Green Council and voting at Shirley Warren.

Today Green Council had a very important job - to vote for one child in Key Stage 1 and one in Key Stage 2 who would be the Good Egg. Good Egg is an award which is presented by the governors to two children who have been consistently kind and helpful throughout the term.

Earlier in the week, every class noninated children they thought could be the Good Egg and then the class had a vote. Mrs Williams helped the KS1 children see what it was like to write on a voting slip, put it in the "ballot box" and take out votes and count them. We learnt lots of words to do with voting like "majority".

Parliament Week is a charity which supports schools to learn about the process of voting in a democracy and they sent us resources for Parliamt Week this year, which was in November. We were a bit late, but with the General Election yesterday it was a good time to learn about what happens.

Here we are after the voting.
The winners will be announced in the final assembly.

There was A Miracle In Town in KS1!

Yesterday and today lots of parents and friends were treated to a very special production of A Miracle In Town by KS1.



Mrs Allen and all of the KS1 teachers worked really had to help the children learn words and songs and get into their costumes.  Mrs Williams was very pleased with the singing.

Can you spot your child in the photos?

Recycling Tips

In Green Council we want to encourage recycling and we don't have the space to recycle a lot in school so we wanted to let you know about some local recycling initatives which we have been told about by one of our fantastic parents.

http://www.southamptonwoodrecycling.org.uk/

https://southamptonscrapstore.org.uk/

https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/ 

https://www.recyclenow.com/local-recycling

There is also a good project called Ellies Fund where you can send off your own recycled products e.g. biscuit wrappers, cleaning product packaging and stamps. 

If you have any more ideas please let your Green Council rep know.

Shoebox Reminder

Last week, Nick from the Rotary Club came in to tell KS1 and KS2 about the Shoebox scheme which we are operating for the second year running in Shirley Warren. Last year we managed to collect about 50 boxes to send to disadvantaged children overseas through the Rotary Club.
How many do you think we can collect this year?
If you have lost your leaflet, you can collect another one at the office.
Your box needs to be in just before half term.

Year 1 Soccer Aid

On Soccer Aid 2019 Year 1 had lots of fun wearing their sports clothes and using algorithms to instruct their friends from one part of the playground to another.

We discussed and thought about all the children around the world who do not have access to a playground and how everyone has a right to play.

Soccer Aid in Year 4

Today we put on brightly coloured sports tops to raise money and awareness for Socer Aid with Unicef.

If you look sideways at this lovely work by three girls in 4C, you can see what they consider to be "wants," "needs" or not sure.  They also listed some of their own.

 

4D thought about designing a perfect playground.

Here are just a few of their great ideas.



What would you like to see in a perfect playground?

Clean Air Day 2019

Today at Green Council we decided to raise awareness by making large letters spelling out "Clean Air Day"

As we know it's very important to celebrate the air we breathe in and out, we had a go at Ink Blowing to create our letters.  We all had a great time trying to make patterns and mix the ink.

What do you think?

Have you made any pledges for Clean Air Day?

The Big Battery Hunt at Shirley Warren

As a school, we want to do our bit for the environment.

Recently we applied to be part of The Big Battery Hunt and our collecting boxes have arrived.
There are 4 clear tubs.

We are going to have a competition to see who can fill the most.
There will be tubs in Early Years (RG), KS1 (2A), KS2 (5D) and the School Office.
At the end of the Summer Term we will seee who has collected the most.

So get out your old batteries and bring them to school to be recycled.
Which tub do you think will have the most batteries?

For more infomation you can visit

https://www.bigbatteryhunt.co.uk/

Discussing Elections at Shirley Warren

Today we had a visit from our new councillor, Sally Spicer, who is also a governor.

She told us that she got elected for the Labour Party for the city council. She is looking after an area which is called Redbridge Ward which is Millbrook, Maybush and Lordshill.

We had questions to ask her:
Why did you want to be a councillor?
I like helping people and I want to make the area better for people.

I want the park to be better in Millkbrook, there is going to be a big new park in Mansel Park.
Another passion is housing, I want more council houses.
We can't always do the things we want to do because we don't have lots of money.
I am on committees like the licencing committee.
There is a new Lidl being built so I have been working on that and residents are happy they have a different shop to go to as well as Tesco and Sainsburys.
Recently a bus stop that elderly residents use was stopped so Sally has sent lots of emails to try and change this. Here is a photo.

What did you study in school?
I wasn't political, I wanted to look after children.  There isn't a criteria when you want to be a candidate: I had to say I wanted to help people and I got chosen by my party.

Why did you want to be part of it?
I feel we need people to do good things in the city.

How do you help people?
Sometimes they phone me and I've got a website.

Are you happy about what you're doing?
Yes, I work at the hospital so I do this in my spare time.

How hard was it?
Quite hard because you have to convince people you are best for the job.

Are you having a good time with your work?
Yes, it's very rewarding and I have done things like help keep the swimming pool open.

What was one of the easiest things?
Getting the hedges cut along Romsey Road.

And the hardest?
Oaklands Pool

Fumes or futures... Green Council meeting

Recently, Christian Aid sent us a pack “fumes or futures” which was a brilliant way to talk to Green Council about the subject of Climate change and share facts in a fun and informative way.

Today, we used resources from the pack to play the games and make “chatterboxes” (fortune tellers).

We thought about what we would like to ask our class and one suggestion was, "How can we save energy?"

I'm sure that's a question we all can be thinking about and I was really pleased at how much the children knew about the subject.

Mrs Williams

NSPCC- The Great Reveal

If you have been following the blog, you will have noticed that Shirley Warren recently put on their dancing shoes for a sponsored Danceathon in aid of the NSPCC.

Today, Sharon came in with her decimal point shaped mascot, Buddy, to reveal how much we raised, thank the children and explain what their money would go towards.

