Trinity COFE Primary School Parent Portal - TRINITY NEWSLETTER - Spring 2026

This term, Key Stage 1 has been full of enthusiasm and creativity as the children have thrown themselves into their learning with curiosity and excitement. They have worked hard, supported one another and enjoyed sharing their ideas throughout the half-term.

Forest School

A particular highlight of the half-term has been the children’s Forest School sessions. The children have loved spending time outdoors, exploring the natural world and developing their relationship with the environment around them. They have been keen to take part in the organised activities, including making clay hedgehogs and using sticks to create their spiky backs. Alongside this, they have enjoyed plenty of free exploration, running around, climbing and investigating the Forest School area with great energy and imagination. The mud slide, rope swing and mud painting proved especially popular and provided lots of laughter and memorable moments.

Learning Means the World

As part of our Learning Means the World curriculum, the children have been exploring the theme Unity in the Community. They have been thinking about what it means to belong to a community and how we can care for one another, linking this to our school motto, “Who is my neighbour?”

The children have enjoyed learning about their local area, looking at simple maps and thinking about how places can change over time. They have also considered how we can look after our environment and keep ourselves safe in the community, including learning about road safety and the importance of the Green Cross Code. Through discussion and teamwork, they have developed confidence, kindness and an understanding of how their actions can make a positive difference.

English

In English, the children have been inspired by the story Grandad’s Island by Benji Davies. They have been developing their storytelling skills by planning and writing their own imaginative narratives based on the book.

They have worked hard to make their writing engaging by using descriptive adjectives, action verbs, similes and joining words like but. The children have also practised writing in the past tense, using commas in lists and including dialogue in their stories. Alongside this, they have continued to improve their spelling, handwriting and sentence skills, remembering capital letters, full stops and clear finger spaces.

It has been a wonderful half-term filled with storytelling, outdoor adventure and thoughtful learning across Key Stage 1.

Athens v Sparta

Everyone has really enjoyed our Ancient Greek topic: Athens v Sparta and tying this in with Greek myths. They loved learning about Theseus and the Minotaur and researching the Greek Gods. We continued with discussions about the vocabulary, chottings, dictation and writing to include specific success criteria. The children relished the opportunity to use their imaginations and background knowledge when writing their own ancient myths, inspired by Theseus and the Minotaur. We enjoyed reading the children’s independent writing linked to their love of the Greek Gods, heroes from myths and ugly beasts who were maybe mistaken! Someone’s story ended with the dog’s tail being exhibited in an Athens museum!

Learning Means the World

We looked at the feuding states and compared and contrasted Athens and Sparta with justified discussions as to which state they would have preferred to have lived. We have also explored the discoveries of Archimedes in Science when investigating floating and sinking. Furthermore, the children loved our art and craft sessions, making the Greek masks and our PSHE sessions learning about team work and being collaborative learners (especially when as a team they made spaghetti and marshmallow towers). It has been interesting to see leadership, teamwork and collaboration within these activities.

In the spaghetti challenge, children had to work collaboratively to plan and construct the tallest structure. They had 20 pieces of spaghetti, 1m of tape, some newspaper and a marshmallow. They worked incredibly well together and built some impressive structures. The highlight being, eating the marshmallows at the end.

PSHE

As part of our PSHE lesson, the children had to see if they could balance a spoon on the end of their noses. They were given 3 minutes to complete the task. We then discussed persistence and whether or not they kept trying or decided to give up. So many succeeded!

Maths

Cowell class have continued learning Multiplication and Division with lots of practical work with base 10 and counters. They learnt how to multiply part whole models, bar models and more formal methods to multiply 2 digits by 1 digit numbers. We also made a start at dividing. They worked hard on fractions with the same denominator, comparing and ordering them and using and applying fractions in everyday life. Please continue to help your child with their times tables as this does develop their fluency in lessons.
Pilkey class have focused on multiplication and division. We have looked at times tables, factors and multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. We have also looked at perimeter and length. We will shortly be moving onto fractions.
Coelho Class have enjoyed developing their multiplication and division skills this term. This began with a focus on our times tables and then moved on to looking at informal and formal methods. We investigated factors and made links to square numbers. We have supported this with lots of practical work with place value counters. The children also enjoyed applying their knowledge of multiplication to finding the area of rectilinear shapes. Once we have finished division we will be moving onto fractions.

