Spring Term Issue 25: 28th March 2025
Flourishing in the love of God, love of life, love of learning
Dear Families,
This week you would have received an email with the dates for summer term- please note these events in your diaries as well as looking out for individual class events.
Good luck to the PTFA quizzers tonight- may the best team win! Thank you to all those involved in organising the event.
Next week, our Easter service is on Thursday- the musicians will be playing from 9:30, with the service taking place 9:45-10:30. We would love to see you there if you are able to make it.
Friday is the last day of term, with children finishing at 1:50 to enable staff training.
Have a great weekend
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week Reception have been reading the book The Extraordinary Gardener by Sam Boughton. A boy who lives in a grey flat in a grey city wants to make his world a brighter place full of life! The children have been drawing extraordinary flowers and writing letters to the main character to give him advice. In Maths we have been investigating double numbers (made of two equal parts) using multilink to experiment practically. In RE we have found out about the importance of the symbol of the cross for Christians, and the part it plays in the Easter Story. Practising our fine motor skills, we decorated our own crosses.
Our bean seedlings are doing brilliantly and would benefit from being transferred into bigger plant pots, tin cans or yogurt pots if you have any to spare.
Year 1
This week we have learnt all about Scotland. We looked at the national flower and saint. We listened to bagpipes and saw looked at pictures of the landscape. We even tried some shortbread! In English, Stanley’s Stick went to the beach and we gave him lots of ideas for what his stick could do. Our beans have grown so much in the past week! It has allowed us to look at what the roots look like when they are underground.
Year 2
Over the last 2 weeks in year 2 we have been practically exploring the 2 types of division. First, we looked at division as grouping, taking our starting amount and making groups of a given size. For 20 ÷ 2, we did 20 divided into groups of 2 and made 10 groups.
Then, we moved on to division as sharing. This means taking our starting amount and sharing it out to the number of groups we have. So, we learnt that 20 ÷ 2 means 20 shared equally between 2 is10 each.
We are division experts. Doing this practically helped us to see and feel the difference.
Year 3
This week in English, we have looked at the sounds around our wonderful School. Children have grasped onomatopoeia and used these words in soundscape poems. In doing so, we realised how amazing the natural world is and how inspiring it can be. We had a brilliant time sharing our alliteration and onomatopoeia sentences with each other afterwards. Simply, superb sounds! WOO!
Year 3 Gormley had an exciting trip to Forest School on Thursday as their reward for recycling the most batteries. It was a wonderful day of outdoor learning, exploration, and fun for all of our Year 3 students! The children had an enriching experience that allowed them to connect with nature and develop essential skills in a hands-on environment. Working in teams, the children used natural materials such as branches, leaves, and moss to build shelters. This activity encouraged collaboration, problem-solving, and creativity as they worked together to create strong and weather-resistant structures. Wildlife Exploration: The children explored the forest floor, searching for signs of wildlife such as insects, birds, and plants. They were particularly excited to discover animal tracks and an egg! Nature Art: The children used materials from the forest to create their own art pieces, learning about the textures, shapes, and colours found in the natural world. This was a relaxing and reflective activity, giving the children a chance to appreciate the beauty of their surroundings.
The Forest School trip was a huge success, providing the children with valuable opportunities for hands-on learning, outdoor play, and personal growth. The children returned to school excited and full of stories about their experiences. Many have shared their newfound love for nature, and we have already begun discussing ways to integrate outdoor learning more into our classroom activities. A special thanks to Sally, for supporting us and making the day such a success.
Year 4
On Monday, year 4 were welcomed by Revered Gill to St. John’s Church to support the children’s understanding of Holy Communion. Reverend Gill reminded the children of the meaning behind the Holy Communion and we were pleased with the facts and the vocabulary the children understood and recalled. We were then led through the process of Holy communion an were able to sample the (unblessed) bread. We finished with some thoughtful questions and a the Lord’s Prayer from Rhea.
Thank you Reverend Gill for giving up your time to support our learning.
Year 5
In Year 5 this week, the children have been carefully designing their nature centres as part of their architecture project. As their understanding of climate change is growing, they are considering which materials (such as recycled glass and plastics) they will use for walls, floors and furniture as well as which renewable energy sources they will be relying on to generate electricity. Having collaborated well with their classmates, each group will work together to present their designs to a panel who will ask questions and offer feedback.
Year 6
Year 6 have been immersing themselves in the fascinating world of the Maya civilisation. As part of our learning, we have used atlases and globes to locate modern-day Central America on a map. By comparing it to the ancient regions where the Maya once thrived, we have gained a deeper understanding of how geography shaped this incredible civilisation. We have explored key aspects of Maya life and it has been a wonderful opportunity for us to connect the past with the present, developing both map-reading and historical skills.
Music this week…
Reception children have been learning a song all about facing our fears of monsters. The song reinforces the message that monsters are only in our heads and that we can chase them away. They will be performing this song with the Year 6 children playing an accompaniment on the recorders.
Year 2 children were starting to think about creating a Soundscape which could represent mechanical noises (turning cogs, ticking, scraping, humming). Having looked at percussion instruments which could make these sounds, we then looked at sound effects on a digital library which we will mix together next week.
In Year 5, the children were learning about the difference between major and minor chords in music. Attached, you can find a video of a composition by some of the Year 5 girls.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art studio 6B have completed their eye drawings and are now creating frames inspired by Victorian miniatures.
On Friday, our year 5 and 6 teams played Heber Primary School.
It was a brilliant atmosphere with music and pom poms, juice and biscuits! Both teams supported each other with very loud chanting and impressive gymnastic/cheer-leading skills!
The teams played the best we have seen them so far and we were very proud. The year groups took it in turns to play and we won 3 out of the 4 quarters with Heber just taking the overall lead in the last quarter. Congratulations to Raemy and Zinzile for being awarded players of the match. Also, a special shout out to Martha for playing 2 new positions and proving very successful in them both.
Sports Update
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ECO Team
A huge thank you for the mountain of recycled clothing bags that have been sent in so far for the Salvation Army. Just to remind you we have less than a week to go until our collection date on 3rd April. We look forward to receiving more bags before our final count next week.
Also, as part of our recycling in school and in the community we now have a bin by the bike shed where you can recycle your old felt tip pens. So please drop them off and once the bin is full it will be collected and taken on to a specific recycling point in Dulwich.
SJSC Stars
Stars are celebrated because they have demonstrated the school values, or gone above and beyond.
Well done to all our stars this week …
Friends of SJSC
Thank you to everyone who supported our Bake Sale and Uniform Swap today - it was great to see so many families be more sustainable by recycling clothes.
We have our Quiz Night tonight and will let you know next week how much money we have raised today for the school.
Thanks for all your support.
See you next week!