Furze Platt Juniors 2025-26 Newsletter

It has been another busy and productive few weeks since half term! The days are flying by as we head towards Christmas, with the school fully immersed in festive preparations!

Our Year 3 pupils are busy learning their songs and lines for the Nativity plays, and the whole school is rehearsing for our annual Carol Concert. This week, we also enjoyed a fantastic treat: a visit from the pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, which was a huge hit with all the children!

Further down, you can read more about our Year 6 residential trip to North Wales last week—a huge thank you to the staff who made this valuable experience possible: Miss Morales, Mr Wilson, Mrs Tisshaw, Miss Jordan, Mr Sawle, Mr Browne, Miss McCallion, and Mrs Sweatman. We are committed to providing these essential opportunities, as they are instrumental in helping our pupils develop self-confidence and independence. (Year 5 parents, please note that we will be holding a meeting regarding next year's trip in February!)

Finally, thank you for your generous support of Children in Need, and look out for details on our exciting new partnership with the Thames Valley Hospice and the 'Trunks across the Thames' initiative! We hope to see many of you at the Christmas Fair on 6th December.

Anna Clark

Head of School

Well done to our Headstudents who have put together a first ever edition of "Furze Platt Chat"- a newsletter for children. If your child hasn't had chance to read this, you can find the link here

Y3 Parent Survey Results

Thank you to all parents who completed our recent Year 3 transition survey. We are delighted to share that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive- the following are average ratings based on all responses:

How well your child has settled into FPJS: 4.7 / 5
Helpfulness of information provided before starting: 4.6 / 5
Quality of transition opportunities: 4.6 / 5

Parents particularly praised the welcoming atmosphere, clear communication, and how smoothly children settled into junior school life. Suggestions included providing even clearer guidance on homework routines which we will take on board and also condensing school app messages sent to parents. We are now trialling sending a weekly email from the office with key information, and only sending other information when absolutely necessary.

We are so pleased that the transition to FPJS has been such a positive experience for our new families!

Tesco stronger starts scheme- help us win money!

Let's Play Outside! 🌳 Help Our School Collect Tesco 'Blue Tokens'

We're excited to announce that our school is taking part in the Tesco Stronger Starts scheme! This is a fantastic opportunity for us to raise funds specifically for improving our outdoor play areas and activities.

How You Can Help

Every time you shop at a Tesco store (including Metro, Superstore, or Extra), you'll receive a 'blue token' at the checkout. Instead of discarding it, please drop your token into the designated column for Furze Platt Schools Association on your way out! Please do ask the cashier for tokens- if you are lucky you may be given 5 or 6! You can do this at Tesco Furze Platt, Tesco Bath Rd, Tesco High street, Tesco Taplow, Tesco Slough and Tesco Burnham

What Are We Raising Money For?

The more tokens we collect, the larger the grant we'll receive from Tesco! Our goal is to purchase new equipment that will encourage physical activity, creativity, and teamwork during break times. If we beat the other 2 charities, we will receive £1500!

Every token, no matter how small, brings us closer to making our playground an even better place for every student. Thank you for your support!

You can see the video we created here to encourage our children to put the blue tokens in the FPSA column!

Diary Dates:

Thurs 4th December: Y4 at "Christmas Unwrapped" at St Peter's church
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 (Y3/4 4-5; Y5/6 5.15-6.30pm)
Fri 12th Dec: Christmas Jumper day for Save the Children: Donate here
Mon 15th Dec: Christmas Homwork deadline. See information here
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
Christmas Holidays are from 20th December - 2nd January

Key dates for 2026 Terms 3 and 4

Mon 5th January is an Inset day
Tues 6th Jan: Term 3 begins
Thurs 5th Feb- 25th Feb: Topic homework set
Mon 9th Feb: Well-being week: Focusing on culture and charity
Mon 9th Feb: Y3 trip to British Museum
Weds 11th Feb: Y5 parents meeting about Rhos-Y-Gwaliau Y6 residential trip 6-7pm
Fri 13th Feb: Stomp for Trunks- sponsored stomp day (dress down)
Fri 13th Feb: End of term 3
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 6th March: World Book Day celebrations (dress down)
Fri 20th March: Comic Relief Day (dress down)
Mon 23rd March: Parents consultations 3.30-6.30pm
Weds 25rd March: Parents consultations 3.30-6.30pm
Fri 27th March: TT Rock Star Day (dress as a rock star!)
Fri 27th March: End of term- school finishes at 1.30pm

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

Trunks across the Thames

We are thrilled to announce that our school is taking part in Thames Hospice’s “Trunks Across the Thames” competition! This inspiring project is the Hospice’s very first art trail and will bring together businesses, schools, community groups and artists to create a free, fun and family-friendly trail of discovery for everyone in the local community to enjoy.

