Living and Learning: Protected Characteristics
Our Living and Learning statement last week was…
I respect others
Year 5 and 6 have been learning about equality and discrimination. We have looked at many scenarios where an individual (or group) was being discriminated against. We discussed what these reasons might be and what we would do to change the world if we could.
Then, we had a look at the Equality Act (2010) and our protected characteristics that we can’t be discriminated against. Pupils were mature, engaged and active in this learning, which resulted in some fantastic discussions and advice for others.
Here are the nine protected characteristics:
- sex
- sexual orientation
- gender reassignment
- disability
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- religion or belief
- race
- age
We will continue to focus and test ourselves on these characteristics throughout the year.
What’s in the Box?
This week, Year 5 and 6 are writing our first piece of short, descriptive narrative. This writing is based around our class novel (Secrets of a Sun King) where Lilian, our main character, finds a mysterious package on her grandpa’s front door step.
Our aim is to engage the reader by showing them Lilian’s thoughts and feelings, instead of just telling them everything that’s happening. We can do this by leaving little clues for the reader to pick up on – this allows the reader to paint a better picture of the story in their minds.
I am so impressed with the amount of perseverance all pupils have shown with this writing – some children even started all over again because they were determined to improve!
Here are some examples of our work so far – well done, everyone!
British History Experts!
Year 5 and 6 are on a chronological learning journey through Britain!
For the last few weeks, we have learnt all about life in Britain during the New Stone Age (4,000 BC – 2,500 BC) and the Bronze Age (2,500 BC – 800 BC). Here is some of the information we’ve learnt so far!
So, what’s comes after the Bronze Age? Well, this week we’ll be adding to our timelines and learning all about the Iron Age!
A Fantastic First Week!
Hello everyone! Mr Freeman here with our first official Year 5/6 post of 2022/23. I hope you are all happy, healthy and excited for the upcoming year.
First of all, I would like to start by saying a massive thankyou to all pupils in Year 5 and 6. It’s never easy starting somewhere new – there are many emotions that both pupils and adults have to deal with. However, every single person in the classroom has made me feel so incredibly welcome. From the “Hello Mr Freeman” in the mornings, to playing zombie tag outside, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone and they’ve allowed me to settle in quickly and comfortably.
On top of that, the learning this week has been outstanding! The resilience to improve our handwriting, the British history knowledge in our topic learning and the fantastic levels of engagement in our new class novel are just some examples of the excellent week we’ve had.
If you’re wanting to build on the learning at home, here’s a quick breakdown of what we’re learning in lessons:
- Writing – capital letters, squashed sentences and basic punctuation
- Spelling – homophones (were, where, wear, two, too, to, which, witch)
- Handwriting – forming capital letters from the top and joining lower case letters
- Reading – class novel (Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll) and fluency
- Maths – Roman Numerals (Year 5) and place value up to 1,000,000 (Year 6)
- History – Stone Age to Iron Age and the Ancient Egyptians
- Biology – classifying plants and animals (Carl Linnaeus is our featured scientist this half term)
- Living and Learning/Christian values – I follow the school rules / perseverance
- PE – ball skills and teamwork
Thanks again, Year 5/6 – I’m looking forward to a brilliant year together!
Mr Freeman
Goodbye, Year 6!
A huge well done to all of the children in Year 6.
Everyone at St James’ is so proud of all you’ve achieved in your time here and we wish you all the best as you start the next chapter at high school.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
Tonight, Key Stage 2 performed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat- it really was amazing! The children sang their hearts out and made everybody really proud. Thank you to all the staff who put together a fantastic show and a special shout out to Mrs Valentine’s Mum who spent many hours creating the iconic dreamcoat.
Well done to all the children- it was a huge success!
This week’s bible story
Jesus is friends with Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10
Have you ever heard the story of Burglar Bill – Bill goes out every night. Getting into houses through open windows and taking things. Until one night, Bill found a baby, and that changed his whole life …
There is a Bible story about a man who stole from other people. He took extra money when he gave them their tax bills and became very rich on all the money that he stole. Zacchaeus was a little man and that small people can’t see in crowds. Read the story of Zacchaeus to find out what happened to him.
