Hi, I'm Teacher Sample (they/them) and I teach Year 5 Kestrels. I'm so excited to be a part of this school for a second year.

I have lived and worked in Germany and China prior to working at St John's. This year, I have taken on the role of MFL lead as I have a passion for learning languages. I can speak German, Chinese and Spanish. I'm looking forward to teaching German as our school's MFL and to teach my class some Spanish during our South America topic.

As well as being a teacher, I like coffee, Lego, and dinosaurs! 

 

Other staff working in our class are:

Mrs Miller (Mon-Wed & Fri), Miss Walker (Mon-Thurs), Mrs Bates (Thurs) ​

Important dates for the diary this term for Kestrel Class:

PE will now take place on a Wednesday afternoon. Please send your child to school in school PE kit.

10.6.25: Holi Festival 

16.6.25: Volleyball workshop 

18.6.25: Sports Day 

24.6.25: Road safety workshop 

Our learning this term: 

English: We are reading  The Boy at the Back of the Class, a story about a refugee moving to England and creating friendships. 

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Maths: We are learning about decimals, negative numbers and converting units of measure. 

Science: We are learning about Animals (including humans) 

Topic: We are starting a Geography topic called "Mapping the World", which includes field work. 

RE: We are continuing our two-term unit on Islam and answering the question: What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today? 

German: We are learning consolidating all our German learning and creating an "About Me" poster for our Year 6 teacher! 

Computing: We are learning to plan, record and edit videos. 

Learning at home for Kestrel Class :

• Reading AR books 

• Spelling shed 

• TTS Rockstars 

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Be ready for learning! In Kestrel your child will need to have these items in school: 

• water bottle (no squash or juice) 
• small rucksack (big enough to hold lunch box and reading books) 
• wellington boots (to leave in school) 
• coat (weather appropriate) 

Please don’t bring other items to school, as we do not have space to store them, and it can cause upset if things are lost or damaged. 

Term 5 

Canterbury Cathedral trip: Year 5 started their learning about the Vikings with a trip to the cathedral; taking part in a costume trail around various parts of the cathedral acting out the history of the Vikings in Canterbury, and then making stained glass windows, pilgrim crosses and writing their names in calligraphy and Viking runes. 

Outdoor learning: For our Maths topic about co-ordinates, we drew pirate treasure maps and maps of the playground, and then plotted the features using co-ordinates. We will revisit this learning in Geography in Term 6. 

 

Science experiments: To support our Science learning about Forces, the children took part in several practical experiments, including: testing air resistance on the playground, testing air resistance by making parachutes and dropping them from different heights, testing buoyancy and water resistance by creating different shapes out of blu-tack and dropping them in water. 

 

Term 4

Pancake day: We enjoyed pancakes together as a class to mark Shrove Tuesday.

Indoor sports day: Kestrels took part in the school's indoor sports day ahead of the main event in Term 6. We were so impressed by the children's resilience, teamwork and motivation for each other.

Outdoor learning: Kestrels did a lot of outdoor learning this term; for both Science and Maths. Have a look at the fantastic nature graphs they made:

Take a look at their Science lesson about the life cycles of animals:

Term 3

Geography hook afternoon: We started off our South America topic by trying lots of different fruits that grow in South America and deciding which was our favourite. The children were brave to try things they had never eaten before!

Flowers and plants: The children took a hands-on approach in some Science lessons when learning about different parts of plants and how they reproduce.

Winter writing week: In Week 4, the children wrote winter poems inspired by a chilly experience in the classroom: ice cubes and fake snow!

Kites: In their Art lessons with Mrs Sanger, the children designed and built their own kites. Maybe you could try flying them at home!

Children's mental health day: We marked this day by learning about our emotions and the physical signs we might feel; learning that we are all different and have different personalities, and by watching Inside Out 2!

Team-building: Kestrels had another team-building afternoon to put into practice lots of the group work and social skills we have been learning this term. It was a lovely way to end the term, and we think the children had a great time!

Term 2

Kings' Breakfast: Kestrels class was invited to the Kings' School for a delicious breakfast! The children were fantastic representatives of our school community and returned to school very full!

Harvest worship: We created a puppet show to tell the story of The Mustard Seed, which was told during our Harvest worship. The children worked hard as a team to create it and were really proud of it!

MFL worship: Kestrels took part in a KS2 MFL worship about German Christmas. The children learnt to sing Stille Nacht ('Silent Night' in German!) Here is a photo of Kestrels and Ravens practising together:

Science experiments: Our Bucket List item for Term 2 was to take part in practical experiments in Science lessons. The children tried a range of practicals across the term, both in groups and as a whole class.

Term 1

Ootbioo workshop: Kestrels took part in an Ootiboo money workshop which taught them about the salaries of various jobs and about budgeting for essentials. 

Team-building: Kestrels took part in some team-building games in the hall. This was a great way to get to know each other better and learn some teamwork skills at the same time.

Hill fort design: Kestrels went over to the field to create their own models of Iron Age hill forts as part of their History topic. The children used natural resources to replicate features of hill forts, such as roundhouses, domestic animal shelters, crop farms, fire pits and a nearby water source. We were so impressed with how creative the children were!

Teacher Sample even found a slug (and was very proud of it!)