Doves
Welcome to Doves Class 
WELCOME TO DOVES CLASS SEPTEMBER 2025. HERE ARE SOME KEY DOCUMENTS TO HELP YOU SUPPORT YOUR CHILD THIS YEAR. BEST WISHES, VICKY GAMBIER
We have had a wonderful start to the year with our new topic entitled 'A World of Pure Imagination'. We began the year by exploring Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 'Hunters in the Snow' as a stimulus for our writing and moving on to immersing ourselves in two of Dahl’s classics: The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The children have started to learn about seasonal food in Design and Technology, growing plants in Science and are also exploring where in the world their food comes from in Geography. If you would like to find out more, please read our curriculum map and class letter found below.
A MAGICAL BOTANTICAL THEMED MAGIC LANTERN SESSION - THANK YOU SO MUCH BRIONY!
DAFFODIL DISSECTION
A STORY TELLING MASTER CLASS WITH THE INCREDIBLE KEITH HATTON
HORNSWOGGLERS FROM GIANT COUNTRY
CLEMENTINE GAVE US A MAGICAL MASTER CLASS ON HOW TO CREATE ILLUSTRATED LETTERS EMBELLISHED WITH GOLD LEAF
The Doves have really been enjoying their music sessions this term and have been learning about the pitch and rhythm of different types of music. The links below are informal performances of two songs we have been exploring: Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and The Friendship Song by Joanna Mangona and Pete Readman. We are hoping to build in more instruments in the Summer Term.
We have had a wonderful start to the Autumn term with a visit to Shaftesbury Abbey. We had the opportunity to develop our history enquiry skills with a tour of the Abbey looking for historical details in the stonework, the chance to try some authentic Anglo-Saxon crafts and, best of all, the chance to travel back in time and find the location of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Castle Hill. Thank you very much to Penny-Jane and Phil for our incredible day. Back at school, we have been building wattle and daub walls and learning about how what life was like for the Anglo-Saxon people. We have also been sewing our own pouches in Design and Technology and learning about our bodies in Science - with a highlight being discovering more about our digestive system!
Building our own Wattle and Daub walls
Becoming amazing Anglo-Saxon Archaeologists at Shaftesbury Abbey
BRINGING ROUSSEAU'S SURPRISED! TO LIFE: CLAY TIGERS WITH THE INCREDIBLY CREATIVE CHLOE
BRINGING ROUSSEAU'S SURPRISED TO LIFE: COLLAGES
ARTS WEEK 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: A TRULY MAGIC LANTERN SESSION WITH BRIONY AND AN INSPIRING MASTERCLASS IN LANDSCAPE PAINTING WITH TOM
CIRCUS SKILLS
WELCOME TO SUMMER TERM WITH THE DOVES. PLEASE READ THE DOCUMENTS BELOW FOR DETAILS OF OUR FIZZ-POPPING CURRICULUM!
SUPER SCIENCE WEEK
Church Farm
WORLD BOOK DAY 2024
Air Ambulance Life Saving Skills - a snapshot of photos as many of the action shots were blurred!
Nest Building!
MAP READING FIELD WORK
Please follow the link to view our Criminal Bear confessions!
https://semley-ce-va-primary-school.primarysite.media/playlist/doves
WEAVER BIRD INK SKETCHES
Experimenting with mark making as an exploratory task before our final nest observational drawings
Looking for animal homes as part of our new English hook: The Great Paper Caper
Happy New Year! Our Spring Term topic in Doves is called Eco-Heroes with a geography focus on protecting our Wonderful World. We are going to conduct investigations into Climate Change and carry out field work in Semley. We will be heading outdoors and undoubtedly getting muddy feet - sometimes in our school grounds and sometimes around the village. During their geography lessons, the children will be learning about the oceans and continents. If you have any photos of your child at an interesting location around the world, we would love to see them!
7.11.23 CHLOE CAME IN TODAY TO TEACH US HOW TO MAKE ANCIENT GREEK POTS. WE CAREFULLY CREATED OUR PINCH POTS AND THEN USED THE ANCIENT TECHNIQUE OF SCRAPING TO SCRATCH ON OUR GEOMETRIC PATTERNS. IT WAS LOTS OF FUN!
