New school dinner menu
After half term, our school dinner menu will be changing. This menu, provided by our school meals provider Catering Leeds, will be served until the end of the summer term.
Our School Council have recently repeated a vegetable survey to find out children’s favourite choices. These preferences have now been incorporated into the new menu.
As well as on our website, the three week cyclical menu is also displayed on our dining room window for you to discuss with your child. If you would like a printed copy, please ask at the office.
Have a look for the days ahead to make your child aware of what the daily meals are. Following pupil and parent feedback, children now make their main meal choice at the start of the day. This ensures they get their first choice of meal.
School meals continue to be free for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. If your child is in Key Stage 2, please check for eligibility for free school meals. (It’s important to check for eligibility for younger children, too, because school receives additional funding for each child who is eligible for a free meal, even when they’re free in Reception and Year 1 and Year 2!)
If your child would like to start having school dinners, please inform the office. A combination of packed lunches and school dinners is also available.
Children are consulted on school meals through our regular School Council meetings. Feedback may also be given by speaking to an adult in school or completing a suggestions/comments slip and posting it in their class I want to say box. We have a few new dishes on the menu which we encourage the children to try.
Thank you to parents who also raise questions and give feedback. We can then ensure this is passed on to the kitchen staff.
Safer Internet Day 2018
Pupils will be taking part in different activities to support their learning of this important subject. As well as in class learning, children will have the opportunity to work with the following external visitors.
We welcome ‘Splats Entertainment’ who will be delivering e-safety drama workshops for pupils from Year 3 to 6. Children will be learning and performing a show in a day. Please see your child’s letter to request tickets to watch this show at 2:30pm on 06 February.
D:side, an online safety charity, will be visiting classes Y1-Y6 on 01 and 02 February to deliver internet safety sessions with the following focus:
- What we use the Internet for (KS1)
- What is / is not safe to share online (KS1)
- What to do if we are not sure about the internet (KS1)
- Using emails safely (KS2)
- Social networking and safe profiling – including use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Oovoo, etc. (KS2)
- ‘Chatting’ with care (KS2)
- Responsible and safe use of the internet (logins, email, photography, password protection, personal information and self-protection). (KS2)
- Using text and picture messaging (KS2)
- Behaving responsibly (KS2)
Dave Hill, from d:side, will also be delivering an online safety workshop for parents/carers on Thursday 01 February at 2:30pm-3:15pm. There will be chance to find out what your child has been learning in this area, to give you some skills and knowledge to keep your child safe online and to ask questions on this subject. There will be limited places for this workshop so please complete and return the response slip, on your child’s letter, if you would like to attend.
If you are unable to attend the workshop, please refer to the guidance that will be sent home with your child published by the NSPCC/O2. Further guidance can be found on our website. There will also be a workshop for parents of older children later in the term, specifically looking at the use of social media.
Make-a-wish
This year, we’re supporting Make-a-wish as our school charity, chosen by the School Council.
Today, we welcomed John Russo, a volunteer from Make-a-wish, who told us about the charity, the kind of wishes they make happen and how the money we raise might be spent.
Children were asked to consider how we can support the charity over this year. They could either write a suggestion for their ‘I want to say’ box or pass on their ideas to their class school councillors.
How does your garden grow?
In Year 4, we always try to link our reading area to our current topic. Children are encouraged to bring books in from home to add to our library and for others to enjoy.
As we begin our new topic, Life Forces, we decided to make the reading corner into a garden. We have created a calm, relaxing garden that is full of lots of reading resources linked to life. From learning about how your body works to leaflets from the local pet shop about how to care for various pets, we have the lot!
Alongside the reading, we also have some bulbs growing on the windowsill. These are amaryllis plants and are forming a daily observation. The children will observe these plants over time, record growth, photograph, note changes, observe the roots, check water levels and much more.
The bulbs were planted in different materials.
One is in stones, gravel and decorative pebbles and the other bulb is growing in soil, stones and chalk pebbles.
Chick Cam 3!
We’ve now got seven chicks! We’ll start moving them to the breeder box today.
Chick Cam 2!
The streams on YouTube only last for 8 hours, so here’s the next one!
It’s 17:10 and we now have three chicks with one more arriving very soon! Once hatched, the chicks need to stay in the incubator for about 24 hours to ‘fluff up’ before they are moved to the breeder box.
Chick Cam!
Good morning. Click on the following link to watch the chicks in our incubator. Two chicks have hatched already and there should be more hatching today and tomorrow! Stay tuned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSUKPotLzS4&feature=youtu.be
Going underground!
