Topic: What are volcanoes? Are they good or bad?
After spending this half term learning as much as there is to know about volcanoes, it was the children’s time to show off their knowledge.
They created a poster style spread in their books. Here are just some of the amazing ones they produced!
They thoroughly enjoyed this topic and we immersed ourselves by writing reports about volcanoes and learning about rocks in science too.
Help at home: Keep an eye out for recent volcanic activity around the world. This is a great place to start: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c340r9zgpnkt
Cross Country Leeds Final
*** UPDATE*** Congratulations to our Year 3 girls team and one of our Year 4 runners who have qualified for the West Yorkshire Cross Country Final.
We were very proud of our eight Key Stage 2 children who took part in the Leeds Cross Country Final at Temple Newsam this week.
In muddy, slippy, wet conditions they all put in 100% effort in their races and were a great support for each other. The children should feel proud of competing against the best runners from across Leeds.
We’ll wait to hear if we have any qualifiers for the next round, the West Yorkshire Final.
Thank you to parents who helped with transport and supported at the event.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day!
Safer Internet Day – 11.02.2025!
The theme for this year’s national Safer Internet Day is:
‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’
Over the week, we’ve had the opportunity to think about any worries we might have about using the internet, becoming equipped with the skills to be safe on the internet but also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.
I know that some things online may not be true.
We discussed ‘fake news’ and what this means. We decided that if something is ‘fake’, it is not real and ‘news’ is information that is important. Fake news can be misleading and can give people the wrong impression or information.
We worked in groups to decide whether certain information was reliable and trustworthy.
Here are ways we could check if something is real or fake:
- Where has it come from?
- Who has posted this information?
- Is it a reliable news source like Newsround or First News?
- Can we see it across multiple reliable sources?
- Ask a trusted adult.
I know it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online.
Personal information is any information that is about who you are and what you do.
Websites and apps can collect our personal information and data and use it to provide services to us. For example, supermarkets might need your address if they are delivering your food or an app might need to know your age to know that you are old enough.
We need to keep this information safe whilst online and not give it to just anyone! We must always speak to a trusted adult before sharing any information online.
We watched the BBC live lesson for Safer Internet Day as well as our school learning.
Help at home: Can you think of at least 4 pieces of personal information that we should keep private?
New school meal menu
After February half term, we start our new menu which runs to the end of the year. It can be viewed here. Please review this with your child to help with their selection at the start of the day. We continue to offer meat free Mondays.
The cost of a school meal is £2.75, which should be paid in advance on the School Gateway app. We’re happy to accept payment for the week, month, half term or term. We prefer two weeks’ notice to change lunch arrangements.
All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free school meals. If your child is in Year 3 to Year 6, and you are on benefits or a low income, your child may be eligible for free school meals.
Some people like to choose a mix of school dinners and packed lunch for their child – that’s absolutely fine, as long as it’s a the same pattern of school dinners and packed lunches every week. Just let office staff know which days you’d like to opt in for a school meal in the week, and which days you’d prefer to provide your child with a packed lunch.
We continue to gather feedback from children on our school meals. Shortly, we will be reviewing our vegetable choices to help to eliminate waste.
If you have any feedback. please do get in touch.
Science: What is a fossil and how are they formed?
Hello!
Our current science topic is fossils!
This week, we learnt about what a fossil is and how they are formed.
A fossil is the remains or trace of a living thing that lived a very long time ago. They can be fossils of animals, plants or even animal poo!
We decided that fossils are important because they tell us a lot about the past. For example, we know a lot about dinosaurs, what they looked like and even what they ate because of fossils that we have found.
We used this video to help us understand the process of fossilisation…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2ym2p3
Mary Anning is our key scientist as she is known as one of the greatest fossil hunters to have ever lived. We’ve read about her as part of our reading fluency sessions. She found fossils in Lyme-Regis and she made amazing discoveries just from observing and studying them!
If you have a fossil at home that you are happy to bring into school, please do! We would love to have a look at different fossils in real life.
Help at home: When you are travelling somewhere, quiz each other on whether an object is living or not living and whether it could be made into a fossil! Is this pen living? No! Is this rock living? No! Is this apple living?
Living and learning: online safety assembly
This week, Louise from West Yorkshire Police came to deliver a whole school assembly all about staying safe online.
There were lots of clear online safety messages around content, contact and conduct.
At the end of the assembly, the children reflected on what they were going to do after hearing Louise’s messages.
I am going to ask my adult to take off the chat on my Roblox settings.
I am not going to accept friend requests from people I don’t know.
I am not going to play games that have a age rating older than me as they won’t be appropriate for me.
Help at home: ask your child how content, conduct and contact are linked to online safety.
Living and Learning: Internet Safety and age restrictions
Year 3 had a visitor this morning from D:Side. We were learning about being safe online while playing on different games.
Lots of us enjoy playing games online and they can be really fun but there is also lots of things we need to be careful around.
Lots of games have age ratings and restrictions based on the content they show. In Year 3, we should only be playing games that are rated ages 3 or 7. This is because they have content that are appropriate for our age.
There are also many people online that we may interact with. Not everyone online is who they say they are so we must always ask a trusted adult if we are unsure or feel unsafe online.
Even if someone says they’re 7, that they love reading and have a pet dog, they might not be telling the truth! We had a go at deciphering and deciding whether the friend requests were safe or not.
Help at home by checking the age ratings of your child’s favourite games to play online. Are they appropriate for them to play?
KS2 ice skating Planet Ice
As part of our involvement with Leeds Well Schools Partnership, a group of twelve Key Stage children recently took part in an ice skating session at Planet Ice.
After getting kitted out with our ice skates, we ventured onto the ice with some children being very hesitant. Our instructor taught us how to get up safely if we fell (and there were quite a few falls!), how to move forward on our skates and how to glide. All the children had a great attitude to learning these skills and showed excellent resilience and support to each other. By the end of the session, there was some great progress made and lots more smiles! Well done to all the children who took part.
This event was incredibly popular with over 90 children requesting to take part. If you would like to give ice skating a go, then have a look at the sessions available at Planet Ice. We’d recommend it!
Magna Trip!
Today, Year 3 and 4 visited Magna Science Adventure Centre. The main focus for Year 3 was their Topic learning about volcanoes and Science about rocks. We had a fantastic day exploring and learning!
There are four main areas to Magna (plus the playground!)…
Air
We explored the effect of air on movement.
Water
The children saw how water goes through the water cycle.
Earth
Here we saw the different layers of the Earth and how they interact.
Fire
The fire section displayed how fire acts and what happens to things that catch on fire.
and of course, we explored the playground!
Our workshop focused on volcanoes and rocks.
Help at home by exploring the Magna website to see if there are more workshops that are worth visiting for! They often have free workshops too! https://www.visitmagna.co.uk/
Living and Learning: Speak Out, Stay Safe
This week, the children learnt all about speaking out to stay safe with NSPCC.
We discussed children’s rights and the importance of the NSPCCs message of ‘speak out, stay safe’.
As part of this session, they identified their trusted adults that they could talk to if they needed or wanted. It’s so important to have these trusted adults and why we should always speak out rather than keeping our worries in.
Adults that we can talk to include:
- parents/carers
- grandparents
- older siblings
- teachers/headteacher
- club leaders
- friend’s parents
- Alternatively, Childline is always there to call or visit their website for help. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
We watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSJ0U3xWM4
Help at home: discuss who your child can talk to if they need help. If they don’t feel comfortable using their words, how else can they communicate? Write a note? Record their voice? Draw a picture?