Furze Platt Juniors 2025-26 Newsletter

As we come to the end of a busy but rewarding first half term, I want to take a moment to reflect on what a positive start it has been. The children have settled brilliantly into their new classes, and it has been wonderful to see such strong relationships already forming between staff and pupils.

We are incredibly proud of how happy, passionate, and eager our children are to learn. Their enthusiasm and excellent attitudes have not gone unnoticed—recent visitors to the school, including a group of headteachers from RBWM, commented on the calm, purposeful learning environment across our classrooms. Likewise, our Y6 ambassadors did a fantastic job showing prospective parents around the school, impressing them with their confidence, knowledge, and pride in their school community.

This week, we concluded the term with our first parents’ consultation evenings. I hope all parents left feeling as proud of their children’s efforts as we are. It’s been wonderful to see the progress the children are already making—especially considering we are only six weeks into the new school year!

I wish all our families a wonderful and restful half term break. Thank you for all your support!

Anna Clark

Head of School

If you are a Y3 parent, we would love to hear how you feel your child has transitioned into the junior school. Help us to be the best we can be by filling out our Y3 parent survey here.

Diary Dates:

Thurs/Fri 23/24th INSET days
Mon 3rd November - Term 2 starts
Weds 5th November- Topic homework due in
Fri 7th November- Y2 Parent Tour (bookable via office)
Tues 11th November- Remembrance Day- children will learn and join in the silence at 11/11/11
Tues 11th November- PINS Project- see flyer in the SEND section of the newsletter.
Thurs 13th November- Non uniform- Children in Need
Fri 14th November- INSET day and FPSA Bingo Night
Sun 16th November- Sat 22nd November- Rhos-Y-Gwaliau Y6 residential
Mon 24th November- Sleeping Beauty panto performance for whole school
Fri 28th November- Y2 Parent Tour (bookable via office)
Fri 5th December- DRESS DOWN DAY- Bring in a bottle for adult tombola for Xmas Fair
Sat 6th Dec - FPSA Christmas Fair
Tues 9th Dec 9am: Wren Christmas production
Weds 10th Dec 9am: Robin Christmas production
Thurs 11th Dec 9am: Finch Christmas production
Thurs 11th Dec: FPSA Junior School Discos
Fri 12th Dec: Christmas Jumper day
Weds 17th Dec: Christmas lunch day (orders booked in advance- more info to follow)
Thurs 18th Dec: Guitar concert 2.30pm (parents of guitarists invited to join)
Fri 19th Dec: End of Term- please note the school day finishes at the earlier time of 1.30pm

Notification of End of Term Timings

At the end of each long term, school will finish earlier at 1:30pm. The dates for this academic year are:

Friday 19th December 2025

Friday 27th March 2026

Wednesday 22nd July 2026

Our main wraparound childcare provider, Wise Owls, has been informed of these dates.

Quick Links

Curriculum

Lunch Menu- Winter 25-26

Term Dates 25-26

Calendar

Who's who at FPJS

Website including housepoints update

FPJS School News

School council and Eco group for 2025

Well done to the children pictured below who were voted by their class to be a school council rep for this year. We also have a group fo Eco councillors (pictured below) who will continue the excellent eco improvements which we started last year!

Y5 Winchester Trip

On Wednesday 15th October, Year 5 went on an exciting school trip to Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium to consolidate their learning about Space this term. They enjoyed an action-packed day, which included exploring two floors of interactive exhibits, taking part in an immersive workshop led by science experts and travelling through the solar system (and beyond!) in the spectacular Planetarium.

The children were absolutely wowed by the experience and embraced every opportunity, representing our school wonderfully throughout the day.

Well done, Year 5 — and a huge thank you to all our brilliant volunteers. We hope you had a blast (off)!

Y6 WW2 day

Year 6 had a brilliant day exploring what life was like during World War II. It was wonderful to see both children and teachers dressed in 1940s attire, and the corridors were brought to life with propaganda posters and period music playing throughout the day.

