JUNIOR SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER Friday 12th October 2018 Dear Parents After the peace of Quaker Week we’ve had a much noisier time over the past five days. This partly comes from the range of sports fixtures we have had, including almost all of Key Stage 2 being involved on Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully in much pleasanter weather than the more typically autumnal gusts and rain besieging us at the moment. We also had to contend with the crack and bang of musketry on Wednesday. You’d be right to think this isn’t terribly Quakerly, but it is not without a valid reason or indeed historical connection! As part of their work on the Civil War Year 9 have a yearly visit from Sealed Knot who re-enact the lives of soldiers and their families during the conflict. Hitching a ride with the Senior School, some of our classes went out to learn about all sorts of aspects of daily life then, from gruesome medical treatment to cooking and diet. They also got to see how soldiers would face a cavalry charge and, while they were doing their Kids Marathon laps at lunch, faced a musket volley (no projectiles involved you’ll be glad to hear!) As the topic of Under the Sea is drawing to a close, the children in Foundation have been taking part in a fact-finding hunt about different sea creatures. They've learnt that scientists call Starfish, Sea Stars because they are not actually fish and they have measured how big the wingspan of a Manta Ray would be which is up to 20 feet. The children have made multi-coloured fish pictures using celery sticks to make the patterns and have used pipe cleaners to make beautiful coloured sea anemones. In Maths the children have been working on counting accurately 1:1, which is much harder when the pictures you are counted don't move. Helen Hoy has been encouraging the children to try and say the number at the same time as moving their fingers; sometimes we speak quicker than our fingers move. The children have also been learning circle game rhymes which will help with reading as they can hear the rhythm and pattern in the rhyme. The children in Year 1 and 2 have been working thoroughly hard this week and luckily the wet weather from the weekend didn’t hang around, making their outdoor lessons a little drier than they could have been! They quickly realised that shapes are all around us and started the week with a shape hunt in their playground. Some of the children were quite surprised to see shapes in familiar objects that they play with on a daily basis.
Focusing on familiarity and moving away from non-fiction, they started to look at the settings of stories and how they can help give more information about a story. Though Becca Edwards was quite surprised when some of the children did respond that the Queen’s Palace was a familiar setting! Before long, they were out in the school grounds once again, using the PE equipment to make ‘messy maps’ with an aerial view of the school.
Making the most of the autumnal weather, they made another self-portrait but this time using the beautiful coloured leaves for their hair. To think they could fit even more into their week, they were visited by the Blue Cross to learn about how to care for animals, linking to their previous science work (three things to stay alive) and the 5 needs of animals.
Year 3 have been very bossy this week (which Helen Arnold pointed out is certainly not the same as being rude). They have been writing instructions using bossy (imperative) verbs on how to play the channel 4 show, Countdown. Of course, this involved several rounds of actually playing the game, with Year 3 playing against Helen Arnold. This also involved a few mini Carol Vordermans announcing letters and Suzi Dents in dictionary corner.
Thankfully this ‘bossiness’ was offset with reflection, as pupils thought about the topic of Ed Rossiter’s Monday meeting, equality. Pupils explored how Quakers were amongst the first people to treat everyone as equals regardless of their ‘rank’ in society, which led them to act against slavery amongst other things. Year 3 thought about situations in today’s society whereby individuals might not be treated with equal respect and created colourful posters to promote equality for everybody. In Geography, pupils have been looking at symbols on maps, and made the most of the beautiful weather by creating their own maps containing symbols outside in the sunshine. Finally, Science brought with it the food chains of different habitats. Pupils discovered that producers are always plants, primary consumers are always either herbivores or omnivores, and secondary consumers are carnivores.
A charming aroma of herbs and vegetables wafted out from around the Roundhouse on Thursday afternoon while Year 4 children enjoyed sampling food which the Romans would have eaten back in AD 43. A big thank you to Lois Self for making this possible.
4MA were given a scenario to consider this week: if they were rewarded for their excellent behaviour in class by being taken on a weekend field trip into the wilderness, living without any sort of technology (oh my!), how would they be able to work out the time of the day? With lots of chatter, much discussion and many questions, the children debated ideas about sundials. What does one look like? What is it used for? When were sundials first used? Children went on to think and are beginning to create their own (very imaginative) sundials. We are hoping for a few sunny days next week so we can tell the time using our sundials. Finally, we ended the week with everything adding up as children practised written addition. Year 5 have been enjoying the peace and calm of their time in the pottery this half term as they have worked on their own Islamic tile designs. The children have learned a new skill; pricking out a detailed design through tracing paper onto the clay to produce some wonderfully intricate patterns. They have also learned that it requires a great deal of patience to do this. All of them worked so well revisiting their patterns for a third time this week that they earned their Reflective Owls having “thought about their work and tried to mke improvements, not satisfied with finishing quickly or first time but striving to produce their very best.� Here are some pictures of the stages of the process before firing. Later we will add colour to these to really bring them alive.
Year 6. In Science we have been looking at how long things take to fall. We made paper parachutes out of tissue paper and string and tested them. James Elliot stood carefully on the table and dropped our parachutes from a great height. We timed how long they took to go down. Mine was the winner, with 3.62 seconds. Ellis
This photo shows the rations that people had to manage with during the war. We measured out the tea, and looked at how few sweets they were allowed. They did not get much meat. In English and History, we have been looking at where Michael Morpurgo set his book – Adolphus Tips. It is a historical novel based during World War Two. The characters are fictional, but the things that happened are real. It is set in Slapton, where the American soldiers prepared for Operation Tiger. Sadly, something went wrong, and the German e-boats snuck in without them knowing and torpedoed the boats, killing over 900 soldiers. Emmeline. In Food and Nutrition we made frittatas using peppers, chives, spring onions, ham, cheese and of course – eggs! The hardest part was putting the wobbly mixture into the oven, and the best bit was eating them. I made them again at home and had them for breakfast! Nicholas Congratulations to the following children who were given Head’s Awards stickers this week: • Jonjo • Benjamin • Ellen • Henry D Next week we are looking forward to finishing the half term with another busy timetable including: further fixtures, a swimming gala, Parents’ Evening, a transition Open Evening for parents of children in Years 5 and 6 and the visit of some friends from St John’s Primary on Wednesday morning. In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School
Ps. Did you know that sloths have more neck bones than giraffes?
