Our artwork is on form!
This week’s art lesson has centred around form. Challenge your child to define this key term! We have been drawing wooden figures.
It was important to keep looking back at the figure to understand its shape.
Once we’d done a light sketch for the outline, we added curved lines to give the illusion of shadows and shade. Ultimately, we wanted our figures to look 3D.
Et voila!
“The hardest bit was probably getting the right proportion for everything. You wanted to avoid a big head and tiny torso.” – Maggie
Challenge your child! Ask them to define the other art term we’ve been learning about and spot one of our words of the week – both of which Maggie said!
Homework – I can stay safe.
Our weekly homework celebration showcased a very creative batch of I can show different ways to stay safe.
There were comic strips, cartoons, posters and presentations showing lots of important points about how to stay safe in lots of different ways.
A-maze-ing Games
Inspired by our Fighting Fantasy class novel, we made some games where players had to conquer a maze. We had to think about symmetry, straight lines, interesting paths and the right level of challenge.
Once we’d decided on a maze design, in teams we made the aim of the game and added coins, other players and objects to avoid.
We used feedback from other teams and our own evaluations in order to debug our mazes. Ask your child what this means and how they debugged their own maze.
Next week, we will take our learning online and use Kodu to create virtual maze games!
Living and Learning: Staying Safe week comes to an end
The final two days of our Staying Safe themed week continued to be filled with visitors, visits and more great learning.
Thank you to Allerton Grange who supported our themed week by hosting two of our classes. Year 6 had to be very safety conscious when attempting to scale the climbing wall. The technology department allowed Year 5 to safely investigate and explore a variety of different equipment.
Rachael from the Dogs Trust visited all classes on Thursday to talk about keeping safe around dogs. The children were taught to always check with an owner to see if it is safe to stroke a dog and what to do if a dog runs towards you. Have a look at Year 3’s class news post to find out more.
Jane Cusworth from Leeds Beckett University also joined us on Thursday to cover some basic first aid with different classes. Thank you to those parents and carers who joined her for the first aid workshop at the end of the day.
On Friday, Steve from British Military Martial Arts gave some great self defence tips to the children. BMMA run a martial arts after-school club at school every Monday so contact the office if you’d like more details.
There was also a water safety theme to the day with a visit from the Canal and River Trust to help to keep us safe by rivers and canals. Key water safety messages were given such as lying down on the floor when pulling someone out of the water.
Finally, thank you to Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, who gave hand hygiene sessions to Reception and KS1 classes. Keeping our hands clean and safe from germs will protect us from becoming sick and passing on germs to others.
There have been some great safety messages across the week from all our visitors. Ask your child/children what they have learnt across the week in respect to staying safe
- online
- at home
- at school
- in their environment
Living and Learning – Police Community Support
As part of staying safe in our environment, Year 5 were visited by some Police Community Support Officers.
“If you’re worried about things at home, you can speak to these people and they will help.” – Nayaab
“If you’re being bullied, you can speak to them.” – Enas
“If people go missing, they can help find them and make them feel better.” – Poppy
Living and Learning – drug education
As part of staying safe at home, Year 5 used iPads to research different types of drugs, including different types of smoking and drinking alcohol.
We researched cigarettes, e-cigarettes, shisha and alcohol to find out about the risks associated with health, cost, the law and other people. We presented our findings to the rest of the class.
Peer pressure was something else we discussed…
“Peer means someone on your level and pressure means they are persuading you to do something but no means no.” – Gurnoor
“Consent means when you give your permission to do something.” – Rabiya
“If your partner says to you, ‘I smoked so you have to as well!’ you should say no and no means no.” – Nayaab
What if all my friends are doing it and I’m the only one left out?
“You could say that you won’t do it because it’s no good for your health and you shouldn’t care that you’re on your own.” – Sam
What if my friends say they won’t speak to me if I don’t?
“If your friends tell you that then get rid of those friends and find new ones because real friends wouldn’t say that to you.” – Darien
What if someone in my family does it and they’re healthy?
