Simba - Summer 2011

Simba Bablake Junior School Summer 2011

“They say that three wheels are better than one!”

Miss Love’s Maths set investigated how to build a cuboid.

Amnesty International

Young Reporter of the Year

Some of us used Klixi and some taped together 2D squares and rectangles.

The last group drew round the six faces on a cuboid and cut them out on paper before assembling them with tape. We discovered that nets are easier ways to build 3D shapes. Tabs and faces next to each other make things much easier.

3L have been learning about the Roman Army and Legionnaires.

Did you know that the Romans had a fort in Coventry? You can still visit the remains today.

We used shields (but not javelins, swords and daggers!) to practise marching. ‘Sin’ means left and ‘Dex’

means right in Latin. We also learnt other commands such as ‘movete’, ‘accelerate’ and ‘silente’. Can you guess what they mean? The Roman Army was famous for being well organised. We learnt how to make a tortoise shape to protect ourselves from archers. Then we made a triangular wedge shape to attack the Celts. Luckily we did not have to march for 20 miles in one day!

When Suraj, along with all of Miss Harrison’s class, wrote his report on the difficulties facing immigrants to Britain, he could only have hoped of finding himself at Amnesty’s HQ in London as runner up in this national competition. There were over a thousand entrants from all across the country.

Suraj keenly feels how challenging it must be to come to another country and face new challenges, especially for those who may already be running away from terror.

His report found support from Amnesty, who commented on the well expressed compassion and empathy facing many immigrants to Britain.

Many congratulations to Suraj for this fine effort. Perhaps we will one day see him writing for an even bigger audience!

Suraj Lall

Bablake at

Birmingham Central Mosque

Medieval Coventry This term the Year 5 children walked into the city centre to see if there were any traces left of Coventry’s illustrious medieval past. The Town Wall is still standing in part, as are two gate houses. The pupils visited the Cook Street Gate and the Swanswell Gate, looking closely at why the city needed such an imposing wall. The children then went onto to visit St Mary’s Priory, Holy Trinity Church and St Mary’s Guildhall. It was great to uncover what an important city Coventry was in medieval times. Coventry was the fourth biggest town in England, being famous for its “Coventry blue” cloth. The children had a wonderful day and really enjoyed exploring the history on their doorsteps.

On Thursday 16th June, Mrs Kazmi very kindly arranged for the Year 5 children and teachers to visit Birmingham Central Mosque.

We have been studying Islam in our RE lessons and this was a great opportunity not to be missed. This term, as part of the school RE programme, the Year 3’s have visited the Shree Krishna Hindu Temple and the Year 4’s have visited the Gurdwara.

Many thanks to Mrs Kazmi for sharing her experiences and organising such an informative and enjoyable visit.

Our chosen charity this year has been Whizz-Kidz, which supports disabled youngsters who need funding for specially adapted wheelchairs.

Kay Aslett, the regional fundraisers visited us in January and as a school we felt it would be good to remember how fortunate we are to be able to move around so easily, whereas others may not be able to without the care and support which we could help to provide. This prompted us with the idea of a Wacky Walk! So on Friday May 6th a curious sight was to be seen at Bablake when the entire Junior School arrived dressed in a wacky fashion, armed and equipped to walk as many laps of the school field as possible, in order to raise funds.

A marvellous time was had by all and outfits were both imaginatively and bravely worn! Many family members kindly came to take part, or support us from the sidelines and the atmosphere of the day felt so good!

I am delighted to report that this walk and all the other events we have held for Whizz-Kidz raised an amazing ÂŁ4700 . I know that Kay wishes me to thank everyone so much, on her behalf, for all their support and generosity. The funds will be used locally and we will hear more about this in the future.

A huge heartfelt THANK YOU to all our pupils and families for all you have contributed in so many ways during the year.

When we watched a video clip called Shea’s spaceship, about a boy whose life had been changed when he was given a specially adapted wheelchair, we decided we wanted to raise as much as we could to help someone like him.

School Council I did twenty laps of the field. It was fun but tiring!

Jessica Moffitt 3F People decided to tie their feet together. Everyone was dressed up. It was wacky!

Luke Edmiston 3L I dressed up as Captain Hook and Mr Bogyor dressed up as a teddy bear. It was really good to see so many different ideas.

Scarlett McChesney 4D It was really wacky to see my brother dressed as me. He looked great!!

Hannah Yolland 5MB I was a wacky banana! Ravi was Dobbie from Harry Potter and Dhru was Shrek.

James Chalker 5P We encouraged each other to do as many laps as possible.

We set our goal at twenty laps.

Ellie Edmiston 6H We wanted to raise as much as we could, so we all worked and walked together!

Remy McNamara 6H

Year4Activities In Year 4 Science we designed and built our own boats. It had to be wind powered and we had to think about making it streamlined.

Science Topic on Habitats In Year 4 English we learnt about the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic.

We wrote newspaper reports recounting the events that happened.

To support our Science topic on Habitats, Year 4 became nature detectives and went on a bug hunt in our very own Spinney. We searched for a range of mini beasts and found a huge variety. We submitted our information onto www.explorenature.org to take part in a national survey. We were specifically searching for Leopard Slugs, Tree Bumblebees, Green Shieldbugs, Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies, Devil’s Coach Horses and Two-spot Ladybirds. It was great to make use of our new outdoor classroom too!

