Furze Platt Juniors 2025-26 Newsletter
Newsletter 6: 13th February 2026
Newsletter 6: 13th February 2026
We have officially made it through the long month of January, got through all the endless rainfall and reached the first holiday of the year! It has been a fantastic start to the term, ending on a high note with our very first "Culture and Identity Week." It was wonderful to see the children fully immersed in the experience, traveling between classrooms with their special "passports" in hand to collect stamps from across the globe. Our classrooms were transformed into international hubs of discovery:
Y3 and Y4 crossed the Atlantic, with Wren Class exploring the flavors of Italy through traditional food making, while Robin Class crafted rainsticks to learn about indigenous music in Chile. The children also moved through India to learn the art of storytelling through dance, practiced Aboriginal art symbols in Australia, and even picked up some Swahili greetings like "Jambo" while singing songs from Kenya.
Upper KS2 tackled some powerful traditions, from the vibrant Day of the Dead masks of Mexico to a formidable performance of the Haka from New Zealand, where pupils learned about courage and teamwork. The journey continued through the Louvre in France with some creative "human art" recreations , a vibrant Rio Carnival celebration in Brazil , and a deep dive into the "Pura Vida" lifestyle of Costa Rica.
It has been a joy to see the children embrace the diversity of our world with such curiosity and respect and on Friday it was great to see them celebrating their own identity through their clothing and costume choices. See a selection of our photos from the week below!
We hope you all have a wonderful, well-deserved half-term break- we have a packed 5 week half term to come when we return on Monday 23rd February- let's hope the rain stops by then!
Anna Clark
Head of School
Half term break Monday 16th Feb- Friday 20th Feb
Mon 23rd Feb: Term 4 begins
Weds 25th Feb: Young Voices Concert at the O2
Fri 27th Feb: Y3 Egyptian day (App message sent)
Fri 27th Feb: Y5/6 House sports competitions pm (wear PE kit)
Fri 27th Feb: FPSA Murder Mystery Event 8pm-11pm (App message sent)
Mon 2nd March: Y3 Trip to Ashmolean Museum (App message sent 03.02.26)
Weds 4th March: Y5 Rhos Meeting for parents (6pm)
Thu 5th March: FPSA Happy School Bags Collection
Thurs/Fri 5th/6th March: Scholastic Book Fair
Fri 6th March: World Book Day celebrations (dress down) including Author visit for Y5/6: David Barker
Mon 9th March: Author visit - S. J Poyton- whole school
Fri 13th March: Author visit- Fiona Barker (Y3/4)
Fri 13th March: Y5/6 House sports competitions (wear PE kit)
Tues 17th March: Road safety talks Y3,Y4, Y6
Thurs 19th March: VR sessions Y4/5
Fri 20th March: Comic Relief Day and Talent show (dress down)
Mon 23rd March: Parents consultations 3.30-6.30pm
Tue 24th March: FPSA AGM 8pm-9pm
Tue 24th March: Eagle Class Assembly 9.15am
Weds 25rd March: Kestrel Class Assembly 9.15am
Weds 25rd March: Parents consultations 3.30-6.30pm
Thurs 26th March: Kite Class Assembly 9.15am
Fri 27th March: TTRS (Times tables Rock Star) Day- dress as a rockstar!
Fri 27th March: End of term- school finishes at 1.30pm
As many of you are aware, our school is proudly fundraising for Thames Valley Hospice this year. We are participating in the wonderful "Trunks for Thames" initiative, where we have "adopted" a life-sized elephant sculpture to decorate. This elephant will eventually join a spectacular public art trail, and we want it to truly represent the heart of our school.
Our elephant has arrived! Currently, it is a "blank canvas" of plain white, and we need your child’s help to transform it. We are looking for a design that showcases what makes our school community so special.
What could be included in the design:
Our Powerful Values: Think about how you could visually represent Passion, Well-Being, or Respect in your design if you choose?
Our School Identity: What does it feel like to be a student at our school, in this location?
Colours: Children are welcome to use our school colours, but they are encouraged to be as vibrant and imaginative as they like!
The Template: Every child will bring home a paper template today (or you can download it here) We encourage them to draw their designs on both sides so we can see how the elephant will look from every angle.
