It’s June!
May seems to have gone by so quickly we had a great time during STEM week with art at the Canal Cavalcade and even had reading on the beach. Now, we are getting ready to look forward to June and even warmer weather as well as getting ready for graduations. It’s a sunny and exciting time and there is still plenty more for you to do with WCU.
Thanks to Lets Localise and Cognizant we are still experimenting with our free TWIN engineering and coding kits. I has been great fun and we are determined to keep the fun and exploration going. We have made a fruit salad of electric pianos-banana, grape and strawberry- and learned how circuits we use all the time work. We are working on coded sustainability projects and creating work in scratch too.
Now is a great time to start collecting your hours together in a list to get ready for graduation, if you need any help in school with this please let us know ,we’d be happy to help.
Archimake workshops are fun short courses in creativity, drawing, model making, problem solving and teamwork, for children aged over 7 to explore design & the built environment.
If the weather has put you in the mood for outdoor arts, the Kaleidoscope Festival is back! The event, on Saturday the 13th of July, will once more feature a packed programme that promises our customary mix of live music, DJs, comedy, and a host of entertainment for families around the festival site, including interactive theatre, workshops and more at London’s highest festival. All set within the beautiful Alexandra Park with views right across London. It’s shaping up to be a lovely day with plenty of family activities to take part in too!
WCU can also offer Art Award an ultimately GCSE equivalent national qualifications certified by Trinity College London Come and join us at Archimake, at QP from 4-5 on Mondays to meet architects and d=create your own designs. Signing up is easy just let us know you’re coming and we will see you there.
Meanwhile gardens is a great local venue and we will be there every Wednesday 4-6 PM in June, working with the floating classroom to get you all involved in forest school. This summer the Floating Classroom is offering 8 weeks of free Forest School activities at Meanwhile Gardens for children aged 8-11 from schools taking part in the Westminster Children's University extra-curricular scheme.
Forest School is a fun, child-centred learning process that uses regular outdoor sessions to connect children to the natural world. This is a brilliant opportunity to learn about the environment, build confidence, and explore the outdoors.
Every Wednesday afternoon in the 2024 summer term: 15th May - 10th July at Meanwhile Gardens (156 - 158 Kensal Rd, W10 5BN) (not half-term - 29th May)
You can sign-up using the link to the form here. If you have any questions or need help completing your sign-up form: call 0203 951 7376 or email cameron@thefloatingclassroom.co.uk
Please note: this activity is for children from schools participating in the Westminster Children's University extra-curricular programme.
Current member schools are: St Augustine’s, Kilburn Park, St Thomas' Primary School, Edward Wilson Primary School, Our Lady Dolour’s Primary School, St Joseph’s Church of England Primary School, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Oakington Manor Primary School, Middle Park Primary School, Rathfern Primary School, St Paul's and All Hallows CofE primary school, Soho Parish School, Queen's Park Primary, Essendine Primary, Hallfield Primary, St Mary of the Angels, St Peter's Primary, St Luke's Primary, St Stephen's Primary, Holy Cross Primary School, St Marylebone the Bridge.
The month of June also sees us celebrating Butterfly Education and Awareness Day, or BEAD for short, is an annual event organised by the Association for Butterflies (AFD) to raise awareness about the importance of butterfly conservation.
BEAD is designed to help educate the public about the importance of butterflies in the pollination process and why it's important to create and protect butterfly habitats. This event is also a great opportunity to learn about metamorphosis and the environment.
BEAD is a yearly event that happens on the first Saturday of June. In 2024 BEAD will be on the 1st of June.
Pot Gang have sent us growing kits and we have had several community days planting and growing too ,it's so rewarding seeing all the growth happening this time of year.
How can you create a habitat for butterflies?
The best way to create a good habitat for butterflies is to add lots of butterfly biodiversity to a sunny patch of garden. There are a number of ways that you can make butterflies and caterpillars feel more at home:
How can you get involved in Butterfly Education and Awareness Day?
Use some of these lovely, butterfly-themed resources when celebrating the day in school or at home:
What is the lifecycle of a butterfly?
The lifecycle of a butterfly is made up of 4 different stages:
5 Fun facts about butterflies!
When is Child Safety Week 2024?
