Junior School Newsletter - March 27 2020

Junior School Newsletter Friday 27 March 2020

@SibfordJS The official newsletter of

DEAR PARENTS El Dorado High School teachers

Unquestionably, this week has been the strangest of my career. Looking over into the orchard, the Junior School lies bathed in beautiful Spring sunshine as you might expect, however it is missing one or two very key ingredients. The silence is as palpable as the stillness, where we would usually have all the excitement of an end of term, not to mention a forthcoming ski trip for some of the pupils. And yet, for all the inactivity at school, I know that there have been busy hives in all your houses as the children (and I daresay, parents!) have got to grips with learning from home.

It has been quite a change for us teachers as we’ve got to grips with the teaching via Teams and uploading clips to Firefly – I don’t think I’m the only one who cringes when they see themself on video!

In spite of some technical issues earlier in the week, the children have clearly got a handle of the change in circumstances and we have been very impressed with what they have produced and in the variety of media it has come in. We have endeavoured to make sure that there is sufficient range of tasks, challenge and level of independence, as well as working on the all-important interface between teacher and pupil. However, we would welcome any feedback in advance of the return after the Easter holidays.

And speaking of the holidays… we’ve got something fun to introduce to pass the time while many of us are stuck at home. We are launching the Easter Alphabet Family Challenge!

Each day a new family challenge, introduced by video, will be put on Firefly (look for the tab on the Class Info Section). Starting from Saturday 28th March, the challenge of the day will correlate with a consecutive letter of the alphabet. The activities will be varied and are completely optional, just an opportunity for the children (plus siblings and parents) to have a bit of fun – and we’d love to see what you get up to!

@SibfordOxon

@SibfordOxon

Junior School Newsletter Friday 27 March 2020 We would normally look to finish the week with Head of Junior School Stickers and, at Celebration Meeting, recognise children who have performed particularly well. This week is no exception. Most of the children have done fabulously, but well done to the following children recognised as our Home Learners of the Week:

Head of Junior School Stickers: Harry S, Connor, Evie, Niamh EYFS Anastasia, Sofia KS1 Benjamin G. Year 3 Alice Year 4 Emma, James, Bertie, Lieu-Yen Year 5HS Susannah Year 5LM Chelsea, Lucy, Arthur Year 6AP Charles, Sophie Year 6NH Sam, Phoebe SfL Rhett

In addition, we want to make our end of term awards as normal so a special well done to the following children. Your certificates are in the post and we look forward to awarding the trophies when we’re back at school: PSFA Spirit of the Junior School Niamh and Hanne-Lydia Headteacher’s Academic Achievement Abby HowesTrophy for Excellence in Science Fergus Koochitt Trophy for Excellence in Creative Writing Lukas Sayer Cup for Art Emily Ho Woolley Award for Excellence in Maths James Friday Cup for Organisation Evie F Sportsman of the Term Mani Sportswomen of the Term Kezia

@SibfordOxon

@SibfordOxon

Junior School Newsletter Friday 27 March 2020 This newsletter also marks the end of the term and though they’ve not been in school for the week, I think the children and staff (and parents!) have certainly earned a welldeserved break. I hope the holidays are as contented and happy as they can be in the current circumstances. In the meantime, stay safe and I hope to see you all soon.

In friendship

Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Ps. Did you know that Hawaii and Arizona don’t change their clocks with the rest of the USA for daylight saving?

@SibfordOxon

@SibfordOxon

FOUNDATION AND RECEPTION I cannot pin down where I saw it, but I saw a lovely quote about how young children will view and remember this strange time very differently to us. For them, they will see it as the time they got to stay at home with their family. They might remember helping to make dinner; playing in the garden; growing vegetables; playing lots of games with you; going on long walks and rolling down hills (once dailyJ); setting up a play shop or a café in their house; making a den; having water fights in the garden. They got to spend time with their favourite people in the whole world – you. (NB – these are all lovely things the Early Years have been up to at home).

