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RotaKids Careers Day Whole School Worship
Today our Whole School Worship was a little bit different as it was our RotaKids Careers Dress Up Day. All of the children and staff were dressed in their own clothes, showing what they want to be when they grow up. Mrs Ham started by asking the teachers to parade in their outfits. We had an astronaut, a singer, a doctor, a vet, a paddle coach and a baker. The children followed on and each class showed off their outfits too and there was such a range of career choices with lots of vets, hairdresser and footballers. After the parade, Mrs Ham selected the most unusual outfits and asked the children to guess what the children would like to be when they grow up. We had everything from DJ Jenson to King Jonas. It was a super Worship and we hope that today helps to broadens the children’s horizons, sparks curiosity, and helps them to link their skills to future opportunities.
Year 6 - PSHE
Today in Year 6, the children continued exploring their Growing and Changing unit in PSHE. Throughout the session, the children discussed a range of real-life scenarios they may encounter as they get older, including body image, physical and emotional changes, the influence of social media and building positive self-esteem. The children worked collaboratively to explore these situations, discussing and modelling appropriate responses while considering healthy ways to manage challenges they may face in the future. It was fantastic to see such thoughtful conversations, mature attitudes and respectful discussions as the children developed the knowledge and confidence to make positive choices and support both themselves and others.
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Year 6 - Performance Rehearsals
The Year 6 children were working hard during rehearsals and the play is coming together nicely. They have been learning to project their voices and sing the song from the heart. They even gave a special performance for Bishop Philip. The children can’t wait to show their families!
Year 5 - Children’s Literature Festival
On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to walk down to Darwen Library to participate in Blackburn with Darwen’s Children’s Literature Festival. We had the privilege of talking to Sarah Surgey, author of books such as Subject Society, Jumping Hurdles and The Heavy Bag. She gave us a great insight into the process of writing and the business of publishing, before reading some of her latest book. The children asked some really interesting questions and we all enjoyed this rare opportunity to gain advice and understanding from an accomplished professional.
Year 2 - History - Florence Nightingale
Year 2 have started a new unit of learning in history about Florence Nightingale. We learned lots about her and quizzed each other.
Year 6 - Numeracy Day
As part of National Numeracy Day, our Year 6 children took part in an exciting oracy-based maths activity using a concept cartoon linked to real-world numeracy challenges. Working collaboratively, the children discussed and solved a variety of problems linked to important global themes including tree planting, clean energy, water conservation, recycling and reducing carbon footprints. The tasks encouraged pupils to apply their knowledge of percentages, ratio, area, multiplication and reasoning in meaningful contexts. Throughout the activity, the children explained their ideas, justified their methods and listened respectfully to the opinions of others, developing both their mathematical understanding and their speaking and listening skills. The concept cartoon showed the children that there can be more than one way to solve a problem and encouraged deeper mathematical thinking. It was fantastic to see the children demonstrating resilience, teamwork and confidence while recognising how maths can help make a positive difference in the wider world.
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Year 4 - National Numeracy Day
To celebrate National Numeracy Day, the Year 4 class took part in a number of activities to develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills. These included taking part in a live lesson delivered by TT Rockstars and Mr MoneyJar, which involved understanding the value of money and playing ‘Would You Rather…?’ to decide when to splurge and when to save. The children also completed the Build A Playground challenge, in which they had to compare deals on various pieces of playground equipment in order to build the most cost effective playground. Once they had calculated their total cost, the children designed their playgrounds. The children’s final challenge involved a concept cartoon about number sequences. They were given the first 5 terms in a sequence and were asked to workout the 20th and the 100th terms with their partner. This activity involved lots of discussion using our oracy skills. They were encouraged to share their ideas and ask each other questions so that they would both reach a mutual decision in order to reach the answers. The class was given timely clues, or helpful hints, to aid their mathematical working. They showed great perseverance and even developed an algebraic equation to help solve the problems efficiently.
Year 3- The Big Debate Club- Is it better to preserve traditions or embrace progress?
In class today, we took part in the Big Debate Club to discuss whether it is better to preserve traditions or embrace progress. Led by Harry and Charlie, the session was a fantastic showcase of oracy skills, with everyone focusing on active listening and critical thinking to weigh up both sides of the argument. The discussion explored how traditions provide us with a vital sense of identity and stability, while progress allows us to evolve and fix the mistakes of the past. We also celebrated our success in raising £163 for the big bake sale.
Year 2 - English and Oracy - Generating speech for characters
In Year 2, we have been working in talk partners to generate speech between Kevin The Koala and The Woodpecker. We had to speak clearly and listen carefully to create the conversation.
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Year 4 - Class Worship: Is It Ever Right To Lie?
A philosophical debate helped us to answer a very widely contested question in our class worship during polling week. Stephen Fry introduced the story of King Lawrence the Lion who introduced a law against telling lies of any kind. Within the story, there were examples of lies that hurt others and lies that protect others. There were also quotes from famous philosophers who have argued both sides. Then it was over to the children. In groups, the children used their talk tokens to take turns in putting forward their ideas. We focussed on the skill of summarising and so each group had a note taker who summarised the main points discussed in their groups when presenting to the rest of the class. We then considered what Jesus would say about lying. The majority of the class agreed that telling a lie can sometimes be a good thing if it spares someone being hurt.
Year 6 - Fair Trade
Today during our geography lesson, Year 6 explored the importance of fair trade and the vital role it plays within global trade. We began with an oracy-based diagnostic question, which enabled the children to make meaningful links to prior learning, particularly around import and export. This discussion helped to surface their existing understanding and misconceptions. Following this, the children developed their geographical knowledge by creating a heatmap of the world. The children identified and coloured countries that participate in purchasing fair trade products, allowing them to visualise global patterns and consider which regions are more actively involved in supporting fair trade practices. To deepen their understanding, we also discussed why fair trade is important, including how it supports producers in developing countries, promotes ethical trading practices and contributes to more sustainable livelihoods. The children engaged thoughtfully with these ideas and demonstrated an increasing awareness of their role as global citizens.
Year 5 - PE
We continued our orienteering topic by turning our playground netball court into a map that the children had to carefully navigate. Each group was given different directions that they had to follow, with each point on the map given a number they had to record. It was another opportunity to exploit the glorious weather we have been having and it was great to watch the children work so well with each other, displaying and developing their strong talking and listening skills.