Category: Academic
A Genuine Love of Mathematical Thinking
At Copthorne Prep, our ambitious approach to mathematics is alive in every classroom, where high academic expectations meet a genuine love of thinking. Through thoughtful planning, our teachers create lessons that spark curiosity and push pupils to explore, reason and persevere. This spirit is perfectly captured by Rishik in Year 5—one of our top mathematicians—who was recently pictured engrossed in Murderous Maths: Algebra, the Phantom. He recommends it because it “gets his brain ticking” and makes him want to dive deeper into algebra. That excitement for challenge is exactly what we nurture: a growth mindset for all, where every child is encouraged to exceed expectations, tackle rich problems and develop the joyful resilience that great mathematicians share. At Copthorne Prep, maths isn’t about getting answers—it’s about thinking.
The Power of Conversation with Books at the Heart
“Reading really is a superpower … Music and books are both about finding your voice. We are all made of stories – they define who we are.”
This quote from Stormzy was featured in last week’s edition of ‘Positive News’ – a publication we share weekly with our staff – and it beautifully captures our perspective on the power of reading.
At Copthorne, we want every child to do more than simply read the words on a page – we want them to step into stories, understand ideas deeply, and talk about what they discover. It is through these experiences that children make sense of themselves, others and the wider world around them.
As a part of our staff meetings this term, we have been exploring what research tells us really helps children develop strong reading comprehension, and we thought you might like a glimpse into what that looks like in the classroom.
One of the most important things we do is build children’s knowledge of the world. The more they know – about vocabulary, people, places, history, science, and story structures – the more they can draw on when reading. That’s why reading widely is so important.
Another powerful part of comprehension is talk. You’ll often hear teachers ‘thinking aloud’ as they read, modelling the kinds of questions and connections strong readers make naturally. Children join in with this ‘book talk’ too – wondering, predicting, puzzling over words and questioning or explaining what they think is happening. These conversations are where so much understanding takes shape.
We also teach strategies like predicting, summarising and clarifying, but these are tools rather than the heart of comprehension. What really matters is giving children plenty of meaningful reading experiences: whole‑class texts, shared stories, independent reading time and lots of opportunities to talk about books.
So how can you help with this at home?
The good news is that supporting your child’s understanding doesn’t involve worksheets or formal tasks – just conversations with books at the heart of them.
When you read together, or talk about what they’re reading, try asking things like: “Why do you think that happened?” “How do you think the character is feeling?” “What do you think might happen next?”
Share your own thoughts too – “I wonder…”, “This reminds me of…”, “I didn’t expect that…”. These little moments help children build language, confidence and curiosity. Modelling your own enjoyment of reading and of language more generally is an incredibly powerful thing.
And, of course, keep reading lots of different books! The more widely children read, the more they understand – about stories, about the world, and about themselves as readers. Books really are the most marvellous magic!
Year 3 Get Up Close with Rainforest Wildlife!
This week, the children in Year 3 took part in an incredible rainforest workshop, where they learned about the different animals and plants living in each layer of the rainforest. They were lucky enough to hold some amazing animals including terrapins, snakes, lizards, tarantulas, and some beetles and experience wildlife up close. Everyone showed great bravery and enthusiasm throughout the session!
Ship Shape Spanish in Year 4
One of the fun ways to practise listening and speaking Spanish is to play battleships. The Year 4s have been practising using adjectives with rooms in a house in this fun way!
Year 4 Get Their Teeth Stuck into Science
Over the last few weeks, Year 4 have been learning all about teeth and how to keep them healthy. We constructed model teeth using recyclable materials and last week, we set up an investigation to see the effects of different drinks on our teeth. We used eggs to represent teeth as the eggshell is similar to enamel. We tested Coca Cola, orange juice, milk and water by placing the eggs in a cup of each drink. Most of us predicted that Coca Cola would be the worst drink for our teeth, but after a week, we found that it was in fact orange juice that was the worst. We couldn’t believe what the egg looked like! The eggshell had begun to dissolve and was very soft and cracked. We found that milk and water caused no damage to teeth at all. Can you guess which egg was in each liquid?
Watch Us Grow in Year 1!
In Science, Year One have been learning all about plants. We have been busy looking at hydro-pods, planting bean seeds and carefully watching them grow. The children have been very excited to observe the changes each day, especially as the seed jackets begin to split and fall away, revealing the tiny shoots and first leaves. We have enjoyed talking about how plants grow and are looking forward to seeing how our plants continue to change and develop over time.
Year 5 Bringing Tom’s Midnight Garden to Life Through Drama
This week in Year 5, pupils have been deepening their understanding of Tom’s Midnight Garden through an engaging and imaginative drama‑based English lesson. To help them empathise with the characters and explore their thoughts and motivations, the children worked collaboratively to create a series of freeze frames depicting key moments from the story.
Once in position, the class examined each scene closely, considering what the characters might be feeling at that precise moment. Pupils then added thought bubbles to represent these inner thoughts, drawing on the text to support their ideas and using inference skills to interpret emotions that may not be directly stated in the book.
This approach not only strengthened their comprehension but also encouraged teamwork, creativity, and reflective thinking. It was wonderful to see the children confidently stepping into the characters’ shoes and gaining a deeper appreciation of the story’s themes and relationships.
We look forward to building on this work as the children continue to explore the text over the coming weeks.
‘Was the Industrial Revolution a change for the better?’ Year 5 Investigate
As part of their Global question, ‘Was the Industrial Revolution a change for the better?’ Year 5 pupils have been learning about the key inventions that caused the huge changes to life in the UK. They enjoyed learning about the spinning Jenny and the steam engine and did a wonderful job presenting their findings to the rest of the class.
Reception put Spotlight on 5
Reception had a fantastic Maths Investigation Day! We turned ourselves into number investigators and worked our way around three exciting stations, exploring all the different ways we can make numbers to 5. Through hands-on activities, problem-solving and lots of discussion, the children showed great curiosity and teamwork while building their confidence with numbers. It was a fun-filled day of learning and discovery!
Year 4 Perfect Persuasive Speech
Year 4 have been working incredibly hard since returning from the Christmas break. This week, we have been creating adverts. We began by learning the features of persuasive adverts using FREDEPTORS; which is a tool to help us remember what we need to include. There are things like repetition, emotive language, exaggeration and the power of three. In pairs, pupils were asked to design their own product and then produce a paper advertisement using some features from FREDEPTORS. They then worked together to produce a television advert to try to sell us their product. They were all phenomenal and very persuasive! Later on in the week, we linked this work to our class text, ‘Danny Champion Of The World’ when the children created adverts using PowerPoint to try to persuade their audience to buy Danny’s caravan. Well done Year 4!
