Summer term Issue 31: 17th May 2024
Dear Parents,
We have been celebrating new life this week in SJSC and we welcomed five ducklings and six chicks into our community – and whole new world of excitement.
Well done to our wonderful Year 6 children who took part in their national tests this week, we were so proud of their positive attitudes and resilience throughout the week and this whole year – well done year 6.
This week, Reception children visited the church, ready with their cleaning materials as part of their learning about caring for our special world and their RE learning about who cares for God’s house and giving back to our community.
Children from year 5 have been working with the London Sports Partnership learning how to be sports leaders, years 2 3 and 4 have been enjoying cricket coaching and Y2 took part on an art workshop at the Royal Academy.
Another busy week at the school and only one more week until half term.
Have a great weekend.
Alli and Joe
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
The children can’t wait to tell you what’s been happening in Reception this week! The Queen Dragon, has left two nests of DRAGON EGGS for us to guard. The children have been writing letters to the queen Dragon and painting her pictures with watercolours, next week we will write our own dragon stories. Speaking of eggs… on Tuesday 8 lovely hens eggs were delivered in an incubator- we could hear the chicks cheeping from inside the eggs! Now six have hatched, they are wonderfully fluffy and cute. The chicks surprised us because they weren’t yellow as we had predicted they would be. Stik Class and Himid Class went over to St John’s Church, armed with dusters, to help clean the church and meet Reverend Gill. She gave us a guided tour and told us a bit about the church and her role. We made a jolly good job of polishing all the chairs.
And we’ve been to Forest School, looking for minibeasts and habitats- What an exhausting week!
Year 1
What a week in Year 1! On Tuesday we had a very exciting delivery of precious duck eggs. We were thrilled to be able to watch them hatch right before our eyes and by Thursday, we had five, healthy, fluffy little ducklings! We have been discussing the lifecycle of a duck and looking closely at the empty eggshells. Using gentle hands and quiet voices, we were excited to cuddle the ducklings and we cannot wait to give them their first swim next week! As well using our scientific skills to observe the hatching, we have also been discussing our own bodies and our senses. We smelt and tasted a variety of foods and herbs and decided if they were sweet, sour, bitter or salty.
Year 2
Year 2 has been learning about habitats and how animals depend on them for the conditions they need to survive and thrive. We focused on various British habitats, including woodlands, ponds, and oceans. To apply our new knowledge, we visited Goose Green to explore our local habitat and observe the plants, animals, and non-living elements found there. We had so much fun, particularly as it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon – perfect for habitat spotting!
Year 3
In year 3 this week, we have continued to learn about unit fractions. To aid our understanding, we used lego to represent our equal parts of a whole. Can you see/identify the unit fractions we used in the photos?
We were able to identify that if one quarter was yellow then three quarters were blue for example. We even accidently did some subtraction of fractions!
Year 4
In history, year 4 have been learning about the Vikings. This week, we talked about Danelaw and acted out The Battle of Edington. The Vikings wanted to control all of England. The Battle of Edington forced King Guthrum, the Danish king of East Anglia, to withdraw from Wessex and agree to the division of England. See us battling it out!
Year 5
This week in R.E we added to our prayer tree. First, we reflected on our prayers that were written at the beginning of the academic year and have now added blossom to our tree to reflect our growth so far this year. We wrote what we were thankful for and our hopes for the rest of the year.
Year 6
SATs week finally arrived for year 6 and we are all so proud of the determination, enthusiasm, and positivity they have shown, not just this week but throughout the whole year. A huge well done – we are all so proud! Away from the assessments, our journey into the mysterious Paradise Sands has continued in English. This week, we decided whether to accept the Teller’s terms in order to return the brothers. Here we are creating relative clauses to use in our letters to the Teller (who we finally found out is a lion!)
Music this week…
Highlights from the music room this week;
Year 1 were creating Visual Soundscapes to accompany the piece of music, Dawn from Benjamin Britten’s Sea Interludes. Depending on which instruments were playing, the children had to either create the movements of seagulls, the foaming sea or the rolling waves.
Year 2 were listening to and creating long and short sounds using their bodies, voices and percussion instruments.
Year 4 were using the iPads to create Pentatonic Melodies by accessing Chrome Music Lab.
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 …
Check out the times for your year group below:
During the school day:
Reception Disco: 14:00-14:30 / Collection time: 15:15(as usual)
Years 1&2 Disco: 14:40-15:20 / Collection time: 15:20 (as usual)
After school:
Years 3&4 Disco: 15:20-16:10 / Collection time: 16:10
Years 5&6 Disco: 16:20-17:00 / Collection time: 17:00
What you need to do:
1. Buy your ticket £3 per ticket in advance from the PTFA Square site (https://tinyurl.com/sjscdisco). As the disco for children in Reception to Year 2 are during school hours, parents of children in Reception to Year 2 are asked to make a £3 donation by purchasing a ticket as above.
2. Organise your child to be collected at the correct time (Magna children will be collected as usual)
3. Ask your child to select a colourful T-shirt of their choice from their existing wardrobe.
4. For Years 3&4 pack an after school snack in your child’s bag to ensure they have the right energy in the room.
We look forward to welcoming all of the children to their disco on 22nd May!
With love Friends of SJSC
SJSC All Star Disco
On Wednesday 22nd May Friends of SJSC will be hosting our annual disco to celebrate the brilliance and achievements of SJSC pupils this year.
The ‘SJSC All Star Disco’ is star themed and an opportunity for all our kids to celebrate together, bring their individual sparkle and have some fun! Children can come to school that day with a colourful/sparkly T-shirt instead of their usual shirt.
The disco will include:
⁃ Entertainment by Sedona from Goldilocks Entertainment (Years Rec, 1 & 2)
⁃ DJ to play your favourite dance tunes
⁃ Face Painting
⁃ Light Refreshments (Juices, Fruit and Crisps)
Walk to School Week is next week - May 20th to May 24th, 2024! This week, the ECO team have explained to the school all about the benefits of Walk to School Week and how we are participating. All over the country, children and adults are encouraged to travel to and from school in a sustainable and healthy way. This could be achieved by walking, scooting, cycling or even hopping off the bus a few stops earlier and walking the rest of the way. Each class will have a daily chart to fill in and there will be a prize for the winning class!
Summer Fair Support
"Truepenney’s are once again supporting the summer fair, and we’re looking for people to host a board advertising the fair. We will receive £15 for every board that goes up in the local area - we're aiming for 60 boards to raise £900 for the school.
If you’re able to help, please sign up using the link below – the deadline for this is next Thursday (23rd May).
Link to Google form to sign up: https://forms.gle/P8Qfgn3kAYuZ3Cso6"
PTFA fundraising update
The Friends of SJSC are thrilled to share that, with the help of our school community and generous sponsors, we’ve raised an out £10,600 so far this year. This has enabled us to fund a number of projects to enhance the learning and play of children across the school. But we’re not done! Read our blog for more details about our fundraising and plans. Bellow are two ways that you can help.
Have a great weekend. See you next week!