What an incredible start to the new school year it has been! The initial nerves of beginning a new school or class quickly gave way to confident smiles and laughter as children formed new friendships, embraced fresh learning experiences and achieved their first goals of the year.

Our action-packed programme of activities has added a vibrant energy to school life, with highlights including Anti-Bullying Week, Kindness Matters Workshops, ISA Sporting events, weekly Forest School sessions, and a variety of engaging lunchtime clubs.

The festive season has brought even more excitement with our magical ‘12 Days of Christmas’ celebrations. The children have loved taking part in activities like Elf Hunts, Christmas Quizzes, and Christmas Character Dress Up Day. The season was even more memorable with outstanding Carol Concert and Nativity performances and a special visit from Santa himself. Tower College truly sparkles with festive spirit, making it an unforgettable place to celebrate this time of year.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year and can’t wait to welcome everyone back for another fantastic term.

Mrs Gibson and Mrs Wright

Year 1

The first term in Year 1 has been packed with discovery, excitement, and lots of effort.

Our topic lessons took us all the way to Antarctica, where we explored the incredible journey of Shackleton and his crew, which included pigs, dogs, and even his cat, Mrs Chippy. We dressed up as Shackleton, used maps to trace his route, and watched videos of the sunken Endurance ship.

In Maths, we have had plenty of hands-on practice, using Dienes equipment to learn about place value and drawing pictures to help solve word problems. In English, we focused on two stories—One Day on Our Big Blue Planet and Lost and Found—and wrote recounts inspired by these texts, refining our knowledge of nouns and adjectives.

We have also enjoyed the festive season, filled with excitement from our Zootopia workshop, an Elf Hunt, and Christmas fancy dress. It was wonderful to see every child shine in our Nativity performance. We wish everyone a happy Christmas break and look forward to welcoming you back in the new year.

Miss Porter and Miss Connolly

Year 2

We have had an outstanding Autumn term in Year 2 with new learning, fresh skills, and plenty of exciting activities. In maths, the children have excelled in building their confidence with two-digit numbers up to 100 and exploring various addition and subtraction strategies.

Reading has been a highlight, especially our focus on books by Peter H Reynolds, with The Dot emerging as a firm class favourite. Our weekly Reading Buddy sessions with Tower Tots in the library have been a fantastic way for Year 2 to serve as positive role models while sharing their reading skills with younger children. In writing, everyone has embraced their imaginations to create stories and describe scenes, resulting in highly creative work.

Our artistic side has also shone, with the children experimenting with different media, materials, and techniques to produce impressive creations. Our topic, ‘The History of Tower College,’ allowed us to explore maps to locate our school in the wider world. We loved discovering the fascinating past of our beautiful building and learning about its role as a War Hospital. We even saw photographs from the Victorian era and noticed marks from hospital beds still visible in the Board Room.

December brought our 12 Days of Christmas celebrations, packed with festive fun culminating in a remarkable Nativity performance. We are so proud of how much Year 2 has achieved this term and look forward to seeing them flourish even more next term. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Mrs Gibson, Mrs Wright, and Miss Connolly

Year 3

It’s been a thrilling start to the school year. The children have been busy exploring place value while mastering addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. We loved reading Stone Age Boy, which sparked some fantastic writing—everyone created brilliant letters to a Stone Age boy and retold the story from their perspective. This led to an in-depth look at life during the Stone Age, including how Stone Age homes were built and how they differed from modern houses.

We also discovered more about Liverpool: its location, what daily life is like, and how food, music, and culture have shaped the city. In Art and Design, the children sketched Stone Age people and used various materials to plan out Stone Age homes. We learned about balanced diets, light and dark, and enjoyed hands-on experiments with mirrors and torches. The children even put on puppet shows, which we all watched in our classroom cinema.

During our 12 Days of Christmas activities, everyone helped decorate the classroom and spread festive cheer with crafts and singing. We then took an exciting trip to Lego Land and Sea Life, where the children had a great time exploring life under the sea and admiring the impressive Lego creations.

