On Monday, Year 5 were visited by Brian Abram, the author of the Grandad’s Wheels books.
As a wheel chair user, Brain first gave us an introduction to himself and then a fun discussion about wheelchairs and disability. Brain answered these questions:
o Why might someone need to use a wheelchair?
o What different kinds of wheelchairs are there?
o What might be difficult to do in a wheelchair and how do we get round these problems?
o Are people in wheelchairs (and disabled people generally) different from other people?
Brain then read one of his brilliant books! Year 5 were then allowed to ask Brian questions. To finish off the session, Year 5 got to design a futuristic wheelchair. Have a look at their creative inventions:
We also had a session about gender equality. The children were asked to draw 4 different professions: teacher, nurse, taxi driver and fire fighter. We then learnt about the gender split in these jobs.
The class were then asked to read different statements and move to either side of the classroom for if they agree or disagree with it.
The statements were:
- It is okay to say ‘Don’t be such a girl’ to someone.
- Boys can be friends with girls.
- Boys are stronger than girls.
- Boys are better at football.
We also learnt about stereotypes and how to challenge these.
In the afternoon, Year 5 looked at the Moortown Primary School Community. We discussed what our logo looks like and why there are three different coloured children interlinked together. Our idea was that the logo represents children coming together, no matter their race or religion, working together and being friends to make the school a happy and healthy place.
Help at home: Look at the designs of the futuristic wheelchairs. Which is your favourite? Why? Or discuss some stereotypes you have heard before and how you can challenge this behaviour.
On Tuesday, Year 5 started off the day with a workshop all about diversity. We discussed that diversity is essentially differences between people. Diversity should be celebrated! Year 5 then went on to talk about what the words bystander and upstander meant. A clever way to help you with their definitions is if you take the first two letters of each word and replace them with the last two letters. So, bystander becomes standby and upstander becomes stand up. What do you think these two words mean?
Well, Year 5 now know that a bystander is someone who watches bullying happen but does nothing to help. An upstander is someone who does something to stick up for the person being bullied but in a kind way. The main messages from this session were to ‘ be an upstander’ and ‘be yourself’.
In the afternoon, we went to Allerton Grange for a drama workshop. In this, the children had to act out what the Moortown Primary School Community meant to them and why it is such a positive place to be part of. Year 5 worked in small groups to create still images and a short video for an alien called Z, to welcome him to Moortown.
Help at home: Discuss what makes the Moortown Primary School community special to you.
On Wednesday, we started off the day with a zoom about protected characteristics. We identified 9 and were able to name them all: Disability, Race, Sex, Gender reassignment, Religion or beliefs, Age, Marriage or civil partnership, Pregnancy and/or maternity leave and Sexual orientation.
In the afternoon, we had a workshop about self esteem. The children discussed how it makes us feel when we compare ourselves to others; they said it would make someone feel unworthy, sad, upset and maybe even frustrated. We watched this video which showed this. Year 5 talked about how if we all looked the same it would be a boring world so we should celebrate out differences.
Year 5 then went on to describe what makes them unique and created a poster of all the things they were good at. This helped boost their self esteem!
On Thursday, we had a zoom with Scholes (Elmet) Primary School – another school in the Sphere Federation. We talked about different religions and what it meant to be part of these communities. The children showed great oracy skills when talking; they used great volume, pace and fluency.
