Living and Learning: democracy
This week, Year 5 spent our Living and Learning session considering what is democracy and how we can become involved in democratic decisions.
Democracy, one of the British Values, means ‘rule by the people‘. It comes from the Greek words dêmos (people) and krátos (rule or strength).
Democratic means people having a chance to say what they think should happen.
We learnt about how democracy works in this country. This included learning about central and local government, what services government provide for the people and the role of political parties.
After that, we held our own democratic vote to decide who was the ‘reading champion’ for our class!
Reading with Reception
Last Friday, Year 5 spent some time reading with the Reception Class.
Each child in our class was paired with a child in Reception to read a book that they had chosen. Year 5 loved the opportunity to share their love of reading with the Reception class.
Hopefully, this is something that will be happening more frequently now that we are out of COVID chaos. Hurrah!
Catalan Soccer
This week, all classes are taking part in sessions led by Catalan Soccer.
Thank you to the Year 5 pupil, who currently attends Catalan Soccer sessions outside of school, who requested they came into school.
The classes have been brilliant and the coaches have fed back what a delight the kids have been to coach!
The coaches also commented how welcome they have been made to feel by your staff and teachers, so a huge thanks for that!
If your child enjoyed their session, please contact Catalan Soccer to find out more about the classes and holiday camps they run in Leeds.
Big Walk and Wheel
Thank you to all the families who have supported the Big Walk and Wheel over the last two weeks.
Overall, we were placed 150th in the small school category, out of 643 schools, with a daily average of 74.29% of journeys to school being active. In Northern England, we were 18th out of 107 small schools. Well done to everyone who took an active journey to help to achieve this.
Over the two week period we actively travelled 1,358 times!
It would be great for these active journeys to continue. Travelling actively (walking, park and stride – Marks and Spencers car park, scooting or biking) is a safe and healthy start to the school day.
Living and Learning: Personal Hygiene
This week in Living and Learning, we discussed the importance of keeping our hands clean – this has been particularly important over the last couple of years. We talked about what being healthy means and how to keep ourselves as healthy as possible.
Year 5 discussed how it is our responsibility to keep ourselves healthy – alongside parents and doctors.
We continued the lesson by learning about allergies and what we needed to do if someone was having a severe allergic reaction.
Ask your child if they can remember what to do if someone is having a severe allergic reaction.
NSPCC Speak out Stay safe
During our recent Staying Safe themed week, all pupils took part in the NSPCC Speak out Stay safe learning featuring Ant and Dec and Buddy.
We are proud to receive our certificate to recognise this.
Big Walk and Wheel
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022 (the new name for Big Pedal), the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 21 March to 1 April. It’s free and we would love everyone to be involved.
What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event. Park and stride (parking your car further away from school, for example, Marks and Spencer car park and walking, scooting or biking the final part of the journey) also counts.
Why we are taking part
As a happy and healthy school, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. Children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.
Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!
Useful resources
To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide packed with advice, games and challenges to help you have hassle-free cycle, walk or scoot to school.
Download your free family guide here.
We are gymnasts!
Last Friday, Year 5 completed a series of gymnastic challenges in the hall.
Check out the pictures below to see some graceful gymnasts!
Cross country runners
Well done to pupils who took part in the Leeds Schools Athletics Association Saturday morning race at Middleton Park. These races are open to Key Stage 2 children. This was the final race for the season but we will continue to offer these races next year.
It was great to hear they were encouraging each other at the event. Great work!
World Book Day
Check out Y5’s costumes for World Book Day! Can you recognise any of the characters?
