Junior School Newsletter - November 8 2019

JUNIOR SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER

Friday, 8th November 2019

Dear Parents Welcome back after the half term break. I hope you all had a wonderful fortnight and that the children are returning ready for the excitement that the second half of term has in store for them.

With the clocks going back and the nights drawing in, there is a very definite change in the atmosphere and, as the adverts already flooding the television show, Christmas feels like it’s only just round the corner!

I am writing this while currently being away at a Society of Heads’ conference in Crewe and during tomorrow morning’s sessions we will be pausing at 11am to mark remembrance. In school on Monday we will also be observing the minute’s silence and this has led me to this week’s quote. Advices and Queries, 31 challenges us: “We are called to live ‘in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars’.

Do you faithfully maintain our testimony that war and the preparation for war are inconsistent with the spirit of Christ? Search out whatever in your own way of life may contain the seeds of war. Stand firm in our testimony, even when others commit or prepare to commit acts of violence, yet always remember that they too are children of God.” In drawing a connection from the “seeds” of violence within ourselves and within our community and the broader aggression of war, it helps us to see that one evolves from the other. When peace stops being the preferable option, whether at a micro or macro level, then escalation is the likely outcome. Yet at every level, we must heed the advice, whatever the stimulus, to try to understand the position of others while at the same time maintaining the necessity of peace.

The famous Second Amendment of the United States Constitution asserts “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms." This has always struck me as an odd phrase and condition for an ideological framework for a country, especially one newly-born, as it seems to accept that violence is inevitable. An admission of defeat at the outset. A more powerful alternative would be to proclaim the rights of individuals and the State “not to bear Arms”, wherein a society functions in such a way that violence, at any level, is censured.

Perhaps this is a naïve approach in a world where violence is commonplace, but it surely serves as a more aspirational starting point.

Elsewhere this week we have had a Junior School focus on reading. This began with a Family Fortunes quiz on the topic in Monday’s Meeting for Worship, before carrying out story-telling activities later in the week. It was great to have so many parents attend the workshops we ran to aid reading at home – if you were unable to make it the information will shortly be uploaded to Firefly. As well as reading being fundamental to the curriculum throughout the school, it is a source of great joy and relaxation and we appreciate your support in maintaining its profile and importance with the children.

On Tuesday the children from Years 1-6 braved some wet and windy conditions to carry out their cross-country trials. While we were looking at who would go forward to represent the school at the sports partnership finals next week, we were also challenging the children to push themselves individually. I was delighted, while marshalling, to be able to see so many of them striving and persevering – well done to everyone!

Finally, some of the children in Years 5 and 6 will have returned with their scripts for this year’s Christmas play, Bookbound. Other parts and scripts will be distributed early next week and, in advance, we appreciate your support in helping the children learn their lines. Those in Year 3 and below, will learn about their production soon too.

Well done to the following children who received Celebration Certificates: Y1/2: Y3: Y4: Y5LM: Y5HS: Y6AP: Y6NH:

Harry A Dori Harry S Tom B Tobin Charlotte Kezia

Also congratulations to Millie (Y4), Caleb and David (Y5) who have received a Head Teacher Award.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School Ps. Did you know that studies have shown that reading every day reduces (or even prevents) the onset of dementia, lowers stress levels, develops our memory and analytical skills and increases productivity? All without leaving your seat!

Foundation and Reception

We started this half term with a ‘bang’, exploring Divali, light and fireworks. At the start of the week we were lucky enough to get a tour of school from Mel (The premises manager), looking at how it is heated and powered. Back at school we explored circuits, torches and day and night.

We used the idea of day and night to think about what we do at different times of the day.

Using the theme of Light we explored Divali and used sand and paint to make Rangoli patterns.

We then used clay and glass tiles to make our own Divas. Being so imaginative, the children also wanted to use the clay to make their own things. They reminded me of Gaudi so we looked up some of his work and printed off some pictures and used these as inspiration. We now have our very own Gaudi rabbit!

Fireworks are part of Divali festivals and with bonfire night approaching we listened to the sounds they make and created our very own fireworks poems.

Anastasia’s mum kindly bought us in some Banishea (a special bread) and Koliva (wheat based dish) that is baked on the anniversary of a loved ones passing, for the children to try.

Year 1 and 2 Another term, another new topic and this term for Year 1 and 2 it’s all about the ‘Fire of London’.

Monday began with the children following instructions and weighing out ingredients to make bread. Becca Edwards then read them the start of a story which involved a fire starting in a bakery on Pudding Lane. The children then started to make the link as to why they’d baked bread at the start of the day. This helped them to then sequence the events of the fire in chronological order and learn some important historical facts. By the end of the day they had also transformed a blank corner of their classroom into their very own Pudding Lane bakery; making a traditional bread oven and painting their own delicious treats for the shop window.