The Deadline: Completed designs should be handed to class teachers by Friday 27th February. Please ensure your child’s name and class are clearly written on their entry.
The Prizes: We will select a winner (or a group of winners, as we may combine different elements from various designs) to have their artwork painted onto our elephant! Additionally, Housepoints will be awarded for every single entry received.
As this is a fundraising initiative for a fantastic cause, we are suggesting a voluntary donation of £2 per entry. All proceeds go directly toward our "Trunks for Thames" fundraising goal for the hospice. Please remember to use ‘Gift Aid’, when you donate, to get an extra 25% on top of your donation for the charity.
Please make your donations here: Junior School Trunks across the Thames
We cannot wait to see the incredible creativity of our students. We hope this project provides a fun and meaningful activity for the half-term break!
Freya, Poppy and Alishba who won prizes for entering a design a bookmark competition, organised by the Maidenhead's Big Read. Poppy was the overall winner and her design has been incorperated into a bookmark- which will be available at Maidenhead Library! Well done!
On Thursday 12th February, Swan Class took part in the Primary Dance Festival. This year’s festival theme was “Our Green Planet”, and Swan Class had the opportunity to link their dance to technology.
Their dance explored how communication has changed through different eras. They began with Morse code, using clapping and shushing sounds alongside arm actions, performed to the opening of Video Killed the Radio Star. Once the Morse code section finished, the music moved straight into the song, and the dancers transformed into telephones, showing how people communicated in the past.
Halfway through the song, the music transitioned into Blinding Lights, representing the move into modern-day technology with mobile phones. This clearly showed how communication has evolved over time.
Swan Class did absolutely fabulously! They performed the dance beautifully, worked incredibly well together as a class, and showed great creativity by coming up with their own ideas. Their performance was amazing from start to finish.
Well done, Swan Class – we are so proud of you!
Miss Gill and Miss Morales
Year 4 enjoyed a visit from mountaineer Al Sylvester, who spoke to the children about his experiences climbing mountains around the world, including the challenges involved in climbing Mount Everest. The children asked many thoughtful questions, and Al commented on how impressed he was with their engagement and positive attitude. The talk has provided a helpful introduction to our learning next term, when the children will be writing biographies about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Year 5 truly brought history to life last week for our dedicated Greek Day. It was wonderful to see the classroom filled with such a diverse array of characters, from powerful Gods and Goddesses to traditional Ancient Greek citizens—thank you for the fantastic costumes!
The day was packed with immersive learning experiences designed to explore different aspects of ancient culture. The children had the opportunity to handle and investigate historical artefacts, using their detective skills to learn about daily life in the past. We also explored the culinary side of the Mediterranean with a Greek food tasting session, introducing the class to some new and traditional flavours. To channel the competitive spirit of the era, the children also took part in their very own Mini Olympics, demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and energy. It was a brilliant day of hands-on learning that perfectly complemented our history topic.
In recent weeks, our assemblies have focused on some very important themes. We began by learning about autism – what it is and how it makes each person unique. The children explored the importance of understanding, acceptance and celebrating difference, recognising that everyone’s strengths help make our school community special.
We also marked Children’s Mental Health Week, reflecting on this year’s theme, “This Is My Place.” Through stories and discussions, pupils thought about what it means to belong – feeling safe, feeling like you fit in, and knowing you are important. It was wonderful to see children sharing what makes them feel happy and secure both in school and at home.
Finally, our attention turned to healthy eating. Mrs Sweatman, alongside members of the School Council, led a powerful assembly showing just how much sugar can be hidden in some of the items commonly found in children’s lunchboxes. The visual examples certainly sparked lots of conversation and encouraged everyone to think carefully about making healthier choices.
Mrs Barbosa
Well done to all our children who are using TT rock stars regularly to practise times tables!
Keep up the daily practise everyone- it is scientifically proven that practising a little and often will ensure you master those times tables as soon as possible until they are automatically recalled from memory.
Here are our Top 10 children for speed in each year group and the best progress for accuracy.
Well done to all our children who are regularly completing their homework tasks to improve their vocabulary! Here are our top 10 children who have spent the most time on their bedrock learning since the previous newsletter.
