Author: Mr Roundtree

Living and Learning: I know what a drug is

We start the new year with drug education.

  • I know what a drug is.
  • I know that some drugs are harmful.

This week,  we focus on the reasons why we use household products and medicines and the importance of using them safely. Our pupil explore a range of medicine labels and instructions and assess risk in different situations. They identify how to minimise/prevent further risk to help prevent accidents from occurring.

chemical products

Even young children can begin to develop an understanding of drugs.

Talk to your child about medicines – they’re helpful drugs, but only when used by the right people in the right way. Older children can develop this understanding in terms of other drugs like alcohol – talk about age restrictions and drinking in moderation.

In today’s lesson, we looked at empty medicine packaging with partners. The aim was to find the all the information someone would need before taking the medicine, and how they were labelled. 

 

This year’s last message (Friday 16 December 2022)

Our last weekly message of the year comes from Miss Hague.

The end of a busy term – it’s hard to believe that Christmas is just over a week away. I think everyone is ready for a rest – although I’m not sure Christmas offers much in the way of relaxation!

Some highlights of our first term have been welcoming so many parents back into school. We were thrilled to be able to invite parents to see our Early Years and KS1 nativity plays. The children were really excited to perform for you and we know by the things that parents have said that you were excited to see them, too. A huge thanks to FOSP for putting on hot drinks and mince pies before each performance.

We were also overwhelmed by the numbers who attended ‘Watch us While We Work’ and our topic review.  We’ve got another ‘Watch us While We Work’ on Thursday 26 January at 9.00am and another topic review on Monday 20 March at 1.45pm. We hope you can attend. Our Early Years team have also welcomed parents in for lots of ‘Stay and Learns’.

Speaking of our Early Years team, we’ve got some exciting news. We’re very happy to let you know that Mrs Flynn is expecting her second baby. She’s hidden it very well but it’s getting hard not to notice! Mrs Flynn will be leaving us at the end of January but she leaves the class in very safe hands as Mrs Allen-Kelly is going to cover her maternity leave meaning that she will be teaching full time in Rainbow class. We wish Mrs Flynn lots of luck.

It wouldn’t be a news post without a little nag about parking. I spotted a traffic warden outside school a couple of weeks ago. We don’t see them very often but I know our local residents contact them frequently. As the weather gets colder, we see an increase in parents tying to park as close to school as possible. Just this week, I was alerted to a car pulling right up onto the grass verge as children were walking past. Please park with respect for our neighbours and with the safety of our children in the forefront of your mind.

And a new nag… litter. We’ve noticed an increase in litter around school (and perhaps the village). I see lots of children eating well-earned snacks as they leave school. Please encourage your child to take any wrappers home with them.

On Wednesday, you’ll have received your child’s learning updates for this term. We hope you found them useful. As always, if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns, please contact us. Two weeks’ break is just what we all need but if you can keep reading and practising those timetables and number facts – it’ll make all the difference to January.

Some happy and healthy news… Jeevan (Y4) recently won the sparring TAGB Taekwondo British Championships. He’s now preparing for the English Championships in Jan 2023 and the World championships in July 2023. Well done, Jeevan!

Thank you to everyone for their continued support over the first term at school. It certainly has felt like a happy and healthy place to learn. Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I’d like to thank you for your continued support throughout 2022, and wish you happy times over the Christmas holiday period. All the best, David Roundtree.

Class 5/6A News

This time next week we will have wrapped up our first term of the year!  Our pupils and staff are working flat-out at the moment, having survived test week, and the end is in sight.  Let’s see what we have been getting up to this week.

Maths, Reading, Grammar and Spelling tests have been on the agenda for our Year 5 pupils this week, whilst our Year 6 pupils have tackled Maths and English SATS papers.  We are proud of how our students have adapted to test week and the effort they have put in.  Learning Updates will be sent home with pupils on Wednesday.  These will provide an update on your pupils attainment, progress and attitude to learning during the first term, with targets on how you can help support your child’s learning at home.

Whilst we have the Year 5/6 Christmas party to look forward to on Wednesday, it will be business as usual next week in terms of learning.  Pupils have today been issued Book Club homework as well as a list of spellings and times tables ahead of our regular tests on a Friday morning.

Help at home:  Help your child with their spelling practice by testing them daily on this week’s words in the car, around the dinner table or on the journey to school.  Practising everyday can make a big impact on a child’s retention of these spellings.

A slightly shorter Class News this week (I’ve been out of school for a couple of days due to illness), but I promise to make up for it with a bumper post next week.  Just time for our certificate winners:

Certificate winners:

Living and Learning – Ella. Provided some excellent ideas on how we can use self-care to help protect our own mental health.

Great learning – Amelie. Pushing herself in every subject, particularly in Maths, to be the best version of herself.

