Junior School Newsletter - September 27 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday 27th September 2019 Dear Parents

I am writing this newsletter on Thursday night with fingers crossed for dry conditions for tomorrow’s Apple Day celebrations. Earlier in the week we had a House harvesting competition with Nansen emerging as the ones who collected the most apples. A huge thank you in advance for all the work you have done in supporting your children in planning and designing their stalls – I’m sure it will be great fun.

While collecting the apples several of the children noticed how sparse the trees were this year and one or two asked whether this was a result of climate change. It is probably quite a stretch to link the produce of our orchard to global trends (after all we’ve had other summers with an erratic pattern of rain and sunshine that haven’t impacted upon the crop) however, it is alarming to see the difference a year can make. Last year we comfortably filled eight boxes and still had loads left on the trees; this year we have struggled to fill four. It doesn’t take much to change yield and, while our apples are a tasty extra, the same cannot be said for food around the globe.

In last week’s newsletter and Celebration Meeting, I shared Advices and Queries 42 little knowing that on the other side of the Atlantic more contemporary words of wisdom were being shared to the UN. Greta Thunberg’s speech to the UN was a powerful example of both the strength of the voice of youth and the purity of an untainted ideology. We have shared her words with many of the classes and will do so with the others soon enough, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to quote her here:

“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be standing here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to me for hope? How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering.

People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction. And all you can talk about is money and fairy-tales of eternal economic growth.

How dare you!

For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away, and come here saying that you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

With today’s emissions levels, our remaining CO2 budget will be gone in less than 8.5 years.

You say you “hear” us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I don’t want to believe that. Because if you fully understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And I refuse to believe that.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5C degrees increase, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control. Maybe 50% is acceptable to you. But those numbers don’t include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of justice and equity. They also rely on my and my children’s generation sucking hundreds of billions of tonnes of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist. So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us – we who have to live with the consequences.

To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide left to emit back on 1 January 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatonnes. How dare you pretend that this can be solved with business-as-usual and some technical solutions. With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone in less than eight and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures today. Because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”

Congratulations to the following children who received Head of Junior School Stickers: · · · · ·

Huxx Y2 Eliza Y3 Emily Y5 Niamh Y6 Mintian Y6

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Ps. Did you know that rising sea levels has led Indonesia announcing it will move the capital away from Jakarta as it is sinking into the ocean as quickly as 25cm a year?

Foundation and Reception Apples, apples, apples: we have had a very appley week in preparation for Apple Day. Maybe I should have started the newsletter, ‘money, money, money’ as that is the other theme of the week. We set up our class shop on Monday and decided it would be a good idea to fill it with some salt dough vegetables. Unfortunately, we had run out of salt so we headed to ‘Greens’ to buy some. Once we were back we got a bit side lined and ended up making some rabbits, dinosaurs and bells as well as some veg. Once the apples had been collected for Apple Day we set up our apple shop where the apples were 1p each. If we wanted to buy 6 apples, we had to count out 6 pennies. We have started making our apple sorbet ready for apple day. We had great fun using my apple coring/slicing machine and putting them in the freezer. At 5p for a taster cup we have also been thinking of the different ways that we could make 5p. We just wish we had the weather to match our sorbet…fingers crossed for sun on Apple Day.

Year 1 and 2 What haven’t Year 1 and 2 done this week? Despite the rain, they have boxed and coxed to continue with their learning for their topic ‘Wonderful Woodland’. But first, in their Maths they’ve focused on money, all in preparation for calculating costs of their goods for Apple Day. Although we’re moving to a ‘cashless’ society, Becca Edwards explained the importance of knowing how to calculate totals and change to make sure they weren’t getting tricked!

In their English, they revisited the story of ‘The Gruffalo’, thinking about how to describe the settings using more interesting and varied vocabulary. Becca Edwards was particularly pleased when one child used their ‘Word of the Week’ (magnificent) to describe the trees in the woodland. In addition, Becca Edwards was so impressed to see how the children are linking their learning across the curriculum as another child wanted to be specific describing their trees as evergreen. This was based on a science lesson earlier on in the week focusing on how to tell the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees, with some children still being able to identify them according to the species. The grizzly weather did thwart Becca Edwards’ ‘Plan A’ a multiple of times this week, but they eventually got out to re-use their cereal boxes to make a 3D map of the Gruffalo’s woodland, building on their maps skills and how to follow a route.

The children were particularly imaginative when thinking of what natural materials they could use for the mouse’s path for example. Unfortunately, Becca Edwards spent a little too long procrastinating about how Land Art is ephemeral that they missed the opportunity to make ‘rain shadow’ land art. However, the children used other natural materials to create some great land art using their bodies and leaves having been inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy.

Next week, Becca Edwards is looking forward to seeing how their knowledge of woodlands may help them to closely research a particular woodland creature that is sadly not as common anymore. Will they be able to help?

Year 3

Year 3

History reappeared in Forest School at the end of last week as children creatively moulded the mud into the Valley of the Kings. Tombs were created and conversations flowed, children instinctively placed the Nile close by and Ancient Egypt was recreated.