Moving onto Spring term 2, Year 3 will be hitting the courts for Basketball and developing their teamwork through Outdoor Adventurous Activities (OAA), while Year 4 will be heading onto the pitch for Football alongside their own OAA challenges. Meanwhile, our upper Key Stage 2 students in Year 5 and Year 6 will be focusing on tactical play and coordination as they take on both Tag Rugby and Hockey. It is going to be a high-energy term focused on skill-building, strategic thinking, and great sportsmanship. Please ensure your child has the appropriate outdoor PE kit, including sturdy footwear and layers for the cooler weather! please also ensure that your child's earrings have been taken out before school, or taped up. We are unable to take them out for your child or tape them up.
On Monday, 26th January, 18 of our Year 6 pupils did a fantastic job representing Furze Platt Junior School at the Mini Basketball Festival held at Desborough. The two teams, rotated through eight different skill-building stations before putting their practice into action during a series of 5v5 games against other schools. The event placed a high importance on school values, and we are proud to announce that two of our players were awarded special medals for their exceptional teamwork and conduct. Congratulations to Skye (Team 1) and Carina (Team 2) for receiving these honors! The entire group displayed amazing sportsmanship throughout the day—well done to everyone who took part.
On Friday, 30th January, fourteen of our Year 6 pupils headed to the Braywick Leisure Centre to represent Furze Platt Juniors in the Panathlon competition. We entered two teams who competed across eight different skill-based activities to earn points.
Throughout the event, the children demonstrated incredible teamwork and sportsmanship, constantly cheering each other on and supporting their teammates. When the final scores were tallied, we were thrilled to announce that our teams placed 4th and 1st! A massive "well done" to everyone involved—you smashed it and should feel incredibly proud of your hard work and school spirit.
Miss Gill
What a fantastic term we have all had in Year 3.
In maths the children have been working extremely hard on measurement of length. The children measured each other in the class and then even decided to measure some staff members too including Mr Sawle and Mr Wallace. The children have been converting between cm, m and mm and adding and subtracting lengths.
In English the children completed their character descriptions for their own superheroes and villains and created an image of these using AI. The children loved the outcomes and enjoyed publishing their final pieces.
In science we completed our work on plants with the children looking at the life cycle of plants as well as how seeds can be dispersed in a variety of ways.
In history we concluded our work on Ancient Egypt with the children discussing how Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamen's tomb as well as completing their collars in DT using a variety of stitches and buttons to finish.
In music the children have been learning notes and playing the glockenspiels in lessons. They have thoroughly enjoyed this.
Our final week has been 'cultural week' where we have been celebrating every child as an individual and focusing on what makes 'me' me. The children took part in many activities and made a passport to 'travel' around the world over 2 afternoons. We completed activities such as gelato tasting, Indian dancing, rain stick making, aboriginal art and learning an African song. The children also played games from around the world in PE and wrote their own class poems!
We have had a truly busy but fantastic term. We hope you have a wonderful and restful half term break.
See you all in the new term.
Mrs Barry- Y3 Team Leader
Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks!:
How many cm are in a metre?
What are the different ways in which plants can disperse seeds?
What year did Howard Carter discover Tutankhamen's tomb?
The boy at the back of the class - Onjali Rauf
I am the seed that grew the tree - Fiona Waters
Ancient Egypt - National Geographic
What an excellent start to the new year the children have had!
They have been working incredibly hard across the curriculum, always striving to uplevel their work and take on additional challenges.
In English, the children wrote thoughtful balanced arguments in response to the question: Were the Vikings really violent raiders? They constructed strong sentences using subordinate conjunctions to clearly explain and justify their reasons.
In Maths, the children have been developing their understanding of perimeter. During Cultural Week, they particularly enjoyed calculating the perimeter of flags from around the world.
The children have thoroughly enjoyed creating fantastic pointillism artwork this half term. Inspired by Claude Monet, Georges Seurat and Yayoi Kusama, they used techniques such as small brushstrokes and rhythmic dots to create landscape pieces. They also learned how to create focal points and use perspective to add depth to their artwork.
