Connect Challenge Wednesday 02 October
What is it?
The Connect Challenge is in memory of Rob Burrow CBE. It involves a rugby ball being ‘passed’ between local schools and each school taking part in a physical activity event.
When is it?
The challenge will run from Thursday 26 September, (Rob’s birthday) until Thursday 3 October. Our event is in the morning of Wednesday 2nd October.
Why are we remembering Rob?
Rob Burrow CBE sadly died on 2 June 2024, four and a half years after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Throughout that time, Rob and his family bravely chose to publicly share their MND journey to raise awareness of the disease.
What is our Connect Challenge?
We will complete seven (Rob’s rugby shirt number) laps of the green and the back playground by travelling in different ways – walking, jogging or skipping. Children should come to school in outdoor PE kit on the day.
We will be raising money at the event, to be split between the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and our school charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
We request a donation of at least £1. This can be paid online via school gateway.
Help at home: discuss this challenge at home and the reasons why we are remembering Rob. This challenge is also about friendship. Rob’s ex team mate and friend Kevin Sinfield has now raised over £8 million for MND charities. Ask your child how can they be a better friend?
Reading: The Hobbit
In Reading this week, our focus text is ‘The Hobbit’ by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
The Hobbit is a classic story of Bilbo Baggins – a home-loving hobbit
who enjoys a quiet and contented life in his cosy hobbit hole and
has no desire to travel afar. But then the wizard Gandalf and a
band of dwarves arrive unexpectedly and enlist his services, and
soon Bilbo finds himself part of an extraordinary expedition to raid
the treasure-hoard of Smaug the Dragon – and on the way becomes
the possessor of a very unusual ring.
History: We are Historians!
This half term, our topic is History! We will be learning about both British and world history. We have started to learn about the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age and we will be shortly moving on to Ancient Egypt.
In our lessons this week, the children had to recap and revisit their knowledge from the unit so far to sort a range of statements into the correct time periods.
They then went on to learn about different ancient civilisations across the world around 3000 years ago. We used the iPads to look at secondary research.
Help at home: Take a look at our key vocabulary for this unit. Can you use these words in sentences?
Living & Learning: Eight Rs for Learning
This week our L&L statement was ‘I use the eight Rs to help me learn.’ We started off by recapping the 8Rs and then looked at each one in detail and discussed different statements that match the 8Rs.
- reflecting – I look for feedback from my teachers and peers and think about how I can use this to improve.
- remembering – I find links between what I am learning and what I already know.
- resilient – I stick at things even when they are difficult and do not give up; I stay positive.
- resourceful – I know where to find information and use it in my work (word walls, support sheet etc.).
- responsible – I am respectful with everything (presentation, resources etc.).
- risk-taking – I can ask questions and give my opinion in a group/class situation.
- responsive – I can respond appropriately to peers and adults.
- ready – I always want to learn new things.
Help at Home: Discuss with your child which 8R for learning they feel confident in and which they feel like they need to improve.
Autumn term clubs
Science: We are Physicists!
In Science, we have been exploring the impacts of friction and air resistance.
Here are the definitions:
We first tested which object would have the least amount of friction on a surface: an ice cube or wooden cube? Our prediction was that the ice would be the quickest therefore it has the least amount of friction. Our scientific enquiry type was ‘fair and comparative’ tests.
The children then went on to test air resistance (or drag). We tested that if our surface area increased would it slow us down or speed us up? Bin bags were our equipment of choice, have a look at our experiment:
Not only did we found out that an increased surface area means more air resistance therefore, we ran slower with the bin bag than without, but we also had a lot of fun doing it!
Help at home: Discuss different scenarios that are impacted by friction and air resistance.
Living and Learning: Rules
In Living and Learning this week, we looked at the school rules and why they are important. We then discussed how we can show the rules are being followed in school. For example, we can show we are respectful by using our manners or we can show we are ready by having eyes on the speaker.
We also discussed our school’s Acceptable Use Agreement for their use of the internet in school. This document has been sent home with your child today; please sign and return them ASAP.
Help at home: Discuss what rules you have at home and compare them with the school’s rules. Are they similar? Are they different?
Welcome to Year 5!
Welcome back after the summer holiday. We hope you had a happy and healthy summer. It has been great to see so many happy faces back in school. The children have settled really well in their first week and are adapting to new routines, classrooms and teachers.
