Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Y4 Extreme Earth round up

  Thu 17 Feb 2022

  On the penultimate day of our Extreme Earth topic, Year 4 had a full day exploring earthquakes and volcanoes. In the morning, we thought as architects and looked at how buildings could be designed in earthquake prone areas. We then went onto exploring volcanoes using some really informative online resources to extend our knowledge. We finalised this by creating a diagram of a volcano using coloured paper. Tomorrow we are going to learn about the "Pacific Ring of Fire" .... intriguing!

   

  In the afternoon, the children got the chance to showcase their INCREDIBLE two week projects linked to Extreme Earth. We had cakes, animations, posters, interviews, Lego construction, models and so much more to demonstrate all of the learning. Seesaw was the perfect tool to share with each other what everyone got up to. A great time was had by all and a huge well done was shared for all of the hard work.

   

  Finally, the wonderful Mrs Lowe delivered a session to our Y4s all about the impact of a volcano. To say we were excited would be a bit of an understatement!

   

  We have absolutely loved this topic and are so proud of all that Y4 have achieved.

  

• Year 2 DT Day

  Thu 17 Feb 2022

   Year 2 had an exciting design and technology day this week where they made their very own puppets. They started the day by learning about different types of puppets and created designs based on their initial research. The children then made their own finger puppet by cutting felt and sticking it together. They added decorations to turn it into a character from their Traditional Tale stories that they have been writing. The children practised sewing techniques and learnt about running stitch and over stich. They certainly had to use growth mindset when practising these skills. The children all had a great day and  worked so hard. They are looking forward to sharing them with their families at the Traditional Tales Tea Party which is being held later in the year. 

  

• Year 5 Canopic Jars

  Thu 17 Feb 2022 Mrs Osborne

  The year 5 children have been working so hard to design, make and paint clay Canopic Jars which are fit to be displayed in any museum. Before designing their jars, they looked at lots of examples to get an idea of the shapes, colours and designs the Ancient Egyptians used. When the Canopic Jars were finished, we set up an art gallery in the classrooms so that the children could evaluate their own work and other children’s work.

   

  Did you know that in Ancient Egyptian times, each canopic jar guarded a different organ?

  1. Imsety had a human head, protected the liver.

  2. Qebehsenuf had the head of a falcon and guarded the intestines. 

  3. Hapy had a baboon head protected the lungs.

  4. Duamatef had the head of a jackal, and guarded the stomach. 

  The four canopic jars were put into a special chest which went into the tomb with the mummy.

   

  Take a look at the photos of our artists in action…

  

• Y4 Art Day

  Tue 15 Feb 2022 Miss Hanafin

  Today Y4 had a full day of Art as we piece together the final stages of our Great Wave inspired work. Over the whole half term, we have been exploring the artist Hokusai and using our line drawing skills to create our wave. Today we got a bit messy and worked on our collage, themed with the colours of the sunset. There was a lot of hard work and determination needed in the morning to make sure we used the overlapping collage skill that we had been working on. Mrs Harvey, our Art leader, was very impressed with the quality of work. Whilst this was happening, the lovely Y4 team pulled children out into small groups to explore some wax resist waves using candles of all things! Finally, in the afternoon, we looked at contrasting colours on the colour wheel in order to represent a tornado! We learnt in our Geography and English that tornados are formed when hot and cold air collide, so this was the perfect opportunity for art inspiration.

   

  Have a look at the photos to see what we got up to.

  

• Great to see FOGB on site again.

  Sat 12 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  Yesterday our FOGB group held a uniform sale in our courtyard and they managed to raise well over a hundred pounds. Thank you to all of you who bought items. It’s great to reuse good quality clothing and be environmentally friendly too.

  Although a table top sale could seem like a small thing, it was great being able to fundraise this way again. The group have really suffered throughout the pandemic and have missed holding their usual events for our school. FOGB have been successful in diversifying events to raise some funds like the super Christmas Elfridges event but I’m hopeful that we can now have more of our usual events on site from now on.

  You can in the meantime help FOGB raise funds over the next few weeks by collecting pennies to go in each classroom’s jar. Let’s try and beat our last attempt.
  Once again a big thank you to our FOGB team - you are all amazing! Oh and if you are able to give up time to help them, just speak to our school office and they will pass on your details. 

   

• Thank you for helping to encourage wildlife at GBP

  Sat 12 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  One of our lovely families have been busy building bat boxes and bird boxes in their shed at home to pop up in our school woodlands - 7 of them in fact! We are so grateful for this - what a lovely gift to give  our school and encourage more wildlife to the area too. The boxes were such a super quality and a great project for the whole family to get involved with, learning lots of skills along the way too. 
  This Saturday morning I met with them so together we could help place the boxes up in and amongst the trees. Let’s hope they are occupied by bats and birds soon.

  This is another super example of what a great school community we have… a family giving up their time and resources to do something for our school and the environment. They were quite rightly proud of their achievements and they mentioned what a lovely sense of well-being it brought too. 
  A massive thank you to the Bishop family - our children will let you know if they see evidence of them being occupied! 

  

• Year 5 Get Growing for Children's Mental Health Week

  Fri 11 Feb 2022 Mrs Osborne

  Today, the children in Year 5 got their wellies on to plant some new bulbs and flowers around the school. They worked so hard and loved spending lots of time in the fresh air (which we all know is great for our well being and mental health). We can't wait to watch the bulbs bloom in the following weeks. Take a look at the photos to see our green-fingered gardeners in action...

