A Victorian Visit – Preston Park
On Thursday 6th February, along with Discoverers, Leaders visited Preston Park. The aim was to begin to investigate the Victorian era, immersing ourselves into life in Victorian times.
Leaders began by spending time in the classroom, learning what life would have been like in a Victorian school. There were many surprises: the amount of children in every class; the different ages of the children in a class; how the children would have carried out their lessons on a slate; and the punishments that you would be given if you did not something you were asked.
Teachers would most likely be women although, once they got married, they were unable to be a teacher.
Leaders spent the afternoon investigating the Victorian street. There were so many tiny bottles in the Chemist, all were made of glass, and contained an array of different ingredients that would be mixed together to make medicine to treat you. Leaders found the bottles in the sweet ship far more interesting, filled with a rainbow of different coloured sweets. The lady in the shop explained who would have been able to buy the sweets and how much they would have cost. There were some very sad faces when they realised that this would not have been a daily or weekly event.
The Drapers was the place they found out about the Victorian clothes, investigating lost of different headwear, and saw some Victorian pennies.
Finally, they spent some time on the street having a go at paying with some of the toys. The hoops were much harder to use than the children expected.
OfSTED report – November 2019
We are so delighted to be able to share our OfSTED report from November 2019.
A huge thank you to everyone for their hard work, dedication and support. Go, Team Sleights!
Fantastic Forest Learning – What a Busy Morning!
Our first session in the forest this year with not a moment to waste. The sun was shining and Leaders were smiling – ready to enjoy learning in the forest – little did they know the amount of learning in store!
Over the course of the morning our learning was varied: French months of the year; mapping using gridlines; Roman numerals; fire safety; fire lighting; Kelly kettles; singing in parts and rounds.
We couldn’t miss a hot chocolate of course, the treat at the end well tended Kelly kettle and very busy morning. A fantastic morning Leaders – you were brilliant.
Goodbye, Mrs Vicar!
On 23rd September, the whole school gathered in St. John’s Church to say goodbye to Mrs Vicar (Reverend Veronica Carolan). Reverend Veronica begins her retirement after many years of faithful service and the school was so pleased to be able to mark this special occasion. The school shared songs, poems, readings and their heartfelt thoughts on Mrs Vicar. See the gallery for a snapshot of the service.
This Green and Pleasant Land
Over a busy first two days in school, our Autumn topic was launched with a focus on art. We learned about different artists (John Constable, Catherine Stephenson and David Hockney) and the styles they used for their own art. We focussed on a range of different skills with the children developing expertise in each before putting all these skills together to create part of a whole school piece of art.
Leaders Leading Learning
Wow Leaders, what a start! During PE this week Leaders have been using their skills to set up a range of activities for Learners to take part in. The children devised and set up all the activities to practice basic skills before leading small groups of Learners through it, supporting and encouraging them along the way.
Mrs Walker and Mrs Brown witnessed some fantastic teamwork and leadership skills in Leaders and some fantastic feedback from Learners about their favourite activities. Well done everyone!
A visit from the Islamic Diversity Centre
On Tuesday 9th April, we were really excited to be able to welcome Miriam and Amar from the Islamic Diversity Centre in Newcastle. During the day, the children enjoyed a workshop, in their classes, with Miriam and Amar to learn about the Five Pillars of Islam.
The children asked lots of really thoughtful questions and were incredibly interested and respectful of the Muslim faith. We were also pleased to be able to welcome family members to the workshops, who also shared lots of positive feedback.
Thank you to the Islamic Diversity Centre for helping our children understand and compare about faith different to our own.
Click here to see a copy of the family feedback about the workshop: Islamic Diversity Centre Workshop Evaluation (April 2019)
Leaders’ Class Blog
Friday 24th May 2019
This week has been a lot more relaxed than the previous, as we have our SATs out of the way and lots of fun things to look forward to. This week we have enjoyed writing our setting description for our new theme in literacy, Fairy tales! We have also been looking at geometry in maths and finding coordinates on four-quadrant grids. Today we had fun with the Pioneers, we helped them to practise for sports day.
Friday 10th May 2019
This week we have been preparing for SATs, we have worked so hard to remember our learning, and put it in to practise when answering revision questions. We are looking forward to showing off what we have been learning in the tests next week, and proving that all of our hard work was worth while.
