Autumn Term Issue 12: 29th November 2024
Dear families,
It has been fantastic this week to see our school community coming together and embracing the festive spirit! The children have been excited, engaged, and full of energy, and it's been a joy to see their enthusiasm as we start to prepare for Christmas.
As we move into December, below is a reminder of key dates:
The PTA have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for our Christmas Fair this Saturday, with the gates opening at 2pm. It promises to be a wonderful afternoon for all the family, and we look forward to seeing you there!
The children have also started their rehearsals for the Carol Service at St John’s Church on Thursday 19th December at 9:45am. This will be a beautiful service, and we encourage you to join us in celebrating the festive season. On this day, children are invited to wear their Christmas jumpers, and we'll also be enjoying our Christmas dinner together.
For our Reception and Year 1 children, their performances will take place on Tuesday 17th December at 2pm and Wednesday 18th December at 9:45am. It’s always a special occasion, and we can’t wait to see their festive performances!
The Year 2 Nativity will take place on Monday 16th December at 9:45am and Wednesday 18th December at 2pm. It's a much-loved tradition, and we know that their hard work will shine through on stage.
This morning, our Parent Prayer Group gathered to give thanks for the kind and supportive community we have here at SJSC. They also took a moment to ask for comfort and support for any members of our community who may be facing challenges. If you'd like to join the group, our next gathering will be in the Spring term on Friday 7th February at 9:15am. Everyone is welcome!
We are looking forward to a joyful, busy month ahead, and we are grateful for the support of our whole community as we celebrate this special time of year.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead,
Alli
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week in Reception, despite the cold and frost we have been outside playing, building learning and cooperating; the children created a chocolate factory, they loved using all the dead flowers that had been donated. In maths we have been learning about the composition of numbers inspired by Numberblocks episode about “stampolines”…how many ways can you make and arrange four objects? We had a great time printing. Inspired by our story “Look Up” in Literacy we have been building space stations thinking and writing about what we want to be when we grow up- from astronauts to zoo keepers!
In December we will be doing our Advent Story Basket, you are invited to send in a named story book from home, we wrap them all up in the same paper, then they are numbered and we open one for each day for our end of the day story. Everyone is so excited… will it be their favourite story from home? (Only one book per child, we give it back once it has been read.)
Year 1
In Year 1, we have started practising different scenes for our nativity, the children are working hard to learn their lines. Please practice these at home because they need to be really confident by next week. We are also becoming dance experts at learning the actions. The children were very proud of their finished leaflets and look forward to sharing all their new knowledge with you! We have started our new book The Comet and the children were amazed to find a collection of items from our new book. We then asked questions we would like to find out about our book. In Maths we have been working hard to learn the different ways to make 10. We have been practising these skills in lots of different ways.
Year 2
What an exciting week for the Year 2’s! We officially started our Navitity ‘The Fleece Force’. All the children did an amazing job at auditions last week, they should be very proud. Everyone has been working hard learning the lyrics to the songs and practising their lines. It is great to see children practising at home and remembering to bring their scripts in every day for rehearsals. We can’t wait to show you all our performance very soon!!
Year 3
This week in Year 3, we’ve been exploring the fascinating world of friction! It’s something we encounter every day but don’t always notice. From the way we walk to how cars move on the road, friction is everywhere! In our experiment, we tested how different surfaces cause different amounts of friction. We used various materials, such as:
Smooth surfaces (like plastic or metal)
Rough surfaces (like sandpaper or carpet)
We then rolled toy cars down ramps to see how the surfaces affected the speed of the car. We observed that the car went slower on rough surfaces because there was more friction. We thought that rough surfaces would create more friction and slow down the toy car. And guess what? We were right! When we tested smooth surfaces, the cars went faster because there was less friction to slow them down. Great investigating!
Year 4
In PE this half term, Kapoor class have been developing their gymnastic skills. We have been thinking about balancing and what that means and learning to balance using our points and patches. We have then been linking our balances to movements (thinking about differing heights) and making sequences.
We have them been able to try out and adapt our skills using apparatus.
Year 5
This week, Year 5 have been writing newspaper articles Anne Frank and her family, who were found in a secret annex after hiding from the NAZIs for two years. We have especially been focusing on using formal language and speech within our newspaper articles. In History, we also learnt about the way Jewish people were treated by the NAZI party and discussed the consequences of discrimination and what we can learn from the terrible events.
Year 6
This week in Year 6 maths, we’ve been diving deep into the world of factors! Using arrays and our times tables, we've been exploring how to find factors and common factors of 2- and 3-digit numbers. The students have been working hard to visualise and calculate these using different strategies, and it’s been amazing to see their confidence grow. From spotting patterns to solving tricky problems, Year 6 are becoming true factor-finding experts! Why not ask your child to show you how they use arrays to solve a problem?
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the art studio Year 4 have studied the photographs of Frank Hurley, the photographer for the Shackleton expedition to the South Pole. The childrenused their drawing to explore line and mark making. They will use these images as inspiration for their dry point etching.
Music this week…
In preparation for their Gamelan Workshop at The Horniman museum, Year 5 were looking at the interlocking rhythms of Balinese Gamelan. Some of the rhythms originate from the ritual of pounding rice in a large rice-mortar made from a hollowed tree trunk. As a way of making the strenuous work more enjoyable, the pounding is made into polyrhythmic music. The "song" continues until the players tire from tough work and stop for a break.
ECO TEAM
The Eco Team from years 4, 5 and 6 met with Oci from ‘Let’s Go Zero’ who will be helping us with our Climate Action Plan this year.
Sports Update
We’ve had an exciting time in PE this week! From balancing, spinning, and flipping in gymnastics, to expressing ourselves through dance and learning the fast-paced game of handball, our students have been moving, creating, and having fun! Here’s a look at all the amazing activities and some great examples of positive behaviour we’ve seen across all year groups.
We’ve been focusing on balance, coordination, and strength in our gymnastics sessions in Year 1 and 4. Year 3 are learning group choreography in dance and worked together to create synchronized movements. They also practiced Handball, which is as an exciting team sport that combines the skills of basketball and soccer. The students have been learning how to pass, dribble, and shoot whiLe working together in teams.
In every sport, we focus on positive behaviour, teamwork, and supporting one another. Here are some of the best examples we’ve seen this month:
· Year 1 have shown excellent listening skills during warm-ups, ensuring everyone is ready for the activity ahead.
· Year 3 demonstrated great sportsmanship during handball matches, cheering for teammates and respecting the opposing teams. They also demonstrated excellent teamwork playing a maths and literacy based game using dice and letters of the alphabet.
· Year 6 worked hard to help each other improve their PE routines and shared tips on how to participate fairly. They’ve been great role models for younger students.
At SJSC, we believe in the power of positive behaviour in sports—whether it’s cheering on a teammate, showing respect to others, or pushing ourselves to do our best.
We hope you’re as excited about sports as we are. Keep practicing, stay active, and remember—sports are all about enjoying yourself and working together as a team!
Friends of SJSC
Tomorrow is our Christmas Fair, please come and join us from 2pm-4.30pm.
Lots of fun and games with all the money raised going to the school to help our children.
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 …
Have a great weekend. See you next week!