In 2024, Child Safety Week runs from Monday 3rd of June, to Sunday 9th of June.
Child Safety Week is an annual campaign created by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT). Child Safety Week is intended to instigate conversations around child safety and spread awareness of how parents, carers and educators can prevent accidents through proactive dialogue and promoting awareness through activities. The campaign is led UK-wide, and also focuses on educating children on different approaches to accident prevention and how they can keep themselves safe.
How Child Safety Week can help parents, educators and children
CAPT’s main incentives are to prevent the number of accidents to children in the UK; one of the leading causes of children’s death behind cancer. Although they recognise that children need to experiment and take risks in order to learn, they strive to impart practical knowledge, solutions, and strategies to minimise risks and accidents in common circumstances, such as on the roads, online, and at home.
For Child Safety Week, you can get involved by facilitating sessions with staff about child safety, and include children in lessons about how to keep themselves safe. Have a nosey at some of our fantastic resources that you can use either at home, or in your learning environment, in order to instigate awareness and conversation about child safety.
You could get involved by playing the Think! Road Safety Game https://www.think.gov.uk/resource/take-the-lead-game/
Or visit https://capt.org.uk/ for free resources lessons and games.
June is a truly busy month and all month long it is Pride Month from June 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024 .Pride Month takes place every year in June and is a celebration designed to recognise the influence of the LGBTQ+ community. Celebrating diversity and people's right to live how they choose without discrimination, Pride Month promotes positivity and equal rights for all.
Pride Month helps raise awareness of issues facing the LGBTQ+ community and provides an opportunity to celebrate the culture of inclusivity, with parades, street parties, community events and more. Designed to help educate people, Pride Month events are attended by millions of people worldwide.
The history of Pride Month
Pride Month is celebrated every year in June, as this marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. These were a series of equal rights demonstrations held by members of the LGBTQ+ community against oppression. This was in response to violent police raids on LGBTQ+ establishments in New York in June 1969.
Considered a pivotal moment for LGBTQ+ civil rights, Pride Month is celebrated in June to mark how far the movement has come and what still needs to be done to help ensure fair treatment for all without discrimination.
You could create a beautiful classroom display with the help of these gorgeous rainbow posters, bunting, flashcards, colouring puzzles and Pride Flags Chart. Learn all about the pride flag on this Pride Flag Teaching Wiki! For more ideas, try:
You could even arrange your very own pride party by using our Pride Party Packs and beautifully-illustrated Pride Greetings Cards. Or you could do some colouring information sheets, these feature sports people and athletes who identify as LGBTQ+. Great for displays or for allowing children some valuable mindful time. You might also like these simple Pride Month Sports Star Colouring Pages.
KS1 Pride: Celebrating LGBTQ+ Composers and Musicians PPT - This PowerPoint is aimed at KS1 children and is intended to celebrate composers, artists and musicians from the LGBTQ+ community who have made a contribution to music in the world today.
KS2 Pride: Celebrating Contributions of LGBTQ+ Artists PPT - This resource is perfect to celebrate diversity in art. It is a fantastic and informative PowerPoint to use at any time of year, and an excellent resource to recognise significant contributions of LGBTQ+ artists during Pride month.
Caring for and respecting each other is one of the most important things we can do and June is also the month in which empathy day falls. Who are EmpathyLab?
Empathy Lab are a social enterprise with a mission to raise an empathy-educated generation, inspired to create a better world for everyone. Our aim is to reach and benefit 1 million children and young people a year by 2026.
Why is empathy important?
Empathy is being able to experience and understand other people's feelings and points of view. It is a crucial life skill every child and young person deserves the chance to develop, and a force for social change. We are not born with a finite amount of empathy, and this skill can be developed at any time.
What is Empathy Day?
Empathy Day is a national event, which inspires children, young people, and families to develop their empathy superpower and put it into action to change the world.
By taking part in Empathy Day, children, young people and the wider school community will:
When is Empathy Day 2024?
This year, Empathy Day is on Thursday 6th June, with run-up activity taking place from May.
What is the theme for Empathy Day 2024?
This year's theme is MISSION EMPATHY. We are asking children and young people to choose and complete one creative activity each from Read, Connect and Act, to boost their empathy superpower.