Autumn Term: 6th November 2026
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear Families,
Welcome back. I hope you all had an enjoyable half term and were able to spend some valuable time together as a family.
When planning this academic year, we made the decision to have a slightly longer half-term break. We hoped this would provide families with the opportunity to take a holiday if they wished, offer a circuit breaker for the coughs, colds and winter bugs that seem to circulate at this time of year, and allow everyone some genuine rest during what can feel like the longest term. We have received positive feedback from families on all of these fronts, which is wonderful to hear.
However, we do still have some families taking holidays during term time, and we are asking for your cooperation in helping us address this. Schools are held accountable for pupil attendance which is impacted by the holidays taken in term time. Importantly for children, every day of learning matters. When children miss school for holidays, they inevitably miss important learning experiences and teaching sequences that can be difficult to replicate or fully catch up on. Thank you for working with us to ensure that children attend school whenever possible during term time.
In more positive news, I would like to celebrate the many children who take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles around our school. These opportunities are important because they help children understand the value of contributing to a community, caring for others and making a positive difference. They also build confidence, independence and a real sense of achievement.
Many of our Key Stage 2 children are wonderful Buddy Readers. It is a joy to see older children reading alongside younger children in the mornings across the school. These relationships foster a love of reading while also helping to build confidence and friendships across year groups.
At the end of last half term, we elected our new School Council representatives. They will be meeting for the first time next week and, judging by the enthusiasm and ideas shared in their speeches, there is a great deal they would like to achieve. We will also be bringing together our Eco Team and Faith Group next week, while children in Upper Key Stage 2 have the opportunity to apply to become Play Leaders.
There will be many more opportunities for children to get involved throughout the year, and we are committed to ensuring that every child has a chance to contribute, develop leadership skills and make a positive impact within our school community.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Alli
Reception
This week in Reception, we have been reading Little Glow by Katie Sahota, a book that explains festivals of light across different cultures through the viewpoint of a humble candle. In Drawing Club, we have responded with pictures and captions of pumpkins, lanterns, Rangoli patterns and fireworks! We had so much fun creating our firework pictures and labelling them.
In maths we have been looking at ways of representing 5 and started using a dice frame to help us visualise five, as well as practising finger rhymes to help us kinaesthetically.
We have been creating transient art with wonderful rich Autumn nature finds and telling stories about our creations. Do collect us conkers, acorns, autumn leaves etc on your autumn walks.
Next week we are off to Forest School. The children can wear own clothes under their wet weather gear. There is no shelter at the nature garden, everyone will need puddle suits/ waterproofs, wellies and woolly hats. If you need to borrow some let us know. We recommend parent volunteers also wear suitable footwear. Sign up to let us know if you can come along. (Also let us know if plans change please!)
Year 1
We have had another lovely week of learning in Year 1 as we have begun exploring our new text, Iggy Peck, Architect. In English, the children have been thinking about what an architect does before taking on the role themselves! They have been busy designing their own buildings on graph paper, carefully planning their creations and challenging themselves to add noun labels to make their designs clear for someone else to follow when building. We have also introduced the conjunctions because and but, and the children have been fantastic at using these to compare our two characters, Iggy and Miss Greer. It has been wonderful to see them beginning to use these words to extend their sentences and explain their ideas.
In PSHE, as part of our Celebrating Difference topic, we have been thinking about the things that make us similar to one another. The children found a partner and enjoyed talking about what they have in common, discovering lots of similarities! They were particularly keen to take this learning into their own independent writing, where they had a go at recording what they shared with their partner.
Year 2
The children in Year 2 have been using their knowledge of number bonds to 10 to add numbers by bridging through 10. We have been learning a range of strategies to do this and have used different representations, including ten frames with counters and partitioning numbers using part-whole models. The children are becoming increasingly confident in explaining their methods and understanding how numbers can be broken apart and recombined to support efficient calculation.
Year 3
Our Year 3 classrooms were transformed into a royal training ground this week as the children took on an extraordinary challenge! Acting as would-be apprentices to the Royal Tea Taster, our young connoisseurs had to prove they have what it takes to serve royalty.
Before securing their official apprenticeship, the children had to pass a rigorous sensory test: identifying and describing four mysterious, unlabelled teas. Using their keen senses of smell and taste, they carefully evaluated each blend, matching them against "Lucky Dip Description" cards like bark, cinnamon, orange, and sage.
