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.
Safety Week – Thursday
Year 6 were very busy on Thursday of Safety Week. We had a visit from Dogs Trust which was very informative: cross your arms over your chest if a dog jumps up at you and, if one knocks you over, curl up into a ball with your hands over your face. They also brought Megan with them who was a fab addition to the class for half an hour.
We then worked on a short production which informed us and our audience on top tips for how to stay safe online. We warmed up with some great drama activities about displaying emotions. Can you guess what emotions we were working on here?
Safety week in Year 6 – Tuesday and Wednesday
Still having a great time during Safety Week. We finished off the carousel lessons with KS2 teachers on Tuesday and not only were the children really positive about the sessions, they could recall all sorts of information about staying safe.
The NSPCC visited Year 6 on Tuesday afternoon, discussing a number of scenarios children may find themselves in, whether they were ok and what to do if they found themselves in such situations.
Tuesday also involved learning about how to keep our bikes and scooters in a good (and therefore safe) conditions. Many children returned to class with bike grease on their hands, having got stuck in.
On Wednesday, we had a visit from d:side which gave us the opportunity to learn more and ask questions about drugs. This was a great session and Dave, our d:side visitor, made sure the children understood that any question was ok and it didn’t matter how much you did or didn’t know already – I learnt a few new things myself, too!
We finished the day going out onto the road in small groups to do a traffic survey. Working with the council’s road safety team, we set up a speed camera and monitored how fast cars were travelling, whether drivers were wearing seat belts, how many people were in the vehicles and what distractions people allowed themselves to have while driving. The results were quite shocking: 47mph was the highest speed recorded (on 30mph Shadwell Lane) and a number of drivers were spotted not wearing a seat belt.
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.
Safety week in Year 6 – Monday
It was a good start to safety week for Year 6 as we all enjoyed the carousel lessons with the KS2 teachers: water safety with Miss Lake, helmet safety with Mr Owen, first aid with Mr Catherall and food safety with Miss Rushbrooke.
We’ve also discussed how we need to be more safe as we’re moving into high school as we’ll be given more independence, travelling out and about on our own sometimes. Here are some comic strips we’ve made which consider how we might feel encountering groups of older children. They also show what we might do if we found ourselves in a similar situation.
Junior Warrior event
Total Warrior are launching a brand-new obstacle event for young people aged between 6 and 11 years old – Junior Warrior!
Total Warrior are a professional events delivery company, putting on events across the country since 2011. They are returning to Leeds for the 4th year, and are expecting over 7,500 people to join them at Bramham Park over the weekend of 24th & 25th June 2017.
In an effort to build on the success of previous years and maintain Total Warrior’s reputation as an epic adventure for all the family, the team don’t want young people stuck on the sidelines this year; they want them getting stuck in. The course will be a (approx) 2K route across the estate at Bramham, with 10 obstacles (tailor built for the age range) to tackle including walls, pipes, nets, loads of mud and an awesome water slide!
It will start and finish adjacent to the car parks and main Event Village in Bramham Park Estate, so navigation on the day will be straightforward. The course will be for children only, but will be easily accessible throughout for spectators. Volunteers and outdoor trained lifeguards (where relevant) will be on each obstacle, and volunteers will be distributed to ensure they have eyes on every section of the course.
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.
A great week back after SATs
Just a quick thank you to Year 6 for coming back after SATs ready to continue learning. The children have had a fantastic week, following instructions straight away and being proactive in their learning. I hope to see this continue into their next and final half term at Moortown Primary.
Next week is Safety Week: don’t forget to come on foot, cycle or scoot and – of course – travel safely.
The children will find out their parts for the Year 5/6 production on Monday so we’re also looking forward to getting rehearsals underway next week, too – squeezing them in around the many wonderful thing Mrs Taylor has organised for the themed week.