7.11.23 TODAY WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A MAGICAL MAGIC LANTERN WORKSHOP WITH BRIONY. SHE TOOK US BACK TO THE ANCIENT GREEKS WHERE WE BROUGHT STATUES ALIVE AND BECAME ART DETECTIVES!
SOME OF OUR FANTASTIC FOREST SCHOOL ADVENTURES WITH MRS RUMNEY
SCOOTER WORKSHOP
OUR FINAL DESIGNS
WE WORKED IN TEAMS TO DESIGN AND BUILD OUR OWN PARTHENONS
OUR INITIAL (STICKY) EXPERIMENTS INTO PAVILION DESIGN
Fantasy Cities
Welcome to Doves September 2023. Our topic this term is called Grand Designs and below you can find details about the curriculum subjects we will be covering this term. We have had a great start to the year by beginning to learn about the structure of the Parthenon and we are currently busy designing our own pavilions. Watch this space to see how they progress!
On Thursday, we met Penny Grist! We imagined we had the power to make one special wish come true. We printed oak leaves and then stamped our wishes on them ready to add to our school tree. It was an inspiring experience and a really easy technique to learn. Thank you Penny!
On Wednesday, we made cross section models of Neolithic round houses. It was lots of fun and very messy!
ON TUESDAY CHLOE CAME IN AND CHALLENGED US TO MAKE CLAY INSECTS FOR OUR WHOLE SCHOOL MASTERPIECE. WE LOVED WORKING WITH HER!
A VAN GOGH MAGIC LANTERN WORKSHOP WITH BRIONY WAS AS A FANTASTIC WAY TO START OUR ARTS WEEK! WE LOVED TRAVELLING TO VAN GOGH'S HOUSE AND HAVING ADVENTURES WITH HIM. THANK YOU BRIONY!
Doves meet the Incredible Sophie Kirtley! On Wednesday 21st June, Sophie came in to see us and lead a writing workshop based on The Journey to Impossible Island. We learnt about what inspired her as a child to become a writer and some of the adventures she went on. We then had the chance to create maps of our very own Adventure Islands - it was the best English lesson ever!
Happy Summer Solstice! Thank you so much to Mrs Stroud, Mrs Merefield and James for taking us to Stonehenge. We had the most amazing day exploring the monument and learning about Neolithic life.
TADPOLE UPDATE! PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO 1. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO 2.
Hi Doves,
I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter break. Just to let you know, our tadpoles are thriving! I've been popping into school every few days to check on them and they have been really enjoying their pond weed and some fresh cucumber. Their bodies look bigger and although I can't see any legs yet, I think I can see where their hind legs will develop. They are swimming really confidently now (just like our year 3s!) and they are attaching well to their food.
I'm sure they are looking forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday and hearing about all of your adventures.
Take care and we'll see you soon!
Love Mrs Gambier
doves
The Doves have had a brilliant Science Week. We started with a Circus Skills workshop (thanks Mrs Miles) to investigate forces - as you can see from the photos below, the force is strong with us! We have also been learning about how our tadpoles metamorphose into frogs and have taken bets as to how many will complete the process. We explored the fields around school looking for signs of spring and finally made some BFG toothpaste. We think we can make the next batch more explosive though!
TADPOLES:OBSERVATIONS OVER TIME
LENT CHALLENGE: DOVES CAKE AND SMOOTHIE SALE FOR THE SYRIA AND TURKEY EARTHQUAKE APPEAL
CIRCUS SKILLS IN SCIENCE WEEK
OUR WONDERFUL WORLD BOOK DAY COSTUMES 2023
ART AND DESIGN: CLAY DRAGON EYES
SPINNING, HOUSE BUILDING, POT MAKING AND SCENT BAG FILLING WITH THE AMAZING ANGLO SAXON VISITORS FROM GOLD HILL MUSEUM
OUR INCREDIBLE TRIP BACK IN TIME TO THE ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY CENTRE
THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MR AND MRS ISGAR FOR BRINGING IN ONE OF FREDDIE'S LAMBS FOR US TO MEET AND PRACTISE OUR RESEARCH SKILLS ON. WE NOW HAVE ANOTHER CLASS MASCOT ALTHOUGH THIS ONE DOES NEED SOME TRAINING! THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE HONOUR OF NAMING HIM: TOBY
WE HAVE ALSO BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO MEET KATERINA HART WHO IS A PARALYMPIC LEGEND. WE CHALLENGED OURSELVES BY COMPLETING A FITNESS CIRCUIT WITH HER AND WERE REALLY INSPIRED BY HER ENERGY AND DETERMINATION.
