Autumn Term 2 2022

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half term and feel rested and ready for another fun half term together! We have lots of exciting things planned this half term including our preparations for Christmas during Advent. I was so proud of every single child in Year 5 as they were all so excited to be back in school and wow, we worked hard! They really pushed themselves to achieve their very best and I can’t wait to see them come back to school fresh faced and ready to learn more and most importantly, have more fun! This half term, we continue our topic of Ancient Greece, which the children are thoroughly enjoying! We will also begin our new stimulus for writing: Twelfth Night, after watching the Shakespeare Production before half term. Keep checking our class webpage to see all the exciting things we do in class.

Collective Worship

We will begin collective worship this half term by thinking about and understanding the importance of peace in the world. We will pray for those who died fighting for our country in the war and also pray for their families. This year, Remembrance Sunday will take place on Sunday 13th November and Remembrance Day will be held on Friday 11th November.

In school, we marked Remembrance Day together. The children deepened their understanding of this day through applying their reading skills to unpick key facts about why we commemorate Remembrance Day each year. They also wrote some beautifully thoughtful prayers for peace and to remember those who have lost their lives at war and their families left behind. Thank you to Marius in Y6 who played The Last Post on his trumpet to mark the beginning and end of our two minutes silence in school. 

Our new virtue to live to by for the next few weeks is generosity. We are inspired in worship together to reflect on what this means and how we can be disciples of Jesus. We know we are living out this virtue if we notice others in need, think of others before ourselves, feely give with no reward and we’re willing to make a sacrifice for others. We learnt a new song in worship linked to generosity. Please enjoy this song when you worship and pray together at home:

In worship, we are now preparing for Christmas through prayer and worship around the advent wreath. The children have the opportunity to take an advent prayer bag home with them to extend their worship beyond the classroom and into the home with their families. 

RE: God’s Covenants & The Ten Commandments

This half term we will learn about some of God’s covenants but specifically the covenant he made with Noah when he flooded the world and Moses when he gave him the Ten Commandments. Both of these stories are found in the Old Testament in the Bible. We will learn about the importance of the Ten Commandments and how they can inform how we behave and how we live our lives. Towards the end of the half term, we will then begin to start preparing for Christmas during Advent, where we will consider the importance of Christmas time in our religion and why the Jesus’ birth was so important for the world.

We started our learning journey this half term by developing our knowledge of the key vocabulary that we need throughout the unit. Vocabulary is at the heart of everything we do so this is always a good start to any new topic. Year 5 then started to make connections with their previous experiences either at school, in Church or at home, their previous learning, knowledge and understanding about Noah. Year 5 enjoyed watching a cartoon video of the Bible story ‘Noah’s Ark’ to support them with their understanding of the story. They then considered the questions they would have liked to ask Noah and the questions they would have liked to ask God. Finally, the children attempted to answer the two following questions:

• Why did God choose Noah?

• Why did God flood the world?

We moved on in our learning journey to think about life with and without rules and our own commitments in our own life. Year 5 enjoyed the ‘Commitments Game’ where they had to work in small groups to explore what was important to them in their life. They had a tiered grid with things they were committed to, things they weren’t sure about and things they knew they weren’t committed to: such as playstation, dancing or football (these were some examples).

Some of the commitments they had to consider and talk about where:

• Loving my family
• Being a good person
• Never being racist
• My God
• Being a spiritual person
• Worshipping at my holy place
• Getting better at my sport
• My future
• Doing my homework
• Listening to my parents

There were many more… but the children worked together, discussed and debated about what they felt was their top commitment. This was different in every group but was a great activity to get the children discussing what is important to them and their life and how this is similar/different to their peers.

Ten Commandments

Year 5 learnt more about who Moses is and the story of his life. They then learnt how God made a covenant with him and gave him the ‘way of living’ through the Ten Commandments at the top of Mount Sinai. They made links to their prior knowledge and understanding of how God parted the red sea which meant Moses could lead the slaves out of Egypt. They then learnt that Moses was given the Ten Commandments from God on the top of Mount Sinai.

