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.
Half term highlights
Yet another half term has passed and what a busy one it has been!
Year 4 has been full of learning with lots of fun along the way. Here are some of the highlights from the past few weeks.
In English, we have been planning and writing our own descriptive settings. The standard of writing has greatly improved across the class. Children who have previously found writing quite a challenge were inspired and motivated by the creative way in which we prepared our work.
- “Gazing through the gaps in the leafless trees, shafts of sunlight hurt my eyes.”
- “As I stumbled along the narrow, rocky path, a tiny, yellow bird fluttered past me.”
- “Raging like a lion, water cascaded down the battered rocks and into the deep,blue pond below.”
Our new topic, ‘Natural Disasters’, is proving to be a popular one. The children have so far learnt about the Earth’s layers, volcanoes and the impact they can have on an environment. Our recent trip to Magna was a big success and full of fascinating facts. We even got to see a ‘fire tornado’! Some children have managed to carry their descriptive writing in topic lessons: “Boiling, hot lava charged down the rocky sides of the volcano like soldiers running into battle.”
Safety Week was jam-packed with activities and visitors: Dogs Trust, E-Safety workshop, safety awareness in various settings and bike safety to name but a few. There are a few photos below.
Here are some recent quotes from the children:
- “I love our ‘Reading For Pleasure’ sessions. They are so calm and we can just enjoy reading.”
- “I love school. It’s great fun with all the teachers.”
- “Playtime is great because lots of people play with me.”
- “My favourite subject is Art. I like being creative. Also, I like our SEAL sessions as they are calm and you can share your emotions.”
- “I like writing and you can get some really good ideas from other people.”
Below are a selection of photos from the last half term. Take a look.
Enjoy the half term break and we look forward to seeing you all for the final term of Year 4!
Dogs Trust
We had a visit from the Dogs Trust yesterday who taught us how to stay safe around dogs.
Scooter safety training
Thank you to Anne from Leeds City Council road safety department who provided lots of safety advice for riding a scooter today.
The first job was to make sure we were safe to scoot by checking safety helmets were fitted correctly and listening carefully to the instructions for the training. Children then followed the playground course making sure they were keeping a safe distance between scooters.
We look forward to some of the children developing these skills in the scooter after-school club starting after half term.
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.
d:side
D:side, a drug education provider, have worked with all classes this week as part of our Staying Safe themed week.
In Year 2, we started by looking at similarities and differences in our appearance.
We then considered what should and shouldn’t go into our body before identifying and naming internal parts of the body. The test was could we remember their position in the body?
We finished our learning with a special person car wash. This was a chance for all the class to show how they value others by telling them a compliment as they passed through the ‘car wash’. The smiles show how much they feel valued!
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.
