Junior School Newsletter - April 5 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday 5th April 2019 Dear Parents

My apologies in advance that this will be a slightly briefer epistle from me than usual (“praise be!” I hear most of you shout!) We are busy putting the final touches to Awards Meeting and collating all the many bits and pieces for the ski trip that departs tomorrow (as long as I manage to avoid forgetting the passports I’ll be doing better than last year!)

It’s not just Lynne Singer and me who have been busy though as the last week of term has seen us involved in tournaments, undertaking school visits and welcoming a number of children into the school on Taster days – Tom even started in Year 2 yesterday! Even the weather was onboard with the eventful nature of the week as we have seen the four seasons dancing a merry-go-round of glorious sunshine, April showers, autumnal gales and hailstones the size of peas that saw everyone ducking for cover on Tuesday afternoon!

Unfortunately, the rain has arrived and stayed for today as Year 5 headed to Stratford to visit Mary Arden’s house. At least they’ll learn to appreciate the warmth of the woollen Tudor outfits they are wearing! While there, they’ll have a go at butter and bread making, some Tudor artwork and see a real Elizabethan house in action. They might even squeeze in some Tudor dancing, which last year included the floss and the dab (I don’t recall the Bard mentioning them at all in any of his plays?!

Tomorrow morning, we will be hosting our end of term Awards Meeting. Congratulations to all those who received awards, but particularly: • Tobin – Howes Science Cup • Emma L – Koochitt Excellence in Literacy Cup • Oskar W – Ali Sayer Art Cup • Hanne-Lydia – Friday Organisational Cup • Sophie – Spirit of Sibford Cup • Sam M – Head Teacher’s Cup for Academic Achievement Cup • Henry D – Sportsman of the Term • Lily G and Lara - Sportswomen of the Term • Bertie S – Woolley Maths Cup • Harry K – Andrew Yale Cup End of Term Certificates were also awarded to; Rita – EYFS, Yasmin - Y1/2, Lieu Yen – Y3, Kaiya – Y4MA, Emily – Y4KS, Hanne-Lydia – Y5, Finn – Y6AP and Oscar S – Year 6NH. Shortly after Awards Meeting and a hastily scoffed lunch, Nick Hadley, Becca Edwards and I will depart with the ski trip en route to Italy. It promises to be a fun trip – we’ve been feverishly checking snow reports!

Then all that remains is our Easter Egg hunt. A huge thank you to the Graduate Assistants for

organising it and to the PSFA for providing the prizes at the end.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break.

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School

Ps. Did you know that the largest chocolate Easter egg in the world was made in Tosca, Italy? It weighed a whopping 7,200kg and had a circumference of 19.6m at its widest point.

Foundation and Reception

In Early Years we have been working on our green screen animation of The Easter Egg Man. The children have had great fun shooting videos around the school pretending to chase their Easter Egg Men. We then looked at how to add the images of the Easter Egg Men on top of the videos that they had made. They looked at how to make the images bigger and smaller and how to move the images so it looked like their Easter Egg Men were running across the screen.

The result is enjoyable and pretty impressive for Early Years. In Maths we have been working on addition and using our fingers, objects and pictures to help us add up.

We were really lucky and had the chance to go and feed the lambs again – we cannot believe how much they have grown! We have, of course, also had all the usual fun including: camping in a van surrounded by escaped animals from a zoo; creating a chalk space ship and jetting off into space only to be faced with an alien giant; drawing our very own airport with a landing strip, parking area, train station, boating lake and a special area for a family of rhinos; and finally a lovely story of a (paly dough) ginger bread man that found a bridge and went back home safely to bed.

Year 1 and 2

The middle of the week saw a farewell to some classroom inhabitants, the quail have now ‘flown’ the Year 1 and 2 nest. The children have loved having them in the classroom, constantly checking on them as they venture into the playground or bid them farewell at the end of the day. Having had them in the classroom and seeing them develop from egg to chick, this helped them when learning about life cycles and writing about how different animals grow to an adult.

Following on from their wonderful celebration meeting last week, they were able to start thinking a bit more about Easter, though not chocolate eggs quite yet! By observing the changes around them, they used their creativity to complete shape and acrostic poems, but also writing creatively about a mystery Easter scenario and inventing/designing a magical egg. In their maths, they have completed various quizzes, thinking about all the different aspects of maths they have covered over the term.

