We got some good news this week… We had our School Games Mark revalidated and we continue to have Platinum status – the top award.
Our Living and Learning theme this week… has been around our 8Rs for learning – all ways to promote good learning behaviour. Help at home: check out our short guide and then talk with your child at home about times when each of the Rs can be especially important.
Governor recruitment
We’ve a vacancy for a new parent governor…
The position will start properly on 20 November 2024. However, the new governor will be invited to attend our Governing Board meeting on 13 November as an observer. Any parent or carer is encouraged to express an interest; governors are especially interested in hearing from people with a financial background.
Look out for a separate email with more information later on today. The first stage is to complete an online expression of interest. If there’s more than one expression of interest, we’d open the recruitment to a vote and part of your expression of interest would be made available to all parents across Sphere Federation to help them decide who to vote for.
The rest of this week’s message comes from Mr Wilks, our Sphere Federation Topics Leader. The message is all about our new KS1 and KS2 topic…
We’re historians
What do we mean by topics?
Topics are the vehicle for delivering much of the learning in foundation subjects (eg Art, History, Geography). Each half-termly topic has a driving subject – the main focus for teaching pupils knowledge and skills.
What is this half-term’s topic?
This half-term, we’re historians. We’ll develop our understanding of the past, both in Britain and the wider world.
Each phase has age-related specific knowledge, skills and vocabulary. See pages 26 and 27 of our Topic Curriculum Guide.
Each phase also has key historical concepts which will feature within most lessons. These historical concepts are themes that are revisited, strengthened and deepened during your child’s journey through the history curriculum. See page 23 of the Curriculum Statement.
Years 1 and 2
In this topic, children learn about a significant British historical event: the Great Fire of London. Children will learn about life at the time of the Great Fire of London. They’ll learn where the fire started and how it spread so quickly and the innovative ways that it was extinguished. Importantly, they’ll learn about the different sources of evidence that have helped us answer these questions, including Samuel Pepys’ diary. Finally, they’ll learn about the significant changes that occurred as a result of the fire, such as legal changes about the way houses were built and the beginning of a fire service in London.
The key concept that children will learn about in this history topic is innovation.
(Help at home… As well as thinking about History, talk with your child about ways to stay safe around fire.)
Years 3 and 4
In this topic, children learn about Ancient Greece. Children begin by sequencing periods of British history and seeing where the ‘golden age’ of the Ancient Greek civilisation sits alongside. They’ll then learn about two contrasting city states: Athens and Sparta. Children will learn about the type of government these states had and what the lives of the people living there were like. They’ll then debate which city state was the best.
Importantly, they’ll focus in on the influence that Athens has had on the world: democracy, mathematics, philosophy, literature, culture… Finally, they’ll learn about how the civilisation ended.
The key concepts for this topic are power and innovation.
Years 5 and 6
In this topic, children learn about Stone Age to Iron Age Britain and contrast it with Ancient Egypt. They begin by looking at and creating timelines which sequence the periods of British history and also placing Ancient Egypt on this timeline. They’ll learn about the advances and innovations that occurred during the New Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. They’ll learn about and understand that the sources of evidence we have are limited to archaeological evidence. They’ll then learn about the Ancient Egyptian civilisation and contrast this with what was happening in Britain at the same time – it’s a stark contrast!
The key concepts for this topic are innovation and power.
How can you help?
Talk to your child about what they’ve been learning in class. The Class News pages of the school website are a good place to go to find out more about what the children are doing.
Find some books from the library which match what your child is learning. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of books about the history your child will be learning about.
Watch television shows about history. Horrible Histories is great (regardless of your age!).
The BBC Bitesize history webpage have some really good pages about the different KS2 units being studied this half-term.
For KS1, there’s an excellent website about the Great Fire of London. As well as a game for children to play, there’s information for adults as well.
If it’s a rainy weekend and you’re looking for something to do, why not spend a morning or afternoon in a museum? A visit to Leeds City Museum (next to Millennium Square) would be great for all children but especially for Y3,4 and Y5,6 children as it has some Ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian exhibits, including Nesyamum, the 3,000 year old Leeds mummy!
