This week Year 5 & 6  had the opportunity to visit Cambridge, one of Britain’s most famous universities. Cambridge University is home to over 18,000 students and each student is placed in one of the 31 colleges. We visited Clare College. We found out that  took over 200 years to build! It was completed under the reign of King Henry VIII. We learnt that university students don’t have a school day like we do, instead students have to control their own timetable and are responsible for making sure their work is completed. When you go to  university, you choose one subject to study!

It was wonderful to be able to walk through buildings and experience an exclusive seminar on Earth’s History delivered by Nigel Woodcock  where students have been taught for over 800 years. The trip has inspired the class to consider their  aspirations and what they want to achieve in their lives. Everyone enjoyed the day!

here are the highlights !

What a fantastic week we have had in Food week! The children learned about healthy food and the many industries of food e.g. GM foods, Organic food and Fair trade. The food sale was a great success and Alhumdulillah we raised £321.33. Thank you so much for your kind donations and support. The money raised will go to the Somalia famine crisis Insha’Allah.

Book Week at Buttercup started off with a bang with the Hobgoblins theatre company who put on a fantastic show for the Key stage 2 children called ‘The greatest fairy tales ever told’ and they ended the week with another show of ‘Goldilocks and the tree bears’ for the key stage 1 and Early Years children.

Over the week children have participated in fun filled games, competitions, dressing in pyjamas and of course reading opportunities to encourage children to read more and value books. Year 3 and 4 made a visit to our local Idea store to discover what they have got to offer and came back all wanting to join!

Thank you to the 2 parents who gave up their time to read to their child’s class. It was wonderful watching parents taking part and supporting the school. Next year we want to see many more parents In Sha Allah!!!

Finally thank you for helping your children dress up for our own Book day celebrations. The children looked amazing! Each year the standard is getter higher and higher and the creativity is superb. All the winners received a special Wonka bar, we wonder who found the golden ticket?

Book Week at Buttercup started off with a bang with the Hobgoblins theatre company who put on a fantastic show for the Key stage 2 children called ‘The greatest fairy tales ever told’ and they ended the week with another show of ‘Goldilocks and the tree bears’ for the key stage 1 and Early Years children.

Over the week children have participated in fun filled games, competitions, dressing in pyjamas and of course reading opportunities to encourage children to read more and value books. Year 3 and 4 made a visit to our local Idea store to discover what they have got to offer and came back all wanting to join!

Thank you to the 2 parents who gave up their time to read to their child’s class. It was wonderful watching parents taking part and supporting the school. Next year we want to see many more parents In Sha Allah!!!

Finally thank you for helping your children dress up for our own Book day celebrations. The children looked amazing! Each year the standard is getter higher and higher and the creativity is superb. All the winners received a special Wonka bar, we wonder who found the golden ticket?

Alhumdulillah Science Week was a great success! Over the week, the children learned about the different aspects of Chemistry, Biology and Physics. They took part in different experiments and have had so much fun learning new ideas. Dressing up day was also a great success. We had doctors, astronauts, nurses, mad scientists, planets and even a test tube coming into school! Thank you for helping your children use their imaginations to design and make their wonderful costumes!

Cycling has many benefits; health and wellbeing, environmental, social and economic. It is an inclusive, empowering, inexpensive activity that is accessible to everyone.“The benefits of cycling run much deeper than balance sheets or carbon footprints. It’s a crucial life skill, giving children an early road sense as they take their first steps towards independence. As well as offering easy, exhilarating exercise, it also helps young people develop what psychologists call resilience – the crucial ability to assess and navigate through risk.”

At Buttercup our Whole School Cycling Project aims to provide opportunities for the whole school community to experience structured, useful cycling that will benefit them practically. Through the project we offer cycle training for all Key Stage 2 pupils, following the Bikeability syllabus:

Level One training for all KS2 pupils, equipping pupils with the skills necessary to ride safely off the road.

Level Two training for years 5 and 6, enabling pupils to ride safely on quiet roadsand make decisions as to their road positions, communication with and awareness of other road users.

All training is provided by fully accredited National Standards cycle instructors. We also offer cycle training (following the same structure) for all teaching and support staff.

Buttercup  has successfully bid for a selection of pool of bikes which are available to the whole school, including 15 pupil bike, two staff bikes . We also have secure, weather-proof cycle storage for all pupils, staff and visitors cycling to school.

As well as the Key Stage 2 cycle training we also:

• run a weekly after school cycling club
• hold termly Dr. Bike surgeries which provide maintenance and upkeep of bikes belonging to the school, staff, pupils and their families, as well as an annual adult bike maintenance workshop for the wider comunity.
• run regular instructor led cycle rides for pupils and their parents & carers around the local area.

Here are some of our highlights….

The children in Year 5/6 enjoyed the day out by the river, packed full of hands-on learning which links into the KS2 curriculum for science, geography, design & technology. They also had the opportunity to learn about the history of the river Thames and explore the  historic Dutch barge.  Children spent  the day as scientists  observing the urban river environment . They worked in teams to test the water for pollutants, their data  was then uploaded onto an online database for scientists, policy makers and academics to use to assess the health of the Thames: Freshwater Watch. They all explored the boat, water,  and explored further in depth as energy and waste detectives. Children got to learn and understand about local and international green inventors and exciting eco technologies of the future. The class split into teams where they used all of their learning from the day  to design their very own Eco Boat, and  presented  their finished designs to the class!   Everyone had a memorable learning experience by the Thames, and have been inspired to be the next generation of green inventors safeguarding  the health of the Thames for generations to come!   Here are the highlights…..