Thank you for all your support this term, and we look forward to more adventures in the new year.

Mrs Traverse and Mrs Thorald-Smith

Year 4

We have had a fantastic start to Year 4, and it has been wonderful to see how much the children are enjoying their learning. In English, they have taken on the role of Space Cadets, diligently completing their Space Logs. In Maths, the excitement continued as they rocked away in Times Tables Rock Stars and honed their skills on Sumdog. Science lessons have been filled with discovery, from classifying animals and plants in our beautiful Forest School to investigating solids, liquids, and gases.

Our exploration of different faiths has been enriched by the children’s brilliant presentations, and they took great pride in making clay Diwali lamps and sketching poppies for Remembrance Day. The Viking History topic has generated a lot of enthusiasm, and we now have a fantastic classroom display featuring everyone’s impressive Longboat Projects. In Geography, the children have made great strides in map reading, and they had a wonderful time pinpointing countries, continents, and flags as part of our “Santa Around the World” activities.

My Happy Mind and Wellbeing Wednesdays have been a big hit, leading to engaging class discussions about friendship, respect, and perseverance. There was plenty of fun during our sponsored Colour Run, and dressing up for the European Day of Languages added even more excitement to the term. We were immensely proud of the children’s performance in our Nativity, and they also showed some great dance moves.

Thank you for all your support this term. Wishing you a very happy Christmas!

Mrs Miles and Mrs Thorold-Smith

Year 5

It has been a fantastic first term in Year 5, with everyone working hard across various subjects. The children shone in our First Aid course, showing excellent listening skills and enthusiasm for the practical activities. In Maths, they used concrete resources to strengthen their place value knowledge up to 1,000,000, learned a catchy rounding rhyme, and created class actions to remember the eight times tables.

In English, the children wore their “Wonderful Wizard” hats and produced impressive persuasive advertisements, then raced against our Mission Impossible timer to tackle “Ninja SPaG” challenges. Science lessons were packed with planning, conducting, and evaluating experiments to investigate Forces and Space, even using playdough to create Heliocentric models of the Solar System.

The children expanded their understanding of World War I by exploring the topic in-depth and producing impressive trench projects. They also transformed into tourists, studying Scandinavia’s physical and human features and creating mountain landscape drawings.

To wrap up the term, the children performed beautifully at our Christmas Carol Concert and enjoyed a well-deserved visit to Manchester’s Legoland and Sea Life Centre. It has been a fantastic start to Year 5, and we wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Miss Midgley and Miss Byron

Year 6

It has been wonderful getting to know the children and seeing them make such great progress in their first term of Year 6. They have adapted well to new expectations and responsibilities.

In Maths, we have tackled numbers up to 10,000,000, explored the difference between factors and multiples, and practised multiplying 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. We also extended our understanding of short division and problem-solving in both multiplication and division. Recently, we moved on to fractions, comparing, ordering, adding, and subtracting them—an area the children have approached with real determination.

In English, we introduced new grammar techniques, such as semi-colons and question tags, while also revisiting previously learned topics. The children then put their skills into action by creating persuasive pieces about their gadgets, using various strategies to encourage others to buy their inventions.

Science lessons focused on classification, investigating how animals, plants, and microorganisms can be identified, grouped, and categorized. We also explored living and non-living things, and later in the term, we experimented with circuits to see how voltage affects the loudness of a buzzer. This involved hands-on work with circuit components and understanding their symbols.

Geography lessons took us to North and South America, where we examined the key geographical features of these continents. In History, we studied events leading up to the Second World War in Nazi Germany and looked at how life changed during WWII, especially for young people and women. In R.E., the children learned about the Christmas story and reflected on what matters most to them and to people from different faiths.

To end the term, the children performed fantastically in our carol concert and enjoyed a well-deserved visit to Legoland and Sea Life in Manchester. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas break and returns refreshed for January.

Mr Sweeney and Miss Byron