Author: Mr Roundtree

06 November 2021

Next week, we will be looking at words which have an -il or   -al ending. These are much less frequent than the -le ending.

  • metal
  • pedal
  • capital
  • hospital
  • animal
  • pencil
  • nostril
  • fossil

On top of these words, we are continuing to check some of the common exception words from Year 1. Please help your child by regularly checking the spelling of these words.

Year 1 Common Exception Words 
the    do
to    today      of
said      says    are
were     was      is
his      has 
you     your      they
be      he      me
she      we       ask
go      so       no
by     my       here
there    where       friend
love    come      some
one    once     school
put      push
pull    full
house     our

 

06 November 2021

This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect and is due in on Thursday 12 November.

I can identify nouns.

We’ve been learning about nouns in class and I’d now like children to practise what they’ve learnt. I’ve given them sheet with sentences on and their job is to identify the common and proper nouns.

If you’ve lost the sheet, here is a copy. 

 

Our weekly message (06 November 2020)

Welcome back to school, and (sadly) to Lockdown 2…

Guidance for schools about the new national restrictions was released just the day before the lockdown kicked in, so we’re still working through any changes – we don’t anticipate too many, thankfully. You may have read headlines about teachers claiming that schools should close. The arguments stem from one particular union, and others disagree. As we said earlier this week, we fully support the decision to keep schools open – children need to be in school to learn and socialise. We can assure you that Sphere Federation schools have been working as hard as we can to keep our schools safe places to learn.

Your child’s a historian this half-term!

With the start of a new half-term comes the start of a new topic. Across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, children are becoming historians this half-term:

  • children in Years 1 and 2 will learn about the Great Fire of London
  • children in Years 3 and 4 will become experts on Ancient Greece
  • children in Years 5 and 6 will compare the Stone Age and Iron Age in Britain with what was going on in Ancient Egypt at around the same time

Read this one page list of History learning for the half-term ahead – it contains the core learning in terms of both knowledge and skills. (Be aware, though, that because of the closure of schools in Lockdown 1, teachers are being more flexible in their approach to the expectations set out in this document, making sure that missed learning and gaps are being addressed in Reading, Writing and Maths.)

And now, a message from Mrs Weekes…

The nights may be darker and with another lockdown just begun, but we’ve started this half term with lots of great learning and a positive buzz around school.
It’s great that we’ve made it into the second half term without having to ‘burst any bubbles’. This is because our children have been brilliant about staying in zones and keeping their hands sanitised and clean. It’s also down to you and the fact that social distancing and other measures are obviously being followed – thank you.
There are issues that are being reviewed constantly but routines are established and everyone’s getting used to the new normal. School lunches continue to be reviewed; the grab bags that are currently provided have really helped in getting the children used to new rules and expectations at lunchtime but we’re very aware that they aren’t ideal. With social distancing and available space, we can’t go back to a full hot menu, as yet, but there are plans in place to introduce a hot option that is not a grab bag – the details need to be decided but I’m meeting with the catering team this week to decide what is possible.
There have also been some changes to the extra space at the back of school; there’s been a separate website post about this but, in a nutshell, a lot of the land has been cleared and is now ready for some tarmac to be laid which is Phase 1 of the development. It’s very muddy (Mrs O’Malley had to hunt down her wellies) but we’re moving forward which is great news.
Part of keeping our environment safe during these Covid times is to have good ventilation all round school – great in the summer months but not so great now. We don’t want anyone to be shivering in class so there are a couple of options you could consider: add an extra layer for your child to wear under their uniform; or they could wear an additional jumper, sweatshirt or fleece (preferably red and unbranded). Also, please make sure that children are wearing suitable outdoor coats as we want them outside as much as possible.
Finally, two children have, in their own way, been thinking of people who are struggling for different reasons – well done to Betsy in Year 3 and Musa in Year 6 who have both been raising money for different causes. They’re both great role models to have in our school.
As always, thanks for all your ongoing support and patience with all the changes that are taking place.

New national lockdown

The Department for Education have been sending schools daily emails since the start of the coronavirus crisis. This is an extract from today’s email. We fully support the decision to keep schools open – children need to be in school to learn and socialise. We can assure you that Sphere Federation schools have been working as hard as we can to keep our schools safe places to learn…

On Saturday 31 October, the Prime Minister announced new national restrictions that will come into force on Thursday 5 November for 4 weeks until Wednesday 2 December.

We will continue to prioritise the wellbeing and long-term futures of our children and young people and will not be closing early years settings, schools, colleges or universities. It remains very important for children and young people to attend, to support their wellbeing and education and help working parents and guardians. Senior clinicians still advise that school is the best place for children to be, and so they should continue to go to school.

