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Ms Jade Widocks

BA Hons, MA, QTS
Upper Key Stage 2 Coordinator

2021-2022 has been an incredibly exciting year for
the Year five and sixes. We started the year with on-
line learning which tested the resilience and persever-
ance of our pupils. Never-the-less, they continued to
demonstrate the outstanding attitude we came to ex-
pect of them and they continued to progress academi-
cally, even under those trying circumstances.

January saw us rejoicing as the pupils were finally al-
lowed back to school, and what a busy time we have
had since then! The Year 6s were finally allowed to
take up their traditional positions of authority in Prep
and we saw this year’s prefects nominated and chosen.
Both Year 5s and 6’s children were eligible to apply
for a role of Wellbeing Ambassador and they have all
made a huge impact on the happiness and wellbeing of
the Prep School children. They should be lauded for
the efforts they put in.

Academically, they have been equally busy. Due to the
hard work and diligence of the children we fantasti-
cally finished second in the BSME Arabic competition.
The children have also had the opportunity to compete
in the STEM Crest science challenge and international-
ly through the Owlympics.

This year saw a change in teaching methodology to
help us evaluate the abilities of our children after such
a long period of online learning, and then address these
gaps in their knowledge. We started to follow the
creative scheme of Talk for Writing to ensure that
our English lessons were filled with enjoyment
and engagement. The Talk for Writing ap-
proach enables children to read and
write independently for a variety
of audiences and purposes
within different subjects.
We cover a wide range of
genres: from poetry to
playscripts; newpapers
to narrative.

In maths we introduced White Rose Maths which is
designed to follow the National Curriculum of Eng-
land, and encompasses a Concrete, Pictorial and Ab-
stract journey to ensure learners achieve Mastery in
Mathematics. In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils have been
encouraged to consider how mathematics can be used
in a real life context, whereby through the implemen-
tation of a variety of resources and strategies, pupils
were able to apply different mathematical concepts
to solve problems.This year has been fun, challenging
and ultimately rewarding. As always, our children
have risen to whatever challenge has come their way
and addressed themselves wonderfully. They truly are
a credit to JPGS.

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