Spring Term Issue 21: 14th February 2025
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear families,
It has been a wonderful half term, and we are all so proud of everything the children have achieved both academically and personally over this past six weeks.
We start back at school on Monday 24th February. A few dates to start noting in your diary:
Friday 28th at 9:00 - A Parent Cafe run by ‘The Nest’ on supporting your child with emotional regulation.
Thursday 6th March - World Book Day. Dress up as your favourite character and join in book related fun at school. Towards the bottom of this newsletter is information about a competition children can join in.
Friday 14th March - KS2 Maths Parent Cafe. Come and find out more about how we teach maths in KS2 and how you can help your child.
Friday 21st March - Parent Cafe on smart phone use. Find out more about Safer Internet Day which took place this week, with some great links to useful parent guidance, at the end of this newsletter.
In the meantime, have a great week.
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week Reception have been considering our Big Idea Social Justice, our Enquiry question this half term has been “Who should care for other people?”. We read the book The Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai, which tells her story in a way that is simple for young children to understand. We wrote letters to Malala to thank her for being brave and kind.
Then on Thursday, we looked at photographs of children in different countries, who aren’t able to go to school, because their families are too poor, because they have to work, or because girls aren’t allowed to go to school in some places. We felt moved to create our own banners and signs and held a protest march… realising that our voices matter! “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
Year 1
Year 1 have been amazing authors this week! They used our story map to structure their stories and to magpie high level vocabulary. The children blew us away with their writing and were very keen to present them at our toy museum.
In Science we have been learning about the properties of different materials. We wanted to find out which material was the most stretchy so that we could use it for our catapult. We tested lots of different materials and the elastic band was most stretchy.
In RE, We reflected on what we had learnt about Judaism and discussed our favourite piece of new learning.
The children did an amazing job creating the toy museum and, wow, what fantastic work! We loved celebrating our learning with you all!
Year 2
This week the Year 2’s were so excited to start their new guided reading book ‘Too Small Tola’. The children have been very engaged in the book and are interested in learning all about African culture in Nigeria, where the main character Tola is from. We can’t wait to explore the book further next half term.
Year 3
Fantastic fossils! On Thursday, year 3 went to the Natural History Museum to learn about fossils and rocks. We were able to explore a range of rocks and minerals, learning about how they were formed and even went into the infamous ’vault’ which showed us precious gems, diamonds and rock from the moon! In the afternoon, we became archaeologists and learnt about the fossilization process. Furthermore, we excavated our own dino bones, identifying these against set characteristics! Roarr-some work!
Year 4
Year 4 have had an exciting week transforming our English story, Tar Beach, into a play script! We explored the different acts, decided which characters were needed and carefully added stage directions and dialogue. Once our scripts were complete, we brought them to life by performing for an audience!
We also want to take a moment to say a huge thank you to all the children for their hard work this half term. A special congratulations to everyone who took part in Young Voices—your singing was incredible!
Wishing you all a well-deserved rest over the break!
Year 5
What an incredible learning journey Year 5 have been on this half term! Shout out to some of the girls who were so inspired by the mathematicians we’ve been learning about in our English book Hidden Figures, that they had the genius idea to come as them on Number Day!
On top of this, your personality islands for Children’s Mental Health Week blew us away! The ingenuity and execution of your designs were awesome and reflected who you are as young aspiring individuals excellently. Have a wonderful break!
Year 6
This week, we explored how individuals showed their support for the Suffragette movement by wearing badges. These symbols played a crucial role in rallying people around the cause of women's rights, creating a visual representation of solidarity and activism. We discussed the significance of symbolism in uniting people for a common purpose, highlighting how these items were more than just accessories—they were tools of political expression and empowerment.
To celebrate the end of our topic, we then designed and made our own badges and wore them with pride!
Music this week…
Over the last 5 weeks, Year 6 have been participating in African Drumming sessions which are run by external tutors from Southwark Music. It has been wonderful to see the children so excited and engaged with these lessons.