The Ten Commandments show us how to love God. He made us, and He loves us deeply so knowing the first four commandments helps us know how to love Him back. The last six commandments show us how to love other people. It starts with our parents in the Fifth Commandment. Then the last five show how to get along with others. Thinking about what they mean can help us be good neighbours to others, just ask Jesus teaches us to. Obeying the Ten Commandments can help make other people happy and we will be happier too.

As part of our learning about the Ten Commandments, we compared this to another faith and studied the teachings of Islam in the Qu’ran. What the children realised is that the teachings of both faiths is actually very similar. For example, both Christians and Muslims are taught to respect their parents, to treat one another with love and to honour their God. The children had statements from the Bible and the Qu’ran and they had to identify which religious book they came from (either the Bible = Christianity, or the Qu’ran = Islam) and then consider the similarities and differences.

English

Twelfth Night

Last half term, the children enjoyed a fantastic experience from the Shakespeare Theatre Company who performed Twelfth Night to kick start our brand new stimulus for the half term. The performance lasted all morning and the children were fully involved from start to end. They became the characters, the atmosphere, the set and they enjoyed predicting what they thought might happen next, as well as having the chance to summarise what had happened so far (as often the Shakespearian language was tricky to follow but this was always translated and repeated in a way we could all understand). The children were captivated by the story and range of contrasting characters, particularly Sir Toby Belch and Malvolio who had us crying with laughter. Using this stimulus is going to be fantastic! Thank you to the Friends of St Joseph and all the parents, grandparents and carers who support their fundraising, as without this, we simply couldn’t have these experience for the children. Take a look at the photographs below where I tried to capture the children’s reactions to the performance – these photos are just priceless!!

The children learnt that Twelfth Night was a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare with several interwoven plots of romance, mistaken identities and practical jokes. Separated from her twin brother Sebastian in a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a boy, calls herself Cesario, and becomes a servant to the Duke Orsino.

After watching the production, Year 5 used their reading skills to recap the plot of the story. They then enjoyed re-enacting the key scenes from the play to create our very own ‘Twelfth Night’ play. This helped the children to retell the key events from the play, whilst developing their understanding of Shakespearian language. We have been learning explicit reading skills too, such as information retrieval through ordering events and true/false statements, and drawing inferences, all around the stimulus of Twelfth Night. Whilst using this stimulus, I will be following the children’s interest in the writing we produce, but I have planned for us to write love letters, and the letter that tricked Malvolio!

Year 5 enjoyed getting into role again to explore how Malvolio must have felt after he was tricked by Lady Olivia. We worked hard to develop ambitious vocabulary, using a thesaurus to uplevel our vocabulary, and then working at sentence level to really ‘show not tell’ how Malvolio was feeling. Due to the nature of the romantic comedy that is Twelfth Night, the children found acting our Sir Toby Belch scenes extremely funny….take a look at some of the children in action below! 

Reading

In Year 5, reading for pleasure has high importance! We regularly have time in class to read for pleasure, and to share recommendations with peers. We have Reading Ambassadors in our class who regularly review our reading corner, sharing books and recommending books and encouraging their peers to read a variety of genres. They also work hard to ensure that there is a good selection of books in our reading corner, and often go to our school library to swap out books so there is a great variety. Meet our wonderful Year 5 Reading Ambassadors!

Take a look at our class reading corner which is our reading ambassadors work so hard, alongside the rest of the class, to make sure it is an inviting space which encourages the children to read a range of genres, as well as catering for all needs, and inspiring everyone! We have a classics basket, a magazines basket, a newspaper bucket, a ‘recommended reads’ box as well as dyslexia friendly books which all of our children have been enjoying. 

We also visit our school library regularly, so that the children can choose a book to read for pleasure to borrow, or so that they can spend some time, quietly, reading for pleasure. The library was always one of my favourite places to visit as a child and I used to love spending hours in there, especially because libraries are usually so peaceful and quiet!

