Community Week: The Mayor of Wetherby

To kick start our community themed week, we welcomed the Mayor of Wetherby into school. Councillor Neil O’Byrne was elected as Mayor and he’s is in his third term of office.

The children listened to the Mayor as he explained his role in the community. Following this, the classes were able to ask questions.

Do you get paid?

Who voted for you and was it fair?

Do the people of Wetherby vote?

Why do you wear the chains around your neck?

Have you made a difference to the people and town of Wetherby?

Was there an election?

Don’t forget, the Mayor will be lighting the Wetherby bonfire on Saturday!

Me and My Community: Identity

This week, in Living and Learning, we have a special themed week. We are thinking about ‘Me and My Community’. Today, we have explored our identity and thought about what makes us unique and special.

Happy Half Term!

Thanks to all Year 5/6 pupils for their hard work and positive attitudes during the first half term – everyone has started off really well! Thanks also to all parents that came to the parent/teacher appointments – you were all extremely supportive and I am very grateful for that.

Moving into the next half term, I am hoping to continue the progress Year 5 and 6 have already made – well done, everyone!

Mr Freeman

Well done…

…to all those children who put themselves in the running for the new Junior Leadership Team. It can be disappointing if you put yourself forward and you weren’t elected but it was great to see everyone being so positive and cheering and congratulating our new class ambassadors.

Good luck to the new Year 4 Junior Leadership Team: Kamile and Umar!

Junior Leadership Elections 2022-23

This week, we held an election for the new Junior Leadership Team – the JLT. Children had the chance to give a speech in their class and to say why they’d be a great ambassador for our school.

There are two representatives from each class and they will attend regular meetings to help senior leaders to make decisions.

It was incredible to see that the majority of the school had given a speech to their classmates in the hopes of becoming the next junior leaders!

Today, the new JLT was revealed with an exciting balloon pop… The outgoing JLT each had a balloon popped to reveal the name of the new JLT inside. Check out who was voted in…

Year 6 – Harley & Daisy

Year 5 – Emilija & Eliza

Year 4 – Umar & Kamile

Year 3 – Polina & Christian

Year 2 – Emily & Shae

Year 1 – Freddie & Max

A huge well done to everyone who put themselves in the running! We hope those children who weren’t elected this time will have a another go next year!

Good luck to the JLT of 2022-23! Be sure to check back soon to see them decide our new school charity! 

Happy Half Term Year 3!

I want to say well done to all of Year 3 for a brilliant start to the year!

I hope you all have a fantastic and relaxing half term break.

Congratulations to the first member of year 3 to go up on “The Wall of Stars,” due to collecting the most raffle tickets over the past seven weeks!

Fantastic first half term!

Firstly, I would just like to say a massive well done to all of our nursery children this half term, you have all settled in amazingly and I am so proud.

This week we have focused our learning based on one of our favourite books ‘Room on the broom’ by Julia Donaldson.

The children have enjoyed reading and role playing the story in our book corner, repeating key phrases from the story.

Deacon- ‘It’s a witch, she has long hair’

Cora-‘witch and chips for tea’

Gracie- ‘she shouts DOWN! when she loses something off her broomstick’

We have explored all of our senses this week, diving into pumpkin madness. The children really enjoyed getting hands on and messy. We have saved some of our pumpkin seeds to plant in our garden next year.

Here is a link to watch Room on the broom with your child at home. Throughout the video pause and ask your child what they think might happen next?

Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.

Here are some more photos of our learning this week!

Reminder– Monday 31 October is an inset day for staff training.

I hope everybody has a lovely happy and healthy half term and we look forward to seeing you back on Tuesday 1 November.

Miss Ward

This week’s message (Friday 21 October 2022)

As I write this at 7.30 on Friday morning, I can hear the sound of pouring rain – let’s hope the half-term is drier so we can get out and about! This week’s message has a last minute reminder, a safety message, and some information about our Autumn term topics.

School day

There’s only a few hours left to complete this short survey about changes to the school day. We’ll close the survey at 5.00pm today – just a couple of hours. At the time of writing, 43 of you had submitted your views – thank you for taking the time to pass on your comments.

