Year 1 Class News

School Saving Club

The next School Saving Club paying in date is 02 February 2017 at 3.15-3.45pm.

If you are unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be paid in, to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Miss Hale.

For your information the paying in dates for the rest of the year are:

• 23 March 2017 3.15-3.45pm
• 18 May 2017 3.15-3.45pm
• 13 July 2017 3.15-3.45pm

If your child would like to open account, please ask at the office.

After-school club availability

Some of our after-school clubs, starting from next week, are now open to other year groups.

Monday

• Dance (Mr Lynch) – This club is now open to Years 1-3.

Wednesday

• Gymnastics (run by Leeds Gymnastics) – This club is now open to Years 1-3.

Thursday

• Dance (Miss Marsden) – This club is now open to Reception.

Please contact the office, by Thursday 26 January, if your child would like a place on these clubs.

New themed menus

Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, will be running a special Australia Day themed menu on Tuesday 24 January.  This themed menu has recently been selected by our school councillors.

Please contact the office, by 12 January, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.

Another themed menu selected by our school councillors is for Shrove Tuesday, 28 February.

Please contact the office, by 09 February, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.

New SEAL theme…Good to be me

Our new SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme for this half-term, Good to be me, focuses on three main areas of learning:

• Self-awareness: feeling good about yourself, taking risks.
• Managing feelings: understanding feelings, and why and how they lead us to behave the way we do – particularly the feelings of being excited, proud, surprised, hopeful, disappointed, worried and anxious and standing up for yourself.
• Empathy

This theme explores feelings in the context of the child as an individual, developing self-awareness and helping the child to realise that it really is ‘Good to be me’. The theme is about understanding our feelings as well as considering our strengths and weaknesses as learners.

As part of our current science mini topic, What’s the matter?, children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, understanding feelings and thinking about how they can solve problems.

The theme also links with Moortown’s Got Talent, our upcoming annual talent show.

The key ideas and concepts behind the theme of Good to be me are:

Building emotional resilience

Children need to become resilient if they are to be healthy and effective life-long learners.

Coping with anxiety and worrying

Worry and anxiety are major features in many children’s lives. Many children have good reasons to be anxious. Exploring worries is important.

Calming down

Although getting stressed, anxious or angry are important and useful emotions, sometimes these feelings can be overwhelming.

Assertiveness

The theme encourages children to become assertive – that is, able to recognise and stand up for their rights while recognising and respecting the rights of others.

Understanding feelings and how they influence behaviour

The theme explores the relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ and the way each impacts on our behaviour. It looks at Flight or Fight rapid response to situations of threat and our responses to feeling threatened / under stress.

‘I respond to difficult situations in a positive way’ is the first SEAL statement for this theme.

School Meals

Our school dinner menu is usually changed on a termly basis but this is now changing to half yearly.  Our new menu will therefore be from February 2017.

When we return from the Christmas holiday, we will start on Week 3 of our current menu until the new menu is introduced.

School Saving Club paying in session

Our next paying in date for School Saving Club account holders is Thursday 08 December 3.15-3.45pm. If you can’t make this date, the next one will be on Thursday 02 February at 3.15-3.45pm.

Children must be accompanied to the sessions.

Alternatively, you can bring money to the office in a sealed envelope marked School Saving Club for the attention of Miss Hale.

School Saving Club accounts can still be opened.  Please ask at the office for an application form.

Children who are in currently in Year 3 will have their account credited by Leeds City Council with £10 once opened.

Physical activity – the facts

In August 2016, the Government released its Childhood Obesity Strategy. This document outlines actions which will address the rising rates of childhood obesity.

Yorkshire Sport Foundation have produced the following poster with statistics and key information from the strategy.

We continue to monitor and improve our physical activity provision (see our current PE Provision Plan (pe-and-sport-premium-2016-2017) and our previous PE Provision Plan (pe-and-sport-premium-2015-2016).

Packed lunches

Struggling for ideas for a healthy packed lunch?

Change4life have some great tips and easy to prepare ideas based on the Eatwell Guide.

Also make reference to our Packed Lunch Guidance.

Anti-bullying tips

Thank you, Emma (Year 2) for recommending CBBC for lots of Anti-Bullying Week advice.

‘Power for good’

Next week is national Anti-Bullying Week.

The theme this year is ‘Power for Good‘ with the following key aims:

• To support children and young people to use their Power for Good – by understanding the ways in which they are powerful  and encouraging individual and collective action to stop bullying and create the best world possible.
• To help parents and carers to use their Power for Good – through supporting children with issues relating to bullying and working together with schools to stop bullying.
• To encourage all teachers, school support staff and youth workers to use their Power for Good– by valuing the difference they can make in a child’s life, and taking individual and collective action to prevent bullying and create safe environments where children can thrive.

Our school definition has recently been reviewed by the School Council and remains unchanged.

‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.’

We also encourage children to use their ‘Power for Good’, if they were to experience or witness bullying, by using another STOP message, start telling other people.

In class, children will discuss these aspects of bullying:

• Our definition of bullying (above)
• Types of bullying – cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, special educational need and disability
• What to do if children experience bullying. The key message is to tell someone (start telling other people)

Recently the School Council responded to this question, ‘What would you do if you were bullied‘?

• ‘Start telling other people – tell someone who I trust and who I can talk to.’
• ‘I would tell someone I trust (family member, member of staff or friend).’
• ‘If I were bullied, I’d tell my parents, a friend, a teacher and if nothing changed I would phone ChildLine (08001111).’
• ‘I’d tell a teacher, maybe a friend and put in a worry in the ‘worry box’.  Also, I’d tell a parent.’
• ‘I would tell anyone I trust: my friends, my mum or dad or a member of staff.  They could sort it straight away.’
• ‘I’d tell my mummy and daddy.’

All classes have access to their class SEAL box or a whole school worry box where they can tell an adult any concerns about bullying or any other issues.

For further support, bullying resources can be found at…

• http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/resources/disablist-bullying/resources-for-parents/
• http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/bullying/pages/bullying.aspx
• http://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/
• http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents/worried_about_your_child/bullying