Sid and her best friend, Zen, love to play spooky games in the graveyard of their small, coastal village. One stormy night Sid inadvertently frees a 300 year old pirate ghost from a mysterious Halfway House. The story that unfolds is how Sid and Zen help Captain Bones and his crew find their treasure so they can cross over to the other side.
Parallels to McLachlan’s previous series, The Land of Roar, were clear to me. Both stories are exciting adventures with unpredictable twists and turns along the way. Sid reminds me of Arthur, as both were the unassuming heroes of their stories who displayed bravery they probably didn’t really feel they would have been capable of beforehand. Zen reminded me of Win, the carefree loyal sidekick. But above all, McLachlan writes a great baddie. In both series the villains are revealed slowly over the book and the suggestion of them alone, strikes fear into the band of characters working against them.
Tom, age 10, says:“I like Jenny McLachlan books because they always have a good mystery. This time I liked the theme of mystery and history. My favourite character is Zen because he’s funny and silly and doesn’t really care what people think about him. I really liked Elizabeth too, because she’s funny.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
This book came highly recommended by respected colleagues as well as my wife and daughter who read it a while ago and loved it.
The Girl of Ink and Stars is an adventure book about a girl called Isabella who lives in a fictional (but familiar) world on the Isle of Joya.
When her friend disappears, she is determined to be part of the team who saves her, so much so that she cuts off her long hair and pretends to be boy. With the help of an ancient map and the knowledge of the stars, taught to her by her father, Isabella navigates a part of the island that no-one has been to for a long time, called the Forgotten Territories. As if this journey wasn’t harrowing enough for her, when she finally does find her friend, Lupe, this turns out to only be the beginning of the journey as the whole story takes several more unexpected twists.
This epic adventure story is brilliantly written, powerfully moving and quite dark in places, but, in truth, we never really got that into it. It wasn’t always easy to imagine where they were or keep track of what was actually happening. In fairness, we read it mostly in a stop/start fashion, so somewhat lost the flow, but as I said earlier, my wife and daughter adored it, some I’m sure other will too.
Tom, age 11, says: “I liked the adventure concept of it and that it was set on a made up island.”
Up until this year, the lion’s share of my teaching career has been spent in KS2. It’s been my comfort zone. At Christmas, circumstances led me to become an Early Years teacher two days a week and it’s been some of the best CPD I could ever have had.
I’d heard (and used) a number of phrases over the years, but in recent months I’ve gained a much better understanding of what they actually mean. Phrases like ‘continuous provision’, ‘enhanced provision’ and ‘play-based learning’
Play and practice can be interchangeable really. In EYFS we encourage play-based learning but this sense of play tends to fizzle out as the children move through school. They have to crack on will embedding knowledge and skills and becoming ‘test ready’ and traditionally this has meant the demonstrator and lecturer style of teaching is more prevalent.
Playing instruments, sports and games is fun, practising them is less so. But, what’s the difference? Playing music in a group of friends, with an audience is infinitely more enjoyable than practicing scales. Playing in a football match is always more enjoyable than working on drills. Practicing skills are, of course, important, but maybe we should be giving our pupils more opportunity to practice skills being taught, through play. School shouldn’t be all fun and games, but they should help children learn and they might just do a bit more of that if they are engaged and enjoying themselves. As with the examples of music and sport above, by offering opportunities to play together with others, the motivation to practice any skill is increased. Increased motivation must surely lead to increased attainment.
Assessment in Early Years seems to be quite different as well. I think you are just meant to spend time with the children while they are in the provision, ask them some questions, model interactions and see what they can do. Is this a better way of assessing children’s knowledge and understanding, rather that a test? Possibly. But that’s not where the system is at the moment at all so our pupils wouldn’t be best prepared for what comes in later school years.
Two terms in EYFS has been fun, but my brief spell in Reception has come to an end and now I make the obvious next step and take on Year 6 for the first time. It’s not so much about going back to the style of teaching and learning that I have more experience with, rather it’s about taking what I’ve learnt over the last two terms and applying it when working with older children. I’ll certainly be making a conscious effort to incorporate play into the learning opportunities I design for our pupils.
