Working with our link school in London

Kindred Spirits

We are really excited to be taking part in the Kindred Spirits project this year. This means that we are linked with a school in London and during the year we exchange work and learn about each other's school. There are three themes for the year:

Autumn term: Getting to know you

Spring term: Skin Again

Summer term: Community cohesion

In the past year we have spent a lot of time learning about other countries but how well do we know our capital city? Are the experiences of the children living in London the same as ours?

Through this project pupils will be able to develop their questioning skills and critique whilst respecting others' beliefs and codes of conduct. They will be able to reflect on the things that they value and consider the values of others and if they are different, why. Pupils will be able to consider the wide range of cultural influences at play in modern-day Britain.

Our link school is Lawdale Junior school in London.

Lawdale Junior School
Mansford Street
Bethnal Green
London
E2 6LS

Website: http://www.lawdaleschool.com/

Where you will find Lawdale Junior School in London

A letter from their School Council - April 2019

A PDF of the letter from Lawdale

Dear Gipsey Bridge Academy - Food Bank Letter (2).pdf

2018/19

We wrote to the School Council at our link school, Lawdale Junior School in Tower Hamlets, London

We received a letter from the School Council at our link school in London

The work below is from 2017/18:

We have completed a baseline which is basically a questionnaire with statements on for children to make predictions about what they think Lawdale Junior school will be like. Once we have worked with them, we will be able to revisit our questionnaires and see how our thoughts have changed or proved to be accurate.

Getting to know each other

To begin to get to know each other we have each completed a passport with our names, descriptions, hopes and fears. We will swap these and then reflect on how similar or different the responses are.

We have also completed the 10 - 10 - 10 activity, where as a group we think of 10 questions, 10 things we want to tell them and 10 rights that we think every child in the world should have. Again, we will swap these responses and reflect.

Here are our questions, statements and rights:

10 questions you would like to ask your partner school

What is it like at your school?
Do you like your school?
How many children are there in your school?
Is there anything that would make your school a better place?
What is your uniform?
Do you trust your teachers?
Do you have e-safety or sport ambassadors?
Do you have houses in your school where you collect housepoints of team points?
Do you feel safe?
Do you go on lots of school trips?

10 points of information about you, you want to share

We have golden rules.
Our learning is fun and educational and challenging.
Our school is kind.
We learn through projects such as Romans and the Wizard of Oz
We have 96 boys and girls in school in four classes.
We have a playground and a field
We have mixed year groups in each class, Reception, Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6.
We are an Academy.
We go to sporting tournaments
We have GBA Actioneers every week.

10 rights which you feel that every child in the world should have:

Freedom of expression
Every child has a voice and to share their ideas.
play and have fun
protection from wars
cared for
education
A home
a family
food
clean water

From Gipsey Bridge Academy

To Lawdale Junior School

Mrs Cockram and Mr Lee had the wonderful opportunity to visit our link school, Lawdale Junior, in Tower Hamlets, in November. It is a junior school of approximately 300 pupils in six classes. The school consists of 5 floors and is surrounded by buildings – very different to GBA!

The surrounding area

Lawdale Junior School

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have)

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 3

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 4

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 5

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 6

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 7

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 8

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 9

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 10

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 11

We looked at the passports and 10-10-10 activity (10 things about them, 10 questions for us to answer and 10 rights all children should have) 12

In Class Two and Class Three

After looking at passports, 10 things we need to know and 10 rights before looking at the 10 questions we discussed the following:

Comments from Class Two:

The names are different to ours – Y3
Sometimes they speak a different language – Y4
Their names are hard to pronounce. – Y3
They celebrate different things to us – Y3
Some have put their religion as very important which is nice and not a lot of people put that – Y4
They all have a different language that they would like to speak to us – Y4
They can speak more languages than us – Y3
They have different dreams to us – Y4
Both schools have said they fear spiders – Y3
Both schools said their families were special to them – Y4

Questions:

What is Eid? We will research this at a later date.

Comments from Class Three:

They all celebrate Eid.
They nearly all have brown hard and brown eyes.
They celebrate different things.
They want to learn Spanish.
They speak more languages than us.

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers.

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 3

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 4

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 5

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 6

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 7

From looking at the passports from Lawdale, lots of children asked what Eid was so we discussed this during GBA Actioneers. 8

10 questions from Lawdale Junior

Do you use wind turbines for your school energy?

What kind of rewards do you get?

Star of the week, where one pupils from each class receives a certificate in Friday’s celebration assembly.

How long does it take you to get to school?

For most children it takes between five and ten minutes.

What kind of sports do you get to take part in?

Football, Netball and tag Rugby.

Do you grow any vegetables on your school grounds?

What subjects do you enjoy?

Maths

Are there any other schools in your area?

Yes, we have several primary schools within a ten minute drive and a few Secondary schools within driving distance.

Do you have school pets?

There is a fish tank in the Office.

What kind of trips do you go on?

We visit other schools to play sports, we visit museums and other schools.

Is your school culturally mixed?

6Mc

How many floors in your school?

One except for the two Offices in school which are upstairs.

Are there any children from different countries in your school?

Yes one child is from Africa and another is from Portugal.

Do you like living in the countryside?

Yes because I like all of the animals and being outside a lot.

What is it like to have 2 year groups in one class?

Enjoyable and fun.

How do you travel to school?

Most pupils travel to school by car, a small number by bus or walking.

On average how long does it take you to get to school?

It takes about 10 minutes to get to school by car.

How big is your playground?

It is a little bit bigger than a netball court.

Do you have a football team?

Yes

How come most of your school seems to be females? (teachers and students)

Not really sure!

How many year six children are there?

Which secondary school will you go to?

William Lovell, Haven High, Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Boston High and Barnes Wallis.

How do you do SATs in a year 5/6 class?

When the year six do the tests the year fives are taken into the hall for their lessons.

What do you have for lunch?

A packed lunch or hot dinner.

What religion are you (if you follow a religion)?

None of us follow a religion.

What/how many religious places do you have?

There is a church about five minutes away and Boston has a church called the Boston Stump.

How do you teach and learn as a year five and six class?

We learn together and sometimes we are given separate input if we need to learn different things.

What songs do you like at the moment?

We like the songs that are in the charts.

How far do you live from school?

About five or ten minute drive.

What clubs do you have after school?

Sports club, film club, nature club, art club, homework club and construction club.

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 3

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 4

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 5

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 6

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 7

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 8

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 9

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 10

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 11

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 12

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 13

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 14

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 15

Creating our picture for 'Through the window' to send to Lawdale Junior 16

Through the window from London

Skin Again

For the spring term we are focusing on the poem Skin Again which explores how our skin is simply a covering and if you really want to get to know someone you need to meet the person who lies beneath the skin. It created lots of interesting thoughts about how some people do 'judge a book by its cover' and how flawed this is.

Following on from the discussion we created identity circles. There are lots of things that make us who we are; some things are similar and some are unique to us. We are all special!

Identity Circles

We created our own identity circles, thinking carefully about what makes us us and then looked at the identity circles created by students from Lawdale Junior School. We made a list of similarities and differences:

Similarities