Until Thursday 5 November, the relevant Local COVID Alert Level measures will continue to apply in the area where you live. From Thursday, the national restrictions replace the local restrictions in your area.

Week beginning 02 November 2020

We’re really missing you in school and we can’t wait to have you back. We hope you’re managing to stay happy, healthy and safe while you’re not with us here in school. You are still very much a part of our school community so please get in touch with us. You can email me at [email protected].

Here’s a short video message from me introducing the week.

Maths

This week’s maths learning is linked to addition and subtraction

These five video lessons will roughly match the teaching and learning happening in class:

Lesson 1: video, worksheets and answers

Lesson 2: video, worksheets and answers 

Lesson 3: video, worksheets  and answers 

Lesson 4: video, worksheets and  answers

Lesson 5: video, worksheets  and answers

You don’t have to print the worksheet. Your child can write or draw their answers on paper. Your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Spelling

came

today

friend

school

their

what

saw

house

  • Day 1: Write the words and draw shapes round them to show the ascenders and descenders. (Set yourself and others at home a challenge of using some of the words when you’re speaking, too!)
  • Day 2: Write the words using rainbow writing. (Try some of the other activities in our Super Spelling Strategies guide.)
  • Day 3: Write separate sentences, each containing one of the spellings. (Don’t forget to show off really neat handwriting and make sure you sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?).
  • Day 4: Repeat Task 2 or 3.
  • Day 5: Get an adult at home to test you on your spellings. Practise any you spell incorrectly – you could write them out carefully until you’re sure.

(Suggested time: 15-20 minutes daily)

Reading fluency

This is the text we’ll read in class to to build up fluency skills this week.

In school, we generally follow this sequence:

  • Day 1: Read the text aloud with your child listening. Read it clearly and slowly, pointing to each word as you read. Have a chat about any unfamiliar words.
  • Day 2: Read aloud each sentence (a full short sentence or part of a longer sentence), and have your child read it back to you. Do this ‘echo reading’ for the whole text.
  • Day 3: Read the text and talk about the effect of the punctuation on how you read it – pauses for full stops and expression for exclamations (!) or questions (?). Your child reads the text aloud.
  • Day 4: Read together with expression (just like you practised on Day 3).
  • Day 5: Your child reads independently and fluently.

(Suggested time: 15 minutes daily)

Reading comprehension

Day 1: We will be using this RIC lesson in class. RIC stands for:

  • Retrieve: finding information in a text
  • Interpret: using clues in the text to unlock information
  • Choice: thinking about the author’s choice of words, techniques or organisation that make the text interesting and enjoyable to read

Day 2:  Watch this video and learn about the ‘a_e‘ digraph.

Day 3: Watch this video and learn about the ‘i_e‘ digraph.

Day 4: Watch this video and learn about the ‘o_e‘ digraph.

The two videos above were made by one of our teacher friends from another school in the federation.

Day 5: Book Club. Once a week, we have a relaxing lesson where we sit and read quietly, often with an adult. At home, we’d like you to read your favourite book or text, too. If possible, discuss the book with an adult, talking about some or all of the sections of this grid.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Writing

Activity  1

Finger strengthening activities support the development of fine motor skills needed for writing.

Challenge your child to have a go at 3 or more of these activities: practise tying shoe laces, fasten and unfasten buttons, attach nuts and bolts, separate dried pasta and dried peas (or similar) into two separate piles, do some mindfulness colouring in, do a jigsaw, cut up drinking straws and thread them on to a shoe lace, attach clothes pegs (the squeezable type) to a shoe box or similar, use a paint brush and water to make pictures or words on a wall, chalk words or pictures on the ground, make a Lego model.

Activity  2

Year 2 children: Write three sentences about a picture or photograph you choose. Your child should remember capital letters, finger spaces, joining up letters if they can (use our handwriting guide to help), and a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?) to end the sentence.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Topic

We’re continuing our new topic learning about The Great Fire of London. Find out what London was like in the past using this this Oak National Academy Lesson. 

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

Science   

This half term, we’re learning about animals including humans. This Oak National Academy lesson will really help to support learning at home. Once your child has watched the video, try the quiz that follows.

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

Week beginning 02 November 2020

We’re really missing you in school and we can’t wait to have you back. We hope you’re managing to stay happy, healthy and safe while you’re not with us here in school. You are still very much a part of our school community so please get in touch with us. You can email me at [email protected].

Here’s a short video message from me introducing the week.

