Author: Mr Roundtree

This week’s message (Friday 26 May 2023)

We’ve reached the end of the Summer 1 term…

It’s felt a strange one because of all the short weeks in May. The first three Mondays in May have seen school closed – two for bank holidays and one for a training day. Thank you to everyone for working with us – we know disrupted school weeks like this can be tricky for you.

We’ve had an increase in requests for some term-time absences. Many of these are linked to the Summer half-term. We don’t authorise term-time absences (see our Attendance Policy). To help next year, we’ve changed the training day to Friday 24 June – this means that you’ve an extra day to use to plan for any holidays.

We’ve all appreciated the warmer, sunnier weather this week. Please remember to make sure your child is summer-ready next half-term. Make sure they’re wearing suncream, have a sun hat, and a water bottle to stay hydrated.

A big well done to all our Year 6 pupils for coping so well with the end of Key Stage 2 SATs tests – they all did so admirably, despite how difficult they might have been this year. Our Year 6 pupils have got a residential to look forward to, as well as lots of end-of-primary activities as they prepare to move on. This year, the residential (07 – 09 June) will be with all three Sphere Federation schools. (This will help us to make sure we can release enough staff to supervise on the trip.)

Next half term is a busy one, not just for our Year 6 pupils. Teachers are starting to write their end-of-year reports. Amongst other things, pupils have transition morning (05 July) and Sports Day (13 July) to look forward to.

Finally, a quick reminder to complete our annual survey. You’ve got until Friday 16 June to let us know your views. Thanks to those people who’ve already completed it.

Have a great half-term!

Week 6 – My body

What a lovely sunny week we have had! Our focus book this week has been a non-fiction book all about our bodies. We have learnt more about x-rays and the different bones in our bodies.

We have used charcoal and chalk and create images of a skeleton and observational drawing of our hands. We explored smudging and creating different effects with the different materials.

We learnt more about the 5 different senses and went on a senses walk around school. It was amazing what we heard when we listened carefully. Whilst exploring on the school field we even heard a chicken! We then recorded the different things we had noticed through our senses.

We had a very special surprise when we arrived in school on Monday. Our butterflies have appeared! They are beautiful and lots of different colours. We released our special friends into the school field.

This week’s message (Friday 19 May 2023)

This week’s message is a repeat of an email that we sent earlier in the week…

Coming up in the weeks commencing 05 June, 12 June and 19 June, children from Year 1 to Year 6 will take part in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons, part of our Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum (PSHE, or ‘Living and Learning’, as we call it).

We want you to feel assured that RSE is delivered at a level appropriate to both the age and development of pupils, and to feel safe to voice opinions and concerns relating to the provision.

The lessons are led by children’s class teacher. They take place in a safe learning environment and are underpinned by our school ethos and values.

Nationally, all primary schools are required by law to teach Relationships Education and Health Education. In Sphere Federation schools, we’ve provided RSE lessons successfully as part of Living and Learning for many years.

Check out our RSE Policy.

  • Section 9 provides a list of the vocabulary that will be used (pages 7 and 8)
  • Section 11 includes an overview of the topics that will be covered (page 11 includes a table to show the learning across each year group)

We know that you may have some issues / concerns. If you’d like to find out more, discuss any concerns, or speak to someone in more detail about the teaching and learning planned for this important aspect of your child’s education, please contact Miss Beatson.

Similarly, you’ve the right to request that your child be withdrawn from some or all of the lessons that can be regarded as ‘sex education’. For our school, this comprises lessons in Year 6 on what human reproduction is and how babies grow. Please see the government’s factual guide to RSE for parents: Understanding Relationships and Health Education in your child’s primary school: a guide for parents. If you’d like to withdraw your Year 6 child from RSE, please contact Miss Beatson to discuss the matter. See page 6 of the RSE policy for more information about your right to withdraw your child.

We’re committed to working in partnership with parents. Recent parental feedback has indicated that the overwhelming majority of parents are highly supportive of our Relationships and Sex Education programme.

Week 5 – Farmyard Hullabaloo

We have been down on the farm this week in Reception! Our focus story has taken us on a farmyard adventure visiting the different animals. We did some fantastic writing using adjectives to describe the different farm animals.

We have been working hard on our sewing projects and we have now finished our animal puppets. We added facial features and checked they were tightly sewn together.

In maths this week we have been learning more about number tracks. We used cubes to represent different numbers and then created our own tracks and counted starting at different points.

We have been learning more about different animals that we might see on a farm. Oscar asked “what is a baby duck called?” we decided to learn more about different adult and child animal names.

We have really enjoyed our poem this week. We really hope you enjoy it too!

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Our observations on our caterpillars have continued this week. We have discovered that they have started their next stage of their lifecycle. We cannot wait to see them transform into butterflies.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Living and Learning: I know the importance of ‘five a day’

For our living and learning session, we were thinking about what makes a healthy diet and how we need to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day.

We learned what a portion was and how the size of the portion changes depending on what the food is – whether it’s as a juice, fresh or dried.

We heard about Lucas and his food diary. We looked at how we could improve his diet to make it healthier.

We had a look at different foods and decided which food groups they should go into and how we were going to try and include ‘five a day’ in our healthy diets.