The day began with the children learning about Anderson shelters and making their own versions out of corrugated cardboard to represent the corrugated metal used at the time. During this activity, we had two ‘air raids,’ during which the children had to take cover. While waiting for the all-clear siren, we spent time sharing stories and singing songs.

Later in the afternoon, the children made wartime carrot biscuits—which received mixed reviews—and had a go at cracking Morse code. It was a fantastic day that really felt like a journey back in time.

Harvest Festival

Thank you to all the families who kindly donated items as part of our Harvest Festival celebrations! We had a huge amount of items that were collected by Foodshare and will support local people. Thank you also to Beth Gomm from Christian Connections for leading the assembly which focussed on how sharing to others can also make us happier! We also enjoyed singing our harvest song "Thank your lucky stars".

We have since had a wonderful letter from Foodshare to thank everyone at the school for their help, saying "Thank you to everyone who contributed for caring about those in our community who are in need of a helping hand".

Scholastic Book Fair thanks

Thank you to everyone who bought a book from our recent scholastic book fair! We had a bumper year of sales which totalled a fantastic £2,105.84!

Since we gain 60% commission, that gives us lots of money to spend on brand new books this year! Thank you to Mrs Frost in the office who organised the whole event brilliantly!

Poppy and Lilly Return from Their Holiday!

We are delighted to share that our much-loved school goats, Poppy and Lilly, have returned from their summer holiday at the Aylesbury Goat Centre! They were very well looked after and have come back looking healthy and happy — ready to settle back into school life and spend time with the children again.

Unfortunately, while away, Poppy had a small accident and fell on her horn, which has left it a little tender. It is healing well, but we do ask everyone to be gentle and take care when petting her. She’s as friendly as ever, but may prefer soft strokes and a little space while she continues to recover.

As part of their care, we are setting up a rota for our Year 6 pupils to help look after the goats each day. This is a great opportunity for them to take responsibility, develop empathy, and learn more about animal care.

In addition, children from across the school will continue to have chances throughout the week to work with the goats. Spending time with animals can have a wonderfully calming effect and supports many aspects of children’s well-being, from building confidence to improving focus and reducing anxiety.

We are also looking for a small group of parent volunteers who may be able to help feed and clean out the goats at weekends. If you are able to volunteer an hour in the mornings or weekends, please contact mikewallace@fpjs.org.uk — your help would be greatly appreciated!

We’re so pleased to have Poppy and Lilly back — they’ve been missed by everyone!

500 Words competition- Deadline to enter 7th November 2025

Just a reminder... we would love our children to enter the national competition - there is still time to enter- and a great activity to do over the half term holiday!

There are very few rules for 500 Words but a few points to remember when writing a story.

All 500 Words stories must:

Be 500 words or less (title is not included in the number)
Be written by an individual and not a group
Be a child’s own original idea
Be prose, not rap or poem

Stories must not:

Give any personal details of the child, including their name
Recount an historical event (but they can use a real person or historical character as a source of inspiration)
Be created, written or developed by AI

In every 500 Words competition, all stories are judged on the following criteria:

Characterisation
Plot
Originality
Language
Enjoyment

All of our children have enjoyed a "live" lesson this week, hosted by Lenny Henry to encourage them to create a story and enter the competition. To take part, click on the link here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/500wordscompetition/login

Homework at FPJS

Over the half term, all of our teaching teams have set a "topic" homework, with lots of choice for children to immerse themselves in either a topic they have already been learning about or finding out about a topic coming up. Homework for this was set on 16th October to give children plenty of time to complete their activities.

Y3: Climate Zones

Y4: The Water Cycle

Y5: Victorians

Y6: UK Geography

The deadline for submitting all of this homework is Weds 5th November.

