Topic

In our Topic lesson today, Year 1 and Year 2 came together! We compared works of art by one of our feature artists Bridget Riley, who specialised in ‘optical art’. She made flat images look like they are moving, creating a visual illusion.

At home, why not create your own optical illusion? We talked about how this could be done in irregular patterns. We’d love to see these in class if you do!

What’s that Sound? Science in Year 3

Year 3 have been physicists this half term. We have been exploring sound and this week we thought about vibration and how sound is produced.

We made music with our bodies and felt our voice boxes vibrate as we hummed and spoke.

In groups we experimented with vibration on drums.  We could see the rice moving on top of the drum as we banged loudly, quietly, hard and softly.

Living and Learning: Anti-Bullying week in Year 3

On Monday we came to school in odd socks to start our week thinking about how we are all unique and different.

We discussed our school Junior Leadership Team’s definition of bullying and also what to do if we are being bullied. We used the acronym STOP

STOP

Bullying is: Several Times On Purpose

If you feel you are being bullied you should:  Start Telling Other People

We looked at different scenarios and thought about whether the behaviour should be defined as bullying.  We made some posters to display in the classroom to remind us all of what STOP means and we designed our own odd socks.

Year 3 were very thoughtful and respectful during these Living and Learning activities.

Living and Learning: Anti-bullying week

This week is Anti-Bullying Week and today the children thought about the seriousness of bullying. We kicked off our lesson by discussing why we were all wearing odd socks and how this celebrates what makes us all unique.

Year 4 looked at some scenarios and thought about who was being bullied and what type of bullying was taking place.  The class discussed four important words when defining bullying behaviour, and through group and class discussions, we talked about:

• what bullying is
• our Child Friendly Anti-Bullying Policy
• the different kinds of bullying including cyber bullying
• how someone being bullied may think, feel and act
• the negative impact bullying has on mental wellbeing
• how to get help including who we can talk to about bullying
• the acronym STOP

• repetition
• hurt
• power
• intention – on purpose

‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally (including online), several times on purpose.’

The solution to this is STOP – Start Telling Other People. We talked about which trusted adults the children could talk to if they felt they were being bullied.

STOP

Bullying can be physical and emotional. – Jayden

We need to look out for one another. I’d help someone to speak to a trusted adult if they were being bullied. – Noah

Always ask for help. – Evie

Speak to a friend or a family member. – Amelia

It takes courage to speak up  but it can change lives. 

Anti-bullying week: Odd Socks Day!

Today for our anti-bullying day, we joined the nation by focussing on the message of “reaching out”.  We talked about how this had several meanings: reaching out to a trusted adult for support/advice, reaching out to the victim to see if they are okay, or reaching out to make a change.

We looked at our school’s definition of bullying :

“Bullying is when you hurt someone physically or emotionally (including online), Several Times On Purpose”

Whilst we hope this would never be the case in our school, we also discussed  what you can do if you were to experience bullying at St James’:

“Start Telling Other People. You could use the Living and Learning box, the worry box, email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org or even call Childline (0800 1111).”

We celebrated the message that everyone is different and equal by wearing odd socks to school and creating our own socks.

14.11.22 Spellings

This week, we will be learning the ough letter string. Learn these words for a test on Friday 18th November.

thorough

bough

though

thought

although

brought

sought

enough

Pro Printers!

Year 5 and 6 have been putting our knowledge to the test by practising our very own printing process! So far, we have learnt about two designers:

• William Morris
• Orla Kiely

After looking at their design and printing work, we were inspired to have a go at creating some of our own. The children absolutely loved the process and we will definitely be practising again soon! Here are some images of our work so far – we are really proud of it!

Remembrance Day 2022

Today, children from Year 5 and 6 took part in the remembrance parade in Wetherby. It was great to see children from St James’ being so thoughtful and respectful as well as so many other children from our school representing their community with Brownies, Scouts and Wetherby Gymnastics Club.

A big thank you to Louie, Will, Willow, Eliza and Caleb. 

T2 Week 2

What a fantastic week we have had in Reception. This week we have been continuing our learning around Guy Fawkes. We used junk modelling to create our own buildings that you might find in London. We discovered that masking tape is a good resource for ripping and sticking objects together. We strengthened our finger muscles creating firework patterns in our coloured water tray.

We made a new friend this week. At lunchtime Mrs Payne and Miss Ward noticed a hedgehog walking around the school playground. We know that hedgehogs are nocturnal creatures and so it should have been sleeping. We carefully put the hedgehog in a box with a water bottle to keep it nice and warm. Miss Ward took the hedgehog to the hedgehog rescue centre. They told us the hedgehog was a girl and needed some medication to get better.

Year 6 came to see us on Monday and had with them lots of different things with poppies on. We were keen to find out more about why people wear poppies at this time of year. We discovered that poppies are a way that some people remember others. We decided that we would like to create our own poppies using different materials.

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to our marvellous maths session on Thursday. If you haven’t returned your slip yet please bring it into school on Monday.

Thank you to everyone who is reading their e-books everyday. We love reading in Reception so please keep up the great home learning. If you are having any problems logging in etc please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Mrs Payne

Festivals and Celebrations

The children have had a lovely first few weeks settling back into nursery. We talked about festivals last week focusing on Diwali and Bonfire Night. The children explored all their senses making Rangoli patterns with rice, designing their own mendi hands and getting messy in cornflour;

‘ This is amazing’ -Deacon

During our circle time we have talked about why some people celebrate different festivals and what it means too them.

‘Diwali’ – Frankie

‘ Festival of light’ – Austin

‘ Sweets and clothes’- Zubaria

‘ We have lots of sparklers and you cant touch them, its too hot’- Gracie

‘ We can eat hot dogs’ – Beau

‘ We can’t go in the fire, it will hurt us’- Deacon

‘ It’s a guy’ – Gracie

This week our focus story was ‘Hodge the Hedgehog’

We had a surprise visit in our KS2 playground this week. A hedgehog appeared!

We rescued the hedgehog and brought it inside to keep it warm, as there not supposed to be out during the day. Fortunately, we found a lovely lady who looks after rescued hedgehogs, she was very pleased that we had looked after her so well. It turns out she was very poorly and needed some special medicine to help get her better.

Here is some useful information if you happen to find a hedgehog out during the day;

We have also talked about Remembrance Day and today the children joined in with a minute silence. We watched a beautiful story from CBeebies that helps children to understand the importance of Remembrance Day.

‘ We remember all the soldiers in the war’ – Gracie

‘ Animals- horses’ – Frankie

‘ There are purple and red poppies’ – Deacon

Here it is below for you to watch with your child at home

Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip

Here are some more photos of what the children got up to in Nursery this week!

Reminders

• Next week, Monday 14 November is ‘Anti-Bullying’ day in school. It is also Odd Socks Day and children and staff are encouraged to come to school wearing odd socks to celebrate that we are all unique.
• As the weather has been particularly wet this week our outdoor area is starting to get quite muddy! please could all children ensure they bring a pair of wellies to school, you are more than welcome to leave them with us.

Miss Ward