Junior School Newsletter - November 15 2019

JUNIORÂ SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday, 15th November 2019

Dear Parents This week began with a bright morning which was fitting as the Junior School gathered on the netball court to mark Remembrance. Unfortunately, the pleasant weather at the beginning of the week began to change, with far more variable conditions arriving.

On Tuesday afternoon we welcomed around 400 runners from our sports partnership as we hosted the U9 and U11 Cross country event. It was wonderful to see around 40 of our pupils braving a cold and windy afternoon to perform well against strong opposition. Particular congratulations to go to Jago (3rd Place U11 boys), Sophie (3rd Place U11 girls) and Henry (8th Place U11 boys) who have all qualified for the next round (which we are also hosting) and to the U11 boys team who finished 3rd overall.

It should have been the turn of Key Stage 1 to run on Thursday morning, however a brief glimpse out of the window told me that it was unlikely to go ahead. Sadly, this proved to be the case, but we hope to rearrange this for the next couple of weeks. The heavy rain, and consequent flooding, also caused an early and restricted end to the day and I hope you all managed to get home safely.

The good news is that our Open Morning planned for today has gone ahead and a big thank you goes to the Year 6s who acted as such fabulous guides for our guests.

Next week there is a strong focus on fixtures with rugby and hockey matches taking place on several days.

Finally congratulations to Thea, Y4 who sang at the Music Meeting.

Have a wonderful (and dry!) weekend.

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Ps. Did you know that actually there were seven of some of the animals on Noah’s Ark, not just two? No wonder it was over 500 feet long!

Foundation and Reception

Knock Knock! Who’s there? We have had witches, giants, gorillas, dragons and a ghost! We wrapped ourselves up warm and headed to the round house to retell the story ‘Knock Knock’ (by Sally Grindley and Anthony Browne). There has been a bit of a ‘door’ theme this week. We made a giant door in our role play area to retell the story using props. We also looked at door numbers and used boxes to make a street with numbers up to 20.

We have also been having lots of fun in Early Years: making leaf pictures/ombres; carving pumpkins; and planting peas. If you want to find out more check out @SibfordEYFS or #SibfordEYFS on twitter.

Year 1 and 2 This week Year 1 and 2 have continued their journey through 1666 and the events of the Fire of London. They finished the week with a Big Write, imagining the night before the fire and safely going to bed until waking up and hearing screaming, shouting and crackling, with the scent of smoke in the air. Work on exclamation sentences, writing in order of when things happen and beginning to learn about using the first person.

Following on from their work on multiplication, they investigated double facts, learning that the inverse is halving, but also how knowledge about odd and even could help too. Capital cities, national symbols/flowers, country flags and interesting facts helped them to create fact sheets in order to be a tour guide for each country of the UK; with some children choosing more bizarre facts to tell their potential tourists! We are so lucky to have the wonderful grounds of the school, but even luckier to come across other adults during our lessons.

Year 1 and 2 continued their understanding about materials, but this time identifying common materials and finding them in our environment. Learning that the events of the Fire of London were recorded using paintings, Becca Edwards made them ‘jump in’ to an unfinished painting, where they had to imagine what was on the other half. They thought carefully about the colours and how to create different shades.

Year 3 Children carefully worked together to position human organs (focusing on the digestive system) into the empty shell of our new class friend called Bob. Thankfully the children worked out that he needed a mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestines and large intestines. The small intestines measured over 6 and a half metres long making the challenge to squeeze this tubing into Bob rather tricky.

As part of their grammar this week, punctuation was transformed into energetic actions.

Children thought up their own actions to represent the different types of punctuation we use when writing. Can you work out what the children are demonstrating to each other?

Finally, in Maths we has some money problems this week, with the help of an efficient bank which kindly doubled our money 3MA money matters were soon resolved.

Year 4 In RE 4KS have been deepening their knowledge of gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Looking at Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer). They thought about their favourite Hindu god and which one they would like to be and why.