P.S. – As far as I can understand, ‘continuous provision’ is the stuff that’s always out and ‘enhanced provision’ is when you enhance that stuff with a particular focus for a session(s) or week or whatnot.
P.P.S – There is a whole subculture around Tuff Trays. Facebook groups filled with creative ideas. Fascinating stuff.
What the show is about? This musical is based on the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, with music by Lionel Bart.
Oliver is a young orphan boy who has been brought up in a Victorian workhouse following the death of his mother shortly after his birth. He was sold to an undertaker where he ran away after being bullied. Seven days later, he ends up on the outskirts of London and meets The Artful Dodger who welcomes him to Fagin and his gang, of which he plays a crucial part.
Once Oliver settles in, he goes out on his first pickpocketing job with Dodger and Charlie Bates, another member of Fagin’s gang. Oliver then is taken to court for a crime he didn’t even commit. After he was proved innocent, Mr. Brownlow, the person whose pocket Oliver allegedly picks, takes him in and takes care of him.
Nancy, who is part of Fagin’s gang, kidnaps Oliver just to make sure that he didn’t tell Mr. Brownlow about Fagin and the gang. He then stays with the gang up until Bill Sikes, the bad guy of the story, steals Oliver and ends up killing Nancy. He then attempts to kill Oliver as well, but as they stand on the bridge, someone in the crowd shoots a gun, it hits Sikes’ stomach, and Sikes dies.
After all of the chaos of this scene, Mr. Brownlow decides to take Oliver in and take care of him. They later find out that Mr. Brownlow is Oliver’s grandfather. Oliver and Mr Brownlow live happily ever after.
What was really good about it? The set was quite good and it had a double-revolve so it moved when needed. The bridge was always there and when the cast didn’t want it in their scene, they moved it to better fit what was happening within it.
Fagin was brilliant. He was really funny and kept on taking to the audience, I’m not sure if he was meant to but it was very funny. Nancy was a brilliant singer because she held the notes that she needed to, when she needed to and the emotion in her singing was great as well. Her acting was also good.
My favourite dances were You’ve Got To Pick a Pocket and Consider Yourself. Both had a lot going on and the way they were performed was good. The show-offy spectacle of the dancing and performance as a whole was noticeable. The dancing was really good generally but that’s not surprising as the show was directed by the famous choreographer, Matthew Bourne.
What could be better? The bit near the end, when Bill Sykes dies, was a bit confusing with lots of running around and spot lights moving all over the place. I saw it early on, during the previews, so that bit might have got better by now.
What my Dad thinks? Oscar Conlon-Morrey rinses every last drop of potential comedy out of his version of Mr Bumble. Shanay Holmes’ interpretation of As Long As He Needs Me grows and grows into a powerful, gut wrenching masterpiece and is simply stunning. For me though, Simon Lipkin steals the show as Fagin. his comic timing, adlibs, asides and audience interplay are masterful, but he still perfectly finds the right balance for the more poignant moments.
Go and see Oliver, while you can, before it inevitably transfers to London and the ticket prices double.
I nearly didn’t write this post because there isn’t really anything that hasn’t been said about this book, so I’ll keep it brief.
Holes is a classic. Far more significant people than me have loved and recommended Holes, not least Malorie Blackman (on the cover) and Phil Earle (who wrote the forward for this edition). However, for what it’s worth, I am offering my – admittedly, very late to the party – thoughts.
If it’s possible to have a ‘hot take’ on such a widely adored book, mine is this…it reminds me of Catch-22. Both deal with dark subject matter with great humour. Both jump forwards and backwards in the timeline of their stories. Both are exceptional examples of the written word and are to be considered classic works of literary art.
Holes is magnificent and is well worth a read, regardless of your age. As mentioned in the forward by Phil Earle, ‘It tackles themes so meaty that Shakespeare would be jealous: crime, punishment, curses, revenge, retribution, redemption…the list could go on and on.’
If you fancy checking out some other books written for Key Stage 2 children (but enjoyed by all) check out the page linked below.
