All the Same but Different
Mental Health Awareness week has been very much at the forefront of all of our minds. The theme for this year has been anxiety and doubtless is something we can all relate to in some way or form. The nervous feeling before an interview, starting a new activity or job with new people, flying, public speaking, exams or tests, standing up in front of a new class! We are all familiar with ‘butterflies in the tummy’, sweaty palms, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, dry mouth and so on. A degree of nervousness is to be expected, it can serve to keep us finely tuned, focused and ready for action and yet anxiety in its truest sense can be exhausting and crippling. Remaining in a heightened state ready for ‘fight or flight’, will take its toll on anybody and increasingly we see not just adults but children who are living with constant anxiety for a variety of reasons and attempting to deal with the consequences.
Mental health is vitally important and yet, as with everything, it cannot be viewed in isolation. It is another facet of the hugely complicated makeup of humans. The world with all of its incredible opportunities has advanced - and indeed still is advancing - far faster than human evolution, creating an ever-increasing array of situations for which humans are not yet equipped. By the time we adapt fully, things will have moved on again.
Life is fast and furious, and for many this is simply too much. The competition, the pace, the expectations can simply become too overwhelming and as we all battle with the multitude of demands we feel daily, we inevitably forget that others perceive the world differently, feel different emotions more acutely and are facing their own challenges.
As demonstrated in England with the conclusion of the SATs last week, education is so often guilty of adding to anxiety with the misconceived notion that all children can be judged on an equal playing field. At St Leonards, thanks to the IB curriculum and real sense of community, we revel in and celebrate the fact that we are ‘all the same but different’ and yet for the anxious child this still may not be enough.
There are those who love to write and those who don’t, those who are creatively blessed and never happier than when drawing or making and those who freeze at the thought. There are those who delight in sharing and presenting their work and those who shrink back at the thought of standing up in front of an audience. One of our greatest challenges today is to make education safe and accessible whilst remaining mindful of the different personalities and underlying factors that may be affecting our pupils.
One size definitely does not fit all and by recognising this, celebrating it and allowing our pupils the chance to be themselves we will do our part to reduce anxiety and increase confidence. Being ourselves and accepting all those around us in glorious technicolour is the single most important contribution we can make to reduce anxiety and improve mental health overall.
Claire Boissiere on behalf of the PYP Leadership Team
Island of the Week
Congratulations to Skye - this week’s Island of the Week!
Year 1-3 Informal Concert
Congratulations to all our performers in this week’s Years 1 to 3 Informal Concert. There was a variety of instruments played by the children, including the recorder, piano, violin and guitar!
Year 4-6 Informal Concert
Year 4 to 6 had a blast at their Informal Concert this week, performing to a full audience of parents, peers and staff! This was the final concert of the year for the Junior pupils, making it all the more wonderful to see how much the pupils have progressed. To close the show, the whole auditorium sang Happy Birthday to Miss Cormack to celebrate her special day!
Year 1
Outdoor Learning
Year 1P enjoyed celebrating National Numeracy Day outdoors. The children collected data and made graphs. They then counted by stamping leaves and played a Swedish game called Mjolky, where they had to knock different numbers down and add or subtract the blocks. Lots of fun in 1P!
Lifecycles
The children in Year 1 were thrilled to arrive on Monday morning to find one of their tadpoles had grown into a tiny frog over the course of the weekend. Everyone was excited to spot the first frog - named Franky - in the class tank.
Meanwhile, the pupils have been enjoying watching the different stages of growth as their little beans develop in the classroom. What green fingers Year 1C have!
By way of an update on their cress heads, there is plenty of hair sprouting already!
Finally, in Music, Year 1P have been creating their own sounds to represent plants growing. The pupils have been selecting instruments to reflect the sounds found in their story and performing their songs. Give yourselves a pat on the back Year 1P!
What’s the Time?
Year 1 has been busy in Maths this week learning to tell the o’clock time on an analogue and digital clock.
Building the Castle
The children have been busy reading the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, going on to recreate the castle and the story out of wooden bricks!
Year 1 continued their learning at Beach School down on the East Sands!
Year 2
Mental Health Awareness Week
This week, as part of Mental Health Awareness week, Year 2 has been exploring ways that we can regulate our emotions when we feel upset or anxious, practising strategies such as deep breathing, stretching, listening to guided meditations, and reading and discussing stories that help us to label and understand our emotions.
The children have learned how to use a worry box to hold our worries, so that we don't need to carry them with us, and we practised mindfulness by going cloud-spotting; lying out on St Katharines Green, watching the clouds blow by, and fancied that we saw faces, a dragonfly, unicorns, tigers, dolphins, and dragons!
We have also learned that gardening and spending time in nature are beneficial to our mental health, which means that all of the time we are currently spending outdoors, sowing seeds and caring for our young plants, is helping us to feel a sense of positive wellbeing.
National Numeracy Day
Wednesday marked National Numeracy Day, and Year 2 got involved by joining in with the live events streamed online. The children danced along with Strictly Come Dancing champion Katya Jones, and joined in with the Big Number Fun Quiz.
In the spirit of the celebrations of numbers and Maths, Year 2 honed in on baking, inspired by Great British Bake Off winner Peter Sawkins!
