Junior School Newsletter - March 15 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday 15th March 2019 Dear Parents

In Meeting for Worship on Monday I spoke to the children about integrity. We discussed the meaning, as it was a new word to most of them (although I was very impressed with Orlando’s explanation of “structural integrity”!) I shared with them three quotes; two taken from the bible and one from a certain Mr Shakespeare. With each of the quotes, we tried to unpick the meaning from the slightly archaic language.

The first was: “Love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one to another.” John 13:33-35

We translated this to mean, be kind to other people, just as Jesus was, and to show people in the way in which you live your life, what kind of a person you are.

The second was: “Whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them.” Matthew 7:12 This one was a little more straightforward to understand and, as Sam suggested, could be rephrased “treat others as you would like to be treated.” Beyond this though, we also explored that it could mean, “do not expect to be treated with respect, if you don’t do so to others.”

Finally, I delved into my distant A-level memories to one of my favourite pieces of writing in Hamlet, where the wise Polonius says to his son Laertes: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Polonius, Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3, 78-82 We came to the conclusion that this could be looked at a couple of ways. Either that whatever you might do to fool others, you will always know the truth about your words and actions or if you are honest to yourself, you have no need to lie to others.

The common theme running through these quotes is one of integrity; an honesty and soundness of one’s moral character. This is very much a central tenet of the Quaker testimonies of “Truth” and “Trust” and one, whether you are religious or not, that is hard to argue against being a principle by which we live our lives. Indeed, another famous Quaker phrase is “To let your life speak”; to let your decisions, choices and the way in which you conduct yourself be a true reflection of who you aspire to be. We finished Meeting by challenging each other to “let our lives speak” in the coming week and to show our character in our actions.

This morning we hosted an Open event and had lots of interest in the school, including parents of children in all areas of the Junior School. A huge thank you goes to the Year 6s who carried out their duties on the day to such a high standard, whether that be as guides, speakers or pianist. It is easy for me to say what we value about Sibford, but the real proof is in the children themselves and they certainly did us proud!

I am shortly off to do a final rehearsal with the Junior School band before they perform in Music Meeting. They’ve been practising for quite a while and are champing at the bit to “rock out” – I’m sure they’ll be fabulous!

Now, after the Scots came quite close against Wales, I’m hoping that tomorrow, Ireland can do the job properly before England take on Scotland!

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School

Ps. Did you know that in Switzerland it is illegal to own just one guinea pig? As they are social animals it is considered abuse if they are kept alone.

Foundation and Reception

Inspired by our Gruffalo hunt we transformed our home corner into a Gruffalo cave. The children have enjoyed ‘camping’ out inside their cave – especially since the weather outside has been so miserable this week. Following on from our map work we have been looking at positional language. As a class we made a story map for the Gruffalo and then made up our own group and individual story maps, based on our imaginative play. The children have also been planning and making their own Gruffalo sock puppets. These ‘Gruffalos’ have all sorts of different coloured prickles on their backs and a whole array of interesting names and body parts. Today we set up the puppet theatre to put on our very own sock puppet productions. I cannot wait to see what wonderful and imaginative journeys these ‘creatures’ will go on and who they might meet in the deep dark wood……

Year 1 and 2 A last-minute request last Friday for the children to bring in a container for Monday morning, meant that Year 1 and 2 were intrigued by what they might be putting into their vessel! With food a focal point of their topic this term, they discussed foods they enjoy eating. Though when asked if they liked tomatoes, only a few raised their hands, but this number dramatically increased when asked if they liked pizza. Becca Edwards explained that we do actually like lots of food but can depend upon how it is prepared. They therefore looked at how a variety of fruits needed to be prepared in different ways. They made their own fruit salads and the importance of food hygiene, preparation and storage. Looking back at the 0 food miles of the vegetables they planted at the start of the term, they realised that lots of our food comes from all over the world. Using a variety of food gathered from Becca Edward’s cupboards and fridge, they learnt that although food magically arrives on the shelves of supermarkets, it has to travel quite far to get there first.

