Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 from Warwick Junior School and Warwick Prep School enjoyed a collaborative Link Day this week.

The Year 5 pupils worked together in teams using straws, tape, paper and Polo mints to build puff mobiles which could be powered by just one 'puff' of air from a person's breath. Their goal was to design a vehicle that travelled the furthest. 

The Year 6s were tasked with constructing a bridge from straws and card that could carry a load of at least five newtons. Pupils had taken on board everything they had learnt as the winning team produced a bridge that supported a load of 16 newstons!

Pupils demonstrated teamwork, communication, resilience and a lot of creativity! Our link days continue to be a fantastic way for the Junior School and Prep School to regularly come together and nurture their love for learning.

Whilst they can be a great way for friends to socialise, online games like Roblox that allow multiplayer gameplay with strangers are always fraught with a variety of dangers that can expose children to inappropriate or harmful content. Roblox enables people to play anonymously, which can often be something that attracts people to misuse the game and potentially put young people at risk of harm.

In addition to interacting with random strangers across the world, other factors such as in-game purchases and potential scams can also pose a financial risk. It’s important that parents remain aware of the risks associated with this popular title and how it can be used safely.

This guide offers parents expert advice on what can be done to ensure that young people have a safe and enjoyable experience with Roblox.

Read more about what parents and educators need to know about Roblox here.

What is bullying?

Learning to understand and manage conflict is an important part of growing up. Bullying is not simply a 'falling out'. Research shows that experiencing bullying can have a significant impact on a child's life well into adulthood. To ensure we are able to prevent bullying, act quickly when it takes place and avoid misidentifying bullying, it is vital that school, parents and pupils have a shared definition of bullying.

Anti-Bullying Alliance – Definition of bullying

“The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online.”

There are four key elements to this definition:

• hurtful
• repetition
• power imbalance
• intentional

Bullying behaviour can be:

• Physical – pushing, poking, kicking, hitting, biting, pinching etc.
• Verbal  - name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, threats, teasing, belittling.
• Emotional – isolating others, tormenting, hiding books, threatening gestures,  ridicule, humiliation, intimidating, excluding, manipulation and coercion.
• Sexual – unwanted physical contact, inappropriate touching, abusive comments, homophobic abuse, exposure to inappropriate films etc.
• Online /cyber – posting on social media, sharing photos, sending nasty text messages, social exclusion
• Indirect - Can include the exploitation of individuals.

Bullying as a group behaviour

Evidence and research have shown that bullying tends to be a group behaviour, with several different roles that can be involved. In fact, bullying rarely takes place between a 'victim' and a 'bully' alone: it tends to be a group behaviour. Others can have a significant influence on the outcomes of behaviours among children and young people, intentionally or otherwise.

• Ringleader – Initiating and leading the bullying but not always the person ‘doing’ the bullying.
• Target – The person at whom the bullying is aimed.
• Assistant – Actively involved in ‘doing’ the bullying but not leading it
• Reinforcer – Supports the bullying, might laugh or encourage other people to ‘collude’
• Defender – Stands up for someone being bullied. Knows that bullying is wrong and feels confident enough to do something about it. This might involve talking to an adult.
• Outsider/Bystander – Ignores any bullying and doesn’t want to get involved.

These roles are constantly shifting depending on who is present and the dynamics in the group.

Watch this short video to find out more.

During Anti-Bullying Week, our school is celebrating the superpowers we all have inside us! Monday, 10 November is Odd Socks day and each sock represents a different dimension of their 'power for good'. Each child wearing odd socks symbolises how everyone is individually a superhero in their own special way. Together, we can create a school where everyone feels valued and supported!
 

Next week we will be focusing on:
Inner superpowers: Helping the boys to discover the things that they’re already good at or are learning to believe about themselves – e.g. resilience, courage, empathy, listening, being kind-hearted.

Action superpowers: Helping the boys to recognise and be inspired to use their strengths to help others – e.g. including new children, standing up to bullies, looking out for others and making kind choices.
 

What your child is being invited to do:

• Wear odd socks to school 
• Think about their inner superpower (what they’re already good at)
• Consider their action superpower (how they can help others)  

How you can help at home:

• Help your child choose their special odd socks
• Talk about what makes them special and unique
• Discuss how they can use their strengths to help others
• Remind them that everyone has superpowers – we just need to discover them!

It is hard to believe that we have already reached the half term holiday. The boys have achieved so much in recent weeks, not least settling into new routines, making friends, and building up their knowledge and understanding in a whole range of subjects and disciplines both inside and outside the classroom. 

When we reach the end of a half term, it is a useful time to reflect, not just on the positives but also on areas for improvement.  This week in assembly, I asked the boys to think about how they deal with difficulties, and not just those they might face in a lesson, but also in their friendships, around school and at home. Building up resilience to bounce back when things get difficult or when you face disappointment is a key learning strength. Linking to Black History Month, we discussed the civil rights movement and the discrimination which people have and still can face because of their race, religion, age or the other ‘protected characteristics’ that the boys study as part of their PSHE work in school. The boys learnt about Rosa Parks and how her resilience and actions helped inspire change in America in the 1950s and 1960s.  To stand up for what you feel is right takes great resilience, and I challenged the boys to show resilience this week in doing the right thing, not necessarily the easy thing.  

This week it was wonderful to welcome visitors to the school. On Monday, pupils from Evergreen School visited the Science Lab and worked with Mr Lewis on an evaporation experiment. While on Thursday afternoon, some of the Year 5 boys joined with the pupils from Clapham Terrace to complete their investigations in the Lab.  

The term continues apace on our return in the first week of November including a range of rugby fixtures, a Maths and English presentation for parents, our Remembrance Day Chapel Service and the Junior School Open Morning for new parents. 

Thank you for your support of your sons and the school over the last half term and I wish you a safe and enjoyable half term break. 

John Bond 

On Tuesday, 16 of our swimmers, U10 and U11, took part in the Warwick 25s Gala hosted at Warwick school. This event was a great opportunity for our boys to showcase their progression in swimming and compete against other top swimmers from schools across the Midlands and beyond. 

It was a great afternoon of swimming with many of our boys winning races across various strokes, which resulted in Warwick winning both the U10 competition and the U11 competition, and collectively, were the overall school winners on the day. 

Congratulations to all boys who took part, and showed great determination and humility throughout the afternoon.