Maths

We will begin our half term by identifying multiples and factors of numbers to support our mental recall of key multiplication and division facts. We will then move on to multiplying and dividing by 10, 100, 1000 and beyond. Then, we will focus on written methods for multiplication and division. We will continue to keep skills from last half term bubbling as well as applying new skills in reasoning and problem solving contexts as this is one of our key core objectives in year 5.

To identify multiples.

Year 5 enjoyed a Tagtiv8 activity where they played tag rugby to collect as many numbers as they could. Then, they had to apply their existing knowledge of times tables to work out whether the numbers they had were multiples of given numbers. For example, firstly, they had to identify the multiples of 2 and reason why the numbers they had chosen were multiples of 2 and why the other numbers were not multiples of 2. They had to do this for multiples of 5 and so on. They worked in groups and enjoyed a tag rugby game to collect their tags. They then had to identify patterns in specific multiples.

To identify factors.

Year 5 absolutely loved the Tagtiv8 activity for identifying multiples so we repeated a similar activity using the Tagtiv8 resources but with a focus instead of finding factors of any given number. We first learnt how to find factors of numbers using the ‘curtain’ or ‘rainbow’ method. See examples of these methods below. We talked about closing the curtains so we start at the first factor which is 1 and we know if the factor is 1 then we multiply 1 by the number we are finding factors of. For example, factors of 24 – the first factor pair would be 1 and 24.

The children learn the following key mathematical vocabulary:

• factor
• factor pair
• common factor

We also revised our new knowledge of the word product.

The children practised this skill in class and then took this outside for their Tagtiv8 activity to get active, take their learning outside, have fun and continue to practise finding factors of any given number using practical resources we have in the classroom, such as dice or counters.

To establish whether a number is a prime number and to recall prime numbers to 19.

Year 5 applied their knowledge and understanding of multiples and factors to explore prime numbers. The first task was to find the factors of 11, 13 and 17 and comment on what the children noticed. They noticed that these numbers only had 2 factors: 1 and the number itself. They also learnt that 2 is the only prime number that is even. Year 5 then developed their understanding of key mathematical vocabulary: prime number, composite number, prime factor.

1. A prime number is a number that is only divisible by 1 and itself. Its only factors are 1 and itself. E.g. 2 is a prime number because its only factors are 2 x 1.
2. A prime factor is a factor of any number that is prime E.g. a prime factor of 24 is 2. 2’s only factors are 2 and 1.
3. A composite number is a whole number that can be made by multiplying other whole numbers. E.g. 12 because 2×6=12 and 3×4=12

To recognise and identify square numbers.

Year 5 have learnt all about square numbers. They enjoyed practical activities, singing and even a bit of rapping to help them memorise the square numbers! We learnt some new practical activities to use for KIRF time, using counters, dice and a little game that I prepared earlier that will go in our KIRFs drawer! We learnt the square numbers up to 12×12 but take a look at the picture to see why we call them square numbers. Year 5 spent time exploring the pattern of these types of numbers, and recognising why they are called square numbers. Take a look below at the children in action when playing their KIRF games linked to square numbers.

Show & Share sessions with parents

Year 5 enjoyed a show and share session with parents in Maths today. We had a jam packed morning filled with fun activities to identify prime and composite numbers. As part of our learning, we used Kahoot (an interactive computing game/quiz) to have a fun quiz about key facts to remember linked to our learning. We recapped our method of finding factors and practised. The children were able to show their parents their method and explain it to them. Then….the best bit! Tagtiv8 outside – a physically active learning activity! All children, and parents too, were involved in a tag rugby game. They had to get as many tags as they could and then once the whistle signalled the end of the game, they had to then find the factors of as many numbers as possible, and decide whether the number was a prime or a composite number.

