4 minute read
Reporting for January from Launton School
Today some Year 6 children are talking to us about the Festival of Light, a recent trip to Ardley’s Energy Recovery Facility, the cross-country final, and the nativity play dress rehearsals.
Festival of Light
To celebrate the Festival of Light we made clay maple leaves to use as candle holders. We used a template to get the leaf shape. Once we had made the shape of the leaf we had to curl the tips of the leaves up and use tape to hold them in place while the clay dried out. When the tape was removed some of the leaves broke, but we were able to use hot glue to repair them.
We were disappointed about the broken leaves, but we were able to show resilience and mend them, so everyone had a leaf for the celebration. We painted the leaves and added a tealight.For the celebration we took our leaves and candles into the hall, the lights were off and we all sang a song called Now Light 1000 Christmas Lights. We made clay maple leaves to use a candle holders. Some of the year 4 children played Christmas music on their brass instruments and we were able to spend time reflecting on Christmas and the meaning of it.
Ardley
We went on a coach to Ardley’s Energy Recovery Facility for a morning visit. When we arrived, we saw a giant dinosaur made from recycled materials. We did a walking tour, and the guide told us that the facility cost £250,000,000 to build when it opened 10 years ago. They also told us about which materials can and can’t be put in the recycling bins at home. Any waste that cannot be recycled is burnt. The facility has two huge chimneys, and they give out less emissions than the average family car.
There is a boiler room, but we weren’t allowed to go in there, the temperature is 1,200 degrees! While we were at the site we had to wear hard hats and hi-vis jackets. We were each given a recycling wheel which we can use to help us put the right materials in the correct bin. We really enjoyed our visit and thought it was very interesting.
Cross-country
The qualifying 1.5kmrun was held at the Cooper School. There were around 70 children running. Three of us qualified for the final, Jack came 13th, and Sebastian and Toby also qualified. The final was held at Sibford Ferris school two months later. The day of the final was very cold, and we were running on very muddy grass. One hundred and thirty children were in our final, from schools all over Oxfordshire and seventeen children from our school qualified and ran in finals for different age groups. We had to run 2km and we all did really well, Sebastian came 5th, Jack came 65th and Tobycame 66th.We made it back to school a bit late for lunch, but we were able to have something to eat before we went back to class. We were very pleased with our running times in the final and really enjoyed the experience, except for the mud!
Nativity dress rehearsals
We were able watch and support years 1 and 2 in their nativity dress rehearsals. Their play was called A Midwife Crisis. All the children remembered their lines really well, and knew what they had to do when they were on stage. Susanna sang a solo, she was really confident and absolutely brilliant. Every time the children finished a song we clapped to show that we thought they were doing really well. Having the whole school watch them means that when they perform in front of their parents they won’t be nervous. They have done lots of rehearsals on the stage in the hall and their play will be brilliant.
