Supporting our school charity
St Gemma’s Hospice is our current school charity chosen democratically by the children.
Today, we welcomed Steph and Stewart from St Gemma’s Hospice for an assembly to find out more about the fantastic work they do in our local community.
Here, two of our junior leaders are presenting them with a cheque for £377 for the money we have raised so far.
Steph and Stewart commented on the impressive behaviour of the children and the intelligent questions they asked.
Our junior leaders are planning a visit to the hospice over the next few weeks to continue this partnership.
Cross country finalists
Today, four Key Stage 2 pupils represented our school in the Leeds cross country final after qualifying in the North East Leeds competition.
Well done to all the children who gave 100% in their races of over 100 runners and with a tough hill at the end.
Special congratulations to our Year 6 runner who after finishing 1st in his heat went on to finish 1st in the Leeds final today! A fantastic acheievement! He will now qualify for the West Yorkshire cross country final.
Thank you to parents who transported and supported the children today.
Model of our Solar System
In a recent Science lesson, we learnt about the different planets in our Solar System.
We learnt about the heliocentric model of the Solar System by which all the plants revolve around the Sun that is in the centre.
We learnt that different planets are different distances away from the Sun.
In order for us to fully grasp this concept, we scaled down the actual distances between the planets and represented their relative distances in the playground!
We found out that Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun and Neptune is the furthest away!
Help at home by seeing if your child can remember the order of the planets from the Sun. We made a mnemonic in class to help us!
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help.
In our living and learning sessions over the last two weeks, we have been exploring risks and how to seek help if we need to.
We looked at different scenarios and placed them on a continuum based on how much of a risk we thought they posed. Some of the scenarios were:
– learning to ride a horse
– learning to drive
– taking up a new hobby
– drinking energy drinks on a daily basis
– stealing from a shop
– putting your hand up if you’re not sure of the answer
After we’d established the risks involved with each, we spoke about how some things are worth doing because the risks are minimal but other things definitely aren’t!
When would you know if the risks involved made something not worth doing?
We spoke about how we often get that feeling in our stomach if we know the risks are too great. We also spoke about how if we weren’t sure, we should always speak to a trusted adult!
Help at home by talking with your child about different things they may encounter in their lives as they progress to high school and beyond and the risks associated with them! This will help them make informed decisions in the future!
Well done, Y6!
Living and Learning: Drugs, alcohol and tobacco
Over the last two weeks, we’ve been learning all about drugs, alcohol and tobacco in our L&L sessions.
We talked about what drugs, alcohol and tobacco are and the effects and impacts they can have.
We learnt that drugs can have both positive and negative impacts and discussed the difference between illegal drugs and legal drugs prescribed by doctors.
How can you help at home?
Talk to your child and recap/consolidate their learning by having conversations about drugs, alcohol and tobacco!
Spring term after-school clubs
Living and Learning: Mental Health
In a recent Living and Learning session, we learnt all about mental health and we recognised why it is important.
Firstly, we talked about what mental health means. It’s our thoughts and feelings, emotions and how we feel inside.
Next, we chatted about big feelings – ones that could stop us from doing things and small feelings – ones that feel big at the time but go away after time.
After that, we discussed and recorded different self care techniques. We can refer to these when we need to!
Here are some pictures of us during our learning!
Who’s theory was correct? Aristotle or Galileo?
In this week’s science learning, we conducted a fair test.
Does the mass of an object affect the rate in which it falls?
Aristotle’s theory suggests that the mass of an object does affect the rate in which it falls and that heavier objects fall quicker!
However, in 1590, Galileo tested this theory by, according to legend, dropping two cannonballs of similar size but different masses off the Leaning Tower of Pisa and seeing when they hit the ground.
This week, we conducted a similar test.
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We tested out Aristotle’s theory by dropping different objects of similar size but different masses and recorded their time of impact with the ground.
We found that mass doesn’t affect the rate in which objects fall. The slight difference in time is due to forces like air resistance.
Great learning, Y6!
Skipping ropes
We continue to work with Skipping School as part of the Year 2 and Year 4 skipping festivals.
While you might be thinking about Christmas presents, we have skipping ropes available to purchase from school for a subsidised price of £3. These are available in two sizes and a range of colours.
Junior leaders attend Youth Summit
Today, our Year 5 and 6 junior leaders, along with other children and young people from local primary and secondary schools, attended the Inner North East Community Committee Youth Summit at the Civic Hall.
We had the chance to meet and question councillors from the Moortown, Chapel Allerton and Roundhay wards and get involved with sharing views about youth activities for our local area.
We were then taken to the council chambers to meet the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Bob Gettings, where he took questions from the children. We learnt lots about his role.
The event was a great opportunity for the children to see how the council is run and give their views on issues in their local community. What great representatives of the school they were!
It was brilliant! We got to meet the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
It was amazing! We got to ask lots of questions and the Lord Mayor and councillors gave really good replies.
I liked hearing about the councillors’ experiences and what they do in their area.
I enjoyed it as you got to have a say.
