Junior School Newsletter - September 14 2018

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER Friday 14th September 2018

Dear Parents I type this week’s Newsletter with aching shoulders and a weathered face – the result of sailing with Year 6 for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday! We had three lovely days; buffeted by strong winds on the first two days (which Year 6 coped admirably with) before a much calmer day on Wednesday when they really had the chance to show off the skills they have developed already. They are already itching for their next two day next week; I think it’s been a bit of a shock to have to sit at a desk for a change!

By now all of our Class Booklet Meetings have happened and I know that the teachers have enjoyed meeting you all and explaining the routines and expectations of a new year group. One significant change that we have made this year is the refresh of our Learning Powers programme. Over the past two years it has proved a successful way of encouraging the children to engage with “how” they learn – to recognise their strengths and the areas that they need to work on. Looking to improve the programme still further we have decided to replace our “Resourceful Beaver” with a “Curious Cat.” While we still value and encourage resourcefulness, speaking to both children and staff, we found that it was a difficult thing to demonstrate particularly in written work. With that in mind we have opted to focus on curiosity, challenging the children to ask, and try and answer, deep and well-considered questions about the topics we are studying and to try and find connections between different subjects. Some stickers have already been award and I understand the children are “feline” very proud about them! (sorry – I couldn’t resist!)

Another change we have implemented has been to hand the initiative for identifying Learning Powers to the children. They will now be able to show their teachers work that they feel reaches the criteria to be awarded a sticker and the three accompanying House Points – though it will be up to the teacher to make the final decision!

On Monday, in Meeting for Worship, I likened the Learning Powers to Jessica Ennis and the heptathlon. An extremely gifted athlete, she nonetheless excelled in some of the disciplines (she could have represented Great Britain in both the hurdles and long jump as individual

events) and struggled in others. Most notable of these was her javelin throw, and yet this is the area she worked hardest on. I hope to see a similar spirit of perseverance from the children!

The children in Foundation have been reading "Rainbow Fish" this week and learning that sharing can make them happy too. The hard work began for the Reception children as they were introduced to their handwriting books and the very difficult process of learning to read.

The Nursery children have been learning to recognise their names, counting to 10 in order by playing hide and seek and beginning to learn how to hold a pen properly.

In Forest School the children explored the area and were particularly pleased to play on the large log which arrive on the site at the very end of last term. Helen Hoy encouraged the children to climb on the log by themselves so that they could strengthen their muscles.

At the end of the week the children started to stick jewels and sequins on to blank CDs to make shiny fish which will be displayed in the Under the Sea role play area.

Being the start of the academic year and new classes, it’s been a perfect way to introduce the new topic for Year 1 and 2 ‘All About Me’. Following on from our first few days, the children have continued to explore what it means to be ‘me’. After being told the Ed Rossiter is a little nosey, Becca Edwards encouraged them to write about themselves, making sure to include information that he might not know about them.

Place value has been the focus in their Maths, thinking carefully about where numbers lie in the number system and how big they are. Most of the children were confident at naming different body parts, particularly when labelling up two of their classmates. This then helped when they were visited by Dr David Edwards who brought in a real skeleton named Cuthbert. The children got to look first hand at the size of the bones and how they join together/work. They’ve also been looking more closely at themselves, making some self-portraits using natural resources but also group collages, thinking about what best represents a Sibford pupil using more unusual colours, symbols and materials!

Year 3’s class book for this week has been ‘I’ll take you to Mrs Cole’ by Nigel Gray and Michael Forman. This provided many opportunities to imagine and write about the horrible things that Mrs Cole might do to her children: throw them in a dungeon with a crocodile and a megalodon, make them clean the pans that are as black as soot for example. (It’s okay, she turns out to be nice in the end.) In Geography, Year 3 have teamed up with Years 1 and 2, firstly to recognise objects from a bird’s eye view, and then to identify locations on a map of Sibford School which they later went to actually visit. Helen Arnold was amazed at the ability of such young children to understand how real places corresponded with those on a photo map! In Pottery, pupils have begun their creations of some rather gruesome Egyptian pots (they will soon learn why they were so gruesome), and they have also drawn the orchard and all of its fruitful glory in pastels.

