News
European Day of Languages 26th September 2018
Year 3
Year 3 have been learning about where different countries are this half term as part of their ‘Around the World’ topic. As part of the European day of languages on Wednesday 26th September we developed our learning from our topic lesson and learnt how to say hello in 9 different languages and looked at the flags for each country. We wrote the country next to each flag and practised singing a song to help us learn the different greetings.
Year 4
Year Four had a great time learning about the number of countries and languages in Europe. We used our research skills to find out how to say Hello and goodbye in different European countries. We then created a table or list of the greetings we discovered and shared them with each other. We found out that some European countries do not use the same writing systems as we do in Britain. We were particularly fascinated with the Greek and Russian writing systems.
Year 5
Year 5 played a matching game where they had to match phrases to the country and its flag. We had children demonstrating their knowledge of other languages and enjoyed hearing fluent Polish and Portuguese being spoken. It was useful to use our knowledge of other languages to try to work out what the phrases might mean.
Year 6
To celebrate European Day of Languages 2018, Year 6 completed fact files about a European country that they were interested in. This gave us lots of new knowledge about some countries that we did not know much about. Some of us used our dictionary skills to learn that certain words that we use in everyday speech have a European origin. For example, we learnt that the word ‘very’ originates from France and means ‘extremely’. Year 6 also completed a quiz which tested their knowledge of the celebration. We were fascinated to learn that there are over 200 European languages spoken!
World Mental Health Day 2018
Across the federation we decided to take part in World Mental Health Day 2018 by wearing bright colours and talking about Mental Health. The staff in the federation well being team planned assemblies and activities to take part in throughout the day.
In assemblies at both schools we discussed what Mental Health is, different emotions and who we can go to if we are finding things difficult as well as age appropriate strategies to support positive mental health and well-being.
In classes we also talked about the importance of being ‘mentally healthy’, ways we can manage our own well-being, things that we find helpful and how we can understand and support others to feel happier if they are having a time when they feel sad, anxious or worried about something.
The children at the junior school also experienced mindfulness activities during the lunch hour too.
Infant School Assembly
Junior School Assembly
Reception children learning about feelings and who can help if they feel sad, anxious and angry
Children in Year 2 creating ‘Helping Hearts’ to think about how they can help themselves and others feel happier.
Year 3 all dressed up in their bright colours!
Year 5 children doing mindfulness outside in the sun!
Your Voice Working Group Autumn 2018
In October 2018 some groups of children from Year 6 and another school took part in an online treasure hunt. Their mission was to track down certain facts and information, using the norfolk.gov/mylocaloffer web site. Only by completing this task could the mysterious treasure chest in the middle of the room be opened.
This challenge was part of ongoing testing and development of Norfolk’s Local Offer website which has been specially designed for young people, and those with additional needs, to provide help, advice and information for their growing independence (covering areas such as health, the law, personal finance, employment and education options). It was a real privilege to take part in this with those from the local authority as this will help other young people in the future.
All of the children thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, found the facts and were rewarded with goodies from the treasure chest
They will be coming back in December to ask for some more feedback from us to develop the service even further.
After the session we were pleased to receive this from Claire Jones who organised the sessions. It is lovely to know that the work our children carried out may help other children and young people in the future.
Dear all,
Thank you so much for allowing us to come in to meet with some of your pupils yesterday at Toftwood Junior School. The pupils engaged brilliantly with the Treasure Hunt which was an activity designed to test out how easy / difficult CYP find the Local Offer for children and young people.
The Treasure Hunt specifically aimed to examine how they navigated the website to find information, how easy or difficult this was, how accessible the information was for them and whether they thought they would use the information, now or in the future.
We have certainly got some food for thought about some aspects which we will reflect upon over the next few days and weeks. The second session is now booked for Wednesday 12th December, 9:30-10:30, again at Toftwood Junior School. It will be for all 18 pupils to come together so we can feedback to them what changes we have made as a result of their feedback.
At the feedback ‘We did’ session, the pupils will all receive a certificate for taking part. We will also bring the Treasure Chest back with us and so please let us know if there are any allergies so that we only put treats in the Treasure Chest that are okay for everyone.
We would like to give our grateful thanks to both head teachers for allowing this activity to take place with their pupils, all the staff who helped to make it happen and all the pupils for engaging so well with our activity – it was a great pleasure.
