Junior School Newsletter - September 20 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday 20th September 2019 Dear Parents

Barring a few children off ill, we had everyone in on Friday, however this was not the case in schools around the world. Millions of children chose instead to stage Climate Change protests. The threat to our environment is very real and both an immediate and future issue – a poor inheritance indeed for future generations. The children at Sibford have a pretty good grasp of part they can play in recycling and reducing energy consumption and yet these things are drops in the ocean when compared to the widespread pollution caused by industries, businesses and governments. On Friday I shared with them how important it is that they also use their voice, just like Greta Thunberg, to send a message to those making decisions affecting their futures. At Friday’s Meeting I shared with them Advices and Queries 42: “We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will. Show a loving consideration for all creatures and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world. Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life.

Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation.”

Although this is only the third newsletter of the term, it already feels as though we’ve been back a while given how much we seem to have done! This week began with the final sailing session of this term for Year 6. Having faced near hurricane conditions in their first outing, the wind let us down and we had barely a breath. Still, this meant we could get the full sails and when things well and truly stopped, there was plenty of time to practice capsizing! The children have made an excellent start and we have been particularly impressed with those who have overcome anxieties to take part. I am pleased to announce that all of them have achieved their RYA Stage 1 awards and have managed to tick off much of Stage 2. Well done to all of them and we look forward to the final three sessions in the summer term.

As if sailing wasn’t enough, Year 6 also managed to find time to prepare an excellent Celebration Meeting all about the experience of evacuees during the Blitz. They are also looking forward to their forthcoming trip as part of their current history topic.

At Meeting we were also able to give out the badges to children who are representatives of School Council and the Eco Group. They will be the voice of their classes at weekly meetings with Katy Stotesbury and Becca Edwards respectively, so we encourage their classmates to raise any issues with them. We were also introduced to the Sport and House captains, Meeting Elders and Librarians.

Elsewhere Year 3 and 4 had their first fixtures of the term with hockey and tag-rugby matches against Kitebrook.

Add a little bit of body text Next week are looking forward to the beginning of Cycling Proficiency, an author visit from Megan Rix on Tuesday, more fixtures and, of course, Apple Day on Friday – don’t forget to bring your change!

Congratulations to the following children who received Head of Junior School Stickers: • Lottie EYFS • Bradley EYFS • Oscar Y3 • Harry Y4 • Alex M Y5 • Lucy Y5 And the following children who received Celebration Certificates: • Erica Y1/2 • Tom Y3 • William Y4 • Rhett 5HS • Chelsea 5LM • Charles 6AP • Erin, Meg and Amy 6NH I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the beginning of the Rugby World Cup! In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School

Ps. Did you know Billy Vunipola’s (England’s No.8) father represented and Captained Tonga in the 1999 World Cup?

Foundation and Reception We had another fabulous week of sharing the children’s favourite stories this week. We have had books about trucks, giants, worms, wolves and even Father Christmas. We used the sand pit to retell the story of the ‘Little Blue Truck’. When reading ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ we had a little circle time about things we had done to be kind, like the giant. Next, it was off to fill the children’s stockings and fly through the air on a sleigh as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’. We thought about what we might put into a basket for the sick grandma from ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and wrote number stories. Apparently, most children packed fruit but 1 piece of pasta, a tiger and a boat are essential!

Finally it was ‘Superworm’, Rita had used the class wormery over the holidays and we decided it was time to let the worms go free. We carefully emptied them onto a tray and had a good look before giving them a new home in the compost heap.

Year 1 and 2

Year 1 and 2 are certainly making the most of the glorious September weather. They were out and about in the school grounds once again seeing what the Oxfordshire countryside had to offer. We love developing curiosity in KS1 and so we decided to make journey crowns to record our journey around the school grounds; which involved the children collecting objects which reminded them about their route. Though they had to remember to put them in order to make sure someone could follow their journey again. This then helped them later on in the week when we looked at more ‘formal’ map work, using an aerial photograph to track a route around a different part of the school. This was a little more tricky, but the children worked really hard to think about where they were.

With the gradual change in seasons, the children were able to make good observations particularly about the leaves, specifically starting to identify some common UK trees and seeds in their Science lessons. They learnt that you don’t just make observations in Science, but in all aspects of their learning, especially when thinking about ‘Nature Sculptures’ in our local environment.

With the plight of plastic in our environment, the children were able to make comparisons between natural object such as feathers, sticks and stones and manmade materials. In pairs they selected different objects and made sketches of them.

All of this learning using the outdoors helped them when thinking about Percy the Park Keeper in their English this week, even more so for some children who embraced some of the jobs which Percy might do outdoors when making a start on our garden area in front of the classroom. They learnt Percy is a helpful chap and so wrote about how they could help him using different tools making a great display in the classroom.

In their Maths, they built on their knowledge of place value, investigating number bonds and how to make numbers using different combinations. Lets hope they can squeeze in as much next week!