As part of the trail, our school will be 'adopting' a baby elephant to decorate. Once completed, our elephant will join the Thames Hospice herd that will be displayed throughout Slough and Windsor during summer 2026. We can’t wait to get creative and be part of something so special! To adopt the elephant, we need to raise £1300, and we will be holding a variety of fundraising events throughout the year. To get us started, there is a JustGiving link below where you can begin donating to this wonderful cause.

To launch the campaign, we were delighted to welcome Hannah from Thames Hospice on 4th November. She led an assembly for all the children, sharing the important work the Hospice does and inspiring us with the story behind the art trail. Our elephant will be arriving at school in February, and nearer the time we will be choosing a design—so watch this space for more exciting updates!

If you would like to help us kick start our fund-raising for this venture, please donate below. No donation is too big or small!

Trunks across the Thames fund

Poppy Design for Remembrance Day

Many children entered the Remembrance Day Poppy Competition and all entries were displayed in the hall for everyone to admire on the 11th of November.

There were some fabulous designs! Every participant earned 5 house points and a further selection of particularly innovative entries received 10 house points.

Then, four finalists were selected based on originality, effort and skill.

The four finalists were:

4th place: Cici (year 5), who won 50 house points for the Normans with her delicate 3D petal design.
3rd place: Joshua (year 6), who won 100 house points for the Vikings with his unique poppy made out of coins.
2nd place: Alice (year 4), who won 150 points for the Normans with her beautifully executed multi-media poppy design.
1st place: Keziah (Year 5) who won 200 house points for the Danes for her outstanding painting on wood, representing the poppy fields.

Well done to everyone who took part, and congratulations to our runners-up and finalists for their fantastic efforts!

Y6 Rhos-Y-Gwaliau residential

Year 6 enjoyed a fantastic week on their residential trip to Rhos y Gwaliau in Wales. The children took part in a wide range of outdoor activities, spent quality time with their friends, and created memories that will stay with them for years to come.

Throughout the week, pupils challenged themselves with activities such as mountain climbing, via ferrata, exploring a local slate mine, and canoeing across Bala Lake. Some of these experiences pushed them out of their comfort zones, but we were incredibly proud to see the resilience, teamwork, and encouragement they showed towards one another.

In addition to the outdoor adventures, the children developed valuable life skills. They learned to take responsibility for their daily routines—making their beds, organising their belongings, and even preparing their own lunches. We hope these skills continue to shine through now they are back at home.

Year 6 have undoubtedly made memories to last a lifetime. A huge thank you goes to all the staff who generously gave their time and energy throughout the week, helping to make this trip possible for the children.

Y3 Lantern Making

The children in Year 3 were lucky enough to have Norden Farm visit on Tuesday 18th November. The children all created individual fish scales to put onto the large fish lantern that will be paraded on Saturday 6th Decemember, an event we take part in annually. The children really enjoyed their creations and were so thrilled with the end product. Children and parents are invited to take part in the lantern parade on Saturday 6th December meeting at the town hall. More information will be sent out about this in due course. Well done Year 3 - this looks fantastic!

Sleeping Beauty Panto

What a treat! FPJS pupils were enchanted by the professional 'Sleeping Beauty' pantomime that visited on Monday. The festive atmosphere was fantastic especially when Mrs Dean, Mrs Tisshaw, Miss Embery and Mr King stole the show, bravely doing some spectacular dancing with the help of Maleficent and the King!

A huge thank you to the cast for bringing laughter, music hits and festive joy to the school! We hope everyone enjoyed shouting "oh no it isn't" and cheering on Eric "the nice guy!". What a wonderful start to the Christmas festivities!

Mrs Dean

Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars

Star of the week Newsletter 3: 28th November 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

Our Tuesday assemblies this half term have given the children lots to think about and discuss. We began with an assembly on Trunks Across the Thames, where we introduced our exciting fundraiser for Thames Hospice and shared how our school will be decorating a baby elephant for the community art trail. The following week, we marked Remembrance Day, learning about why we wear poppies and the importance of remembering and respecting those who fought for our country.

During Road Safety Week, the children explored how to keep themselves safe both as pedestrians and as passengers in cars, including the importance of wearing seatbelts and helping drivers stay focused by reducing noise and distractions. Most recently, Mr Browne led a fascinating and thought-provoking assembly on the passing of time, helping children reflect on why time can feel fast when we’re having fun and slow at other moments.

We look forward to sharing even more learning and reflection through our assemblies in the weeks ahead.

Mrs Barbosa

TT Rock stars- Top Ten Leaderboard and Top Ten Progress

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 who have made the most progress in the last month AND our speediest children in each year group.

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

P.E. this term:
All year groups have now moved on to gymnastics for their indoor P.E. lessons in the hall.

