JUNIOR SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER
Friday 1st February 2019 Dear Parents
As I write this, early on Thursday afternoon, a beautiful frost-tinted remains over much of the school campus. With clear skies on break duty this morning and a crisp chill in the air, I almost thought we were in the Alps not the Cotswolds! The cold weather (more forecast tonight too) has led to us postponing our Junior School Open Morning, which will instead coincide with the Early Years “Stay and Play” next Friday instead. While it might have changed our plans, the cold spell hasn’t changed our teaching and learning, and all the classes have been outside at some point this week. Yesterday, Foundation were having a great time exploring the snow in their allin-ones and thoroughly enjoying themselves! It is worth a reminder though, that with the cold weather we are experiencing that the children have coats, gloves, hats, scarves and appropriate footwear to wear outside at lunch and break time. During Meeting for Worship this week we have been continuing our theme of Consideration. We began on Monday by thinking about the importance of telling the truth and thereby being considerate to others and yourself. We explored (with the help of Bart Simpson and Mr Burns!) how people can give differing accounts of the same situation, and that it is important to be honest about our actions and not just those done to us by others. On Tuesday, in recognition of Holocaust Memorial Day, Year 5 and 6 watched some very moving accounts from survivors of the atrocities. Miriam and Feyodor, now nearing 90, were talking to their grandchildren about their experiences as children. Feyodor gave a heart-rending description of how his family had hidden from the Nazis by living in remote barns and forests for 18 months before their capture. He recalled being torn from his protesting father’s arms to be taken away to a concentration camp. He later found out his entire family had been killed in the genocide. Miriam’s story was different, but nonetheless harrowing. Her family remained in Bratislava and relied upon kind families who hid them behind panelling in their flats at huge risk to themselves. They survived the war, but only because of the compassion of the people who fed them and protected them. The children and I reflected upon how lucky we are to live in the safe communities surrounding us. We also thought about how it is incumbent upon all of us to protect that safety though our actions and our honesty. I shared with them Advices and Queries 17 which includes some sage guidance about accepting our own flaws and respecting the opinions of others: “Do you respect that of God in everyone though it may be expressed in unfamiliar ways or be difficult to discern? Each of us has a particular experience of God and each must find the way to be true to it. When words are strange or disturbing to you, try to sense where they come from and what has nourished the lives of others. Listen patiently and seek the truth which other people’s opinions may contain for you. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your convictions to betray you into making statements or allegations that
are unfair or untrue. Think it possible that you may be mistaken.” Elsewhere this week the weather has failed to put a halt to our sporting programme with Hockey, Football and Netball matches taking place on Tuesday and our Year 5 and 6 Interhouse Swimming Gala on Wednesday. Accounts from all of these are below, but a special thank you goes to all the parents who came to support in the inclement weather – it is very much appreciated. In school last Saturday we were pleased to welcome 33 pupils, both internal and external, in to undertake scholarship assessments. This is the largest field we have ever had and we were very impressed with the high standard shown on the day. The Year 7 staff will have a busy time come September! Congratulations to Finn, Y6 who receives the Head Of Junior School Award this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the opening of the 6 Nations. Come on England, let’s make up for last year’s disappointment! In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School
Ps. Did you know that the inside of the 6 Nations trophy has had to be gold-plated? This is not to make it more valuable, but rather to negate the corrosive effects of champagne!
School is Snow much fun today!
Foundation and Reception ‘The highest form of research is essentially play.’ This might just look like a chair but it is not….. The children flipped the back out and turned it into a car with a front for mum and dad and a back for the kids. The children set off on their imaginary journey to the zoo, not forgetting to pack some pizza. We set the classroom up as a zoo and used pieces of cloth to turn ourselves into animals. The children then decided to make the chair into a den, which they decided was actually a bat cave. Being nocturnal - they could only come out when it was night time. We explored all sort of animals that live in dens or underground. Did you know that there are owls that live underground? They were a pack of wolves and later some moles. We explored what moles underground burrows looked like. How lots of animals separate their burrows so that they have an area to live in, store their food, keep their young and even an area to go to the toilet. We organised our burrow and drew maps of what it looked like. Some children even pretended they were eggs. When they hatched they moved to a new part of the burrow. The next day we decided to go hunting for mole hills by forest school. We found plenty and the children were great at identifying how they were different from rabbit warrens. All that from playing with a folding chair!
