The first Friday of the new term centred around the continued theme of anti-bullying today as the children were introduced to a new way of sharing concerns.

In both our KS1 and KS2 assemblies, Mr B and Miss Ellacott reminded the children about the various different ways in which bullying can take place in school. They reminded the children about the promise they made earlier in the academic year when they all signed the anti-bullying charter, promising to report any bullyinhg they see taking place in order to make school a bully free zone.

They then talked about the difficulties children sometimes have in speaking out about concerns they may have with regards to bullying. Sometimes children don’t wish to get involved by sharing concerns in the fear that they may become the victim of bullying themselves. Mr B and Miss Ellacott told the children all about the new anti-bullying boxes being introduced in school. A blue anti-bullying post box has been placed outside both of their offices which gives the children the opportunity to share any worries about bullying with senior staff, safe in the knowledge that any concerns shared will be fully investigated. The children were told that they could share concerns anonymously if they wished but were reassured that the boxes would be checked on a daily basis. The children shared ideas about the kinds of concerns that may be reported and actions which would be taken as a result of the boxes being used. At the end of both assemblies all of the children agreed that the introduction of the boxes was a good idea.

Later in the day there was plenty of sporting activity taking place outside. Children from across KS2 took part in netball games, team games and tag rugby whilst inside Year Two began to investigate the difference between natural and man made materials.

The children in Kites counted in French whilst in Kestrels the children used collage skills to create pictures. In 6B there was even more art taking place as the children developed their water painting skills. They created landscapes using washes and then, once dried, added fine details to their paintings using finer brushes. In 6C and 6J the children listened to the radio broadcast of the declaration of World War Two and then used it as a stimulus to write diary accounts of people living at the time.