To mark the end of this half term, please watch a video of Pop Choir singing a lovely rendition of Pompeii by Bastille.
Hearing Resource Base
This week, children from the Hearing Resource Base were invited by the Southwark Hearing Support Service to visit the Under 5s group for d/Deaf children run by the Local Authority Qualified Teachers of the Deaf.
We took 6 children from the Resource Base over to the group, which some of the children remember attending before they started school. This was an opportunity for the children to celebrate the amazing progress they have made since starting primary school. They also met other deaf children from the local area.
Thank you to the Southwark Hearing Support Service for inviting us. We had a great time!
ECO TEAM
Congratulations SJSC for collecting a Whopping 12,339 batteries!
Well done to Gormley class for winning the competition. Unfortunately, due to age restrictions, Gormley class cannot visit the recycling centre but instead will receive a forest school afternoon (where they will also help littler pick!)
Our upper KS2 Eco Team will visit the recycling centre instead and share their findings with the whole school in assembly time.
World Book day
Exciting News: World Book Day Competition!
World Book Day is fast approaching on Thursday 6th March! To celebrate this special occasion, we are running a Book in a Jar or Box competition.
We invite all children to get creative and create a representation of their favourite book in either a jar or box. Whether it's a favourite story, character, or scene, the possibilities are endless!
Competition Details:
Children should bring their completed Book in a Jar or Box to school by Tuesday 4th March for judging.
Please ensure the jar or box is clearly labelled with your child’s name, class, and the book it represents.
The entries will be displayed and judged, with prizes awarded to the most imaginative and thoughtful creations.
We can’t wait to see all the wonderful creations and celebrate the joy of reading together!
Don’t forget your World Book Day costumes on Thursday 6th March!
Values Awards
At the end of each half term we celebrate how children have put our values into action.
Well done to all our values award winners who have demonstrated fantastic ASPIRATION this half term.
Well done also to our reading champions this half term - children who have shown determination and dedication to their reading journeys!
Friends of SJSC
Please save the date for the:
*SJSC Quiz Night - Friday 28th March*
More details to follow soon, but in the meantime please make a note in your diaries. It will be held in the evening, at the school, adults only, brains optional, sense of humour essential!
News from Governors
From Hannah Hickman, Chair of Curriculum and Community Committee
Hello, my name is Hannah Hickman and I'm a parent governor for the school, I have 2 children in SJSC, one in Yr 5 and one in Yr 1. In my day job I am a Speech and Language Therapist working in Special Education Needs and Disabilities in Hackney.
Our recent Curriculum and Community Committee meetings have been discussing the Behaviour policy in school and this half term Miranda Wightman and I visited to hear about the way that the school supports children’s behaviour:
It was lovely to see such engaged and happy children as we visited the school. We walked around several classrooms as well as the playground and talked to a few children.
Everyone we saw and spoke to was engaged in active learning and we could see in each classroom how teachers are working to make the school values real and tangible. A lovely example of this were the Kindness boxes where children could place notes about acts of kindness or if they wanted to say thank you to someone.
Each classroom has a mood board where children can put their name on one of 4 categories. If they are feeling sad or angry teachers will find a good moment to check in with them and talk through how they could manage their emotions. The children said that they found this useful and it was good to know that the teachers would check in with them quietly away from the class.
In the playground we saw first hand all the amazing OPAL activities in action. The children were working together to build dens and they were all very excited by the recent addition of a sofa under the shed. Staff told us that children are communicating and collaborating more in the playground both in their year groups and across their key stages as well.
I hope you all have a lovely half term!
Safer Internet Day
This week all classes took part in Safer Internet sessions. Various, age appropriate, themes were discussed and children were taught how to keep themselves safe whilst online.
There are links to pages that can support parents to understand the latest technology and online platforms, as well as guidance on how to keep children safe by clicking this link to our online safety page, or the Safer Internet Day icon.
See you after half term!