Christmas Cards for Schools
We would like to offer children the opportunity to design their own Christmas cards, which can then be reproduced to send to family and friends. Today your child will bring home a Christmas card order form. This year we are asking children to create their pictures at home. In order for their image to be printed successfully, please follow these guidelines: • Use A4 paper either landscape or portrait but keep a 3mm boarder around the edge. • Do not write your child’s name on the reverse as it will show through • Pastel or charcoal drawings should be “fixed” with a fixative or hair-spray. • Do use – Felt pens, paint, paper collage, tissue paper and cotton wool. Computer clip art can also work • Do not use Fluorescent, Neon or Metallic colours or glitter. • Return with order form attached to the back of the art work using cellotape and we will send from school. ALL ORDERS MUST BE RETURNED TO LYNNE SINGER BEFORE FRIDAY, 19TH OCTOBER. ANY ORDERS MADE AFTER HALF TERM CANNOT BE PROCESSED. PSFA Parents Coffee and Catch up Morning – Friday, 19th October 2018 from 8.30am
As we race towards half term, we thought it would be a good idea to organise a coffee and catch up for all parents. Hopefully this should provide an opportunity for parents to meet new parents as well as being an informal opportunity to discuss PSFA organised social events for the forthcoming year. We hope that you are free to join us on Friday 19th October at school drop off time (any time from 8.30am). Tea / coffee and croissants will be served! The gathering will take place in the small dining room - opposite the Junior School playground. Look forward to seeing you there! Heidi Fowler and Jill Spence
U11 Rugby Festival, Warwick – Friday, 5th October
On Friday the U11 rugby team went to Warwick School to take part in a rugby festival run by the Worcester Warriors. The day was an opportunity for teams from many different schools to take part in training sessions before a big tournament in the afternoon. The activities were mini games, tackling, defending and throwing a rugby ball into a springboard. In the afternoon the tournament took place. Sibford played really well. In the first game Bardia scored twice and Nicholas once which resulted in a win. In the second game, Nicholas scored the winning try! The third game, against Framlington College was close but unfortunately we lost by one try. However, in the final game the Sibford boys won again! Reported and photographed by Oscar, Y6
U9 Tag Rugby vs Kitebrook – Tuesday, 9th October
On a very warm Tuesday all the Year 3 and 4 boys were involved in a Tag rugby tournament against two Kitebrook teams. For many of the boys it was their first taste of rugby and they acquitted themselves well, growing into the game as we went on. Deciding who won the two matches is a little tricky as we swapped teams at half time, but I think, across the four halves, that we finished drawing two, winning one and losing one! Well done to all of the boys for the enthusiasm and efforts. U11 Tag Rubgy training with St John’s Priory – Tuesday, 9th October
As the U9’s were playing their Tag matches, all of the U11 boys were involved in a training session with boys from St John’s Priory. This was followed by a couple of friendly mixed games, coached and refereed by some of our Year 10s. U9 & U11 Hockey vs Carrdus – Tuesday, 9th October
On Tuesday afternoon the U9, U10 and U11 hockey teams travelled to Tudor Hall astro pitches to play against Carrdus School. It was a great afternoon of hockey for all involved, particular mention goes to the U9 team who gave a fantastic performance and came away with a 1-1 draw. It was great to see them develop as a team as the match progressed. Well done to all girls involved! U11 Player of the Match - Lara U10 Player of the Match - Alice U9 Player of the Match – Lucy
U11 NOSSP Tag Rugby Tournament – Thursday, 11th October
Two mixed U11 teams took part in the NOSSP Family Tag tournament on Thursday. It was fantastic to see mixed teams taking the field and watching the girls, particularly, develop their skills so quickly. The Red squad, hit by some illness, had a mixed afternoon, winning, losing and drawing a couple. The Yellow squad, however, emerged as champions winning all four group games, before defeating rivals Sibford Gower in the “Valleys Derby” in the semi-final and then overcoming Deddington in the final. They will now progress to the district level of the tournament to represent NOSSP. Well done to all the children involved and thank you to the parents who came to support.
The Great Sibford Bake Off!
Thank you to all the children who baked a wonderful selection of animal themed cakes last week. Congratulations to Nansen and Gillett who were in joint place for their number of entries. The variety was fantastic, and ‘Delia Holroyd’ found it very hard to judge! We decided to award a prize to an upper and lower stage entry from each House, and here are the results: Fry: Henry and Yasmin & Jemima Nansen: Mani and Jonjo Gillett: Erin and Florin & Wilf Clark: Nicholas and Lottie (who is moving to Nansen)
A huge thank you to Lois Self for organising the cake sale at the end of the day. We raised a fantastic £110 which will be donated to the WWF.
Nicholas’ Poodle
Erin’s Horse
Yasmin and Jemima’s Crocodiles Lost Property
Tom – Y6, Oliver - Y4 have lost their school jumpers and Elena Y6 has lost her swimming suit, all are named. Please could everyone check their bags in case they have been picked up in error.