Author: Mrs Hogarth

Last week saw that time of year again where we say goodbye to the current JLT members and we elect new ones. This year, the team have been great and these will be tough shoes to fill. On Wednesday, each class listened to speeches from the children wishing to be elected. There were some great speeches that allowed the children to express their strengths and their wishes should they be elected. Thursday saw a nail-biting day of voting!

In assembly on Friday, the new team was announced and the new members received their JLT badges.

The new team are:

5,6A – Emilia

5,6B Noah

5,6C Eric

3,4A Thea

3,4B – Caleb

3,4C – Lani

2C – Jenson

1,2B – Olivia

1A – Mia

As a school we pride ourselves on the idea of promoting democracy. We really value pupil voice and being part of the Junior Leadership Team is a way that children can make positive changes around school and have their voice hear. This week, we’re holding the elections for a new JLT team. The children in 5,6B have been busy writing their speeches at home and read them aloud in class yesterday. The children spent last night pondering over who they will vote for in the elections today. Who will be lucky enough to be elected? Let’s wait and see!

We’ve been working hard to improve our football skills this half term. We began by learning how to effectively pass a football with the side of our foot to a partner. We developed this further by looking at other ways you can pass a ball. The children recognised the importance of dribbling the ball and keeping it at a good distance so that you have good control. We created our own courses using cones and worked in pairs to develop these skills.

5,6B have continued to learn about forces this week and investigated air resistance further. The children constructed their parachutes using plastic bags, Plasticine, paperclips and string. They ensured their 3 parachutes had different surface areas. They predicted that the parachute with the smaller surface area would fall first as it has less surface area and therefore less drag.

The children dropped the parachutes multiple times and worked out an average drop time. Next week, we’ll evaluate the results and reach a conclusion about our findings.

Help at home: Ask your child about variables. What was the control, dependent and independent variable in the investigation?

I have been hugely amazed by the reading journal tasks that I have been receiving each week in my class. It shows that the children are taking their reading seriously at home and that they are considering the effort and presentation that they put into their weekly tasks. This week, the children completed ‘Draw it’ which allows them to draw a front cover, a main character or a scene from their book.

Help at home: Children should be reading daily at home and recording this in their journals. Can you listen to your child read and sign their journal each week? Please check that your child is completing their weekly tasks and returning their journals to school every Friday.

We used Digimaps this week to observe how Leeds had changed over time. This online tool allows the children to look at historical and present day maps and measure the scale of the city. We looked at a map from 1890, 1950 and 2023. They used a free hand tool to draw around the city and then the measuring tool to record the scale. It was really clear to see how Leeds had expanded. This learning links to our topic vocabulary – city expansion.

Help at home: Ask your child why a city like Leeds has expanded over time.

Living and learning has allowed the children to reflect on the 8 Rs for learning in class and at home.

Here is a reminder of what they are:

• ready
• responsive
• risk taking
• responsible
• resourceful
• resilient
• remembering
• reflecting

The children reflected on the first few weeks of school and gave examples of when they had used an 8R.

” I used remembering when I remembered some vocabulary from last years topic learning.”

“I was resilient in maths when I was finding reading large numbers tricky – now I get it!”

Help at home: Can your child give an example of when they’ve used an 8R at home? Maybe at a sport club or with their homework.

 

The children are learning about forces this half term, which allows them to experience the physics strand of science. Air-resistance (a type of friction between air and another object) has been our focus for the lesson this week and we began by testing this on paper. The children dropped a piece of paper and a scrunched up piece of paper from a height to see which would land first – they predicted that the scrunched up one would land first. They discussed how surface area affects the force of the air acting upon it. The whole piece of paper was the last to fall as it had the largest surface area.

The children then used bin bags and ran holding them, a bit like a parachute. This was to allow them to feel the drag associated with air resistance.

Help at home: Ask your child about the science vocabulary they are learning about. What can they remember?

Living and learning this week has allowed the children to think about our school rules at the start of a new school year. The children remembered the rules well:

We’re ready.

We’re safe.

We’re respectful.

We discussed how these would look and sound in class and around school, even in the playground. How would we know the children are following the rules?

The classes will also have established rules for their living and learning sessions to ensure these lessons are purposeful and reflective.

This week, we will also be sending home the Acceptable Use Agreement for using the computers in and out of school. When using technology, the children need to ensure they are safe. Please read through this with your child and check that they understand the expectations. We’ll also be discussing this in class.

Help at home by asking your child about the school rules. Can they explain what they have done this week to show they are following them?