also saw lots of fun being had in the mud kitchen; you are never too old to play with mud! Everyone showed great perseverance and resilience, as well as brilliant team working skills, with friends helping and supporting each other. 

At the end of the session we had some fantastic dream catchers, dragon's eyes, necklaces and wood carvings. What will next week hold?

Readers' Treat: Summer Term

The summer term Readers' Treat is fast approaching and our first letters have been revealed! 

Each week, the children in both our KS1 and KS2 assembly will be tasked with selecting a number card to remove. Each number card chosen will reveal a letter which will be needed to spell out the treat by the end of the term. 

Let's see if we can have even more of you participating in this round of the Readers' Treat!

E for Effort and WOW! Winners (w/c 6th June)

In order to reward our pupils who have gone above and beyond in their learning each week and put in extra effort, each class teacher chooses one pupil to receive the E for Effort cup and certificate. 

Here are this week's winners. Well done - we are very proud of you all!

Achievements of the Week (w/c 6th June)

Congratulations to our Times Table winners this week! These pupils have hopped aboard the Times Table train to continue their journey to becoming a Times Table Champion. They have worked exceptionally hard to learn and master their multiplication and division facts. 

Congratulations to our Reading and Poetry Superst★rs this week! To achieve this award, all of these children have either read poems or books by their year group authors (Bronze is 5, Silver is 10 and Gold is 15). A big well done to this week's winners who have demonstrated great commitment and dedication to reading. 

Our Achievements of the Week winners should be very proud of their success!