Author: Jamie Kilner

In DT this term, we have been designing and making our own vehicle.

The children were set the task of creating a cart to carry Eggy the Egg. The design criteria for our product was that the carts needed to be durable, safe and movable. The children had great fun drawing annotated diagrams of their designs and then calculating the dimensions.

We used wooden dowel, axles and wooden wheels to build the carts. The children have used hack saws and G-clamps to cut the dowel to the appropriate lengths.

During the building stage, the children were constantly thinking about safety features to ensure that Eggy survives if he/she had a collision.

We tested the carts this morning and we only lost three Eggs.

It has been a fantastic few days and the children have really impressed with their initiative, creativity and attention to detail.

 

Healthy = keeping your body and mind working at its best.

We have had a busy Being Healthy themed week. We have enjoyed learning about our personal hygiene and can talk confidently about how we can keep ourselves hygienic. Some of the key things we learnt here were the importance of wearing clean clothes and how crucial it is that we wash our hands properly.

We have looked in detail at dental health and have been shocked at the sugar content of some of our favourite drinks and snacks. Did you know that an ordinary can of coke has a staggering ten teaspoons of sugar in?

On Wednesday, we had an online meeting with Olivia from Kooth. Kooth is an online platform where children and young people can access support should they be struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. There are people who can offer practical support every day and there are resources online should anyone require. We went through the process of registering and logging on too.

This week, we have also turned our hands to some new sports. In the beautiful sunshine, we had a morning of archery and fencing. We are blessed with fantastic sportspeople in our class, and they didn’t disappoint. We had lots of children hitting bullseye and displaying superb balance and coordination when dueling in fencing.

Children have spent time reflecting on their lifestyles through the My Health, My School survey. This is a national initiative where children can begin to review the choices they make regarding sleep, screens, food and exercise.

All this on top of two amazing performances of our production: Let the games begin. The children blew us away with their talent and we are very proud of what they achieved. Thank you also for your support in this.

Help at home – Review the sugar content in the food you eat at home. Speak to your child about Kooth. What is it? How might they use it? Ask your child how they can keep themselves healthy. Have they learnt something new this week that they can implement in the future?

This week we had a visit from D:side Dave. The focus was on smoking and vaping.

Dave spoke to us about where smoking isn’t allowed (schools, theatres, hospitals, theme parks). Interestingly, we learnt that smoking was once allowed on aeroplanes – this really shocked us.

We looked at toys from the past which imitated the act of smoking and even Disney films from the past showed smoking.

Vaping targets young people and all our children said they had seen a teenager vape -very worrying. We learnt that smoking one disposable vape is the same as smoking 20 cigarettes.

Dave delivered a key message throughout: DON’T START SMOKING OR VAPING!

He told us that the average smoker spends £10 a day. We worked out how much this would be across a week/month/year and what we could but with this money.

Today, there are still many unknowns about the risks of vaping. The children took part in an activity to demonstrate how vaping can cause illness, but these can be hard for doctors to detect straight away. Side effects could become clear in years to come.

LO: I know how my emotions change.

This week, during our RSE lessons we focussed on our emotions and how they can change during puberty. We began by considering this question:

Have you ever been told you can’t do something because you’re a boy or a girl?

Many of the children said they had experienced this. We then talked about how this made them feel and we considered if this was ‘fair’.

We then talked about the expressions:

– ‘like a girl’ and how it is to mean somebody who is weak and incapable?

– ‘man up’ and how this is to imply boys should be tough and strong.

We discussed how both examples can be harmful to peoples’ confidence?

Both boys and girls, are unstoppable and we shouldn’t limit anyone just because they are a boy or a girl.

The third part of our lesson was to write a compliment about someone in the class. As their teacher, it was wonderful reading these out and seeing the children’s faces.

Finally, we took two simple words (‘yet’ and ‘but’) to turn a negative into a positive:

I am not good at baking, but I am good at cooking pasta. Christian.

I am claustrophobic but I still tried caving at residential. Summer.

I am not so good at baking, yet I am amazing at making cookies. Lilly C.

I’m not very good at maths yet I am good at reading, writing, sports and using my creative thinking to solve problems. Emily.

I don’t enjoy drawing, but I am good at making patterns. Maddy.

