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‘Our Diverse Planet’- Spring 2 2020
As part of British Science week the children enjoyed a super science day to learn more around the topic ‘Our Diverse Planet’. We started the day with a show hosted by ‘Mad Science’. They have visited many times and always ensure the children are enjoying their science learning. The scientists discussed the importance of good hygiene including effective hand washing. We believe this is particularly relevant based on current health measures in place by the government. The scientists discussed how we need to care for our planet and how part of this is how we dispose of rubbish (either down sinks or toilets). This builds on the children’s previous learning about recycling and reducing waste. The Mad Science team showed the children how some materials, such as wet wipes, are not biodegradable and can cause blockages. The children were shocked to see real pictures of ‘fatbergs’ that had been created by these non-biodegradable materials as well as congealed oils and fats. Discussions such as these help the children be mindful of how they dispose of waste and how they can protect the planet.
In the afternoon year 1 and 2 were visited by teachers and students from Neatherd high school. The teachers completed an enquiry that investigated the adaptation of finches beaks. This builds on the children’s previous learning about animal life. The children learnt that Charles Darwin discovered on the different Galapagos Islands finches had adapted to have different shaped beaks. They made a prediction about which beak they thought would be best for collecting seeds. The children used chopsticks, tweezers and peg to imitate the shapes of the beaks and took turns to attempt picking up seeds. They recorded their findings in a table and shared their results as a class.
Meanwhile, Reception children explored how to make bubbles, making their own bubble wand and being creative using washing up liquid, paint and straw to make some wonderful bubble pictures. This builds on them exploring a variety of media and materials to be imaginative.
Throughout the week the children have completed several science enquiries which have supported their working scientifically skills and encouraged them to ask their own questions. Year 1 enjoyed investigating whether our bodies are all the same, how animals can camouflage to their environment and which materials are the best insulators (imagining they were trying to survive in Antarctica!)
Year 1 and 2 both investigated how much weight can be added to a ship before it begins to sink. This experiment was based on the Cutty Sark which was used to transport tea from China to London. They took turns to make observations and Year 2 extended this investigation further by using different designs for their boats.
It is fantastic to see the children so enthusiastic about science and able to extend their skills through practical hands on learning!
Corona Virus Information
We are aware that there is information on the news saying schools are being closed in Ireland.
Please note that we continue to follow advice from the Department for Education and Public Health England and receive daily email updates. The safety of our children, families and staff is extremely important to us but unless we have a direct instruction to close, the school will remain open as usual. We would inform you as always via text and email if this instruction was given.
In the meantime, please follow advice yourselves on the NHS websites and other websites, such as Norfolk County Council. Please ensure your child is able to wash their hands effectively, this is something we are talking to them about in school also. Please do refer to the information and websites below for more information.
Coronavirus – what you need to know!
- Click here to access an informative blog form Public Health England
You can help to slow the spread of Coronavirus!
- Make sure you and your children follow these general principles to prevent spreading any respiratory virus:
- Wash your hands often – with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or an alcohol-based sanitiser if soap and water aren’t available.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- If you feel unwell, stay at home and don’t attend work or school.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in a bin.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces in the home.
- If you’re worried about your symptoms, please call NHS 111 – don’t go directly to your GP or other healthcare environment.
Department for Education Coronavirus helpline – this helpline has been set up to answer questions about the virus related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline.
- Phone: 0800 046 8687
- Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
- Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-advice/
What does self-isolating mean?
If you have been told to self-isolate, you need to stay indoors and avoid contact with other people for 14 days.
It is important to follow the advice for the whole period, even if you do not have any symptoms.
Do
- stay at home
- separate yourself from other people – for example, try not to be in the same room as other people at the same time
- only allow people who live with you to stay
- stay in a well-ventilated room with a window that can be opened
- ask friends, family members or delivery services to carry out errands for you, such as getting groceries, medicines or other shopping
- make sure you tell delivery drivers to leave items outside for collection if you order online
- clean toilets and bathrooms regularly
- think about a bathroom rota if a separate bathroom is not available, with the isolated person using the facilities last, before thoroughly cleaning the bathroom themselves
- use separate towels from anyone else in the household
- wash crockery and utensils thoroughly with soap and water; dishwashers may be used to clean crockery and cutlery
- stay away from your pets – if unavoidable, wash your hands before and after contact
Don’t
- do not invite visitors to your home or allow visitors to enter
- do not go to work, school or public areas
- do not use public transport like buses, trains, tubes or taxis
- do not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, bedding or other items with other people in your home
Talking to your children about the Coronavirus: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51734855
Further Information
Parent/carer update 1 – 13th March 2020
Just to update you on the precautions we are taking to ensure we do all we can at this time.
We take advice from the Government and Public Health England as well as the local authority, we have a daily email from the Government about this .
