Brrrr…It’s cold in here.

 

Year 4 were delighted to welcome an Arctic Explorer into the fold yesterday.  The children were enchanted by her stories and her experiences of the Arctic, and had so many questions to ask her about what it was like.

Some of the children know a surprising amount about Arctic animals! Even the teachers learnt things they didn't know!

Our favourite part was by far the science experiments in the afternoon, where we made some blubber gloves and submerged our hands into ice-cold water to see which was colder, the one with the blubber glove or the one without. 

We also made mountain glaciers with clay and cornflour. It was a hugely worthwhile experience and we loved every minute. 

 

Video Games - The Research

The information below is based upon information from the Byron review, which was conducted for the government in 2008 by Dr Tanya Byron. The final version was produced after consultation with parents and has been rewritten for the Saint Jude’s blog on 19/11/15.

Children's use of Internet and video games is seen by some researchers as linked to violence and destructive behaviour. It seems that a child’s individual characteristics such as their age, personality and ability to learn, affects the level of risk. As the brain develops children become better at identifying and managing risks- most recent research conducted by the University of Bonn has shown that heavy use of ‘shooting type’ games (more than two hours a day) has an impact on the brain.

 

The research goes on to say that this affects the young person's ability to understand feelings and to control their emotions. Most research has been carried out on older children so we don't know the full effect the playing violent games may have on younger children, but we do know that when the repeat patterns of behaviour they build up pathways of learning in the brain therefore we can assume that excessive play of violent video games is likely to have a detrimental effect on the development of their values, ideas and behaviours.

 

This is why age rating codes are very important, as younger children are less likely to be able to recognise risk and manage this appropriately, it is important to keep this in mind with children who may be functioning at a level lower than their actual age in terms of social skills and learning. What may be okay for the peers may not be suitable for them due to differences in their developmental stage. Young children's perception and expectations of the real world can be affected, as they are developing the ability to identify between fact and fiction.

As printed in – Information for Parents-The effects of playing video games on children and young people.

CAMHS - Falcon House

 

Time to dig out your Pudsey Ears and spotty t-shirts - It's Children in Need!

Hi All

Just a short note to let you know that we will be raising money on Friday 13th November for Children in Need.

This year we are asking children to come to school in non uniform and to donate £1 to the cause or to bring in some cakes. We are sure that some of you will do both.

Cakes will be on sale during the day with any extras on sale at the end of the day.

More information to follow. ​

Thank you

Good Morning.

Welcome back to another exciting half term at St Jude's. As always there will be many exciting things happening to inspire learning this term.

Some year groups were given a bit of a teaser at the end of last half term.

Brrr! It's cold in year 4.

Year 2 will disappear.

It will be Grimm for year 3.

We look forward to sharing more with you as the term progresses.

Can I just take this opportunity to remind you of the extra things happening during parents evening tomorrow and Wednesday.

The scholastic book fair- in the hall- a great opportunity to support the school and pick up some Christmas presents.

Pre-loved uniform for sale.

Tea and Coffee

Home support books on sale at 2 for £10. "Give your child a head start with a years worth of ready to go activities" inline with the 2014 curriculum.

Pastoral drop in.

We all look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

After receiving Miss Leslie's personal experiences of being an NQT it is our pleasure to bring to you one of our newest teachers, Miss Barnard's journey from University to Steinbeck class. 

More to follow in the new half term. 

 

Did you always want to become a teacher Miss?

One of the regular questions I get asked is “Did you always want to be a teacher?” Before answering the question, especially if it is a child who asks me, I always question myself as to whether I should just say “Yes” and that be the end of it, or, to answer truthfully and say “No”. This latter answer follows with a ream of other questions such as: What did you want to be? Why aren’t you that? How did you become a teacher? And because it is the truth, I do answer “No I didn’t always want to be a teacher”.

In truth, teaching had never really entered my mind until about four and a half years ago when I found myself unemployed for a period of about four months. Straight out of Uni, achieving a Law and Business degree from the University of Portsmouth, I was fortunate enough to be offered a job in London. A 21 year old with no other commitments in life apart from organising her social life at the weekends, I jumped at the chance and couldn’t really believe my luck at the opportunity that this would provide me with.