Finally the week finished with them claiming items from the ‘Working Wall’ where Becca Edwards could hear phrases such as ‘Oh I remember doing this!’ or ‘Can you remember doing this?’. It has been a wonderful term in Year 1 and 2, they have certainly crammed in an awful lot and Becca Edwards is sure that they will work just as hard next term. Until then, they should enjoy the Easter break and eating some Easter eggs, as long as they balance it with their 5 a day of course!

Year 3

Monday’s Maths lesson took a strange turn, when Year 3 dug a nest which would be the perfect shape and size for a T.rex female to lay an egg into. They used a stick and a skipping rope to create a large compass, and measured the length of 1.35 along the rope, so as to create a perfect circle with a diameter of 2m70 (the size that scientists have estimated would be the perfect size for a T.rex).

Feeling proud of their nest, Year 3 ventured back in the afternoon to continue working on it, to find that a strange object had been placed right in the middle; it looked like an enormous egg! Year 3 approached the object cautiously, could it actually have been the real egg of a T.rex? How could this have been possible? With urgency, they informed Lynne Singer who hastily contacted the school’s health and safety officers.

Back in the classroom, Year 3 wrote an email to the Natural History Museum, asking them what they should do. You will be pleased to find out that the egg was whisked off to the museum by some excited palaeontologists, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there is no longer any risk of a prehistoric carnivore on the loose.

Overwhelmed from all the drama, Year 3 decided to write newspaper reports about the event.

They used the computers in order to use real photographs, write in columns ad make their articles look very professional.

Speaking of eggs, Year 3 have been painting Easter eggs, assembling Easter baskets from nets and decorating them, taking note of appropriate fonts and images. In Maths, Year 3 have continued to learn about circles, and learned how to make beautiful patterns using compasses.

Finally, they have completed their archaeological dig, where they uncovered yet more precious artefacts. The deeper they dug, the more careful they were with the interesting objects, since it is likely that the objects found would have been older than the objects further up.

Year 4

4KS brought their Science topic to a fitting end, feeding back to the class on areas that we have learnt about throughout the term. The children worked in three small groups to create a PowerPoint. They pulled together their knowledge, research and whizzy technology skills to create fabulous, informative presentations – on saffron, bees and seeds. I was very impressed with what they did in a limited time, well done 4KS. 4MA Anglo Saxon work came to an end with children excavating in and around the Roundhouse. To their delight they uncovered some artefacts which looked suspiciously like the items found at the burial site of Sutton Hoo. Children went on to do superb research on some of these Anglo Saxon artefacts.

In Science Year 5 have continued to explore light and have discovered that it travels in straight lines, so if you put something in its way the light cannot pass.

Putting an object into the path of a light beam creates a shadow, as you can see below. The children experimented with different shapes they could make with their hands and got quite adept at creating a variety of animals (dogs, horses, snails, weasels and even a kangaroo). See if you can tell which is which from the pictures below.

Year 5

We have also been practising our observational skill in more still life this time with some cheerful daffodils. The children love these sessions, it’s a job to get them to pack away for the end of the day!

Year 6 Year 6 have been continuing with their Matt Dickinson inspired stories and writing some Easter poetry. 6NH made the most of the glorious weather on Monday, and were busy in the Dig for Victory garden, mulching the soil and planting potatoes.

6AP have had philosophical discussions about life, death, suffering and enlightenment, as they start their unit of work on Buddhism. The children have been working really hard this term and we have had lots of pleasing results in our end of term assessments, LAMDA, singing exams, and sports fixtures! Our children certainly have a wide variety of skills and talents!

In Science Year 6 have been making crystals, see pictures below.

Sport Reports

Jago won the best male junior U9 Cross Country trophy and to top it off he was also informed at the presentation evening for BAC athletics, that Oxford had scored incorrectly for the county cross country results where he thought he came 2nd he actually came joint first!!

U11 Highfive Mixed Partnership Finals – Wednesday, 3rd April 2019

Well done to the two teams who, representing North Oxon, competed in the High 5 School Games Netball Finals on Wednesday afternoon. Both teams worked tirelessly throughout the afternoon, playing 7 back to back matches and demonstrating versatility as they rotated positions after each half of a game.

Sibford A team had a fantastic afternoon despite illness and injury reducing their team to 5 players after the first match! They won 6 matches and lost one match ‌ by one goal which resulted in silver medals for the team. An excellent result!

U9 Mixed Football Finals - Wednesday, 3rd April 2019

On Wednesday morning 7 Year 3/4 pupils travelled to Abingdon to represent North Oxfordshire in the Oxfordshire School Games, competing in a round robin tournament against all the other Oxfordshire regional winners. The whole team played their part and each performed above what was expected. The team won all of their first 5 games, which meant they went into their last game needing a draw or win to win the tournament or lose and come second. All 7 players looked like they felt no pressure at all as they won their final game 5-1 to win all 6 matches and become Oxfordshire School Games Champions. This is a really special achievement from all 7 players and something all of them should be very proud of.