Maths School Trip – Wetherby Race Course

On Wednesday 23rd November, Year 5 went on a trip to Wetherby Race Course. What a day it was too! We started the day being introduced to our visit leaders who would be supporting our learning throughout the day. The children learnt that they were both ex-jockeys who now work for ‘Racing to School’ and support educating children …

The day was absolutely full of maths! From start to finish the children had to keep their maths brains on! The children talked about units of measurement for weight and length and used equipment such as scales and trundle wheels to put this into practise! The children learnt a lot about estimating and how this is a useful skill to have in maths but also in a range of jobs too. The children were able to explore the track, learning about the jumps,  what they are made of and the reasons why. They learnt about ‘furlongs’ too and had to use their maths to calculate what this converted to in m. There was also lots of fractions work throughout too!

In the afternoon, the children watched some horseracing from both their balcony and on the ground. They were fortunate to pick the ‘best turnout’ horse. A very fitting horse named ‘Spartan’s Army’ which linked beautifully to their topic. A very big coincidence! The children loved watching the races and learning about how the jockeys care for their horses. We were even given the honour of presenting the prize to a winning horse owner too!

At the end of the day, our parent volunteer, Mr Tate, also answered some questions in his role as an ex-jockey himself which will be part of our ‘Inspiring You’ activities towards the end of the half term. He talked to us about the need to have determination and self-confidence in any role we pursue. He talked to us about his proudest achievements as a jockey and the children (and staff!) were truly inspired. Thank you Mr Tate for both coming with us on this trip and for your inspiring words too!

Take a look at some of the fantastic picture we took on the day. The children’s faces says it all!

The children thoroughly enjoyed their days! Here are some of their comments from their evaluations at the end of the day.

I really enjoyed watching the horse races as I was already really into horses! 

I loved today!

I think today was a really fun day!

Today was brilliant and full of maths!

Science

Year 5 made links back to their previous learning in Year 4 during their states of matter topic. They considered what they had learnt, what they did in the topic and what they now remember. One thing all the children remembered was a practical, Burn2Learn activity to show how the particles in solids, liquids and gases moved. We recreated this activity outside to help the children to remember this learning even more. Year 5 then also enjoyed recapping on melting and how solid items need heat to melt. They did this through holding a chocolate button in one open hand, in one closed hand, placing the chocolate button on their tongue with an open then a closed mouth. A great way to revise how temperature affects states of matter!

We then moved onto separating mixtures. We began by learning what a mixture is. The children were then set a task by Yorkshire water. They used a variety of ways to separate the different parts of the sample of water. They learnt which apparatus was best for which. 

N

Computing

This half term, we are working on developing our computing skills in iMovie – an application to help users create their own movies or trailers. We are using iMovie to create a documentary style video about Ancient Greek gods and goddesses, linked to our History topic. The skills we will develop over the half term are:

• Choosing the most suitable applications and devices for the purposes of communication.
• Recording, uploading sounds and editing them.
• Adding effects such as fade in and out and control their implementation.
• Changing the position of objects between screen layers (send to back, bring to front).

We have started our Computing project by learning new skills on the app iMovie. Year 5 have never been taught how to use iMovie in school (some children have experience of it at home) so this is all brand new! We first started by looking at the features of a documentary by watching the following video. We weren’t focusing on the historical content of the video but instead the technical and computing features in it. The children identified the following:

• images that pan across the screen and zoom in/out
• voice overs (2 different voices)
• background music
• text on the screen: content as well as titles
• range of images to showcase the content – they were black and white to reflect the time period

We then looked at what ‘green screen‘ is as this is something we are going to be using in our project this half term – again, none of the children have used green screen before. They were all extremely excited to see how green screen works!

Design Technology

Year 5 kicked off our DT unit with a sticky knowledge recap of tools. They had to identify the name of the tool and then we discussed what the tool might be used for, for example, a hammer is used to bang nails into a material such as wood. A saw is used to cut a material, such as wood and so on…

Using our knowledge of tools and skills needed in DT, we explored what jobs and careers could build on skills and knowledge that we learn in Design Technology. The children came up with so many jobs – they really thought about their previous learning in DT, including the skills and knowledge they’ve learnt in DT in previous years, such as sewing and cooking. Take a look at the very extensive list of jobs that Year 5 came up with…and there were many more too!

