As it’s Science week this week, the children have been engaged in some wonderful science experiments in each class.
Explorers - “We have been conducting experiments involving the weather! We made a snowstorm in a cup, a rain cloud in a cup and discussed how rain happens. We also used coloured water and sugar to create a rainbow!”
Discoverers – “We made ice cream using a chemical reaction. The salt mixed with the ice, causing it to melt quicker. The energy is transferred to the ingredients so they freeze; it tasted great!”
Inventors – “We made an air rocket made from straw & paper then had a race to see how high & fast our rockets flew!”
Adventurers – “We conducted an “egg drop” investigation. In groups, we created mechanisms to protect the egg from cracking. We had to ensure the test was fair by only changing one variable – the material and all other variables remained the same! We observed the eggs after the drop for any signs of damage; unfortunately, one didn’t survive!!”
WORLD BOOK DAY
Well done to all the children who decorated and created their favourite book character using a piece of fruit or a vegetable. We had some amazing creations and it was lovely to see the effort that the children made to decorate their book characters. Well done to our 4 winners; Harry C, Nicole, Harry V & Ben R!
The aim of World Book Day it is to celebrate authors, books, illustrators and - of course - reading! Last year Mrs Purser went to Tesco and got all the left over £1 books so every child in school came home with a free book today as well as receiving their £1 World Book Day Token before the half term holiday, which can be exchanged for one of the 10 specially published World Book Day books available in Tesco and WHSmith.
The whole school worked together and were placed in 3 mixed groups who moved around school doing activities linked to books and stories! The favourite book shared was a classic The Jolly Postman!
Look at the amazing creations of story characters made from fruit and vegetables! Thank you so much to all the parents/carers for supporting your child with this!
The children had a wonderful time when they visited Dippy the Diplodocus this week at No.1 Riverside where they went on an enquiry walk and observed the life sized cast. Afterwards they all took part in a range of dinosaur themed activities at Touchstones Gallery.
Dippy has travelled from The Natural History Museum in London. The children and staff were all amazed by how tall Dippy was and asked some great questions too! Ask your child what they learnt on their visit and what they favourite part of the trip was!
RHEMA THEATRE COMPANY- Cyber Tales
The day started with a whole school assembly focusing on three different tales to help us think about the real world and the online/cyber world. The first tale used puppets to show the two characters in the tale Mia and Bea. The sisters were very different Bea was kind and caring and chose her words carefully to do good, Mia liked to lie, spread rumours and break up friendships. Mia hurt lots of people and only learnt her lesson when she hurt her sister most of all. We learnt the saying "Be careful with your words please do, you never know what they may do." It is great making new friends online but if we haven't seen them in real life do we really know who they say they are?
The next tale was about a girl and boy who were at their Aunt's, she warned them not to go past the thick walls as a dragon lurks there. We helped to tell the story saying the " Whatever they might say or do...never let the dragon through." Whilst the Aunt was out Ava kicked her ball over the wall, it was thrown back over. She started talking to someone- they were friendly she thought it couldn't possibly be a dragon as he was kind and friendly. Ava sneaked out of the house, taking the key and opened the gate. The dragon leapt out at her and tried to eat her. Her brother had realised what she was doing and phoned his Aunt who happened to be a kick boxer and kicked the dragon back over the wall. Ava almost got tricked by a stranger in real life but this can also happen on line too.
The final tale was about a boy called Toby Raff who liked to make people laugh. He did silly things to make them laugh, we joined in the story with actions to show how we were laughing. One day at the swimming pool he did different jumps into the pool to make his friends laugh. One friend took a photograph of him doing a octopus jump. The class called him Octoboy- everybody laughed. The photo was shared phone by phone around the class- everybody laughed. Someone altered the photo, adding octopus tenticles- everybody laughed and everybody shared the photograph with other children around school even people he didn't know. Some people weren't nice, they made mean comments. He asked Bert to delete the original photograph. Bert said " Can't you take a joke? I can delete it on my phone but not everyone's." Toby Raff no longer laughed, people wore t-shirts, sang songs and told jokes about Octoboy. Toby Raff went to a tiny island to get away. People shared photographs without thinking about the consequences or getting permission to share. They though it was funny but making fun of others is never funny when the other person feels sad about it.