P.E – Arthur. A ‘pocket rocket’ who has dazzled on the football pitch this week.

Peer recognition – Luella.  A real role model for learning and friendship.  Never without a smile on her face.    Freya – providing a shoulder to cry on and support for a classmate who was in need.

This week’s message (Friday 09 December 2022)

Our message this week is has just three points, all of which are important…

Bank holidays and training days

On Friday 25 November, we told you about the additional bank holiday marking King Charles III’s coronation. This will be on Monday 8 May 2023.

This has had a knock-on effect:

  1. It means all the Key Stage 2 tests (the Year 6 SATs) will take place one day later than originally planned
  2. …and this means the training day on Friday 12 May is now on Monday 15 May instead.

We know this may cause some inconvenience – as you can see, the situation is beyond our control. Please contact us with any questions or concerns.

The dates of the Key Stage 2 tests are now:

  • Tuesday 9 May: Grammar, punctuation and spelling
  • Wednesday 10 May: Reading paper
  • Thursday 11 May: Maths
  • Friday 12 May: Maths

Non-uniform day

Next Friday is a non-uniform day. We love a non-uniform day as a welcome change of routine, but (just like dress-down days at work) we do still have  expectations, as set out in our Uniform Policy:

Pupils should dress appropriately and respectfully for school, even on non-uniform days. Clothes are inappropriate if they, for example, glorify violence, feature bad language, are very short (eg crop tops), or relate to age-inappropriate topics (eg computer games). When consulted (18.03.21), junior leaders described this as ‘setting appropriate’ clothing and clothing that is ‘well-judged’. Make-up (other than face paints as part of a specific costume) is not allowed. Flip-flops or high-heeled shoes are not allowed, even on non-uniform days, because they’re dangerous when running.

Infections

Yesterday, we emailed you with a letter and some information about scarlet fever and invasive Group A Strep (iGAS). It’s important that you read the information so that you’re:

  • aware of the signs and symptoms of these infections
  • aware of how you can help to stop the spread of the infections
  • reassured that scarlet fever is a common illness and it is usually very mild
  • reassured that invasive Group A Strep (iGAS) remains very rare, despite recent headlines

And finally a recommendation… If you’ve time, over the holiday, you might want to see a panto or a show. As well as ones at a theatre, The Storymaker’s Apprentice at Leeds Central Library looks a good one.

It’s a freezing Friday – stay as warm as you can over the weekend. Have a happy and healthy one.

Talk to a scientist

Today, we engaged in a wonderful Zoom talk with ecologist Tim Body.

Tim talked about his job and then had time for any questions from children. It was really interesting and pulled together learning from the previous unit on classifying animals with the current sound unit:
I’m an ecologist with a background in wildlife surveying as a consultant. My current job is Nature Conservation Officer for Cheshire East Council.  I figured I could talk primarily about bats, how they use echolocation and how we use bat detectors to find them and identify their species and behaviour. Then I can also talk about the sounds other animals do or don’t make which help us figure out what and where they are. 

The children were really fascinated about bats so we researched their sounds and species here. Why not listen and read with your child?

 

Later in the afternoon, we also had a chance to join with  STEM science to learn about Symmetry in Snowflakes. Watch this space to see our learning …

09 December 2022

This week’s Talk Time relates to our Science learning. Each class has been finding out about one or two scientists as part of their Science lessons.

This week’s Talk Time relates to our Science learning. Each class has been finding out about one or two scientists as part of their Science lessons.

I can show off my knowledge of different scientists.

Year 1/2: John Dunlop

Year 3/4: Jane Goodall

Year 5/6: Carl Linnaeus and Sarah Fowler

Have a chat with someone at home about the scientist that you have been learning about in your Science sessions. Some things to consider when talking about a scientist is:

  • who they are
  • what they did
  • why their work was important
  • whether their work has an impact on life today

Challenge: Do you know of any other scientists? Can you talk about their work and say how it has impacted on life today?

Class News: 5/6A

How is it Friday evening already?  Another jam-packed week of learning and fun has come to an end in Class 5/6A.  Let’s take a look at what our pupils have been up to this week.

Firstly, a huge thank you to all parents who came today to join us for our Topic Review.  We took part in a quiz which saw us reflect upon all of our Topic learning since the beginning of September.  With the parents writing the answers, pupils had to use their books to retrieve information on the Stone Age, druids, mummification and William Morris amongst other things.

Our Writing work this week has seen us complete a set of instructions, linked to our Topic work of creating a lead print.  Students have been looking at using parenthesis (brackets, dashes and commas) to join two independent clauses together, as well as structuring equipment lists and putting instructions in a chronological order.

