Autumn term Issue 7: 20th October 2023
Dear families,
What a wonderful half term it has been. Together we have celebrated International Evening, Black History Month, Harvest, Year 5 have lived and worked on a farm, we’ve visited the Horniman Museum, Banksy Exhibition, Art at the Peckham Levels and all this, (and more), as part of our exciting everyday excellence in our curriculum. It’s been wonderful seeing the children’s confidence grow, their learning skills develop and their sense of pride become instilled.
Today we finished at 1.50pm and this allowed to meet as a entire staff to continue to develop the school and provided the space to both reflect on the successes of this term and plan for next set of wonderful learning experiences. By reducing our inset days by one and then splitting this time over the six half terms, allows us this precious learning time together.
Next term, Y4 are visiting the Houses of Parliament, Y6 are going to PGL, Y2, Rec and Y1 are planning their Christmas performances and we are all preparing for our end of term carol extravaganza! What a term!
We have such a wonderful community and would like to thank all of you for your support - it is a privilege to lead such a fantastic school at the heart of such a wonderful community.
We look forward to even more adventures next half term.
Alli and Joe
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
What an amazing half term it has been, we are thrilled by how well the children have settled into life at school, and how they are coming on in leaps and bounds! Thanks to your support at home; many children are now able to blend and are starting to read words independently- Well done! Please do keep up the practise with the flash cards and tricky words cards… and word building at home.
This week in Reception we have been building d-e-n-s out of l-o-g-s and trying to h-o-p- on one l-e-g-We have been counting sounds and actions and learning to subitise amounts, actions and objects.
Our outside classroom is coming on really well and we have been loving the new mud kitchen and one tonne of fresh sand to discover with.
We have been imaging different ways to orally retell the story of Where the Wild Things Are, and drawing pictures to tell our own versions of the story. Stik class had a visit from Reverand Jill, and we were all thinking about what we are grateful for and drawing grateful hands.
We have also been finding out about what tidying up and sorting out really means, and how we should be taking care of all our lovely resources. Please support us at home by making sure that your child clears up after themselves (they can!) and that they learn how to be more independent about putting on jumpers and coats especially as the cold wet weather is now upon us. Reception children do need to be dressed suitably to be able to learn outside in all weathers.
Please can we have an amnesty to return any school resources that have accidentally found their way home in pockets and bags.
Year 1
Year 1 have been diving into the world of octopuses this week thanks to the character in our English book who makes friends with one called Maya. We have created information brochures with three headings and we’ve made our own octopuses with all their special features!
Year 2
Year 2, Mr Evans and Mrs Laidlaw are so proud of all your hard work this half term. In English we have spent this week rewriting the book ‘The Bear and the Piano’. The Year 2’s have written a beginning, middle and end, they have then painstakingly edited and checked their work. Finally they have published their work and designed their front covers, creating beautiful books. We are incredibly proud of the 60 authors we have! Enjoy your well deserved half term!
Year 3
This week, Year 3 went on a trip to the Horniman Museum, where we took part in a fascinating workshop about skeletons, bones and teeth. This is to support our recent topic in science. We looked at different animal skulls and tried to guess what type of animal there were. Based on their teeth, we then had to work out whether the animal was a carnivore, omnivore or herbivore.
Year 4
In PHSE, we have been learning about democracy by helping to get ready for the School Council. We created poster to advertise the elections and ballot boxes for each class to use.
In science we created our own classification keys to sort and identify leaves.
Year 5
In year 5 this week in English we have been enjoying our book The Children of the Kingdom of Benin. We did a character study and compare the two main characters. We looked at synonyms and antonyms and explored new vocabulary before writing our character descriptions using modal verbs.
Year 6
In Year 6 we were finally able to finish creating our editing our music in computing. We then had a chance to perform them to the class so that we could compare the different techniques we used and how effective they were.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art Studio, Year 5 have explored shades of colour. Using magazines, they gathered shades of colour that were similar to each other and collaged these to create an iris.
Music - Half Term Events
Southbank Centre – Free Events
Annemarie Anang: I am Nefertiti
For Younger Children (3 – 7), this is a free music and storytelling session on Sat 28th October
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/while-you-are-here
Note that there are upcoming music and movement sessions in November and a session called African Manifest; Sounds of North Africa
Southwark Presents – Free Events including;
Black History Month and Windrush Event on 21st October
The Sounds They Make
Half Term Bach to Baby Family Concert in Dulwich Village
It Takes a Village
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/events-culture-and-heritage
The Strings Club at Alleyn’s School
https://www.thestringsclub.org/blog/dulwich-holiday-camps
Theatre Peckham – Half Term Movement and Storytelling workshop
https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/show/half-term-workshop-movement-storytelling/
Free Lunchtime Concert on 27th October
https://www.lso.co.uk/whats-on/essentially-strauss-elena-urioste-tom-poster/
Values Certificates
This week we celebrated children who achieved our Community Award for the half term and our half termly readers. Well done everyone!
From the Friends of SJSC
SJSC Christmas Fair update
Our school Christmas fair will be held on Sunday 3rd December. We hope you’ll kick off the festive season with us!
Details about how you can support us or get involved are on the Friends of SJSC website.
Important reminders:
The Truepenny’s art contest is live. Entries are due on Monday 30th October.
Please support us by hosting a Truepenny’s Christmas fair board. Fill out this form by 30th October - it only take a minute to raise £15!
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!