We also had an exciting LEGO WeDo Day, where the children built and programmed Milo the Science Rover and a Spy Robot. Their objective was to design two robots that could alert them to an intruder while working collaboratively as a team.
They have continued to impress us with their dedication and resilience in swimming lessons — well done to you all!
Have an excellent break!
Mrs Batchelor
Year 4 Team Leader
Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks:
Can you name an artist who ispired our Pointillism artwork?
What is the difference between the perimeter of a shape and the area of a shape?
What is a controlled loop in computing?
Everest - The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
By Alexandra Stewart and Joe Todd-Stanton
The Glorious Race of Magical Beasts
By Alex Bell
Shadow Fox
By Carlie Sorosiak
A World of Learning in Year 5
We have had a fantastic and busy few weeks in Year 5! In English, the children have been researching Greek Gods and Godesses to create detailed fact files, working hard to include relative clauses and fronted adverbials to improve the flow of their writing and add more detail. In Maths, we have been mastering the skill of multiplying fractions, whilst our Science lessons have been hands-on with pupils investigating the properties of materials. In French, the children are becoming more confident with saying and writing the date.
Beyond our core subjects, we have had some wonderful special events. The children thoroughly enjoyed our Greek Day, which featured a competitive Mini Olympics, a food tasting session, and an artefact discovery workshop.
We also celebrated a vibrant Cultural Week, where the class 'visited' Nepal, Kenya, Brazil, France, New Zealand, and Costa Rica. It was a brilliant opportunity for the children to learn about different cultures, as well as share their own passions, hobbies and talents with their classmates. It has been lovely to see them celebrating both the wider world and each other!
Miss Scott and Mr Sawle, Year 5 Team Leaders
What is 2/4 x 7? What is 4 and 2/5 x 6?
What does 'jeudi douze mars' mean? What about 'vendredi vingt-deux avril'?
What is a solute? What is a solvent? What do you get if you mix them?
Greek Myths
Ann Turnbull and Sarah Young
Mythologica
Steve Kershaw and Victoria Topping
We’ve had a brilliant end to the half term and it really seems to have flown by!
In English, the children have enjoyed experimenting with formality and having more choice in their writing. Many particularly loved writing informally to tell an unwanted creature to go away — the creativity was fantastic!
In Maths, they have been exploring algebra using manipulatives and have really enjoyed tackling two-step algebra problems with confidence. We have also covered ratio and proportion which required plenty of problem solving skills.
In Science, we finished our unit on evolution with a fun experiment where the children investigated how birds’ beaks have adapted over time to suit their diets. It was brilliant to see the children so engaged with their learning.
In Art, the children created some fantastic final pieces: self-portraits with backgrounds inspired by the patterns and shapes they observed in nature around the school grounds. The results were imaginative and beautifully detailed.
In Music, the children have been using their knowledge of chords to play along to the Scottish folk song “Touch the Sky”. It has been great to build on the knowledge of this instrument that they developed in Year 5.
To round off the term, Year 6 absolutely loved Cultural Week! They “traveled” to six different countries, exploring each one’s unique culture and traditions. From tasting exotic fruits from Costa Rica and designing vibrant masks for the Rio Carnival, to creating intricate woven artwork from Ghana and learning the powerful Haka, the week was packed with exciting experiences. It’s clear they had a brilliant time and thoroughly enjoyed every activity!
We hope you have a restful half term.
Miss Morales
Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks!:
What transport did the Greeks use to trade? How did this compare to the Egyptians?
How can we create cohesion in our writing?
Can you summarise the character of Finn in our class book Orphans of the Tide?
This week, School and Eco Council took centre stage to lead a powerful and thought-provoking assembly about how we fuel our bodies during the school day.
The Investigation
The Council has been busy acting as "Snack Detectives," surveying lunchbox and snack choices across the school. Their goal? To see if we are choosing "Long Energy" (like fresh fruit) or "Quick Energy" (high-sugar processed snacks).
Our findings showed that many of us are reaching for crisps and fruit-winder style snacks more often than fresh fruit.
One big shock was the number of packets of crisps we are eating - Below is a picture of the crisp packets we collected from just one day!
