This term, Years 3 and 4 have been enjoying learning about the Ancient Greeks through a range of exciting and creative activities. In art lessons, the children have designed their own Greek pottery patterns and illustrations, inspired by traditional Greek art and the stories it tells about life in the past. They are currently in the middle of creating theatre masks from papier mâché to represent comedy and tragedy, which were used in Greek amphitheatres to entertain large crowds.

Did you know that if audiences disliked a performance, they were known to throw objects such as olives, figs, nuts or small stones at the actors? Greek theatres could be very loud places, with people cheering enthusiastically for performances they enjoyed and openly showing their disappointment when they did not! This made performing in huge open‑air theatres both entertaining and challenging for actors.

The children have developed their historical understanding further by writing non‑chronological reports about daily life in Ancient Greece. These included learning about the importance of religion, the origins of the Olympic Games, and the lives of Greek citizens in different city‑states. Through these activities, pupils have explored Greek culture, art and traditions while developing their creativity, research and writing skills.

We are all looking forward to our Ancient Greek Day in school on Monday 15th June, when we will be hosting History Off the Page. Specialist teachers will be running a range of workshops to deepen our understanding of this fascinating and significant historical period. We will be dressing up in simple Greek outfits and stepping back in time for the day.

An amazing afternoon of really competitive netball finished in victory for Swavesey!

A great day of football in the YDP CUP.

This week has been RE week across the whole school and in Year 1 and 2 we have been finding out about ‘Who lives in our community?’

We began by thinking about what makes Swavesey special to us. We talked about how we enjoy being part of groups such as Rainbows and Beavers. We then thought about the faith communities in Swavesey.

We visited St Andrew’s church and met Reverend Stephen Dove. He showed us around the church and shared a story from The Bible. He told us about how the church supports the community. We enjoyed making our own stained glass windows

We also learnt about the Muslim community in Swavesey and Cambridge. Mrs Nadia talked to us about Ramadan and the festival of Eid. She also shared her photographs of the Cambridge Mosque and spoke about the important roles it plays for Muslims.

We have been really proud of how thoughtful, inquisitive and respectful the children have been.

Well done Year 1 and 2. 

A great morning of cup stacking at Melbourn VC.

We have had a wonderful time celebrating World Book Day this week.

We tested our ‘book smart knowledge’ in quizzes; it is amazing how many book characters we know! Swallows Class got a shout out online for doing so well in the quiz 😊

KS1 planned to join an online session with the author and illustrator Marta Altes although unfortunately this has had to be rescheduled due to technical difficulties. KS2 learnt about author Kwame Alexander’s life and participated in a fun online ‘Writing Poetry Couplets’ workshop.

The highlight of our week was Book Day itself when pupils and teachers dressed up as characters from books including strange looking creatures, wizards, robots and cowboys to name a few. We marvelled at each other’s costumes during our parade in the playground. Jonty Gentoo the penguin visited school and caused a great stir in the playground too, thanks to Mr Thomson.

We also enjoyed sharing story books with children across the year groups. It was lovely to see the engagement and joy on younger children’s faces as the older children shared books with them, some written by themselves!

Please look out for your child’s £1 book token which should have been sent home this week and continue to share our love of reading!