Living and Learning
I respect others
In our Living and Learning session this week, we have explored an important and powerful topic – discrimination.
Discrimination is treating someone less favourably, or applying a rule that unfairly disadvantages them, because of a “protected characteristic” such as age, disability, race, religion, or sex.
We spent time revisiting the Equality Act 2010. This is in place to help protect people from discrimination and ensures that protected characteristics are always respected. The protected characteristics are:
- Disability
- Race
- Sex
- Gender reassignment
- Religion or beliefs
- Age
- Marriage or civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Sexual orientation
Help at Home: Ask your child to name the protected characteristics and describe what each one means. Ask them who is responsible for ensuring they are respected and followed. Can they think of any examples where protected characteristics have/have not been upheld?
Writing
This week, Year 6 have been learning about parenthesis and how to use it in their writing.
Parenthesis is the use of a phrase, word or sentence that’s added into writing as extra information or an afterthought. It’s punctuated by brackets, commas or dashes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7hppg8
Here are some of the examples the children came up with or adapted themselves:
St James’, a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe, is in Wetherby. Valerie
The whole family – even Sam – is going on holiday. Willow
Samuel (who has a yappy dog) liked going for long walks. Chloe
Colin loves watching golf, with his friends. Lily
The school trip (to London) was a disaster. Christian
Samuel (who is a great athlete) liked going for long walks. Freddie
Mr Kilner – who was silly – fell off the ladder. Madeleine
The suitcase – bulging and heavy – wouldn’t fit in the boot. Leo S
The snow (six feet deep) meant we stayed at home. Ayah
The River Wharfe, which flows through Wetherby, is approximately 65 miles long. Leo M
The Amazon Rainforest (home to some of the most dangerous animals in the world) is in South America. Tommy
St James’, a wonderful school, is in Wetherby. Charlina
The dog – a German shepherd – loves chasing squirrels. Teddy
Help at home – ask your child what parenthesis is. Why is it used? Which punctuation do we use and why? Think of some together as a family. I’d love to see/hear what you can come up with at home.
Music
In music this week, children have been naming key features of a ballad and using musical vocabulary to do so.
The children listened to the following songs and produced artwork to demonstrate their understanding of each song and the key messages portrayed.:
- Space Oddity by David Bowie
- Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers
- On my own by Smantha Barks
- Everything I do by Brian Adams
- I will always love you by Whitney Houston
Help at home – enjoy listening to these songs together at home.
PE
We are so lucky here at St James’ that we have so many super sportspeople. The children in Year 6 have already been showing excellent progress in football this half term and are really enthusiastic in each lesson we have. This week, we worked on our fitness and spoke about how improved fitness can positivity impact us.
Help at home – Encourage your child to keep fit at home: this may be a walk/run or some exercises in the home (sit-ups or jumping jacks). Talk about why keeping fit and looking after their body is important.
Forest school
Today saw the return of Forest School for our Year 6 children. We had a wonderful afternoon emersed in nature: exploring, creating and learning. The children (and Mr Kilner) made friendship bracelets, build dens, played and honed their bushcraft skills – it was a fabulous end to week two.
It has been such a positive start to the year; the children continue to conduct themselves in a polite, positive and calm manner.
Have a lovely weekend.
Living and Learning
At Sphere Federation, we use 8 R’s to promote good learning behaviour and social and character development.
- Remembering
- Being resilient
- Being responsible
- Risk-taking
- Reflecting
- Being resourceful
- Being ready
- Being responsive
This week, we have revisited these characteristics and reflected on how we implement these at school, at home and in the wider community. This is what the children had to share:
In maths, we remember key methods for the four operations – Chloe
When we do something wrong, we keep on trying and show resilience – Lily
I am responsible around school; I am a lunchtime assistant – Ayah
We have opportunities to be responsible as a Collective Worship Leader – Willow
We take risks in Forest School because there is an element of the unknown and we don’t always know what is around the corner – Leo S
We reflect at the end of Collective Worship. At this time we sometimes sing and think about our future actions – Leo M
In school, we are resourceful as we try not to waste things and we take care of our own resources – Teddy
We have fire drills and practice other safety procedures to ensure we are ready for any danger – Valerie
We are responsive as we give positive answers when spoken to by an adult – Freddie
Help at home – talk about the 8 R’s at home. How can your child use them at home? Encourage your child to share with others how they have used the 8R’s.
Living and Learning
We have had a super start to Year 6 and the children have settled back in really well. We have had a lot of changes since last year: new classroom, smaller class size and new expectations. The children have adapted to these very well.
In Living and Learning this week we have been revisiting our school rules. We spoke about what being respectful, ready and safe looks like in our school, at home and in our community.
On a separate note, we have been very excited to welcome a new member to our school, Chip the hedgehog!
Welcome back
Hello and a huge welcome back to our Year 6 children. I trust you all had a happy and healthy summer break and are raring to go in your last year at St James’.
A few key messages from me:
- Your child will be bringing home their new reading record books this week. Please ensure your child reads at home to an adult at least 3 times a week. There are activities in the reading records to complete. Please sent reading records in each Friday.
- Children don’t need to bring any additional stationary into school with them – we will provide everything they need to achieve in their learning.
- PE days: Wednesday and Friday
- Forest school will run from Friday 12th September to Friday 17th October. Your child will be bringing a letter home about this this week.
I am really excited about this year and what we can achieve together. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Mr Kilner
Design Technology
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.
Being healthy week
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?