4MA and 4KS discovered a new use for toilet roll squares this week. If you allow one square to represent 57,910,000 km you have the approximate distance the sun is from its nearest planet in the Solar system (that’s Mercury). An amazing demonstration of team work was required to unroll and count out the 73.3 squares (4,504,000,000 km) needed to position Neptune, the planet furthest away from the Sun. Flushed with success, the very excited Year 4 groups laid out their toilet roll squares on the ground outside, showing the position of all the planets found in our Solar System. Different fruits were used to help represent (to scale) the sizes of the planets.

With the help of John James from pottery children in 4MA started work on their Roman style amphorae jars. If all goes well they are planning to create some larger examples, which may nestle in their Roman Herb Garden.

Carrying on with the Roman theme, 4KS togged up and headed forth to forest school this week. They enjoyed imagining they were Roman soldiers getting ready to march and expand their empire, as well as looking to use the natural materials around them to build tents.

It has been lovely getting to know the children over the last week or so since the start of term and finding out what their different passions are. We have also begun sharing the things they

are trying to challenge themselves with over the coming year. This varies greatly from tying shoe laces independently to becoming more confident in mental methods for maths or just trying again and again until something works. I hope they continue to push themselves to achieve these as they go along but remember to ask for help if they need it.

In our pictures you can see Y5 working on their teamwork skills as they face a design technology challenge to build the highest tower with restricted materials and equipment in a given time frame. Each group had a different approach but I was impressed with how well they had all worked in their teams – first Teamwork Ant learning power awarded!

You may have noticed the distinct smell of damp emanating from the Year 6 classroom and children (and teachers!) over the last week or so. We are glad to report that it is not the roof leaking in the classroom, but the scent of “Eau de Farmoor�. Year 6 have returned to the reservoir and are making excellent progress in learning to sail, despite some near gale force winds on Tuesday. Fears of the water have been well and truly conquered as most of the children have spent more time in the water than in the boats. Occasionally, though, the children have stayed in their boats long enough to demonstrate they are already getting to grips with tacking, launching, landing, round-turn-and-two-half-hitches and the steering in more or less the correct direction. They are all looking forward to more fun and teamwork on Monday and Wednesday next week.

Next week we are looking forward to more sailing for Year 6, our first sports fixtures of the year, school photographs and our first Celebration Meeting.

I hope you all have a pleasant and restful weekend.

In friendship.

Edward Rossiter Ps. Did you know that pirates would often hide much of their crew below the deck? Ships that displayed crew openly on the deck were thought to be honest merchant ships known as “above board.”

Sibford School Photographs

Colourbox School Photography will be at Sibford on Wednesday 19th September to take individual portrait shots. If you have more than one child at the school and would like them photographed together this can be done from 8.30am in the main school hall.

It is essential that any sibling shots are pre-booked. Bookings must be received no later than 9am on Monday 17 September.

If you have children in the Junior School or in both the Junior School and Senior School and would like them to be photographed together then please email Lynne Singer in the Junior School office (lsinger@sibfordschool.co.uk).

If you have children in the Senior School only, but would like them photographed together, please email Nikki Homewood (nhomewood@sibfordschool.co.uk).

Please note any Senior School children having sibling shots will be responsible for making their own way to the hall. If they don't arrive on time we are unable to chase them up.

Junior School Apple Day – Friday, 28th September 2018

The staff and pupils of the Junior School would like to invite you to our annual Apple Day on Friday, 28th September from 3pm. For those new to the school, Apple Day is an opportunity for the children to use the bumper crop of fruit from the orchard creatively, to design stalls to raise money for charity. The apples are used in a variety of ways; taking advantage of their tastiness or their usefulness as projectiles!