I started my five times a week commute from Fratton to London Waterloo and then a two stop tube journey from Waterloo to Green Park……believe me, that was an eye opener in itself! I worked for an Agency Brokers in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, writing all of the legal contracts for the Capital Restructuring Team. A very little fish in a very large pond, every day was a steep learning mountain as opposed to a learning curve but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time. I worked alongside some incredible people such as international law firm Allen and Overy and banks such as the Lehman Brothers (let’s not talk about them! The only thing to say is that I wasn’t to blame for the recession I promise!). I even experienced my first business trips away travelling to Eindhoven and other parts of the Netherlands. However, nine months into my contract, the firm became victim to the recession and had no other choice but to cease trading in March 2011. This left me, now aged 22, unemployed.

Numerous unsuccessful applications and interviews later, I was at the end of my tether and would have given anything to work anywhere. With my self-confidence at an all-time low, a random discussion with an old college friend saw me apply for a TA job at Stamshaw Junior School. On the day of my interview, I was certain that this would be another job pass me by due to my lack of any experience in education. However, to my surprise, whilst I was still being shown around the school by two pupils who would later be in my very first class, they offered me the job there and then!

So, in September 2011, I began my first step towards the career I have now and the rest, to coin a famous phrase, as they say is history. A month in, I had decided that this was what I wanted to pursue and I had secured a place on the Graduate Teacher Programme (an apprenticeship for teachers) with Chichester University which would see me train on the job starting in September 2012 after my year of TA experience. After a year of gruelling training, two essays, fortnightly observations and two skills tests, I gained my Qualified Teacher Status and was ready to be promoted to NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher or, as my mentor called it, Not Quite a Teacher as you still have the ability to fail the year and not progress) in September 2013. With the year passing by in a whirl of Year 6 SATS, transition to secondary schools and end of Junior school celebrations, I was ready for my second year of teaching already which saw me move from Year 6 to Year 5 in September 2014. A chance, and very fortunate, meeting with both Miss Waeland and Miss Lewis, presented me with one of the most difficult decisions I had to make to date; to stay at Stamshaw or to move and push myself out of my comfort zone after only ever working at Stamshaw and join the St Jude’s family? You obviously know the decision that I made and now have the pleasure of working with the incredible members of Steinbeck class who have astounded me every single day since September 2015.

So now, when anyone asks me “Did you always want to become a teacher?” I always answer “No……but I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life now.”

Miss Barnard

Writing Update

It has been a pleasure reading the children's writing from across the school.  They are rising to the challenges of the new curriculum and producing writing which is thoughtful and creates emotion in the reader.  For example Year 3 were inspired by Michael Rosen's poem 'Chocolate Cake' to write about their favourite food; Year 4 wrote letters of complaint and diaries in response to the book, 'The Day the Crayons Quit' and Year 6 created Character Profiles and Play Scripts in response to 'Goodnight Mr Tom' and 'Friend or Foe'. 

The impact that reading has on writing is tremendous!  To support your child's development in writing, read every day with them and discuss the language the author has used.  Remember - variety is the spice of life - the more varied your child's reading, the more you will equip them to become writers.  Encourage your child to write as much as possible - can your child write a menu for their pretend cafe?  Perhaps they could write a fact file about their favourite animal or maybe start writing their own diary?  Whatever writing your children do, support them as much as possible - in particular with the basics of punctuation (full stops, capital letters, commas, question marks and exclamation marks).  The better their understanding of the basics, the more confident they will feel as writers.

We look forward to sharing some of our fantastic writing with you at Parents Evening.

Maths Update Autumn 1

The children are thoroughly enjoying tackling challenging mathematical problems and being able to talk to adults and their peers about the different ways they can solve them. The children are given lots of opportunity to apply skills from number, measure, geometry and statistics. Children are exposed to real world problems and can begin to think about how these skills are transferred to their everyday lives.

When completing mathematical tasks with your children at home we would encourage you to ask them how or why they know or think that. Try to encourage maths in the basic tasks around the home: spotting patterns, weighing ingredients in the kitchen, finding the odd one out, adding, subtracting, dividing, multiplying numbers that are seen when out walking and so on.

For further ideas, why not pick up a Scholastic Maths Practice book during parents evening, for a whole host of year group appropriate maths activities .

A day in the life of Miss Leslie

 

Just before Easter last year, I finally got the qualification I had been dreaming of for years; to be a qualified teacher. 

 

Despite all the lectures at university, all the placement days at various schools in and around Portsmouth and despite my working knowledge of school life through years of working in schools, nothing could prepare me for the highs and lows that were to come. 