Firework safety

With many organised events cancelled due to tight budgets, West Yorkshire Fire Service is fearful that this may mean more families try to replicate a display, and that this may pose a greater risk to the safety of our children. Please speak with your child about the dangers of fireworks.

At the same time, it’s worth discussing the important role firefighters play in our community – in recent years, there’s been an increase in attacks on firefighters.

We’re all historians

This half-term, we’ve been historians. It would be great if you encourage your child to continue their History topic at home.

Children in Years 1 and 2 learnt about a significant British historical event: the Great Fire of London. Your child learnt about life at the time of the Great Fire of London. They discovered where the fire started and how it spread so quickly and the innovative ways that it was extinguished. Importantly, they thought about the different sources of evidence that helped us answer these questions, including Samuel Pepys’ diary. Finally, they learnt about the significant changes that occurred as a result of the fire, such as legal changes about the way houses were built and the beginning of a fire service in London. Link your discussions about firework safety with the history behind this event. Check out the Fire of London website – a great way to support and deepen children’s learning.

Ancient Greece was the topic for our Year 3 and 4 children. Your child began by sequencing periods of British history and seeing where the ‘golden-age’ of the Ancient Greek civilisation sits alongside British history. They then learnt about two contrasting city states: Athens and Sparta. Your child learnt about the type of government these states had and what the lives of the people living there were like. Ask your child about the influence that Athens has had on the world (they might mention democracy, mathematics, philosophy, literature, culture…) and how the civilisation ended. For a rainy half-term diversion, a visit to Leeds City Museum (next to Millennium Square) would be great because it has some Ancient Greek exhibits.

Children in Years 5 and 6 learnt about Stone Age to Iron Age Britain and contrasted it with Ancient Egypt. Your child began by looking at and creating timelines to gain an understanding of chronology. They learnt about the advances and innovations that occurred during the New Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. They then learnt about the Ancient Egyptian civilisation and contrasted this with what was happening in Britain at the same time. Speak with your child about the differences– it’s a stark contrast! As before, a trip to Leeds City Museum would be a great half-term day out – it has some Ancient Egyptian exhibits, including Nesyamum, the 3,000 year old Leeds mummy!

We’re all artists

Next half-term, we’re all artists. As well as creating some masterpieces, we’ll look at the work of various artists, architects and designers. To gain a head start, encourage your child to check out the work of our featured artists and designers:

• Years 1 and 2: Georges Seurat and Bridget Riley
• Years 3 and 4: Sir Christopher Wren and Zaha Hadid
• Years 5 and 6: William Morris and Orla Kiely

Have a happy and healthy half-term break. Remember, the first day of next term is a training day: see you all on Tuesday 01 November.

Living and Learning

This week, our Living and Learning statement has been I take part in democratic decisions.

We talked about what being part of a democratic decision means – making a choice through a vote. We’ve taken part in many democratic decisions in our classroom, such as choosing a book for story time and choosing which dance to do if we have Wake Up Shake Up in our classroom. Yesterday, we took part in our biggest democratic decision so far this year! We voted for our Junior Leadership Team (JLT) class representatives.

Some children stood in front of the class and gave a speech on why they would be a good member of the JLT. We had some fantastic ideas in Year 2! After, we had a ballot in the hall where everyone voted for the person they would like to be our JLT representative.

Our Final Week In Ancient Greece!

What a busy half term. Year 3 have done incredibly well settling into Key Stage 2 and should be very proud of themselves!

To finish our history learning about Ancient Greece, we made some pottery inspired by the Ancient Greeks. The children did a great job at sculpting their clay to construct their own pot.

We also had a debate about the better city state. The children had to decide if they would rather be a citizen in the forward-thinking, artistic state Athens or the warrior state Sparta! We joined with Year 4 and lots of children argued their points very well.

We have been learning about the history of democracy, which we know originated in Athens and was a new style of government.   This linked with our Living and Learning statement this week:

“I can take part in democratic decisions.”

We put this to practice during our annual Junior Leadership Team election. The children thought about who would make a good representative for Year 3 and voted for their choice.

The new JLT will be announced during collective worship tomorrow!

Why not ask your child what they enjoyed learning about in our history lessons this half term? Some of the key vocabulary we learnt included:

. chronological order

. golden age

. periods of time

. democracy

. citizens