Cross Country finalist
Well done to Grace for finishing 14th in the Year 6 girls Leeds Cross Country Final at Temple Newsam.
A great achievement!
World Book Day themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 01 March.
Happy and healthy learning at home
Thank you to everyone who attended parent-teacher meetings recently. It’s great to see that almost all parents / carers took the time to hear how their child is progressing and to find out more about how to support their child at home.
Talking of support at home, the Learn More section of our website has lots of different top tips. Go to Help Your Child.
Of course, there are loads of games and activities online, too. Perhaps there’s too much – going on-line can be overwhelming. Here are two sites we suggest – useful for children of any age.
We really like IXL. Here, you’ll find pages for every year group, with activities to practise English and Maths skills. There are usually well over 100 pages for each subject. This could be overwhelming, but each subject is then broken down into helpful sub-categories. (For example, in Year 6 Maths, these are sections on Numbers and Comparing, Place Value, Addition, Understanding Fractions etc.)
This site is especially good to explain – and avoid – a common mistake in writing: ‘run-on’ sentences, which we call ’squashed’ sentences in school. These are two (or more) sentences that are squashed together. For example:
In half-term, I went to the cinema I saw Early Man it was great!
In this example, there are actually three ‘chunks’ (clauses) that all make sense and need to be split up (using a full stop or a dash or a semi-colon):
In half-term, I went to the cinema. I saw Early Man – it was great!
The sentences could also be joined with a conjunction:
In the half-term, I went to the cinema and I saw Early Man – it was great!
On IXL, there’s at least one activity to practise this in Y3-Y6 – start with the Year 3 one, even if your child is older.
The BBC Bitesize website has recently been updated – it’s probably best you avoid the old archived one, so use this link. The site contains pages on most National Curriculum subjects and it’s definitely worth checking it out.
Speak with us about other ways to support your child at home.
Living and Learning this half term
- 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 compliments in a sensible way. Try paying compliments each day to each other!
- I receive compliments in a sensible way. 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 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.
- I recognise my talents. Talk to your child about talents, whether academic, physical, social or emotional.
Change4Life healthier snacking
Have you see the recent Change4Life campaign encouraging children to have no more than two packaged snacks per day to reduce their sugar intake? Remember fruit and veg are always the best snack and count towards your child’s 5 A Day.
The campaign is launched as Public Health England reveals half the sugar children consume comes from unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks. Children in England are eating nearly three times the recommended amount of sugar. Too much sugar can lead to harmful fat building up inside and serious health problems, and also painful tooth decay.
Recently children brought home the Family Snack Challenge. Can your family complete the 7-day healthier snack challenge? Change4Life provides lots of hints and tips for healthier snacking.
Skipping
Funded through our PE and Sport Premium, Year 2 and Year 4 have recently taken part in a skipping workshop led by ‘Skipping School’; both classes will then be part of a Leeds wide skipping competition.
- ‘I learnt a lot! It was fun and I learnt new skills.’
- ‘I think it is a good idea to skip because we are a happy and healthy school.’
- ‘I liked the skipping because I got to learn new things.’
- ‘I loved the skipping and the new skills because skipping makes you fit.’
- ‘First, I was really bad at skipping but when Jodi came I got better. Now I like skipping.’
We are offering all children the opportunity to learn these new skills, from their peers, by introducing skipping as a physical activity at lunchtimes. This is one way we are promoting physical activity during the school day for children to get their active 30 minutes.
The Government’s Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action, shares the expectation for all primary schools to provide a minimum of 30 active minutes every day for all pupils. The Chief Medical Officers recommend a minimum of 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity for children aged 5-18. Schools are expected to provide 30 of these minutes and families to achieve the other 30.
‘Skipping School’ also sell their ropes and we would like to offer all children the chance to buy a rope at a heavily subsided price (funded by our PE Premium) to continue learning these fundamental movement skills at home.
Ropes will be on sale at a price of £2 (normal price £5) before and after school during the week of 05 February. Starting with a stall at the PTA cake sale, Year 6 children will be selling the ropes in the playground subject to the weather. Please bring exact change wherever possible.
After-school clubs
Safer Internet Day 06 February
Splats Team Robot v Meanies e-Safety Show
As part of Safer Internet Day, on February 06, the pupils from Years 3 to 6 are learning and performing a show-in-a-day with Splats Entertainment e-Safety show.
The day is all about how we act online and in life. Each group of pupils work with the ‘Splats’ director where they learn their scene and then they make props in the classroom. The show is then being performed at the end of school at 2:30pm which we would like to invite you to attend. The day and performance is led by the ‘Splats’ director and the pupils join in and act out the parts.
It is a fun and light-hearted look at what is, of course, a very important issue of safety. The day is designed to get the pupils thinking, talking and developing their awareness of their online behaviour. We hope it will help facilitate discussion at school and at home and help the pupils be responsible and careful in their online activity.
Topics covered during the day include: keeping personal information safe; how we never know who we are talking to online; how to deal with any mean messages; how we never know how other people feel with what we say online; and if we are unsure of anything, we should always seek help from a trusted adult.
If you would like to come and watch the e-safety show, please complete the reply slip, on your child’s letter, and return to school as soon as possible as we have a limited number of spaces.
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.
