Connect Challenge Wednesday 02 October
What is it?
The Connect Challenge is in memory of Rob Burrow CBE. It involves a rugby ball being ‘passed’ between local schools and each school taking part in a physical activity event.
When is it?
The challenge will run from Thursday 26 September, (Rob’s birthday) until Thursday 3 October. Our event is in the morning of Wednesday 2nd October.
Why are we remembering Rob?
Rob Burrow CBE sadly died on 2 June 2024, four and a half years after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Throughout that time, Rob and his family bravely chose to publicly share their MND journey to raise awareness of the disease.
What is our Connect Challenge?
We will complete seven (Rob’s rugby shirt number) laps of the green and the back playground by travelling in different ways – walking, jogging or skipping. Children should come to school in outdoor PE kit on the day.
We will be raising money at the event, to be split between the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and our school charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
We request a donation of at least £1. This can be paid online via school gateway.
Help at home: discuss this challenge at home and the reasons why we are remembering Rob. This challenge is also about friendship. Rob’s ex team mate and friend Kevin Sinfield has now raised over £8 million for MND charities. Ask your child how can they be a better friend?
PE: Castles and Cannonballs
This half term in PE we having been playing a game called ‘Castles and cannonballs’. The children have to build a castle out of cones and then there job is to knock it down by throwing a ball at it. This is practising their fundamental movement skills that they will need when they start to play more team games as they go through school. The children need to accurate with their throws.
This week we introduced a guard to protect the castle. This made the game much harder and we had to move in order to get past the guard. We will continue to develop this game over the half term with more variations.
Help at home by practising throwing, catching, kicking and hitting balls in order to develop these key skills.
History: The Great Fire of London
In year 1, we have started out History topic and we are learning all about The Great Fire of London. We will be using a book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, to stimulate our learning. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
We have started by talking about the topic vocabulary, which you can see below. We have also talked about how people know what has happened in the past even though no-one alive can remember it. We discussed using paintings, maps, books or diaries and artefacts from the time that have been found.
Help at home by exploring the information on the BBC bitesize website.
Autumn term clubs
Living and Learning: rules
At the start of the new school year, in our Living and Learning lesson, the children have been reminded about rules and the importance of rules in our daily life. This also links to the British Value of rule of law.
Before focussing on our school rules, we started by thinking about…
Why do we have rules?
What rules can you think of?
What places have rules?
Who makes the rules?
Rules keep us safe.
Rules stop people doing bad things.
It is a rule to not go too fast in a car.
The police help people follow the rules.
In our school we have three school rules.
Three, two, one, stop is one of the most important instructions the children will hear at school.
Following our school rules will make our school a happy, healthy and SAFE place to learn.
Next week, we will be thinking about our rules about online safety at school. Your child will bring home their Being online – acceptable use agreement for pupils and parents/carers which should be read through, signed and returned to class.
Any questions, please do ask.
Help at home – think about our three school rules and talk with your child about what that might look like or sound like in the classroom, the playground or at lunchtime. Here are some examples the children thought of. Being ready would mean looking at the speaker, being respectful would mean laughing with not laughing at someone and being safe would mean washing our hands before lunch to stop spreading germs.
Welcome to Year 1!
The children have settled in brilliantly into Year 1 and I am very impressed with how eager and engaged they have been.
I wanted to share some important information about Year 1.
PE days are Monday and Thursday. Children should come dressed in PE kit for these days.
Reading records will be handed out on Thursday and will need to brought in every Thursday.
Collins E-books have updated their interface and app this year so all your children will receive a new log in in their reading record. You will also have to download a new app (search for ‘Collins Hub) or log in to the new Collins hub website (here).
Our library day this year is on Friday. If you have any library books at home can you please bring them in on Friday.
Any other questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
School Games Mark Platinum award
We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2023/24 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.
Thank you to all the children who have represented school at different inter school events and competitions, parents for their support and staff for accompanying the children. We look forward to more events this year.
We are very proud of our children for engaging with these physical activities both in and out of school to support our ethos of being a happy and healthy school.
The final week in Year One!
We have finished Year One with a very busy week!
On Monday, we wrote some instructions about how to make a hand puppet in our new Year 2 books! I was very impressed with the progress every child has made with their writing this year and I know Mrs Taylor and Mrs Lake will be too!
On Tuesday, we made a wrap by choosing all the fillings ourselves. We worked really hard and the delicious wrap was the reward!
On Wednesday, it was sports day! Everyone tried so hard and I was really impressed with the whole class’s attitude and effort.
On Thursday, we had a last chance to explore the shared area. Lots of the children have been inspired by the Rabbit and Bear books we have read and started making their own!
The final thing to say is that it has been an absolute pleasure to teach your children this year and you should be very proud of everything they’ve achieved. I know they will all continue to do an amazing job in Year 2!
Both Mrs Roth and I would also like to thank you hugely for the extremely generous gifts and kind words. We are very grateful.
Have a brilliant summer!
Living and Learning: Staying Safe Week
This week we have been learning all about how to stay safe in lots of different places.
Monday
On Monday we had an assembly about road safety. The children listened excellently and learnt all about how and where to cross the road safely. THINK, STOP, LOOK and LISTEN!
Later in the day we had a talk from a member of the Canals and Rivers trust about how to stay safe near water. We also had a visit from D:Side Dave which the children always enjoy!
Tuesday
We had an assembly about online safety delivered by Louise from West Yorkshire Police. We followed this up in class by discussing our digital footprint and how we use the internet at home and at school.
We also followed up yesterday’s assembly on road safety by talking about how to stay safe on bikes and scooters.
Wednesday
Today, a member of the RNLI came to visit and we learnt all about their amazing work. We also found out about how to stay safe in the water and what to do if we, or somebody else, gets in difficulty. We now all know the importance of floating like a starfish!
In class, we talked about how to stay safe at home and the different hazards there may be. The children were very knowledgeable and sensible during these discussions.
Thursday
On Thursday morning we had a visit from the Dog’s Trust. We spoke about the 5 Golden Rules to stay safe around dogs.
We also spoke about how to keep safe in the sun. The children designed some great posters to help people remember what to do.
In the afternoon, we had a visit from British Military Martial Arts. The children loved getting active and testing out their martial arts skills!
Friday
This morning we had visitors from Catering Leeds who taught all about how to stay healthy and hygienic. We talked about where you might find germs and practised our hand washing technique.
Our final visitor of the week helped us with some first aid! We learnt what to we needed to do if we found someone who wasn’t moving. We practised shouting for help, listening for breathing and doing chest compressions. We all did a fantastic job!
Help at home by discussing with your child all that they have learnt this week and how they can keep themselves safe.
Staying safe week: road safety
Jake, from the Leeds City Council road safety team, gave a whole school assembly all about staying safe on and around roads including different types of active travel.
Don’t forget, as part of our staying safe themed week, we are running our active travel safety competition this week.
For a chance to win one of three £10 Love2Shop vouchers, we’d love to see your active travel staying safe photos, maybe using a traffic crossing or wearing a bike helmet (send photos to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org). Photos should be sent by 4pm on Thursday 11 July and winners will be announced on Friday 12 July.
Help at home: Jake reminded us of the green cross code. Talk to your child about what we need to remember when crossing the road.
