Autumn Term Issue 5: 4th October 2024
Dear families
Our Harvest Service was a fantastic way to end the week. Thank you all for your generosity - we have a huge amount of donations waiting to be collected by Southwark Food Bank. As always, the singing was beautiful. Well done to all the children and thank you Mrs McGregor for making music such a joy in our school.
During the service we thought about being thankful. I am incredibly thankful for our school community and felt the warmth and togetherness of this in church this morning. As you know we had Ofsted visit us this week. I am thankful for the support from parents, for our children who are always wonderful, and for the amazing staff team at SJSC. Our report will be published shortly.
We have just received some fantastic news about an Eco award achieved by Sally and our Eco team- more information next week once we have share the good news with the children.
Next week we will be sending out information about how to book a slot for our upcoming Parent’s Evenings, so please look out for that in your emails.
In the meantime, have a great weekend.
Alli and the SJSC Team
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
My, how we’ve grown! We have been looking at photos of the children as babies… this has provoked loads of discussions and been an opportunity to write down lots of names as we guessed who’s who! In RE we found out that Christians believe that God made us all unique and that we are all precious. In Science we have been learning about our sense, smelling all sorts of mysterious pots containing lavender, vinegar, mint, cinnamon etc. and we made a pictogram graph about which taste we liked most (olives, lemon, marmite, chilli crisps or 85% dark chocolate!). In Drawing Club we have been studying the book “What I Like Most” drawing our best outfit and toys (and having a go at writing some words now we know 12 sounds!) In PSHE we have been talking about using kindness
Year 1
In Year 1 this week, we have been looking at the weather. We have had great fun making our own windsocks. Then we used the Beaufort Scale to measure the wind strength. In Maths, we have been looking at one more and one less than a number and practicing counting forward and backwards. We found crossing over the tens barrier a bit tricky but we impressed our teachers with our perseverance!
Year 2
In Science, the Year 2’s are learning about ‘Living Things and their Habitats’. Over the past week they had lots of fun investigating minibeasts and identifying which microhabitat they may live in. The children worked together sorting minibeasts into their correct microhabitats and joining in class discussions sharing a variety of facts about the creatures. Which of these minibeasts will we see in our playground?
Year 3
Science this week has all been about movement. We have created our own bionic hands, exploring tendons, joints, muscles, the skeleton and skin. Children used a range of materials in order to create their very own bionic moving hand. During the session, everyone discussed how each of the parts work alongside one another to create movement of the finger. We were blown away with the resilience, knowledge and teamwork that both classes demonstrated-two very proud teachers!
Year 4
This week in year 3, we wowed our special visitors with our science skills, knowledge and vocabulary. We used our prior knowledge to set up a fair test, analyse our data and explain what the data told us. We were also then able to suggest how our experiments could be improved and thought about other questions we now have based on our results.
Overall, year 3 are pretty amazing scientists!
Year 5
This week in year 5, we have carried out not one but two scientific investigations focussing on air and water resistance! For the first one, we made paper helicopters to test whether the surface area of its wings would affect the speed of its descent while falling through air. For the second one, we made streamlined and non-streamlined boats in order to test whether the shape of a boat determines the speed it travels through water.
Year 6
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a world where animals were strange hybrids and otherworldly features? Year 6 class have been exploring this fascinating concept inspired by Shaun Tan's The Arrival.
We've been busy creating, drawing, and describing our own fantastical creatures, inspired by the unique animals in the book. Using imaginative adjectives and knowledge of the subjunctive mood, we've begun to craft a booklet about how these creatures live and what they need to thrive.
We'll share detailed descriptions, fun facts, and even care instructions for these imaginary pets. Stay tuned for more updates on our exciting project!
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the art studio Year 3 were exploring graphic scores. A graphic score uses images, shapes and pictures instead of notes. Composers use graphic scores because they allow them to express musical ideas that could not be described by traditional notation.The children listened to sounds of instruments and thought about how they could represent each sound. We are going to use these ideas to create a graphic score painting.
I wonder what our paintings will sound like?
Music this week…
In music this week, Year 2 children were making “noisy pictures”. The idea is that they follow the patterns made on the whiteboards with their voices altering the pitch from low to high and the texture of the sounds made.
Year 4 children were using the glockenspiels to accompany the backing track to This Little Light of Mine. Please see the videos attached.
Year 6 children were seeing if they could use their knowledge of notation to decipher the treble clef music for Hey Mr Miller. The video shows an example of some of the incredible musical talent we have in our school.
Sports
This week we did further training with our Sports Leads. Over the coming weeks, these children will run sessions during lunchtimes which encourage teamwork, and help a love of sport and fitness development even more. The team have key roles in ensuring that children across the whole school continue to enjoy the benefits of being physically active and playing sports. We look forward to getting everyone active and having lots of fun!
Friends of SJSC
The nights are drawing in and our thoughts are turning to the Christmas Fair! This year’s fair will be on the afternoon of Saturday 30th November. We’ll be having our first meeting to discuss festive ideas this Monday evening, 7th October, from 8pm at The Palmerston. Everyone is welcome - come along, have a drink and share your ideas.
Thanks, and have a great weekend!
Dave
Have a great weekend. See you next week!