With best wishes,
Claire Jones, Local Offer Manager
Accelerated Reader Information Session
Information Session for Parents Toftwood Junior School
Thank you to all who attended our Accelerated Reader Information Session this half term. We hope that you found the session informative and useful.
If you were unable to make it, or would like a refresher about Accelerated Reader please find below the link to the presentation and the handout shared:
Artsmark Gold award!
We have received some very exciting news to let us know that here at Toftwood Infant School we have been awarded the Artsmark Gold award! We have received this from the Arts Council England and everyone should be proud of the hard work that all the grownups and children have put in to show how valued and enjoyed the arts is in our school. Arts Council England were impressed with how our school provides external opportunities that enhance arts teaching (music, drama, dance and art) that benefit the children and how proud the children are of all the achievements in these areas they are able to make.
“Your children are offered equal opportunity to plan, experience, participate in, and evaluate a broad range of high-quality arts and cultural activities, and your children have an opportunity to further develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of arts and culture through experiences provided.” – Arts Council England.
A huge thank you to all the staff and children at school who have worked so hard over the last two years to achieve this award. It is fantastic to see the children enjoying the arts so much and we all look forward to seeing what excitement is next! Below are a few pictures of some of the exciting arts projects we’ve had in the run up to achieving our Gold award. Well done everyone!
Toftwood Federation Sports Fortnight
Toftwood Federation have enjoyed a very successful Sports Fortnight made even better by the fantastic weather! During this fortnight it is our aim to give all children in the Federation the opportunity to participate in a range of sporting activities. These include the traditional races and potted sports events but also visits and taster sessions from a range of sports enthusiasts and providers. It is a desire of ours, during these weeks, to give the children in our federation the opportunity to experience something ‘new’ with the possibility that they may decide to pursue that sporting activity in their out of school time.
Yoga
The children in Years 1 and 2 were able to work with Mrs Yorke, a qualified Yoga instructor. She had written the children a poem and they were able to act the poem out in Yoga Poses.
Karate
Reception through to Year 2 were able to join in with some taster sessions provided by Matthew from Traditional Karate Fitness. They learnt special counting and the discipline involved in Karate.
If your child is interested in trying Karate contact: TKF www.karatefitness.co.uk
email: office@karatefitness.co.uk
Hoola Hooping
EYFS and Years 1 and 2 learnt the skills involved in Hoola Hooping. They learnt the stance to adopt to keep the hoop around your waist. They also learnt how to spin it round their wrist, neck and legs. Even though it was a tricky activity for some also children showed great perseverance.
Cheerleading
Miss Coombes was able to show the children in the Infants some of the basics involved in the sport of Allstar Cheerleading. They were able to learn some jumps and practised a very safe handstand drill. They were even able to try some stunting in small groups.
If your child is interested in trying cheerleading contact: East Coast Emeralds www.eastcoastemeralds.co.uk
email: eastcoastemeralds@hotmail.co.uk
Team Day
We enjoyed another successful team day with the infant children supported by the Sports Leaders and Mr Phillis from Northgate High School. The children were able to have a go at 20 different activities, trying to score as many points as possible for their team. Well done to all the children who took part, there was a great team spirit.
Races
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 held their annual Race Morning during Sports Fortnight. All children competed in 2 races and did brilliantly on a very warm morning.
Year 3 and 4
These year groups had an exhausting but fun few weeks enjoying Toftwood Sports Fortnight! The event kicked off with a visit from some of the students from Northgate High School. They taught the children lots of new activities from shotput to javelin with some hurdles and running too. The children got to try all of these out in small groups and had a great time doing it – the Northgate students were fantastic at supporting and helping our children out.
We also had a visitor in from Easton Shotokan Karate Association to give our children a taster session in Karate. They learnt some of the basic movements and how to count correctly alongside these. Finally, they had a very interesting discussion about when to use Karate and what it should be used for!
The Year 3 children also enjoyed some cricket sessions with Brett Gates from All Star Cricket. They started off learning the key skills of catching, throwing and teamwork within some exciting games. Then, they moved on to play some fast paced games where they used all of their skills and demonstrated some great batting and fielding teamwork. They had a lovely time!
