This Tuesday marked Safer Internet Day. It is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. This year’s theme was ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’ which was particularly relevant to the children this year as I’m aware that many of them engage with some form of online gaming or communication. It gave us an opportunity to discuss issues that arise when playing games and communicating online with friends and as part of online communities, and the children were able to offer advice for what to do when something happens that makes them feel uncomfortable or upset. Thankfully, most children took the advice seriously and were aware of how they should keep themselves safe, but unfortunately the attitudes of some children were quite concerning. Please take this opportunity to have a conversation with your child about their online use and how they should keep themselves safe. To help them to check their privacy settings and ensure their online identity does not give too much away, please see https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers for advice and information.

Further advice can be found at:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/#advice

https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/

https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/esafety-leaflets-resources/

Our learning this week…

In maths the focus of our work has been finding the area of rectangles, compound shapes and irregular shapes.

In English we have continued to practice our scenes from ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ and have also explored aspects of the play and its characters.

In RE we have learned about the work of Saint Damien, who went to help victims of Leprosy who were sent to live on Molokai. The children then looked at Corinthians 13, where Saint Paul describes what Jesus meant by ‘love’ and have considered how St Damien has shown his love for others in his work on Molokai.

In history the children have been comparing life in ancient Athens to life in Ancient Sparta.

In Spanish the children have been practising their counting and playing fun number games.

Computing - In this week’s lesson the children have used Sonic Pi to code a Space themed piece of music using their developing programming skills, including the use of loops.

In PE, Active Blackpool School and Community Sport Team brought in some wheelchairs to take part in different sports games as part of our inclusion PE sessions. As you can see, they had so much fun…

Our award winners:

Golden Award - Livia

Writing Award - Abigail

Maths Award - Gabriella

Year 5 Star Winner -

Young Seasiders Award

Congratulations to Henri who won the Young Seasiders Award for KS2 with his sculpture inspired by Giacometti.

Bedrock Competition

Well done to all of Year 5 who achieved 120 points or more on Bedrock over this last half term. I wish you all luck for the Bedrock prize draw! A big congratulations goes to our Bedrock Champion, Maisy, and well done to all the other children on our TOP 5 scoreboard. Well done!

Here is our TOP 5 winners on the scoreboard:

1 Maisy 619 points ⭐️Bedrock Champion ⭐️

2 Francesca 392 points

3 Gabriella 385 points

4 Abigail 378 points

5 Henri 320 points

Our Reading Champions…

Well done to our reading champions this half term who all completed bookmarks (some have now completed 3!) for reading regularly at home.

When the children read regularly, golden tickets are given out and then we do a draw at the end of each half term. Well done to Lily who is our golden ticket winner and has won a prize.

Resilient moves…

Thank you to all the children who shared their resilient moves this week.

What resilient moves will you make over half term? Please email me photos of your resilient moves you make over the week to year5@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk I look forward to receiving them.

This week’s resilient moves challenges are:

Have a laugh (Coping)
Find time for interests (Coping)

Coming up next half term… (It’s a busy one!)

21st February

Parent meetings - I look forward to meeting with you all virtually to discuss your child’s progress.

22nd February

Back to school and swimming - please ensure they have their full swimming kit..

The children will have a rehearsal in the afternoon with our Director Mentor from the RSC. If your child has been given lines to learn, please ensure that they know them off by heart ready for this rehearsal.

There were some scripts left behind in the hall from our rehearsal this afternoon. If your child has lines and hasn’t got their script, then please download the script here to ensure you know them off by heart and with expression! Much Ado About Nothing Script (some parts have been taken out from this script but the children should know which bits)

24th February

As part of our geography topic on Rivers, Year 5 will have a water workshop delivered by Kingfisher Education.

2nd March

Ash Wednesday - Start of Lent and our Lent reading challenge - more details nearer the time.

3rd March

World Book Day - book related activities will take place on this day. A dressing up day as favourite character will take place later on in March (25th March).

7th & 8th March or 9th & 10th March

Bikeability will take place for those who have signed up for a place. If your child is taking part, you should have received a text letting you know which days your child will be taking part.

14th March

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Tech rehearsal at the Grand Theatre (mid morning).

15th March

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ performance day at the Grand Theatre.

A letter after half term will be sent home to detail the structure of the two days (14th and 15th March).

Saturday 19th March

Year 5 are participating in a music event together with Blackpool Symphony Orchestra as part of their centenary celebrations. It is to take place at The Marine Hall in Fleetwood.

25th March

Dress as your favourite character from a book. Start thinking about your favourite character and what you might wear!