Having arranged fruit and vegetables in the style of Paul Cezanne last week and using pastels, they digitalised this image by using PurpleMash and created a modern still life. In their English they revisited persuasive writing, particularly after learning about the importance of less sugar in our diets.

They learnt the importance of being sugar smart, the equivalent sugar cubes in a lot of our food and their own daily allowances. This led to them writing a persuasive letter to request healthier alternatives and how ‘5 a day’ can help us to have a healthier diet.

In their Maths, some of the children focused on how numbers can get bigger and smaller dependent upon whether you use – or +, whereas other children learnt how repeated addition can actually be translated into multiplication, solving problems using 2s, 5s and 10s. This was particularly useful when knowing that 1 sugar cube = 4g of sugar and calculating the amount of sugar in different food items. Did you know that there are 13g of sugar in one packet of Fruit Flakes, some children were surprised that this was over half of their daily allowance of 19g!

Year 3

Following on from a legendry World Book Day last week, Year 3 have begun their new literacy topic of Greek myths which they have enjoyed enormously! First, they discovered the heartbreaking story of Orpheus and Eurydice where they drew comparisons between the temptation that Orpheus was faced with when attempting to bring back his wife from the underworld, and the temptations that pupils face. Then, they heard the story of Pandora’s box and discussed what the story might be telling us about human existence. They also pondered whether they would have been tempted to open the box or not, and many pupils were adamant that they would have been able to resist (Helen Arnold suspected otherwise). They have also been exploring the famous story of Icarus and Daedalus, where, as well as putting the events of the story in order, they also watched the story being interpreted through dance.

In Science, Year 3 looked at their own family trees and used these to help them to understand

the family tree of homo-sapiens. They were amazed to find out that there were not just 1 or 2 other species of human to ever walk this Earth, but there have been over 20 species altogether since the human lineage broke away from that of chimpanzees! They were able to identify how, as we move further through time, each species of human shares more and more features with today’s homo-sapiens, in a similar way to how Year 3 share characteristics with their parents.

In History, pupils have immersed themselves in Stone Age life, by cooking a meal around the roundhouse (which is similar to some of the later Stone Age homes). They cooked some seasonal berries and fruits along with some honey to make a sweet treat to give the pupils enough energy to venture out and catch a mammoth.

From the Stone Age to the technology of modern day; Year 3 have been studying the different fonts used in packaging, and how exciting fonts draw their eyes of the consumer to the product and therefore make it more desirable. They had a go at creating exciting fonts on Microsoft Publisher and Word and considered which fonts might be appropriate for each different product.

Year 4 Flower power has continued this week, with 4KS getting hands on in their Science lessons.

Firstly, learning about saffron, the most expensive spice, and how it is painstakingly harvested from the style and stigma of crocuses. We then deployed our grating and cutting skills to prepare the ingredients for a delicious Saffron infused Vegetable Paella, the perfect postswimming snack! Later in the week we looked in more detail at how bees interact with flowers, marvelling at their communication skills through the art of the ‘waggle dance’ – do ask the children for a demonstration. We enjoyed dipping fruit into a tasty yoghurt and honey dip before making some fantastic bee hand puppets to help us explain the role of bees and other creatures in pollinating flowers – look out for our new class pets buzzing around on the windowsill…

A big shout out to 4KS Maths group too, who smashed their sporcle times tables score this week - completing all 78 questions in just under 3 minutes!

This week in 4MA children considered the advantages and disadvantages for wind farming.

Some excellent team work was demonstrated as children preformed in roles representing different viewpoints regarding the issue. The arrival of a rather urgent letter (on Friday) proposing that some wind turbines should be constructed on the playing fields of Sibford Junior School inspired 4MA to call an urgent debate (just like they do in the House of Commons).

