It’s nearly time to elect our new junior leaders
We have recently launched this year’s Junior Leadership Team election process. Our Junior Leadership Team is one of the ways that children are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
The election process allows children to develop an understanding of one of the British Values, democracy, with two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers.
Here are some of the qualities our junior leaders think are needed to be an effective JLT member.
- use the 8Rs for learning
- be respectful and polite
- help others
- be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)
- share and be confident with your ideas
- let others speak
- accept the views of others even if you don’t agree
- be friendly and approachable
- follow our school rules and make good choices in class and around school
This weeks’ whole school homework is all about the election and democracy, ready for the elections on Thursday 24 October. For children who want to stand in the election, they will have the chance to share their speeches in class on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Well done to all our current junior leaders who have represented their class so well this year. Remember, you can stand again in the election.
After-school clubs
Our autumn term clubs continue after half term and there is an opportunity to join the below after school clubs which currently have available places:
Monday
Hama Bead Club – Y4, Y5, Y6
Mindfulness & Yoga – Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6
Tuesday
Skipping – Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6
Sewing & weaving – Y4, Y5, Y6
Wednesday
Skipping – Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4
Girls Football – Y4, Y5, Y6
Thursday
Dazl Dance – Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4
Basketball – KS1
Basketball – KS2
Clubs run straight after school and finish at 4.15pm.
All clubs will run until w/c 9 December, which would give your child 6 sessions if they’d like to join.
If your child is interested in joining any of the above clubs, please reply to the email sent and an individual payment request will be set up.
Rugby ticket offer
Headingley Stadium has the honour of hosting the England men’s and women’s national team against Samoa and Wales respectively on Saturday 02 November 2024.
As a partner school of the Rhinos, we are pleased to offer children and families 20% off tickets. These are purchased directly from the Rugby Football League using the discount code shown below.
Reading: Performing Poetry
This week in Reading, Year 5 have been reading a poem written by Hilaire Belloc. Belloc was a French-born poet who became a versatile English writer. He was also an avid historian, writing numerous historical texts. In addition, he wrote cautionary tales for children and Year 5 have looked at one called ‘Matilda who told lies and was burned to death’.
Year 5 put everything they had into this performance. They used intonation, tone, volume and action to act out the poem. Their outcomes were fantastic!
MATILDA told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes;
Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth,
Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
Attempted to Believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her,
And would have done so, had not She
Discovered this Infirmity.
For once, towards the Close of Day,
Matilda, growing tired of play,
And finding she was left alone,
Went tiptoe to the Telephone
And summoned the Immediate Aid
Of London’s Noble Fire-Brigade.
Within an hour the Gallant Band
Were pouring in on every hand,
From Putney, Hackney Downs, and Bow.
With Courage high and Hearts a-glow,
They galloped, roaring through the Town,
‘Matilda’s House is Burning Down!’
Inspired by British Cheers and Loud
Proceeding from the Frenzied Crowd,
They ran their ladders through a score
Of windows on the Ball Room Floor;
And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
The Pictures up and down the House,
Until Matilda’s Aunt succeeded
In showing them they were not needed;
And even then she had to pay
To get the Men to go away!
It happened that a few Weeks later
Her Aunt was off to the Theatre
To see that Interesting Play
The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.
She had refused to take her Niece
To hear this Entertaining Piece:
A Deprivation Just and Wise
To Punish her for Telling Lies.
That Night a Fire did break out–
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street–
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence) — but all in vain!
For every time she shouted ‘Fire!’
They only answered ‘Little Liar!’
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.
Help at home: Can you spot the rhyming pattern? Does this poem remind you of anything you’ve previously read, heard, watched, seen?
Science: Space
Year 5 have now started their second science unit: Space! This week, we have learnt about our Solar System.
Here are some key facts we learnt:
- The Solar System is made up of the Sun, celestial bodies, eight planets and their moons.
- The Sun, Earth, Moon and other planets are approximately spherical bodies.
- The Sun is a star which releases heat and light and is at the centre of the Solar System.
- All of the planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun.
- The first four planets have solid surfaces whilst the last four planets have gas surfaces.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars all have solid surfaces.
• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune have gas surfaces. - Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
Then, we carried out research using secondary sources (a form of scientific enquiry). We used this information to create posters about the order of the planets and wrote down more key facts about each one.
Finally, we made mnemonics to remember the order in which the planets orbit the sun.
Help at home: Come up with a new mnemonic to remember the order of our solar system. Here is an example:
Mercury My
Venus Very
Earth Epic
Mars Marvellous
Jupiter Jumper
Saturn Suits
Uranus Unique
Neptune Neil
Or why not watch the ‘we are planets’ song.