This week, we will send the children home with a reading book and a new reading record book. It is really beneficial that your child reads at home daily – it improves fluency and increases the enjoyment of reading. The children can record what they’ve read at home in the reading records. We will also set a task for them to complete at home. Please ask your child what their task is for their homework and actively encourage them to think about the presentation of their work in the journals and the importance of neat handwriting and accurate use of punctuation.
Thank you to all the children who have come to school in the correct uniform and PE kits this week. If you are unsure of the uniform, please click the link to see what is required.
Important Dates
PE – Tuesday and Wednesday
Spelling test – Friday
Library – Wednesday
Class assembly – Wednesday 20th November 2024 & Wednesday 26th February 2025
We are looking forward to a successful year!
School Games Mark Platinum award
We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2023/24 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.
Thank you to all the children who have represented school at different inter school events and competitions, parents for their support and staff for accompanying the children. We look forward to more events this year.
We are very proud of our children for engaging with these physical activities both in and out of school to support our ethos of being a happy and healthy school.
Staying Safe Week!
Last week was our themed week: Staying Safe. Year 5 were very busy learning how to stay safe in a range of different scenarios and situations.
On Monday, we kicked off the week with a road safety assembly. In this, the children recapped how to stay safe in each type of travel (car, bike/scooter, bus, train and walking).
- A seatbelt must be worn every journey – whether that be a long or short drive.
- You must not distract the driver.
- If there is a seat available on a bus or train you must sit down.
- Travel with an adult.
- Green Cross Code: Think, Stop, Look and Listen.
At the end of the day, we had a water safety assembly. The children discussed the difference between canals and rivers and how to stay safe around them. You should always ‘Stay Away From the Edge’.
Help at home: Can you spot the dangers in the poster?
On Tuesday, we started off the day with an assembly on hate crime and the subsequent consequences. We learnt that in law they take into consideration 5 of the protected characteristics (religion, race, sexual orientation, gender and disability). Year 5 then had an assembly about online safety. In this, the children were able to revisit their knowledge about how to stay safe on games: reporting bad behaviour, not accepting someone you don’t know etc.
Next, Year 5 were visited by the one and only D:Side Dave. Dave came in to also talk to us about online safety. In this session, the children talked about the positive and negative effects of social media and discussed how to make responsible and safe choices on the internet. Take a look at how long each social media site has been around for.
Year 5 used their detective skills to work out if online profiles were real or fake.
To finish the lesson, we looked at the different age ratings on games.
Help at home: Can you identify any of the warning symbols?
To finish off the day, we had a session about promoting good health. The children learnt about how they can keep themselves healthy and happy.
On Wednesday, we started the day off with an assembly lead by RNLI. Did you know RNLI stands for Royal National Lifeboat Institute? Alan came in to speak to us about how to stay safe at sea and on the beach. He discussed the flags that you might see on a beach and what they mean. You must swim between the yellow and red flags to be seen by a lifeguard.
Later on in the morning we had a talk from the local firefighters. In this session, they told the Year 5 and 6s how to prevent fires at home: using reliable charging cables, making sure candles are extinguished and cleaning the hob after use. Firemen Sam and Dave told them how to help stop a fire spreading too – whether that be shutting all the doors at night or testing smoke alarms regularly.
On Thursday, the whole school had an assembly about how to stay safe around dogs. We then later had a session with Mrs Hill. We learnt that there are two things you must do before stroking a dog: ask permission from the owner and let the dog sniff and come to you first. We looked at a range of different scenarios between 6 different dogs and an imaginary character called Tom. The children needed to be dog detectives and decide if Tom could have been hurt and who was responsible for the consequences. Lots of children thought different dogs were responsible but Charlie was able to deduce that Tom was responsible!
To finish off the morning, we had a session with the British Military Martial Arts.
To finish off our Staying Safe week, we learnt about sun safety, railway safety and we had a session learning about first aid.
There are 5 ways to protect yourself from UV rays: SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SLIDE, SHADE.
- slip on clothing to cover your skin
- slop on suncream (20 minutes before the sun and every 2 hours to reapply)
- slap on a hat to protect your face and scalp
- slide on sunglasses to protect your eyes
- seek shade whether that be natural or human-made
In our railway safety lesson, we watched a video and discussed how to be safe near railways and on train platforms.
In our first aid session, we tried to help our partners by tying bandages around their head injuries. Year 5 also got to try out CPR.
There are 4 steps to take before CPR:
- Try to wake up the casualty
- Shout for help
- Check for breathing
- Call and ambulance
