Author: Mrs Latham

Let’s Get Active!

As part of our commitment to being a happy and healthy school, we’re continually looking at ways to increase the physical activity undertaken within school. The UK Chief Medical Officers found that, “the latest evidence shows there is a clear link between physical activity and chronic disease.” We want to reduce this risk by ensuring that our children can achieve the recommended 60 minutes, or more, of physical activity per day. The government wants schools to provide 30 minutes of this.

In response to this we have launched the  30:30 Wristband Challenge.
Y1-6 children should have brought a recording sheet home. We’ll be taking part in the challenge in school and are encouraging children to continue this at home as well. We already do 10 minutes of Wake Up, Shake Up per day (join in here). We are now striving for 10 minutes of running per day and a further 10 minutes using interactive online resources. The Change for Life website has fun ideas how you can achieve 30 active minutes at home, too.

Spring Term Learning

‘What’s the matter?’ is our first mini-topic in the new year and is science-based. Children will learn about materials and their properties. We will explore what objects are made from and why, using One Snowy Night as a stimulus. We’ll be designing and making a waterproof shelter for an animal. You can help your child learn more about this topic when choosing which clothes to wear and talking about which materials everyday objects are made from and why.  Children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, thinking about how they can solve problems.

Life forces  is our big topic for the new year (lasting eight weeks).
Life is all around us, in plants and animals, and comes in all shapes and sizes – it’s amazing! In this biology-based topic, we find out how our body works, what all living things have in common and the differences we might notice. Amongst other things, we’ll think about why animals choose particular habitats, and why a healthy diet is important and how drugs can be dangerous. Help your child at home by naming body parts, including the parts inside that you can’t see, discussing why you breathe hard after exercise and what plants you can see when you’re out and about.

08 December 2017

This week’s homework is Creative.

I can show what I know about a festival.

​Around this time, ​many children in school will celebrate or will have celebrated​ a religious festival of some sort.  This might be the Christian festival of Christmas (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians in the UK, too​). It might also be the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali,  the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, or the Chinese New Year festival – which ​is early in the new year. There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child might want to reflect on. Research more festivals.

We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, or an interview (perhaps in a script). Your child might also choose to research a completely unknown festival or they might even think about creating a brand new festival, one that everyone will celebrate.