In Science children planed and presented an imaginary television programme to explain how to grow healthy plants. Children explained their investigations and their findings. Some excellent reporting was conveyed as they acted out their programmes in front of the class. Well done 4

Year 5 In Science Year 5 have begun a new topic about LIGHT. To start with the children needed to explore how light travels. They were interested to find out if it moves in waves coming out in circles from a central source like SOUND does? First of all they built a tower of Lego blocks in front of a screen and predicted whether or not the light from a torch would be able to travel through or around the bricks; of course they found that the Lego actually blocked the light and made a shadow of a Lego tower on the screen behind.

Next, they worked in groups to set up their own investigations to further explore the path light takes. As in the picture you can see, they set up a series of cards in a row. Each card had a hole punched through it and when they shone the torch, the light passed through the hole to the next card until it hit the screen at the end where it produced a circle of light. They concluded that light travels in a straight line and does not go around an object. They also learned that the closer an object is to the light source, the stronger the beam of light and the further away it is from the light source, the wider the beam becomes and so disperses or weakens the strength of the light.

Year 6

Year 6 started the week with a lovely sunny walk, following the Sibford Historic trail. It took us to Sibford Gower, over the ‘river’ Sib, and towards the village pond. We noted the false window painted on the first floor of The Old Vicarage, which was filled in due to the old window tax. The children were interested to learn that Bonds End Lane used to be a mini ‘High Street’, with a selection of different shops. They were surprised that architecturally very little seemed to have changed, and that the most noticeable differences were in the roads and the trees.

In Maths, 6NH’s group have been Transforming and Reflecting shapes, while 6AP’s group have had to work out whether they would rather have 30% 0f £82, or 75% of £32! There were also some maths skills put to use in the building and spacing of the Runner Bean canes in our Dig for Victory bed.

Both classes have been looking at African inspired art and designing their own pictures in a similar style. However, once again, the favourite lessons have been inspired by Mr Shakespeare – this time following the exploits of Macbeth and acting out the famous Witches’ scene. They wrote their own ‘Double, double toil and trouble’ spells and performed them with great enthusiasm!

After School Swimming and Code Club – Wednesday, 20th March 2019

After School Swimming Club and Code Club will not run on Wednesday, 20th March. If you would like to book your child into prep please email Lynne Singer, lsinger@sibfordschool.co.uk.

Year 4 Residential Trip to Bath – Parent Information Meeting – Friday, 22nd March 2019

A reminder that the above meeting will take place next Friday, 22nd March at 3.45pm in the 4MA Classroom.

Year 5 and 6 Activities Week – Parent Information Meeting – Thursday, 28th March 2019

Ed Rossiter will be holding an information meeting for parents at 3.30pm on Thursday, 28th March in the Ensemble Room in the Music Block.

Junior School Council’s – Animal Mask Day – Friday, 29th March 2019

We will be holding a wild animal masks day, whereby pupils can pay at least £1 to come to school wearing a wild animal mask. Be as creative as you can! We’re looking for feathers, sequins, interesting designs and anything else that will wow teachers! Prizes will be awarded for the most creative designs! Please note that this is not a casual day, but that pupils can come to school wearing a mask to go with their uniform.

In addition, we will be holding a cake sale with a wild animal theme. Again, creativity in key. If you think that you can contribute with some delicious goods, be it tiger tarts, crocodile cake or monkey muffins, please leave them with Lynne Singer either on Thursday 28th March or the morning of the 29th. The cake sale will be held during Friday lunch break, so pupils can bring in some money (no more that £1) if they would like to buy a cake.

All proceeds from the event will go towards WWF and the Lawrence Home Nursing Team, so please give generously!

Cycle Safety Training – Summer Term 2019

For those children in Years 5 and 6 who have not yet done their Cycle Safety Training/Test, there is the opportunity to do this in the Summer Term. If you would like your child to take part please email Lynne Singer, lsinger@sibfordschool.co.uk. There are 12 spaces and they are offered on a first come basis.

Lost Property

Lynne Singer has a small black purse with flowers on which we think was lost around the time of the Jaffe & Neale Bookshop visit.

ITEMS NEEDED

We would be grateful for any old newspapers for Year 1 and 2. Please leave in Junior School Reception.