The Bumble Bee

Spherical, bloodshot eyes, bulging out of it’s cranium, like a spot preparing to explode.

Ultra translucent wings vibrating vigorously, propelling towards the juicy nectar.

Beautifully scribed, reflecting the mask of Tutankhamen. Fluffy as a feather bed…

BEWARE! Venom.

Agile legs, gently tickling the rainbow coloured petals.

Shared Poetry Writing by 4GD

Joe O’Brien Memorial Cross Country On Saturday 14th May 2011 Bablake Junior School Cross country team entered the Joe O’Brien Memorial Cup race at Ernesford Grange Community College. It was a very warm day but the teams ran well over hard and hilly ground.

The race is run in memory of PC Joe O’Brien, a keen runner, who was killed on duty in Coventry in November 1982.

It was wonderful to be able to take 20 runners from Bablake to take part in the event. Boys and girls race together.

The boys were 2nd, the girls 1st: Lewis Faulkner 1 Christie Thomson 12 Ben Turnbull 4 Isabelle Hemus 20 Salim Zayyan 10

Caroline Smith 21 George Parker 11 Emma Allroggen 28 The combined results meant that Bablake came first in the overall competition.

Thanks also to Josh Connelly, Conor Jelley, Lucas Bennett, Remy McNamara, Hannah Smith, Freya Bennett, Katy Davies, Chandra Singh, Jack Crinigan, Sandeep Dhaliwal and Yasmine Hamud.

A special “Thank you” must go to all our Year 6 team members, who have been such fantastic runners throughout their time at the Junior School and have helped us win so many trophies.

May they continue to enjoy long and successful running careers as they go on to the Senior School.

Rounders

Athletics

The rounders season saw fixtures for the U9, U10 and U11 girls.

Matches have been exciting and well contested. Rounders have been scored in abundance by our batters and there have been some memorable catches and fielding highlights.

Bablake girls were invited to an Invitation Athletics Meeting at Warwick Prep School on Thursday 16th June. Fifteen girls from Years 3, 4 and 5 competed in track events, including 60 + 80m sprints, 600m and a 4 x 50m relay. Field events included the rounders ball throw and the long jump.

After an impressive season our U11 team reached the semi final of the competition at Rugby School and narrowly lost to the eventual winners. The U10 team have impressed in their recent matches, particularly in their narrow win against King Henrys, and the inexperienced U9 team can be delighted with their thrilling 11-11 draw against The Croft.

A special mention and many congratulations must go to the Bablake Mum’s Team who were victorious in their recent match against their Year 6 Girls!

The Cross County Teams with David Morrcroft at the Joe O’Brien Cross Country

Well done to all who took part and congratulations to the following girls who won their events: Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Emma Allroggen - 600m Imogen Starling, Jaspreet Lall, Freya Bennett, Emma Allroggen - 4 x 50m Christie Thomson - 60m sprint & 600m Gurpreet Sahota - 80m Isabelle Hemus - 600m Hannah Yolland, Christina Tomschey, Gurpreet Sahota and Isabelle Hemus - 4 x 50m

“I don’t like cricket…I love it!”

Enthusiasm for cricket this year at Bablake Junior School has exploded!

Every break and lunchtime the field and playground are awash with at least four different cricket games being played by many boys and girls from all year groups. Children can be seen walking down corridors practicing their bowling actions, playing imaginary “cover drives” in their classrooms or emulating their favourite cricketer by taking a spectacular one handed catch on their way back from the dining hall!

This love of the game has also proved to be a good recipe for success during fixtures. The quick to learn and talented U8 team have had convincing victories against Eversfield and King Henry VIII and only a narrow loss against Warwick.

Particular mention must go to Manav Jaspal, who has taken wickets in all matches with good, accurate bowling.

The U9 team have had some really tough fixtures but they have also had great wins against Twycross and Eversfield. There is some fine talent on display and with a little more concentration and application I am sure they will continue to improve next year.

The U10’s have played a mixture of pairs cricket and hard ball cricket.

That you only get one chance when you are batting has led to a more defensive approach to straight bowling! Excellent wins against Eversfield, Twycross and The Croft were particular highlights of the season. The batting has gone from strength to strength with Lewis Carroll scoring a deserved 50 against The Croft in a 20/20 match. Our varied bowling attack of leg spin, off spin and pace has also proved to be difficult for opponents to deal with.

The U11’s have worked hard this year and have been a pleasure to coach.

The standard of cricket has been exceptional. Sam Byrnes has led the bowling attack with some good pace, supported by all members of the team with good, straight bowling. Camren Bisal has opened the batting and has become more aggressive with his shots. The highlight of the season was a fine victory against King Henry VIII. The difference between bowling straight and as fast as you can proved to be the decisive factor in a truly memorable victory! All of the Year 6’s have had the opportunity to play in cricket fixtures and our U11 B team have finished the season unbeaten!

Well done boys, a great cricket season, long may it continue!

Mr Benfield