Apart from revising, we have learned more about George’s Haemophilia, he has recently started to give himself his own medication, through an injection, and we are all so proud of this. He showed us how he did it, see the pictures below:
Tuesday 9th April 2019
This week The Islamic Diversity Centre visited us here at Sleights. We had the chance to learn about the religion Islam, and find out about Muslim’s everyday life. We asked lots of great questions and found the session very informative. We even got to dress as a Muslim, see our pictures below:
Friday 22nd March 2019
Hello all – Finley and Maddie here. This week has been busy in leaders. In English, we have planned and began writing a newsletter on Fair Trade and how it helps farmers in the poor region of the world. In maths, year 6 have been doing algebra (which has been quite a challenge) and Year 5 have been learning about graphs. This week in P.E, we have been playing volleyball, which was quite difficult for some of us. We have been learning different techniques to volley the ball and to serve.
This Friday afternoon, we have written a report on Hinduism and how they worship. Whilst that was happening, others were painting on a cross to set up on our next worship area, which is based on forgiveness. The most exciting part of the week for most is our new class book called ‘The Ghost Of Grania O’ Malley’ by Michael Morpurgo. On Thursday, we wrote a short paragraph about this book (some were quite gory!)
Friday 22nd February 2019
Today is our last day of this half term, even though most schools broke up last Friday! I think we are tired now as Miss Stubbs wrote ‘Friday 22nd Friday 2019’ on the board.. As we prepare to break up, it is a time for reflection upon the hard work and achievements of this half term. We have been working extra hard, with only eight weeks left until our SATs, and on top of this we are preparing for the Eskdale Festival, which will soon be upon us. Leaders were tasked with the challenge of preparing our very own worship, and we certainly rose to the occasion by including two, separate dramas. We have included some pictures below.
Friday 8th February 2019
This week began with the most exciting day, ‘Chocolate Day’. Following on with the theme of chocolate, the whole school has now finished writing their very own stories, named ‘Chocolate Cake’. In Leaders, we were so excited for others to hear our stories, we teamed up with the Adventurers class and read them to each other. The younger children read beautifully, and listened very carefully, all we needed was a slice of chocolate cake!
We are now moving on to writing about how chocolate is made. We’re learning lots of new vocabulary, specific to this process, such as: fermentation, cocoa pods, nibs, and lots more. We will bring this leaflet home, when we have finished writing it, and can share these interesting facts with you.
Friday 18th January 2019
Today’s authors are Maddie, Katie, Isaac S and Miss Stubbs. We’re back in to the swing of things now, after being back at school for two whole weeks. The days seem to have passed fairly quickly and we have started learning a few new things.
We have been trying (and failing) to resist chocolate cake! That’s right, our current topic is ‘Chocolate’ and in English we are writing a story based on Michael Rosen’s story poem: Chocolate cake.
Our topic in science is Sound, we have certainly made more than a ‘racket’ with instruments, looking at how sound travels through vibration.
We will keep you posted with any Chocolate themed news.
Friday 21st December 2018
After a very busy December, we have so much to fill you in on. Earlier in the month we were spreading the love. We created small hearts, including positive messages, and spread them around the village. Keep a look out for them: on railings and lampposts mainly.
We also visited some members of the local community, singing carols and catching up in general, I think we made a few people cry! (Happy tears of course!)
We have also enjoyed getting to know the younger children a little better, sharing stories together and showing them our fantastic reading skills.
Here are some photographs that capture these moments:
Friday 23rd November 2018
We have concluded our formal writing this week, after three weeks of focusing on what we want to celebrate as Sleights turns fifty! We will be posting our letters to the Gazette, for the editor to select the most relevant information to publish. Keep a look out for our work!
Friday 9th November 2018
This week, we had a delightful guest, the ambassador of Children in Need: Pudsey Bear! Here we are celebrating with him, making preparations for next Friday, when we will hold a bake sale, raising money for the worthy cause.
Perhaps you are wondering as to why our blog sounds formal this week? We have begun writing a formal letter, informing the local newspaper, the Whitby Gazette, of all Sleights’ spectacular qualities. Keep reviewing the Gazette for our published results.
