E-Safety information for Parents – Amino

12th July 2023L Forster

Expressing ourselves and interacting online can be fun – but only if it’s safe for everyone 💬👍 The social networking platform Amino offers opportunities to exchange views on countless hobbies and interests … but its lack of age verification represents an obvious risk for younger users ⚠️

 

With inappropriate content, the possibility of messages from strangers and rewards for repeated daily usage front and centre among the potential dangers that parents and carers should know about, this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide gives Amino the acid test.

 

A sprawling online discussion forum with incentives for checking in each day and the facility to follow certain users, Amino bears comparison to Reddit – but with an added sprinkle of Snapchat and a Twitter twist. It may not be radically original, but’s proving popular: there are now more than a million communities of fans exchanging views on topics from anime to zombies.

The concept is to recreate the passion and excitement of live conventions in the online world: from behind their screens and keyboards, however, not everyone behaves as well as they might in person. From hurtful comments to age-inappropriate images and predatory messaging, our #WakeUpWednesday guide highlights some potential hazards to protect young users from.

https://nationalcollege.com/

Volume and Capacity in Year 2

7th July 2023H Langley

This week, Year 2 have explored volume and capacity in a practical way using a variety of containers and describing whether it was full, nearly full, empty and nearly empty. We learned that the tallest container does not always hold the most liquid.

Then we used measuring jugs and cylinders to measure amounts of liquid in milliliters. We had to think carefully about which container was the most suitable for measuring smaller or larger amounts.

 

E-Safety information for parents – Rumble

6th July 2023L Forster

Big names, challenging opinions and comparatively lenient censorship 📢 Rumble is a video-sharing platform which has achieved stellar growth in recent years – as well as drawing a similarly eye-catching amount of criticism for the views of some of its best-known account holders 🤬

As our #WakeUpWednesday guide this week explains, young users of the app (even ones who are over the recommended age limit) may encounter hazards including political bias, potentially harmful misinformation and inappropriate content if they stumble across Rumble.

Conceived as giving independent content creators equal representation in the online space, Rumble has found something of a niche in restoring a voice to influencers who have been blocked from similar platforms. It’s become particularly renowned as a forum for political debate, with some prominent account holders’ choice of subject matter attracting a degree of notoriety.

Indeed, a study by the USA’s Pew Research Centre found that the platform’s most popular topics included gun laws, the January 2021 Capitol riots and Covid vaccines. Many parents and carers may feel that these sensitive topics – when addressed in a less-than-sensitive manner – aren’t suitable for young users. Our #WakeUpWednesday guide attempts to get a feel for Rumble.

https://nationalcollege.com

Reader of the Month – July 2023

3rd July 2023P Mullea

Once again we got the chance to celebrate all the fantastic reading achievements at our school. This month staff were asked to look out for readers who ‘set a good example’ and found it extremely hard to choose just one fantastic pupil from each class!

The children chosen this month have impressed us with their effort, performance and progress in reading.

Special shoutouts for:

Rori in Y1 who has returned her reading book every single week this year!

Isla In Y2 for a super effort in reading lessons and working really well with her partner.

Ava in Y5F for reading 6 books in a week and scoring over 96% on her quizes each time.

Daniel in Y5 for challenging himself in school and at home when reading.

 

Well done everyone. We hope you enjoy your prizes and keep up the hard work!

Working scientifically in Year Two

28th June 2023Rachel Wright

This week, we have been developing our skills in science and working scientifically. We completed an investigation to find out which conditions woodlice prefer. We split a tray into four sections. The four sections were dark and dry, dark and damp, bright and dry and finally bright and damp. We then placed some carefully collected woodlice in the tray and predicted which section of the tray the woodlice would go to. Then, we observed closely and used our observations to answer questions about the type of habitat woodlice prefer. Afterwards, we put the woodlice back in their micro-habitat outside.

 

From Cow to Carton- Y2M visit Embleton Hall Dairies.

28th June 2023P Mullea

Y2M were one of the lucky winners of a competition to design a milkshake, with Holly T creating a fantastic design. As our prize, we go to visit Embleton Hall Dairy Farm to find out how milk gets from the cow to the cartons we drink every day in school. We had a session with Animal Encounters, a tour of the farm’s fields and cow sheds to complete an activity trail, saw the milking robots milking cows, visited the nursery to see the calves and visited the dairy’s production plant to see the milk getting put into cartons! We had such an amazing day and learnt so much.

Comparing Mass in Year 2

27th June 2023H Langley

This week we are learning about mass and weight. First we held objects and described them using vocabulary such as heavy, light, heavier than, lighter than, then we used the scales to check. We found out that larger items are not always heavier.

Rock pooling in the sun with Y2W

22nd June 2023Rachel Wright

As part of our Science topic this half term, Y2W visited South Shields coastline and explored the rock pools, which are unique habitats. We identified different living things that live there and talked about how they are adapted to their habit. We talked about how rock pool habitats provide the basic needs for different kinds of animals and plants that live there, and how they depend on each other. We found lots of living things such as limpets, barnacles, anemones, dog whelks, crabs, fish, seaweed and jellyfish.

Nancy from South Shields Surf School, who guided us, was super impressed with our enthusiasm, brilliant questions, finding skills and how much information we remembered. We loved it!