6 days ago
Posted on 27th Mar 2026 by Jane Rhoden

Hockey Match at Maurice Chandler

Well done to Year 2 and Year 5 who took part in the Hockey Tournament at Maurice Chandler this week.

The competition was good fun and we worked well as a team. It was a really good experience for everyone. Before our matches we practised with another school who were really friendly.

By Leah ( Class 5)

4 weeks ago
Posted on 06th Mar 2026 by Laura Bessant

Hodnet Celebrates World Book Day!

Hodnet kicked off our World Book Day celebrations with a Traitors themed assembly!

We were welcomed into the Great Reading Castle of Hodnet – a place where the Faithful Readers were being thwarted by the Book Traitors. The Faithful Readers love stories, use their imagination and protect books; whereas the Book Traitors try to stop the main character, they try to stop the happy endings and they try to make stories something to dislike.

Four Readers had been chosen at the secret round table and one of those was selected to be the Book Traitor. The Readers were set two challenges to see if the children could work out who was the Book Traitor.

The first challenge asked the Readers to identify the book using picture clues. The children tried to guess which of our Readers was the Traitor!

In the second challenge, our Readers were given a book character and had to deliver two truths and a lie about their book. The children had to see if they could spot the traitor by the way they delivered their lie.

After the two challenges, the children voted for the Reader they thought was the Book Traitor. It was in fact Miss Honey from Matilda!

After successfully finding the Traitor, the children were asked to consider the Oath of the Faithful Reader. Faithful Readers promise to give books a chance; to use their imagination; to try new books and to protect the magic of reading!

It was a great start to our World Book Day celebtrations!

1 month ago
Posted on 22nd Feb 2026 by Sharon Evans

Online Safety and Mental Health Week in Class 5

Online Safety and Mental Health week occurred in the same week this year. Mrs Arnold focused on online safety at the start of the week. This years theme was about exploring the safe and responsible use of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Children participated in a live lesson online on Tuesday morning and assemblies and guided reading lessons at the beginning of the week also focused on the above theme.
In the second half of the week Miss Evans focused on Mental Health. Thursday afternoon was dedicated to activities linked to thinking about ‘where we belong – this is my place’ which was the theme of this years mental health week. Children made belonging maps to show all the places that they feel accepted and where they can be themselves. Assemblies and guided reading sessions at the end of the week also focused on this theme.

1 month ago
Posted on 22nd Feb 2026 by Sharon Evans

Storytelling Week in Class 5

During storytelling week Class 5 really enjoyed various activities. They enjoyed sharing their talk for writing text ‘The Rhiswanozebta’ during a special assembly. They also participated in and enjoyed a storytelling workshop where they learnt some new stories to take home and tell to family and friends. They enjoyed going into class 2 at the end of the day to read and share stories with younger children and they enjoyed writing a 10-sentence story where they had to stick to specific rules for each sentence.

2 months ago
Posted on 12th Feb 2026 by Laura Bessant

Storytelling Week 2026

Storytelling week was the second event in our calendar of events to support the National Year of Reading 2026. We enjoyed a range of events to highlight the importance of listening to, telling and reading stories.

On Tuesday, Year 5 and 6 enjoyed a ‘Soundtrack Your Story’ workshop from the National Literacy Trust where they learnt about rhythm and rap with Alim Kamara.

On Wednesday, we held a storytelling assembly where each class shared their Talk for Writing text. Reception told ‘The wheels on the bus’; Year 1 told ‘Lost and Found’; Year 2 told ‘Edgar’s Adventure’, a warning tale, and Year 3 told a suspense story ‘The Manor House’. Year 4 carried on the suspense stories with Zelda Claw; Year 5 shared the non-chronological report ‘The Rhiswanozebtah’ and Year 6 told the story ‘Red’, a twist on the traditional version of Little Red Riding Hood.

On Thursday, we had a special visit from Sal Tonge who is a storyteller. Each class enjoyed a workshop with Sal where they listened to and joined in with lots of stories and songs.

We have also held a class reading swap where the older children read with the younger children.

We hope that our storytelling events will have provided enjoyable experiences for all!

2 months ago
Posted on 29th Jan 2026 by Penny Lyall

London experience!

Our very excited Y5&6 pupils have been given the ‘save the date’ for our London experience day – this year it will be on Friday 26th June.

