House Learning Day

“I like doing all the activities because we do different ones every time we do it”-Zoe

“You get to learn more things in a really fun way”-Rowan

“It helps us learn about things like art, stories and different countries”-Rosie

House Learning Day – Careers and Inspirational People

During House Learning Day, children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have been learning about different careers and what it means to have high aspirations. They have produced some fantastic artwork, painting self-portraits of themselves in the future! The children enjoyed playing games involving teamwork and taking responsibility.

In Key Stage 2. children have been researching inspirational people, creating biographies about them and taking part in a class debate on ‘What makes an inspirational person?’

They have been looking at the values in terms of the world and our responsibility to protect it. We will be looking at pioneers in saving the planet for Inspiration (including key children who have made a difference). They have been talking about their responsibilities and aspiring others to play their part.

“When I grow up I want to be a firefighter; today my teacher told me I need to practise being brave and strong.” Year 2

“It’s interesting learning about Marcus Rashford, he’s a great footballer, but he also helps people to have a better childhood than he did.” Year 3

“We have been writing a song about the new Manland values, it’s about what we aspire to be and reaching for the stars.” Year 5

“It’s been exciting learning facts about Nelson Mandela; he changed the world and he has inspired us to be better.” Year 6

House Learning Day – Inspirational Icons

On the final day of half term the children enjoyed another House Learning Day. Our theme was ‘Icons that have overcome difficulty and disadvantage’ and the children got to enjoy a range of activities reflecting a diverse collection of inspirational people.

EYFS and KS1 learned about Greta Thunberg, discussing how she has Asperger’s syndrome, but it hasn’t stopped her being a young activist. There was a discussion about climate change and an exploration of how we could reduce, reuse and recycle. Activities included making recycling posters, sorting materials for recycling, Earth art work, using recycled materials and Greta pop art.

KS2 started the day learning about Basquiat and his journey to becoming an internationally respected artist. The children explored some of his artwork and created their own vibrant and expressive pieces using a mix of paints, pastels, charcoal, collage and pencil.

The children in KS2 also learned about the inspirational and pioneering flights of Amelia Earhart and worked in their Houses to create dance routines themed around flight.

In the afternoon, the children returned to their classrooms to learn about further inspirational people, such as Stephen Hawking, the Navajo ‘Windtalkers’ and the Tuskegee Airmen.

House Learning Day – Careers

The children took part in another House Learning Day on 15th February 2019 and the focus was on careers. Parents were amongst some people from the local community who came to school to run careers sessions to inspire and motivate the children.

The adults shared information about their jobs and explained what skills the children would need to work in their particular field. We had visitors talking about sustainable development, charity work abroad, the police, architecture, health and safety, dentistry, retail, the arts and digital photography.

It was a delight to see the children’s reaction to these workshops. They were so enthusiastic and the day certainly gave all of the children in the school some food for thought about what they might like to do when they are grown up. Thank you to all of those adults who gave up their time to visit us, Manland really appreciates it.

Some of the house captains wrote about their impressions of the day:

Dentistry with Mrs Hathorn

We had a really fun careers day last half term. We learned all about all sorts of jobs and careers, it was so much fun! Within each of our houses we split up into three different groups and then we went to different classrooms to learn about different jobs and careers.

One of the activities we did was learning about life as a dentist. We were given large models of teeth and work like we were operating on them. We then used Playdough to model teeth and used plastic tools to drill into them. After that, we made fortune tellers (using origami) that told us to keep our teeth healthy.

It was such a great day and I bet everyone is looking forward to the next House Learning Day.

Alice – Dragon House Captain

Selfridges with Mr Newby

Last half term, our House Learning Day was based on careers. One of my favourite activities was Selfridges. It was really interesting to see all of the different things that they sold. Once, they even sold a jet-pack!

For special events such as Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Easter they put up lights and customise their store to that festival.

In conclusion to this, I think Mr Newby explained it really well. Personally, I want to go to their store now after he has explained it. It was a really good activity for all ages and was totally fun.

Oliver – Unicorn House Captain

Dancing, Acting and Painting

On House Learning Day, groups 1, 2 and 3 were in the hall with Mrs Kemp (year 6 teacher), Mr Britton (year 3 teacher) and Ms Shorthouse (year 4 teacher). It was really fun because we all had an equal part. We based our dancing, acting and painting on Matilda the Musical.

When dancing, we were told to add an extra part to our sequence. When acting, we had roles and had to act out what we were told. We had lines to express our personalities in our roles. In painting, we had to draw a front cover for the book, Matilda.

Charlie – Griffin House Captain

Police

Last half term, our school did a House Learning Day. A whole variety of people came in to talk about their jobs. They bought in things to do with their jobs and my personal favourite was the police officer. When the officer came in, she talked about her job and showed us some pictures related to it. She also explained how to become a police officer. Next, we had to draw a poster to encourage young people to join the police force. Our motto was ‘Kill your speed or speed will kill you’.

Overall, I think that House Learning Day is a great experience and it helps kids to realise what a range of different jobs are out there to explore. It also teaches them what they can do when they are older.

Billy – Phoenix House Captain

House Learning Day – Religious Festivals

The children took part in another House Learning Day on 26th October 2018. The children were split into different classes across their house group and learned about various religious festivals.

For the Harvest festival there was a primary focus on English, writing harvest poetry and producing some wonderful vegetable prints.

When the children focused on Diwali, they produced some amazing artwork. They created Rangoli patterns, including large ones outside on the playground and smaller patterns on CDs and paper plates.

The children also worked on their English and Computing skills as they studied Rosh Hashanah. They swapped ideas on the theme of ‘new starts’ and made some excellent group posters.

Another activity involved studying Guru Nanak’s birthday. There was a PE and music theme to this as the children danced in the hall. They did a superb job of copying moves and choreographed their own group dances.

It was lovely to see the enthusiasm the children showed as they learnt about the different festivals and practised some new skills!

House Learning Day – The Circus

On Friday 9th February 2018, we had a House Learning Day all about the Circus. Our activities included many exciting things, such as:

Creating and performing group sequences inspired by clowns
Making circus themed artwork including circus animals, big tents and clowns
Writing poems about a day at the circus
Using maths skills to record how many circus themed skills we could complete

House Learning Day – Cultures around the world

On Friday 20th October 2017 we had our first House Learning Day of the year! This term we incorporated it into our Cultural week. The children enjoyed learning about cultures around the world and participated in many activities such as: