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Hello,

 

Just a quick update, as I have finally completed my first half marathon and a huge thank you for all for the sponsors made on Parent Pay this week! 

 

A half marathon is a whopping 21km (the furthest I have ever managed to run), and was a mix of trail and road. With some Daft Punk in my ears, lots of water and a wooly hat, the run started at Wassel Woods. There was a steep incline to drop into Habberly Valley, then easy to the Rifle Range, all the way back up to Burlish Top, and finally, home along a muddy river toe-path! In total, the run took about 2 and a half hours and felt amazing, although I had some very achy legs!

 

This was a real milestone in the journey, but unfortunately, a half marathon is not the longest distance training run we will be doing, so please, please keep the sponsors coming in.

 

All of the money raised is going directly to the PTA and will be used to help develop the playground area for the children. Sponsorship could not be easier, either by visiting Parent Pay or visiting the school office and every penny counts.

 

More to come soon,

 

Mr Leavesley-Matthews

On Wednesday 29th January, Year 3 and 4 children put the skills learnt at Slimbridge Wetland Centre to the test. Working in mixed year trios, they carried out a water quality survey on our very own pond.

 

Children made a detailed record of the climatic conditions, tested the water PH, searched for pond life that act as bio-indicators and identified the range of plants growing in the area.

 

The results are very promising, but children must now present what they have found as a report to present to the rest of the school.

Last week we learnt about Chinese New Year.  We found out that this year is the Year of the Rat.  We heard the story of the Great Race and talked about the traditions of the festival.  

We learnt that people eat in different ways and explored using chopsticks in our Chinese Restaurant.  

The children then cooked their own vegetable stir fry which we cooked and ate in forest school.

Year 2 made a great start today collaging their crocodile ready for a display in the corridor. It was inspired by our theatre trip to see Peter Pan - each class from years 2 to 6 are making an element each which will combine to make an awesome display! 

They used sugar paper and paper towels in  small groups to cover the crocodile - the base coat is complete but there is more to do tomorrow....including his eyes and teeth!!

At the same time, the children also collaged a large toucan to go on display alongside their own sketches in our classroom! 

What a busy day! 

We have had the best day creating work to refresh our classroom displays today. 

The children were each tasked to sketch a toucan simply from looking at a picture of one. We then watched a step by step how to draw a toucan video, pausing it at each stage and mastering that element. We also used oil pastels for the first time using blending skills on the beak and solid fill on the body. The children couldn't believe the improvement in their sketches and quite frankly, I couldn't believe that this was a year 2 class. They are amazing!! 

We learnt that in order to get the best quality the following things are crucial: 

•focus - a quiet environment

•time

•patience and resilience

•taking a risk - even when it seems scary

•making mistakes, being proud of them and learning from them

•attention to detail - finishing first doesn't always mean the best quality

•listening to feedback and using it

 

The list goes on..... We had a good chat about how important these skills are and how many of them link to our 7 secrets to success. We are going to see what happens when we use these traits in other areas of our learning! 

 

Take a look at their before and after sketches below! 

What an incredible day!! Last week - Tuesday 21st January, 37 of our Lickhill Choir members went to the Resort World Arena in Birmingham to perform a host of popular and show songs alongside many other schools from the Midlands. The choir was over 6000 strong and the sound they made was astonishingly good!! Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet, The Shires and Ruti Olajugbagbe , the winner of 2018 The Voice also performed with the choir as a backing group! The behaviour of Lickhill was once again impeccable and the enjoyment and smiles when performing was the key reason we enter such events. Singing in a choir is known to be the best source of happiness and well-being. Imagine what a choir of 6000+ can do to bring out those happy endorphins!! Well done to you all, Mrs Mallard, Miss Armstrong, Mrs Jones and myself were so very proud of you all. 

Hello, as promised, here is a quick update of my Marathon journey and what the children have managed to raise so far.

 

I am so pleased to tell you all that in this short time, families have already donated a whopping £125!  All donations go directly to the PTA, who are planning to use the money to support our school playground development. 

 

Whilst we are lucky to have a beautiful school site, the playground is definitely in need of some love and attention. To help find out exactly what children want to see on their new playground, School Council have been doing an amazing job of consulting with classes across the school.  So everything we raise will be going to towards new equipment and features the children have chosen themselves.

 

Running this week has been quite chilly and gloomy. In fact, I have grabbed a bargain at a local gym to get some kilometres done in slightly more comfortable conditions. Also, I have a great plan to follow for the next few weeks, and this is keeping me on track with manageable distances to hit during the week and a longer run to do on the weekends.

 

As we get closer to the marathon and the weather improves, it would be amazing to plan some opportunities for children and parents to join in with short sections of my weekend runs too. 

 

Thank you for all the words of encouragement, please keep donating, every penny counts.

 

Mr Leavesley-Matthews

 

 

On Thursday 23rd January, Year 3 and 4 spent an absolutely fascinating day at Slimbridge Wetland Centre.

 

As part of our Powerful Planet topic, children learnt all about the importance of our wetland areas as a part of the water cycle. We surveyed water quality by inspecting the mini-beasts and plants that grow in our wetlands. We became Arctic explorers performing the important task of monitoring Bewick swan populations and learnt about human impact on our water cycle and natural habitats, and how conservation work has brought many species back from the brink of extinction.

 

Children also became amateur 'birders', looking through binoculars and digital telescopes at some of our migratory visitors, including beautiful barnacle geese.

 

The centre staff were absoluety fantastic and all children showed their best manners and effort throughout the day. Thank you to all parents who supported us to make this trip possible. For siblings or other year groups, we would fully recommend the centre to for your half term holiday bucket lists.

 

 

Year 2 have been learning all about our Beautiful world!

 

We have been learning about the 7 Continents. They should be able to tell you the names of all 7 as well as telling you which is the biggest, the hottest and the coldest continent. They know which has the tallest mountain, the biggest rainforest and the longest river!

 

There minds were blown when we looked at Google Earth and saw just how tiny England is. They were also fascinated to find out that polar bears and penguins do NOT live in the same continent. We learnt that penguins live in Antarctica and their challenge was to go home and find out where polar bears are!

 

In pairs they shared an Atlas and explored, looking at facts about the world- the excitement when they found Kidderminster on a map!! 

We had a a fantastic afternoon with The Junior Pick Up Artists on Wednesday afternoon this week. We started with a talk by the team and discovered that sadly, so much litter is dropped without a thought for the wildlife and environment in which it lives. In just twenty minutes, we found a great deal of rubbish. Some bags still had sell by dates, which gave an indication of how old an item might be. We were shocked to find an 8 year old crisp packet among the rubbish. Many thanks to the team for all the voluntary hours they devote to the cleaning up of the Wyre Forest area.