New Junior Leadership Team
Democracy is a key part of British Values and during this week, our classes have cast their votes for who they would like to represent their class on the JLT. We were absolutely overwhelmed by the number of children that wrote speeches. These were well written, full of ideas and showed off their best qualities such as leadership, good listening skills and initiative.
The votes were counted and the new members have been announced!
Here are our new members:
5,6A – Ben
5,6B – Lilly
5,6C – Jeevan
3,4A – Bradley
3,4B – Violet
3,4C – Adam
2C – Ted
1,2B – Mollie
1A – Rupert
Well done to each of you. I’m looking forward to working with you this year and can’t wait to get started.
3,4 Class News – Topic and Writing
Should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece?
This has been the topic of conversation in our classroom this week! The children have learned all about the history of Elgin Marbles and have used the information to decide whether they think they should be returned to Greece or should stay in Britain.
Today, they practised their debating skills in small groups. They will use this knowledge to write a discussion text next week.
At home ask your child their opinion about the Elgin Marbles.
Y3/4 Topic
This week, we’ve started learning about The Elgin Marbles as part of our topic on Ancient Greece. These were statues and friezes from the Parthenon that are still debated today, since many are housed in London and not in their native home of Athens.
We discussed the reasons put forward both for and against returning them. This links not just with our topic but also writing, where we’ve been looking at discussion texts. We always enjoy a healthy difference of opinion and we also see this in action in our weekly ‘Philosophy Friday’ discussions where we share our opinions on different topics.
Help at home by prompting a discussion with your child. Cats vs dogs? Winter vs summer? Ancient Greeks vs Romans? Can they give reasons on both sides and think about something from more than one angle?
Year 3,4 Class News
In Reading, we have explored the Greek Myth ‘Icarus and Daedalus’. The children summarised the events in the story and considered how the characters felt at different parts.
Help at home by asking your child to retell this story and discuss with them how each character felt.
In Science, we have collected data on invertebrates by recording the number of invertebrates spotted in the school grounds. After recording the data in a tally chart, the children presented their information in a graph. Why not try this at home?
Column Addition- Year 4
This week, Year 4 have been perfecting column addition. We started the week by adding two three digits numbers, before ending the week with adding four digit number with more than one exchange!
It’s important to remember to set out your columns correctly.
Which are correct? Spot and explain the mistakes in the others.
When exchanging, we know that we can…
Exchange ten 1s for one 10…
Exchange ten 10s for one 100…
Exchange ten 100s, for one 1000…
Help at home: Practice chanting the exchange rules. I say it, you say it, we say it! You can even say them in silly voices!
3,4 Trip – Lotherton Hall
What a fabulous trip!
The children had a great time having the opportunity to enrich their Science learning. They all participated in the classification workshop where they found out more about different vertebrates. They explored the Wildlife World where they saw flamingos, capybaras, tapirs, penguins and other species of birds. After a walk in the woods, a play in the park, a lunch break and more exploring, it was time to come back to school!
Help at home by asking your child what they have been learning.
Connect Challenge
Thursday saw the whole school take part in the Connect Challenge in support of the Rob Burrow Foundation. This event was aimed at rasiing awareness of MND whilst also linking primary schools across Leeds. It promoted the idea of collaboration, physical education and friendship. We were the first school in Leeds to compete in which the children had to complete a challenge linked to the number 7. This was Rob Burrow’s shirt number when he played for the Rhinos. The children had 1 minute to complete 7 physical activities such as passing a rugby ball, hula hooping – all sorts of crazy activities! At the end of all the challenges, we filmed Lilly in year 6 throwing a rugby ball to her left. This will be incorporated into a video in which the next school receives the ball. It will eventually show all the primary schools taking part, linking together by passing the rugby ball. It was great fun and the children loved taking part in the challenge! 
Class News
We are biologists!
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning how to classify animals and plants using a classification key. We have really enjoyed this work and have created yes and no questions to classify and group animals and plants.
We can’t wait for our classification workshop.
Y3/4 Reading
Children in 3/4 have been sharing their love of reading in our Book Club sessions. Each week, children complete one activity in response to what they have read during the week. This past week it was ‘Book Wars’!
Help at home by listening to your child read regularly. Encourage them to discuss with you what they think of their book and why.
Living and Learning- I know that rights come with responsibilities
We have been learning that we have the right to learn but a responsibility to be great learners. Here is a list of top tips we came up with to be great learners:
- be in class on time
- be prepared for all lessons
- take good care of school property
- complete spelling, reading and talk time homework
- be ready
- respect ourselves and others
- listen and react well
- doing our best – every day!
We also talked about Children’s rights in the UK. These include:
Help at home: watch this video and ask your child what their rights are