Junior School Newsletter - May 10 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday 10th May 2019 Dear Parents

This week may have been a briefer one than normal… so we’ve just tried to cram five days’ worth of learning into four! We began on Tuesday by hosting a cross-country tournament and there were some fabulous performances from both teams and individuals (see report below).

For the children of Year 4 it was then time to head back home, pack their bags and have a good night’s sleep in readiness for their residential in Bath. The trip was a great success (saving for the weather which was suitably wet given the name of where they were visiting!) and they returned to school with big smiles, full of stories and with Katy Stotesbury and Megs Allen not looking too exhausted!

Elsewhere this week our lunch time and after school clubs have started and it has been wonderful to see so many of them take advantage of the light to get outside. Miraculously, my Ultimate Frisbee and Orienteering Clubs on Wednesday both managed to dodge the showers!

This afternoon we were due to be having a Dance Workshop with other schools attending.

Unfortunately, several of them had to pull out (clearly heard about my dance moves!) so we have decided to have an impromptu Celebration Meeting in the Ensemble Room instead. We are endeavouring to rearrange the Workshop for later in the term.

This morning we hosted a special Stay and Play session for prospective and current Early Years pupils. They were all particularly chuffed with the Forest School theme as it meant they got their second session of the week! Look out for more Stay and Play sessions over the rest of the term and please spread the news to friends and family!

Next week we have our first Cricket and Rounders fixtures of the year - so fingers-crossed for better weather than the England team had this week against Pakistan!

Well done to the following children who were awarded Celebration Certificates: Y1/2 Tom K and Max A Y3 Bertie M Y4 All of Y4 Y5 Ellen Y6AP Emmeline and Lara Y6NH Tom H I'd like to take this opportunity to announce some bittersweet news. Having joined Sibford as a bright-eyed NQT six years ago, Helen Arnold will be leaving us at the end of the Summer term.

We will, of course, be very sorry to see her go and more than a little jealous! I'll hand over to Helen to share her news: "After 6 tremendously enjoyable years at Sibford, I will be leaving the school at the end of this

academic year. From August, I will be moving to Italy and teaching in an international school, which is something that I have always wanted to do at some point in my career; now feels like about the right time for a new adventure. Whilst I am excited about beginning a new chapter in Italy, I am also hugely sad to be leaving my Sibford family. Sibford is such a special place filled with enthusiastic pupils, supportive parents and a brilliant team of staff! Thank you all for making the last 6 years so great!"

Over the remainder of the term there will be plenty of time for us to prepare a fitting Junior School send off, but suffice to say at this point that we wish her all the best with her European tour - she'll be much closer to the mountains than Sibford is and I know she's looking forward to doing more snowboarding!

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed the advert for a KS2 teacher in the local and national press and we will share news of an appointment as soon as possible. We also hope to announce the appointment for the Head of Early Years within the next week.

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Sibford School

Ps. Did you know that, though they are known as the Reds today, Liverpool’s original strip was blue and white quarters? (Guess which side of the Champions League fence I’m sitting on!)

Foundation and Reception We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Walt Disney

We are certainly full of curiosity in Early Years. Last week, as we enjoyed our lunch one child was playing with a pea. He was mesmerised, squashing it in on his napkin and looking at the marks it made and peeling the skin off. We looked at how lunch time was not a time for playing with food but we could still take a closer look at peas back in class. We filled the water tray with bags of frozen peas and had great fun squishing them, pouring them and watching how they changed as they defrosted. The next day we filled it with corn flour and water, and we have lots more messy things to explore next week. You can check out our new Sibford JS twitter page next week to find out more.

Our class text has been The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children have been acting the story out – they are fabulous at moving across the floor like a caterpillar searching for food. We even listened to some Elgar and created our very own caterpillar to butterfly dance. The story has also been a brilliant opportunity to practice adding one more. The reception children looked at how caterpillars take longer than a week before they start to make their chrysalis. We filled up an old box advent calendar adding ‘one more’ item each day to ensure they had plenty of food.

We also made Caterpillar fruit kebabs and looked at ‘one less’ as we ate each piece. We have, of course, got our real caterpillars who, we have learnt, do not eat fruit, salami or cherry pie! We looked at how a butterfly will lay her eggs on a leaf and that is what they will eat when they hatch. The children noticed that the caterpillars seem to be making ‘string’. In the wild this would help keep them securely attached to the leaf and deter predators. We were also especially lucky at the end of last week to have a visit from baby Alec (Lily’s little brother) so the children could think about how they have changed since they were little babies.

Year 1 and 2

A change in the weather this week hasn’t dampened the spirits of Year 1 and 2, especially when completing many of their maths lessons outside this week. They have started to look at how different containers can hold liquids, comparing the capacity, estimating and measuring in nonstandard and standard measures. The children soon learnt that different shaped containers can sometimes hold the same amount!

Following on from their work on traditional tales last week, they have focused once again on the role of the wolf from The Three Little Pigs. Did you know that the wolf actually was actually just after a cup of sugar, asking his neighbours (the pigs) but coincidentally had a cold and accidently blew the houses down… The children wanted to ask the wolf questions about why he did this, get different points of view from other fairy tale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, with some children also writing a newspaper report in the Daily Wolf!

After looking at different designs of cars last week, Becca Edwards told them that they were going to make their very own, though it must be powered by wind. With an array of construction kits, they investigated how to make a vehicle with wheels, using a different number of axles and wheels to help them with ideas and planning for their own.

