Leaders Class

This week, Leaders learned more about black history through drama activities. Leaders considered segregation and apartheid and had thoughtful discussions around this before creating different scenes to represent these themes. Throughout the afternoon, Leaders enjoyed demonstrating their excellent knowledge of the content we have covered so far and were able to learn so much more through the activities covered in the session.
In maths, Leaders have been learning to use methods for long division and have done incredibly well tackling this challenging topic. They can now use two different methods for long division and have used these methods to solve problems. Well done everyone!
In PE this term, Leaders have been focusing on their tag rugby skills. On Friday, a team of Leaders visited Whitby Rugby Club to take part in a rugby tournament. Throughout the afternoon, Leaders demonstrated excellent rugby skills and teamwork and were thrilled to top their group and make it all the way to the semi-finals. A huge well done to the rugby team for their amazing efforts!

It has been a busy start to the school year for Leaders. 

In history, our focus is Black History. We have learned that the first recorded Africans living in Britain were recorded in the Roman period and explored evidence of the Aurelian Moors from Hadrian’s Wall, and the ‘Bangle Lady’, who was found buried in a sarcophagus in York. We have also explored the lives of black people in the Tudor period through exploring art work and letters from the time to learn about John Blanke. 

In art, our focus is painting. We have explored the work of Esther Mahlangu, mixed colours with acrylic paint and used painting techniques to block in geometric shapes. We are looking forward to creating our final pieces very soon. 

In geography, we have been focussing on plastic waste. We have learned about what it is and why it is a problem. Following this, we explored what can be done to reduce plastic waste and considered what could be refused, reduced, recycled or repurposed. Using the ideas from our discussions, Leaders created plastic pledges. Earlier in the half term, we also conducted litter fieldwork in Stewart Park in Middlesbrough. 

Inspired by our work on plastic and our theme of ‘Small Steps, Big Change’ Leaders have written free verse poems about plastic waste in the sea, using a range of similes, adjectives and personification. The published poems are amazing!

Leaders have made a brilliant start to 2024!

In English, the children have been learning to write instructions. They explored a WAGOLL based on The Three Little Pigs and how to build a straw house before visiting the forest to build twig houses. Using this experience, the children wrote a set of instructions. The finished work is brilliant!

In maths, Leaders have spent the week tackling converting measures. They have converted metric units of measure, miles to kilometers and imperial measures and applied this learning to a range of problems. 

In art, our new topic is textiles. The children have learned what this type of art is and explored the work of our focus artist, Louise Baldwin. Following this, the children learned how to use running stitches, back stitches and cross stitches. Keep an eye on our class blog to see how we use these stitches in our artwork over the coming weeks.

In history, our new unit is the Victorians. The children have already learned about Queen Victoria, began to create a timeline and explored a range of historical sources to find out more about the British Empire during this time period and its impact on Britain.

In Collective Worship, Leaders have gathered with the whole school and explored our new Christian Value, perseverance. It was also brilliant to see the Reading Leaders deliver an informative assembly to the whole school this week. 

An excellent two weeks to start 2024!

It has been a wonderful final week of 2023 in Leaders class.

This week, we have enjoyed Christmas crafts with families in school, made Christingles for the whole school, enjoyed Christmas dinner together, visited the pantomime and taken part in the Christingle service. It has been a busy but brilliant end to 2023 in school.

We hope that everyone has a lovely Christmas break!

The Leaders have been busy over the past few weeks in subjects across the curriculum.

In maths, the children have been learning about fractions. They can add, subtract, multiply and divide with fractions and use these methods when solving problems. Great work!

In English, the children have developed their persuasive skills to write an advert to advertise visits to the Alps. The children were able to use a range of persuasive devices in their finished pieces to ensure that they met the purpose of this text type. As we are now in the run up to Christmas, Leaders have also enjoyed some festive narrative writing. Inspired by the advert ‘Excitable Edgar’, the children changed elements of the story to make it their own. The finished stories are amazing with a range of openers, amazing vocabulary and good use of punctuation throughout.

In history, the children have been learning about the Roman’s impact of Britain. They have learned about public baths, aqueducts, town life and religion. 

In DT, the children have designed and created their own bags. They have used templates, cut fabric and used pins to secure it onto another piece of material. To complete their bags, Leaders used both hand-stitching and a sewing machine. The finished bags looks incredible!

In art, the children have been applying their drawing skills to landscapes and portraiture. The photos in the gallery below showcase some of their fabulous work!

What a great first week back!

This week, to mark Remembrance Day, Leaders have been exploring Sleights war memorial and the people commemorated on it. They have created thoughtful pieces of work around this, which will be displayed around the memorial and village this weekend. We were also joined by Mr Hann, a former Royal Air Force Wing Commander (Retired). Mr Hann worked with Leaders to explore some of his own stories and reflections on his time serving. Mr Hann shared with the children some of his first-hand experiences and brought some of his equipment and uniform into school. The children were really engaged to also see photographs and medals from Mr Hann’s service. The children had so many questions and made some excellent contributions.

The children have also been busy in DT this week. This half term, the children will be designing and making their own re-usable bag. To start this unit, Leaders explored a range of existing bag designs with a focus on their appearance, durability and functionality. 

In English, we have began to explore poetry. The children identified features within a free verse poem and are looking forward to creating their own next week. We have also continued to read our class text, ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’. This week, we learned more about Ahmet’s journey to the UK before completing reading activities linked to this chapter.