Before/After School Clubs and Lunch Clubs

Please note there will be no before/after school or lunch clubs for the last or first week of term (with the exception of Lunch Time Dance Club which will run on Friday, 5th April). Clubs will recommence in the Summer term w/c 7th May 2019. Prep and After School Care will be available all term (Mon-Thurs).

You should have now received the Before and After School and Lunch Club booking forms for

29th April 2019.

Saturday, 13th April – Charity Fundraiser by Eva and Rosie – Year 6

As part of their Discovery Award, Eva and Rosie are raising money for the WWF’s Adopt a polar bear scheme and will be selling cakes and creating hairstyles at the Cotswold Hair Company Salon, Unit 4, Woodlands Business Centre, Long Compton CV36 5JL on Saturday, 13th April from 9am to 12 noon.

Girls, boys and all cake lovers are welcome!

Friday, 3rd May 2019 – Marathon Kids Challenge – 3pm-4pm

From 3pm children and their parents will be able to do laps of the normal Marathon route.

Children can wear a t-shirt in their house colours and both parents and children can gain tokens for every lap run towards their house points.

Wednesday/Thursday 8th and 9th May 2019 – Y4 Residential Trip to Bath

If you have not already done so, please ensure you return the Medical and Consent Form for this trip to Lynne Singer as soon as possible.

We will be leaving school as close to 8.45am on Wednesday, 8th May as possible, travelling on 1 coach. Please meet at the Junior School at 8.30 am. If you have had a long journey to school please allow time to visit the toilets. Packed lunches will be provided. We shall be back at school on Thursday, 9th May at around 3.30pm depending upon the traffic.

While we are away we will be using the Sibford School Communicator App as a way of keeping in touch with parents, especially when it comes to keeping you up to date with our return journey. The app is available for computers, tablets and internet enabled mobile phones and can be downloaded on as many devices as you wish. Visit the Sibford School website and click on the app button to download. You then need to ensure you select YEAR 4 in the personalisation menu. The app can also be downloaded from: http://www.schoolcommunicator.co.uk/download.php Saturday, 29th June 2019 – 2pm to 6pm – PSFA Summer Fun in the Sun – Family Day

A note for your diaries that the PSFA Summer Fun in the Sun Family day will take place on Saturday, 29th June from 2pm to 6pm. Entry is £3 for Adults and £2 for children. Refreshments will be available, have fun in the music tent, join in the art and crafts and enter a team in the “Sibford Challenge”. If you would like to help please email PSFASibfordSchool@outlook.com.

Former Head Bound for Palestine Former Sibford School head, Michael Goodwin, will be visiting Israel and occupied Palestine to act as a human rights monitor for three months from April 2019.

Michael, who was head at the Quaker school near Banbury in Oxfordshire from 2004 until he retired in 2016, will be working alongside other international human rights monitors observing the daily life of Palestinians and Israelis in the troubled Israeli occupied West Bank.

The monitors, known as Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs), work alongside local peace groups to provide a protective presence against intimidation and harassment, and report violations of human rights, in the hope of promoting longer term peace and an end to the occupation.

The role of an EA might include escorting Palestinian children across Israeli checkpoints on their way to school, or being with farmers as they care for their olive trees or tend their flocks under threat of violence. EAs have also been present to support locals when homes and schools are demolished by the authorities and to provide a protective witness against such acts, which are illegal under international law.

“I was determined to make an active contribution to peace building once I retired and while I am still strong enough”, said Michael. “It would have been all too easy just to join campaign groups or write letters to MPs, but I feel strongly that I should try to work to make a difference … hence my decision to apply to be a human rights monitor.”

Michael explained that he had first heard about the programme 15 years ago when a returning EA spoke with passion at the local Quaker Meeting he attended.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) is an international programme set up by the World Council of Churches in 2002. It is administered in the UK and Ireland by Quakers in Britain. The programme strives to find a peaceful end to the conflict on the basis of International Law where Israelis and Palestinians can negotiate a settlement and

live in peaceful co-existence.

An important part of EAPPI’s work is that returning EAs are encouraged to share their experience, to help raise awareness of the issues and to put pressure on governments to seek creative solutions. Michael plans to make presentations to schools on his return and would also be delighted to hear from other groups who would like to learn more about his experiences and what he witnesses.