Poppy Design for Remembrance Day

Over half term, we are launching a "design a poppy" competition and encourage all children to take part in this creative challenge. If your child wishes to enter, they can either use any of the templates here or create their own poppy using any media they choose. All poppies will be displayed in the hall in the lead up to remembrance day on 11th November.

Deadline for entry to the competition is Monday 10th November. All entries can be handed to class teachers with name, class and house clearly marked.

The winners will receive house points for their school house which will be announced in celebration assembly.

Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars

Star of the week Newsletter 2: 22nd October 2025

Well done to all our stars over the last few weeks:

Our stars are chosen from following the values of the school: Passion, Well-being and respect.

We also chose children who have made exceptional effort in their work or attitude to learning.

Tuesday Assembly Themes

This term, our Tuesday assemblies have explored a range of exciting and thoughtful themes! We began by thinking about “Being Ready to Learn,” reminding everyone how important it is to come to school prepared, focused, and with a positive attitude.

Next, Mrs Sweatman introduced us to our Eco Council and helped us learn about the Ozone Layer and why protecting our planet matters so much. We also celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, learning about new beginnings and the importance of reflection and kindness. Following this, we learned about Yom Kippur, a special time in the Jewish calendar to say sorry, forgive others, and make a fresh start.

Later in the term, we explored the question “What makes me, me?”, celebrating all the unique qualities that make each of us special. We also had a virtual visit from the NSPCC and learnt about how everyone has the right to feel safe and supported.

Finally, we’ve been marking Black History Month, learning about inspiring figures from the past and present who have made a difference in our world.

It’s been a wonderful term of learning, caring, and celebrating together!

Mrs Barbosa

NSPCC Assemblies

On Tuesday 14th October, the children had a virtual (pre-recorded!) visit from Ant and Dec along with the NSPCC mascot, Buddy!

The assembly helped the children to understand: abuse in all its forms, including bullying; the ability to recognise the signs of abuse; how to protect themselves from all forms of abuse; to make them aware of how to get help and the sources of help available to them, including Childline.

Following the assembly, the children completed some follow up activities in their classrooms and created a poster to demonstrate the importance of 'Speak out. Stay safe.'

TT Rock stars- Top Ten

Well done to all our children who have started 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 who have played the MOST in the last month AND our speediest children in each year group. (Y3 only have 7 children at the moment who we can rank as they need to play studio speed several times before the score is recorded).

Bedrock Learning

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:

Sports Update

PE News

FPJS Sports Ambassadors

Our Year 6 Sports ambassadors attended Newlands Girls’ School on Monday 6th October. During the visit, the children took part in a series of fun and engaging activities designed to develop their leadership, communication and teamwork skills.

The training focused on helping the pupils become confident leaders who can inspire others to get involved and stay active at school.

The group returned full of fantastic ideas and can’t wait to share their plans with the rest of the school community. We look forward to seeing how they put their new skills into action to make keeping active fun for everyone!

Netball Fliers

This fun, friendly event was a fantastic opportunity for children to learn and play netball in a supportive, inclusive and pressure-free environment. The festival focussed on participation and teamwork. Using the England Netball “Bee Netball” format, children played a simple 4v4 version of the game with no fixed positions, giving everyone a chance to attack and defend. It’s the perfect introduction to the sport for all abilities. Mrs White, who took our 2 teams, returned to school absolutely beaming with delight saying, “All the children had a fabulous time. It was so positive. They supported each other, worked in teams of all boys and all girls and then mixed teams for the matches. They played 4 matches and won all of them; 2:0, 1:0, 3:1 and 3:2. They showed excellent values to other pupils they met and also thanked the organisers. They are really excited to get their certificates too!” Congratulations to the 8 pupils who represented FPJ so well: Oona, Liliana, Rocco, Arthur B, Ella G, Olivia H, Findlay C and Enzo.