I’m not good at dancing but I’m good at rock climbing. Willow.

I don’t enjoy writing yet I’m good at maths. Kamile.

I am poor at tennis yet good at football. Freddie.

I’m not a footballer but I am excellent at playing rugby. Evie.

Well, what a fantastic afternoon our Year 6 children had on Friday. All of our Year 6 children completed the 3k (although it felt longer) Junior Warrior course that was lined with tricky, challenging and very muddy obstacles.

It was a superb way to celebrate our Year 6’s coming to the end of their time at St James’ – they displayed teamwork, support and camaraderie. Mrs Cairns and I were so proud of the children. A huge thank you to all the parents who helped with transporting the children to and from the event!

As the weather has been so nice, we have been taking some of our learning outside. Today, we took time to enjoy our class novel under the shade of a tree on our school field – we are so lucky to have such fantastic outdoor space available to us.

Our class novel, Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll, compliments our WWII topic learning from Summer term 1.

Reading is such a crucial part of a child’s education and increasing the amount we read will positively impact on our writing and maths skills. We focus a lot on reading at school but reading away from school is just as important; here is what our school reading policy says about home reading:

All children are expected to read at home each day. When children are a little older, this might be reading independently sometimes, but it should be with an adult on a regular basis.

To give our children the best chance of becoming readers at home, we ensure that reading at home is celebrated.

We provide children with opportunities to read a variety of rich texts in school and at home, but children should be encouraged to discover books and other texts with family members and by themselves, too. We like the Book Trust website as a book-finder tool – you can find age-appropriate books that match the reader’s interests. We also suggest Love Reading 4 Kids and Books for Topics. Looking at books that have won awards is also a good idea; for example, Carnegie, Costa, Blue Peter, Waterstones, UKLA and Klaus Flugge.

Help at home – please make time for reading at home. Encourage your child to borrow books from school. Visit Wetherby library. Talk to them about our class novel.

Our Year 5 children were invited to Wetherby High School yesterday to take part in a rounders event. We took part in lots of fun activities before playing games against other schools.

During the event, our children were praised for their honesty, courage and perseverance – well done guys!

I enjoyed it because the activities in the sports hall were good fun. I feel like I improved my skills. Leo S.

The best bit was hitting rounders and everyone cheering me. We all did very well. Lily W.

We are in full swing with our end of year production – Let the games begin.

Children have thoroughly enjoyed learning their lines and practicing together. Next week, we will be moving to the hall to step up our preparations.

Thank you for helping your child with their costumes, any questions about this, please let me know asap.

Finally, just a reminder that we will be performing our play on Tuesday 8th July (1.45pm) and Wednesday 9th July (6pm).

 

This week, Year 5 had a visit from firefighters from Wetherby Fire Station. We were taught about what the firefighters do and the various jobs they are called to.

We learnt about prevention and the steps we can take to ensure that we reduce the risks of a fire breaking out in our homes – this includes not leaving devices with lithium-ion batteries plugged in.

Ensuring we have a bedtime routine is important too – ensuring ovens are off, devices unplugged, stairs clear and doors shut. The children were encouraged to speak to parents about an escape route should a fire break out, like what we do here at school.

The over-riding message from the visit was: GET OUT, STAY OUT, CALL 999.

Help at home – Ask your child:

• What jobs do the firefighters do?
• What are some of the common causes of fires in the home?
• How often should we check fire alarms at home?
• How many smoke alarms should we have in our homes?
• Which devices have lithium-ion batteries?
• What should you do if there is a fire in your home?

 

 

In Year 5 and 6, we often pause our learning for moments of reflection. We often get spiritual, recognising a sense of connection or a sense of awe and wonder – these moments have happened throughout the year and your child will be able to talk to you about some of these moments.

Often, though, some moments are unplanned and we refer to these moments as WOW, OW and NOW moments. Simply put:

Yesterday, we had an unexpected visitor to our classroom when a beautiful chiffchaff flew in. We saw this as both a WOW and a NOW moment. The children we very calm to ensure the bird did not become too frightened. We eventually set the bird free with the help of Freddie’s hoodie.

Help at home – are there moments where you think WOW? Share WOW, OW and NOW moments together. Talk about how these moments make you feel. Share them back at school.