Despite the cold weather this week, our class have been red hot on the hockey pitch in P.E this week.  We have developed our skills by working on our defensive blocks – the jab and the block tackles.  After practising preventing our opponent from dribbling past us, we then turned into attackers and honed our shooting skills.

Living and Learning this week has seen us continue our discussions around Mental Health, and recognising the importance of talking about how we feel. Identifying those we feel close enough to to share our feelings with is absolutely vital to help young people deal with the wide variety of emotions that they experience.

This week’s Talk Time homework poses a moral question:

Is physical health more important than mental health?

Certificate winners:

Living and Learning – Will.  Provided some excellent ideas on how we can use self-care to help protect our own mental health.

Great learning – Elisa.  Pushing herself in every subject, particularly in Maths, to be the best version of herself.

P.E – Amelia B.  Super dribbling and passing skills in hockey.  Fantastic control and awareness.

Peer recognition – Sam Webb.  Giving up his own lunchtime to support an injured friend who could not play outside.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Robson

Living and Learning: Mental Health

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been focusing on the topic of Mental Health in our Living and Learning sessions.  In class we have had numerous discussions about what we understand by the term ‘Mental Health’, how do we recognise our own feelings and those of others, and what we can do to provide “self-care”.

We have also explored the importance of talking about our feelings. Talking about our feelings, whether they’re big or small feelings, is a great way to have good mental health.  Sometimes it’s starting to talk about things which is the hardest thing to do.  As a group we explored our ‘support circles’, recognising those individuals who we have close connections with that we may be able to talk to in times of need.

This week’s message (Friday 02 December 2022)

On Monday, there was an online safety parent workshop – thank you to those who were able to attend. This week’s message reinforces the guidance that was shared. It comes from Mrs Weekes, the Safeguarding Leader across our three Sphere Federation schools…

You may think that we talk too much about Online Safety but the issues and challenges that our children may face change every day. It’s really important to keep online safety high on your radar so that, together, we can keep our young people safe.

Research shows that 44% of six year olds go online in their bedroom. If your child is accessing the internet on their own devices, it’s really hard to know what they’re seeing or what they’re doing. While it’s important that children have time to themselves and have some independence, it’s also crucial that we make sure they’re keeping safe. There are many ways you can do this but here are some top tips:

  • Make sure that parental controls are enabled on devices and the household internet; there are many parent guides to help you do this if you’re not sure.
  • If your child is using a device, make sure they’re in the same room as you or other responsible members of the family – they shouldn’t be alone in their bedroom.
  • Show an interest in what they’re doing online – every now and again, ask them what they’re watching or doing.
  • Don’t assume that sites you use are ok – many children are seeing inappropriate content on YouTube so make sure you know what they’re watching.
  • Check their devices on a daily basis to see which websites they’ve accessed.

Here’s some further guidance for some particular issues…

Inappropriate content

Despite the controls you put in place, your child might still view something that’s inappropriate. It’s important that you’re able to deal with this situation if it arises.

  • Have an age appropriate conversation and explain that there are some things online that are for adults only and if they see something that upsets them online, they should always come and tell you.
  • It may be a good time to help your child think critically about the images they see online and offline.
  • Try to give them coping strategies to help them deal with any online content that they’re uncomfortable with.
  • Reassure them that they can always come to you and that they aren’t at fault.
  • Be prepared that they may have questions about sex and relationships or other issues.
  • Discuss the problem with other parents to share experiences and solutions.
  • Block any inappropriate content.

Social media

Many of our children are accessing social media platforms on a daily basis. If your child has social media accounts, it’s important that you know some facts about these apps.

  • Check age limits – the majority of social media have a minimum age of 13 years (WhatsApp has a minimum age of 16 years and TikTok has just introduced a minimum age of 18 years for any live posts).
  • Make sure privacy settings are on and that location services are turned off
  • Help your child to be a good role model online – think before they post.
  • Make sure they know no to share personal information – maybe even create an alias so they’re not using their real name.
  • Use a strong password and different passwords for different accounts.
  • Don’t accept or send friend requests to anyone they don’t know.

Screen time

There are benefits and challenges with screen time. Make sure the rules in your house are clear, balanced and work for your family. Here are some suggestions:

  • Create screen time rules together.
  • Take an active role in their digital life.
  • Use tools to manage their screen time and access to media – even as simple as setting a time limit and an alarm.
  • Encourage them to be selective in how they spend their time online and offline.

And finally…

Always ask:

  • What’s your child seeing or doing online?
  • Who might your child be chatting to online?
  • How might their online experiences affect them?
  • Check out this guide to social media and how it links with mental health – it links nicely with our current Living and Learning theme (mental health), too.

If you’ve any specific concerns, do ask us. Let’s work together to keep our children happy and healthy in every way.