Year 5/6 Football Tournament at Courthouse

On Wednesday 15th October we took nine Y5/6 boys over to Courthouse for a football tournament at Courthouse against eight other schools. The boys had to play four games and showed great teamwork, passion and togetherness throughout the afternoon. The games ended 0-0, 1-1, 2-0 and 0-1, playing All Saints, St Edmund Campion, Cookham Rise and Holyport. All involved should be very proud of their effort, digging in till the very end of every match they played.

Mr King & Mr Wilson

Year 5/6 Girls Football Tournament at Courthouse

On Wednesday 8th October, I took eleven Y5/6 girls to Courthouse Junior School for a 90-minute football tournament against five other schools. The girls played five matches and showed determination, resilience and excellent development throughout the tournament while rotating in and out as substitutes. Their support for each other was admirable.

Niamh, our sole Year 5 team member, played in goal for three matches and did a great job defending the goal area. Although we did not score any goals, there were several close moments in the opposing penalty area. The team’s effort was brilliant, and considering they have only trained together twice, their performance was far more impressive than the score lines suggest. I look forward seeing their progression in future matches.

A big thank you goes to Steven Deverall from Holyport for organising it all.

Results:

Holyport 4-0
St Edmund Campion 2-0
Lowbrook 2-0
All Saints 3-0
Waltham St Lawrence 2-0

Mrs Tisshaw

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

What a wondeful first term we have had in Year 3. The children have all settled so well and we are so proud of their maturity, resilience and attitude to learning.

In maths we have been looking at place value as well as addition and subtraction. The children have focused on number bonds, column addition and column subtraction.

In English, the children have been working hard on sentence structure which has included knowing a sentence is made up of a subject and a verb. They have also enjoyed starting our poetry topic and highlighting key nouns, verbs, prepositions and determiners.

We are reading the book '24 hours in the Stone Age' where the children have enjoyed learning new vocabulary, retrieving key information and sequencing the story. This was also part of our history topic where we discussed Stone Henge and why it may have been built.

In science we have learned all about friction and created an experiment where the children all predicted which surface would have the most friction and then tested this with a car and ramp. The children then concluded and recorded their findings.

In RE we discussed Hinduism and the celebration of Diwali. The children loved making rangoli patterns with chalk and learning the story of Rama and Sita.

As part of our art topic we have learned all about the artist Wassily Kandinski. We discussed the colour wheel, movement in art and geometric shapes. For their final piece the children used his art as inspiration for their final piece.

We have had such a super start to juniors and hope you all have a well deserved break over half term.

See you soon and well done Year 3!

Mrs Barry- Y3 Team Leader

Year 3- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks!:

What does the word 'nomadic' mean?

What surface would cause the most friction - grass, tarmac or a table?

Can you count to 10 in French?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

The boy who grew dragons - Andy Shepherd

24 Hours in the Stone Age - Lan Cook

The witches - Roald Dahl

Year 4 News

What a fantastic end to the half term we have had in Year 4!

In English, the children have been busy crafting their own build-ups to The Dream Giver animation. They’ve been using expanded noun phrases to add vivid description, conjunctions and fronted adverbials to extend their sentences, and ‘something hidden’ phrases to build real suspense.

In Maths, the children have been mastering the column method to add and subtract numbers up to 10,000. They’ve especially enjoyed using our interactive place value grids to demonstrate exchanging and carrying.

Our class book this half term has been Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties, which has kept us all laughing and guessing! The children have loved following Humza’s dream to become Eggington’s best rapper — until, of course, his teachers start disappearing and being replaced by aunties. To celebrate, we even tasted Auntie Uzma’s delicious chocolate cake (thankfully with no suspicious side effects!).

In Art, the children have channelled their creativity into designing and making their own Anglo-Saxon pots. They have worked incredibly hard to plan patterns, mould and shape their clay, and paint them using natural-inspired colour palettes.

In RE, we have been exploring Judaism and learning about the Jewish people’s special relationship with God, including the story of Abraham and the importance of the Ten Commandments.

