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.

Green Council look at our school air quality by studying trees!

Today, we had a special visitor to Green Council.
Bike it Ray came with a lot of interesting chart about different animals, poo, and lichens.  He told us that lichens grow on trees and bricks and can tell us a lot about the air quality in our area.

We went for a nature walk to see what we would find in the bottom playground. We were very excited to see lichen on the trees and Bike It Rays said that although there is more to do, the lichens we saw were a healthy green colour and indicate that our air quality is not bad for our infants.  Hooray!

Here we are studying a tree. Do you know what type of tree it is? (clue: the colour is silver!)

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.

Green Council at Aldermoor Farm

Today, all the members of Green Council were excited to go to a farm which is very local to us called Aldermoor Farm.

Farmer Richard welcomed us to the farm.

In this photo we are looking at the safety notice on the back of the sign so that we know all of the hazards of a working farm.

Can you think of any hazards there might be on a working farm?


Richard gave us a tour of his farm.

One thing he really wanted us to see was his "savings account".  Here is is in the second photo.

Can you guess what it is?

It really smelt disgusting as you can see from some of our faces!
 
Richard gave everyone some old spinach plants to feed the chickens with.  We found out that the chickens ate them very quickly!

 Our next job was to plant some flowers in front of the runner beans.  After they were planted we had to water them and also water the lettuces and other vegetables which the sprinkler couldn't reach.

We found out that Aldermoor Farm has a natural spring and Richard has made lots of hoses and clever ways to make the water effective throughout the whole of the farm.

Finally, we got to feed the chickens seed. We found out that Aldermoor Farm is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.  There is a shop and if you want to feed the chickens, you can pay 20p for a bag of feed.  It would be lovely to see many families from Shirley Warren visit the farm and get involved. 

https://www.aldermoorfarm.org.uk/

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

Walk to School Week

It is Walk to School Week! We are encouraging families to walk to school during the week beginning 20th May. These are just some of the benefits...

- Less congestion outside the school
- Cleaner air in our local area
- Happier children

Walking to school is also a great opportunity to reinforce and talk about important road safety skills. 

We appreciate some families need to come in the car, even just parking a little further away and walking together will have the benefits above.

 This week we will be talking about why it is good to walk to school with our families and doing a hands-up survey to see how we most often get to school.

 Don’t forget we have our new scooter pod by the Warren Centre. If you scoot to school, don’t forget to wear your helmet and lock up your scooter during the day. Thank you for your support.

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

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.

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.

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?

The Great Shirley Warren Switch Off

Have you seen the poster outside the school about the Shirley Warren Switch off?

Zaki from the Environment Centre kindly came in and told us about it.

It is happening tomorrow, Friday, from 4-6pm at the Action Centre (church), 117 Warren Crescent,  just near the school.
There will be prizes including torches and a multi cooker.
The event is free to attend so anyone can come along.
There will be inflatables and a slow-cooked meal which is also free.
There will be energy companies there giving advice too, and a parent session from 2-4pm.

At 5.30pm all the prizes will be given and there will be a big switch off with glow sticks.
Nearly 100 people went last year, so please come along and make this year's session even better.

At Shirley Warren Primary and Nursery School we do care about the environment and we hope you will join in too.

For more information please click here:
http://www.shirleywarren.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SWWT-BigSwitchOff-Info-pack.pdf

Playground Markings have been completed!

Did you notice anything different about the look of the bottom playground when you came back from our half term holiday?

We finally saw the playground markings refreshed after we fundraised for Mr Kelly's 50th birthday and we were given a donation by Capita. As you can see, the snakes and ladders game goes all the way up to 100 again.

We hope there will be lots of happy playtimes at Shirley Warren, even though the wintery weather is coming.

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?

PCSO Visit to Green Council

Today, PSCO Louis De'Ath came to tell us about his job.

He works at Redbridge Fire Station.
We thought that the police arrest people, give warnings, investigate and help at car accidents.
We found out that most importantly, they help people!

Louis is a PCSO. A Police Community Support Officer. If you are lost and you see him, he can help you.  He wants to make sure everyone is OK.  He showed us his special radio.  He likes cycling along Warren Avenue.

He said the biggest thing we can do to help the police is to talk to them! Tell someone you trust if something is happening that isn't right. Just like in school, we need to talk to each other to help everyone be safe.

Sometimes he has to check if there are children playing safely, and he reminded us to take care on the roads and look both ways. We are going to remind our class how to stay safe.

If you see PCSO Louis around, will you give him a smile or a wave?

Aldermoor Green Council Farmers!

Today Green Council visited Aldermoor Community Farm to see how Richard and the team Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and also to reward our Green Council reps for working hard all year on Pupil Voice issues.

First, we had to identify the root vegetables from the leaves above. There were carrots, radishes and beetroot. Would you know what they look like or what their leaves look like?

Next Richard asked us to pick the radishes. We learnt that he will sell them in his shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9am-5pm and they now take card payments.

When the radishes were picked there was space to plant new seeds - radishes, beetroot or carrots.

After this the hungry chickens needed feeding. If you want to go and feed the chickens at the farm, it is only 20p when the farm is open.

Our last task was plaiting garlic. This was quite tricky but a clever Year 6 who already had plaits demonstrated this skill.

We found out that one of our Year 4's is a regular volunteer on the farm.

Last but not least, somebody made friends with a caterpillar. can you see it on her arm?

Thanks to Farmer Richard for letting us help him.
If you want to know more about Aldermoor Farm, look up http://aldermoorfarm.org.uk/ There may be an Open Day coming up soon.

Clean Air at Shirley Warren

Today, Jean MacGrory from My Journey at Hampshire County Council came to talk to us about Clean Air at Shirley Warren.

We learnt that pollution is bad for the environment, for example by factories and burning fossil fuels.  Southampton is in the top 5 worst cities in the UK for pollution.
Cars are one of the worst way in which our city is polluted.
We found out that we can do things like walk or cycle to school and have plants around the house.
We need to share with our families that we need to be thinking about using our cars less if possible.
Jean told us all about Clean Air Day on 21st of June. It's a Thursday but you could go after school and there are things for children to do until 7pm.

She also left leaflets with clean air advice, including a new app to help asthma and people with breathing problems find out what their air quality is like.

If you have any thoughts or ideas about Clean Air and how we can help, you can ask Mrs Williams, the Green Council leader.

Water Aid Speaker comes to Green Council

Today Tony Ridley come to speak to Green Council about Water Aid.

Mrs Williams made notes so that the Green Council reps can share with their classes the information he gave. This blog is a good way of sharing information.

Tony worked for HSBC and they supported the Water Aid charity and let him talk about it to local groups. He is now retired, but still does talks for Water Aid. He told us:
* 884 million (that's 884,000,000) people had no access to safe water in 2011, the figure now is only 650 million!
* Children often get diseases and may miss school as they have to get water.
*900 children under 5 die every day from very very bad tummy bugs.
* You can only go 3 days without water.
* In the UK people use on average 150 litres a day. In Africa they use 10 litres a day.
* 2.3 billion (that's 2,300,000,000) people don't have access to a toilet. That's about 30% of the world.
* Water Aid works with local people to provide sustainable solutions.  Here is a picture of some of the things they do.


We are going to raise some money for Water Aid charity and will make plans for that at our next Green Council meeting.