‘I’d like to let you in on my secret ingredient… believe it or not, I use numbers to perfect all my bakes! That’s right, maths is the magic ingredient that helped me win Bake Off.’
Peter Sawkins Winner of the Great British Bake Off 2020, National Numeracy Ambassador
Baking provides wonderful possibilities for learning about Maths in a real-world context. Year 2 had great fun working in small groups to make rocky road bars, whilst showing off their Maths skills. As the children baked, they discussed mathematical concepts such as; which ingredients are there ‘more of’, ‘less of’ or ‘the same as’? What might happen if you get the amounts wrong? What shape of baking tin did you use? Which bar is the smallest? And everyone practised weighing and measuring amounts using grams and teaspoonfuls.
At the Botanics
Year 2 spent a fascinating day amongst the plants at the Botanical Gardens in St Andrews investigating their pond life and more. Led by our enthusiastic ranger, Callum, the children learned about all sorts of minibeasts living under the surface of the beautiful pond at the bottom of the gardens.
Everyone had a chance to scoop their net deeply into the pond several times, catching all sorts of exciting pond life, which they could then examine with their magnifying glasses at close quarters. Miraculously no one got wet and the children caught all kinds of minibeasts from sticklebacks and water boatmen to teenage tadpoles and skin breakers.
Time evaporated with everyone fully immersed in scientific inquiry and their surroundings. Replenished with picnics, light relief followed with a fun filled time spent on the climbing wall tree and adventure playground as a finale to the trip. Well done to our Year 2 risk-takers!
Year 3
What Makes a Home
Year 3 have delved into their final Unit of Inquiry of the year, looking into what makes a house a home. They have also been investigating different types of houses, and choosing their favourites from an array of photos. The children examined the form of the houses and will look into this further over the weeks ahead.
The children also visited Culross Village as part of their new Unit of Inquiry to understand better what life would have been like in a town in the 17th century and how homes reflect our background and identity. A big thank you to National Trust for our superb visit!
Wonderful Wildflowers
Flora conducted her own inquiry into wildflowers during a walk through the Lade Braes in St Andrews at the weekend. She enjoyed sharing her findings with the class. Well done, Flora!
National Numeracy Day
How long is your hand? And your foot? How long are you? The Year 3 children used a 30cm ruler and 1m measuring rod to measure different lengths, and then used these measurements to continue their work on addition. Great work on National Numeracy Day!
Year 4
Celebration of Learning
Year 4 hosted their Celebration of Learning for parents and relatives this week, showcasing all their hard work inquiring about Scottish History.
The pupils have spent many lessons researching a key historical figure. They were then set the task to present their findings as that person from the past and invited our guests to their classroom to share even more of their Unit of Inquiry with them. They applied their research skills in a variety of contexts, managed their time effectively and communicated their findings to their peers and audience confidently. Well done, Year 4!
Year 5
Business Games
Year 5 have been busy this week with their new Unit of Inquiry, Business. The pupils began by playing a game of Monopoly, which prompted discussions about how businesses work. They then started to think about their stalls for the Year 5 Summer Fair on Tuesday, 20 June which promises to be a very interesting event!
Measurement Methods
In Maths, Year 5 have been investigating measurement by taking their learning outside, using a measuring wheel to measure the distance on Lower Field. Back in the classroom, the pupils played a game to solidify their learning of weight measurement. Great work Year 5!
Year 6
Buddying Up
With many of our Year 6s playing sports fixtures on Wednesday afternoon, those remaining decided to buddy up with the Year 1s for some paired reading. Pupils selected three books they thought the older and younger children would enjoy - it’s always fun to share stories!
Year 6 also marked National Numeracy Day by taking on the challenge of creating number games to play with Year 1. Activities like this develop so many skills, including social and communication skills, and teamwork. Perfect for practising our IB Learner Profile attribute of the month!
Eco Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The Eco Team have been very busy organising initiatives to raise funds for the Wellbeing Trail. Their Wear Green for the Eco Team was a huge success with over £200 raised! In addition to that they also held a stationery stall during break times. It was so popular that they are already planning their next pop up shop in the yurt. Super work Eco Team!
Sport Spotlight
Congratulations to all those - Junior and Senior - who participated in the U12 Athletics meet, at home against Strathallan School last week. Some excellent wins on track and field!
We’ve also had Athletics this week vs Robert Gordon’s College and St Margarets in Aberdeen, and cricket vs Robert Gordon’s. What a busy week for our athletes!
Rotary Football Tournament
On Monday, pupils in Year 6 and 7 participated in the Rotary Football Tournament held on Big Field. Local primary schools, Anstruther, Lawhead, Wormit, Crail, Canongate, Greyfriars, Leuchars and Pittenweem were invited to participate and each brought with them tough competition. Congratulations to Canongate who managed to beat Wormit in the final, and well done to all our pupils who displayed some excellent skill on the field!
Birthdays
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to Imogen B, Rei K C, David H and Elhanoof A!
Little Neuk Storytelling Centre
Some of our families will remember Mrs Teresa Fynn, who taught in the Junior School at St Leonards until last year. In exciting news, Mrs Fynn and her husband Andrew are opening a storytelling and children’s play centre in Anstruther - the Little Neuk Storytelling Centre.
The centre will be used for baby and toddler classes, as well as workshops for primary-aged children, and may be of interest to some of our pupils and parents. You can find out more via the link below!