The class enjoyed a mindful art session, creating stunning autumnal paper plate trees of life. They weaved and threaded their tree trunks, from the roots right up to the branches then added splashes of colour for the foliage.

We became architects within our History lesson, learning about Roman architectural style and looking at some famous Roman buildings and remains. A selection of household cylinders showed us the importance of the Roman columns, used for their strength and attractiveness. In small groups, the class created a Roman style building using simple modelling materials. The first task was to decide on the type of column to use, tall and elegant or short and strong?

Super teamwork meant a Roman scene was quickly created, including buildings with a reinforced pediment and columns, some including fluting! Next lesson we will add decorative touches to the columns to jazz up our capitals.

Year 5 Not content to leave behind our theatrical endeavors following our Medieval Celebration Meeting last week, this week Year 5 have continued using drama and role play to get to grips with a newspaper text. First, we looked closely at the story to pick out the most important parts to write our own story map or story board. Then we used the freeze frame technique you can see in the photos to tell the story in sections.

We put it all together in power points that are now display on our washing lines in each of the Year 5 classrooms (do come and look).

Next, we used hot seating to gather information from the main characters in the drama to have some dialogue that we could use to practice our speech punctuation.

The result is that the children all feel more in control of their ability to punctuate speech and will have the confidence to use this accurately when it comes to reporting from America for our upcoming New York times newspaper front page. Watch this space for more from our budding reporters.

Year 6

Continuing their work on World War Two this week, Year 6 have focused on the impact of the Blitz on the civilian population, bringing together their ideas in some great artwork, investigations in history and creative writing in English – a truly cross-curricula topic. The children learnt about the devastation caused during the night of 14th November 1940, on the city of Coventry, as well as hearing the personal account of someone sitting in an Anderson shelter during an air-raid. Using this information, the children imagined themselves in a similar situation and wrote about what they might experience. Many children were able to write about the horror they might feel at the sound of falling bombs, although many expressed similar horror at the thought of having to eat Spam! Our Year 6 children have shown a huge amount of enthusiasm for our history topic, with the quality of the projects and other artefacts they have brought in demonstrating this. A big “thank you” to the many parents who have helped with these projects, shared family histories, and visited museums with their children during this term; it has really brought the topic to life for the children.

Year 4

Away from our history topic, and in between cross-country events and trying not to get washed away by the rain, it has been the turn of 6AP to turn their hands to pottery. Our Tuesday groups will swap next week, between computer programming, cooking and DT. By the end of the school year, each group will have had 9 weeks on each of these subjects.

Scripts have been handed out for this year’s Christmas production and rehearsals will begin soon (learn your lines Year 6!), as well as practising the songs in singing meetings and music lessons. It is looking like a busy few weeks.

PSFA Christmas Fayre – Friday, 29th November 2019

Helpers Needed - We still need plenty more helpers both prior to the Fayre and on the day itself so any help would be much appreciated to help with the smooth running of this even If you can help, even if just for an hour, please contact Jane Weaver (cadbold@hotmail.com) who is collating the list of willing volunteers.

PSFA Stalls - Items Needed: Re-cycled Gifts, Toiletries, and Good Quality Second-hand Jewellery and Costume Jewellery.

Please send in donations as soon as possible and drop them off in the collection boxes located in the Senior School and Junior School reception offices. Nearer the time we will also be seeking donations for the Cake stall.

Lost Property Monty, Y4 has lost his red and black rugby boots, and Chelsea, Y5 has lost her light blue water bottle with a green lid. Please could everyone check their bags in case they have been picked up in error.

Reception, Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Annual Flu Vaccination – Friday, 29th November 2019 The Oxford Health School Nurse Team will be visiting Sibford Junior School on the morning of Friday, 29th November to administer your child’s annual flu vaccination (given as a nasal spray).

Consent to vaccinate your child is now via an online consent form and a letter from Oxford Health has been sent to you separately. Please submit your form by Friday, 22nd November to ensure your child receives their vaccination. If you do not wish your child to be vaccinated, you will still need to complete and submit the consent form declining the offer of a flu vaccination.