Year 1 and 2
Aside from our chair adventures, we have still been finding time to work on our space topic. We have made all sorts of weird and wonderful aliens through craft and using clay. The children have been adding ‘one more eye’ and taking eyes away. The children had to think about the noises their alien might make and what it looked like. One alien has stingers so make sure you do not touch it!! We put are putting all our ideas into a book and making our own version of ‘Here come the Aliens’.
Year 3 Year 1 and 2 The beginning of the week started with the Year 1 and 2 children ordering the days of the week and solving problems on time, thinking about the features of an analogue clock and some children looking at how the digital clock can help understand times beyond o’clock. Their love of their topic of chocolate has continued, though this time understanding the importance of putting information in the correct order. They already know that chocolate is harvested from cacao trees, but they looked more closely at each process and how to explain what is happening. So when out in the raised beds, they harvested some of their own produce, which were transformed into beetroot brownies! They had to focus on instructions and explaining to one another exactly what they needed to do. After all their research and investigation of making different shapes in their art, they were finally able to design and create the outline for their Central American Bark Art paintings. They look forward to painting them with the bright and vibrant colours for that style next week. Finally, if you are to venture into the Year 1 and 2 cloakroom, you might think that you might be being watched! They got into character of Christopher Columbus and what it might be like to sail and explore new lands.
Year 3 Year 3 started the week looking what kind of fossils have been found, and indeed what kind of fossils you may still be able to find in different locations in history. They were amazed to learn that that the age of the rock and how it was formed plays a key part in the types and ages of the fossils that can be found. I have a feeling that the pupils may keep their eyes peeled next time they find themselves by the coast, particularly Dorset! They braved the cold weather during our Forest School session this week and, very quickly, made a shelter to protect all of Year 3 from the elements. Helen Arnold and Lois Self had never seen such good team work and resilience! Pupils have continued to contemplate how the world might have been created and, this week, looked at the big bang theory. This was a lot for even the teachers to take in! The pupils were left awe-struck, open mouthed as they tried to get their heads around how this might have happened! They then focussed on the world that we live in today and thought about positive and negative aspects of the world, before describing
their perfects worlds. We had a huge variety of answers, including a world full of animals, forests and ipads, a world with no adults, a world whereby history was taught every day and a world with an endless supply of Nutella! Speaking of history, Year 3 have been learning all about how we know about people who lived in The Stone Age (because of the things they left behind). They had a look at the remains of paintings that they created on the walls of caves, and then had a go at creating their own Stone Age-esque cave paintings on the walls of our own Sibford Cave (which may look suspiciously like the roundhouse).
Year 4 Year 4 continue to tweak and refine their battery charged car designs. The brief of creating the fastest vehicle has sparked healthy competitiveness‌ chassis have been constructed and decorated, motors explored and attached, axles measured and sawed – fingers crossed the wheels do not come off!
Year 6
4KS enjoyed finding out about the history of Roman numerals and embraced learning the rules that surround them. They showed off their skills, working both ways to recognise Roman numerals, as well as changing numbers into Roman numerals. They also realised that they are still used more than you might think: on clocks, as chapter headings and for film sequels. To finish off, a class challenge threw up some interesting and tricky Roman numeral conundrums.
Year 5
In Science, Year 5 have been exploring the materials around us and the different properties each have. They worked in groups to design their very own investigation to help them explore materials which dissolve and the factors that effect it. Pleasing observations came from stirring or not stirring jelly in a beaker of either cold or hot water; results were noted carefully and conclusions were drawn. It’s not just for fun either, in these practical lessons we are trying to train them to “behave like scientists and think like scientists” using the equipment and resources in an intelligent way and drawing out their own ideas from what they have seen. Possibly that is what one of the class (pictured here) was thinking when she brought in a snowman? From investigations into dissolving materials to melting one’s next lesson?
