Autumn Term Issue 02: 12th September 2025
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear families
It is only our second week back, and already the school is buzzing with energy! From brilliant learning in the classrooms to imaginative building with loose parts in the playground, and joyful singing as we begin preparing for our Harvest Service – it’s been a wonderful start to the term.
For those of you who like to plan, here are a few key dates for your diaries:
· Reception Parent Café – Friday 26th September at 9:15
· International Evening – Friday 26th September, 3:30-5:00pm (more details sent out today via Arbor)
· NEW DATE: The Nest Parent Café, focussing on supporting your child’s mental health – Monday 13th October at 9:15
· Harvest Service – Thursday 16th October at 9:45, held at St John’s Church
There will also be individual trips and events happening across year groups – keep an eye our for these via Arbor.
At SJSC, we believe playtimes are just as important as classroom learning. Our playground offer is fantastic, thanks to the leadership of Sally, Ms Davies, the support of Tansy our Parent Play Champion, and all of you who donate and help out – thank you! I can no longer deny it – summer has officially ended, and the rain and cooler weather are creeping in. As we aim to be outside in most weathers, please make sure your child comes to school with a suitable coat every day.
Have a great weekend
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week the children have been settling in even better into the routines of school life. They are managing coming in each day really well with “One hug, one kiss and in I go…” Thank you for your support in keeping that working. In the classroom we have been drawing self-portraits using a mirror; the results are delightful in all their idiosyncrasies – just like the children themselves! We have started our first Drawing Club book “Not now Bernard” by David McKee and the children have had a wonderful time using their imaginations- and a pencil purposefully every day to draw their ideas.
We have been learning how to use a knife and fork and carry and scrape clean our own plates at lunchtime, then pour our own milk and wash our own cups in the Reception Garden - so independent!
We will be reading The Family Book by Todd Parr next week and looking at who is in my family and where do we all come from. We invite you to chat to your child about this and welcome a Family Tree for homework- in any design. Thank you.
Year 1
This week, the children have been exploring adjectives and question words in their writing. A sparkly spaceship suddenly appeared in school as part of our new text Beegu, and our excitement grew when we received a mysterious letter and some strange and blurry CCTV footage from the police, reporting that Beegu had been spotted in the school hall. The police even asked for our help to track Beegu down- so the children became detectives, creating colourful posters with adjectives such as yellow, long, short, lonely and friendly to describe Beegu, and asking curious questions to solve the mystery. We are so proud of how confidently and enthusiastically the children have settled into their first full week of Year 1, and we can’t wait to begin our exciting Geography topic next week, becoming map-makers of the local area!
Year 2
This week in English, Year 2 have dived into an exciting new story: Billy and the Beast by Nadia Shireen! The adventure began with a surprise—our classroom had been mysteriously trashed! The children arrived to find clues left behind by an eyewitness, sparking lots of curiosity and imaginative thinking. Using the clues, the children have been busy writing wanted posters to help catch the mischievous Beast. We’re loving the creativity and enthusiasm the children are bringing to this unit—watch out, Beast, Year 2 are on your trail!
Year 3
Year 3 this week had a wonderful day at the Horniman Museum, full of hands-on learning and exploration!
The highlight of the trip was our workshop on bones and teeth, where children had the exciting opportunity to handle real skulls and skeletons. They learned all about vertebrae and discovered why animals have different types of teeth depending on whether they are carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.
After lunch, we explored the museum’s fascinating exhibits, including the Music Room, the Wildlife Garden, and the World Gallery. Each area offered something new and exciting to discover. To end the day, we enjoyed some well-earned fun in the nearby park.
A big thank you to all the parents who helped make the trip such a success!
Year 4
This summer, Sharon made an incredible discovery in the school cellar—a mysterious box filled with photo albums and snapshots from SJSC’s past, dating back to the 1960s! Inside were images from when our school was a secondary school, photos from its days on North Cross Road, and moments from the early years in our current building. Year 4 have been diving into these treasures, exploring how our school has changed over time and thinking deeply about the legacy left behind. Linking to our curriculum big idea of Legacy, we’ve been asking: What legacy do we want to leave? and What might SJSC look like in 100 years?
From futuristic classrooms to robot teachers (maybe!), our imaginations have taken flight. Whatever the future holds, we’re proud to be part of SJSC’s story.
Year 5
This week, we have started our new book The Lost Thing and sentences with subordinate clauses to put into a diary entry as our first published work. In Geography, we have observed how the land is used in our area—ranging from commercial to residential use. In Science, we also worked in groups to plan and carry out our own experiment to separate a range of materials. We enjoyed using a range of equipment (including magnets and sieves) to separate the mixtures.
Year 6
In Science this week, Year 6 became taxonomists as they explored how to classify living things. The children enjoyed sorting animals in different ways, considering their features and the habitats they live in. They learned how scientists group animals as vertebrates and invertebrates, and then explored further categories such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. The children showed great curiosity and discussion skills as they compared examples and explained their reasoning. It was fantastic to see them working scientifically, asking thoughtful questions, and recognising the importance of classification in understanding the diversity of life on our planet.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art Studio Years 1-6 explored oracy in the Art room. Working in groups and taking turns in different roles – Describer, Artist, Timekeeper and Group manager, they explored the skills needed for each role and how they could work best as a group.
This term Reception will explore the paintings of Frank Bowling. We used our bodies to move about like a Bowling painting: dripping, splashing, mixing and layering.
Music this week…
Children this week were thinking about Oracy skills and what this means in music lessons. They were given the roles of Speaker, Listener, Challenger and Builder and had to offer their thoughts and opinions on different song choices. They enjoyed watching the following clip of twin babies who manage to communicate effectively (by taking turns) even though their speech has not yet developed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY
We also played games to remind ourselves about taking turns in music as well as moving to the beat and finding rhythm patterns. KS1 can be seen singing “I Was Going to Kentucky”. KS2 children are discussing the song, Shackles by Mary Mary in their Oracy groups and playing a game of Concentration.
This week we had our first Opal Assembly of the year, where Sally and Mrs Davies presented our Opal (Outside Play and Learning) plans for the next half term, as well as having a chance to remind the children, especially anyone new, about our roles and responsibilities. Every child and adult in the playground has to know how to do a Dynamic Risk Assessment- “Am I keeping myself and my friends around me safe?”. “Am I making good decisions and choices about how I try things out?”. We discuss what this looks like in our assemblies so that all children learn the critical thinking skills they need around risk. We are building life skills in the playground – as part of our school ethos that all children should flourish.
As well as celebrating the amazing resources we have, we had a reminder about how we show our community & kindness values and all help at tidy up time. As an added incentive, the winning class of the Golden Broom award each week gets to pick the next week’s tidy up song!
Our Play-Team have nominated dressing up as our next focus of further development, so we welcome your donations of fun clothing, including wigs, hats, suits, grown-up clothes (dressing up as ‘grown ups’ was always such fun!) and uniforms.
Stars of the week
Friends of SJSC
Please join us on Monday at 8pm (at the Gowlett Pub) for our first planning meeting of the year. Everyone is welcome, come along and meet some lovely people, and help us shape the fundraising plans for this year.
See you next week!