Spring term Issue 11: 21st April 2023
Dear Parents,
Welcome back and welcome to the summer term!
Good luck to our mini-marathon runners this weekend- we will be cheering you on.
You may have noticed some raised beds have appeared in the playground! Next week we will be starting work on our new Kitchen Garden- more news to come on this.
From Monday 17th April, the following roads are now closed to vehicles - cameras will be operational and any vehicles driving through these areas during the closed times will be fined by Southwark Council:
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday 8.30am-9.15am and 3pm-3.45pm.
Adys Road - between East Dulwich Road junction by the Church and Nutbrook Street junction.
Ondine Road - between junction with Adys Road and Muschamp Road
Amott Road - between junction with Adys Road and Keston Road
Have a great weekend.
Miss Crank Mr Bell
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
It’s been an exciting week in reception this week as we’ve been exploring Pirates! We have read ‘The Night Pirates’ by Peter Harris and the children have been making old treasure maps, writing letters to a Captain Pirate and making a list of what to pack for their very own pirate adventure. In the outside area they used their building skills to make a pirate ship out of wooden blocks and enjoyed walking the plank!
Year 1
This week, Year 1 have launched their new Literacy book, Astro Girl! The children have discovered the new book character, Astrid and have written in role about how she desperately wants to be an astronaut. They have applied various reading and phonics techniques to sort through pieces of advice to help Astrid become an astronaut and were on the lookout for silly suggestions too (such as “Eating spider soup and slug bread.”). For now, the rest of the book remains a mystery! (no peeking please).
Year 2
This week, children explored the infamous Tower Bridge. We were given a guided tour around the boiler rooms, engine room and then the glass walkway connecting the two towers. Afterwards, children learnt about how the bridge, as well as the river Thames was used during the Victorian years. In doing so, children viewed historical photographs and handled a variety of goods brought to London’s Tower Bridge during the era.
Year 3
To enhance suspense, to encourage questions and to generally create an air of excitement, Year 3 started their new topic by having room full of secondary source artefacts to fully scrutinise and enjoy. We now have a whole year group of excited children ready to learn all about the Egyptians!
Year 4
A new term, a new book! We’ve been transported to an icy landscape and imagined ourselves in the snow-coated shoes of a young boy who wishes for an eternal winter. We wrote letters to his grandma telling her all about our thrilling adventure; here’s a snippet from one below! Will Spring ever arrive?
Year 5
Today, we looked at artefacts, maps, art and information about Ancient Greece. We generated questions based on our activities.
Year 6
In year 6, we really enjoy our BSL lessons. This week we were learning about money and we role-played going to the shops and buying different items and giving change. We worked in small groups and tried to rise to the challenge of only using sign and not your voices!
Sports News
Netball
This week, some children in KS2 received Netball coaching. This allowed children to practice their skills, develop confidence and understand the rules of the game. Over the next 5 weeks, children will continue to participate in these sessions and will no doubt, enjoy every moment!
Music this week…
This week in music, year 1 children were practising moving to the pulse whilst singing songs. They were introduced to the composer, Tchaikovsky and listened carefully to some of his music, thinking about how the extracts differed from one another. Year 3 were making musical links with their class topic, The Egyptians and were putting actions and musical rhythms to a song they are learning; Build a Pyramid. Year 4 were introduced to the world of opera and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. We rehearsed actions and lyrics to help remember a few of the main characters. Year 5 turned their attention to the story of The Firebird which is a ballet with music composed by Stravinsky and Year 6 were using our new tablets to add percussion beats to a soundtrack.
News from the Art Studio…
Year 5 made their own sketchbooks by sewing different textures and types of paper together. Using a variety of mediums, they drew and painted landscapes, focusing on the mood and feel of a place rather than a direct representation. They created a final artwork using their sketchbooks as inspiration.
Reading Room News
Thank you so much to our Buddy Readers from Year 5 and 6 who began reading with children in Year 2 this week. There were smiles all round and the children thought it was ‘so cool’ to have older children listen to them read.
We can’t wait for more Buddy Readers to join our growing team.
Thank you to those who participated in the readathon for Read for Good. It means the world to us to know that we raised an incredible £588 for the charity. The money will go towards helping to get books and stories to children in hospitals.
We have had some absolutely wonderful books donated to us recently. Our Reading Room Team have been busy labelling them up and getting them onto the shelves and they are already proving very popular!
Thank you ever so much from our whole reading community at SJSC.
Values Certificates
Each half term we celebrate children who have demonstrated the focus value in amazing ways. This half term we have been looking at KINDNESS, and here are the recipients of the Kindness Award…
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!