Author: Mr Roundtree

Topic review

Thanks to those parents who managed to attend our topic review this afternoon – it was great to share our Digital Art topic with you. Hopefully, we’ll see more parents next time we review our topic after in the new year.

Be sure to keep practising that ever important topic vocabulary – the words tend to be words we don’t use very often in our everyday chatting, so why not try quizzing your child next time you’re in the car on a long journey, on your way to school or chatting at the dinner table each evening!

 

Week 5 – Owl Babies

We have seen lots of signs of Winter this week in Reception. We were very excited to find ice in our outdoor area and wondered how it got there.

Our focus story this week has been Owl Babies. We have sequenced the story remembering the repeated phrases. We have enjoyed learning more about nocturnal animals and when and where we might see them. We used different drawing pencils to draw them and even used our phonics to try writing their names.

A big thank you to everyone for working hard at home with phonics. The children are working so hard with their segmenting and blending skills. I am sure you will agree we are all fantastic readers! We have been using these skills outside with our phonics balls. Can you read the word and then send it down the tunnel?

We love outdoor learning in Reception. We enjoy exploring all the different activities and creating our own challenges. In our outside construction we decided to create a roller coaster for the cars! We had to think about how the cars would travel through the tubes.

We are very excited to show everyone our Nativity play next week. Thank you to everyone who has brought in costumes and helped us to learn songs and lines. It is going to be amazing!

This week’s message (Friday 02 December 2022)

On Monday, there was an online safety parent workshop – thank you to those who were able to attend. This week’s message reinforces the guidance that was shared. It comes from Mrs Weekes, the Safeguarding Leader across our three Sphere Federation schools…

You may think that we talk too much about Online Safety but the issues and challenges that our children may face change every day. It’s really important to keep online safety high on your radar so that, together, we can keep our young people safe.

Research shows that 44% of six year olds go online in their bedroom. If your child is accessing the internet on their own devices, it’s really hard to know what they’re seeing or what they’re doing. While it’s important that children have time to themselves and have some independence, it’s also crucial that we make sure they’re keeping safe. There are many ways you can do this but here are some top tips:

  • Make sure that parental controls are enabled on devices and the household internet; there are many parent guides to help you do this if you’re not sure.
  • If your child is using a device, make sure they’re in the same room as you or other responsible members of the family – they shouldn’t be alone in their bedroom.
  • Show an interest in what they’re doing online – every now and again, ask them what they’re watching or doing.
  • Don’t assume that sites you use are ok – many children are seeing inappropriate content on YouTube so make sure you know what they’re watching.
  • Check their devices on a daily basis to see which websites they’ve accessed.

Here’s some further guidance for some particular issues…

Inappropriate content

Despite the controls you put in place, your child might still view something that’s inappropriate. It’s important that you’re able to deal with this situation if it arises.

  • Have an age appropriate conversation and explain that there are some things online that are for adults only and if they see something that upsets them online, they should always come and tell you.
  • It may be a good time to help your child think critically about the images they see online and offline.
  • Try to give them coping strategies to help them deal with any online content that they’re uncomfortable with.
  • Reassure them that they can always come to you and that they aren’t at fault.
  • Be prepared that they may have questions about sex and relationships or other issues.
  • Discuss the problem with other parents to share experiences and solutions.
  • Block any inappropriate content.

Social media

Many of our children are accessing social media platforms on a daily basis. If your child has social media accounts, it’s important that you know some facts about these apps.

  • Check age limits – the majority of social media have a minimum age of 13 years (WhatsApp has a minimum age of 16 years and TikTok has just introduced a minimum age of 18 years for any live posts).
  • Make sure privacy settings are on and that location services are turned off
  • Help your child to be a good role model online – think before they post.
  • Make sure they know no to share personal information – maybe even create an alias so they’re not using their real name.
  • Use a strong password and different passwords for different accounts.
  • Don’t accept or send friend requests to anyone they don’t know.

Screen time

There are benefits and challenges with screen time. Make sure the rules in your house are clear, balanced and work for your family. Here are some suggestions:

  • Create screen time rules together.
  • Take an active role in their digital life.
  • Use tools to manage their screen time and access to media – even as simple as setting a time limit and an alarm.
  • Encourage them to be selective in how they spend their time online and offline.

And finally…

Always ask:

  • What’s your child seeing or doing online?
  • Who might your child be chatting to online?
  • How might their online experiences affect them?
  • Check out this guide to social media and how it links with mental health – it links nicely with our current Living and Learning theme (mental health), too.

If you’ve any specific concerns, do ask us. Let’s work together to keep our children happy and healthy in every way.

02 December 2022

This week’s Talk Time poses a moral question:

Is physical health more important than mental health?

 What is physical health?

Physical health is about a healthy body. This includes proper nutrition and plenty of physical activity.

What is mental health?

Mental health is about a healthy mind. Mental health is a sense of identity and self-worth; positive family and peer relationships; an ability to be productive and to learn.

Have a discussion with friends and family at home. Consider what physical and mental health looks and feels like for you. Does this match up to your friends’ and family’s ideas?

After the discussion with friends and family, what conclusion do you reach? Do others around you agree?