Each class then took part in a workshop where they talked about the different tales in more detail. We all reflected on the words we use. We need ti chose our words carefully to use to each other, even when messaging as we cant take them back once they are said. We can make the world a nicer place if we choose the right words.
STAY SAFE WITH THOMAS
On Monday 13th January 2020 @ 12:00pm all our children watched Stay Safe with Thomas – this was a LIVE READ with Nick Jordan from Network Rail which was streamed at lunchtime.
The broadcast featured Nick Jordan, Project Manager from Network Rail, who will held a live read of the new Thomas the Tank Engine book, Stay Safe with Thomas.
Network Rail teamed up with the world’s most famous blue engine and pre-school favourite to help young children learn how to be safe when using the railway.
Network Rail and British Transport Police (BTP) hope the story book will encourage parents to discuss rail safety with their young children in the same manner they teach them about other dangers they may encounter when out and about.
It is the first time Network Rail has partnered with children’s entertainment company Mattel and the first time Mattel has published a Thomas the Tank Engine TM book with a rail safety theme.
Please visit the below website to download your Stay Safe with Thomas e-book;
We are held a BOOK SWAP DAY on WEDNESDAY 29TH JANUARY in each class.
We want our children to become lost in the world of books, enjoy the adventures characters’ go on as well as find out more about the world around them. Reading is not just something that children should learn to do in school, they should be developing a love for books, stories and poems guided by the adults around them. Reading needs to be an everyday part of children’s lives, something they choose to do. The benefits of reading for pleasure go beyond this and stretch throughout a person's life.
We will hold a book swap every half term as well as having a basket in the lobby for you to place books you no longer read abd take a new book home. So if you have any age appropriate books that your child no longer wishes to read, please send them into school so your child can swap them with their classmates and take home some new books to explore!
We have had a fantastic time in school this week developing our Design and Technology skills along with our team work skills. Over the last two days the whole school has taken part in a Christmas TASC (Thinking Actively in a Social Context) Design and Technology project!
The children's TASC was to create a game for the school fair! Each class had to research, plan, design and made a festive game!
What a delight it was to take the whole school on a trip to Chester Zoo on Wednesday!
We were lucky to bid for and receive free admission tickets to the Zoo and therefore only had to pay for the coach which was fantastic. The children and staff were so excited to see different animals and learn about their habitats, what they eat and how the zoo is conserving special breads of animals.
The sun shone for us and the zoo was very quiet which meant we could move around the zoo with great ease. The new Lion area was amazing and we could see them so close up and another favourite was the penguins and the elephants too! The children were so enthused to do their writing in school on Thursday as they were all able to write about the animals they saw and the experience they had.
A huge thank you to all parents for getting the children to school early and collecting them later to enable us to spend as much time as possible at the zoo and to the staff too for looking after our children so well.
We had a day's visit from Alan Beadie from Christian Aid to help us with our focus on Injustice and looking at Global Issues across the world. He led workshops with KS2 about developing countries and how it is different from here and with KS1 about how we can help locally, nationally and globally!
We will remember- a little bit makes a big difference!
Science Share week
We have had an amazing week of Science investigations and experiments! Some of the experiments ‘wowed’ the children and others got them asking more questions! They were all really excited about being Scientists for the whole week! Explorers carried out experiments about colour, Discoverers made their own erupting volcanoes, Inventors investigated how they could preserve food (fish) like the Vikings did and Adventurers learnt about chemical reactions by trying to send rockets into space.
Our very own Easter Chicks!
We have welcomed 21 eggs into school in the hope that they will all hatch out. The eggs will be kept warm in an incubator and Inventors class will be our Chief Chick Checkers topping up the water each day to ensure the incubator stays warm and moist. Miss Fountain came to candle the eggs- using a torch she went into a dark cupboard to see if their was a silhouette in the egg. 17 eggs out of the 21 have chicks growing in them. We had to be careful that Mr. Fox didn't gobble them all up on World Book Day!
