Stanford Junior School

What a beautifully sunny Saturday morning - and it's starting to feel warmer.

This morning I woke to the smell of a cake baking and discovered that Pat, who we are caring for at the moment, and my wife had made a vanilla cake. It's cooling at the moment but I can't wait to try a slice.

Then Pat and I planted some runner beans which I will bring into school when they are ready to plant out.

As we were planting, I was asking some maths questions to keep the brain active. I thought I could ask you the same questions. Look at the picture below and then see if you can work out the answers to the questions I am asking.

There is 1 runner bean seed in each of the small fibre pots and 4 runner bean seeds in each of the larger pots.

If they all grow, how many plants will I have?

If every child in a class of 32 children, plus their teacher, also planted the same number of bean seeds and they all grew, how many plants would we have altogether?

What if the same thing happened in each of our 12 classes, how many plants would that be? (I'm not quite sure what the answer is yet but I do think we would need a much bigger garden!)

Now all of you super mathematicians, I have a challenge for you. Are you able to create a gardening inspired maths quiz (10 questions) for the children in your class. Think back over the mathematics that you have learned so far and try to use this when planning your quiz. Start with a couple of reasonably easy questions and then increase the level of challenge. Create your own quiz sheet (and include the answers to the questions to prove that you can work the problems out yourself). Photograph, scan, email or post your quiz sheet and answer sheet to the school office and we will upload some of these for your class mates to try. I would really love to hear from you and try out some of your challenges myself.

Get outside in the fresh air to plan your quiz if you can and, if you are lucky enough to have a garden, take a look at what is happening there. I'm sure that you will discover some new growth to monitor over the coming weeks.

Happy calculating.

Mr Davis

PS - Just tried the cake. It's amazing!

Good morning and HAPPY FRIDAY.

I hope you are all okay and settling into this new day. Had we been in school as normal, this would have been the last day of school before the start of the Easter holiday and the end of the spring term. But things aren't normal at the moment and everyone is trying to adapt to a new way of living our lives, at least for the moment. However, I do hope that you will manage a little bit of Easter celebration and enjoy an Easter egg, if your parents/carers can get hold of one safely. Perhaps email a picture of yourself to the school office (with permission) over the Easter period so that we can see how you are.

Staff at school all send their best wishes to you. You are probably ready for a break from your home learning and it should be the Easter holiday after all. So, your teachers won't be posting any new ideas for home learning on the school website over the next two weeks. They will start to do this again on Monday 20th April and share some ideas linked to the work that you would have been doing in school over the summer term. We will try to keep what we think you should be doing easy to understand and provide opportunities for you to continue your learning in a way that best suits you.

These are very unusual times and no one has ever experienced anything quite like this before and keeping each other safe, and well, is important at this time. I would encourage you to keep a record of your daily life as best you can. Those of you in Year 6 will be aware of Anne Frank who kept a diary of her time living through WWII. Her diary is a very important primary source of historical evidence and, if you keep a really good record of your time right now, perhaps your diary could help our future historians.

Before going into school this morning, I thought I would update you on the tomato plants that I have been growing from seed ready to plant in the school garden.

See the video that I have created below.

Take care and I will blog again next week.

Mr Davis

Hello again.

I hope you are all okay and keeping yourselves busy whilst school is closed. It's very strange being in school with so few children (it is very quiet) and staff are missing you all.

Yesterday I tried out the mini cookers that the PTFA bought and cooked some baked potatoes with melted cheese for those children who were in school. The mini oven worked a treat and I am looking forward to making good use of the two of them when you all return to school.

Today we have had Miss Doran, Mr Burnill, Mrs Page and Nat in school looking after those children who have been with us. They did a little bit of maths and also played a game of Monopoly. Mr Shaw came in later on to help to look after those children who were staying at school after normal school hours.

In between checking emails and contacting staff over the telephone, I have been continuing with the gardening project that we started before all of this happened to us. I can report that most of the seeds that have been planted are doing really well and are growing into healthy young plants. When you return to school, I am hoping that the garden and raised beds will be bursting with flowers, fruit and vegetables.

I've been in school lots and have spent time at the weekends trying to transform the garden at the front of the school. It has been quite a challenge but I am determined to create a fantastic outdoor learning space for all of you to enjoy. The children have been helping me too!

Year 3 children, please don't worry as we are taking great care of the sunflower seeds that you planted a few weeks ago with Mrs Vosmer.

We are also attempting to grow beans (several types), peas, tomatoes, courgette, potatoes, onion, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, blackcurrants, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and rhubarb. Over the next few weeks, once the weather becomes warmer, I am hoping to transplant some of these into the garden where I hope they will settle and thrive. It's all a big experiment at the moment but a very exciting one. If the tomato plants are a success, we should have enough tomatoes to place outside the school gates for people to help themselves.

If you can, try to get outdoors daily during your time away from school. If you are lucky enough to have a garden, outside space or simply a window box, perhaps you could try to get hold of some seeds from the foods you are eating (potatoes might work well) and compost/soil and try your hand at growing something. I would highly recommend this as it really is good for the mind and soul.

Alternativey, you could create some artwork inspired by plants in your garden or windowbox. You could look out of the window and draw what you see. Try using different things to draw with - pencils, pens, felt-tipped pens, paints, collage, a mix of items.  Remember to look carefully and draw what you see, not what you think you see, to develop your observational skills.

I would love to see your artwork. Scan it if you can or take a photograph and email it to the school office. You could perhaps drop it in to school if you are passing (put it in an envelope and post it through the front door or, better still, hand it to me through the railings if I am working in the garden).

Happy growing or sketching.

Hope to see you soon.

Mr Davis.

At the start of the week we received an email from Leo in Year 6 which included a photograph of a LEGO tree that he had created for us all to hug virtually. What a brilliant idea and lovely message. Thank you Leo - a very optimistic start to another week.

If you have created something unusual, do take a photograph of it if you can and email it in to the school office. We would love to see what you have been up to.

Take care and keep your minds and bodies active. We've been trying out the Joe Wicks workouts in school - they are a great way to start the day.

Mr Davis

Hello everyone! School staff are hoping that you are all safe and well and managing to stay as active as you can during these strange times. Your teachers all send a big HELLO - I am seeing them every now and then as they are only in school once in a while to look after those children who cannot be at home. They have also put some home learning tasks on the year group pages of the website - there is plenty to choose from to keep those minds active. It would be lovely if you could keep a collection of your work, perhaps in the form of a diary or project book for your teachers and friends to look at when you do return to school.

Recently, I saw this written.

This thing we are all part of, it's living history. Our children are all a part of this, and it will be talked about for generations to come. Schools are closed; sports are cancelled; people are quarantined... on a GLOBAL level. The best thing your children can do is to keep a journal over the next 5+ weeks. Handwritten, typed, in photographs or drawings... record events, day to day activities, fears and feelings. Let them make a video journal if that's the media they prefer. As parents, let them interview you, be part of it. When it's all over, save it/store in a safe place for them. They will share these with their children and grandchildren. help them to create a tangible, primary source of their own history.

What a great idea!

A huge thank you also to Leo in Year 6 who sent us a Lego tree to hug earlier this week - a fantastic message of hope.

Take care.

Mr Davis