  

• 5 ways to grow with your child

  Fri 11 Feb 2022 Ms Rogers

  This year’s Children’s Mental Health Week theme is Growing Together. Your children already have regular sessions on wellbeing as it is very much part of parcel of our curriculum here at GBP. We have however included extra sessions this week  and year groups also have a homework based on Mental Health too. 

   

  As parents and carers we are constantly having to grow, learn and adapt. I found this useful information on the Place2Be website and I will certainly be taking on the tips, being a parent too. 

   

  As our children get older, it can be hard to know how best to be there for them as a parent or carer, and it can be challenging to adapt our parenting styles while our children grow and mature. Each stage of your child’s development may require a new or different response as a parent, and this will mean learning a new way of doing things. It is important to know that we don’t have to know all the answers as a parent, and we can learn and grow together with our children. Here are five ways that you can do this:

   

  Be flexible and adapt

  It can be easy to feel pressured to follow what other parents are doing, or to assume that what works for one child in your family will work well for another. Every child is different, but as parents and carers, we know our children best.

  There is no rulebook or official guide to parenting, so take the time to learn what works best for your family. Sometimes, you may need to adapt or change your approach, but together as a family you can figure out what works well.

  For example, your child might be looking for more independence as they get older – you could help them do this by adapting your relationship, and gradually giving them more responsibility when they are ready for it.

   

  Be open to all conversations

  It is important your child knows that they can talk to you about anything and ask any questions they may have. Try to be open and accepting about what your child can talk to you about, even if it is a topic that you were not able to talk to your own parents about.

  Create a dialogue that enables your child to ask questions – they will appreciate the opportunity to ask you about things they are curious about. As children get older, they may have questions about more ‘grown-up’ topics, so think about how you can talk about some subjects in an age-appropriate way. This might be uncomfortable, so it helps to think about what to say in advance, maybe with the help of another trusted adult.

  If our children know that they can talk to us about anything and that we are always there to listen, they are more likely to come to us when they need support or advice.

   

  Take time to reflect

  We live in such a busy world, so it’s important to create moments to reflect on your own journey as a parent. Sometimes, we make the wrong decisions and that’s okay.

  Try not to be self-critical. Just like our children, we are all learning and growing and making mistakes is part of that journey. Perhaps we overreact when our child does something wrong, or we don’t listen when they’re trying to tell us something.

  When things don’t go well, reflect and consider other ways you could approach the situation if it happened again. If you can, have a conversation with your child about this too, so they know it’s okay to make and discuss wrong decisions.

   

  Don’t make comparisons

  It can be easy to compare our children to other children – be it comparing siblings, comparing to other children at school, or even children in popular culture. Try not to focus on what you think your child should be doing.

  It can also be easy to compare our children to how they were before, but as they grow older (both physically and emotionally), children are constantly changing. This growth is not always linear and sometimes there will be setbacks. Your toddler might happily wave you off as they go into nursery one day, and then cry when you drop them off the next. Your teenager might appear to be happy and unfazed by their exams one day, and anxious and stressed the next. This is all part of how we grow emotionally.

   

  Prioritise your own self-care

  If you fly in an airplane, you’re told that in the event of an emergency you should put your own oxygen mask on before you put on your child’s. This is because if our children lose consciousness, they are still breathing – but if we, as parents, lose consciousness, we won’t be able to help our children.

  The same can be applied to all aspects of parenting. Taking care of yourself will put you in a better position to take care of your own child.

  Think of ways you can look after yourself and feel supported. This could be external support; finding other trusted adults around us to talk to, or to bounce ideas off. It could also be internal support – finding time to switch off and focus on you.

  As our children continue to grow and change, our ways of parenting them will also do the same. We need to be kind to ourselves as we try our best to respond to new situations that we will face while parenting. There is no one right way to grow with children, only a right way that will work best for us.

   

  Here is the website if you would like further information to support your child's wellbeing: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/ 

   

  Hope you all have a super weekend and be kind to yourself. 

   

• Year 2 author visit

  Wed 09 Feb 2022

  Today year 2 had an exciting zoom call from an author! Lizzie Ingram has recently wrote a children's book called 'The Little Wonky Pumpkin'. The story links to our concept of individuality. Year 2 were lucky enough to have her read them the story and talk about her writing experience. She told us how she wrote the book in 2 hours but it took her 9 months to edit it! We spoke about the importance of editing our work. We will be using what we learnt about being an author to write our own stories in class and sending them to Lizzie to read! She has even said she will send some prizes to children she is most impressed with! 

  We have put the link for the book on the Children's seesaw in case they would like to buy it and share the story with you at home :). 

  

• Safer Internet Day 2022

  Tue 08 Feb 2022 Miss Grove

  Today the whole school took part, alongside hundreds of other schools across the country, in Safer Internet Day. The theme this year was: 'All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online'. It was fantastic to see the wide range of activities going on across the each of the year groups, from drama and role play to creating presentations and posters. There were many purposeful and insightful conversations about the many aspects of online communication and how this can be done in a Safe way. 

  We linked lots of our learning to our Great Binfields values too, particularly respect. We had many discussions about having respect for others and their boundaries online. As more and more of our communication is done online it is vital that we know how to do this respectfully and what to do if we do not feel respected ourselves. 

   

  Well done to all of the Great Binfields Community for another successful Safer Internet Day!