Year 4
This week, Year 4 have been learning about Shackelton’s recruitment process for his ill-fated trip to Antarctica on Endurance. We would be very grateful if you don’t reveal what happens as we are still on the edge of our seats (in class) as to what really happened – we will parts as we go along the story in English lessons! In Maths, we’ve been focussing on comparing and ordering 4 digit numbers. We also started with our cricket coach on Tuesday which we are loving!
Year 5
In year 5, we have been very busy selling poppies ready for the 11th November- Rememberance Day. This is part of our new topic learning about World War 2 as well as the importance of remembrance.
We have also been investigating chemical reactions in science! We had lots of fun observing what happens when an acid such as vinegar or lemon juice is mixed with an alkali like bicarbonate of soda and loved watching as the gas produced inflated balloons.
Year 6
Year 6 kicked off the new half term with a fun game of Dicebreaker! Working with their new tablemates and partners, the children enjoyed answering questions, sharing ideas and learning a little more about each other. A great way to start the half term with smiles and laughter!
News from the Art Studio…
Year 3 have been learning about the Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu. She creates bold, colourful portraits that celebrate African women. Her models are often styled in vibrant, patterned fabrics that are camouflaged with the backdrop so the figures seem to merge with the world around them. Inspired by her work, the children designed and made their own fabric influenced by Dutch wax print – one piece for the background and the other to make an outfit. They also created glasses from recycled materials to complete the look. Finally, the children learned how to use the iPads to photograph each other in Thandiwe Muriu’s signature style. They loved the final results!
Music this week…
This week in music, children in Year 4 were putting their Recorder skills to the test as they started to learn Eye of The Tiger using notes B, A and G. We are getting more familiar with the songs we need to learn for Young Voices 2027 but please do encourage your children to listen to the songs as much as possible at home. The ABBA Medley and the Pop Medley are the favourites so far!
Children in Year 2 have been listening to music from Saint Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. This week we listened to The Royal March of the Lions and heard how the pianos used chords and scales which we imagined were the lions roaring and shaking their manes. We will look at the different movements and think about how he chose specific instruments to represent certain animals. You can listen to The Royal March of the Lions by clicking the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWe0N9LaUp4
Children in Reception (Stik) will be looking at a programme of music written by the wonderful Aurora Orchestra; The Magical Toy Box invites pupils to explore music through storytelling, movement, singing and sensory experiences using extracts from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
Friends of SJSC
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The PTFA is hard at work organising a variety of fun and festive fundraising events for the Christmas season. We would love your help to make it a success. See the attached flyers and information below to discover how you can take part.
Fancy joining our team of Christmas Elves?
The SJSC Christmas Fair is only 3 weeks away! This is an important day of fun, community and fundraising. Please keep an eye out for WhatsApp messages from Year Reps asking for volunteers to man the fabulous array of festive stalls at the Fair, which will take place on Saturday, 28th November from 1-4pm. We are also seeking volunteers to help with setup and cleanup at the Fair. This is one of the most anticipated school events of the year and we couldn’t pull it off without you. Please let your Year Reps know if you’re able to help!
Final call for Christmas card & gift orders!
If you’d like to order bespoke cards and gifts with your child’s drawing on them, make sure to order by midnight on Monday, 9th November, using the unique Xmas4Schools order link sent to your email.
There will be more festive news in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. And thank you for all of your help to make this season so special for our community!
HB Art Club
This half term was phenomenal! We were blown away by the creativity, inventiveness and kindness shown by all of the children attending HB Arts Holiday Club. For the first time we had all ages in on the same day, from Reception to Year 7, including children from different schools. The collaboration and navigation of the space was amazing to see. So many projects, different ideas and inspiration flowing around the room. The sewing table was a big hit, some children made squishies, others learnt to sew for the first time and others made full on outfits! We are looking to expand our textile corner for next time. Junk modelling was taken to new levels, the children made shops, boats, houses and hamster wheels. The children tie dyed, made books in a box, created scrapbooks with lots of collaging, and We were impressed as always with the level of confidence and respect for the tools used, which included saws, craft knives, glue guns and even a bit of ironing. We are looking forward to more designs and collaborations. Keep creating artists! Best wishes, Mrs HB and Freya
Have a great weekend, see you next week!