Living and Learning: Drug education
Drug education forms part of our Living and Learning long term plan and in Year 2 this focuses on the safe use of medicines.
Firstly, we considered why medicines are taken.
The purpose of medicines is to help people stay healthy, get well or feel better if they are ill.
The children were keen to talk about the different types of medicines and that each medicine has specific use. The different types we discussed included sprays, gels, creams, tablets, liquid medicine, injections and inhalers. When might you use these medicines?
Secondly, we thought about where medicines come from.
Medicines can be prescribed by a doctor or bought from a shop or pharmacy.
Who would decide which medicine to use?
Sometimes there are alternatives to taking medicines if someone is not very poorly, such as having a cuddle; sitting or lying quietly; having a drink of water or something to eat.
Finally, in our learning we talked about keeping ourselves safe around medicines. We came up with some general safety rules.
- Never take medicines that are not meant for you.
- Take the right amount – do not take too much or guess the amount
- Store medicines away from children
- Always read the instructions carefully before taking medicines
- Use the correct medicine for the illness
‘Do not get your own medicine.’ Isla
‘Only have medicines from adults that you trust.’ Rizwan
‘Medicine is good for you only if you need it and a grown up gives you it.’ Jack
‘You are not allowed to give yourself medicine.’ Noah G
‘You should only have medicine if you are poorly.’ Junior
‘Do not play with any kind of medicine.’ Iris
We also tested our knowledge by checking some scenarios.
Living and Learning: Being me
- I cover my mouth (when I yawn, cough, sneeze). Get your child to demonstrate the ‘vampire’ method to family members at home.
- I can say something good about myself. It’s important that your child can confidently talk about themselves in a positive way.
- I pay and receive compliments in a sensible way. Try paying compliments each day to each other! Some children struggle to hear positive words about themselves, but this is important for self-esteem. Try paying (and listening) to praise and compliments.
- I recognise my talents. Talk to your child about talents, whether academic, physical, social or emotional. Some of us may have a natural talent, but most have talents that derive from lots of practice.
- I know the difference between being proud and showing off. We encourage compliments to be paid – but encourage your children to know the balance between being having self-esteem and showing off.
Living Streets (Moortown group) update
An update and a call for support (by Friday 15 March) from our local Living Streets group.
WE HAVE GOOD NEWS!
Back in autumn we submitted a response to the ‘Connecting Leeds’ consultation for improvements in Moortown. The feedback you provided in our survey helped us to share a number of ideas with Leeds City Council to help make the routes to school safer and more pleasant for all members of the community.
It’s very pleasing to see that a number of suggested improvements have been incorporated into the revised proposals, including:
• Priority for pedestrians at both the entrance and exit of the parade car parks (kerbs to run through with visual priority for people on foot so drivers know to give way).
• Replacing the badly positioned concrete bollards on the northern parade with a continuous low-level fence (to match the south parade) to prevent vehicles blocking the footpath.
• Low-level fencing at Manning Stainton to allow access only via the official dropped kerb and not across the full length of the footway.
• Planters adjacent to the road outside Manning Stainton to enhance the area and prevent HGVs and other vehicles driving and parking on the footway.
• Improved crossing times for pedestrians at the main M&S lights.
• A widening of the public footpath/reduction in road space adjacent to the south parade to allow for the future introduction of a pavement at the shops (not in the scope of this project).
Existing proposed designs for this future work can be found in Moortown Community Group’s Neighbourhood Design Statement (available at moortowncommunitygroup.org.uk).
BUT IT’S NOT A DONE DEAL YET. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP…
Although the public consultation for Moortown is now complete, there will still be some local targeted consultation with residents and business owners directly affected by the proposals. They will hopefully support the revised proposals too, but there’s also a chance some won’t, particularly if it affects current parking arrangements.
We want to ensure that the improvements for pedestrians many of us have been campaigning for are delivered and a great way to demonstrate your support is to post a comment about the revised plans on Twitter, tagging both Connecting Leeds and Moortown Living Streets Group, or email Connecting Leeds directly if you don’t use Twitter:
Twitter: @ConnectingLeeds + @MoortownLSG
Email: connectingleeds@leeds.gov.uk
Follow this link to see the updated Moortown plans as well as a number of other local schemes which are now open for public comment (including Alwoodley, Scott Hall Road and Chapel Allerton).
Many thanks once again for your continued support!
Dom Jacques
E: moortowngroup@livingstreets.org.uk T: @moortownlsg
World Book Day school dinner menu
On World Book Day, Thursday 7th March, there will be a special themed menu for school meals.
Please contact the office, as soon as possible, if your child would like to have a school meal on this day.
Living and Learning: I can assess my own risks
Following our staying safe learning last week, we thought about how that links with another area of living and learning, rights and responsibilities.
I have the right to be safe.
I have responsibility to make safe choices.
This week, our living and learning statement encourages us to take responsibility for our own safety. Using the learning from our themed week, we thought about how we can assess our own risks and stay safe.