The Horne Section are a comedy band led by the comedian Alex Horne. While their songs are funny, their music is also technically very good and that balance carries on in this book. Make Some Noise is written with an accessible, humorous tone but the content is also very informative, well researched and a perfect introduction to the world of music for children of about 7+.
Make Some Noise tells the young readers all they need to know (and more) as they begin their musical journey of discovery. Instruments, notation, genre and musical terms are all explained in (child-friendly) detail to give the reader a foundation in music history and theory before setting them off to become musicians and songwriters themselves.
The chapter about genres was a particular favourite for us. The history of many musical genres are explain and then a recommend playlist is included at the end of each section. We asked our smart speaker to play each piece of music and then talked about it. My 11-year-old probably won’t be returning to Thomas Tallis’ ‘Spem in Alium’, which he described as ‘creepy’, but it was a great way for him to explore and discover a great range of music and artists.
I would recommend Make Some Noise to primary school music teachers or teachers who want to improve their subject knowledge, it’s genuinely useful. Last week I was talking to a colleague about ‘pitch’ and I found the best way to explain it to her was sharing a couple of pages from this book so she could explain it simply to her class.
As well as being packed with genuinely useful and interest musical content there are also many laughs to be had. Most of the chapters end with a Taskmaster style task and all of the chapters contain lies that the reader has to look out for along the way. These are revealed at the end of each chapter and our favourites were about the dangers of playing a harp in Wales and finding out about the weasel and the woodpecker. There is also a section about farting musically, so it’s pretty highbrow stuff at times.
This book is great for all of the aspiring young musicians in your life. So if you have a young musician in your life, enhance their musical life with a copy of Make Some Noise.
Tom, age 11, says: “I enjoyed the tasks at the end of every chapter although some were silly and a bit hard. I still haven’t managed to shout ‘MUSIC’ every time I hear music for a whole day. In every chapter there are a few silly lies which are funny, you have to guess what the lies are and on the last page of each chapter you get to find out if you were right.”
Bella, age 8, says: “The Horne Section do a very funny song about peas and I love it.”
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
Moving Up: How to Ace Secondary School is a handbook that all Year 6 children should take a look at. Foley guides the reader through all aspects of the transition into secondary school discussing the practicalities of having different teachers, subjects and uniforms but also tackling the meatier topics about relationships and bullying.
Moving Up is divided into 3 sections. Part 1 focuses on Year 6, dealing with all the rumours that are going around about secondary school and which ones might actually be true. Part 2 is all about Year 7 and what to expect when you get there: the first day, the subjects, getting lost, the rules, and so on. The final part is probably the one that I’ll be coming back to the most. Much of it doesn’t seem overly relevant at the moment, with talk of peer pressure, bullying, social media and relationships a little way off for my kids just now, but I’m sure they’ll be on the agenda soon enough.
We’ve finished the book and really enjoyed it but it will not be the last time I’ll use it. I will be sharing it with pupils and parents at school and returning to it with my own children at home. It’s a useful book, upon first read, for answering questions that many Year 6s will be concerned about and putting worried minds at ease, but it covers so many important issues, I’m sure we’ll be revisiting certain passages as they move into secondary school.
Tom, age 11, says: “It’s given me tips about secondary school. It’s good to know before I go what things I’ll need for different subject and it was really helpful in letting me know about the different uniform I’ll need.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
This was the second year of Alex Horne’s Comedy Football match. Comedy football because it’s played by comedians, but also because of the rule changes that Alex introduced.
You must shout your own name every time you shoot.
A goalscorer can double their goal by pulling off a crossbar challenge immediately after.
Goalkeepers must go up for every corner.
Managers must be in the centre circle at all times but mustn’t touch the ball.
When ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Miley Cyrus is played, a second ball will be introduced.
If you get a yellow card, you must wear a yellow marigold glove for the reast of the game.
If you get a second yellow card, you must do the washing-up after the match.
If a team goes three goals up, every outfield player on that team must hold hands with another of their players while ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ plays (This rule was never introduced throughout the game).
If the referee thinks that you’ve done something very well, you must wear the wonderful wig – a pink curly one! The player wearing the wonderful wig at the final whistle gets a £20 cash prize.
