For our first week back, in Year 2 we have been discussing our Rights and Responsibilities. We devised our own class charters and came up with rules for everybody to follow to ensure we stay happy, safe and healthy. We signed our class charters by decorating hands with how we can be kind on each finger.

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Today Year One were introduced to Dartmoor 3 ball. We learnt the rules of play and Yew Class went up against Silver Birch!

Both classes had the opportunity to be ‘batters’ and ‘fielders.’

In year one we have been thinking about how we grow and change throughout our lives. We thought about what life is like when we are born, how we grow and learn to walk and talk, then keep growing and changing until we are adults. We thought about all the things we needed to keep our bodies healthy to life a long, happy life.

This week, Year 2 have been on a school trip to Stover Country Park, to tie in with our LCC learning about healthy eating and plants. This links to Article 29 – Your education should help you learn to live peacefully, protect the environment and respect other people. At Stover, we discussed the importance of protecting the environment, including all of the plants, trees and other habitats.

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Harmful work? If it harms a child’s health or education, it contravenes Article 32. Think Victorian era when boys swept clean chimneys and girls stayed at home to help with the chores. Those times have long since passed in this country, of course, but this is not the case in some poorer countries.

Yet this right should not be taken to mean children are not encouraged to take on roles of responsibility within school. In Year 5, children fulfil the roles of class monitors for a number of tasks, ranging from keeping the cloakroom tidy to sharpening pencils to holding open the door. Being a classroom monitor teaches the importance of serving the community (which, in school, is the class) in a way that is both pleasing and rewarding.(House points can be earned and a ‘thank you’ from a grateful peer is never far away.) It’s the positive flip-side of Article 32.

Article 30: You have the right to practise your own culture, language and religion.

Today Shahnila and her family have been celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid. She gave sweet treats to all her friends in Silver Birch class and came into Yew class to show us the card she gave to Mrs Sheldon and told us all about her special celebrations.

Thank you for sharing it with us 😊

This week in Year 2, we have started learning a friendship song in Music. We discussed the meaning of some of the words and phrases in the song and why it is so important to be kind to our friends, and everybody! We linked this to Article 15 – the right to choose our own friends and join or set up groups, as long as it isn’t harmful to others. For example, being compassionate and tolerant and not leaving anybody out if they have different views to us.

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In Year One we have been thinking about how we can help each other and treat each other fairly. We linked this to our Christian value of Compassion and created a collage to show hands reaching out to help one another, and the world in the shape of a heart to symbolise how people all over the world should be loved and treated fairly.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child, Article 29, is an eclectic mix of ideals: the right to live peacefully; the right to be treated respectfully by others; the right for one’s environment to be protected. On a par with these is the right to develop one’s talents and abilities. In Year 5, not only do the children develop their academic abilities by fulfilling the National Curriculum, there are a number of extra-curricular activities that seek to promote the development of physical, mental and social skills. Caving on Dartmoor, climbing at Exeter’s ‘Clip & Climb’ facility, and outdoor learning at Forest School are some of the opportunities that have been afforded to the children. Latest amongst these is ‘Rugby for Girls’. Last week, the entire group received specialised coaching to develop their talents and abilities, and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all. Well done, girls!

This week in Year 2, we have been thinking about Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. As a school, we are focusing on 40 Days of Kindness. We have a Kindness Tree in our classroom and every time somebody goes above and beyond to be or do something super kind, we add it to our tree. This links in to Article 15 where we have the right to choose and play nicely with our friends and Article 19 where we have the right to be protected from being hurt in body or mind.

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