‘I take responsibility for my safety online by never giving my personal information and password.’ Sophia
‘I take responsibility for my safety online by not playing with others who are being mean.’ Gabriel H
‘I take responsibility for my safety at home by not jumping on my bed.’ Jodie
‘I take responsibility for my safety at home by tidying up my toys after I have used them so nobody trips up.’ Iris
‘I take responsibility for my safety at school by following instructions.’ Junior
‘I take responsibility for my safety at school by having four legs of my chair on the floor.’ Zain
‘I take responsibility for my safety in my environment by not talking to strangers.’ Gurvar
‘I take responsibility for my safety in my environment by not stroking dogs that I don’t know or if I haven’t asked their owner.’ Ewan
Ask your child about other potentially unsafe situations and how they can take responsibility and assess their own risks.
Parent / carer information
Thank you to all parents and carers who attended appointments this week to discuss how your child is getting on in Year 2.
As promised, here are some links to support your child at home.
LEXIA is still available to all pupils. Please ask if your child needs their password to access this at home. As a guide, once your child has reached Level 10, they have covered the Year 2 learning.
Hit the button can support the quick recall of number bonds and times tables (x2, x5 and x 10 is our focus in Year 2).
The times table checks, like the ones the children have started to complete every Friday, can be accessed from the calculations and times table section of our website.
Our handwriting guide is useful to reinforce the cursive writing that we use at school. This can help to support spelling practice and completing homework.
The Year 2 common exception words can be found in your child’s reading record book and can be used for reading and spelling practice.
Finally, here is the link to the Year 2 SATs information. The short video will help you gain a greater understanding of the tests. (They’re labelled 2018, but the tests haven’t changed since then.)
If you would like us to go through any of the information above or you want to discuss any other aspect of your child’s learning, please do come and see us.
Living and Learning: Staying Safe week comes to an end
The final two days of our Staying Safe themed week continued to be filled with visitors, visits and more great learning.
Thank you to Allerton Grange who supported our themed week by hosting two of our classes. Year 6 had to be very safety conscious when attempting to scale the climbing wall. The technology department allowed Year 5 to safely investigate and explore a variety of different equipment.
Rachael from the Dogs Trust visited all classes on Thursday to talk about keeping safe around dogs. The children were taught to always check with an owner to see if it is safe to stroke a dog and what to do if a dog runs towards you. Have a look at Year 3’s class news post to find out more.
Jane Cusworth from Leeds Beckett University also joined us on Thursday to cover some basic first aid with different classes. Thank you to those parents and carers who joined her for the first aid workshop at the end of the day.
On Friday, Steve from British Military Martial Arts gave some great self defence tips to the children. BMMA run a martial arts after-school club at school every Monday so contact the office if you’d like more details.
There was also a water safety theme to the day with a visit from the Canal and River Trust to help to keep us safe by rivers and canals. Key water safety messages were given such as lying down on the floor when pulling someone out of the water.
Finally, thank you to Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, who gave hand hygiene sessions to Reception and KS1 classes. Keeping our hands clean and safe from germs will protect us from becoming sick and passing on germs to others.
There have been some great safety messages across the week from all our visitors. Ask your child/children what they have learnt across the week in respect to staying safe
- online
- at home
- at school
- in their environment
Living and Learning: Staying Safe in school
I can stay safe in school is another one of our main areas of learning this week.
Year 2 looked at different areas of school to see what the dangers might be and how we can keep safe.
Do you recognise these places around school? How are they linked to staying safe?
Here is a summary of our learning for staying safe at school. Ask your child about their responsibility to stay safe at school.
Living and Learning: Staying Safe week day 3
We welcome four visitors to school today who will be giving a variety of staying safe messages as part of our themed week.
Thank you to Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative who have been busy carrying out maintenance checks on lots of bikes and also delivering basic bike maintenance sessions to Year 5 and 6. Their shop is local in Chapel Allerton.
Thank you to Barrie and Christine, local volunteers from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), who are delivering water safety sessions to children in Reception to Year 4 across the day.
Dave from dside is with us today and Friday to deliver e-safety sessions to children in Year 1 to Year 6.
Finally, this afternoon, the Moortown Fire Service visit us to deliver a fire safety talk to Year 5.
These are just some of the visitors supporting our Staying Safe themed week to enhance our staying safe learning.
Living and Learning: Staying Safe at home
I can stay safe at home is one of our main areas of learning this week.
We used this interactive story to consider different dangers that could be found in the home.
Tiger the Cat sees Poppy being taken off to hospital in an ambulance and learns that she has been hurt at home. He is determined to go through the house and find out how she might have hurt herself, in order to make the house safer for the family. The story shows different rooms or areas around the house (kitchen, lounge, hall, landing, bedroom, bathroom, garden, garden shed) – each has a number of potential dangers.
Can your child remember the dangers found in the kitchen below?
Here is a summary of the Year 2 learning about keeping safe at home.