Maths

This week’s maths learning is linked to addition and subtraction

These five video lessons will roughly match the teaching and learning happening in class:

Lesson 1: video, worksheets and  answers

Lesson 2: video

Lesson 3: video, worksheets and answers 

Lesson 4: video, worksheets and answers

Lesson 5: video, worksheets and answers

You don’t have to print the worksheet. Your child can write or draw their answers on paper. Your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Spelling

came

today

friend

school

their

what

saw

house

  • Day 1: Write the words and draw shapes round them to show the ascenders and descenders. (Set yourself and others at home a challenge of using some of the words when you’re speaking, too!)
  • Day 2: Write the words using rainbow writing. (Try some of the other activities in our Super Spelling Strategies guide.)
  • Day 3: Write separate sentences, each containing one of the spellings. (Don’t forget to show off really neat handwriting and make sure you sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?).
  • Day 4: Repeat Task 2 or 3.
  • Day 5: Get an adult at home to test you on your spellings. Practise any you spell incorrectly – you could write them out carefully until you’re sure.

(Suggested time: 15-20 minutes daily)

Reading fluency

This is the text we’ll read in class to to build up fluency skills this week.

In school, we generally follow this sequence:

  • Day 1: Read the text aloud with your child listening. Read it clearly and slowly, pointing to each word as you read. Have a chat about any unfamiliar words.
  • Day 2: Read aloud each sentence (a full short sentence or part of a longer sentence), and have your child read it back to you. Do this ‘echo reading’ for the whole text.
  • Day 3: Read the text and talk about the effect of the punctuation on how you read it – pauses for full stops and expression for exclamations (!) or questions (?). Your child reads the text aloud.
  • Day 4: Read together with expression (just like you practised on Day 3).
  • Day 5: Your child reads independently and fluently.

(Suggested time: 15 minutes daily)

Reading comprehension

Day 1: We will be using this RIC lesson in class. RIC stands for:

  • Retrieve: finding information in a text
  • Interpret: using clues in the text to unlock information
  • Choice: thinking about the author’s choice of words, techniques or organisation that make the text interesting and enjoyable to read

Day 2:  Watch this video and learn about the ‘ow‘ digraph.

Day 3: Watch this video and learn about the ‘oi‘ digraph.

Day 4: Watch this video and learn about the ‘ear‘ digraph.

The two videos above were made by one of our teacher friends from another school in the federation.

Day 5: Book Club. Once a week, we have a relaxing lesson where we sit and read quietly, often with an adult. At home, we’d like you to read your favourite book or text, too. If possible, discuss the book with an adult, talking about some or all of the sections of this grid.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Writing

Activity  1

Year 1 children: Talk to your child about a picture or photograph you choose. Write three words or phrases to label different things in the picture (eg ‘a car’ or ‘a red car’). Your child should aim to spell in a sensible way and use finger spaces between the words, joining up letters if they can (use our handwriting guide to help).

Activity  2

Finger strengthening activities support the development of fine motor skills needed for writing.

Challenge your child to have a go at 3 or more of these activities: practise tying shoe laces, fasten and unfasten buttons, attach nuts and bolts, separate dried pasta and dried peas (or similar) into two separate piles, do some mindfulness colouring in, do a jigsaw, cut up drinking straws and thread them on to a shoe lace, attach clothes pegs (the squeezable type) to a shoe box or similar, use a paint brush and water to make pictures or words on a wall, chalk words or pictures on the ground, make a Lego model.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Topic

We’re continuing our new topic learning about The Great Fire of London. Find out what London was like in the past using this this Oak National Academy Lesson. 

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

Science   

This half term, we’re learning about animals including humans. This Oak National Academy lesson will really help to support learning at home. Once your child has watched the video, try the quiz that follows.

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

Relationships and Sex Education – consultation

Thank you to those of you who submitted your thoughts about our recent online consultation.

From September 2020, Relationships Education and Health Education are now statutory and form part of the National Curriculum. As a result of the changes, we’ve updated our Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy. We were keen to hear your views as parents / carers alongside the views of teachers and governors.

We asked three main questions, below. We can’t promise to take on board every view in our final policy, but we will definitely consider each one.

Are there any changes or additions that you think should be made to the Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) policy?

Two themes came across strongly in the responses to this question: mental wellbeing (comments included ‘I would love to see emphasis on the child’s relationship with themself eg how they should learn to be kind to themselves as well as kind to others’ ) and consent (‘Talking to even young children about their rights over their body and their right to say they don’t like something, obviously in an age appropriate way – you can say you don’t like being tickled etc ‘).