It has been a busy, creative and joyful half term — we are so proud of how hard the children have worked. Have a wonderful and well-deserved half-term break!

Mrs Batchelor – Year 4 Team Leader

Year 4- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks:

Can you remember the rounding rhyme? 0 -- 4 to the _____ 5 -- 6 climb the _____
What punctuation mark comes after a fronted adverbial?
How many times did the Vikings invade the Anglo-Saxons?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4...

Little Badman and the Invasion of the Killer Aunties

By Humza Arshad & Henry White

The Great Chocoplot

By Chris Callaghan

Fairy Vs Wizard

By Jenny McLachlan

Year 5 News

What a busy few weeks it has been for year 5! Well done for all your hard work and for being brilliant students on our school trip.

In English, everyone has been working hard on persuading Mr Wallace and Mrs Clark not to increase the amount of homework by writing formal letters. They are using tools to ensure that their message is cohesive, persuasive and formal.

In Maths, they have been working on multiples and factors, finding the lowest common multiples and common factors of numbers. Well done for those who are consistently practising their times tables as these are key!

In Science, the children have enjoyed using (and then eating!) Oreos to show the phases of the moon and the school trip enabled them to consolidate their learning about Space.

In History, they have produced some lovely work to show how Maidenhead changed in the Victorian Era, during the Industrial Revolution.

In Art, we have been so impressed with the creativity shown in the final space-scape pieces. They have used many of the skills they learned this term to create their own unique outcomes. We can't wait to see the final versions next week! They have also designed some lovely Christmas cards.

In PE, we have seen children take part in the dancing lessons with great passion, which has been really wonderful to see.

Well done Year 5 for some excellent work and engagement in the last few weeks. Keep it up and we hope you have a well-deserved half term break to recharge.

Miss Scott and Mr Sawle, Year 5 Team Leaders

Year 5- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks:

If 12,387 + 246 710 = 259,097, what inverse operation could you do to check if your answer is correct?

In French, what do these words mean? Cochon, famille, musique, cinq and oiseau?

In Science, can you names all the planets of our solar system in order (closest to the sun to furthest.) What is Pluto known as and why?

In English, how can you make a letter sound formal?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

Year 6 News

Year 6 have had a fantastic end to their first half term! We are so proud of how well the children have settled in and the brilliant progress they are making in their learning.

In reading, we finished our class book When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle. This thought-provoking story explored themes of war, friendship, trust, and belonging. It complemented our WW2 history unit perfectly, and the children really engaged with the characters and storyline.

In English, the children have been writing their own WW2 evacuee diaries. They have stepped into the shoes of children from 1940, using appropriate vocabulary and drawing on real evacuee experiences discussed in our history lessons. Their writing reflected the both positive and negative experiences of the evacuees.

In maths, we completed our unit on the four operations and have now started our unit on fractions, decimals, and percentages. The children are working hard to develop their understanding and apply their skills.

In science, we have been exploring how light travels. The children carried out experiments to determine which fabrics would be best for blackout windows during the Blitz—a very hands-on way to link science with our history learning!

In art, the children have been collaborating to create a piece inspired by Stanley Spencer, using the grid method and water colours.

After half term, we have lots of exciting activities planned, including our Rhos trip, creating CAMs in design technology, and much more. We can’t wait to continue this fantastic learning journey with Year 6!

Miss Morales - Y6 Team Leader

Year 6- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt over the last few weeks!:

What was life like on the Homefront during WW2?
What material would be best to black out windows during the Blitz? Why?
What are the 5 pillars of Islam?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

SEND updates

FurzePlattJuniorSchool.pdf

FPSA Update

Mr T's Quiz Night (Friday 17th October)

The quiz night was back last week and an incredible 27 teams were present to fill the Juniors hall. Congratulations go to team 'Tom's Tarts' who won the quiz with 'Furze Place' second and one of the 3 Junior teams (The Platt Pack) coming 3rd. The event has raised around £2,200 for the schools which is fabulous. The quiz will return in May 2026.