“They probably haven’t smoked for long and haven’t got the full effects of it yet. You still shouldn’t smoke.” – Dan
What if my favourite celebrity says it’s cool?
“You still don’t smoke because you might have another favourite celebrity that says it’s bad for you.” – Zara
You should always do your own thing and be an individual – don’t be a mindless sheep. Year 5 have done lots of research and know for themselves about the risks involved with these choices so they are mature enough to make the right decision for themselves. Well done, everyone!
Living and Learning – I stay safe online.
As part of our Safety themed week, Year 5 have been learning about staying safe online. Our first session was a drama workshop centred around a dystopian future where everyone has been sucked into a never ending game called Game Over.
“I learnt about when people might be faking to be someone else. For example someone could say that they are someone else.” – Arundeep
“You have to make your password something people won’t be able to know easily like your favourite footballer, favourite food and favourite number. You’d have to be very close to that person to guess that stuff.” – Zak
“You can spend money on games. Try not to spend too much money and make the game forget the card.” – Henry
We also enjoyed a visit from one of our favourite guests – d:side.
“Don’t chat with people you don’t know and don’t give out your personal information.” – Sam
“Set your social media accounts to private.” – William
“You don’t need more followers to be popular. You might not even know all of them. People with less followers could still be cool.” – Manpreet
“Someone may be different to what you see in a video game. If they say they’re 10, they might be 30-35. You should not friend them and don’t chat them and maybe block them.” – Ben
Living and Learning: Staying Safe week day 3
We welcome four visitors to school today who will be giving a variety of staying safe messages as part of our themed week.
Thank you to Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative who have been busy carrying out maintenance checks on lots of bikes and also delivering basic bike maintenance sessions to Year 5 and 6. Their shop is local in Chapel Allerton.
Thank you to Barrie and Christine, local volunteers from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), who are delivering water safety sessions to children in Reception to Year 4 across the day.
Dave from dside is with us today and Friday to deliver e-safety sessions to children in Year 1 to Year 6.
Finally, this afternoon, the Moortown Fire Service visit us to deliver a fire safety talk to Year 5.
These are just some of the visitors supporting our Staying Safe themed week to enhance our staying safe learning.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
It’s Safer Internet Day and this has been a focus of learning today as part of our Staying Safe themed week. Below are some top tips for parents and carers to support your child to enjoy technology and the internet safely.
Our internet, our choice, so…
- Choose to have a conversation
Talk regularly with your child about how they use technology, and find out what their digital life is like, including what their favourite sites and services are and also how being online makes them feel. Listening to your child will give you the best possible idea of how you can support them. Not sure where to begin? Have a look at our suggested conversation starters for parents.
- Choose to take a balanced approach
As parents it’s natural to feel worried about the risks posed by your child being online, but for young people the online world is exciting and fun, as it brings so many opportunities for them. Remember that your child will use technology and the internet differently given that they are growing up in a world immersed in all things digital. Try to look at both the positive and negative aspects of being online and empower your child with safe choices they can make instead of overwhelming them with restrictions.
- Choose to make use of the tools available to you
There are lots of tools to help you manage the devices used by your family. For example, knowing how to activate and use parental controls can help protect your child from seeing inappropriate content online. For advice and guidance on how to make use of parental controls and other safety features on devices, check out our free Parents’ Guide to Technology and Internet Matters’ step-by-step parental controls guides for online services.
- Choose to get help and support
It can sometimes feel like young people are the experts in all things digital but remember – you are the life experts. You are always there to help your child but make sure you know how to get support too by visiting our Need Help? page. You can take steps to support your child online by using features such as privacy settings on social media and understanding how to make a report on a range of apps, games and services.
- Choose to be current and topical
This Safer Internet Day focuses on the very relevant topic of consent in the digital world. Use this as an opportunity to support your child with how they tackle digital consent within relationships and friendships as well as how online services use the data we provide. Use our quick activities as a family this Safer Internet Day to help you unpick this topic together.
Free bike check Wednesday 06 February