We already do a lot to promote positive mental health, and we’ll continue to explore ways we can build on this – it’s obviously important. We’ve also started to introduce the notion of consent – asking if a pupil gives consent to have their photo taken, even. We’ll definitely ensure consent in the context of relationships and sex will be stressed.

What do you believe is the most important subject area of RSE that should be taught for different year groups and why?

Consent strongly featured in this section, too. This might be specifically mentioned (‘For very young children I think the focus should be on privates being private and the pants rule. For older children the focus should be around age of consent and how important it to adhere to that and what is meant by consent’) or in more general terms (‘Mutual respect across the board’).

Various other things were mentioned here, including accessing safe health information online, LGBTQ and diversity, and online grooming.

Is there an area of RSE that you think should not be taught for different year groups and why?

The vast majority of respondents replied ‘no’ to this question: ‘No. I think it is very important that these things are taught in school’. Two respondents who had concerns left their contact details so we’ll be able to speak with them and hopefully reassure them. Every year before children in Year 5 and 6 have lessons around physical changes and reproduction, parents will be invited to a session to discuss the content and the delivery, so each year there will be a similar chance to reassure people.

If you’ve any questions, comments or concerns about Relationships and Sex Education, please do contact us. In the meantime, thanks again to those who responded to our consultation.

Thank you…

Friday’s weekly message began with a thank you from us to you:

Most importantly this week, we want to say a big thank you for working with us to keep our schools safe places. We’ve had to make lots of changes to routines, and we keep having to review and tweak what we do. Throughout the half-term, we’ve appreciated your support. It seems to have paid off in that – despite some near misses – all three schools have yet to close a bubble. That may only be a matter of time; we’ll continue to be as rigorous and relentless about staying safe as we have been.

We’ve really appreciated your support and words of encouragement this term so far.

It’s also nice to have received this letter of thanks from Leeds City Council’s Director of Children and Families which recognises the efforts of all school staff, whether classroom-based or support staff.

Have a happy, healthy and safe half-term holiday.

Our weekly message (23 October 2020)

Our teachers are all in school (or Zooming in) for the final day of the half-term. We wish you all a happy and healthy half-term.

Thank you

Most importantly this week, we want to say a big thank you for working with us to keep our schools safe places. We’ve had to make lots of changes to routines, and we keep having to review and tweak what we do. Throughout the half-term, we’ve appreciated your support. It seems to have paid off in that – despite some near misses – all three schools have yet to close a bubble. That may only be a matter of time; we’ll continue to be as rigorous and relentless about staying safe as we have been.

Testing times

Children in Key Stage 2 have had some tests in Reading and Maths recently. Having left it a few weeks for children to settle down and feel comfortable at school again, we decided to carry out these assessments in order to further explore the impact of lockdown on children’s attainment. It’s early days and we’ve not analysed the results in a lot of detail, but we’ve been pleased with the results so far. This is a credit to your child, and also to you as you supported your child’s learning during lockdown.

Happy and healthy

A recent Talk Time homework for children in Key Stage 1 and 2 was to complete an online survey about health. Thanks to all the children for completing and returning the survey, and to you for supporting your child to do this. The results are really useful for us to think about priorities for the future, and they’re also encouraging in how positive they are.

Probably the most important question we asked was ‘Do you feel safe at school?’ and we’re pleased that across Sphere Federation schools, over 97% of pupils indicated a very positive response. 97% is good, but we want all children to feel safe all the time. In parent-teacher meetings this week, we followed up the very few responses that indicated only ‘some of the time’ with parents or carers. Quite often, the cause of concern lay with coronavirus (for example, one teacher reports ‘this was due to coronavirus in general. Nothing about school or being here makes [the pupil] feel unsafe… Dad has reassured me that [the pupil] is happy and comfortable in school’). Other reasons for the few who said they only sometimes feel safe included choosing the wrong response by accident, falling over and seeing a wasp!

Has your child got a mobile phone?

There are lots of benefits to having a phone, but drawbacks, too. We strongly encourage you to make sure your child has the BBC Own It app installed. It can help to guide your child if they’re exposed to things that upset them, and it can even question the user if it seems like they’re about to send unkind or hurtful messages.

And some Covid catch-ups…

Check out his website for a useful summary of where you can go for a Covid-19 test in Leeds.