In PE, one session was led by a coach playing outdoor team games and one session was led by the class teacher. Our Year 4 pupils also benefit from weekly trips to Gillotts for swimming lessons. Thank you to those parents who accompanied us.

In RE, we’ve been learning What is the Qur’an and why many Muslims try to learn it by heart. Our focus of study was Holy Books, Dedication, Devotion. We learnt how Muslims have one holy book, the Qu’ran, how it was created, how it is treated at home and in the mosque and we discovered how the Qu’ran helps tell Muslims how to lead a good life.

Poet visit

One of the highlights of the half-term has to have been our visit from the poet, James Carter. We all were motivated to have a go and most importantly, have fun playing with words.

UKS2 have had a very busy and productive term. The children have shown fantastic enthusiasm across the curriculum and should be very proud of everything they have achieved so far in 2026.

English

Our writing lessons were inspired by the picture book 'The Journey' by Francesca Sanna, which tells the story of a family fleeing a war zone and becoming refugees. The children have since explored this theme further using dialogue, clauses, metaphors and more, using the key ideas and illustrations as a stimulus. The children wrote some amazing stories independently and went on to take a different perspective from the book by writing letters to the refugees from someone left behind. These pieces showed great empathy, creativity and maturity.

Maths

All classes have focused on fractions and decimals work this term. The children developed their understanding through a range of practical activities and problem-solving tasks, building confidence in recognising, comparing and working with fractions and decimal numbers up to 3 decimal places. Key areas were multiplying fractions, converting to/from mixed numbers and improper fractions, working out fractions of amounts and rounding decimal numbers to 3 decimal places.

Afternoon lessons
Our afternoon lessons have been based around the theme of invaders, with a key focus on history. We began by exploring the reasons for and consequences of invasion before focusing in detail on the Romans. The children learnt about important Roman figures, famous battles, and the lasting legacy of the Roman Empire and we’ve had some truly fantastic Art and DT lessons in this unit too. The children enjoyed making shields and learning Roman tactics outdoors, as well as making mosaics and designing clay jewellery pots. The children showed great enthusiasm, collaboration and teamwork during these sessions - sharing ideas and supporting each other with the planning, design and production phases.

Other events
The children thoroughly enjoyed their recent visit to Maidenhead Mosque. They learnt about the building’s external features and explored the prayer room. Their behaviour was impeccable, and we were very impressed with the thoughtful answers and knowledge they shared.

This term, we were delighted to welcome British poet James Carter into school on National Poetry Day. He shared his love of poetry with Years 5 and 6, exploring the power of words through similes and metaphors. The children wrote thoughtful poems about a special adult in their lives and some proudly shared their work in assembly, captivating the audience with their creativity and confidence.

PE
Our PE sessions with MNR have focused on the Sports Leaders course and the game of Tchoukball and were a great success. The children really enjoyed learning how to lead activities, work as a team and support others, while developing their confidence and communication skills. With Performances Sports, the children have been learning the rules and skills needed for the T1 Rugby format. These lessons have been highly engaging and inclusive. The children were able to get really involved, developing their teamwork, coordination and confidence while learning new skills in a fun and supportive environment.

Looking ahead
By the end of this half-term, Year 6 pupils will have attended the T1 Rugby Festival at Henley Hawks Rugby Club, which we’re sure they’ll love! Year 5 will enjoy this opportunity after half-term. Some of the Year 5s will have been to Acacia Lodge and others will enjoy this opportunity after half-term.

Next half-term it's UKS2's turn for Forest School once again. Please keep an eye out for the days for each class and for parent-helper requests from Mrs Chilvers.
We are also really looking forward to a fantastic trip to Ufton Court on 23rd February, where the children will take part in a series of Roman-themed workshops to further consolidate their learning.

We're so proud of how the children have started this year and a big thank you to all parents who have helped us thus far - we really appreciate your continued support :-)