Autumn Term Issue 03: 19th September 2025
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear families
Thank you to everyone who joined the PTFA AGM this week — your support means so much to the school and community. The PTFA plays a vital role in enriching our children’s experiences at school, whether through exciting workshops, memorable trips, or resources that make playtime even more fun.
Beyond fundraising, the PTFA helps bring our community together through joyful events — and we’re thrilled about the next one coming up! On Friday 26th September from 3:30 to 5:00pm, we’ll be hosting our International Evening. This is a truly special celebration of the rich diversity that makes our school so unique. It’s a chance to come together, share delicious food, enjoy music from around the world, and simply have a great time as a community.
You should have received details via Arbor, and we warmly encourage everyone to join us. If you’re able, please bring along a dish or snack to share — it’s a lovely way to showcase your culture and connect with others.
We look forward to seeing you there!
For those of you who use Magna as after school care, you may be aware that they had a visit from Ofsted yesterday. The inspector spent time looking at provision and carrying out the necessary statutory checks. The report will be published in due course.
Have a great weekend ahead,
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week Reception have been talking all about our families, and what we love to do with them. Our role play area is set up with birthday party resources and the children have loved making playdough birthday cakes and counting out all their candles.
We have been experimenting outside with making water slides and dens, and painting with warm or cool colours (or just ALL the colours!) all satisfying colour mixing experiences. We have been introduced to the Zones of Regulation using the book The Colour Monster. More on that to follow.
Most excitingly of all- we are learning to READ!!! Our phonics lessons have started and today the children will be bringing home their phonics packs. Let them ‘read’ their red phonics practise books to you… s a t p. Make sure the children are saying the sounds correctly (s not suh). Find the little flash cards- cut them up and you can start to try to make words. From now on we learn 4 sounds a week… Please bring their phonics packs back next Thursday, for the next sounds.
Year 1
The Beegu saga continues! This week, the children were delighted to discover that our new friend, Beegu, had left us another surprise. When they arrived at school, they found a letter waiting in their classrooms. In it, Beegu shared that she was feeling a little lonely and worried. This gave us the perfect opportunity to think carefully about how we can be kind, supportive and helpful to others.
The children worked incredibly hard to put themselves in Beegu’s shoes. They thought about what might make her feel better and discussed the importance of giving advice in a clear, confident way. To do this, they used ‘bossy verbs’ such as find, look and tell. Then, they incorporated these verbs in their letters. The letters they produced were thoughtful, encouraging and full of excellent ideas to cheer up our worried visitor. We are so proud of how much care and empathy the children showed, not only in their writing but also in their discussions together.
We can already tell that Year One are becoming a very supportive and imaginative group of learners. We can’t wait to see what Beegu has in store for us next week!
Year 2
This week in Year 2, we’ve been diving into the world of numbers by exploring the multiples of 10 up to 100. Using Dienes blocks and other manipulatives, the children have been representing tens in a hands-on and visual way, helping them to build a strong understanding of place value. We are currently focusing on finding 10 more and 10 less than a multiple of ten.
Year 3
This week in Science, Year 3 have been investigating the bones in our bodies and discovering just how important they are! We began by learning that our skeleton is made up of over 200 bones, all working together to help us move, protect our organs, and give our bodies shape. Without our bones, we would not be able to stand tall or even hold ourselves up.
We focused closely on the bones in our hands and then labelled our skeleton. As part of our investigation, we used gloves and straws to create the skeletons inside our bodies. Year 3 are now budding scientists, with a new appreciation for the skeleton that supports us every day.
Year 4
This term, Year 4 took on the exciting challenge of designing the voting system for our school council elections. To do this, we first explored the meaning of democracy—what it is, why it matters, and how it works in our school.
We interviewed former school councillors, who gave us valuable insights into the role and the qualities that make someone a great representative. Their experiences helped us understand what kind of person would be best suited for the job.
Using everything we learned, we created a leaflet to guide our school community on how to vote. It explains:
· What democracy means in our school
· What to look for in a candidate
· How to cast your vote fairly and thoughtfully
We’re proud to be helping our school make informed choices and practice real democratic values!
Year 5
In Year 5, this week we have been learning about decimals. In groups, we used dienes to work out how many tenths made a whole number. We have also learnt about soluble and insoluble substances and how our local area has changed by examining maps and census data. In English, we have been writing a formal letter advising how to look after the Lost Thing. The children have also been working really hard on their handwriting and are looking forward to editing and publishing their letters next week.
Year 6
This week, Year 6 explored a range of primary sources to investigate Britain after the Second World War. The children discovered the many challenges the country faced, including damage to cities, housing shortages and the need to rebuild industries. They examined why people from the Caribbean were invited to come on the Empire Windrush, bringing valuable skills to help with this huge task of reconstruction. Through analysing these sources, the children started to gain a clearer understanding of how the Windrush generation contributed to rebuilding Britain and why their arrival remains such an important part of our shared history.
News from the Art Studio…
It’s been a busy week in the Art studio. Lots of chat, ideas and inspiration. Over the next few weeks each class will explore their class artist. We have looked at the features of each artist’s work, thought about the colour palette they use, and shared our ideas about the meaning and purpose of the artworks.
Music this week…
In Music this week, Year 5 found an exciting letter waiting for them from the English National Opera. They also found some Composer Badges to wear and are looking forward to creating their very own piece of music.
Year 2 were using two pitches on the chime bars to sing hello to their friends in a circle.
Children in Year 3 were learning a song called I’ve Been to Harlem and were using their bodies to show whether the notes were high or low.
Stars of the week
Friends of SJSC
Next Friday 26th is our International Evening. Held in the playground after school, come and enjoy food, music and culture from around the world as we celebrate our school community.
Please look out for reminders this week on your year group’s whats app groups. We would love for you to share stories, memories, photographs and recipes from around the world.
Thanks for your support
See you next week!