In last week’s message, we set out a definition of ‘close contact‘. We were a bit ahead of the game on that one – just a couple of hours later, we were asked to communicate the definition by Leeds Schools Health, Safety & Wellbeing Team. The definition is pretty much what we said last week:

A person who has been close to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 any time from two days before the person was symptomatic (or two days before a test if no symptoms) up to ten days from the onset of symptoms (this is when they are infectious to others). For schools’ purposes, a close contact can be:

A person who has had face-to-face contact (within one metre), with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19, including being coughed on; having a face-to-face conversation within one metre; having skin-to-skin physical contact; or contact within one metre for one minute or longer without face-to-face contact.

A person who has been within two metres of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 for more than 15 minutes.

A person who has travelled in a small vehicle with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 or in a large vehicle or plane near someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

It’s important we’re clear about what a close contact is to avoid Test and Trace telling people to self-isolate when they don’t actually need to.

Once again, have a happy and healthy half-term holiday. Stay safe (and sane).

Week Beginning 19 October 2020

We’re really missing you in school and we can’t wait to have you back. We hope you’re managing to stay happy, healthy and safe while you’re not with us here in school. You are still very much a part of our school community so please get in touch with us. You can email me at [email protected].

Here’s a short video message from me introducing the week.

Maths

This weeks maths lessons are from the Oak National Academy.  They will help you consolidate the place value lessons you have done.

These lessons roughly match the lessons we are doing in school.

Lesson 1

Lesson 2 

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

You don’t have to print the worksheet. Your child can write or draw their answers on paper. Your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Spelling

Look on the homework page to find this week’s spellings. Your child should complete one task each day.

  • Day 1: Write the words and draw shapes round them to show the ascenders and descenders. (Set yourself and others at home a challenge of using some of the words when you’re speaking, too!)
  • Day 2: Write the words using rainbow writing. (Try some of the other activities in our Super Spelling Strategies guide.)
  • Day 3: Write separate sentences, each containing one of the spellings. (Don’t forget to show off really neat handwriting and make sure you sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?).
  • Day 4: Repeat Task 2 or 3.
  • Day 5: Get an adult at home to test you on your spellings. Practise any you spell incorrectly – you could write them out carefully until you’re sure.

(Suggested time: 15-20 minutes daily)

Reading fluency

This is the text we’ll read in class to to build up fluency skills this week.

In school, we generally follow this sequence:

  • Day 1: Read the text aloud with your child listening. Read it clearly and slowly, pointing to each word as you read. Have a chat about any unfamiliar words.
  • Day 2: Read aloud each sentence (a full short sentence or part of a longer sentence), and have your child read it back to you. Do this ‘echo reading’ for the whole text.
  • Day 3: Read the text and talk about the effect of the punctuation on how you read it – pauses for full stops and expression for exclamations (!) or questions (?). Your child reads the text aloud.
  • Day 4: Read together with expression (just like you practised on Day 3).
  • Day 5: Your child reads independently and fluently.

(Suggested time: 15 minutes daily)

Reading comprehension

Day 1: We will be using this RIC lesson in class. RIC stands for:

  • Retrieve: finding information in a text
  • Interpret: using clues in the text to unlock information
  • Choice: thinking about the author’s choice of words, techniques or organisation that make the text interesting and enjoyable to read

Day 2:  Watch this video and learn about the ‘ow’ digraph.

Day 3: Watch this video and learn about the ‘oi’ digraph.

The two videos above were made by one of our teacher friends from another school in the federation.

Day 4: Book Club. Once a week, we have a relaxing lesson where we sit and read quietly, often with an adult. At home, we’d like you to read your favourite book or text, too. If possible, discuss the book with an adult, talking about some or all of the sections of this grid.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Writing

Activity 1:

Talk to your child about a picture or photograph you choose. Write three words or phrases to label different things in the picture (eg ‘a car’ or ‘a red car’). Your child should aim to spell in a sensible way and use finger spaces between the words, joining up letters if they can (use our handwriting guide to help).

Activity 2

Finger strengthening activities support the development of fine motor skills needed for writing.

Challenge your child to have a go at 3 or more of these activities: practise tying shoe laces, fasten and unfasten buttons, attach nuts and bolts, separate dried pasta and dried peas (or similar) into two separate piles, do some mindfulness colouring in, do a jigsaw, cut up drinking straws and thread them on to a shoe lace, attach clothes pegs (the squeezable type) to a shoe box or similar, use a paint brush and water to make pictures or words on a wall, chalk words or pictures on the ground, make a Lego model.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Topic

This week, we’re starting our new topic learning about The Great Fire of London. Find out what London was like in the past using this this Oak National Academy Lesson. 

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

Science   

We’re continuing our  learning about habitats and living things. This Oak National Academy lesson will really help to support learning at home. Once your child has watched the video, try the quiz that follows.

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)