After looking at the countries and cities of the UK last week, they looked at why flags are an important part of a country’s identity and what they represent, but also how altogether they create the Union Jack. Despite it being a four day week, they managed to squeeze in time to look at another artist, Claude Monet, comparing his painting style to that of Andy Warhol but following the same theme of painting in different colours to represent the seasons of the year!

Year 3

This week, Year 3 have created clear, organised instructions on how to build a Celtic roundhouse. They have been using their bossy (imperative) verbs, and have been learning all about how to wattle, daub and thatch, in order to protect Celtic families from the Iron Age elements.

In Science, they have been looking very carefully at plants, and in particular, the stem. They studied the stems of dandelions and found out that they were made up of lots of tubes condensed closely together. They discovered that not only do these tubes carry water and nutrients to all parts of a plant, but they also make the plant very strong! Year 3 found out more about the stems of plants by putting both of these properties to the test. Firstly, they put some sticks of celery into some food colouring and watched how, over time, the celery absorbed the food colouring, therefore transporting it up the stem. They also carried out an investigation to find out how the strength of a stem increases when more ‘tubes’ are placed tightly together.

They carried out a fair test with some weights and straws and found out that, when many straws are placed together, they are many times stronger than just one on its own.

The pupils have been studying plants equally as carefully, from an artist’s perspective. They have been sketching beautiful flowers, taking note of the delicate shape of the petals and showing depth through shading.

Year 4

Year 5

Year 5 have been “going around in circles” this week using pies, pizzas and cakes to help them in the tricky task of multiplying fractions. Although multistep problems often have the children in a fix, this week they have really grappled with the smallest of numbers (fractions of whole numbers) and have seen what happens when they multiply them by whole numbers: they grow into “improper” or “top heavy” fractions. Then they had to turn these into mixed numbers (a whole number with a fraction before they finally express their answers in the simplest form.

Following on from outdoor learning last week when they were planting seeds, Year 5 have also been full of the joys of Spring, learning about how plants reproduce themselves in various different ways and how bees are crucial to the process of pollination and fertilisation.

Our new RE topic “Why do people pray?” has helped us develop our spiritual thinking: across many religions, the children are finding out that prayer is often important to lots of people at crucial stages of the human life cycle.

Year 6 In the darkness, the door crept open slowly, like a Year 6 trying to sneak a jellybean into their mouth without their teacher noticing. The nightlight on the landing outside the bedroom meant that a ghastly shadow was cast on the wall behind the boy from the bulk of the approaching figure. He pulled the duvet closer to his chin. Surely 13 togs was enough to repel any creature if it attacked? There was a creak; the movement of floorboards as the wood protested under the feet of whatever horror stood at the doorframe caused a birdlike squeal.

The hissing of a sigh, and the creature stepped into his room.

Is this Frankenstein’s monster at the door, or a parent with a bundle of clean clothes that need to be put away? Each horrifying to Year 6 in their own way. Such terrors 6NH have written about this week as they have turned their talents to writing scary short stories while thinking about settings, atmosphere, characters and dialogue. I hope that none of the children suffered nightmares, but if they have, let us hope these were full of detail and with believable plots.

Meanwhile, 6AP have been busy thinking about Minotaur, Centaurs and Cyclopes as they have studied Greek myths in English, while 6NH have begun learning about Greek Gods in RE. In case you think that we have been trying to deliberately scare the children, Geography lessons have seen a rather more sedate study of 6 figure grid references and map symbols while in Maths there has been a mixture of work on percentages and algebra. Jason Harris has been busy keeping the birds and slugs at bay on the Dig for Victory bed and we are finally seeing the first of our crops starting to grow - along with hundreds of weeds. Get ready for some “squitching” Year 6!

Sport Reports U7-11 Cross Country Sibford Tournament at Home – Tuesday, 7th May 2019

On Tuesday afternoon we hosted a cross country event with over 200 competitors from 7 schools. Around 50 of those pupils were from Sibford and each one of them showed real determination and heart against a good standard of runners. Congratulations to the Year 1/2 girls team who came first, and the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 boys who came second in the team event. Special mention to Eliza (Y1), Jago (Y4) and Tom (Y6) who all won their individual races.

WANTED OLD TYRES AND CRATES

Do you have any tyres or old milk crates that are lying around? We would love to have them in the EYFS and KS1 playground.

Friday, 24th May 2019 – Junior School Pyjamarama Day

On Friday, 24th May, for a minimum donation of £1 Junior School children can come to school in their pyjamas or onsie to support the BookTrust. BookTrust is the UK's largest children's reading charity. Each year they reach 3.4 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading.

SAVE THE DATE – ANNUAL OPEN DAY ON SATURDAY, 15TH JUNE!

Please save the date for our annual open day on Saturday, 15th June. This is a compulsory school day for all pupils and families are encouraged to join and experience the wide array of presentations and displays put on by pupils, staff and parents. More details to follow.

Saturday, 29th June 2019 – 2pm to 6pm – PSFA Summer Fun in the Sun – Family Day

A note for your diaries that the PSFA Summer Fun in the Sun Family day will take place on Saturday, 29th June from 2pm to 6pm. Entry is £3 for Adults and £2 for children. Refreshments will be available, have fun in the music tent, join in the art and crafts and enter a team in the “Sibford Challenge”. If you would like to help please email PSFASibfordSchool@outlook.com.

Sibford Junior School has so much to sing about and share that it now has its own dedicated Twitter page. Give @SibfordJS a follow on Twitter and keep up to date with all the Junior School news and daily activities. https://twitter.com/SibfordJS’