We were delighted to welcome seven teachers from Gothenburg, Sweden on Thursday 26^th January 2017.  In Gothenburg, many primary schools have had new arrivals with Swedish as an additional language.

They came to Osmani Primary School to see what strategies we apply to support our new to English pupils. They were fascinated by the phonics programme we use and were impressed by the progress made by new to English pupils that recently joined the school.

They were especially impressed by the way we cater for the needs of all the children by putting interventions in place in order for the pupils to make accelerated progress.

They thoroughly enjoyed the Chinese New Year Assembly performed by KS1 pupils. They commented on how the children were confident speakers!

We wish them a safe journey home!

Year 3 Orange and Gold classes visited the British Museum on Tuesday 17th January 2017.

Year 3’s have been learning about Ancient Egypt this half term and were fortunate to visit the incredible exhibitions showcasing life in Ancient Egypt at the British Museum. We saw many sculptures dating between 2600 BC and 2nd century AD.  These magnificent sculptures were of different Pharaoh’s and their burial tombs. Hieroglyphs covered the sculptures and we had lots of fun trying to find a number of specific symbols.

We also had a close look at Ancient Egyptian artefacts and mummies. We learnt about different materials that were used to make household goods as well as special jewellery that Pharaohs and Queens wore. In Literacy we have been working on writing explanation texts and this tied in really well with finding out about the mummification process.

We had a great trip to the British Museum and it really helped our learning and understanding of what life was like in Ancient Egypt.

Year 5 have been learning about classification keys in Science and went to Stepney City Farm to attend a classification workshop. They participated in 3 lovely activities where they got the opportunity to classify plants and leaves according to their features and followed a binomial key to classify some animals in the farm into different groups. Both classes really enjoyed the practical activities and it has really aided them in their knowledge and understanding of classification.

On Friday 18th November, Osmani Primary School took part in fundraising for Children in Need by dressing up in spotty-themed clothes as well as carrying out sponsored ‘spot challenges’. Each class carried out a different sponsored challenge to support the cause.

Together, we raised an amazing £385.54 which will all go to Children in Need.

Well done everybody!

To view the Y6T Mannequin Challenge click here.

As part of the Sustrans Bike It year at Osmani Primary School, we held our first cycling/scooting event: ‘Bling Your Bike/Scooter’.

All the children were invited to bring their bikes or scooters to school, decorated and as festive as possible! The entries were incredible with over 100 bikes and scooters in school for the prize giving assembly. The children got really creative and used Christmas decorations including tinsel, baubles and lights to make their bike or scooter look really fun and festive.

There were 14 winners in total who each received bike and scooter goodies. Well done to everybody that took part.

Earlier this term the Pod group in Year 2 travelled to Stave Hill in Rotherhithe to work with the artist Ky Lewis.  We collected natural materials from the local environment and then made photograms (cyanotypes).

The process uses light and light sensitive paper to make distinctive blue prints.  Each child made a beautiful book of photograms to which they added maps, recounts and more prints at school.  Can you see the brown photogram? It was made by soaking it in tea!

We all had a very enjoyable and enlightening day.

The Two Steves – Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore, authors of the Mad Myths and Atlantic Quest series, as well as a terrific new Soccer App, visited Osmani to talk to the children about their books. Our KS2 pupils attended an engaging and very entertaining session filled with role play and story reading which provided inspiration for their own writing and also enthused them about the joy of reading.  This session supported the literacy work that we do in school and it proved a stimulating experience for the children. The pupils also had an opportunity to buy a book and get it dedicated to them and signed by the Two Steves. This will be a permanent reminder of a special experience and can reinforce the message about the importance of reading.

On Friday 1st December, Osmani Choir were invited to sing at Age UK’s Christmas Lunch which is a yearly charitable event put on by the Bank of America.

The choir serenaded the guests with four different songs (a selection of carols and classics) with positive reviews all around.

As part of the experience for the choir they were also treated to a special 5* lunch, met Father Christmas and were given chocolate coins as a reward for their time and efforts.

We look forward to working with Bank of America again in the future!

Some of our best Year 6 readers were very lucky to attend the Tower Hamlets Book Awards ceremony at the East Winter Garden in Canary Wharf. They had a fantastic opportunity to talk to the writers whose books they had been reading and they also had their favourite books signed by the authors themselves! It was a truly inspirational experience that brought smiles on all the children’s faces.

At Osmani, children learnt about Remembrance Day and why the day is observed in the UK and across the world.

At 11am, we all observed a 2 minutes silence as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in various wars and conflicts around the world. After the 2 minutes silence, one of our teachers played the ‘Last Post’ on the trumpet.  Click here to view the video.