Home Farm at Temple Newsam

On Tuesday, Year 2 had an exciting day out visiting Home Farm at Temple Newsam. The children learnt all about farming through the ages, discovering how farming has changed in the past 400 years. We were amazed to learn that what would have taken 150 hours with a threshing machine now takes 1 hour with a modern combine harvester.

We saw lots of animals: pigs, sheep, cows, donkeys, chickens, geese and more! A real highlight was seeing 11 adorable piglets that had been born that very morning.

As part of our trip, we took part in a fantastic workshop that linked to our Design and Technology learning on structures. Using wood and putty, the children had to build a prototype structure to act as a shelter for some pigs. They thought carefully about important features, making sure their structures had a wide and flat base and were not too tall.

We had a brilliant day exploring the farm, meeting the animals and taking part in the workshop. The children were full of enthusiasm and asked great questions throughout the day – they represented St James’ impeccably!

Living and Learning

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.

Living & Learning – I can say one good thing about myself

Our living and learning statement for this week was to be able to say one good thing about ourselves.

Fortunately, Year 4 can identify lots of their amazing qualities!

Cricket! We love it!

Year 3 have been learning lots of techniques and tactics in cricket this half-term. From initially learning how to hold the bat properly, to slogging it half way across the field, the children have really enjoyed the PE sessions and have made brilliant progress.

We are still always using our fundamental movement skills across activities. Cricket requires the following basic skills that are interchangeable across sports:

• throw
• catch
• run
• strike

Here are some photos of the children in action!

Temple Newsam Home Farm Visit

We had a wonderful day out at Temple Newsam Farm today! We were lucky enough to see lots of amazing animals — including some adorable piglets that had been born just this morning.

The children were fantastic! They showed great respect for the animals and asked some thoughtful, curious questions.

During our workshop, we learned all about different materials and even had a go at building our own structures using wood. It was a fun, hands-on way to explore how things are made!

Topic – Design and Technology

We’ve been experimenting with different 3D shapes to find out which one is the strongest.

Through our testing, we discovered that the cylinder was the strongest individual shape—it held an impressive 26 books before collapsing.

Next, we each built a cylinder, then combined our cylinders as a group to test if a team structure could hold more books than a single one.

Together, our group’s structure held over 50 books!

Then we took it a step further and combined all the cylinders from every group to build a superstructure. Amazingly, this superstructure supported more than 80 books.

From our investigation, we learned that a strong, stable structure usually has three important features:

• Low height

• Wide base

• Flat base

We also found that adding more cylinders helped distribute the weight more evenly, allowing the structure to hold significantly more books.

Help at home: Can you remember the three key features to create a stong, stable structure?

Reception to Year 1 information meeting

As the weather becomes brighter and we near the end of the academic year you may be thinking about your child’s next steps as they journey into Year 1. Moving to Year 1 is perhaps a less significant change for children, and that’s because we’re a happy and healthy place to learn where we all know each other.

A zoom meeting for parent’s starts our transition process, here you will meet the Key Stage 1 staff and find out about the Year 1 curriculum.

The zoom meeting is on Monday 30 June at 6pm please follow the link that will be emailed to you.

The next step is for your child to spend some time in the Year 1 classrooms. They’ll meet the teachers and join in with the learning, they’ll get a taste of what it’s like to be in Year 1. The whole-school transition, later in July, completes the process, by spending a morning with their new class teacher.

This is a really exciting time of year, moving on and taking those next steps whilst continuing to strengthen the effective learning behaviours they have established in Reception.

Sharing a Shell

What a week to return! We’ve had a great week our focus book was Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson and the children took great delight reminding me of all the Julia Donaldson books we have read together.

We’ve continued our learning on coastal habitats this week, by taking a closer look at rockpools and some of the sea creatures you may find in them. We’ve worked as a team to make a class rockpool adding in crabs, seaweed, fish, sea anemone and bristleworms. Just like the characters in the story.

Maths; counting and recognising the pattern of the counting system

This week, we’ve revisited our some of our key counting skills. Here are some of the skills that we have practised:

• tagging each object in a group of up to 10 objects (1-to-1 correspondence)
• knowing number names to 10 and their order (stable order principle)
• knowing that the last number counted gives the total in the set (cardinal principle)
• counting up to 10 things that can’t be seen or tagged, such as jumps, hops, sounds, etc. (abstraction principle)
• understanding that the quantity remains the same when (up to 10) objects are counted in a different order (order irrelevance principle)
• developing strategies to keep track of what has and has not been counted (e.g. rearranging objects into a line, moving objects as they’re counted.)

Phonics 

Summer 2 week 3 has focused on:

Phase 4 words ending –s /s/
Phase 4 words ending –s /z/
Phase 4 words ending –es
Longer words

Poetry Picnic

This week’s poem is the traditional rhyming song- The Big Ship Sails

The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
The alley ally oh,
The alley ally oh.
The big ship sails on the ally ally oh,
On the last day of September.

The captain said, ‘It will never, never do,
Never, never do,
Never, never do.’
The captain said, ‘It will never, never do,’
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
On the last day of September.

Have a happy and healthy weekend and thank you as always for your support.

Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Small and Mr. Smith

Junior Warrior

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!

Philosophy Friday – 20.06.25

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.

I agree because family is everything to me.
– Izabella

I think the best thing in life is nature and that’s free.
– Athena

There are some good things in life that cost a lot of money.
– Woody

Friends are the most important thing and your family too. They’re both free.
– Arthur

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child.