Commando Joe at Red Rose School

This term, we have been introduced to a fantastic new skill-building project called Commando Joe’s. Commando Joe’s is all about solving problems and looking at how we can work as a team. C-J’s (as we like to call it) is led by Jack every Friday, who works for the Newcastle Foundation. At the start of each session, he runs us through what we are going to be doing that day. 

This term in Year 6, we have been studying the life of Ibn Battuta. We have looked at what it would have been like travelling across the desert-like Ibn Battuta and how he would have had to trade with people to get food, water and lots of other essential items. In some of the C-J lessons, we set a market for trading. We replicated sailing a ship with a blind captain, by making an obstacle course, where we had to give instructions to a blind-folded person. We have also created a courtroom for when a boy stole some bread, along with many other situations.  

So far, C-J’s is a great learning experience which has taught us some new everyday skills, like teamwork and communication, which we can apply to everyday situations. We are all really looking forward to another term in Commando Joe’s! 

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At Red Rose, we have been investing in a new system, called Commando Joe’s, where we have missions to boost new skills. These  skills include :

resilience, empathy, self-awareness, passion, excellence,  communication, teamwork - these spell out RESPECT

In every lesson, we build these skills by experiencing new and hard challenges. Some of these include: building an obstacle course to direct a sea captain, making pulleys to lift heavy objects, moving objects in and out of the CoJo box, we even did bullfighting but don't worry it wasn't real, we have also done way more activities all through the year but sadly we have had to stop for winter. 

How the CoJo box came to Red Rose

One cold day we were in the yard waiting to go into school, as it was freezing when something caught our eye… A box with a parachute on top was caught in a tree, we rushed over to see but in a split second the gates opened and our freezing bodies forced us to go in before we could investigate this situation.                          

Half an hour later we were called outside finally to see and find out about this amazing UFO (unidentified flying object ). We were amazed to see that the UFO  was actually a box filled with amazing objects that we can use to complete missions with our instructor Jack.

This term we have been looking into an explorer called Ibn Battuta who travelled around the world about 1000 years ago! I wonder what we will do next.

The Wonderful World of Hamsters!

Presentation about Hamsters

The History of Tennis

The Tennis movement all started in the 12th century with French handball called Paum. (A game which you don't use a racket for but your own bare hands) This game was first created by European Monks for entertainment purposes during ceremonial events. At first, tennis was played with your hands, however, then leather gloves came and even later came, what we now use, rackets.

The game became very popular in France, where it was adopted by the French Royal Family. Then, in the year 1316 French King Louis X died of a very rough game of “Je de Paume”.In Britain, the game was introduced to the public and they called it Royal Tennis - which is the same name Australia called it and Court Tennis in the United States. Either way, the death of Louis did not dampen the creation of tennis.

16th century tennis
In the years of the 16th and 18th century, there was a high demand of Paum in France by kings and noblemen. These French players would start the game by shouting “Joue” which in English means to play.

1530s - King Henry the VIII builds a tennis court in Hampton court palace which is now not there any longer but now a new one had appeared.

1583-The first tennis racket was made in Italy.

19th century tennis

1870s-in the district of Wimbledon in London made an all England croquet club. Tennis was still an indoor game played by the rich at the time.

1873s-Major Walter Wingfield created a new type of tennis that can be played outdoors on a lawn. It was called ’ ‘sphairistike’ (play ball in Greek) This was first introduced in Wales and played on an hourglass court by the rich, this when tennis reached its climax when ‘sphairistike’ was sold in boxes, it included two net posts, a net, rackets, and Indian rubber balls, instructions on laying out the court and how to actually play. These boxes soon became a modern form of tennis.

Tennis is still a hugely popular game that is played and watched all over the world.

‘I’m Scribbleboy and i’m back to scribble!’

This term in Year 5 and 6 we have been reading Scribbleboy! Scribbleboy is a book by Phillip Ridley, who is an amazing author, and is the book we are reading this term.

So far in Scribbleboy, we have met the characters Bailey Silk, who is one of the main characters, Ziggy Fuzz, who is the President of the Scribbleboy Fan Club, The Skipper, Bailey’s Dad, Tiffany Spangle, who runs an ice cream business, and Levi Toot, the boy who raps on top of a black van.

In Scribbleboy, we have read about Balie Silk getting a letter from Ziggy about the Scribbleboy Fan Club, then he goes to see a scribble and faints, after that he meets Tiffany and she helps him and makes sure he is okay and then gives him an ice cream called ice cream alla Bailey! He then goes to an old cinema to meet the Scribbleboy Fan Club and meets Ziggy Fuzz. Next he starts to talk about the legend of Scribbleboy.

Scribble boy is really exciting and full of adventure and I can’t wait to find out what happens next in this fun adventure!

“My name is Scribbleboy and I'm back to Scribble.

In class, we have been introduced to a fabulous new book called Scribbleboy. It is about a boy called Bailey Silk who finds out about Scribbleboy and his legend and he is determined to find more scribbles and more about him as a person. Two chapters into the book we meet a new character named Tiffany Spangle. Tiffany is a chatterbox and with pink hair, that is usually in a ponytail, red lips and thick eyelashes. Bailey is astonished at her ice cream skills - she even makes him his favourite ice cream, without him telling her! When Bailey gets a letter from Ziggy Fuzz - the president of the Scribbleboy Fan Club - telling him everything he needs to know about Scribbleboy, Bailey is determined to go to the Fan Club, where there was described as ‘millions of members.’ However, when he arrives, there was only one member which was Ziggy Fuzz the supposed president.