Live Author Event
Yesterday, Year 5 watched a live author event.
Me and My Community week
Our next whole school themed week, based around identity, diversity and community, will be taking place from Monday 4th November. This is the first of two themed weeks in the year. In our ‘Me and My Community’ week, children will learn about what it means to belong to a community, from family to national or even international communities. Importantly, our children will also learn to respect and celebrate different communities. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of our Living and Learning education.
Events and learning during the week will include looking at our own identity including belonging and self-esteem, diversity of people around us including race, age, religion and disability and children will also be getting out into the community working with local organisations and taking pride in the local area for example by litter picking.
Active travel in the community
We encourage children to get out in the community in an active way on their way to and from school, with prizes available as part of the themed week. By walking/scooting/biking to school, families will by keeping our community safer and healthier by reducing congestion at the school gate. Maybe even pick up a piece of litter on the way. Even by parking further away from school your child could then to do the final part of their journey by foot, bike or scooter. Bike and scooter storage facilities are available beside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms.
Email us (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) a picture of your active travel, maybe by a landmark in our community on your route to school, for the chance to win one of five vouchers. Entries to be submitted by noon on Friday 8th November.
New school charity
At the end of the themed week, classes will have the chance to discuss our charity shortlist and the Junior Leadership Team will have the final vote for which charity they would like our school to support, replacing our current charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Identity day
Friday 8th November will be a non-uniform Identity Day. Children are invited to dress in clothing that represents part of their identity, for example uniform from a club they attend, a team they are part of or support or traditional dress to represent their heritage. There is no donation or contribution required for this day.
SAVE THE DATE PTA coffee morning Friday 8 November 9-10am
As part of the week, we welcome all parents and carers to an informal coffee morning to meet other members of our school community including representatives from the PTA. A whole school community Wake up Shake up will follow at 9:50am in the main playground.
Can you help?
Maybe you speak another language and you would be happy to speak to children about this or you would like to share about your own family culture and heritage. If so, please contact the office to pass on your details. Also, do you have any local community links that may support our week?
Our website continues to keep you up to date with key community events as well as our community noticeboard.
Drop Down Morning
Year 5 had a drop down morning, which means a morning where they recap and revisit their knowledge from previous years. Our morning consisted of a Computing, Geography and History lesson.
In Computing, Year 5 looked at their key vocabulary from Year 3/4. Algorithm: a set of instructions or a set of rules to get something done
Decomposition: the process of breaking down a task into smaller, more manageable parts. They then had to create a code to first direct me around the classroom and then help a squirrel into a tree. (This was a worksheet task- not an actual squirrel!) To finish off this session, the children had time to go onto Scratch Jr and create their own games using repetition.
In Geography, the children had to use atlases to find the capital cities for the countries in Europe. Some children even challenged themselves do complete as many as they could without an atlas! We then focused in on looking at York and Venice and comparing the two cities. Lastly, the children had a small debate is tourism was a positive or negative thing. They came up with lots of reasons for both sides: a positive was that tourism could benefit the country’s economy but a negative was that overtourism could happen, which meant that litter or noise pollution could be an issue for the locals.
In History, we recapped our knowledge about Ancient Greece. The children firstly had an activity to match their key vocabulary with the definitions. They then went on to create a mind map about everything they could remember about the specific time period.
Year 5 showed great remembering skills (one of the 8Rs for learning).
Help at home: How many different codes can you create to help the squirrel get back to its tree?
Connect Challenge
Today, the whole school completed our Connect Challenge, in memory of Rob Burrow, by running walking or skipping seven laps of the back playground and the green. All the children gave 100% and were even asking to do extra laps. It was a great active morning!
Thank you for your donations so far. You can still donate on Gateway until the end of the week with money raised to be split between the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and our school charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Living and Learning: I respect others.
In Living and Learning, we looked at how we respect others. We discussed discrimination, protected characteristics and the Equality Act 2010.
Discrimination is defined as “the unfair treatment of people because of who they are or because they have a certain characteristic.”
We remember the protected characteristics by using:
DR S GRAMPS
Disability
Race
Sex
Gender reassignment
Religion or beliefs
Age
Marriage or civil partnership
Pregnancy and/or maternity leave
Sexual orientation
We looked at different scenarios (both made up and real-life cases), where people were treated unfairly and tried to find a solution to the problem. Everyone is the class believes everyone should be treated fairly.
We now have a greater understanding that individual characteristics make everyone in the world unique and we can respect people in several different ways.
Help at home: Name the protected characteristics without looking.