Cross country opportunities

We are pleased to invite KS2 children to compete in an upcoming cross country race as part of the Leeds Schools Athletics Association cross country programme of Saturday morning races. Children will compete against pupils from other Leeds schools.

The race will take place at 10am on Saturday 16th October at Cardinal Heenan (Tongue Lane LS6 4QE).

There are opportunities for Year 3 and 4 girls and boys (under 9) to race 900m and Year 5 and 6 girls and boys (under 11) to race 1500m. Once your child has completed their race, you are free to leave the event.

Please note, parents/carers are responsible for taking and supervising their child/children.

If your child is interested in taking part, please respond to the the message recently sent out.

We look forward to pupils representing our school at this event.

If you are unable to take part in this event, you may want to join the free Sunday morning junior parkruns held locally at Roundhay Park, Temple Newsam and Boddington.

 

After-school clubs return

Our autumn term after-school clubs return next week.

Here is the schedule that has recently been sent out to all children.

We invest part of our government PE and Sport Premium in subsidising these clubs and we hope to get as many children as possible active after-school.

If your child is interested in joining a club, please sign up via School Gateway or contact the school office.

Year 2 scientists

This half term, Year 2 are being chemists with our learning about materials. Here’s the key vocabulary we are using in this science learning.

Today, we had a note from Nothing (who spent time with us in Year 1). He needed our help to see what material would be the most suitable for a tent so he could go camping with his family.

First of all, we had to think about what properties are the most important.

It needs to be waterproof so that Nothing stays dry inside.

The tent needs to be strong so it doesn’t blow away.

It doesn’t want to be transparent.

Here are the stages of our investigation. We used lots of science skills and our focus for today was carrying out a simple test and recording our results.

Then, it was time to carry out our test. We used some great Living and Learning skills in our groups too including turn taking, helping others and resilience.

Finally, we used our results to answer the original question, ‘Is the material waterproof?’ and to make a conclusion.

The foil and the plastic were waterproof because they didn’t let the water in and no water was absorbed.

The fabric and the paper were not waterproof because they let water in. The water soaked in.

We think plastic would be the most suitable material for the tent because it is waterproof and it is also strong.

Wow, Year 2 – you have been fantastic scientists and Nothing will be so pleased with your testing to find the most suitable material for his tent.

Bike to school week and reading fluency

This week is Bike to School week and our weekly reading fluency text is based around this. We read this text daily and by the end of the week, we would expect the children to have a go and read the text independently. The texts vary every week and they include both fiction and non-fiction texts.

By reading the text every day, we can explore how to read unfamiliar words and the meaning of any new words. This website helped with this. We can also point out punctuation and look at how that helps us to read the text correctly. Let your child have a go at reading it to you at the end of the week.

At the end of the week, we answer questions about the text. Some of the answers can be found in the text but others might need us to think a bit more and use our inference skills (‘reading between the lines’).

Linked to this, the class created their own bar chart to show how they come to school. It was great to see a lot of active travel!

 

Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning

The Eight Rs for Learning promote good learning behaviour.

They include being resilient, responsible, reflective, ready, resourceful, risk taking, responsive and there is one more.

Can your child remember the last one?

Although these eight attributes have been our current focus in Living and Learning, we refer to the 8Rs throughout the year. We thought about some ways the children can show these 8Rs for learning in school or at home and here are some top tips they thought of.

Read more about the Eight Rs in our guide for parents and carers.

Bike to School week and Let’s ride

Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school and next week we’ll be taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We are pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.

Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the side of the Year 4 classroom.

Also, taking place this weekend is the free Let’s Ride session held locally at the Brownlee Centre.

This free family community event is ideal for the whole family to enjoy cycling in a safe and friendly space. At the Leeds Brownlee Centre, Bodington Playing Fields, you can ride at your own pace as many times as you like with volunteers on hand to chat all things cycling.

Sign up for the event here.

 

Great learning at home

Every week, the children will be rewarded with any Lexia and Numbots certificates they have achieved. Well done to all the children who have already started this learning at home. Remember just 10/15 minutes a day can really support your child’s reading and phonics (Lexia) and their recall of addition and subtraction number facts (Numbots).

In Year 2, we are aiming for the children to achieve up to Level 9 for Lexia and Diamond level for Numbots. All logins remain the same from Year 1 and they have been sent home with your child’s homework book last Friday.

Here are the first certificates for Year 2!

Lexia

Congratulations to Aliza and Saavi who have achieved their Level 6 certificate.

Numbots

Congratulations to Talha who has achieved his Copper level certificate. We also have a class leader board for the children who have earned the most coins in the week. Here are this weeks’ results.

1st Roshni

2nd Talha

3rd Saba

Keep working hard at home and we look forward to lots more certificates throughout the year.

If you’ve any questions about this learning at home, please ask.