She invited the children who had raised the most money to take part in turning over the figures.
Although it's hard to see from the picture, we raised £1,206.47 which was just amazing. You could hear gasps of surprise from children and teachers when the thousands column was revealed!

Thank you to everyone who contributed, especially W in KS1 whose parent set up a Just Giving page which raised a few hundred pounds of that amount.

Green Council talks Road Safety and Reducing Plastics

There are two issues concerning Green Council at the moment, and we worked on them in our meeting today.

First, we are still concerned about road safety and secondly (inspired by class 5D) we want to encourage the school to reduce plastic usage in school.

Here we are making posters and designing little sketches for next Thursday's assembly so that we can let our friends know the very important messages about safety and recycling.

Valentines Day 💓 Shirley Warren has a huge heart!

Last week, two parents from our Shirley Warren family who had experience of Ocean Ward and PICU with their children suggested that we ask children to dress in red (or non uniform) on Valentines Day to support these two charities at Southampton General Hospital.

Today saw a lovely selection of red clothes - lots of Saints kits as well!

We are pleased to announce that the total collection amount was £351.82

Well done Team Shirley Warren

💓

NSPCC- Speak Out, Stay Safe

Today in Green Council we welcomed an outside speaker.
Sharon Kay works for the NSPCC and she came to talk to us about how we can speak out and stay safe.

One Year 6 rep kindly wrote minutes for us, which our Year 5 rep helped to write up.
He says:
* Buddy the speech bubble is their mascot
* the charity was founded 134 years ago
* Children would work at 5 because they would be able to work in mines and go under machines, mainly because they were small.  Some children got hurt and they wouldn't be able to do things they wanted if they got hurt.
* They go to every school and they choose a fundraising event
* Green Council want us all in Shirley Warren to do a danceathon
* Some schools do a conga line around the school but we decided we will try cultural dancing

Sharon is going to give us everything we need to do this and hopefully we will be able to raise a large amount of money for the NSPCC.

Safer Internet Day in 4C

Tuesday 5th February was Safer Internet Day. 

In 4C we had a class discussion about how we need to give and receive permission for many things online, at home and at school.

We also tried an exercise where we had to draw first an apple, then a dog, then the internet. We found out that the apples looked very similar. The dogs all had 4 legs and a tail, but didn't all look as similar as the apples. These are both real objects. Then we tried to draw the internet. A lot of people had a screen and the word Google, but every one was different. Mrs Williams took a photo of our drawings of each but the iPad would not let her upload them to this blog post!

 After that, we looked at different scenarios such as being asked to play a game with a 12+ rating and we discussed what we would do. 

We read through the Shirley Warren E-Safety Charter and agreed we would follow it.

Playground Buddy training has begun!

Today, children from Key Stage 2 who applied to be a Playground Buddy started their training.
We have over 20 children who want to help other people, which is really fantastic.

The children started by learning how to greet each other politely and practiced with people they didn't know from other classes.  Then it was time to learn our special song:

We're the playground buddies
And we're here to help you play (yay)
With Shirley Warren caps on
To help you all the way (yay)

Our games are old and new (true)
We can help you (true)

We're the Shirley Warren buddies
here to help today (YAY!)

We are going to sing it to the school in our final presentation assembly.

Finally, the playground buddies also learnt a new game called "Riverbank"
then went out to introduce it to KS2.

They were so excited about it. I'm sure it will be just as exciting for Key Stage 1 next week.

Mrs Williams

PSCO Louis comes to visit

Today we had a special visitor in Green Council, PSCO Louis De’Ath.

The children asked him some questions. Here are some of the answers - I wonder if you can guess what they asked him!

He said he started in 2016 after running a hotel. He works out of Redbridge Fire Station. He helps the community and then tries to fix things. If you have a problem or a worry you can talk to him.

He looks after vulnerable people especially if old people are lost. He also get calls about lost pets.  The last thing he did to help someone was knock on someone’s door because he was going to talk to their neighbour, and they actually did need help with their boiler which he was able to do.

He had some leaflets about road safety which was brilliant because as a Green Council, that is one thing we want to focus on next.

If you see PCSO Louis out and about in the community, don't forget to give him a smile and say hello.

Democracy - Good Egg

In Shirley Warren, we know and understand the British Value of democracy.
This is where everyone has a say and we use a vote to show what the majority have chosen.

In our school, we have an award called the Good Egg, which is presented to one child in Key Stage 1 and one in Key Stage 2 at the end of every term. The child is someone who is shows kindness, respect and support as voted by their peers.

This is how the process works. 
First, children nominate someone in their class, with reasons why that child is a good egg.
Second, the class have a vote and the winning name is sent to our Green Council meeting.
Finally, Green council have the difficult task of listening to the descriptions of all of these amazing pupils and voting on the ones the governor will present the award to.

We keep that name a secret until the end of term assembly.
Today Green Council will vote for Autumn 2018's Good Egg.
If you were going to nominate someone in your class, who would it be and why?

Rotary Shoebox Collection at Shirley Warren

In our school, we are proud that we try and help other people and this was the first year we have tried making shoebox gifts for disadvantaged children for the Rotary Club.

Thank you so much to all who generously filled a shoebox, and we will definitely be taking part next year.  Even though it is so early to be thinking about Christmas, we know the boxes have a long way to go before they reach their destination and we hope the children will enjoy what we have packed.

Here is a picture of some of the boxes, ready to be collected by the Rotary Club.

Green Council start their Playground Project

Today, Green Council met for a very important job.

As well as looking at our Class Books and following our agenda, the main activity was to label the new playground equipment.

We wrote SWPNS on the footballs and other playtime equipment. 

We are going to tell our friends in class to look after them and use them carefully.

What do you like playing with in the playground?