A really important skill to have in DT lessons is fine motor skills so we spent some time developing this. We had lots of little activities to support the children’s fine motor skills but one that we focused on was the use of scissors and cutting skills. The children focused on cutting accurately. This concentration and focus on accurate cutting will help them when they move on to new learning where they learn how to use a new tool, a saw, to cut materials.

L.O: To develop the skill of cutting materials with precision.

Year 5 have been learning about tools and their different uses where they have considered the most appropriate tool to cut different materials. They then had focused time to learn to use a saw to cut wood. The children saw several demonstrations and had top tips on the board to help them to stay safe and to cut the materials with precision (and safely). Some children found this really quite tricky but to others, it came a little easier. We talked about how we all have different strengths in life and many children found out that this could be one of their strengths!

French

In MFL, we started the half term by revising our sticky knowledge of numbers up to 100. We will continue to work on these as we know that if we don’t use them, we might lose them! The children particularly enjoy using the iPads to play games with numbers. Click the link below to play a game that we use in class to support our learning.

The children then moved onto revising colour. We use, ‘Learn French with Alexa’ to help us with the pronunciation of our words in French.

The children then applied their developing learning about colour in a grid references activity. The children had to identify the colour, then colour the grid in correctly.

The children then moved on to learning about clothes in French. They learnt the keys words in French and gaining confidence with pronouncing and recalling these. Following this, the children moved onto applying their colours and clothes by writing in sentences. The children had to draw and write sentences about a character and what they were wearing. The children loved seeing how they could apply their vocabulary!

French Culture: Christmas in France

As part of our learning in MFL, we learnt more about the culture of France and how Christmas is celebrated, comparing to how Christmas is celebrated in England. The children applied their reading skills to find out about the traditions at Christmas time in France, and then used their own experiences and prior learning in RE to compare to Christmas traditions in England. They then applied their maths skills to create a Venn diagram to show these differences. Lots of discussion took place here to consider what was the same and different, and why things were similar/different. Then using the Venn diagram to help them, Year 5 wrote about the similarities and differences of Christmas time in France and England.

History

We are continuing our fantastic topic of Ancient Greece this half term. Year 5 absolutely loved learning about Ancient Greece last half term and have expressed an interest in learning more about Ancient Greek gods and goddesses, the Olympics, wars and much more! This half term is going to be all around Year 5’s interests so it’s going to be a great one! Year 5 will then dive deeper into comparing Ancient Greece with other significant time periods they have studied. We will present this information using a Venn diagram where we will apply our mathematical skills. We have a very exciting Ancient Greek themed day on Tuesday 29th November where we will dress up as Ancient Greeks and continue to explore this time period further – this will be on the day when we have a very exciting History workshop in school, through a company called Past Productions.

Past Productions Ancient Greece Workshop

Year 5 had a wonderful day today (Tuesday 29th November) during their Ancient Greece workshop. It was a jam packed day full of activities and new learning about Ancient Greece! The children were also invited to dress up Ancient Greece style so we ended up with lots of Greek children, as well as some Greek gods and goddesses, such as Athena! Take a look at how wonderful the children looked! This enhanced our day even more and really allowed to us to fully immerse ourselves into the activities!

To kick start the day, the children consolidated their prior knowledge and understanding based on our studies in History already about life in Ancient Greece but we learnt new facts…even Mrs Cooper, Miss Quenby and Mrs Boyes did too!! We learnt that…

• Spartans called their slaves “Hellots” and Spartan slaves worked in agriculture, meaning they would farm and provide food for the Spartan families.
• Spartans were worried about a slave uprising where hellots would strike against the Spartans, so Spartans would slaughter slaves at random to make sure they worked in fear, and didn’t rise against them!
• Slaves in Athens had a nicer life. They helped in transport for trade, or helped with textiles, clothes making etc.
• Richer Ancient Greek families had a dining room which meant that men ate on their own and the wives and children ate in the courtyard.
• In Athens, a husband’s word was LAW. Women had very little freedom – Women weren’t allowed outside the house without their husband’s permission, not even to visit a temple.
• Spartan women had a lot more freedom, didn’t need permission to leave the home, could even run a business! Trained as warriors and attended military school.
• We also learnt that Spartans sacrificed puppies to Ares, the god of war.