For outdoor P.E.:

Year 3 are focusing on fundamental skills.
Years 4 and 6 are working on fitness.
Year 5 have been developing their skills in handball.

Miss Gill

Sports Hall Athletics Year 4

On Friday 21st November, 36 Year 4 pupils represented FPJS at Braywick Leisure Centre in the Sports Hall Athletics competition. We took both an A Team and a B Team, with 9 girls and 9 boys in each.

We are delighted to share that the A Team finished in 3rd place, earning bronze medals.

Well done to every single child who took part — you were all amazing!

Miss Gill

Sports Hall Athletics Year 5

On Friday 21st November, 36 Year 5 pupils represented FPJS at Braywick Leisure Centre in the Sports Hall Athletics competition. We took both an A Team and a B Team, with 9 girls and 9 boys in each.

All of the children took part in two track events and two field events, giving their absolute best in everything they did. They showed fantastic determination, pushed themselves brilliantly, and represented Furze Platt with pride! Their sportsmanship was outstanding — not only cheering on their own teammates but also supporting their friends from other schools.

They all performed incredibly well, and out of 14 teams the A Team finished in 5th place.

Well done to everyone who took part — you were all amazing!

Miss Gill

Invictus Festival

On Tuesday 25th November, we took 10 Year 4 students to Braywick Leisure Centre to represent Furze Platt Junior School in the Invictus Festival. They all took part in three different activities — Danger Ball, New Age Kurling, and Target Run.

All of the students really enjoyed themselves and took part with enthusiasm. They did a fantastic job representing their school.

Well done to all of you for attending — you were brilliant!

Miss Gill and Mrs Tisshaw

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

Year 3 have had a wonderful return to school after half term and are now in full swing with Christmas nativity practise!

In English, the children have created their final poems using the structure of 'The Sound Collector' poem. This was a lovely opportunity for the children to record their ideas and share their video with the class. We have also now started out new unit on setting descriptions.

In maths, the children have been completing their work on addition and subtraction. We have used the column methods which have been exchanging over 10's and 100's and we are so pleased with how quickly the children have picked this up. We have also been using the manipulatives to help support with sharing and grouping.

In DT the children have started to plan out their designs for pop up books which they will be making on the run up to Christmas. The children have looked at the folds and will be incorporating these into the finished products.

As part of our Geography topic, the children have enjoyed looking at weather and climate and the difference between these. The home work project was a good way to start their learning on this and we are so incredibly impressed with how much work and effort the children put into these.

In RE we have been looking at Christianity and the Christmas story which has fitted well into our nativity play 'Baubles'

We have also been lucky enough to have a visit from Norden Farm to make lanterns and raised an incredible amount of money for Children in Need this year with our Dress Down Day.

What a wonderful start we have had and we cannot wait to share our magnificent play with you all soon.

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 can you see, smell, touch and hear in the desert?

What folds have you learned in DT?

Can you make an array for 3 x 2 = ?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

Planet Omar - Zanib Mian

The Witches - Roald Dahl

Kaspar prince of cats - Michael Morpurgo

Year 4 News

What a wonderfully busy start to the half term we have had!

In English, the children loved visiting Oaken Grove Park to gather inspiration for their leaflet writing. They have been applying their knowledge of expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials to add rich description to their sentences, all with the aim of encouraging our local community to explore the park.

In Maths, the children have been working incredibly hard to learn a range of strategies for recalling the 6, 7, 11 and 12 times tables. Their determination and enthusiasm have been fantastic to see.

Our class book this half term has been A–Z of Shape Poetry. The children have enjoyed discovering fascinating facts about a wide variety of animals, all cleverly woven through poetry.

Our Science lessons have been wonderfully messy! The children created their own model of the digestive system and used it to describe the process of digestion inside the human body — a definite highlight of the half term.

In Geography, the children have been investigating the water cycle. They put their scientific skills to the test by creating their own working water-cycle models and observing each stage of the cycle in action.

In RE, we have been exploring Christianity and learning about the key parts of the Nativity story.

The children are now very excited for Christmas Unwrapped at St Peter’s Church in a couple of weeks. Let the countdown to Christmas begin!

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:

What is the difference between a clause and a phrase?
Can you sing our water cycle song?
How do humans digest food?

Apes to Zebras -- An A-Z of Shape Poetry

By Liz Brownlee, Sue Hardy-Dawson and Roger Stevens

Finding Her Feet

By Eve Ainsworth

How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?

By Brooke Barker

Year 5 News

Our amazing Year 5s have been busy again over the last few weeks!

In English, they have been learning to write in a more formal and scientific style while creating non-chronological reports about their own imagined planets. They have worked hard on their sentence structure, learning to use both single-clause and multi-clause sentences accurately.