Inventors have been caring for our eggs closely monitoring their development and checking & caring for them with their "Chicklist". We have all been patiently waiting for them to hatch and singing Spring Chicken to them in Collective Worship time to get them used to us . On day 21 our first chick was born; the children have named it Lucky!
....... we will add photos as more chicks hatch!!!
GULP Challenge and Tooth Brushing in Explorers
Councillor Allan Brett, Leader of the Council, visited school on Monday as we are the first school in Rochdale to complete the GULP challenge and he wanted to see how it went! We also welcomed Ruth Bardsley, Public Health Programme Officer, who is leading the GULP Challenge within school and “Rochelle”, the Rochdale Healthy Superhero Mascot! Councillor Brett was very impressed with how the children had embraced the GULP Challenge. He also saw how the children in Explorers Class have learnt to brush their teeth as part of the Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership Early Years Supervised Toothbrushing Programme.
NSPCC_ Speak Out Stay Safe
Helen from the NSPCC visited our school today to deliver their Speak Out Stay Safe Programme to our children. This supports our commitment to ensuring our children are safe from harm and know to speak out to stay safe. The Stay safe assembly encouraged the children to share information to keep themselves safe from harm and get help if they have any worries.
The NSPCC’s work in schools encourages conversations about staying safe – and they have a number of child-friendly materials to help you carry on the conversation afterwards. That includes ‘The Underwear Rule’, a simple way for parents to help keep children safe from sexual abuse – without using scary words or even mentioning sex. The guide uses the rules of PANTS to teach children that their body belongs to them and them alone. You can find out more and download the free resources at nspcc.org.uk/pants
It was a very worthwhile and empowering session for both pupils and teachers. They spoke to the children and staff about the valuable work they do across the country, and talked about how important it is for everyone in our school community to join them in their ‘fight for every childhood’.
If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe
Christmas Around the World
Christmas is celebrated by people all over the world both Christians and non-Christians. On Monday and Tuesday, the whole school took part in a TASC day where they researched another country and their Christmas Traditions. They had to design and make a decoration which showed a Christmas tradition from the country their class focused on. Explorers- Columbia, Discoverers- Spain, Inventors- Poland and Adventurers- Greece. The children also learnt traditional songs, ate traditional foods and tried to speak a different language. We hope you enjoyed finding out what we had learnt in our Christmas Church service.
A big well done to the children that represented our school at the Music Service's annual concert 'The Christmas Cracker' on Sunday. Ben, Harrison, Rose, Rosie, Isabella, Lissy and Amy played fantastic and did us all proud. I think the children enjoyed the snowball fight at the end the best!
CITY TREES VISIT
Beth and her team from City Trees came to visit us at school today. They checked up on our new woodland area they planted with the children last year and led Discoverers on a min-beast hunt as well as inviting Oliver in the lead a Nature Stories Through Picture Frames session with Inventors and Adventurers. They will come back in March to replace some of our trees which we lost due to the hot weather.
LITTLE GIFT PERFORMANCE
On Tuesday we welcomed M6 theatre company into school to share with us their performance of ‘Little Gift.’ The children were amazed by the puppet, lovely music and the very clever and adaptable scenery.
An old soul lives alone.
He likes it that way.
It’s quieter and safer.
One day, a surprise visitor plants a little seed of hope and turns this lonely life upside down.
The children gave feedback to the actors and crew with one child even commented on how he will now look out for lonely people and make sure he gives them a gift, another child followed on from this- “I always give people a smile because you don’t know if they are lonely or not. “
Thank you to the PTFA for funding this experience for our children.
Being Heart smart with Boris
On Monday Anna and Boris the robot from Heart smart came to talk to us about our new Heart smart PSHCE curriculum which we have just started to work on. Anna started the Collective Worship by asking us to think about things we heart or things we love. Our hopes, wishes and dreams which shape us.
Boris the robot sat quietly whilst she spoke to us and then Anna asked Boris to say hello to us! Boris actually spoke and as he did his heart made of cogs began moving and ticking. Anna asked him lots of questions and Boris answered them correctly- he is smart!
Anna and Boris then talked to us about looking after out heart- choosing the correct foods. Boris reminded Anna about making healthy choices- a banana not crisps as she had crisps yesterday! Boris told us an amazing fact.
