Spring term Issue 11: 24th March 2023
What a week it has been! On Friday the whole school marched on Goose Green to save the planet. Take a look below for videos and photos.
This week we are also launching our new newsletter format, please let us know what you think.
On Monday we hosted a workshop for Matilda: the Musical where children from Years 4, 5 and 6 enjoyed a workshop of singing and dancing led by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Ten of our children were chosen to take part in further workshops in the West End. We have so many talented children here at SJSC!
Have a great weekend
Alli Crank & Joseph Bell
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
Reception have been exploring odd and even numbers in maths this week. Within the context of building Numberblocks characters, they investigated when a number can be composed of 2 equal parts and quickly identified that even numbers can be composed as doubles. In literacy we have read ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Vivian French. We talked about how different types of vegetables grow and even got to try Miss Bown’s special pea soup. We were so impressed that all of the children tried it! .
Year 1
In our Maths lessons, we have been looking at commutative addition. We have learnt a jingle to help us understand that when addends are swapped the sum is unchanged; “I swap the addends, but the sum remains the same”. We then practically explored how we can swap addends shown within ‘First, Then, Now’ stories, before recording these as equations on our whiteboards.
Year 2
It has been all about adding money and calculating change this week in Year 2’s maths lessons. Children firstly focused on adding different coins to make the same amount. For example, we can make 20p using two 10p coins or four 5p coins. We then moved on to buy Lego Items, giving change once these had been purchased.
Year 3
Year 3 visit the reading room every week. This gives them a chance to explore news books and new authors . The children influence each other by swapping books they have recommended after they have read them. The children are also taking turns to be the librarian.
Overall, it is a wonderful space that the children and adults enjoy and we are very lucky to have it!
Year 4
This week in year 4, we welcomed Chef Alice for the first of 3 visits and became chefs for the morning! Our first session was the “taste and sensory” session. We used our senses to experience the 5 main tastes i.e. bitter, sour, sweet, salty and umami and then sampled a variety of foods to see if we could recognise them, noting our findings along the way.
Year 5
In maths we have been converting measures of capacity. We used liquid to measure and record in millilitres, centilitres, decilitres and litres using our understanding of multiplication and division by 10/ 100/ 1000.
Year 6
This week in Year 6 we have continued to learn about Evolution and Inheritance. We studied Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as it relates to Galapagos Finch Beaks. We then applied the theory ourselves, creating adaptations for bird feet which we believe will help them swim more efficiently! Here we are in our bird feet testing zone.
SJSC Eco March
This afternoon was our ECO march for sustainability on Goose Green and what a march it was! This march was to raise awareness of how we should be kind to the planet and the animals that live on our planet. Well done to everyone for their enthusiasm and it was wonderful to hear your voices!.
Music this week…
Highlights of the week in music have been listening to Year 5 create their own ostinatos (repeated rhythms) based on Holst’s movement Mars from The Planets. The children were creative and worked well together adding lyrics to match the rhythms.
We loved Year 4’s enthusiasm when singing songs about The Anglo Saxons and Alfred the Great. Key Stage 1 children were brilliant kangaroos and elephants, moving in time with the music from Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens.
We had a wonderful performance by Pop Choir on Wednesday afternoon; thank you so much to the children – your performance of Shallow was incredible. Thanks to Jackie and Naomi for all your help this term.
News from the Art Studio…
Fourth Plinth Schools Award 2023
Year 4 have been working hard to complete their entries for this year’s Fourth Plinth Schools Award. Check out some of their amazing entries on the link below.
Stars of the week
Stars are celebrated because they have demonstrated the school values, or gone above and beyond.
Well done to all our stars this week …
The Friends of SJSC
The PTFA has a new name…and a new website!
We are now called The Friends of SJSC, but we are the same parents and supporters working hard to build our school community and organise fundraisers to support our school. We have created a website to share what we’ve done, what we’re planning, and where we need help. So, make yourself a cuppa and have a read: friendsofsjc.squarespace.com
Save the date…
The friends of SJSC are working hard behind the scenes to host some fun events for our school community. Please save these dates and look out for further details closer to the time: School disco - Wednesday 24th May Summer Fair - Saturday 17th June. As always these events rely on volunteers. We need parents/carers to help out at the disco, as well as to help organise a fair stall or just be an extra pair of hands on the day. If you are interested please get in touch with your class rep or email us
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!