Therefore, in their English lessons, they spent the rest of the week understanding the features of instructions and how to use bossy verbs to ensure their instructions were clear, especially when working in pairs to build objects from their imagination. In their Maths, they looked at number facts, with some of the children looking into how counting in 2s, 5s and 10s can be used more formally as multiplication and times tables; recording answers in lots of different ways. This also helped them to think about odd and even numbers, which will feed into their work on using more number facts next week.

With the children learning about where the Fire of London started, this linked closely to their geography lesson. They were challenged to use atlases to find the countries of the UK, also learning the country flags, capital cities and symbols. It was lovely to see that some of the children took their learning into their choosing time as they built the River Thames after discovering that fire services didn’t really exist back in 1666. The children were quite surprised that buildings were pulled down in an attempt to stop the fire, but also that water was collected from the River Thames using buckets and basic carts to get water. More comparisons were made between past and present fire services; using these ideas, the children began to think about their own design for a fire cart. Becca Edwards looks forward to them coming into fruition in the next few weeks!

Year 3 Children in Year 3 picked up the threads of where they left off in DT last half term by continuing to sew their softies. With needles at the ready they considered the work of Michael BrennandWood who is from Lancashire. Children discovered he works in embroidery, pattern, lace, computerised patterns, uses floral ideas and machine embroidery.

In English Year 3 established that their new book is a quest or an adventure story with a problem, journey and resolution. Children explored the blurb and we noted their ideas for our Working Display notes. (E.g. the main character is Max who is a hedgehog, he has a family and he wants to cross the road...). Children have been Sentence Detectives and as we read the story, they looked for sentences which have adverbs in them.

Year 4 4KS have started work on chronological reports in English, beginning to read ‘Henry's Freedom Box’ a true story set at a time when slavery was practised in parts of America. They enjoyed ‘hot seating’, imagining they were Henry and his friends, thinking about the practicalities of escaping slavery by posting yourself to a safe place in a box… food, coughing, toilet needs!

In Science, they have planned and undertaken an investigation to find how much washing up liquid makes the ‘best’ bubbles. First deciding what constitutes ‘best’… size, quantity of bubbles or how long the bubbles last. Working in groups they made predictions, thought about equipment needed, planned their method, noted results, wrote up their conclusions and evaluated their experiment (was it a fair test? What went well or badly? What could they investigate next?)

They have also presented their fabulous half term projects. We have had: creative models, PowerPoint presentations, delicious delicacies, Roman armour and intricate postcards from India! Well done for the time and effort put into them all.

Year 5 Children in Year 5 have worked incredibly hard over the half term break to complete their half term projects. Highlights have included edible castles (which were delicious), working models of catapults, a ballista, swords and a selection of other medieval weaponry, medieval menus (including a range of unusual dishes from sautéed hare to roast stag) to mention just a few.

We have really enjoyed watching the children present their work. They were all well prepared and have spoken with confidence about their chosen task. It has been great to see the amount of enthusiasm they have had for their learning over the last half term culminating in such a brilliant range of projects. The children have learnt a huge amount from each other and have had lots of fun too. Fuelled by this enthusiasm and energy, we will now continue our work on the middle ages during the second half of the term.

Year 6

The variety and attention to detail of the half-term projects that appeared on Monday demonstrates just how busy the children in Year 6 have been during our two weeks off. Alice Pennell and Nick Hadley were, once again, very pleased to see a wonderful effort from the children in creating a mixture of World War Two Anderson shelters and wartime games. Work is continuing on our willow version of an Anderson shelter, with most of the main structure completed on Friday morning. We hope to have this finished before the end of November and then we will keep our fingers crossed that the willow has rooted and green leaves appear in the spring. We have also learnt about Remembrance Day, and the reasons people wear poppies to commemorate any losses in the war.

Year 4

In 6AP maths, they have been battling with BODMAS, and were very impressed with themselves by the complexity of what they were achieving!

In English, Year 6 have begun looking at Phillip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’, or at least the first book of the trilogy. We will be thinking about Pullman’s choice of language and his wonderful descriptions of the alternative version of Oxford over the next few weeks. We did, of course, ask the BBC to wait until this term to broadcast their new drama series of the same, and we are very grateful to them that they were able to do this for us! (Sunday evenings at 8pm, BBC1.)

Eco Bricks A big thank you for all your Eco Brick contributions. Eco Council have made some plans for their use and work will begin next week.

Keep your eyes peeled for them around the school!

PSFA Christmas Fayre – Friday, 29th November 2019

Lost Property Mintian, Y6 has lost his red boiler suit – it was not named but the brand is “wetplay” and the size is 13 Years (34” Chest), there are two pockets on the front.

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.