Apple Day preparation continued this week in and out of the classroom. A House competition to find the most apples took place on Wednesday. Well done to Nansen a super collection.

Inspired by their delicious apple collecting children turned their hands to baking Puff Pastry Treats. We hope the weather is fair on Friday for Apple Day.

Year 4

Year 4 4KS were lucky to have a relatively dry forest school session this week, so got ‘roped’ into coming up with some inventive constructions. Armed only with their imagination and some lengths of rope they worked in groups to make their structures. In a short amount of time we had a pulley system, swings and a tightrope set up – fantastic design and engineering skills on show!

We have been looking at the moon in more detail this week in Science. Understanding what the different phases of the moon look like and why. Incidentally, the moon today is in a waning crescent phase – do ask your children to explain what this means…

We then started to look in more detail at the surface of the moon, discovering extinct volcanoes, ancient lava flows and enormous impact zones. With some flour and stones we were able to recreate an asteroid hitting the moon’s surface to see how the craters were made.

I have been very impressed with the planning and teamwork that has gone into the children’s apple day stalls. Fingers crossed that the weather holds and we can enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Year 5 Year 5 have been working on instructional writing this week in English so decided to combine this with a visit from Harry Wragg. Our resident horticulturist taught the children how to plant up hyacinth bulbs which will flower at Christmas. The first group of children listened carefully to Harry’s instructions; then they donned gloves and carefully checked the height of the bulbs to gauge the depth of the soil needed. After they had planted their own bulbs in the pots, they then tried their hands at instructing the next group of children who had just arrived back for the author’s book signing. They realised how important it was to explain every step clearly and in the correct sequence! Instructional writing requires the use of lots of “bossy” verbs, so we apologise in advance if the children begin practising their skills at home!

Year 6 Year 6 have had a great week and have now fully settled into their new timetable after the excitement of sailing.

On Tuesdays, theybusy are split intofinishing three rotation technology; Food, Design and Year 6 have had a very week, theirgroups sailingfor course on Monday and preparing and Computers.

The Design group, ably assisted by two of our sixth Form pupils, have started to design and rehearsing their Leavers Meeting. We hope you enjoyed their presentations today! make wooden boxes.

In Literacy/History, we have been looking at a variety of primary and secondary sources, as we have been investigating what it would have been like to be an evacuee. They have been having fun climbing under their desks when they hear the air raid siren but understand the gravity of such situations for people at the time. This work culminated in some very moving 'letters home' from our evacuees. Here is an except from Niamh's letter: Dear Aunt Mary, You won't believe the day I have had! It all started when you woke me to go to the station this morning. When we finally got there, Ann started crying, until Edward and I calmed her down. Suddenly the giant steam train pulled up to the platform. The train was a monster. It was terrifying, enormous and loud! The hustle and bustle made our ears hurt. There was a rattle and a bang as the train pulled to a stop. I took charge (even though Edward is two years older than me)! All I could hear was the desperate sound of children crying.

It was finally time to get on. Edward took hold of Ann's little four year old hand, and we filed in. My teacher, Miss White, was kind enough to let me sit with my brother and sister. We were in a compartment with Edward's silly old friends. Our compartment had a window, two velvet bench seats and five evacuees. Ann and I sat on one side. I stroked her hair until she fell asleep. On the other side was Edward and his friends, just talking about this annoying war. It was like they didn't care about going away. I felt heart broken. It was horrible, but I felt better when I saw you wave, until the train started rumbling rapidly. All I saw as the train zoomed away, was decimated buildings. Then something incredible happened. There were fields, bright green fields. It was so magical. I saw funny clouds with legs and beady eyes. I woke Ann up to show her, and she was as astonished as I was! I didn't bother telling Edward.

All the children captured the atmosphere of the station and journey, and how it felt, 'waiting like cattle' to be chosen by a host family. Next week we will learn about what country life was like for the evacuee children.

In preparation for Quaker Week, we have been looking at the 5 Quaker Testimonies, and how these values influence our life at Sibford School. The children have written their own inspirational phrases about kindness and respect.

We have all been gripped with 'Apple Fever', as the countdown to the long-awaited Apple Day has finally arrived. The children have demonstrated independence, cooperation and imagination in their stall ideas, and we are hoping the weather is kind! The forecast is not looking too appealing at the moment!

Sports Fixtures U11 Football vs New College and Bruern Abbey On Tuesday the U11s had their first football fixtures of the year. Playing against two New College teams and one from Bruern Abbey they came away with a two very creditable wins and a 2-0 loss that was closer than the score suggests. Given that it was the first time many of them had played together they quickly gelled as a team and there were some lovely team goals, with particularly strong performances from Jago and Henry.

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.

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.

The Magical Adventure Company Please find attached to the newsletter a flyer from Katie Walford (our Lunch Time Dance Teacher) regarding a “Monster Mash Ball” Halloween Inspired Workshop being held on Tuesday/Wednesday 29th and 30th October.