In Early Years this week we have been exploring adding and taking away. With the help of some interactive videos, the children have been thinking about different ways to add and takeaway. The parents have been wonderfully creative with how to approach maths with the children using snacks, logs, stones, sticks and even shoes to set up maths problems. We have set up an Interactive Classroom on Firefly and have a lovely collection of stories for the children to access at home read by Libby Andrews, Sukey Symes, Nick Hadley, Nicola Key and even one read by the whole of Junior School from last year. A nice way to keep in touch and maintain a connection with the child. Something I am really missing.

YEAR 1 AND 2 Year 1 and 2 have outdone themselves this week with their home learning, Becca Edwards has loved seeing all of the pictures and videos flood her inbox! After a perplexing end to last week, the children did show great resilience and motivation, especially by showing such enthusiasm with their home learning stations. Although this wouldn’t be how we’d normally finish a topic, but the children have been set a number of castle themed activities this week and they haven’t disappointed! There have been some inventive ways of designing and making their own shields. It’s been great to see how the children have used the PowerPoint provided which gave a key to show how colours represented different qualities, but also how they have used different objects to do this!

More work was set on traditional tales, from reading their own and working out the characters, setting and plot. But they were then asked to create their own stick puppets and retell the story. If you have a moment, please do be sure to head over to our Firefly page where you can see some of them, also keep an eye out on Twitter! Children wouldn’t normally be asked to get materials all twisted, tangled or knotted but that’s exactly what Becca Edwards asked the children to investigate when looking at the story of Rapunzel! Everyone knows that her hair was used to help her get down from the tower, but the children were asked to think of how to join other materials instead! They were then also asked to investigate how to make a tower for her using different objects from around the home.

Despite not being at school, a lot has been achieved this week in the world of Sibford Year 1 and 2. Becca Edwards hopes they all have a well-deserved Easter break, albeit a little different/restricted from their normal sort of rest from school! Look forward to learning with you all again on Monday 20th April!

YEAR 3 It’s hard to know where to start, given the massive leap children, parents and staff have taken during this week. I can only speak for myself but from what I am seeing, parents and children have demonstrated amazing resilience towards their learning. Together we have tackled maths challenges, English Storyboards, botanical drawings and even Stone Age stewing and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Parents you have been there through the break times, the lunches and all the other zillion things you had to do this week. I just wanted to say how wonderful you have been at supporting your children in a Home Learning environment. I think we should let the pictures speak for themselves. Hope you all stay safe over the Easter Holiday. I will put forward some ideas for projects to work on over Easter- if you wish to keep the learning going!

YEAR 4 Year 4 Poem This week we’ve all been based at home, “We’ve still got school?!” the children groan.

Throughout the week they’ve done their sums, Subtracting numbers in columns.

78 times tables they’ve had to master, On Sporcle you’re getter faster and faster!

Classical composers, who’s the man?

Why of course it’s Beethoven (Ludwig van).

Electric appliances – they made a list, Check the garage there’s one you missed!

Recapping “speech” has been great to see, Based on The Princess and the Pea.

No wind just yet, there may be later, Quick – get out the windicator!

A Viking God – Odin, Loki, Thor…

Their research led to facts galore.

PE - a stopwatch and a wall, All that’s needed now – a ball!

In RE – compare two Sikh Gurus, Nanak, Angad – who’d you choose?

What a lot of work you’ve done, Now get outside - enjoy the sun!

YEAR 4

YEAR 5 What a eek! Following Government instructions for us all to stay at home, we have all been rapidly adjusting to a new way of life of teaching and learning from home.

Year 5 have amazed both Lynne McArdle and Hazel Sykes this, week with their dogged determination to carry on as normal, despite only having virtual contact with their teachers. It’s probably testament to how well trained we’ve managed to get them by this point in the year, that they are able to carry on pursuing their learning whilst at home, but seriously, we have been really proud of their “can do” approach!