Friday 19th October 2018
Leaders here, what a fantastic week it has been! We have had such success with the girls’ football team and managed to be placed fourth, out of fifty-five school in total! (See our picture below).
We have now finished writing our instructions on how to bake Yorkshire puddings. We are going to take home the recipes and persuade our families to let us cook! We are also having a baking day next Friday, keep checking back for pictures of the results!
Friday 12th October 2018
Hey there, it’s Finley, Jaedon and Isaac, from Leaders’ class. This week has been exciting, as people have doing Bikeability, whilst others have been baking Yorkshire puddings! Well done to everyone in Bikeability, as they all passed Level 2. This week, we have also been looking at instructions to prepare Yorkshire puddings. In maths, we have been looking at estimating answers. In P.E we have been doing tag rugby with Mr. Gokool. With Mrs Gurney we were doing coding on Kodu. The most fun part of the week was the engineering trip to Scarborough Spa, where we did loads of activities and got loads of freebies! We finished our Christmas cards and finally the girl’s football team came first so are in the finals, well done!
Friday 5th October 2018
Hi there, it’s Rosie, Milly and Amelia, and we’re all in Year Six. This week in class, we have been learning about our Christian values, these are: respect, perseverance and trust. We have also had our Harvest Festival, in which we made Autumn lanterns and tasty bread. In addition, the boys’ football team played against other schools and persevered throughout the whole game. We are so proud. In English, we have finished our non-chronological reports for our attractions, and they are now on display outside of our classroom, for people to read and choose the one that they would most like to visit, feel free to give us your responses too!
Our bake off!
We had a spontaneous Sleights Bake off, some of us baked apple pies/ crumbles at home, and brought in the delights to share.
Our first week in Leaders’ class
Hi there, this is Katie, Jack and Ben from the Leaders’ class. This week we have been thinking of ideas for our non -chronological report attractions. We all went into the school forest to write a practise report, get ideas and have fun. Also in our class, in numeracy we’ve been rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred and thousand, including decimal places. Apart from maths and English lessons, we’ve had swimming, P.E and dance –taught by Hannah Verity. You may have heard about the open afternoon, where parents came at 2.30 pm to have a look at their child’s work.
Chocolate Day! February 2019
This week began with a launch day to our new writing topic, investigating “How is chocolate made?” The whole school worked in mixed groups during the day to complete a range of activities based on making chocolate. We want our children to be able to write with real purpose and using experiences, so what better way to learn about making chocolate than by doing it!
Mrs Hann worked outside with the children on Monday, down in the forest. The groups worked hard to create their own mud chocolate creations, adding different textures and objects to give some added crunch to their recipes! The children hunted around the forest for interesting and unusual objects to add in. It was excellent to see all children of all ages supporting each other in this task.
To help our day be a success, we kindly received a donation of chocolate and materials for making our own lollies from Alex at Crofts Chocolates in Scarborough. With Mrs Roe, the children had the very exciting task of using this donation to make their own chocolate lollies. When I visited, each lolly was heaped with sweets and marshmallows, which made them look really delicious!
Mrs Walker and Mrs Exelby led the baking efforts on Monday. During the day, each child had the opportunity to create their own chocolate creations. Working together to carefully add the ingredients, mix them together and prepare them for baking was something that everyone enjoyed. If you were able to join us for the café in the hall during the afternoon, I am sure you will agree that they looked delicious!
Finally, with Miss Stubbs, the children created their own packaging for their chocolate lollies. After looking carefully at the designs of well-known chocolate brands, the children then came up with their own designs. It was fun to see how the children were using these brands to influence their own, with many adapting well-known chocolate names and designs.
At the end of the day, it was great to be able to invite so many families into school to see the children’s efforts from the day and read their stories in our chocolate café. The event was incredibly well attended, with it being said that the cake sale was “like a fair day!” This overwhelming support is amazing. Thank you to everyone!
Chocolate Cake
Friday 8th February 2018
This week has been an exciting one, after starting with our very own ‘Chocolate Day’! . We have now finished writing our chocolate stories, and wanted to share them with the other children in school. Here we are reading with the oldest children in school (Leaders).
Adventurers were also inspired to make their own chocolate cakes, with the help of Emily’s gran, after reading Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen.
