Archive February 2023

We celebrated Safer Internet Day today by having a whole school assembly and doing activities in class. 

The theme this year is ‘Want to talk about it?’ The children shared what they really enjoy and appreciate about the internet:

I like the internet because…

‘I can play games’

‘I can facetime my cousins’

‘I can watch cartoons’

We also talked about what we would do if we saw something that we didn’t like on the internet. The children shared how they would tell a trusted adult if they had that ‘uh-oh’ feeling. 

In KS1, we shared the story of ‘Hanni and the Magic Window’

Hanni and the Magic Window

 We discussed how the window in the story represented technology. The children reflected on the story by drawing images in their ‘magic windows’ of what they love about the internet. 

The children, who attend Stay and Play, found out about the challenges faced by hedgehogs and bats during the colder weather.

The children thought about how they could help. They decided that they could make the school grounds attractive and safe for hedgehogs and bats.

The children wrote letters to Mrs Street asking if the school could provide homes for hedgehogs and bats.

Mrs Street found out that bat boxes require specialist care and may not be suitable for the school site.

However, she thought that homes for hedghogs was a great idea and is looking into ways of funding the Hedgehog Homes.

Spirituality through Prayer Spaces

This term, the children have been given an opportunity to engage in a number of Prayer Spaces.

Prayer Spaces provide an opportunity to be think, reflect and contemplate the world around us and the consider our own spirituality.

At the Queen Anne, we define spirituality as developing the ability to reflect on the world around us and begin to discover who we are, why we are and what we might be.

Here is an example from our Foundation Stage children.

Foundation Stage

We started our Prayer Space by sharing the book ‘It’s Okay to Be Different’ by Todd Parr to remind ourselves that we are all unique individuals, however we do share some qualities and physical attributes that are the same as others.

During a review of the school prayer, written in 2012, we realised that the prayer had been created before any of the current children at The Queen Anne had been born.

We felt that the prayer was rather long, not easy for all ages to remember and did not necessarily reflect the thoughts and feelings of the current childen.

We decided that it was time to refresh the prayer.

A group of children representing each class, Reverend Sally and Mrs Street worked together to write a new prayer which captured the views of the school.

Reverend Sally described the traditional structure of a prayer. The children discussed what they thought; how they could begin the prayer; what was important to them; what they would like to say thank you for and who they would like to ask God to help.

Reverend Sally and Mrs Street then combined all of their thoughts into a draft prayer.

The draft prayer was shared with the children and the final version was developed together.

The children presented the final version of the prayer to the whole school on 06 02 23.

Father God,

Thank you for our school

Filled with the Fruit of the Spirit.

Help us to think of other children in need,

And guide us to enjoy, include and achieve.

Amen.

We are looking forward to this prayer becoming a regular feature of our school worship.