Sharing reading
On Friday afternoon, Year 4 spent some time sharing reading with Reception class. It was lovely to see how well the older children interacted with the younger ones and vice versa. Getting enjoyment through reading is something that we want to promote and all the children seemed to be getting a lot of pleasure through this activity.
What a super way to spend half an hour on a sunny Friday afternoon.
SEAL theme – Changes
We start this half term with a focus on manners.
Our SEAL statement is I cover my mouth (when I yawn, cough, sneeze).
For coughing and sneezing we have referred to the vampire method of sneezing into your elbow rather than a hand. After introducing this method a few years ago, it is great to see children now doing this without reminders.
During this half term, we start to think about changes the children will experience in school in terms of moving class, key stage and even school.
This SEAL theme tackles the issue of change and aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change. The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:
- Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
- Change can also be stimulating and welcome
- Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
- Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
- People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control
Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability. Other children may find even small changes very difficult.
Perhaps you can support your child’s learning by discussing at home any current and future changes, too.
Staying Safe week so far
Our themed week has been jam-packed so far with visits from NSPCC, d:side drug education, Moortown Fire Service, Leeds City Council Road Safety team, Canal and Rivers Trust and Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative.
Children have also worked with different classes to take part in safety carousels including food safety, sun safety, water safety, first aid, safety in the home and the importance of safety helmets.
Ask your child about all the learning they have experienced so far.
Still to come is One Day Creative (e-safety drama workshops), local PCSOs, Dogs Trust and an outdoor adventure day for Year 6 at Yeadon Tarn.
Year 5 and 6 parents are invited to watch the e-safety workshop showback at 2:30pm on Thursday.
The weather has certainly helped to encourage lots of children to travel to school in a sustainable way on foot, by bike or scooter. There are two more days to register your journey to school to be in the prize draw for vouchers for each class.
Bike maintenance with Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative
Thank you to Mark and Jack from Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative in Chapel Allerton who checked all the bikes at school today to ensure they were safe and road worthy.
They also delivered some bike maintenance sessions to Year 5 and 6 to make them aware of simple checks they can make to keep safe on their bikes.
Speak out. Stay safe.
The first visitors for our Staying Safe themed week were volunteers from the NSPCC who delivered their Speak out stay safe assembly to all children.
The assembly reinforced key messages about keeping safe and who children can talk to if they are sad or worried. We also met ‘Buddy’ who is their mascot.
Safe travel to school
During our Staying Safe themed week, children are encouraged to test out their learning of being safe in their local environment by travelling to school by scooter, bike or on foot. Children will be learning about road safety and the safe use of scooters and bikes as part of their learning during the week.
Plan a safe route to school, keep safe by wearing a safety helmet if biking or scooting, keep safe in the busy school grounds and safely store your scooters in the scooter pods and bikes in the storage area by Year 3 and 4.
If you do bike to school, Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative will be running a Dr Bike event, from 8:30am on Tuesday 23 May, in the main playground. Bring along your bike for a free bike safety check (parents and carers too!).
All children who bike, scoot or walk to school during the themed week should complete the slips (available in class) each day and post them in their class tube to be in the draw for 7 x £10 Love2Shop vouchers.
Staying Safe – how you can get involved
Our next themed week, Staying Safe, starts on Monday.
We hope you can attend our parent information sessions to support your child in their learning.
Tuesday 23 May 2.10pm-3.10pm
O2 and NSPCC online safety workshop (open to all parents), The Space
This hour-long workshop will help parents and carers understand their child’s online world and build confidence to have those important conversations that can help keep children safe online.
Wednesday 24 May 3.15pm-3.45pm
d:side informal information session (open to all parents), The Space
A d:side representative will be available to provide information about your child’s drug education learning during the themed week and answer any other related enquiries.
Thursday 25 May 2.40pm
e-safety drama show back (parents of Year 5 and 6), the hall
Following e-safety drama workshops led by One Day Creative, parents are invited to come and watch the children present their learning from the day.
School Saving Club
The next School Saving Club paying in date is 18 May 2017 at 3.15-3.45pm.
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Miss Hale.
For your information, the final paying in dates for this year is:
13 July 2017 3.15-3.45pm
If your child would like to open account, please ask at the office.
After-school club availability
After-school clubs are proving popular this term but we do have some limited places left on the following clubs.
Monday
- Change4life Rec, Y1, Y2, Y3
- Basketball Y4, Y5, Y6
- Code Club Y4, Y5, Y6
Tuesday
- Cricket Y4, Y5, Y6
- Animation Y4, Y5, Y6
Please contact the office as soon as possible if your child would like to take part in any of these clubs, starting next week.
Staying Safe
Our next whole school themed week, based around Staying Safe, will be taking place from Monday 22 May 2017. The key message is how to be safe in a range of situations. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of education.
Events during the week will include e-safety drama workshops for all classes, NSPCC Speak Out, a stay safe assembly and workshops, Leeds City Council road safety and scooter training, water safety sessions with Canal and River Trust, bike maintenance with Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative and d:side, delivering drug education. Some of the events require parental permission and these letters will be sent out separately. There are also three specific parent sessions during the week.
Tuesday 23 May 2.10-3.10pm O2 and NSPCC online safety workshop (open to all parents)
This hour-long workshop will help parents and carers understand their child’s online world and build confidence to have those important conversations that can help keep children safe online.
Wednesday 24 May 3.15-3.45pm d:side informal information session (open to all parents)
A d:side representative will be available to provide information about your child’s drug education learning during the themed week and answer any other related enquiries.
Thursday 25 May 2.40pm e-safety drama show back (parents of Year 5 and 6)
Following e-safety drama workshops led by One Day Creative, parents are invited to come and watch the children present their learning from the day.
Following the success of the recent Big Pedal promotion and as we will be covering bike, scooter and road safety during the week, we shall be holding a whole school walk/bike/scoot to school initiative. Children are encouraged to travel to school in a sustainable way, keeping safe along the way, and if they do, they should complete the slip at the bottom of a letter to be sent home for a chance to win one of five £10 Love2Shop vouchers. We hope you will support this initiative in helping children make a healthy start to their day and also helping towards reducing congestion at our gates. Even by parking further away from school, your child could then to do the final part of their journey by foot, bike or scooter. Bike and scooter storage facilities are available beside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms.
Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative will be running a Dr Bike event in the playground on Tuesday 23 May. From 8:30am, you will be able to bring along your bike for a free bike safety check.
We will keep you up to date about events during the week through Twitter and the class news pages on our website.
Finally, if your job involves an aspect of safety and you can support our Staying Safe themed week by coming into school, please contact the school office or your child’s class teacher directly to arrange this.