The Toftwood Sport’s Fortnight was rounded off by a visit Neatherd PE teachers and Sports leaders who came in to run multi-skills sessions with the children focusing on ball skills. The pupils had great fun developing a range of skills requiring hand-eye coordination and agility. They particularly liked working with the older children, who were great role models.
American Sports for Year 6
To finish off the weeks Year 6 had Mr Bell come to talk to them about baseball and basketball. Firstly he explained that he had grown up near Houston Texas and had grown up following baseball and basketball; he was a keen supporter of the Houston Astros. He told the children about the basic rules of baseball answering all their questions afterwards. The classes then went outside and did basketball; they learnt about bouncing then passing and shooting. We then split into mini teams and played a mini basketball match. The children certainly got a taste of both games and really enjoyed learning new skills from our American expert.
Races
Sports day went smoothly at the Junior School, with all the children participating. They all cheered each other on and encouraged their team mates. There was a sprint race, a relay and an obstacle. We were really impressed by their cheerful attitudes the resilience shown by a few children who took some tumbles but got up to carry on the race.
Karate
The children enjoyed a taster session of Karate on 29th June where they learnt some high kicks and punches. They also learnt the importance of blocking.
PE Summer Term 2018
Nursery PE Summer Term
The Nursery children have been practising their climbing on the new pirate ship climbing frame that was installed in the Nursery outdoor area this term.
They have also been preparing for their Pre School Sports Morning with some practise races and setting themselves challenges like throwing the beanbags into tyres.
Reception PE Summer Term
Reception had a special visit from Mr Mann to teach us some rugby skills. They practiced holding the ball and running, and throwing it underarm, over arm and swapping from each side. They also got to practice kicking the ball and making tries.
Harry came in to teach us some football skills. Reception children practiced scoring goals whilst holding the ball and then had a go at dribbling. They had some magic dust sprinkled on our feet so the ball would stick to them and then had to try and score goals past the goalkeepers!
Year 1 PE Summer Term
Year 1 have busily been preparing for Race Day this term with some practise running and obstacle races. They have also been practising their rolling and retrieving skills through the real PE Program. Year 1 have also had time to learn a simplified version of Rounders. They have had to think about tactics for both fielders and throwers.
Year 2 PE Summer Term
This term in PE the children in year 2 have been working together on a range of team work activities. The children have been working on their communication. They have learnt different ways to communicate through various activities. The children really enjoyed these games and liked working together to solve problems. The children also have been working on their ball skills this term, building their control and accuracy when passing a ball.
Year 3 PE Summer Term
Year 3 have had a busy term in PE with swimming, tennis, Real PE and cricket! AH3 have had a great time swimming this term and the teachers have seen some great progress. JS3 and CT3 have been taking part in Real PE. In Real PE, we have focused on the skills of teamwork, balance and worked on our reaction times. All classes have also had a focus on cricket and tennis. The children have really enjoyed learning the basic skills in tennis, focusing on aiming and rallying with each other – they had lots of fun putting this all together at the end and playing a game. Cricket has been fantastic! We have had Brett Gates to teach us the skills to play a game of cricket. We have spent time focusing on aiming to help with our bowling skills, catching to help with fielding and in games we have been practicing some quick fire batting skills. We have seen some great teamwork and progression throughout the term.
Year 4 PE Summer Term
In PE this term, the children developed their ball skills through Real PE and on our unit on Kwik Cricket. The pupils really enjoyed working on improving their batting, bowling and fielding abilities. During this learning, they began to think more tactically about the fact that their team needed to work together to win the game. More recently, we have been focusing on athletics on a range of field and track events including: sprints, relays, hurdles, longer distance races, shot put and javelin. All the hard work, culminated in a very successful race day where the children really impressed all the adults with the sporting behaviour and dedication to their class. As with all sporting events there had to be a winner and on this occasion congratulations to RB4.
Year 5 PE Summer Term
During this term, year 5 have been following real PE during one of their weekly PE slots. Not only are the children developing their physical skills but they are also becoming better all round athlete by working on their social and cognitive skills, making them better team players, and developing strategies.
Alongside these lessons, we have also done gymnastics, tag rugby, hockey and kick cricket.
Year 6 PE Summer Term
This term Year 6 have been doing some cricket, they have learnt to bowl and bat. They have also played diamond cricket as a team game, which they have enjoyed. During their other lessons, they either have been doing racing, for sprint races or relay.