Oakwood Estates Christmas Fair boards

We have had a great response to our recent comms asking for households to sign up for an Oakwood Estates board. These boards will advertise our upcoming Christmas Fair and we get paid up to £10 per board! Boards go up ~2 weeks before the fair and all you have to do is provide us with a postcode and first line of your address. Sign up here: https://forms.gle/8wgV3i9FBQPA5p8d8

Tesco Stronger Starts - Every Little Blue Token Helps!

We are pleased to announce that we have been selected for a customer vote in certain local Tesco stores. Our project could receive up to a massive £1,500. When you shop at the stores, you can ask for blue tokens and pop them into the middle box (labelled Furze Platt Infant & Junior Schools' Association). Thank you!

The following stores have voting boxes for you to place the blue tokens into:

Tesco Express, Furze Platt (closest to FPIS & FPJS)
Tesco Express, Maidenhead Bath Road (next to Majestic Wine)
Tesco Express, Maidenhead High Street
Tesco Superstore, Taplow (Bishops Centre)
Tesco Express, Slough
Tesco Express, Burnham

Christmas Cards - coming soon....

Your children have been very busy over the last couple of weeks designing Christmas pictures that can be turned into Christmas cards, tea-towels, mugs, gift wrap and so on. Watch out for more information after half term!

Personalised name label stickers

We have an updated discount code for buying school uniform labels and labels for water bottles etc. from the 'Easy2Name' company. 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. 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.

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 following link: https://www.windsorandmaidenheadcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/furze-platt-schools-association

Copas Farms - Turkey Cashback Scheme

Copas Farms based locally in Cookham, are once again supporting the FPSA. For every order placed with them using the code FPJS24PTA, we will receive 5% of the order value.

Dates for your Diary:

Happy School Bag Collection - Wednesday 12th November

Happy School Bags is school fundraising through clothing donations. A chance to have a clear out of your unwanted clothes. Bags will come home with your child a few weeks before this date and filled bags can be dropped off by the Infants front gate in the morning of the 12th.

Bingo Night - Friday 14th November (8pm - 11pm)

Eyes down for a full house! Bingo Bob is back for another fun evening at the Juniors hall. There will be some traditional games of bingo along with plenty of musical bingo games too. Lots of prizes on offer including the final game £100 jackpot! Tickets will be available soon at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa

Christmas Fair - Saturday 6th December (11.30am - 2.30pm)

The Christmas Fair is back at the beginning of December Please pop this date in your diary. This is our second biggest fundraising event of the year and we will need your help!

Murder Mystery Event - Friday 27th February 2026

We are very excited to announce that our very first ever 'Murder Mystery' event will take place early next year. The Juniors hall will be turned into an old library in a 'Death at Dinner Club' performance from Moonstone Murder Mysteries company. Please save the date!

Useful Information For Parents

�� A Magical Family Adventure at Windsor Great Park Illuminated! ��

From 14 November 2025 – 3 January 2026, Windsor Great Park will sparkle with a

brand-new illuminated trail, filled with dazzling new displays and returning favourites

like the iconic Field of Light and Fairies.

It’s the perfect festive outing for families and friends – wander through glowing

woodland, watch colourful fountains dance, and stop to toast marshmallows or enjoy

hot chocolate under the stars. Best of all, the trail is dog-friendly every evening, so

even four-legged family members can join in the fun.

New this year is a Low Sensory Session on Tuesday 25 November, offering a

calmer way to enjoy the magic.

Tickets sell quickly, so book early to make magical memories your family will

treasure.

www.windsorilluminated.com

Maidenhead's Big Read

Click on the link to find out how your children can enter a super competition to create a book mark that will be printed and used as part of the Maidenhead's Big Read festival later in 2026.

Maidenhead's Big Read

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