This week, we came to to end of our ‘Rocks and Soils‘ mini topic. For our final two lessons, we studied the job of an archaeologist and had our very own archaeological dig.
Our first lesson focused on generating, developing and communicating our ideas through discussion.
In groups, on large paper, children were asked to answer the questions through discussion, make notes and annotations.
- What is an archaeologist?
- What is their job? What skills do you think they need?
- Is the job of an archaeologist important? Why?
- What tools are needed for this job?
The children were given sentence stems to use. This helps to evidence and back-up their ideas and reasons. For example:
- I think that an archaeologist would have to be good at maths. I think this because they would have to know about dates and times from different ages.
- If we don’t have evidence from the past, then we won’t be able to learn more about history.
For the next lesson things got MESSY! We had previously learnt that archaeologists find out about the past by discovering artefacts left behind by our ancestors, examining what they have found and then recording their discoveries for the future. With all this in mind, the children were asked to select appropriate tools for their excavation. Year 4 were able to choose suitable tools and give reasons as to why they select them.
- “You need to be very careful not to damage your fossil or artefact,” said Henry.
- “I think that a cotton bud would be useful to get into tiny areas,” commented Zara.
A container with layers of rock and sand was given to each group. The children then had to work carefully by removing tiny pieces of rock or layers of sand.
We excavated in layers rather than digging holes as this is how a real archaeologist works. When an artefact or fossil had been uncovered, the groups had to carefully clear the sand and rock from around the edges avoiding damage to the surface of the artefact itself.
After excavating in layers, the children had to make notes about each find until they reached the bottom of their container.
Once the dig had been completed, we looked at our finds and compared the details of each artefact or fossil.
We discussed things that were hard or challenging.
“I found it hard to get the fossil out in one piece. It was easier to leave room around it and then try to chip at the rock carefully,” commented Arundeep. 
Following a very successful dig, the children were asked to create a fact file for one of their finds.
The children examined their objects using a magnifying glass, measured the dimensions, sketched the find and recorded texture and appearance. In order to get an idea of the scale, we took photos of the objects alongside a ruler.
Well done to Year 4. They worked with patience and care. We all enjoyed these lessons. In fact, we have decided to make our class assembly a ‘Rocks and Soils’ themed one – YEAR 4 ROCK!
We’ll be performing this on Wednesday 17 January. We look forward to seeing you there!
Welcome back
Happy New Year and welcome back to what is set to be another very busy term!
Our first mini-topic is ‘What’s the matter?’ and is science-based. Children will learn about materials and their properties. We will explore what objects are made from and why. You can help your child learn more about this topic when choosing which clothes to wear and talking about which materials everyday objects are made from and why. Children will also ask ‘What’s the matter?’ from a social and emotional point of view, thinking about how they can solve problems.
The next big topic is Life.
Life is all around us, in plants and animals, and comes in all shapes and sizes – it’s amazing! In this biology-based topic, we find out how our body works, what all living things have in common and the differences we might notice. Amongst other things, we’ll think about why animals choose particular habitats and why a healthy diet is important. Help your child at home by naming body parts, including the parts inside that you can’t see, discussing why you breathe hard after exercise and what plants you can see when you’re out and about.
This term, Year 4 will be diving into two class novels.
The first will be a Fighting Fantasy novel, which is the title given to a series of interactive books, also known as game books, that were developed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. This book will certainly be intriguing and memorable because the children’s participation and the choices they make directly affects the outcome of the story! Good luck!
The second will be ‘Akimbo and the Elephants’, written by Alexander McCall Smith. Here’s the blurb:
‘Ten-year-old Akimbo lives on a game preserve in Africa. His father is the head ranger, and Akimbo is eager to help him whenever he can—even if it means getting into some pretty dangerous situations.’
How can you help?
Question your child about the book. What do they know about the characters? Perhaps, look at other books in ‘The Fighting Fantasy series.’
During the next term, we will be giving some children additional or alternative homework. This is because, in lessons, there are areas in Maths and English where extra practice (at home) would be very beneficial to consolidate the learning in school.
Please support your child with this at home and if you’re not sure of how best to do this then please pop in and ask us. We’re always happy to help.
Living and Learning
- Drug, alcohol and tobacco education (DATE)
- Keeping safe and managing risk
Here are the weekly Living and Learning statements, for this half term, to support this learning.
- I don’t interrupt (with my mouth or my hand).
- I can make things better.
- I know what a drug is.
- I am aware of risks.
- I make safe choices.
- I stay safe online.