Stanningley Primary School

What a fantastic performance the children in Year Five and Year Six gave for their summer show. The Pirates of the Currybean was one of the most enjoyable shows we have ever performed and the children were AMAZING! Every single child had a part to play in this show and we could not be prouder of them!

This term, we completed our topic by learning about the microorganism: mould! The children learnt about useful and not useful (potentially dangerous) types of mould. They then conducted an experiment to explore they types of conditions that it will grow the fastest in. Their results are very clear to see...enjoy the photographs!

The children had a super afternoon on Stanningley Park taking part in their final Sports Day at SPS! Well done to all of the children (and the adults who competed in the race at the end of the afternoon!).

We welcomed three magnificent artists from Leeds Lieder this week who taught the children all about Art Song (Lieder). The children were able to watch the artists perform classical pieces and their voices were AMAZING! The pianist was outstanding too! The children then created their own piece of Art Song which they will perform at Pudsey Civic Hall next week!

Class Six had a fantastic day at Rodley Nature Reserve! They enjoyed the opportunities to spend time bird watching and pond dipping whilst exploring the reserve. In addition to this, they enjoyed a very interesting talk from a bee keeper about the bee keeping process! It was lovely that each child was also given their own pot of honey to take home!

This week, the children spent time completing an art project. First, they explored Ancient Greek mosaic designs and recreated one in their sketch books using muted colours. After that, we explored Greek landscape (both ancient and modern day). The children then created their own Greek mosaic landscape. The final pieces will be completed during the first week back after half term but they already look great!

This term, the children have been learning how to play a range of chords on the ukulele. They have worked incredibly hard and produced some fantastic sound! I think some of the songs will be in their heads (and mine) for some time to come!

To mark the Coronation Weekend, the children had a well-deserved break from SATs revision and had the opportunity to design their own crowns! It was lovely to see children dressed in red, white and blue for the day and a super way to start the celebratory weekend!

Healthy Living Week has been AMAZING this year! Alongside our D-SIDE workshop, the children also enjoyed welcoming back Jodie from Skipping School who led an amazing workshop once again! It was fantastic for the children to refresh their skipping skills from the session they enjoyed in Year Four. They had ALL remembered how to skip and we were incredibly impressed by their skills. Such a lovely session and loved by ALL!

As part of Healthy Living Week, we welcomed back Dave from D-Side Drug's Awareness Team. In our workshop, Dave spoke to the children about the definition of a drug and the difference between a prescribed drug and an illegal drug. The children explored different drugs that they know about and a discussion followed about the impact of taking such drugs. Notably, the children were shocked to find out the side-effects of drinking high sugar energy drinks and vaping. We had previously discussed this in PSHE sessions but Dave was able to show this to the children visually. A fantastic workshop and the children certainly took a lot away from session.

This week, children competed to represent our class in the S-Factor final. In groups or as individuals, they were asked to carry out a scientific experiment from which the class would then vote their winner (anonymously!). I was amazed by not only the experiments themselves, but also the scientific explanations that they gave. Well done to all who took part! Class 6 voted for Grace's, Eleanor's and Francesca's experiment as their winner and the three children will take part in the school final next week!

To celebrate World Book Day, the children took part in a virtual quiz (organised by the Premier League Primary Stars). The questions were all about books, authors and, of course, football! Famous faces from the world of football asked the children football related questions too! Following this, the children completed an author study about Maz Evans (author of Who Let The Gods Out?). This linked perfectly with our Ancient Greece theme! Finally, we would just like to say how AMAZING all the children looks today. The effort made with the costumes was fantastic!

To mark our Book Week, the children were asked to decorate a potato as a famous book character! Gosh! The skill and effort shown with every single potato brought into school was commendable! I was very pleased that I didn't have to choose a winner! The entries were externally judged by the creator of the competition and she was also incredibly impressed by at what she saw! Thank you to every one who took part - you are all winners!

Class 6 welcomed Dave from D-Side back to SPS to raise awareness of the importance of internet safety (to mark Safer Internet Day). The session in Year 6 was linked to social media. We discussed age limits (and why they are in place) for certain forms of social media alongside some of the risks associated with using social media - especially when using as a child. The children loved the engaging session and I feel it really did help to clarify some concepts linked to social media usage.

Throughout the next few months, the children will be completing a design and technology project that is based upon creating an electrical board game/quiz. As a class, all of the children completed the design process for their game and then in small groups, the children will be making their designs come to life! This links to the learning about circuits that the children completed in Autumn 2 and clearly shows how embedded their learning is - they have been super stars so far!

This term, the children have been learning how to say what the weather is like...in Spanish! In today's lesson, they prepared their own scripts (in Spanish) to give their own weather forecasts for various different regions in Spain. I was AMAZED! They were incredibly brave to present the forecasts in front of the whole class! Well done to all!

The children took part in an AMAZING African drumming workshop (incorporating drums, various percussion instruments and their own voices ) and had an absolutely brilliant experience! They learnt how to create their own African beats and created ensemble pieces in an HOUR! We were all very impressed!

This term, the focus in music lessons is: ‘Fanfarra (Cabua-Le-Le)’ , Sérgio Mendes/Carlinhos Brown 1992. Talk about the fusion of African-European fusion of sound. This week, using this as our stimulus, the children were taught call and response patterns using words. (‘I went to the park’ etc) and then progressed to using various percussion instruments.

We had a fantastic party afternoon today! The children all shared the food that they brought in and it was so lovely to see them all enjoying spending time together! Thank you all for your generous donations of food. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of the Year Six team!