OUR INCREDIBLE VIKING LONGSHIPS
WE HAD THE BEST SCIENCE EVER TODAY BECAUSE WE GOT TO MEET AND LEARN ABOUT BEARDY BOO-BOO CARDOZO. THANK YOU SO MUCH CHLOE FOR BRINGING HIM IN AND OTTO FOR LENDING HIM TO US. WE WOULD LIKE HIM TO BE OUR CLASS MASCOT!
Froggie Maths! Adding ones by leaping to multiples of 10
DOVES HAD A FANTASTIC AFTERNOON RUNNING OUR
OWN MARATHON TO SUPPORT MRS RUMNEY.
WE MANAGED TO RUN 513 LAPS OF THE FIELD WHICH IS 43 MILES!
CONGRATULATIONS DOVES AND GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEKEND MRS RUMNEY!
Welcome to Doves Class Page!
It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to school and find out about all the adventures they have been having in the holidays. We have already had an exciting start to the year getting to know each other in our Welcome Week. The children have been launched into our Autumn Term topic: Traiders and Raiders and will be learning all about the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. We have been busy making dragons and creating our own (hornless!) Viking helmets.
We have so many exciting learning opportunities coming up - please read the class letter and curriculum map below to find out more.
Tornadoes
Ring of Fire! Part 1
Building Volcanoes - we are waiting for the magma chambers to fill!
Making our own rock sculptures with Briony - inspired by Henry Moore
Doves and Robins at Woodlands Alive!
We hope you enjoyed our Fizz, Pop, Bang! Bath Bombs!
We have been busy conducting science experiments and starting out secret D&T project
We started the Summer Term investigating Shape
Hello Doves,
I am very excited to let you know that we have a summer term full of exciting learning and explosions ahead. Our topic is called 'Fizz, Pop, Bang!' and our key learning objectives can be found on the Curriculum Map below.
Science Week- Jet Engine Balloon Races!
Science Week- Planting and sorting seeds
Roche Court
Briony came in and gave us a wonderful Magic Lantern session about some of Henry Moore's sculptures. We are so excited about our visit to Roche Court next Thursday!
WORLD BOOK DAY 2022
Amazing Tae-Kwon Do Taster Session
Exploring Rural Land Use at Church Farm
Solving a Crime! Who took the trees? Exploring our English text: The Great Paper Caper
Trojan Horses
Welcome Back Doves! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your families. Please click on the links below for the Spring Term Curriculum Map and my start of term letter. We've got such a fun term ahead!
On Thursday, the Doves Class were lucky enough to have a special Magic Lantern workshop with Briony. She showed us some amazing art work from Ancient Greece and we even brought some to life!
Magic Lantern
Ancient Greek Pots
We have had an exciting start to the year in Doves class. We have been busy trying to build structures out of paper cups which will take our weight, designing our own Doves of Peace and ordering ice creams in French!
Our topic this term is called Grand Designs and we will going back in time to Ancient Greece and learning about their architects, sculptors, artists, philosophers, inventors and engineers. Please see our Curriculum Map below for more details. We can't wait to welcome you into school for our Class Assembly and Open Morning on Monday 15th November so you can see what else we have been getting up to!
Je voudrais une glace!
Dove Art
Weight Bearing Structure Challenges
Making Clay Pinch Pots from Leo and the Gorgon's Curse
Last week was science week and we had lots of fun! We explored lots of areas of science from light and dark to chemical reactions! Please see below for pictures of our week!
This term we are exploring light in science. Today we conducted an experiment to find out which material had the most reflective surface.
We have had a mysterious visitor to our classroom over the holidays. They left a very old-looking briefcase. When we looked inside we discovered lots of labelled jars filled with sparkly liquid. We think that our visitor was the BFG! We wrote him letters to tell him where he had left his briefcase. We hope he finds it!
