In Key Stage 2 our pupils learn to speak German. But this week we celebrated International Mother Language Day and learnt about lots of other languages. Our bilingual and multilingual pupils became the teachers and taught their peers about their other languages and their family background.
For Tuesday’s lower school assembly we had a group of Lawford Mead mums visit younger pupils and speak to them about the languages they speak and the culture in countries they have lived in. Children learnt numbers and days of the week in Brazilian Portuguese, Cantonese, French, Italian and Spanish!
What languages do you speak? What language would you like to learn?
In the last couple of weeks we have continued to prepare for Safer Internet Day in our assemblies. Younger children enjoyed and learned from the stories of Smartie the penguin and Digiduck. Older children have watched and discussed the brilliant new videos on the BBC website’s ‘Own It’ zone.
Today is actually the big day, Safer Internet Day 2024! We are celebrating across the school.
In Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, we will read an interactive story exploring how changes online can make you feel. In this story, we meet Mo and Jaz who are two children that love playing games online. When something happens in their game that makes them feel worried, they realise they need to let an adult know. The children will identify trusted adults at home and at school they can talk to if they feel worried about something online. A video recording of the story is available here: https://youtu.be/X0ORbbSUb-A
In Years 3 to 6, we will participate in a 30-minute live lesson hosted by the BBC. Presented by tech expert Georgie Barrat, CBBC’s Rhys Stephenson and Blue Peter’s Abby Cook, this Live Lesson explores the technology of the future, including artificial intelligence, and how to navigate the online world safely. The children will then share their thoughts and ideas about how to stay safe online as a class. A recording of the live lesson will be available here.
Leave a comment below to share your Safer Internet Day reflections. What have you learnt and what advice would you give others?
During this week’s assemblies we started preparing for February’s Safer Internet Day.
We talked about what we learn about online safety at Lawford Mead, from Year 1 to Year 6. Find out more by checking out the powerpoint slides on https://www.lawfordmead.essex.sch.uk/curriculum.
We also watched the official Safer Internet Day videos to get us thinking and talking about how we can keep ourselves safe during screen time.
Happy New Year! Wishing you a healthy, happy and successful 2024.
In our first assemblies of the year we have talked about new year resolutions or, as we call them at Lawford Mead, new year aspirations.
In our Tuesday assemblies this week we watched two videos about inspirational children who achieved something special at the end of 2023. Click on the links to find out more…
Pupils have been sharing their hopes, dreams and goals for the year ahead with each other. Leave a comment below sharing the targets you are setting yourself. What’s in store for 2024?
In our lower school assembly this week we read ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ together. We discussed why the Grinch acted the way he did and what he learned from the people of Whoville by the end of the story.
In our upper school assembly we watched this year’s Apple’s Christmas TV advert and discussed what the animator learns to be a more positive person.
In both assemblies we discussed what we can do to cheer up and comfort anyone who might be cross, sad or lonely, at Christmas time or any other time!
In upper school assembly this week we talked about coding because we are taking part in this year’s Hour of Code. We thought about how advances in computer programming might make our lives easier in the future and the skills we might need for good jobs in the future.
You can watch the first video we discussed here to understand more about coding.
We also watched this video about an inspirational student who is sharing his passion for computer programming…
In assemblies this week we tested our knowledge of the Christian church’s Christmas traditions by trying out this Advent quiz. We were surprised by some of the answers!
We then talked about our special Lawford Mead traditions that make Christmas extra special at our school.
Finally we shared some of our own family traditions at this time of year. What seemed most important to the children that shared was the time sent with loved ones.
Next Wednesday, on our Christmas dinner day, we will raise money for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day campaign.
In a recent lower school assembly we learnt about Diwali. We watched some of the videos here and tried a quiz. We got 4/5 correct because we didn’t realise just HOW MANY people celebrate Diwali around the world each year! Try the quiz yourself here.
In Anti-Bullying Week this year we made new class kindness contracts. This is a tradition at Lawford Mead. Each year children agree on a class motto and three promises to show what is important to them, how they want to be treated and how they will take care of each other.
In our upper school assembly this week we prepared for remembrance day by learning about John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Field. John McCrae was going to throw his poem away after writing it but thankfully his friends told him they liked it and encouraged hime to share it. Can we do that for our friends when writing together in class?
