Y4 have been puzzling over how long the sides of a rectangle could be if the perimeter was 20cm. They worked systematically to make sure they had all the possible solutions, It was easier with a system too!
They then used their system to work out if it had a perimeter of 40cm.
Super systematic solving!
Today is Safer Internet Day 2022, when schools and youth organisations across the country take part in a global campaign to promote the safe and responsible use of technology. Safer internet day calls on young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers and more to join together in helping to create a better internet.
Using the internet safely and positively is a key message that we promote in school, and celebrating Safer Internet Day is a great opportunity for us to re-emphasise the online safety messages we deliver throughout the year.
This week, Class 1 have listened to a story about Smartie the penguin, joined in with Mummy penguin’s song and learned about what to do if we feel unsure, scared or upset by something we see online. Class 2 have met “Jessie and Friends” and explored how to share pictures online appropriately and use online games responsibly. Class 3 are and Class 4 have both looked in detail at online gaming by teaching an alien from another planet about how online games work, what’s OK, what’s not and where to get help if we need it.
We would be delighted if you could join us in celebrating the day by continuing the conversation at home. To help you with this, you may be interested in downloading the free Safer Internet Day resources for Parents and Carers which are available at: saferinternet.org.uk/sid-parents.
There are top tips, quizzes, and films which you can use at home with your child.
Some other resources which you may find helpful in supporting your child online are:
● Tips, advice and guides for parents and carers from the UK Safer Internet Centre (saferinternet.org.uk/parents-and-carers)
● Advice for parents and carers from Childnet (childnet.com/parents-and-carers)
● Reviews and information about games, apps, TV shows and websites from
Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org)
● Help on using parental controls and privacy settings from Internet Matters
(internetmatters.org/parental-controls)
● Information and reporting of online grooming or abuse from CEOP (ceop.police.uk)
Class 3 have had a wonderful morning exploring and being engineers!
They came up with lots of ideas about what engineering was. This included engineers make complicated things, they build robots, they help other people, they build and fix things.
Our first challenge was cutting an A4 piece of paper so you can fit your entire body through it. Lots of perseverance and experimenting but no luck. We thought a partner might be useful, so we paired up and hey presto – lots of success! Engineers often work in teams to help solve problems just like this.
We then were set off to build a waterproof and windproof house for one of the three little pigs. Each group had a bucket with a range of materials and, despite a bit of trepidation, all our finished products stood up to their final wind and rain shower test and the pig stayed dry!
On a really cold and and windy afternoon this week, eleven tough and resilient running club athletes braved the elements and hilly course, to compete in the annual cross country event at Dallam along with other local schools.
The support and attitude could not have been bettered, everyone ran so well and tried so hard that staff and parents were just bursting with pride. A huge well done to all, not only to Charlotte, Rona and Grace who came away with medals, but to everyone who excelled themselves and had just the best of times, a day to be remembered by us all!
Fridays have become a firm favourite with Class 3 and Class 4 because of the sessions of Tag Rugby with Barrow Raiders this term. Having professional players share their expertise with pupils and staff has been brilliant and although we are only 3 sessions in, the skills of moving with the ball, passing and this week ways to evade your opposition.
Every week, everyone is engaged in mini games and challenges to develop each skill, encouraging each other and celebrating successes.
Thank you so much to Mrs Coker, an avid Barrow Raiders season ticket holder, for organising this wonderful experience for us all and to the players for running such fun and engaging sessions.
Do look out in book bags for the special free season tickets that have kindly been donated by Barrow Raiders and handed out on Friday. This includes entry to all 13 home Championship league games! Do cheer along our coaches including winger Tee Ritson and watch out for Mrs Coker in the stands if you are lucky enough to go along. It really is an amazing atmosphere and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon supporting a local team!
This week, we were treated to another of the “experience” series of events by St. Johns church. We’ve previously enjoyed experience Easter and experience Christmas, this time was “experience Church”.
Arriving at church, we found 6 stations waiting for us – each one representing a part of the church and service that the church provides. These included: the font (welcoming); the pulpit (teaching); the prayer desk (praying); stained glass windows (serving) and the altar (celebrating). At each station, we were encouraged to think about how the church serves all of these different functions. We also took part in a special activity to represent each station.
The sixth and final station was saved until the end. Everyone sat down in front of the great wooden door in the side of the church. Here, we learned that the church shares – part of the job is to share the ideas of Christianity with others. The things that we learn in church are designed to be taken out into the world and shared with others. I wonder if any of our children have shared what they learned with you?
Thanks to everyone from St Johns Church who helped to organise and staff this experience for us – it is greatly appreciated!
We spent a happy and productive session just before Christmas creating our final clay tiles, inspired by our research into Roman mosaic patterns. Here we are rolling out the tiles and creating our designs based on our sketch book plans. Some indented the clay by pressing different tools into it and others added clay to build up raised parts of the design, remembering to score and use water to make sure they stayed attached once dry!
Here are our finished designs with a few beside the final plans in our sketch books!
Reception children all the way up to Year 6 really have had the most magical theatre experience today! The Dukes Theatre is always so welcoming, their well judged performances are a joy and this year was no exception. The action packed story was a more modern version with funny jokes to entertain the children with details keep the adults smiling too including details of magic and wonder! The children were keen to join in with audience participation including clapping along and letting the actors know if they agreed with their plans! Here is what some of the children had to say…
“The Beast was rather scary and the Dung Song at the start was great!”
“I liked it when the Beast and Bella were planting flowers and their friendship was growing too.”
“I was sitting on an end and so the Beast came really close to me!”
“My favourite bit was the dog as he spoke the word woof and he was called Nigel!”
Class 3 have been working really hard with our expert dance teacher, Ashley who has come from the Brewery Dance Team on Friday afternoons. We have been using the Romans as our inspiration for our piece. This involves individual elements, paired work and group parts too and we have developed our own sections and learnt sections as a whole class too ready to perform to Class 4 this next Friday. Thank you to Ashley for teaching us and providing some expert training for Mrs Wadey and Mrs Craggs too.
Here we are in action…
In School this week, we have all been talking about ‘One Kind Word’ which has been the theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2021. The week began with an assembly exploring the kind words that we can use in our daily interactions that can make the biggest difference to someone’s day; their life and their mental wellbeing.
We should all make a stand by challenging any unkind behaviour that we witness and each class has completed activities during the week about how to respond to different situations; how to seek help and how to support others who may need our help.
Our ‘Odd Socks Day’ was embraced by everyone on Monday too……