Week 4 – Rumble in the Jungle

We hope you all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend! This week has been actioned packed in Reception. Our focus story has been ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ we have loved exploring the different rhyming words and creating movements to match the animals.

We have been creating our very own rainforests using a range of different materials. In construction we thought of bigger objects we could use, whilst in our creative areas we used different paints to create different trees and animals.

We have used our computer skills to find out facts about different animals that live in the rainforest. We then turned these into our own animal fact files!

We have began a special project! We are learning to sew! This week we have thought about the shape of our animal hand puppets and learnt how to threat the needle. We are using running stitch to stitch the two parts together. Please keep a watch out for how these develop next week.

Our caterpillars are getting quite large now! It will soon be time for them to start the next part of their lifecycle into a butterfly.

School is closed on Monday 15 May for a staff training day. We can’t wait to see you all back in school on Tuesday 16 May.

 

This week’s message (Friday 12 May 2023)

A short message from us this week…

Well done to all our Year 6 pupils this week – they’ve been doing their SATs, the end of Key Stage 2 assessments. They’ve coped really well, despite some of the papers being reported as challenging.

A particular well done to one pupil in the federation who’s shown great determination and resilience by doing the tests whilst in hospital – impressive determination, we’re sure you’ll agree.

Our annual survey

Every year, we invite you to complete a short survey. Your views matter. They help to shape what we do in the forthcoming year(s).

Like last year, this year’s survey features a series of questions closely related to what Ofsted might ask parents during an inspection.

Complete the St James’ CE Primary survey here. We’ll send a few reminders before the closing date, which is Friday 16 June.

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you raise in the survey something very specific that needs to be addressed, we can’t easily act on this without your child’s name. In fact, the survey isn’t the best place to raise individual, specific concerns – hopefully, you’re comfortable to speak with Miss Beatson or a class teacher about these instead.

Finally, a quick reminder that Monday is a training day so school is closed. See you all on Tuesday.

12 May 2023

This week’s Talk Time has a moral question.

Should all adults have the right to vote?

What is voting?

Voting is a process by which a group of people can decide things fairly when they don’t all agree. Voting is an important part of the type of government called democracy. In a democracy, people use voting to choose government leaders. These government leaders represent their local areas and work together to consider and propose new laws. You must be 18 or over to take part in an election.

Can you think of a time when you’ve voted for something? How did you feel when you cast your vote? Was the process fair? For example, each year in school we elect a new Junior Leadership Team. Each class has the opportunity to vote for a representative from their class to be nominated.

Have a conversation with your family and friends at home and think about whether you feel all adults should have the right to vote and why. After your conversation, take some time to reflect on yours and others responses. Is there anything that you would like to know more about?

Additionally, or alternatively, you might like your child to consider our current Christian value…

At St James’ CE Primary School, we learn about Christian values that help us to become well-rounded citizens in society. The values are woven into our everyday school life. Each half term, we have a new Christian value that will be embedded into our collective worship and our reflection areas.

This half term, our Christian Value is peace.

Peace can mean different things to people. It is often thought of as ‘a time where there is no conflict’ or ‘a state of calm and tranquillity’. It is about positive harmony and healthy relationships between people. It involves spiritual as well as material security. Peace is a state of true wholeness, a state of well-being.

This value helps promotes harmony, stability and security within the school and local community.

Help at home.

Try one, or both, of the following activities:

The dove carrying an olive branch is a symbol of peace in Christianity. Is Christianity the only religion to have a symbol of peace? Carry out some research about peace symbols. You might also design your own symbol of peace to reflect who you are.

or

In the Bible, Psalm 46 is a noisy Psalm. It talks about waters roaring and mountains quaking, about wars and desolation. But it ends with God saying, ‘Be still and know that I am God’.

Our world can feel noisy with the sounds of life at the moment. Wherever you are right now, close your eyes and try to sit quietly without moving… for a whole minute if you can. As you sit quietly like this, if you want to, you can say a silent prayer for stillness, for peace in in your life and those you care about.

This week’s message (Friday 05 May 2023)

May’s always a busy time in school with statutory assessments beginning. Today, we’ve also had activities linked to the coronation.

Our message today has three short pieces of news…

Stress-free SATs

Next week, Year 6 pupils have their end-of-key stage assessments – their SATs. Check out these seven top tips to support your child doing the SATs. (They’re useful for lots of children, lots of the time, too!)

Dates

Because of the coronation, all the Year 6 tests are one day later than normal. This means that our original training day, originally scheduled for Friday 12 May, is now Monday 15 May. We’re closed on this day.

Neurodiversity

‘Neurodiversity’ describes the different ways that people’s brains develop. Everyone’s brain is unique but the majority of us have similar brains to others. Our brains affect how we experience the world around us and how we react to it. Neurodiversity includes neurotypical and neurodivergent people. Neurodivergence describes people whose brains have developed differently, including autistic people and those with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, developmental language disorder and Tourette syndrome. The list of neurodivergent brain types is ever changing as we learn more.

NHS MindMate has recently launched a great website with loads of really helpful information, tips and advice – check it out.

Whatever you get up to this weekend, enjoy a happy and healthy – and longer – weekend!