Wednesday 6 July 2016

Finished animal sculptures on display in school office

If you have visited our school office recently you may have felt many sets of eyes looking at you. What? You may ask. There are animal sculptures positioned around the reception area – elephants in front of the fish tank, two oran-gu-tan’s either side of the door, another elephant staring at you as you speak to Mrs. Holland and Mrs. Smith.  Oh and what is that you see out of the corner of your eye under the table? A dodo peeping out watching the daily routines of people coming and going.

These are the sculptures made by the Artclub, an after-school club.  Since Christmas the children have designed and made these each week.  They were inspired by the book The Journey Home by Frann Preston-Gannon which we read and then the pupils chose to either paint or make sculptures. You can see how they were made on the Art and Creativity blog.    http://artandcreativityrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/

The artwork has been created to be displayed in Tropical World, Leeds.












Thursday 28 April 2016

Pom pom Sheep at Hollings Mill, Bradford

The pompom sheep made by Robin Hood Primary School has gone to stay permanently at Hollings Mill in Bradford.  It is placed in the Reception area where visitors to the mill will be able to see it.

 I am so pleased that Mark Hill has agreed to display the sheep as so much of the wool was donated by his mill for the project and also for the pompom owls which are on permanent display at Lotherton Hall in the Education Rooms in the Bird Garden.

When delivering the sheep Mark showed me the working side to the mill. That day they were preparing wool to be sent to Denmark.  I saw many of the processes the wool goes through, such as washing, drying, relaxing, winding into balls and packing.  It was fascinating to see!

I was lucky enough to see their sock machine in action.  The mill is home to “The Bradford Sock Company” and I could see how the socks are made.  It is not just wool, but silk and alpaca that are used too and Mark’s knowledge of the yarns is truly incredible.


I so enjoyed my visit and know the pompom sheep will have a great home there.   









Thursday 3 March 2016

New Artwork on display at Tropical World

Tropical World in Leeds is showcasing artwork made by our pupils in Key Stage 1 and Foundation Stage.  Three banners are on display which add colour and pattern to the area.  Two of the banners feature fabric prints sewn together to create a huge bright montage of rainforest animals and their habitats.  The prints were created by the children in KS1 during their Rainforest topic.  This was a printmaking topic and the children enjoyed learning how to use a roller and printing block, making monoprints and overprinting. They learnt how to repeat images and I’m sure the most memorable bit was rolling the ink onto a bed of jelly.  It smelled gorgeous!

The Nursery and Reception children created fabric prints inspired by Jungle animals. There were tiger stripes, giraffe markings, leopard spots and zebra stripes.  These prints were then sewn together to make a banner. You can see how we did this if you go to http://artandcreativityrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Printmaking

These banners have hung in our school mall and we have walked under them admiring the images, patterns and colours.  Now we would like visitors to Tropical World to do the same…





Wednesday 2 December 2015

Maths Mastery November 2015

On Wednesday November 25th, our school held our first Maths Showcase.

We welcomed twenty visitors who observed fluency and reasoning across the key stages. 

In Year 1: 
The visitors saw an assessment session where the class teacher established where the children were at with their learning journey, using the school’s assessment policy. This included the children being questioned to deepen understanding.

In Year 2: 

Our visitors saw a second lesson in the new topic: Multiplication. The children in this phase had been grouped according to the assessments that have taken place during the assessment session and they will work at a fluency and reasoning level appropriate to where they are in the learning journey.

Foundation Stage: 
This session was based around data handling. The children have been introduced to this topic in week three and throughout the week, the children made a group pictogram, looking at tallying and were encouraged to develop their skills in data handling. They were asked what the data (or information) told them, using phrases like, ‘Which is the most popular? Which is least? How do you know? Can you explain your ideas?’ The children asked our visitors what their favourite food was - they really weren't shy at all! They then added their data to their tally on their clipboard.

In year ¾ the session was based on the concept of division. The children began by looking at ‘fact families’ using the ‘switcher triangles’ as the division followed on from two weeks of multiplication learning. The children were then be given various numbers/statements related to division and prove their ideas using apparatus, drawings, etc.

In year 5/6:

The children were focusing on multiplication and division related facts. Every child was given a part of a number sentence which included multiplication and division. The children needed to find the matching part of their number sentence and convince our visitors using mathematical reasons and resources to prove it. 

The visitors were blown away with the quality of the children's explanations as they were starting off their reasons with language such as: 'I know this because...', 'I can show you using another strategy...' 'Here's how I know...' 'I know this because...'. 

Once the children had sufficiently explained their methods, they then needed to find their 'related facts' which was another pair in the class and show how they knew this.
"Hello, I just wanted to say thank you for the Maths Showcase on Fluency and Reasoning last week. I really enjoyed my morning and found it very inspiring - not only the maths bit, but I also got chance to chat with one of the Reception teachers as I'm looking at a move from KS2 to Reception last year. Your school and staff were so welcoming, Thanks again".

From Jessica Crisp from Hunslet St Mary's




























Friday 6 November 2015

The Big Draw Community Event on Tuesday 13th October

Children invited their families and friends into the hall after their school day to see the drawings they had done as part of their Big Draw day. To see what each of the Year groups did please see http://artandcreativityrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk