Half-termly topics
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The new academic year has begun with an exciting new theme — Exploring the world through colours. We’ve taken inspiration from the rainbow for our class names this year, which span from periwinkle and viridan to amber and terracotta. This theme offers an engaging lens for learning across academic, personal, and social areas at Chelsea Hall School.
This half term, we’re focusing on exploring me through colours. This is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate what makes us unique. Part of this has been reading wonderful stories that celebrated individuality, such as Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and The Day the Crayons Quit. Through these stories, we learned to appreciate our unique qualities and the importance of self-expression.
In Art, we created vibrant self-portraits and colourful masks that represented different emotions. These activities helped us explore how we feel and how to express those feelings in creative ways. In PSHE, we celebrated what makes each of us special. We discussed our emotions, reflected on our strengths, and looked for positive ways to express and manage our feelings.
As part of learning about ourselves, we also measured our height and weight, shared our favourite colours, movies, and superheroes, and turned our results into fun graphs in maths class! We also explored 2D and 3D shapes by designing geometric self-portraits, counted down the days to our birthdays using subtraction, and discovered how numbers can help tell our personal stories.
In science, we examined unique animal footprints, learned about our own personal habitats, and explored how plants help us. We also studied how our bodies work as systems and used our senses to investigate the world around us. In geography, we enjoyed mapping our local area and taking part in community walks. We also created personal timelines, highlighting favourite school memories and special holiday moments!
This half term, we have celebrated a wonderful range of cultural events from our DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) calendar. We began in September with Getting to Know You Week, focusing on settling into new classrooms, making friends, and building positive relationships.
On National Video Games Day, pupils discussed internet safety, the importance of sharing information responsibly, and enjoyed age-appropriate, curriculum-linked games on the 'Busy Things' platform. To mark First Aid Day, children explored how our trip bags can be useful in emergencies and had fun practising first aid skills using soft toys as patients!
During Inclusion Week, we celebrated the differences that make us unique, taking part in mirroring games and activities exploring feelings through the Zones of Regulation. For National Teaching Assistant Day, pupils created beautiful thank-you cards for all the amazing staff who support us every day. We also enjoyed the International Day of Sign Languages by brushing up on our Makaton signs, helping us communicate and connect in new ways.
In October, our focus turned to Black History Month, where we learned about equality, human rights, and inspiring figures such as Rosa Parks who changed history through courage and determination. To celebrate Library Week, children explored books both in school and at Earlsfield Library, and took part in weekly Reading with Oreo session — a multisensory storytime experience with our school pet rabbit, Oreo!
Finally, for World Mental Health Day, each class enjoyed sessions led by our Mental Health and Wellbeing Officer, focusing on friendship, kindness, and the qualities that make us good friends. It has been an exciting half term filled with learning, creativity, and celebration — all centred on understanding ourselves and building a stronger, more inclusive school community.
We’ve enjoyed a range of trips and visits this half-term. Some classes donned their chef hats and headed to Pizza Express, where they enjoyed workshops focused on making pizza from scratch. We practised important motor skills such as scooping, mixing, and spreading, and created some delicious pies in the process.
Others enjoyed swimming sessions at our local pool. We’ve been making the most of the last weeks of summer with fun and engaging water-based activities, which double up as key lessons in water safety.
We had a wonderful trip to Colourscape, where pupils explored how colours mix and change, and took part in an inspiring music workshop featuring unique instruments such as an ocean drum and a gong.
Back at school, we participated in an Embracing Arts workshop, where we listened to ‘The Colour Monster’ story in multi-sensory ways, exploring emotions through our senses. This experience helped us understand that it’s okay to feel our feelings, and taught us new ways to manage them positively.
This half term, we proudly took part in the Young Writers Competition, where pupils created imaginative ‘recipe poem’ on themes such as friendship. We discovered that all you really need is a pinch of kindness, a spoonful of laughter, and a sprinkle of understanding to build strong connections with others. The children loved expressing their ideas creatively through poetry, mixing words and emotions just like ingredients in a recipe. It was a wonderful opportunity to develop writing skills, share ideas, and celebrate the importance of caring relationships and positive bonds.
This colourful and creative start to the school year has helped us celebrate our individuality and see the world through a new, vibrant lens! Looking ahead to the next half term, we will focus on ‘Exploring Others Through Colours’. Pupils will learn about emotions, empathy, kindness, and building positive relationships through fun, interactive activities such as creating emotion colour wheels, collaborating on group art projects, engaging in role-play and storytelling, completing small kindness challenges, and reflecting on their thoughts and feelings in safe sharing circles. These experiences will help children understand others, express themselves, and strengthen friendships across the school.