Each manager has a party popper/ confetti cannon each and they can fire it whenever they want (but the ball must be out of play.) They then must choose one player from each team to play a one-on-one for the next two minutes. Both goalkeepers keep playing too though.
It was a really hot day and the match was taking place at the home of Chesham United, the Meadow.
My mum’s favourite bit was the songs that were played before the game. There were lots of well known songs that had place names in, but the place names were all changed to Chesham. Galway Girl, by Ed Sheeran, became Chesham Girl, Back in the U.S.S.R by the Beatles, became Back in the C.H.E.S.H.A.M and Walking in Memphis by Cher became Walking in Chesham. There were loads of others and they were all very funny.
Before kick off the teams lined up for the anthems. You can see the lyrics below.
The teams line up for the anthems
The Teams
Both teams were made up comedians with a handful of players from Chesham United’s men’s and women’s teams helping them out.
Chicken City
The reigning champions who played in the home kit of Chesham United in claret and blue.
Stuart Laws (GK), Mathew Baynton, Doc Brown, Maisie Adam, Ivo Graham, John Kearns, Matt Winning, James Gill, Elis James, Gemma Fraser (CUFC), Ellie Doerr (CUFC), Kieran Murphy (CUFC), Eoin Casey (CUFC), Ennis Alhashimi (CUFC), Hugh Dennis (Player Manager)
Egg United
The host, Alex Horne’s, team were wearing the Chesham away kit of yellow and black.
Tom Rosenthal (GK), Alex Horne, Tim Key, James Acaster, Mike Wozniak, Mark Watson, Sophie Duker, Charlie Baker, Annie McGrath, Alex Brooker, Jon Richardson, Jim Daly, Andy Devonshire, Becky Fraser (CUFC), Tasha Smith (CUFC), Lewis Rolfe (CUFC), Jeanmal Prosper (CUFC), Matt Rose (CUFC).
Director of Football – Nish Kumar
The Match
First Half
The game began with both teams in their own goals and when the ref blew the whistle, they all ran to the middle to try and get the ball. To start off, the holders, Chicken City, looked like the better team. The control then changed hands when Egg United scored the opener.
Then one of the Egg Utd players attempted the crossbar challenge and… failed. The Chicken City players continued to attack and their continuous relentlessness finally resulted in a goal. The Chicken City player failed the crossbar challenge and it was at 1-1.
The Chickens continued to press and it became 2-1 to Chicken City not long after. Can you guess what happened for the crossbar challenge? If you said that it would be missed, you would be correct. The Chicken City players weren’t as attacking but still scored again to make it 3-1, the crossbar challenge remained unconverted.
Now in came rule 5, the one about ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Miley Cyrus. The second ball caused some chaos, with the host, Alex Horne taking advantage and scoring for the Eggs. 3-2! Egg-citing! The crossbar challenge still remained uncompleted. Do you think that this rule is pointless?
Then Egg United had all of the momentum and, using that momentum, they score again just before halftime but, again, they didn’t convert the crossbar challenge.
Half-Time
During halftime, there was a penalty shootout between 75 local schoolkids and it only took two rounds to find a winner. At first glance, the goalkeeper looked tiny, but he made some great saves. in the second round, there was only one goalscorer out of about 35 kids.
Also during half time, Sam Campbell presented Chesham United with their new mascot, Chess Ham. Chess Ham is a pig with a big chess piece on it’s head. Unfortunately, soon after Chess Ham came onto the pitch he started being chased by a butcher who wanted to make sausages out of him. It was very funny.
Second Half
The second half contained even more silliness and fun. The fox in the box, Alex Horne, kept causing havoc in the City box and made the 7th goal occur with the luckless John Kearns steering it into his own net. Oops! The crossbar challenge conversion was failed once again.
As the second half progressed, the Chicken City player/manager, Hugh Dennis, became the first of the two managers to fire his confetti cannon. This meant that there was a 2-on-2 match, including goalkeepers, happening for two minutes before the rest of the team rushed back on to join in again. This was a clever and funny rule, however, it didn’t result in any goals and the players involved looked quite tired. The same happened later on when the Egg United manager played his.
