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!
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.
Art Topic
This half term, our topic is Art. We will be focusing on the work of George Seurat and Bridget Riley.
Seurat used a technique called pointillism.
Zoom in and look at his Sunday Afternoon painting. Can you see all the small dots used to create the painting?
Bridget created op art pieces.
We have started by talking about the topic vocabulary, which you can see below.
Amazing adjectives!
Today, in Key Stage 1, we had a special adjective day! We all came dressed up as an adjective – some examples include sleepy, sporty, powerful, stripy and smart!
An adjective describes a noun. A noun is a thing, place or a name.
Community Green Group visit
This week, we have been lucky to have lots of visits into school for our Community Week. The children have enjoyed having different visitors in school and learning about all the things that go on in our community.
This week, we enjoyed a visit from Wetherby and Boston Spa Community Green Group. The children learned all about how the group helps preserve the environment and help the local wildlife. We talked about how the children could help the environment: recycling, turning lights off, or eating less meat, and how we could help the local wildlife: by creating bug hotels, hedgehog highways, or planting bee-friendly flowers.
We finished by looking at the “8 to be great” promise. Can you promise to be any of the 8 to be great?
Me and My Community
Today, in Reception and Key Stage 1, we had a special visit from Wetherby in Bloom. They are a charity who make Wetherby a nice place to live and visit by planting beautiful, colourful flowers around the town. After we had discussed how the charity supports our community, we had the opportunity to plant our own daffodil bulbs. These will bloom in Spring!
Me and My Community
Today, in Key Stage 1, we had a special visit from a PCSO (Police Community Support Officer). We talked about what a PCSO does as part of their job and their responsibilities within our community. The PCSO has an important job in schools too – working with children to help them make the right choices.
Me and My Community: Identity
This week, in Living and Learning, we have a special themed week. We are thinking about ‘Me and My Community’. Today, we have explored our identity and thought about what makes us unique and special.
Living and Learning – I can make democratic decisions
This week, we have been discussing in class what it means to be part of a democratic decision.
We had a vote on who the two new Junior Leadership Team (JLT) representatives from our class would be. Some children gave a short speech on why they would be a good member of the JLT and what they wanted to see more of or change within our school. Afterwards, we had a secret ballot in our classroom where we all voted for the person we wanted. We discussed how sometimes things might not go our way but we have to be respectful to the decision.
School photographs
On Monday, the children are having their school photograph taken. This is usually our PE day. Please can children come to school in their school uniform and not PE kits.