To support the delay of the spread of the virus, the Department for Health and Social Care has asked anyone who shows certain symptoms to stay at home for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas. This means people should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection. It is important to follow the advice for the whole of the time. If you are following this advice you should not be out in public and should not bring your child to or collect from school or attend any in school events.
The symptoms are:
- A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above)
- A new, continuous cough
You do not need to call NHS 111 to stay at home. If your symptoms worsen during your stay at home period or are no better after 7 days contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.
Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.
The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.
From Monday, the water fountains will not be in use. Please ensure you send your child in with a water bottle, containing water only, EVERY day as this is the way they will access drinking water during the day, with the exception of lunchtime when it will be available in the lunch halls. Please note this will be the responsibility of parents and carers to ensure their children have and bring this.
We are aware that some children have hand sanitiser. Normally we would not allow this, but as these are very unusual circumstances, we think we need to just take a sensible approach. Therefore, if your child wants to bring in a small, shop bought hand sanitiser as an additional measure, then please send it in with their name clearly labelled on it. These will be kept in the classroom to avoid any accidents, and children can use these at given times in the day.
The most important thing anyone can do to protect themselves is to wash your hands often – with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or an alcohol-based sanitiser if soap and water aren’t available.Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.
Watch this short NHS film for guidance:
We are being told of some events we were due to participate in being cancelled, so please be aware that this may happen. We will inform you if your child is affected.
If there is staff absence as a result of this, we will have to manage and use the staff we have in the best way we can. Therefore staff may be in different roles or classes to the ones they are usually with, but please understand we will do the best with the staff we do have at any time to maintain government advice of staying open. To reassure you, no staff are currently off for this reason.
We will keep you updated via email, of course, so please do check this daily. There is also information on our website with a quick link at the top. Each email will be added to the website.
Thank you for your support whilst we continue to take a sensible and measured approach to this and all Government advice.
Book Week Spring Term 2020
We focused our federation Book Week on the book ‘Inside the Villains’. This book was a wonderful stimulus to start our week and had the children captivated by the mechanical elements and moving parts! Each year group planned for some amazing activities and learning opportunities based around this book and the final products are brilliant!
‘It is wonderful to have these opportunities in the school year to inspire children to have a love of reading and encourage children to realise that they can aspire to become authors, poets or illustrators for their future careers!’
Reception
The children in Reception have been reading the Wolf section of the book ‘Inside the Villains.’ We read the story of ‘The Wolf and the seven little Goats’ and talked about what we thought a villain was. We read about the Wolf’s strengths and weaknesses and we enjoyed talking to our learning partners about our own. We have also been very busy reading wolf themed books and taking part in a variety of crafts.
Year 1
Year one children enjoyed exploring the villain characters in books this week. Their work was based around the wolf character and they listened to stories with wolves and other villains in. The children had to invent their own villain animal character and looked at words that might be used to describe them and what their qualities might be. The children also enjoyed sharing books with children in Year 4.
Year 2
Year 2 looked closely at the three villains in the book and thought about villains they knew of from other texts. Throughout the week the children worked towards creating a whole class book based on villains they have read about. They researched their villain using the kindles and thought carefully about their strengths, weaknesses and other attributes. Each child had to plan and make the character by thinking about moving parts and how these could be secured. Some children created pockets for implements, like the Giant, some children made tabs to hide things under, like the witch and some children made parts to pull out, like the Wolf’s stomach! By the end of the week the children had created the most marvellous class book and shared this with year 3 on Friday.
Year 3
During book week, Year 3 shared a story with year 2. The children took it in turns to read to each other and ask questions about the stories they were reading. We also created our own villain in DT, based on the villains in the book we focused on for the week. Year three created a wanted poster in English based around their own witch, using adjectives to describe them. In maths, we made a bar chart of our favourite villains in each class. The children collected the data and created a bar chart from this, both in their maths books and on Excel.
Year 4
During book week, Year 4 shared a story with year 1, children took it in turns to read to each other and ask questions about the stories they were reading. We also created many villainous top trumps cards. Year 4 got creative with story cubes and made some fantastic finger puppets. We also enjoyed using these to create a puppet show!
Year 5
Year 5 really enjoyed the chosen text, “Inside the Villains” by Clotilde Perrin. We used hot seating and questioning techniques to try to find out more about the characters’ feelings and motives. We studied their fact-files carefully and used that format to introduce the character that they had made up. These were presented very carefully to compile a class book. For DT we explored ways to make flaps, pockets, levers and pop-ups and then we developed these to create our own characters to add to the class books.
Bedtime stories
The children of both schools were able to attend the Federation annual Bedtime stories event. The children and their families came back to school in their pyjamas and with blankets and teddies to share stories, relax and listen to school staff reading and performing some of their favourite texts.