"You have more brain cells as a baby and you brain continues to grow until you are 45."
Boris is 1 year old and made of scrapyard junk, his shoulders are a colander and his body an old wireless.
Anna told us a story about how she used to feel when she was younger- she is small and so wanted to be tall- she wore high heels to school but the gave her blisters and cut her feet. She learnt that here friends were her friends because they smile together, they love her and they have fun- not because of the shoes she wears.
Anna has learnt to love herself-
"Don't I look fabulous." She said as she walked proud and tall. This is a Heart smart thing to say.
POSITIVE THINGS MAKE YOUR HEART GROW BIGGER.
God made each of us 'wonderfully'- he knitted us together- that is how special you are.
Your heart beats 80 times every minute- pout your hand on your heart- let a positive thought in every time your heart beats!
We prayed together and sang our school song- My Lighthouse- Boris even knew it!
Anna left us to think about our unique finger print- we also have a unique heart beat. We hope the 5 heart smart rules will help us to look after our hearts and each other!
RE and Art week
We have really enjoyed taking part in an RE and Art week in school focusing on God’ s Big Story through art and looking at God’s Wonderful World. We started the week focusing on the art frieze created by Emma Yarlet as part of the Understanding Christianity scheme of work we follow in school for Religious Education. The frieze represents God’s story from Creation through to The Kingdom of God. Each class looked at different panels from the frieze and answer questions about what they could see and how it related to the bible stories they have read. Each class recreated the panels they had discussed using a range of medium and drew their own version of God’s Big Story. The large pieces of art will be framed and displayed in the school hall. For the second half if the week we focused on God’s Creation and the book of Genesis. We all worked together to decoupage a huge cardboard tree which was paid for by the PTFA and each of us thought about the wonderful natural things in God’ s World which we love. The tree will be the focal point for a display in the hall which will contain all the children’s pictures and paintings of their favourite thing in God’s World. It was wonderful to see the children so engaged, working together across school on the same theme and using their ideas, being creative in lots of ways
As part of our Positive Behaviour Policy children can earn compliments from the staff in school if they show they are living out our School Values. The class with the most compliments each half term have won a treat of ‘Cakes and Shakes’ which they have enjoyed. This last half term the children have worked as a school to try to get 300 compliment for a whole school end of year treat. The children have worked hard to live out our school values and we have seen lots of courteous and friendly behaviours around school. After watching Aladdin altogether in the hall we had a visit from an Ice- Cream van- we all enjoyed sitting in the sun with a cornet- well done to everyone for working a s a team to gain 478 compliments altogether.
What a wonderful week of sports we have had! The children have been involved in lots of different sports from the pentathlon to boccia, earning points for their teams. Children were put in mixed aged teams from Morocco, Portugal, Mexico Argentina & Australia and each team formed part of our Opening Ceremony procession around the field, bearing the flags of their teams. The children have also been developing their Geography skills focusing on the different countries and where they are! This culminated in our Sports Week Finale (Races) & Closing Ceremony today. Thanks to all the parents, carers and families that came along this morning to support the teams & cheer on the children! The teams were presented with their certificates by Councillor Billy Sheerin during Praise assembly this afternoon. We are pleased to announce that the WINNING TEAM IS PORTUGAL!!!! Well done everyone!!!
Visit from Bishop Mark- focusing on his clothes
Bishop Mark paid us a special visit to School! He met with all the children some Governors and some of our parents as he lead our collective worship in our weekly praise assembly. He explained to the children what each item of his special Bishop clothing meant. The children sat and listened in awe to the Bishop.
He asked the children- What is my hat shaped like this for? He did not expect to get the correct answer so said that I, the staff, governors and parents would all do cartwheels if anyone got the right answer! Grayson said- Is it because we all love each other? The Bishop thought this was the nicest answer he had ever heard. Sasha got it totally right though- Is it to represent the Holy Spirit pointing up to God? The Bishop was blown away. Fortunately he told the children that cartwheels are banned in schools on Fridays- phew!
Number Fun Collective Worship and Maths Workshop- Dave Godferry