We organise the London experience day to provide our pupils with the opportunity to visit our capital, to travel by train, take in key sites and experience city life for the day. We usually go every other year, close to Christmas, but we have decided to change this going forwards to a summer event, meaning we have a longer day and more options to visit landmarks. This links with school themes of monarchy, sustainability, British Values and much more! It’s a magical day, something staff and pupils look forward to as a staple KS2 Hodnet experience.

At the core of our trip this year is visiting the Houses of Parliament, which we were lucky enough to secure this week when the tour booking slots opened for schools – thanks to the staff members who were eagerly waiting for the time slot and ready with fastest fingers first to get the booking!

We have also secured workshops in the Royal Mews and Buckingham Palace. Our next steps are to confirm the other activities – tour of Westminster Abbey plus one other yet to be confirmed, possibly a river cruise! Watch this space for more information, but for now please save the date. Letters with full information will be sent to Y5&6 families in the coming weeks when our travel and full itinerary is confirmed.

2 months ago
Posted on 27th Jan 2026 by Sharon Evans

Neutralising Acids

Year 5 are really enjoying learning about properties and changes of materials in science lessons. Last week, they learnt how to test the PH of different liquids to see if they were an acid, alkali or if they were neutral. They learnt about the PH scale and what colours indicate acids and alkalis. This week year 5 have been learning about neutralising acids. They started off with pure acid (vinegar) and predicted how many grams of (alkali) bicarbonate of soda it would take to neutralise the acid. After each gram they tested the liquid to see if it was changing and becoming more neutral. It took 21 grams of alkali to completely neutralise the acid. They continued their investigations by slightly diluting the acid a bit more each time they repeated the investigation and correctly predicted that it would take less alkali each time to neutralise the acid. As the bicarbonate of soda was added to the vinegar the children observed bubbling, foaming and fizzing and knew a chemical reaction was taking place. They also learnt the medical benefits of neutralising acids, for example when treating heartburn alkali medication can be taken to neutralise the stomach acid. Well done year 5 you are becoming amazing scientists!

2 months ago
Posted on 17th Jan 2026 by Laura Bessant

National Year of Reading 2026!

Hodnet School is excited to embrace the National Year of Reading in 2026.

What is the National Year of Reading?

The National Year of Reading is a UK wide campaign by the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust. The campaign’s theme is ‘Go All In’ meaning read about things that really matter to you. Whether it’s sport, music, fashion so something else, if people ‘go all in’ on a topic, the hope is that they will enjoy what they are reading and do it more.

Why is this the National Year of Reading?

Studies have shown that reading is connected to lots of lifelong benefits, including wellbeing and confidence, and improving writing and conversation skills. Unfortunately, reading for pleasure among young people is at its lowest for 20 years. We need our young people to read in order to improve their own life chances, both in education and the workplace.

Is reading just about books?

Definitely not! The National Year of Reading is promoting all types of reading including comics, magazines, online blogs, e-readers, instruction manuals and audiobooks. The campaign wants everyone to read in a way that works for them.

What is happening during the National Year of Reading?

Throughout 2026, there will be lots of events across the UK. At Hodnet School, Mrs Bessant has created a calendar of events to ensure that we enjoy a reading event every month of 2026.

National Year of Reading Calendar

Our first event is ‘Reading Resolutions’ – allowing our children to set a reading goal for the year. This could be about trying a new format of reading or perhaps trying a new author or genre.

The Department for Education want children and families to read for at least 10 minutes every day and Hodnet School we want that for our children as well. How amazing would it be if we could all achieve that goal!

3 months ago
Posted on 09th Jan 2026 by Sharon Evans

Snow Day Work 9/1/26

Good morning class 5. As we are closed today please complete the following list of work below.

Please complete your comprehension activity in homework folders that went home yesterday.
Please write or type a first draft of the beginning and build up of your dilemma story which we were due to start writing in class today. You planned your story yesterday so should have your ideas still fresh in your heads. Please bring your first drafts to school on Monday so you can edit and improve them with Mrs Arnold.
Please log on to TTRS (Mrs Arnold will be checking).
Please log on to spelling shed and complete all outstanding tasks.
Complete the Maths sheet continuing to practice converting improper fractions to mixed numbers from yesterday .Maths – Snow Day

Take care everybody and enjoy the snow too. See you next week.

Miss Evans x