Our English and Maths work at school.

Today, year 6 have been learning about a new book in literacy called Scribble boy 

This morning, Mr Ross, our teacher, has been introducing us to a book called Scribble
Boy - so far so good, I think that what I’ve read from the texts that we were given to read was that the boy didn't have a family and he was in an orphanage. We used a blue pen and a green pen - we used the blue pen for underlining the nonsense words and we used the green pen to underline the really good words that were used in the text like brooding which means that you're going in a huff.


We were in different classes some of use were in Mission and the other half of us were in Discovery - this also happens in maths.I am in Discovery both lessons when we were learning about Scribble Boy. In maths, we were doing all sorts of stuff and today we had just started our Power Maths books and we did different pages because Mr Ross wanted use to catch up with everyone in the school because they had already started their power maths books. We then caught up with them and then we did English after break time and that's when we carried on with Scribble Boy.

In my opinion, today was really interesting

Our year 6 has begun.

This week has been a jam-packed week for Discovery, not only have we been doing a lot in maths and English but also in many other subjects, like history with Mrs Williams and PE with Mrs Beevers.

However, first let me start with the pupil responsibilities. Every child in Yr6 has been given a special job to do relating to school, for example there is the assembly music monitors the assembly computer monitors and many more. In English, we have been reading and discussing Scribble Boy  - a book about a boy who changes a small gloomy town into a lively colourful canvas - some people don't believe in Scribble boy (except the fan club dedicated to him of course) - will the fans keep the legend alive and is Scribble boy ever going to return.

In interesting Maths, we have discussing negative numbers as well as rounding to 100000, the excellent Mr Ross has taught us a lot so far and it's only our 3rd WEEK.

Meanwhile, while Mr Ross was working his head off - Miss Williams took the opportunity to take us back in time in History,we have been looking at and outdated census dating all the way back to 1881!. Mrs Beevers also took the time to make sure we stay fit and healthy in PE, we have been doing a variety of stuff like ball catching games and even some running. The most exciting thing that happened all week was when Dr Tom and his dog Jed came in to talk about the Gem Powers which are Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond and Emerald. These Gem Powers help us leanr how to learn!

All in all a busy old time in Year 6.

Using Mythical words!

One of our pupils had a great book on Mythical Creatures. As he glanced at the book, Mr Ross thought the writing looked like the same font that a certain furniture shop uses, so we thought what furniture these names would be used for! We wonder if you agree!

New Stomp Project with Year 6

Today, year 6 had their first day working with a new subject, music. This will take place every Thursday morning with a different task each week.

This morning, Mrs Flynn, from Park View, introduced us to a group of musicians called Stomp. Stomp made their music only using everyday items. Which involved; pots, pans, car tyre, cushions, road signs and much more. We also came up with a few ideas that we could use if we were Stomp such as; zips, light switches and bin bags.

We were in groups of 6-9 people which we were in for the whole lesson. Mrs Flynn gave each group a simple beat that we had to keep to. When we all did it at once it sounded really cool. Some people were just marching in a beat, and some people were clapping at the speed of lightning! We were also able to do the sounds quiet as a mouse to a loud as a lion! Just by looking at Mrs Flynn’s hands.

In my opinion, today was extremely fun.
By Ruth.

To listen to our first Stomp composition - click here

Flood Protection Activities

This week, Anna - from the Environment Agency - has spent time with each year group helping us to think about  how we should be prepared for potential floods. Here are some thoughts from our pupils.

Today, Yr6 had a special guest from the Environment Agency who taught us about flood defence.We did a few activities.

• Remember the warning symbols 
• Write down how to stay safe in a flood 
• Being a News reporter about a flood.

We know almost all the symbols that the environemt agency uses:

• water near the top floor of the roof is you will need to evacuate immeadiately,
• water up to the first floor is be careful,
• water on the ground means be prepared for the flood.

We also learned that to break a car window with out getting hurt you should use the head of a car seat as got those metal things can break the window easily. (Don't try it unless you are in an emergency though - it could be expensive!) 

Other year groups have made rain gauges and learned about grab bags. Thank you, Anna, for helping us to understand more about the dangers of Flooding.

Environmental Crime

Yesterday, year 6 had a visit from the Environmental Protection Officer. He came to talk to us about littering and fly-tipping and dog fouling.

During the afternoon, he talked to us about the various punishments that would happen if people broke the law.  They would often result in an FPN (Fixed Penalty Notice).

The most severe punishment was 5 years in prison - this would be for fly tipping. Fly tipping is getting rid of old junk just in the streets. This often happens in back alleys or fields. Also, it can happen near to the official tips. People who fly-tip could also get their car confiscated.

One of the most surprising bits of information was that you are not allowed to drop apple cores, or other food items, on the ground - this would result in an FPN.

Also, if your dog was to foul when you were not watching (i.e. under a hedge) you are still responsible for it and could get an FPN.

The session had lots of different quiz type questions which made it informative and interesting.

FPN result in fines of anything between £150 up to £2500.

However, fly-tipping could result in a £4000 fine.

Much of the people who are convicted of environmental crimes are caught via CCTV.