Sign2Sing 2020
Children from the Federation came together for a second year running, to join in with national Sign2Sing day. Over the last few weeks children have been learning the words and signs for a specially written song (‘Get Up and Sign!’), and on Thursday 6th Feb the whole federation filled the halls to perform.
The event, which was organised at Toftwood by Reception Teacher and KS1 Music coordinator, Hannah Tataryn, is to raise awareness of deaf health and promote sign language. It is the only mass participation signing event in the UK with thousands of children in schools across the country taking part.
There are several children at our school who are deaf or have hearing impairment and many others who have deaf friends or relatives. This was an amazing opportunity to celebrate the beauty of sign language and the importance of being able to communicate with everyone in our community to learn about one another.
(SignHealth was founded in 1986 as the Anastasia Trust, and relaunched as Sign in 1991. In 2005, the charity was renamed SignHealth, and offers a range of services, projects and support to improve the health and wellbeing of Deaf people.)
NSPCC Workshop
Year 5 and 6 classes have all taken part in workshops organised by the NSPCC, to build upon what we learnt in our assembly recently, reminding us to “Speak Out and Stay Safe. These talks by visiting speakers, such as Grahame, are an important part of our PSHE curriculum. Grahame showed us the mascot again, Buddy, who is a speech bubble, reminding us to speak out to a trusted adult if we have any worries.
Through a quiz, group discussions and various scenarios, we were reminded of the different categories of abuse. We also debated if secrets are good or not. A lot of our discussions concluded that we can judge situations by how they make us feel – comfortable or uncomfortable.
Grahame was very impressed with the emotional vocabulary that we have been taught in our PATHS lessons and so were able to use confidently in our discussions. Words such as distraught, uncomfortable, isolated, misunderstood and neglected helped us to describe the character in the film clips and we used our inference skills to read the situation. He was confident that we listened well and were in a good position to look after ourselves, and to look out for each other.
Children’s Mental Health Week 2020
The week beginning 3rd February 2020 was Children’s Mental Health Week and we recognised this week across the federation in a number of ways.
We started the week with assemblies in both schools, which included discussing what Mental Health is and the theme of the week ‘Find Your Brave.’ We talked about what it means to be brave and how we have been brave in our lives. We shared the idea that being brave means trying new things even if you are afraid and sometimes little steps in the right direction is the most important thing.
On Thursday it was Time to Talk Day so we celebrated this by mixing with other children in our own year group and other year groups to talk about different topics, all to promote the importance of conversation.
Other activities throughout the week included mindfulness colouring, listening to calm music, mindfulness challenge activities, Jumpstart Johnny and yoga to promote the importance of physical activity for mental wellbeing.
This was an important week for the children to ensure they are equipped with the tools to cope with different challenges in life and that they recognise the importance of looking after their mental health as well as their physical health.
Jack and the Beanstalk Pantomime 2020
Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, prepare yourselves for lots of fun!
What an entertaining start to the Federation New Year thanks to the amazingly talented actors of M&M Theatrical Productions. The children had been waiting in anticipation for this exciting day to arrive and they were certainly not left disappointed with the colourful pantomime which was packed full of fun, adventure and age appropriate humour.
The children were thoroughly engaged by the hilarious antics from the characters: Jack, Jill, Jack’s Mum, Buttercup the Cow, The Scary Giant, Squire Bogey (Booo…) and not forgetting the Giant’s 7 foot baby! Their adventures took them to the dizzy heights of Nursery Rhyme Land where they met even more interesting characters along the way, including the infamous Humpty Dumpty. The climb was well worth the effort as they found a sparkling, golden egg which paid off their rent debt to the dastardly Squire Bogey (Booo…)
The enthusiasm from the audience was a wonderful sight to see, the broad smiles on the children’s faces were contagious as they laughed, booed, cheered and clapped along. They especially loved singing and reciting their multiplication knowledge to the times tables song!
Jack and the Beanstalk was a great hit with its wonderful costumes, superb scenery and magical special effects all combined to deliver an electric atmosphere and guarantee our young audience a truly imaginative, enthralling journey into the world that is Pantomime. Every year group engaged well with this live theatrical performance.
Julia Edwards Author Visit January 2020
As part of promoting a love of reading and extending our reading experiences, we were lucky to have a return visit from the author Julia Edwards. Julia writes time travelling novels for different periods in History, many of which we have studied. She has written three new books since she came last time!
Julia spent the morning with all of the year 6 children. She introduced to them her new book The Ring from the Ruins, which is the last book in the series of The Scar Gather. The book is set in WW2 Liverpool. The children learnt all about the main events leading up to the start of WW2 and were introduced to the main character Joe Hopkins, who is a time traveller. This was a very exciting session for Year 6, as they will be learning about this in more depth later in the year. They really benefited from her workshop and we could see what the children knew already and what we will focus on when we study it in History.
The children were able to read the first chapter of the book and talk to Julia about the events of the story.
In the afternoon she spoke to all the children in the school. Julia told them about her inspiration for her first book with Joe Hopkins and about him travelling back in time to Roman Times. She read from The Golden Cage her first book, she shared facts and events from her book about Joe and the Romans.
Julia introduced the other books in the series they cover the Vikings, Tudors, Great Fire of London, Georgian and Victorians. She told the children that each time Joe time travels, he meets Lucy, he remembers her but she does not recognise him.
The children really enjoyed recalling the facts they already knew about the different periods in history, showing that they have remembered what they had been learning and they enjoyed hearing about how Joe dealt with all the differences of each time period.
The children were able to buy her books at the end of the day, this was very popular. There was a huge queue to meet her and have eight books of each title in our Junior library so that everyone can enjoy them.
You can check out her website at https://www.scargatherer.co.uk/ Her books are available from her or from Amazon
D and T Autumn 2019
Throughout the Autumn term, Year 3 have had several opportunities to cook things in order to practise the skills of following instructions, joining and combining a range of ingredients and working safely and hygienically. During each cooking opportunity, the children worked in groups to measure and weigh food items. Their first opportunity to combine ingredients required no baking – the children make a bruschetta snack as part of their cultural understanding day. They chopped and sliced basil leaves, tomatoes, onion, crushed garlic and poured balsamic vinegar and olive oil before spooning it onto slices of baguette. We discussed different components of a balanced diet and then revisited this as part of a STEM Day challenge; the children had to design, make and evaluate a street food based around a British-grown pepper. We stuffed the peppers with healthy options that would make us feel full. There were lots of fabulous alternative designs and we discussed how well they each contributed to a healthy and varied diet.
Their latest cooking challenge was to bake Egyptian-style flat bread to understand a cultural difference in an everyday food and to see how it was cooked differently using oil. The children were very surprised at its size and taste compared to traditional British bread!
After learning about the key processes of Ancient Egyptian life in History lessons, Year 3 learnt about key artefacts, including the cartouche that recorded a person’s name. As a class, we watched a tutorial on how to shape and mould separate pieces to layer the structure to ensure it looked authentic and how to join the pieces of clay effectively to ensure that, once dry, they would stay stuck together. We discussed and planned, as a class, the tools that may be most effective and useful for each stage of the product and how to be safe whilst using them in the classroom. We trialled and tested the proportions of clay that were needed for the base, the outer edge and the bar to ensure accurate assembling and the children assessed this as they went, remodelling where necessary. Once it was dry, we finished off the product by glazing it using paints to make it look more decorative to suit it’s purpose and seal the clay. The children chose colours that they thought the Egyptians would have had access to and use to show wealth.
Year 4 D and T Autumn
Year 4 have been learning about the design and technology skill of lamination. We designed and made a cake stand in the Roman style, with a roman mosaic on the top.
Children learned that if we layer materials, it makes it sturdy and strong. They were able to discuss what was good about their products and what they could do to make them better.
To finish off, we made some authentic honey cakes to adorn our cake stands. Well done to year four for putting in lots of effort for whisking their eggs in the Roman way!
Year 5 D&T – Autumn 2019
Moving Monsters and pneumatics has been our autumn term topic for D&T. We have looked at different objects that use pneumatics, how they work and how compressed air can be used to move things. We connected tubes to different kinds of pumps to see which were more effective and then began to think about how we could make a pneumatic ‘Moving Monster.’ We are now designing our monsters and will soon be connecting them to a pneumatic system to make them move.
Year 6 D and T Autumn
This term in Year 6 we have been learning about the Ancient Greeks. As part of this topic we have looked at Greek gods and architecture and then used this to plan and make our own version of the Parthenon. The audience for our models was to be another child to help them to understand more about Greek architecture.
First, the children used their computing research skills to find out as much as they could about the architecture, structure and use of temples in order to use a range of information to inform their design. They then did some investigative work to find out: the strongest type of columns; how to create a net for a triangular pyramid (which would be used to make the roof) and making a base with steps which would support our temple.
After discussing the children’s findings, it was then time to plan their temples using their DT skills; considering the culture and society of ancient Greece in their designs. We discussed the need for accurate measuring in order to ensure precision for their final model and the importance of making sure that their product was strong and “fit for purpose”.
Once the model temples were completed, the children used their evaluative skills to:
- Refine and further improve their product.
- Identify how it could be improved it,
- Asked if different resources would have improved their product.
- Finally, they posed the question “does our product meet all the design criteria?”
The children worked very hard and thoroughly enjoyed the activity, demonstrating great team work and communication too.