We also learnt about different gods and goddesses, and that all Greeks believed in many gods/goddesses, not like us where we believe in only one God. The children learnt that in Ancient Greece, the gods and goddesses were associated with different aspects of life, such as love, war, the sea, hunting…and so on. We also learnt how the gods/goddesses are related to each other. The children were fully involved in acting out being a god/goddess to help them remember the key information.

We then spent time looking at historical artefacts as sources of evidence to learn about the past. The children weren’t told whether the artefacts were real or a replica so they had to be extremely careful with them! This consolidated our learning from our school trip to the Leeds City Museum from last half term where we learnt about the purpose and use of vases in Ancient Greece but during today’s workshop, we could see some vases, plates and other pottery close up which meant we could see some of the intricately detailed paintings and patterns. The children learnt that ancient Greeks painted pictures on pottery, and that we now use pottery to learn about the facts. We touched on that the real artefacts are primary sources of evidence and that information we read in books is secondary evidence.

Music

In Music this half term, the children will continue to build their understanding of rhythm and keeping in time with others and the beat. They will also have the opportunity to develop their own rhythms, including call & response. Holding a part within a round, playing from memory and playing solo or in an ensemble will also be skills that the children develop this half term. Year 5 are really enjoying learning about the Dhol drums and will continue to develop their historical understanding of this type of drumming this half term.

Year 5 have been learning the first part of the complete rhythm, the ‘Lambi Chaal’. In Indian Dhol music, Year 5 learnt that there is never one main title for a piece of music because Dhol music is a compilation of different rhythms with different names. This lesson, Avtar was assessing the children’s progress by listening to the class play individually. The children had to make sure they played the Chaal at the correct speed and tempo and used the sticks accurately to create the right notes. Year 5 played both sticks together to make the note ‘ding’ and just the tilli on its own to make the note ‘na’. These sounds create the Lambi Chaal.

Year 5 continued to develop their understanding of Dhol drumming today in music and begun to learn about the hip hop variation in rhythms played on the Dhol drum. Avtar transcribed the rhythm using Dhol notation so that the children could follow this when playing. They learnt this verbally first, and then they practised line by line on the drum. Once they were secure with both parts, they put this altogether and played the full hip hop variation on their Dhol drum.

Watch the children in action practising the rhythm notes before playing on the drums:

If you want to hear the class playing the Dhol drums, watch the video below… it takes a lot of practice to get the timing of these rhythms!

The children have been working really hard to learn the hip hop variation rhythm and today, Avtar encouraged the children to practise this rhythm orally, before he set them a super difficult challenge!! He set Year 5 the challenge of playing on their own (solo) to play the hip hop variation rhythm as accurately as possible, following the new rhythm that Avtar has transcribed on the board. If they did this successfully, they got house points ….up to 50 house points each! Wow!!! The class did wonderfully and quite a number of children totally nailed it! Avtar shouted “WOW” if the children got it right! The children really enjoyed this challenge and it helped them to improve their own performances.

 PE

This half term in PE, Year 5 will continue to develop a range of skills through a unit on dance and gymnastics. They will develop their flexibility, strength, body posture and control and will have the opportunity to create and perform their own routines. Year 5 will continue swimming every Thursday where they will develop their confidence in a range of strokes, including their breathing techniques. They will swim at least 25m and up to 100m unaided and will work on their water safety understanding and skills.

PSHE

This half term in PSHE, we will consider how the media may manipulate pictures and that these may not reflect reality. Year 5 will have the opportunity to see how the media can do this and discuss the effect on young people because of this. We will also begin to develop our understanding of the terms ‘prejudice’ and ‘discrimination’. Year 5 will also learn about stereotyping, in particular: gender stereotyping. Our British Value of focus this half term is Individual Liberty. We will explore this, linking to our learning last half term on Democracy, and consider how this British Value has impact on the life we live today. As always, our PSHE lessons and discussions are responsive and centred around the emotional wellbeing of all of our pupils.

