Our summer 2 whole school project 'United by Sport' focuses on the 2024 Olympics. Throughout this topic we will be exploring the traditions and history of the Olympic Games and how they embody our school values of respect, diversity, teamwork and effort. 

Over the next few weeks we are focusing on the core text 'The Story of the Olympics' by Usborne Publishing.

This week in English we have learnt and performed the poem 'Athlete' by Roger Stevens. This inspired us to write our own version of the poem 'To be an Olympic Athlete You Need...' We really enjoyed talking about the attributes of an athlete and recognised many of these strengths in ourselves! 

In Art we are learning about the life and work of the artist Piet Mondrian. Mondrian was born in the Netherlands and we will be learning all about this country in Geography over the coming weeks. 

Piet Mondrian is widely known for his abstract paintings, but he also produced an extensive series of tree painting over a period of five years between 1908 and 1913. 

Over the coming weeks we will be creating our own beautiful artwork of trees around our local area in the style of Mondrian. 

For our first art session we practised creating our own compositions using some of the lines, shapes and tones we could see in some of Mondrian's early works. 

We then went outside and chose four different trees to sketch in our Forest School. 

In Geography we have been learning about the Netherlands where Piet Mondrian was born in 1872. We located the Netherlands and the UK on a map and talked about their close proximity. We then carried out research to find out more about the Netherlands' capital city, culture and famous landmarks. 

In English we have been researching the history of the Olympic Games and the significance of some of the Olympic symbols. We will use our research to write a non-chronological report about the Olympic Games next week. 

Mondrian's first art works were very much influenced by the nature he saw around his hometown in the Netherlands . Today in Art we decided to explore the beautiful nature around us and let it inspire our creativity. 

We collected a range of leaves around Forest School and looked at them very closely. We carefully sketched the lines, shapes and other details we could see in the leaves. 

In Geography we have carried out further research to learn more about the Netherlands. We identified some landmarks and sorted them into human or physical features. 

We have enjoyed exploring using hammers and nails to join pieces of wood in our outdoor Woodwork Area. 

In Art we have been looking at some of Mondrian's more abstract pieces of art. We explored using line and shape to create an abstract sketch of a tree. 

In English we are learning about the life and achievements of Paralympic gold medalist Ellie Simmonds OBE.