Just like in a normal week at school, Year 5 have had a wide range of lessons. In Maths we have been measuring perimeters (in some cases, of objects around the home), comparing measurements of volume/capacity, length and weight/mass and then using this knowledge to solve word problems to round off the week. In English we have ripped apart their world asking them to write an imaginative piece about an eerily strange image (see photo) and then getting used to the power onomatopoeia can help bring to creating a sense of atmosphere. Here’s an example of how we’ve been trying to respond to the pupils online – just like we would in class: Reshaping the World Once finished by Kronos’ fatal hand, he lay down his colossal scissors and admired his dismantled work. The titans’ frustration at being walked on by the gods had driven them to unstitch the fabric of the world.

Olympus was abandoned, ripped apart at the seams and Zeus and the pantheon had fled the area. Kronos’ bloodthirsty plan was to use the material of the Earth to embroider a land with famous victories, glorifying their conquests.

Seeking safety in the labyrinth, the gods planned heir revenge. They called upon Pandora so she could open the mysterious box she was the guardian of. Their desire was to unleash the devils within and control and direct their anger.

YEAR 5 But their plan didn’t work. The devils didn’t obey and went riot, destroying the world even more. The titans and the gods realised they had to work together to defeat the devious spirits and weave a new world, embellished and adorned with love, kindness, peace and symphony.

By collaborating, the devils were banished to Hades’ underworld along with their sins and they designed a tapestry of a new world, tailored to bring about eternal harmony.

by Oliver What a super piece of writing, it seems the picture really caught your imagination!

Some really excellent word choices here Oliver – particularly some of your verbs .We didn’t stop with our creativity this week as our Art task and the sunshine took some of outside to complete our sketches of spring flowers in situ. We have also combined humanities subjects History and Geography this week to look at maps and plotting the routes of different Tudor explorers and also finding out more about that most famous of Tudor monarchs, Henry VIII by through a comprehension.

In Science, Year 5 have delved int the past also – exploring for themselves different chemical creations formulated by certain scientists who have made world-changing new materials which we still use today; from Spencer Silver who invented the sticky note to Ruth Benerito who invented wrinkle-free cotton this has neatly rounded up our Material topic in Science.

We’ve also had some fun keeping up with our fitness for PE - even if it has been in front of the TV for some! Although our DT task had us making kites out of recycled materials so hopefully, we can find some time over the Easter break to fly them with our families somewhere away from the crowds so we can keep a good social distance.

Our week hasn’t been without its own wrinkle: hiccups with Firefly earlier in the week kept up on our toes and we thank both the pupils and the parents of Year 5 who have born with it and still managed to produce some fantastic pieces of work.

YEAR 5

Emily H - Art Joseph - Maths

Jago - Art

Lucy

Rhett -DT Mani - History/Geography

YEAR 6 Well, what an unusual week – much quieter than usual, and the cloakroom is still remarkably tidy! Thank you to all Year 6, and their parents, for embracing their Home Learning with such enthusiasm. We have been overwhelmed by your dedication and effort. The accounts of a storm at sea, inspired by The Tempest, were full of atmosphere and tension. It was great to see such a variety of high level vocabulary and sentence openers. We are looking forward to reading your spells next, inspired by the witches in Macbeth.

The photos you sent in after your cooking task made us both feel very hungry. Hopefully you are all helping with the cooking at home. During the holidays, we will put an Easter biscuit recipe in Year 6 Notices TEAM, and we will continue to make use of this method of communication. It has been great to be able to video message with most of you this week too. Although there has been a steep learning curve with the technology, it seems like we have managed to solve most of the issues. We have a few hurdles to get over, and Alice Pennell and Nick Hadley have new scripts to write for their morning messages, but everyone has earnt a rest over Easter. There will be more excitement and inspiration (and bad jokes) to come in the summer team, I mean term, – in whatever way that will be delivered.

Happy Easter!

Hanne-Lydia - Cooking

Ruby's Art Island The White's Jogging Niamh - Collage