Whole School Worship - World Toilet Day
In worship yesterday, we looked through our spirituality windows and out into the world on toilets. We were shocked and saddened to find out that around 700 children under 5 die every year due to poor sanitation. We heard about Jeremiah in Kenya who doesn’t have access to a toilet. In his community, people would mostly use a hole in the ground or a plastic bag, which some people would tie up and throw on other people’s roofs. We talked about how this affects people’s health and shared ideas of what we could do to help. The children then learned about our Toilet Twinning project for which we raised money a few years go to sponsor the building and maintenance of toilets in Nepal, Uganda, Tanzania, and Afghanistan. We reflected on how we should never take our toilets for granted and thought of ways we could save loo paper and water.
Year 4 Seasonal Stockings - Bringing our design to life
In this week’s DT session, the children tried to bring their design to life. They got their two felt stockings and separated them so they could start to sew on their extra pieces which included snow men, Christmas trees, love hearts and their initials. The children really persevered with quite complex skills which was great to see. We can’t wait until the next session to add even more appliqué and create wonderful vibrant Christmas stockings.
Year 5 - Rothwell Arts Dance
Year 5 had an amazing time with Rothwell Arts Dance, mastering how to create a bridge and rock while recapping impressive moves like cartwheels and handstands! They showcased fantastic teamwork, creativity, and determination, working together to perfect their skills and express themselves through movement. A truly inspiring session full of energy and fun!
Voice 21 development in Year 4
In this session we looked at what Voice 21 is and how it supports us in developing our speaking and listening skills. Building practice into our curriculum allows us to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language and listening. We practised using our body language to show that we are listening, experimented with adjusting our tone, volume and pace and how to nest our ideas. We focused on learning the ‘Talk Tactics’ which included: Instigate, Build and Challenge. Through this we used diagnostic questions to develop these three key focuses.
Sportshall Athletics Club
In club this week, the children focused on speed bounce, chest push and long jump. They all worked really hard on developing their speed and agility, particularly with the speed bounce. We also practiced effective takeoff in the long jump with driving our lead leg upward to generate power. Consistency is key and landing leaning forward or to one side prevents us from losing key inches.
Educating Children on Spending and Saving
With Black Friday sales right around the corner, it's a great time to teach children about financial responsibility but how, exactly? In this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide and the latest episode of our podcast we’re offering top tips on educating children how to spend and save wisely. Download here >> https://ow.ly/c0XW50UaIRs Listen here >> https://ow.ly/SoTR50UaIRq
KS2 - Fun in the Snow
Our classes in Years 3 to 6 had a whale of a time in the snow yesterday. They made snowmen and snow sculptures of varying sizes. We even had some Year 5s using a mould to create duckling sculptures.
Year 6 - Fire Service Visit
This week, year 6 were visited by the fire service. They recapped the learning that they received in year 2 and moved onto the topic of ‘Roadsense’. As year 6 move to secondary school, they will no doubt become more independent and may be trusted to walk to school. It is really important that they keep themselves safe and make sure they are visible and give roads their full attention.
Year 6 - Parliament Week
This week, year 6 have spent some time getting to grips with Parliament and how the country is run. They discovered that Parliament is split into two houses: House of Commons and the House of Lords, and this Friday the children will actually get the chance to put some questions to Baroness Wilcox, who sits in the House of Lords. They will have the chance to ask questions about her role and the House of Lords itself. This is a fantastic opportunity which will be enriched further when we actually visit the Houses of Parliament during our London trip in March.
The W.O.W. Group - Spirituality Mural
Our wonderful W.O.W. group would like to say thank you to everyone who sent in their recycled bottle tops. We spent our session this week starting to put our spirituality mural together. It is looking fabulous so far and we can’t wait to share it with you all once it’s in situ.
Year 4 - Class Worship: How Do We Know Who We Are?
We had an extremely thought-provoking class worship today. We found out about Amur, a Muslim boy in Denmark, using Lyfta. He shared a small snapshot of his daily life and explored the question “Who am I?” The discussion which followed was the perfect opportunity for us to practise our talk tactics and listening skills as we shared our opinions on who Amir is as a person, whether or not we thought he was a good person, and how we could tell. There was a lot of agreement among the children with some building on others’ ideas, and a couple of respectful disagreements.
Year 4 - Smart School Council
The children were very enthusiastic about the Smart School Council question this time. They were asked whether or not they’d like to take part in NO PENS DAY. The answer was a resounding yes, with some children choosing ‘tidying up the war graves’ as an activity. There were many different reasons for their choices, including giving their hands a rest, making time for games and doing things for other people in our community. We’re now hoping for a YES from the rest of the school.