Autumn Term Issue 11: 21st November 2025
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear Families,
Thank you to everyone who joined our Parent Prayer Group this morning—it was such a heartwarming space filled with care and support for our community.
I know it feels early to say this before December, but the singing has begun, the planning is in full swing, and rehearsals are underway… Christmas is coming!
With that in mind, here’s a reminder of the exciting events coming up:
Christmas Events
Saturday 29th November – Christmas Fair
Reception & Year 1 Performances
Tuesday 16th December at 2:00pm
Wednesday 17th December at 9:45am
Year 2 Performances
Monday 15th December at 9:45am
Wednesday 17th December at 2:00pm
Thursday 18th December
Christmas Dinner and Christmas Jumper Day for everyone
Christmas Carol Service at the church at 9:45am
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We can’t wait to celebrate this special season together!
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week in Reception we have been enjoying the crisp, sharp weather outside and playing a lot of games with boxes- the children can be so creative, and it is joyful watching them play together. In drawing club we have been sharing the classic book The Tiger Who Came To Tea and drawing and writing in response to the pictures. We imagined “What If…” the tiger caught the bus home- loved sounding out the words for the sounds the bus could make. In maths we have been finding out the difference between hole and whole and what a part is: my head is a part of me, 2 is a part of three!
We drew pictures of ourselves trying to include as many details as we could we all have arms and legs and fingers, but some of us have long hair or curly hair (so we could compare same and different too.)
Thank you again Stik class parents for your sterling help at a very soggy but brilliant Forest School last week.
Year 1
This week, we transformed into enthusiastic tour guides as we helped Iggy Peck explore the iconic landmarks of London! Through our adventures, we’ve become true experts- both in London’s landmark sites and in the writing skills that bring them to life.
The children have been focusing on using proper nouns correctly, making sure they use capital letters for landmark names and places. To make their writing even more engaging, we created our own adjective banks, choosing exciting and imaginative words to describe each landmark- keeping our tour guests engaged throughout their journey.
We are incredibly proud of how confidently the children are developing as writers and storytellers. Next week, we will be bringing all of these skills together, as we begin creating our very own tour leaflets, showcasing everything that we have learned.
Please note that we have also given the children their scripts and lines for the Nativity. The children are very excited to begin practising at home. Please keep an eye out for an email from us with further information and details.
Year 2
This term, Year 2 have been learning all about their local area in Geography. To bring our learning to life, we went on an exciting walk around the neighbourhood! Armed with our checklists, we looked carefully for human geographical features such as roads, houses, shops, and bridges, as well as physical geographical features like trees, rivers, and hills. The children were fantastic at spotting and ticking off the features they found, and we had lots of great discussions about how people and nature shape the places we live.
Year 3
This week in Year 3, students investigated how friction affects movement by rolling toy cars down ramps made from different materials. They experimented with smooth surfaces like plastic and hard rubber, as well as rougher materials such as carpet, sandpaper, and fabric.
The children made predictions, observed what happened, and compared how far and how fast the cars travelled on each ramp. Through their hands-on testing, they discovered that smooth surfaces create less friction, allowing the cars to move more quickly, while rough surfaces increase friction and slow them down. We also explored how wheel size can impact friction and discussed how this may impact on fair testing.
It was wonderful to see the students so engaged, asking thoughtful questions and discussing their results with one another. This activity helped develop their scientific thinking and understanding of forces, all while having lots of fun.
Year 4
We stepped into the shoes of Shackleton and his crew as they faced incredible challenges after the Endurance sank. From Ocean Camp, they trekked to Patience Camp and then sailed their lifeboats to Elephant Island. Once there, they made a tough decision: should the group split so one boat could attempt the dangerous journey to South Georgia to find help?
We held a lively debate, using powerful conjunctions to strengthen our arguments, and finished with a vote. The majority agreed—it was better to leave and seek rescue than wait and hope for help to arrive! We cannot wait to find out if all the men survived this unbelievable expedition!
Year 5
Year 5 have been very busy recently – from an antibullying workshop where the children were acting out ways to combat bullying, to an immersive trip to the Imperial War Museum where they were reporting on items in the museum in a documentary style challenge! Thank you so much to parents for helping gather information and artefacts for our WWII topic – it has been great to see the children sharing important memories of relatives who lived through the war and to gain first-hand accounts too.
Year 6
This half term, Year 6 have begun exploring their new enquiry question: “Can humans live sustainably?” To kick off the topic, the children designed their own sustainability islands, thinking carefully about all the different ways we can live in an eco-friendly and responsible way. Their creativity and thoughtful ideas were fantastic to see, and we’re looking forward to delving deeper into this important question over the coming weeks.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art studio Year 6 Shonibare were building their ships inspired by Yinka Shonibare’s - Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle. Next week we’ll be designing fabric for our sails.
Music this week…
In Reception, children have been identifying the sounds of instruments in the musical suite, The Nutcracker by their contrasting spiky and smooth sounds (flute and bassoon). When they heard the spiky flute, they had to put their hands on their ears like bouncing bunny rabbits and when they heard the smooth bassoon, they had to wave their arms like trees.
They have also been rehearsing a song which is the introduction to Aurora Orchestra’s Magical Toy Box. Please watch the videos to see how they are getting on.
Friends of SJSC
Next Saturday 29th is our Christmas Fair from 1pm-4pm. It is always a wonderful, festive event with games, food and drink, performances from our choir and musicians, arts and crafts and making it’s special debut this year, Santa’s Storytelling Grotto! We need your help to make the Fair a success and raise lots of money for our school. Next week there will be helpers collecting at the school gates every morning at drop off. We would be really grateful for your donations of the following:
- Booty Jars (clean jars filled with sweets and treats - no nuts please)
- Second hand toys and gifts for our Elfridges Stall
- Children’s books for our Book Stall
- Bakes & Cakes (shop bought or homemade - no nuts please)
- Christmas Jumpers (clean and good quality for our Festive Uniform Swap)
And a reminder to buy your tickets for our Christmas Raffle - lots of great prizes to be won from local business. Just £2 a ticket, tell all your fiends and family to buy their’s here: https://shorturl.at/v5mTg
Thanks for your support.
ECO Team
On Wednesday a group from year 4 represented the school at the Guild Hall to collect an award from The London Children’s Flower Society. it was presented by non other than Alan Titchmarch! Congratulations to everyone who has been gardening in school over the past year.
Stars of the Week
Children in Need
Last Friday, our School Council and Faith Group came together to raise money for Children in Need. With the amazing support of Sally, they baked a wonderful selection of treats that were enjoyed by all.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who donated baked goods to make this event such a success, and to our fantastic parent volunteers who gave their time on the day.
Your kindness and support make a real difference – thank you!
See you next week!