Visit from the Mayor of Wetherby

On Monday 7th November, we had a visit from the Mayor of Wetherby, Neil, who came to talk to us in school about his role as Mayor, how he became the Mayor and the important things he does to support the town of Wetherby through the town council. Mayor Neil talked to us about he became the Mayor and told the children that he was elected and appointed Mayor during the pandemic which meant he was brought in as Mayor over zoom, and his wife had to place his chains on him, instead of having this done during a ceremony with the council. The Mayor talked to us about democracy and inclusion in the local community. He shared that he is passionate about making a difference and shared that he knows that the children at St Joseph’s are also passionate about making a difference too. The children asked lots of thoughtful questions and were extremely interested. Some questions they asked were:

• What do you like best about your role?
• What does your role involve?
• How much do you get paid for this very important job?

The children were shocked to learn that being a Mayor is a voluntary role meaning he doesn’t get paid anything for this very important role. In fact, the Mayor also has another job that he gets paid for where he works hard to keep children safe. The Mayor shared that he most enjoys going out in the community, especially visiting schools because he believes children are the future of our community. The Mayor shared that because of covid, he wasn’t able to carry out his work in the local community so his term has been extended for one year, which is very rare. The Mayor shared how pleased he was that he was able to do this and that his term will end shortly after the Coronation of the King, something that he is really looking forward to.

Our school councillors then had an opportunity to speak to him further, ask him any questions they had and even try on his Mayor chain. This visit supported our learning about the British Values, about democracy as the Mayor is voted for and elected, about Individual Liberty – having the freedom of choice and how the Mayor can support this in our town and so much more! It was an exciting morning to welcome such an important member of our local community into our school. Thank you to our Mayor of Wetherby for visiting St Joseph’s! We look forward to welcoming you back to our school in the future.

Anti-Bullying Week

Inspiring You Week

During the last week of this half term, we held our annual ‘Inspiring You Week’ in school where we aim to inspire our children with hobbies, interests and future career or job opportunities. This is a week where we really encourage our children to consider their futures. We have had a very busy week in school with many visitors, including a vet from Parkhill Vets (along with Evie, the Golden Retriever) and an NHS worker in clinical trails who is also an FA coach. Earlier this half term, we also had Mr Tate, an ex-jockey talk to the class about his experience as a jockey, linking to our school trip to Wetherby Racecourse. We regularly have visitors and workshops in school throughout the academic year to inspire our children so please do look out for these opportunities we provide for our children outside of themed weeks too!

Kate, Vet from Parkhill Vets

Kate, a vet from Parkhill Vets, visited us to talk to us more about her work as a vet, how she got into this career and what a day in the life of a vet is like, as well as the skills and knowledge needed to become a vet. There was a carousel of activities which included :

• trying on surgical equipment such as gowns, hair nets, masks and gloves and considering why this was needed for the role of a vet
• looking at X-rays and considering which animal was harmed, and how they were harmed
• looking at worms and ticks and exploring how these affect different animals
• looking at tools used in surgery at a vetenary centre and also bandaging dogs
• learning about a clinical exam of a dog and listening to a dog’s hearbeat using a stethoscope
• matching the skills of a vet to the subject in school that we learn e.g. chasing after a cow in a field links to PE, being able to calculate measurements of doses of medicine links to maths, understanding patients and what they want for their animal links to RE because some people may have specific beliefs that means they want their animal/pet to be treated differently and much more! 

Visit from Mr Arthur: NHS Service Development Manager for Clinical Trials

Mr Arthur visited us in Year 5 to talk to us about his work in clinical trials in the NHS, how he got into the job, what his job involves and what inspired him to follow this career path. We had a kahoot all about drugs, linked to Mr Arthur’s job so that the children could learn a little more about what his job entailed. Mr Arthur also talked to us about his other passion and hobby of football and how he used this passion to become a Football Association accredited football coach. He coaches his son’s football team as well as our school football team too!