My day starts at 5:30am when I drag myself up, sleepily arriving at school at 6:30am before the day has fully broken. After ten minutes negotiating the kettle and battling with the computer, I settle down to read my emails and plan the day ahead. Without a moment spare, the clock quickly turns to half past eight and we are greeted enthusiastically with homework books, lunch money and news of achievements and evening entertainment. Mental maths folders dutifully completed and put away, it's time for assembly and a moment breather...unless I'm in charge of assembly - scariest part of the job without fail!

 

English, one of my favourite parts of the curriculum, is usually a highlight of my day. I love language exploration and seeing children's faces become animated and excited at the 'best bit ever' in the writing they have done that day. Breaktime, a ten minute interlude of green tea and babybel’s, provides me with the sustenance needed for the next hour of maths. Before I know it, lunch time comes around and time to think about what we get to do this afternoon. My personal favourite is Science, a hands-on exploration of our world as we understand it. I especially like experiment days! 3 o’clock comes around, with a flurry of letters, bags and messages to go home, and even the Tenor Horns on a Tuesday as well! After school, the first thing that happens is another round of negotiation with the kettle. Then I let the birds out, praying profusely that they will go home again without me and Miss Barnard having to chase them around the classroom! Yes...this is a once-a-week occurrence! Marking all the hard work from the day has its own joys, especially when the passion from the lesson leaps from the page. And finally, at 6 o'clock, it's home time and time I go to the Gym if I'm good (it's a 50-50 likelihood!). 

 

That, in a nutshell, is the day in my life - I hope you have enjoyed it :-)

Parents Evening

 

Just a quick note to let you know about some exciting developments with Parents Evening this year.

 

As well as your normal appointment we really want to make a bit more of Parents Evening because we are all busy people and sometimes it’s nice to erm…. Kill 2 birds with one stone.

So….

This year we will also be having

• A preloved uniform sale in the hall.
• Tea and Coffee and a chance to meet to Head/Consultant Deputy.
• Scholastic book fair- Early Christmas shopping opportunities and a great way to help the school.
• The Pastoral team drop in- a chance to get to know our team and pick their brains about all things pastoral.
• Xmas fair stall sign up.
   
• And finally- as mentioned previously we will be selling Maths and English practice books to use at home- these are completely in line with the 2014 curriculum and match the teaching in school. They have been developed by teachers to give children ‘ a head start’. We will be selling these at 2 for £10 saving £4 on RRP. There are a limited number available each night and are sold on a first-come-first-served basis from 4pm in the hall.
   

Thank you

 

BABBLE- GIGGLE- GURGLE!

Hands up if you’ve got a baby or pre-schooler at home, or if you see one every day or if you know someone expecting?! I’m sure most of us had our hands up at some point.

Knowing how many staff have young children or are expecting and seeing all the young children come in with family to drop off big brothers, sisters, cousins got me to thinking back to a study from my time at University.

This prompted the google search- Importance of talking to babies- and here is my top article- ENJOY.

How many times have we all heard the message about the importance of talking to children? Children who are spoken to have a wider vocabulary range, and tend to have better language and communication skills.

Some children go to school having heard 32 million fewer words than their peers – this is known as 'word poverty'. By the time these children get to school, they’re already playing catch up.

There’s no doubt about it, children need to hear language in order to learn language. We encourage parents to spend time talking to their children, and research shows that it isn’t necessarily what we say to children, but how we say it that makes the difference.

Motherese is a style of speech many adults use when speaking to infants. It’s characterised by elongated vowel sounds and large variations in pitch and tone. It’s long been acknowledged as a central part in gaining and maintaining children’s attention. Children respond better to this kind of speech. However, new studies are also showing that the more elongated the vowel sounds, the more this encourages a child to babble.

Babbling is an important pre-cursor of speaking, and more importantly it’s an early form of speech. When babies babble, they’re telling their story and talking. If you listen closely to babbling patterns, you’ll hear a variation in tone that mimics the speaking patterns of adults. Babbling helps to build up the finer muscles required to pronounce speech clearly.

The more time a parent spends chatting with a child, the more this will help their language development. However, it’s also important to acknowledge that it isn’t just the speaking, but giving the child the chance to babble back that will help their language skills progress.

It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. The next time you chat with a child, stretch out your vowel sounds, speak slowly and give the child plenty of time to answer you back. Language development is a conversation and the more we give children a chance to play with speech and speech sounds, the more we’re helping to develop their speaking and communication skills.