West Leigh Juniors Weekly News 5th JULY 2024

In English, the children have been focusing on persuasion. They identified the features of persuasive posters, researched the effects of single use plastics and created a persuasive poster. Next week, they will be writing a persuasive letter.

Money has been the focus in maths this week. They began by identifying the coins and notes that make up our currency. They totalled amounts and identified how to calculate change and solve problems using money. Please continue to build upon these skills when out shopping over the coming weeks.

In science lessons, the children have been investigating shadows, generating written explanations of their findings.

Please note that next week, 3T will swim on Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Year 4

Another busy and exciting week is almost done and we continue to be pleased with the children’s continuing effort and resilience despite the lure of summer holidays on the horizon.

This week, we have returned to explanation writing. Inspired by Wallace and Gromit's 'Snooze-a-tron' machine, the children generated explanations based on inventions of their own. Considering the purpose and the process allowed their creative juices to flow and all manner of helpful and quite bizarre contraptions were proposed. Their writing was further supported using detailed and annotated diagrams.

Maths lessons have involved a return to fractions. The children have reviewed how to calculate fractions of amounts including unit and non-unit fractions. They have considered and investigated what a fraction is and found equivalents of common fractions. Adding and subtracting fractions has also been reviewed, including those where the denominators differ. Some classes also made links between fractions and their decimal equivalents.

Following last week's creativity in designing and building fairground rides, the children were tasked to evaluate their finished products. Returning to review the design brief that informed their initial ideas and final constructions, the children considered how and why they had been successful in their final design. They also considered the challenges they had faced, having to be truthful regarding their own skills and those of others. They also considered how some of the challenges were overcome. Finally, they generated ideas regarding how they would improve upon their design. Whilst the building of the rides demonstrated so much of their knowledge and ability, these evaluations were also key in coming to understand the importance of the design process.

Our PSHE lessons this week have focused upon the definition of what it is to be clever. The children were asked to review a group of famous people who had achieved in a wide range of jobs and disciplines. The children were fascinated to find out that people they assumed had found learning easy had in fact struggled at school and even that some people who had gained only a few qualifications went on to run some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. By the end of the lesson, it was agreed that cleverness cannot only be attributed to academic success but to all manner of disciplines and that we are all clever at something.

Year 5

Where has this year gone? We are already in July and are preparing for sports day on 16th July by practising our obstacle races and memorising our lanes.

Our work on cam toys is coming to a close and we are now in the process of evaluating our work. We have returned to the design brief and considered how well we have met the criteria.

In maths, we are revising fractions, decimals and percentages with greater application to problem-solving and with a focus on the language associated with these types of problems.

5F and 5K enjoyed a lovely afternoon at ‘fields’ this week. Whilst playing rounders, we discovered that we are much better at fielding however, we keep running our teammates out!

In science, we have been separating materials such as sugar, salt and coffee to find out which of these is soluble in water. We will then think about which changes in states of matter can be reversed.

Year 6

Following the excitement of Ilam and Southend Week, the pupils returned for another busy week at West Leigh, albeit much more tired than in any other week, which was unsurprising.

This week has been filled with many wonderful opportunities; however, the most significant of those was that the children had the opportunity to visit their new schools. We hope they had a positive experience and are all looking forward to a new start in September.

As a year group, they have spent time preparing for their upcoming sports day and also helping to organising their teams for the exciting Year 6 Swimming Gala, which will be held on the morning of Monday, the 15th of July.

The greatest amount of excitement, however, came as a result of the many rehearsals that the year group has had for their upcoming Leavers’ Assembly. Even though they only began learning the scenes on Monday, the progress they have made as a year group since then has been outstanding. There is undoubtedly a lot more for them to learn and develop, but they have certainly impressed the Year 6 staff with their positive attitude, enthusiasm and desire to make it the best production possible. It is certainly worth noting that they have been fully engaged with the dramatisation related to the many songs and extracts they will be performing.

Please note that next week, 6D will swim on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Ilam Hall

Early on Monday morning, before the start of the school day, three coaches containing 108 extremely excited children were waved off from West Leigh by parents and staff as they left for their week’s residential to Ilam Hall Youth Hostel in the Peak District National Park. Despite somewhat busy traffic on the M25 and M1, together with miles and miles of roadworks, the children all arrived in high spirits.

After such a long coach journey, the children needed to stretch their legs and burn off some of their energy – and nothing could be better than the steep ascents of Thorpe Cloud and Bunster Hill! Living in Essex, they never truly anticipated the gradients involved, but all were fiercely determined to succeed. Collapsing at the top, they drank in the amazing views of the countryside and an almost complete lack of human civilisation.

That evening, back at Ilam Hall, the children enjoyed their first taste of hostel food. Following the briefing, it was then time to unpack their luggage and make their beds – quite an ‘interesting’ experience for some children! Later that evening, there was plenty of time to explore the hostel facilities and the huge, picturesque play areas outside!

Tuesday was a day of two halves. By now the weather had become unusually warm for the Peak District; after months of wet and chilly weather, summer had eventually arrived! Half the day was spent visiting Chatsworth House followed by an exploration of the gardens. Particular highlights for the children were finding their way in (and then out!) of the maze and then getting a soaking under the Emperor Fountain by the lake! The other half of the day was a cycle along the Tissington Trail (now a nature trail but originally the London to Manchester Railway Line) – the only activity all week involving fairly level ground and no steep gradients. A welcome change for the staff this year was the recent introduction of electric bikes; suddenly the usual exhausting activity became quite leisurely. No such luxury for the children, but they needed to benefit from the true experience. It’s all character building!

Wednesday was once again a day of very warm weather and after a cooked breakfast the children left on their coaches to Castleton and the Hope Valley. The morning was spent exploring the famous Blue John Caverns - the only place in the world where the gemstone ‘Blue John’ is found, and the afternoon involved a hike up Mam Tor with a further walk along the mountain ridge overlooking the start of the famous Pennine Way.

On Thursday, the sun was shining on us all for Alton Towers. The week was quickly approaching its end, but a day at the world-famous theme park ensured that energy levels remained at 100%. Seven hours here meant that the children had plenty of opportunities to head for their favourite rides - Oblivion, Nemesis, Smiler, Galactica, Rita, Thirteen, Wicker Man … these were all popular destinations and were discussed many times over and in great detail throughout the whole evening!

And finally came Friday and the end of the trip. By now it was taking more than a knock on the door to wake the children! Cases needed to be packed, beds unmade and rooms emptied before our final hike around the Manifold Valley. It had been a fantastic week without a drop of rain - exciting activities, lots of fun with friends, amazing scenery - but most important was that the children remained such good company and well behaved - a credit to West Leigh and a credit to their parents.

Southend Week

Whilst most of Year 6 were busy exploring the breathtaking landscape of Derbyshire, another group spent their week travelling the length and breadth of Southend, with a visit to London's Natural History Museum and Hyde Park to kick off the week.

Despite the high temperatures, the group enjoyed participating in a wide variety of activities throughout the week, including golf, bowling, horse riding, bush craft and crabbing in Old Leigh. Preparing and baking their own lunch on Tuesday was another highlight. Homemade pizzas, cheese straws and choc-chip cookies provided a hearty lunch in the woods before spending an afternoon playing team games, constructing bracelets and chasing butterflies!

By the end of the week, everyone (including the staff) felt a little weary after an action-packed itinerary but we're sure that many happy memories were made in the final weeks of their time at West Leigh. The children behaved impeccably throughout the week and were a true credit to West Leigh.