Summer term Issue 2: 28th April 2023
Dear Parents,
Another busy week at the school beginning with the mini London marathon last weekend. Thank you to the Friends of SJSC for organising this.
There has also been a lot of excitement in the playground with the building and planting of our new kitchen garden, read all about it later on in the newsletter.
Next week is Deaf Awareness Week, we are attending an awards ceremony for one of children’s award-winning art, London Sinfonietta are visiting and we have Bikeability - all in 3 days!
Have a great weekend.
Miss Crank Mr Bell
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week Reception shared the story The Rainbow Fish and talked about the important messages stories can give us. The children made beautiful fish using paint and collage. We also learned about parts of a fish and drew and labelled our own beautiful fish. We’ve sung sea shanties and drawn and labelled pirate ships. Outside we constructed brilliant pirate boats using all of our loose parts equipment… and sailed off in our imaginations to find treasure and catch fish!
Year 1
In Year 1, our Science topic is ‘Materials’. This week, the children used observations and touch to explore and identify different objects. The children have been discussing the properties of different objects - including texture or appearance – and have decided on the materials each object was made from. The children enjoyed making a tally to record data about the different materials they could find around the classrooms.
Year 2
We were so lucky this week to have a special visitor come and visit us. Sue, a structural engineer, came into to give us a talk on engineering and what it is like to be a structural engineer! We discussed a day in the life, why Sue chooses certain materials for certain buildings and where engineering is used in the world all around us. Finally, we were tasked in groups to create the tallest free-standing tower we could using only a single sheet of paper and scissors. It was incredible to see what everyone came up with and how creative we were just using a single sheet of paper!
Year 3
This week in year 3, Muriu class have been taking part in mindfulness classes. We thought about our bodies, how they moved and the shapes we could make. We felt the stretch and strength required to take a pose and hold it for several breaths. We stretched, twisted and turned, thought about each breath and discovered how it can make us feel calm. Curiously, we also discovered how hard it is to move each individual toe when we spread them out.
Year 4
Chef Alice returned this week to teach us all about knife skills. With her guidance, we mastered ‘the claw’; a finger protecting technique as well as how to ‘chiffonade’ and ‘batonnet’. Whilst we used our new-found skills to create a delicious salad, Alice talked us through the different vegetables chosen and how they complimented each other. With session two now complete, we are well on our way to becoming budding chefs and we can’t wait for Alice’s final session this term – Bread making!
Year 5
In Year 5 we have been creating some role plays, using persuasive language (modal verbs, adverbs, imperatives and rhetorical questions) to convince the audience on a particular topic
Year 6
In year 6 this week, Shonibare class had their first mindfulness session. (Banksy had their sessions last term.) We worked on controlling our breath and calming our minds. Mindfulness is way to connect to our bodies and see how we are feeling. We learned some different stretches and how to relax our breath and bodies.
Sports News
Mini Marathon
On Saturday, 20 SJSC pupils represented the school at the Mini Marathon. Running either 1 mile or 2.6km, the children got the opportunity to run the last part of the famous London Marathon route, around Buckingham Palace and finishing on The Mall through the iconic London Marathon finishing line.
It was a wonderful day out, the event was so well organised and it was amazing to see so many children from across the country taking part. Our SJSC children did us all proud and were absolutely buzzing afterwards at their achievement!
Congratulations to all our 1 mile runners: Zac (Year 1), Beatrice, Thomas, Ruben, Alfie, Theo, Alice (Year 2), Jacob, Isla, Ruby, Margareth (Year 3), Jonah, Ruby, Owen (Year 4). And our 2.6km runners: Katie-Ann (Year 3), Kirsty, Apphia, Josefina (Year 5), Florence, Kyla (Year 6).
Special shout out to Jonah who came first in our wave with an impressive time of 7.18 minutes!
Other sports news in pictures…
This week the children took part in mindfulness and wellbeing sessions practising breathing for relaxation and mental calmness.
Year 2 took part in multi- skills sessions and practised finding space and coordination with speed.
Year 5 had some netball coaching and learnt how to find space.
Music this week…
It has been an exciting week in the music room; Year 6 children started African drumming with Pauline and Sandra and Year 5 children began Samba with Nuno. This is such a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn from specialist instrumentalists.
Year 2 and Year 4 are continuing their journey into understanding What Is Opera? We met some of the main characters from Mozart’s The Magic Flute (see below Papageno, Tamino and Pamina) and we are looking at different songs and drama activities that The Royal Opera House has provided.
Year 3 continued to practise Rhythm patterns that could be used in their Egyptian song, Build A Pyramid. They are also going to be singing songs in 3 parts, starting with One Bottle of Pop.
Year 1 entered into the magical world of Aurora’s Orchestra. Meeting toys that come to life and follow the music of Tchaikovsky. They focused this week on pitch, following the magic ball which moved up and down to follow the tune of the flute.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art studio, Year 1 used their sketchbooks to record observational drawings of birds, in flight and in their natural habitats. They used charcoal and chalk pastels to give the sense of movement and texture. We will use these drawings to explore how we transform 2d drawing into 3d sculptures.
SJSC Kitchen Garden
This week we have been hard at work creating the SJSC Kitchen Garden. Tending to the garden will be part of the activities the children can choose to join in at lunchtime. It will also be incorporated into the curriculum and provide us with the opportunity to learn about growing fruits and vegetables, developing our understanding of wildlife, as well as supporting positive mental health, skills of working together as a community, and enjoying the harvesting of course!
This week the children worked hard to move the planters in place, line them, and start to fill them up with stones, soil, and compost. Planting began today and will continue next week – keep an eye on our progress.
Thank you to the Friends of SJSC for supporting this exciting venture.
SJSC School Street
Our School Streets have been in operation for 2 weeks now and we hope you have seen a positive difference in your journeys to and from school. We are enjoying the calmness of the roads now that traffic has been reduced and it has been wonderful to see so many children cycling, and to watch families chat and mingle outside the school gates.
Please do share any positive thoughts you have on the School Streets amongst local friends and on social media if you use it.
Stars of the Week Certificates
Stars are celebrated because they have demonstrated the school's values, or gone above and beyond. Well done to all our stars this week …
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!