Year 3

Year 3 This week Year 3 took to Twitter. Children did their first “big write” which means their English topic, which involved looking at books by the same author, draws to an end. Finishing touches were added to their Ancient Egypt Timeline in History.

In Art children looked at the work of Carl Warner who began creating landscapes out of food items, calling them ‘foodscapes’. Year 3 are now busy creating their own landscapes in the style of Carl Warner’s work. Looking at all these lovely vegetables and fruits leads us nicely into our Science topic where we will be look at Healthy Eating.

Year 4

Year 4 In RE 4KS listened with interest to the story of the Gilkes, a Quaker family from Sibford Gower. They learnt how they were blacksmiths turned clockmakers, who went on, through their descendants, relatives and apprentices to dominate the craft of clockmaking.

This led to some fantastic creativity and imagination in designing and sketching their own clock, to represent their personality, or something of special meaning to them.

In English, working with several different fables, connectives were buzzing around the class. The children were looking at the effect they have when adding them to simple sentences in changing the sound of the stories. They consolidated their work further by working in small groups to build their own stories through adding time or cause connectives. We had a variety of fabulous stories about getting locked in a supermarket by accident at night, walking through a spooky graveyard and breaking a priceless antique at a museum!

Year 5

This week Year 5 enjoyed Games in the afternoon sunshine learning all about the best body positions for shooting in netball. When they took their time, the girls realised that they could get the ball in the net more easily impressing Lynne McArdle with some cracking shots. Talking to them afterwards, it seems they love all the different positions on the court and take it in turns to play in their favourite positions. Harriet and Lotte both like Centre and Gaol Attack, Goal Keeper is Lucy’s favourite, Bonnie switches between Goal Keeper and Goal Defence In English this week both Year 5 classes have continued reading our class novel “Kaspar” by Micheal Morpurgo. Through role-play, they have enjoyed exploring the characters by asking each other questions in role and digging deeper into the different personalities in the story. We hope this will come out in their Big Writing at the end of the week.

Year 6 It has been a very busy week for Year 6 with their last sailing session on Monday followed by preparations for Friday’s meeting. There was a mix of light winds and no wind on Monday, which Year 6 have had a very busy week, finishing their sailing course on Monday and preparing and meant much fun was had in jumping in the water to tow the boats back to shore. Despite these rehearsing their Leavers Meeting. We hope you enjoyed their presentations today! less than ideal conditions, all of Year 6 were able to achieve their RYA Level 1 in sailing and make good progress in their Level 2. Don’t forget to look at the photographs from Friday’s session on Friday when the weather was slightly kinder.

As soon as they arrived back in the classroom, the children were busy rehearsing and learning the songs for their World War Two themed Celebration meeting. In History, Year 6 have begun learning how evacuees and host families might have felt in the early years of the war so playing the parts and dressing as the characters was a fine way to extend their learning. They will have a further chance to dress and act as evacuees on a trip in a few weeks time (details to follow shortly).

As if this was not enough, one group has been outside attending to our new Dig for Victory garden, whilst there have been some delicious recipes being put together in food tech and a woodwork project has begun in DT. The coming week will be the first “normal” week for Year 6 now that sailing has finished until the summer, and the children are looking forward to becoming fully engrossed in their new topics. Watch out for updates on Twitter!

Early drop-off/Late collection A reminder that early morning care begins at 8:00am. Please do not drop children off before this time as the member on duty may well not be set up to receive them.

In addition, if your child is staying for tea, please ensure they are collected by 6pm promptly.

Crisp Packets If you munch through any crisp packets, please save the empty packets as they can be recycled through a Crisp Packet Recycling Scheme. There will be a collection box in Lynne Singer’s office so we can help recycle these and reduce our ‘Sibford Community’ waste footprint.

Eco Bottles

If you haven’t already seen the collection outside of Reception, we are still collecting Eco Bricks.

Add your brick to the collection and don’t forget to write your name in the 100 square! Have a look on Firefly for extra information, but your donations are greatly appreciated. If you need extra plastic, please help yourself to the extra bits in the bags. It is also really important that they’re packed very tightly. They need to weigh hopefully around more than 500g or until you really can’t cram any more in, in order to be effective! We look forward to your continued donations.

Sports Fixtures

U9 HOCKEY v Kitebrook

Match 1 (Draw) and Match 2 (Lost 2-1)

With just one hockey lesson under their belts, the U9 girls headed off to Kitebrook with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. On the unfamiliar and slower surface of grass, their keenness meant the start of the match was mostly a conglomeration of girls buzzing around the ball, at times tackling their own team! After some in-game coaching and a half time chat during the first match, their improvement in spacing out was marked. As the afternoon progressed, Sibford girls went from strength to strength. We defended well and demonstrated determination and tenacity.

The girls worked hard playing two separate matches back to back. In the second game a lovely mix of running into space, support and well timed passing resulted in a great goal.

Congratulations to all girls who showed much potential and great spirit.