The "Sugar Shock"
The highlight of the assembly was a live demonstration. Using clear jars and bags of sugar, they showed the "hidden" sugar found in popular processed snacks compared to fresh fruit.
Did you know some fruit-style strips contain nearly 2 teaspoons of sugar, while a fresh apple has zero? Fruit strips claim to have "no added sugar," but they are often high in free sugars. These are sugars that have been released from the cell walls of the fruit during blending or juicing, meaning they hit the bloodstream much faster and can cause tooth decay, unlike the natural sugars found inside whole, fresh fruit.
Becoming "Label Hunters"
The children also taught us how to use the Traffic Light System on food packaging. We learned that:
• Red means "Stop and Think" (High sugar/salt).
• Amber means "Check" (Middle of the road).
• Green means "Go!" (The best fuel for our brains).
The "Swap-It" Challenge
The School and Eco Council aren’t asking anyone to stop snacking—they are challenging us to Swap-It! Can we swap one "Red" snack for a "Green" piece of fruit this week?
We are so proud of the team for standing up for our health and helping us understand how to keep our "brain batteries" charged all day long. Look out the new display on the hall notice board to see the results for yourself!
Keep swapping, keep crunching!
Mrs Sweatman
School and Eco council have also been braving the weather to take part in the RSPB Big School Birdwatch. The highlights were sightings of a flock of noisy green parakeets and energetic pied wagtails. This hands-on experience perfectly connected our environmental curriculum with real-world conservation efforts and we look forward to seeing the national RSPB results.
Thank you on behalf of our school council for all your efforts in donating empty chocolate tubs in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. As you can see, we collected A LOT!! Well done FPJS families!
Personalised name label stickers
There are 2 easy options for buying personalised labels. Simply order your labels below whilst also raising funds for our schools. These labels will help the schools return mislaid uniform and will help cut down on the lost property including water bottles and lunchboxes as well as uniform.
1 Easy2Name
Simply order from the following site: https://www.easy2name.com/stickeasy, quote code 'FR-FPIS-72' and not only will you will get free delivery, the FPSA will receive 20% of the order value.
2 MyNameTags
Simply order from the following site: https://www.mynametags.com and use fundraising code 19450. A donation is made to the FPSA per order.
Windsor & Maidenhead Community Lottery
This is a weekly lottery that raises money for good causes in the Royal Borough including the FPSA. Tickets for the lottery cost just £1 and from that 60p goes to good causes including 50p to the FPSA. Each ticket has a 1 in 50 chance to win a prize each week with a top prize of £25,000! So please sign up and buy a weekly ticket or two using the link: https://www.windsorandmaidenheadcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/furze-platt-schools-association
Dates for your Diary:
Murder Mystery Event - Friday 27th February 2026
There are just a few tickets remaining for our very first ever 'Murder Mystery' event which takes place at the end of February. The Juniors hall will be turned into an old library in a 'Death at Dinner Club' performance from Moonstone Murder Mysteries company. Work in teams or go solo as live actors bring the drama to life - can you solve the crime?
Tickets available at https://fpsa.charityhive.co.uk/tickets/1/murder-mystery-evening.
Happy School Bags Collection - Thursday 5th March
A time to get rid of unwanted clothes and other items to help raise money for our schools. Please bring your filled bags to the Infants gates at drop-off. You can also use standard bin bags too.
FPSA AGM - Tuesday 24th March (8-9pm)
Our annual meeting takes place at the Infants School. Come and hear what events we ran in 2025, the money that was raised, what was spent by both schools and what is on their wish list for this year and beyond.
Cheese & Wine evening - Friday 24th April
Another brand new event for 2026! Look out for more information soon.
Juniors Discos - Thursday 7th May
The Junior Discos are back!
Mr T's (10th anniversary) Quiz Night - Friday 15th May (8pm-11pm)
The quiz night is celebrating 10 years, having started with the first one back in May 2016. This time there will be fancy dress with prizes for best team fancy dress and best individual.
Summer Fair - Saturday 27th June (11.30am-3pm)
Please save the date for our biggest fundraiser of the year!
See link below for updated information on Maidenhead's Big Read on 7th/8th March