The children al thoroughly enjoyed their Christmas Dinner today!

Today, the children came dressed in their Christmas clothing and donated £1 for the Cash for Kids charity appeal for this. This money is very much appreciated so thank you to everyone from home! The money raised goes towards buying Christmas presents for children in Leeds who may not be having the happiest Christmas time this year. THIS MEANS SO MUCH so THANK YOU!

This term, the children have been focussing on dance/movement in one of the weekly PE sessions. Using the Real Dance platform, the children have been learning to create their own movements and then collaborate with other children to link movements together and then create a short dance piece. We have been so impressed with the children's skills!

This term, the children's topic in science is 'Electricity'. This week, I asked the children to create a simple circuit without any guidance! This was to see what they could remember from when they last focussed upon this topic in science! They did AMAZINGLY well and when faced with a challenge, they worked together to try to troubleshoot the problem in their circuit. Well done to all of Class Six!

Today, the children all made a fantastic contribution to Children in Needs and we would like to say a HUGE thank you to all families for their incredibly kind donations!rnrnOn top of that, we also had some INCREDIBLY generous contributions for Kevin Sinfield's 'Ultra 7' challenge for raising awareness of/money for MND in support of his good friend, Rob Burrows. THANK YOU TO ALL! The children enjoyes making banners to wave as he ran past school!

This term, the children are learning all about the cultural, social, and historical context of swing music. Embody the rhythms of swing music by dancing to audio examples. This week, they sand and danced along to 'Hey Mr Miller, ' and thoroughly enjoyed themselves (as did all of the staff!).

To start the half term, Class 6 completed their Bikeability training. These sessions are incredibly important as they give the children the confidence and the skills needed to cycle safely on our roads. We were amazed by all of the children's efforts: especially those who had never ridden a bike before (they were AMAZING!). The instructors were so impressed by the behaviour and attitude of all children and we are all very proud of them!

The children had a brilliant time at the Halloween Disco: the first one in a very long time! Their costumes were AMAZING and it was certainly not an easy job when it came to selecting the best costume! Well done to Eleanor and Max for their matching costumes!

Today, the children carried out an investigation to help prove that Darwin's theory of natural selection on the Galapagos Islands, is indeed true! The children studied the different finches that Darwin came across on the various islands and the different beak types they had. They found out that the finches could only survive on islands in which their beak enabled them to eat certain food types. In our investigation, we proved that finches with crushing beaks (see tweezer images) would be able to survive on islands that are rich in seeds but that finches with probing beaks (chopsticks) would not because of that fact that they could barely pick any seeds up with the chopsticks! This shows exactly how animals and plants can adapt to suit their environment in order to survive. Lots of learning in a very fun and creative way!

We enjoyed relaxing in the Games Room (especially the Karaoke). Group 1 really challenged themselves with the Giant Swing, the Zipline and Puzzle palace! After orienteering, we all went on a Scavenger Hunt Walk in the woods to see how much we could spot.

The children enjoyed a camp fire as the day was drawing to a close. They scavenged for their own wood to light the fire and then built it together as a team. Once lit, the children all enjoyed tasting some giant marshmallows!

The children had a fantastic time at the Herd Farm Residential! Here are collection of some of the challenges faced by every single child. We were amazed at the determination, resilience and positive shown by all when having to face such challenging activities. Mrs Barnett and Mrs White had a fantastic time and were incredibly proud of everyone.

The children in Year 6 were invited to take part in a Leeds United workshop linked to all the potential risks/dangers when out and about in the local area. This workshop links fantastically to our current PSHE unit (Managing Risk and Keeping Safe) and so for this reason, the children's knowledge was incredible! They discussed/explored what anti-social behaviour is, potentials risks of posting images to social media, risks/repercussions of carrying a knife and many more important topics! We were so impressed with the engagement level of all children (especially when answering questions and during role play activities). Wee done Class Six!

This term, the children are learning about the cultural, social, and historical context of swing music. This week, they embodied the rhythms of swing music by dancing to audio examples and singing along to 'Hey Mr Miller,' which they thoroughly enjoyed (as did all of the staff!).

The Year Six children enjoyed their time at the Macmillan Coffee Morning. The children (and families!) were incredibly generous and brought in so many fantastic cakes and buns to help raise money for such an important cause. Our newly elected Student Council also helped to set up the sale and were an incredibly helpful support today! Thank you to every one for all of your kind donations. We hope you enjoyed yourselves!

This term, the children's topic in science is Evolution and Inheritance. In today's lesson, the children explored some of the ways in which animals can adapt in order to survive and then continue to breed and pass on characteristics to their offspring. By placing white and newspaper print squares on both a white and a newspaper background, the children were tasked with being a ‘predator’ one at a time (within groups). They then had a pair of tweezers which they had to use to pick up as many pieces of paper as they could in fifteen seconds from each background! We found that more children picked up newspaper print squares from the white background and on the newspaper background, more children collected white squares. Having discussed results and discrepancies (difficult to pick up the newspaper!), we then linked this to camouflage and how animals do this in order to survive! Our eyes were drawn to the colour that we could see the most!

This week, the children read out their speeches that they wrote to encourage their class mates to vote for them to be a member of the Student Council, representing Year Six. At the end of the week, the children voted under strict voting conditions and then the successful candidates were announced! Congratulations to Francesca, Grace, Max C and Max G! We are all certain that you will all be fantastic!