Reflection:
Jesus loved everyone when he lived on the earth. It didn’t matter how bad people were, Jesus was always there for those who needed him. This is true for us too – no one is so bad that God doesn’t love them. And the more time we spend with God – praying, thinking about him, finding out about him, the more we want to be like Jesus; kind, helpful and good. Just like Zacchaeus, Burglar Bill changed his ways and tried to be more like Jesus by loving those around him. Even though Burglar Bill and Zacchaeus made the wrong choice, God forgave them and continued loving them.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that Jesus loved Zacchaeus even when he wasn’t making the right choices. Help us to love all of those around us and be honest about our actions.
Amen
Relationships and Sex Education
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been learning about how our bodies change as we go through puberty and become an adult. We looked at the similarities and differences between male and female bodies and how to keep clean.
“I’ve learned that we grow hair in different places on our body.”
“I found out that girls have periods every month.”
“It was good to learn about how to keep clean and find out there are different deodorants.”
“It was helpful to look at different sanitary towels.”
This week’s bible story
Joseph’s brothers lie about his death. Genesis 37:17-33
In the bible, there is a story about Joseph and his technicoloured dream coat. Joseph had 12 older brothers who didn’t like him very much. His father, however, loved him very much and would often say how we was his favourite. Joseph had lots of dreams and he liked to tell his brothers all about his dreams.
Joseph’s brothers were fed up with listening to his dreams. Why was he always the star in them? Why did he always think that he was so much more important than they were? Jacob, Joseph’s dad, heard their grumbles and decided to keep Joseph at home on the farm with him, while Joseph’s brothers were sent off into the fields to look after the sheep.
Then, Jacob did something that made Joseph’s brothers even more cross! He gave Joseph a special coat made of brightly coloured cloth. Joseph’s brothers were jealous and angry. They didn’t think it was fair that Joseph should be treated differently from them; they were upset that Joseph was their dad’s favourite.
Do you think Joseph’s brothers were right to be jealous?’
Joseph’s brothers were so cross that they began to plan to get rid of Joseph.
One day, when Jacob sent Joseph to take food to his brothers in the fields, the brothers grabbed Joseph and threw him down an old well! While they were considering what to do next, they heard the sound of people travelling along the dusty road. As they looked in the direction of the noise, they saw some travellers who were on their way to Egypt, with their camels loaded with spices that they hoped to sell there. What luck! This was a perfect way of getting rid of Joseph forever
. The brothers quickly pulled Joseph out of the well and handed him over to the travellers. Then, they watched as Joseph disappeared along the dusty road. Poor Joseph! His life had become a nightmare; perhaps he would wake up soon, and discover that it had all been a bad dream.
The brothers had got rid of Joseph, but what could they tell their dad? To try to cover up what they had done, they put some animal blood on Joseph’s special coat and took the coat home to show their dad.
‘Look what we found!’ they said to Jacob.
Jacob saw the coat and thought Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal. He cried and cried. The brothers tried to comfort him, but it was no use.
Reflection:
Do you think the brothers felt sorry and sad when they saw how much they had hurt their dad?
Do you think they were wrong to do what they did?
Should they have tried harder to like their brother, Joseph?
Should they have been honest with their dad about how they were feeling?
There are times when we don’t find it easy to like everyone. However, we feel, though, it is wrong to deliberately hurt people. It is always better to talk about things and try to sort out any problems between people.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Please help us to care for other people.
Please help us when we feel cross or jealous.
Please help us to talk about our problems with someone we trust.
Amen.
Super Sports Day!
As the sun shined, we all thoroughly enjoyed our Key Stage 2 sports day of summer 2022.
The children were fantastic and participated in sprint, sack, egg and spoon and obstacle races just to name a few!
To finish off, we enjoyed watching some very brave younger sibling and parents as they competed in running races.
A huge thank you to the parents who could come to support and cheer the children on!