Throughout the second half, the tempo slowed due to the intense heat and the game looked to be heading for a 7-5 Egg Utd win. However, in the 90th minute, Maisie Adam scored to make it 7-6. As she stepped up to take the crossbar challenge conversion, the crowd were silent. Then, she became the first player, at the 13th attempt, to complete the crossbar challenge. 7-7! Adam celebrated in the same way that Chloe Kelly celebrated her winner at the 2022 Women’s Euros. She took her shirt off and sprinted around in extreme ecstasy. The crowd went crazy. The referee blew his whistle. The game had ended.
Penalties
The penalties were taken in a MLS-style shootout. Each player had 5 seconds from the referee’s whistle to score from about 40 yards out. They ran forward and tried to beat the ‘keeper. Most missed, finally Andy Devonshire scored meaning Chicken City had to score to stay in the game, but Elis James stepped up but couldn’t round Tom Rosenthal. Egg United were the Comedy Football Trophy Champions for 2024!
Congratulations to Egg United who lifted the massive pineapple
Notable Performances
Mat Bayton: Good on the ball driving forward from midfield.
Maisie Adam: A really good player and the only one to hit the crossbar making it a very exciting end to the game.
Elis James: Not great, but not as bad as Nish Kumar was telling everyone he was.
Alex Horne: He was clever by taking advantage of the confusion of the two balls on the pitch.
Mark Watson: A good defender who runs a bit like he’s stepping on Lego.
Mike Wozniak: Good at passing.
Jon Richardson: Tidy on the ball.
Tom Rosenthal: The only one to wear the wonderful wig twice because of some good saves. He looked really hot in it.
Nish Kumar: A funny commentator.
Stuart Laws: Decent in goal and unlucky with a few ‘offside’ decisions that didn’t go his way and led to goals. He told us afterwards that the linesman had warned him, he’d be booked if he carried on complaining about it. Harsh.
Roz is the only surviving robot when the cargo ship she is being transported on sinks during a storm. She adapts to survive and learns to thrive on an island uninhabited by humans (or other robots).
As great as this book was to share as a bedtime story, it’s even better for sharing in school. The learning is everywhere. From exploring and learning about the natural world, along with Roz, to the greater life lessons that can be taken from the robot’s approach to discovering new things and building relationships with new creatures.
Charm and good manners don’t come naturally to Roz (well, nothing comes naturally to Roz as she’s a robot) but she soon learns the benefits of being kind and friendly. Roz needs to adapt to her surroundings and finds out that her chances of survival are significantly improved when she is helped by the, initially reluctant, animals who inhabit the island.
The Wild Robot is a great book for many reasons and for many children, but it’s particularly poignant for neurodivergent readers. They may relate to Roz’s struggle to understand the world around her and how she feels the need to ‘act’ to conform with the norms of those around her.
We were thinking this book would make an excellent film, then we learnt that it has been made into one and it’s due to be released in October 2024. Here is the trailer, it looks wonderful.
The Wild Robot is a heart-warming, epic adventure and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Sort of everything you’d want in a book for 7-11 year olds, really.
Tom, age 11, says: “I enjoy the adventure that Roz goes on. I really like the message about the importance of family and friendship and helping each other. My favourite bit is the dramatic robot battles at the end when all the animals come to help Roz. My favourite character is is Chichat because she chats a lot, like me.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children below…
The friendship shared by, former Rugby League players, Rob and Kevin is the inspiration and heart of this book. Their story of overcoming adversity with love and support is inspirational.
With You Every Step isn’t a novel, but rather a collection of phrases, thoughts and words of wisdom about friendship that are perfect to share with children. It’s a lovely book to return to at anytime but particularly when discussing what healthy and positive relationships can look like.
The messages within the book are brilliantly depicted by a collection of some of the finest illustrators working today. Rib Biddulph, Reggie Brown, David Litchfield, Gill Smith and Sam Usher all have worked featured.
Discover more brilliant books for Key Stage 2 children here…
