26 March 2020
This week, the whole school has the same Talk Time homework. In preparation for the upcoming Junior Leadership Team (formerly the School Council) elections, children should complete one of the following tasks:
- I can prepare a speech (Junior Leadership Team elections).
- I know the importance of voting.
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new Junior Leadership Team (JLT). With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place on Thursday 01 April with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 31 March ahead of a democratic vote on Thursday 01 April.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
- ‘use all the 8 Rs for learning’
- ‘be respectful’
- ‘help others’
- ‘be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)’
- ‘tell the truth’
- ‘be confident with your ideas’
- ‘accept the views of others even if you don’t agree’
- ‘be friendly and approachable’
- ‘make good choices in class and around school’
Hints for your speech include:
- What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
- What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
- What do you think would make the school better?
- What could you do that people would really like?
- Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do
Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility. You’re welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
If you choose not to stand in the election, you should instead consider the importance of voting.
19 March 2021
19 March 2021
This week our homework is Creative: I can show different ways to stay safe, including how to seek help.
In the first half-term, we promoted resilience as one of our Rs for learning. However, we can’t be resilient in all situations, at all times. It’s important for people to recognise when things seem overwhelming – and ask for help. It’s also important that children know how to stay safe. There are many ways, and many different situations, in which we need to keep safe: at home, at school, in our environment and online.
Children should think about the situations where they need to keep safe and how to seek help if they need it. This could be done in any creative way:
- A story
- A poem
- Instructions
- A comic strip
- An advert
- An interview
- A game
- Scenarios
…or any other creative ideas!
Please send any completed homework to your child’s class teacher via email and it will be reviewed as part of our weekly homework review.
Times tables
This week, you should focus on revisiting the 3 and 6 times tables. Make sure you have a very quick recall of the multiplication facts up to the 12th multiple. Link your knowledge to the number facts you know, for example 3 x 100 or 0.6 x 10. There will be a multiplication test on Thursday 17th December.
11 December 2020
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework, which should be returned by Thursday 17 December.
The children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or a spiritual perspective.
I can present a review of a book / TV show / film or something else cultural.
We’d like children to present their responses about a recent book they’ve read, film they’ve watched, piece of art they’ve looked at, piece of music they’ve listened to – anything cultural in fact.
We’re interested to read some sort of description (a summary, for example) and then your child’s opinions. This review might include pictures, an interview (your child could write a fictional script between himself/herself and the artist, for example), a letter (eg to or from a character, or perhaps even the author) – anything which might include your child’s responses!
However, your child might prefer to do the following:
I know what a faith celebration means to me.
Over the course of this term, some children in school may have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been
- the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha
- the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali
- the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
- the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
- and the Chinese New Year festival, coming up
There are lots of other festivals and celebrations, which you and your child together might want to reflect on.
We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, 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.
Of course, there are many other ways in which children could respond. Children should be ready to celebrate their learning as part of their homework review by Thursday 18 December 2020.
03 December 2020
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework: I can illustrate different emotions.
This homework, which links to our living and learning statement, is an opportunity for children to show that they can recognise, and show, different emotions. As humans, we display a huge-range of emotions. Sometimes, it’s obvious how we’re feeling. Sometimes, it’s trickier for us to show, or recognise, an emotion. This statement allows us to spend time thinking about the different emotions we experience and how we can recognise these accurately in ourselves and others.
Children could respond creatively to this in a range of ways:
- create a piece of art that shows a range of emotions
- take pictures of themselves (or others) displaying different emotions
- write a short-story in which a character shows lots of emotions
- devise a poem, song or rap about emotions
- create a comic strip to illustrate different emotions
Of course, there are many other ways in which children could respond. Children should be ready to celebrate their learning as part of their homework review by Thursday 10th December 2020.
Times tables
This week, you should focus on revisiting the 4 and 8 times tables. Make sure you have a very quick recall of the multiplication facts up to the 12th multiple. Link your knowledge to the number facts you know, for example 8 x 100 or 0.4 x 10. There will be a multiplication test on Friday 11th December.
27 November 2020
This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect: I know the key vocabulary from our history topic.
The words in the table below all relate to Ancient Egypt and the end of the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Use some activities from this sheet to help recall the words and their meaning.
| advances | Moving forward/ making progress in a purposeful way. |
| hunter- gatherer | People who live by hunting and fishing, and harvesting wild food. |
| civilisation | A settled and stable developed community. |
| hieroglyphics | The formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. |
| empire | A group of countries ruled by a single person. |
| Rosetta Stone | A black stone that has an inscription of hieroglyphics and characters. |
| archaeologist | Someone who looks at ancient sights and objects to learn about the past. |
| Neolithic | The end of the Stone Age when farming was invented. |
| pharaoh | A ruler in Ancient Egypt. |
Times tables
This week, you should focus on revisiting the 9 and 11 times tables. Make sure you have a very quick recall of the multiplication facts up to the 12th multiple. Link your knowledge to the number facts you know, for example 9 x 100 or 0.9 x 10. There will be a multiplication test on Friday 4th November 2020.
20.11.20
Times tables
This week, you should focus on revisiting the 12 times table. Make sure you have a very quick recall of the multiplication facts up to the 12th multiple. Link your knowledge to the number facts you know, for example 12 x 50 or 1.2 x 100. There will be a multiplication test on Thursday 26th November.
As the homework books are still not allowed to return to school, please feel free to email any photos, presentations or any other evidence of homework to your class teacher.
marklindsay@spherefederation.org
sarahhogarth@spherefederation.org
benfreeman@spherefederation.org
20 November 2020
This week, the whole school has the same Creative homework which children should be ready to discuss as part of our homework review on Thursday 26 November.
I know how to STOP bullying.
This homework is a response to our learning this week during anti-bullying week. Throughout the week, each class has had the chance to talk about what bullying is, what the different types of bullying are and how can we STOP it:
- Start
- Telling
- Other
- People
As part of your discussion you may find our school definition of bullying useful, as agreed by our School Councillors:
Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.
As the homework is creative, you can do anything you want to respond to the statement. Here are a few ideas to help you:
- Create a cartoon strip of a bullying scenario and how it is solved.
- Create an acrostic poem using the word bullying.
- Write your own ‘kindness statements’ for your class.
- Create a scenarios quiz for your class to decide what they would do.
This week, our homework is Practice Makes Perfect.
Children should log onto TT Rockstars and practise their times tables. All children already have a login for this site. We have also attached the login to this page. This week, we would like all children to visit the site at least 4 times and play the Garage option – we recommend the 3-minute option. The times tables have been set by the class teachers and are appropriate for each child. If you fancy a different challenge, maybe try the Soundcheck option, but you have to be very speedy! The Arena option is also fun; you are competing against your classmates.
The link for TT Rockstars is below:
Enjoy and keep rockin’
Homework should be completed by Friday 20 November 2020 and will be reviewed / celebrated in class.
Our email addresses are below:
marklindsay@spherefederation.org
sarahhogarth@spherefederation.org
benfreeman@spherefederation.org
Times tables
This week, you should focus on revisiting the 9 times tables. Make sure you have a very quick recall of the multiplication facts up to the 12th multiple. Link your knowledge to the number facts you know, for example 9 x 100 or 0.9 x 10. There will be a multiplication test on Friday 20th November.