Year 6 What a fantastic Swimming Gala yesterday! Year 5 and 6 were amazing! They swam like bullets through the water, and demonstrated skill, perseverance and great team spirit. A big thank you to Claire Ferley for organising it. 6NH continue to sculpt their model elephants, while Pennell’s pachyderms are glazed and ready to go on show at our open morning. In Maths we have been looking at the work of Escher, and making our own tessellating patterns, which proved to be trickier than expected. We are also looking at word problems specifically involving decimal numbers and long multiplication. In Geography we have been studying Hurricanes, and the children have been blown away by what they have learnt. In Literacy we have carried on looking at the work of Philip Pullman and discovered that he has two particular things in common with other authors we have studied… he writes in a shed, and he used to be a teacher. Do you know which two authors we were thinking about? We have looked at the characters he created, particularly the mischievous Lyra Belacqua. In his Dark Materials trilogy he wanted to ‘show that ordinary children, without magical gifts, are capable of achieving extraordinary things.’ There was great excitement last week when all our prospective Year 7 friends came for a visit. The Sibford students were great hosts, and the children all enjoyed getting to know each other through a variety of team building activities.
Sport Reports
U8/9 Football v Kitebrook – Away - As – lost In a close game the A team came from four goals down to nearly cause an upset. This came as they began to work more as a team and less as individuals which meant they were more effective in both defence and attack. This was summed up with a brilliant final goal scored by Tobin but set up by a fabulous Steven Gerrard style pass from Alex as a result for some stout defending by Tom! Well done! U8/9 Football v Kitebrook – Away - Bs - lost Led by Alex, a side depleted by illness played gainfully in their first proper fixture, succumbing to a strong Kitebrook side. Though they ended up on the wrong side of the result they improved as the game went on and showed a great deal of resilience to persevere in appalling weather. They definitely earned their doughnuts at the end! U8/9 Netball v Kitebrook – A With icy hands and knocking knees the mixed Y3/4 girls netball teams braced themselves for their matches against Kitebrook. The opposition started off strongly, taking the girls slightly by surprise. Our defence were made to work hard against a relentless attack, tight marking of the shots and some lovely leaping for rebounds kept the Kitebrook goal tally down. The girls listened well to half time chats and speed of pass increased, they also utilised more of the court to create space. We were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, it was a great effort from all in inclement weather conditions. Players of the match: Harriet & Kaiya U11 Hockey (Boys) v New College School – A On Tuesday 14 year 6 boys headed to play New College for their first competitive hockey match of the year. Sibford defended well throughout in both games, against very strong opposition. It was a great learning experience for the boys ahead of their hockey tournament next week. Some exceptional performances from Bardia and Ellis in goal. Well done boys.
Sibford School Ski Trip (Years 4-13) – Friday, 5th April to Saturday, 13th April 2019
There are still a few spaces available on the above ski trip this Easter. If you would like your child to attend the above trip or require further information, please contact Lynne Singer lsinger@sibfordschool.co.uk as soon as possible. This will be an excellent opportunity to ski in Rodeneck in the Italian Alps. It's a Jolly CauliDay!
Catering team treat us to some cauliflower treats ... Cauliflower & Gruyere Soup, Roasted Cauliflower Tabbouleh and Cauliflower Chocolate Pudding! Did you know the tightly packed flower-heads on a cauli are called 'curds'? Great Amnesty Quiz Night – Thursday, 7th February 2019 – 7pm(prompt) -8.30pm at Sibford School in the Main Hall
The Banbury Group is joining forces with the student Amnesty Group at Sibford School to organise a Great Amnesty Quiz Night as part of a week of nationwide quizzing taking place in aid of Amnesty International. It's great that students at Sibford School are behind this Amnesty initiative and I hope that Banbury Group and our contacts will be able to maximise support for them in hosting the evening. The most direct way you can do this is to book in a team of four people to take part. To book in your team of four simply email ian_myson@hotmail.com and then pay on the night (£5 per person; £2 for aged 18 and under).
Pie n Quiz Night – Friday, 8th March 2019
PSFA is to hold a Pie n Quiz Night on Friday 8 March. Tickets cost £8 per person including food. Suggested team size is 6 people. Buy tickets as a team (invite your friends) or come along as an individual/couple and teams will be made up on the night. Tickets are on sale from reception. Numbers are limited so get in quick!