In maths, Year 5 have been tackling work on fractions. They have been learning to find equivalent fractions, add and subtract fractions and convert improper fractions into mixed numbers (and vice versa).

In science, they have been learning about forces and have investigated friction, air resistance, and levers and pulleys.

In PSHE, the children have been learning about health and wellbeing, exploring how to look after themselves to feel good. They created videos about tips for a good night's sleep.

We have also started a new art project, where the children will be taking inspiration from two artists—Vincent van Gogh and Stephen Wiltshire—to create a cityscape, using new skills we will be practising.

In geography, they have begun learning about mountains, and this topic will continue until Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, the children are excited about all the Christmas-themed fun and events that will be talking place leading up to the end of the Autumn term.They have enjoyed the pantomime and soon they will be watching the year 3 students perform in their Nativity assemblies.

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!:

Can you add 4/5 and 3/15? (Remember that there is an importnat step for you to do before you can add these!)

What does every clause need to contain?

Can you describe Asha and the Spirit Bird in three words only, based on wehat we have read so far?

What are friction and air resistance?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5.

Asha and the Spirit Bird

Jasbinder Bilan

India, Incredible India

Jasbinder Bilan

Year 6 News

What a fantastic few weeks we have had in Year 6! Not only have the children enjoyed their exciting residential trip, but they have also made an excellent start to their new topics across the curriculum.

In English, pupils have been writing imaginative biographies set in the year 2090. They had great fun deciding on the extraordinary achievements and challenges their future selves might face. We even aged them for their front covers, which caused plenty of amusement!

In maths, the children are close to completing their unit on fractions. They have learned several helpful strategies—such as the butterfly method and KCF—to support their understanding and problem-solving.

In reading, we have begun exploring Herstory, a fascinating text that introduces pupils to influential women who have shaped history.

In science, the children have been classifying animals and learning about the important work of Carl Linnaeus.

In RE, we have been studying key symbols in Christianity and exploring how they connect to the Christmas story.

It has certainly been a busy and productive few weeks, but the children have approached everything with enthusiasm. We are now looking forward to the build-up to Christmas!

Well done, 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 are three wood joints and what are their differences?
How do you turn a mixed fraction into an improper fraction?
What is passive voice?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

Herstory

Katherine Halligan

Impossible creatures

Katherine Rundell

School Council Updates

SEND updates

november-newsletter-2025.pdf

FPSA Update

Bingo Night (Friday 14th November)

Bingo Bob was back at the Juniors for another fun night of bingo. There were 8 games in total, 4 traditional numbers bingo and 4 musical bingo games with lots of sing songs in the hall. Well done to all the winners including Danielle who took home the £100 jackpot at the end! Thank you to everyone who came to the event, we hope you enjoyed it.

Oakwood Estates Christmas Fair boards

Thank you to everyone who signed up to have an Oakwood Estates board up outside their house advertising the Christmas Fair. These boards have helped us raise around £450 for both schools.

Tesco Stronger Starts - Every Little Blue Token Helps!

Next time you shop at Tesco, please don't forget to ask for a blue token or two and pop them in the middle box (FPSA). We could win £1,500!

Please take a look at the following video involving none other than British Olympic Champion, Jessica Ennis-Hill.

https://strongerstarts.tesco.com/video/a0434bce-c535-4b59-a8f6-237cb13eab6d

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 update

Thank you for placing orders recently, we hope to have the goods back in early December. We hope to have raised ~£750 from this fundraiser!

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 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:

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

With only a week to go, we still need lots of help with running the Christmas Fair please. In particular, we have many stalls that need volunteers to help run them. Please can you spare an hour of your time to go on a stall? Without enough volunteers, stalls will open late, close early or worse, not run at all.

Here is the volunteer link: https://volunteersignup.org/9QPTK

This week, your child came home with an important letter about the Christmas Fair. Please bring tombola donations to school on Friday 5th December and in return, your child can come in non-uniform that day.

Cash Raffle link - https://fpsa.charityhive.co.uk/raffle/3/christmas-fair-2025

Silent Auction link - https://fpsa.charityhive.co.uk/auction

Junior Discos - Thursday 11th December

DJs Sawle and King are back! Tickets are on sale now for the upcoming discos. Please ensure you phone the school office on the day if you have purchased a ticket for your child but they can no longer attend e.g. due to illness.

Tickets can be purchased at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa

Murder Mystery Event - Friday 27th February 2026

Tickets are now on sale for our very first ever 'Murder Mystery' event which takes place at the end of February next year. The Juniors hall will be turned into an old library in a 'Death at Dinner Club' performance from Moonstone Murder Mysteries company.

Tickets available at https://fpsa.charityhive.co.uk/tickets/1/murder-mystery-evening.

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

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