Maths: area

In maths, we’ve been learning about area – the space inside a 2D shape. We’ve used a range of skills when learning about area: estimating, comparing, counting and reading.

This is the kind of stuff we’ve been discussing in class – ask your child their opinion of this question…

Help at home: Why not check out this video to support your child’s maths learning at home!

Week 4 – How to catch a star

In our maths sessions this week we have been investigating the number 5. We have been using part whole models to explore different parts that come together to make a whole. We enjoyed creating 5 in different ways with linking cubes.

Following on from our learning around the Houses of Parliament we looked at some pieces of artwork by Monet. Monet created images of the Houses of Parliament at different points during the day. We really liked how all the colours blended together. We decided to use oil pastels to create our own pieces of inspired artwork.

Thank you to everyone who has brought their outfits in for the FS/KS1 Nativity. Please can all outfits be in school by Monday 28 November.

Mrs Payne

Week 3 – Nursery rhyme week

We love nursery rhymes in Reception. This week our learning has linked to lots of different nursery rhymes. We used our measuring skills to make cups of tea for Polly. We built Humpty a new wall that was a little safer than his old one! We then compared the heights of our walls to see which one was the tallest and shortest. We sizzled sausages on our camp fire and even had wriggly teddy beds jumping out of the bed!

Have you ever drawn using charcoal? This week we used charcoal to create our observational drawings of an old suitcase. The suitcase didn’t look like any of our cases we have at home. We looked carefully at the different features and how we might include them in our drawings. We used smudging to add extra effects.

Thank you to everyone who helped us raise awareness of anti bullying week and Children in Need. We had lots of discussions around what bullying is and why it is so important to respect each other and celebrate our differences.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our Marvellous Maths session on Thursday. It was fantastic to share our learning with you all. We will be holding more stay and play sessions throughout the year and looking forward to welcoming everyone into Reception.

This week’s message (Friday 25 November 2022)

This week’s message is in five parts: an important announcement, a celebration, a reminder, a question and an article to support your child at home.

May’s extra bank holiday and training day

This morning, we’ve received an important email that affects the training day we had planned for Friday 12 May and the Key Stage 2 SAT tests:

An additional bank holiday in honour of the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III will take place on Monday 8 May 2023. As this date had previously been announced as the first day of the 2023 key stage 2 (KS2) test week in England, a change to the KS2 test schedule next year will be necessary.

Ministers have considered the situation carefully and have decided that KS2 tests will take place in the same week with tests following the usual order but each taking place one day later than originally planned.

This means that the tests will now run from Tuesday to Friday, and this has a knock-on effect on Friday’s training day which needs to be re-arranged. We know this may cause some inconvenience – as you can see, the situation is beyond our control.

We’re exploring ways to overcome this problem (such as to move the training day one day later, too, so it would be on Monday 15 May). We’ll confirm details as soon as we can.

Times tables

In last week’s message, we talked about the Year 4 multiplication tables check.

Yesterday, the government released data about the 2022 check – the one that our current Year 5 pupils took in June.

Nationally, 27% of pupils scored 25 out of 25. At St James’ CE Primary, the figure was 31%.

Better still was the average score in the check. Nationally, the average score was 19.8 out of 25. The average at St James’ was 21.1.

Well done to the Year 5 pupils for such a great achievement, and thank you to adults at home for helping your child to practise their times tables. (Next step is to continue to practise – a little and often – to maintain that rapid recall!)

Top topic

Next Friday from 2.30pm, teachers and children will welcome you to the class to share the great learning they’ve been doing during Topic Time.

This is a drop-in session – come and have a look at your child’s topic learning from 2.30pm.

(Parents of children in Reception should look out for other ways they can join in with their child’s learning journey.)

A question of behaviour…

All schools in England are required to have a Behaviour Policy. We’re currently reviewing our Positive Relationships Policy (that’s the name we use for our Behaviour Policy).

We usually ask about behaviour in our annual survey of parents – this year, 100% of of you who expressed an opinion said you were happy with how we make sure our pupils are well-behaved.

During our review, it’d be great to hear from you. If you’ve any particular views or suggestions, please let us know: stjamesoffice@spherefederation.org

Finally this week, a message from Mr Catherall, one of our English leaders, about effective speaking and listening…

Support your child’s oracy

In Sphere Federation schools, we place a high emphasis on oracy: the ability to communicate and express yourself effectively. It’s about having the vocabulary to be able to say what you want to say and the grammatical awareness to structure your thoughts in a logical way.

Oracy is a crucial life skill:

  • it increases engagement in learning
  • it improves academic outcomes
  • it fosters wellbeing and confidence
  • it supports transitions and enhances employability
  • it equips students to thrive in later life
  • if all children develop good oracy skills, it promotes equality in society

How can you help at home?

  • Be an oracy role model: model good speaking and listening skills to your
    child, and when they’re in ear-shot.
  • Don’t ‘dumb down’ your language: try not to avoid using more complex
    vocabulary. Instead, use complicated language but then succinctly explain
    what it means.
  • Complete the Talk Time homework we provide each week: these are a great opportunity to have a conversation and model good oracy skills.

Have a go this weekend!