On Friday 9th July, year 3 headed off to London Zoo.

The trip was originally linked to our rainforest topic but due to school closures and the trip being postponed, we just made the most of having a wonderful day out together, learning about the many different animals from around the world.

The weather was very kind to us, which meant we spent all day outdoors and were able to enjoy a picnic lunch together.

The children were beautifully behaved and thoroughly enjoyed all the amazing patterns, colours and shapes that nature had to offer. We were even able to walk inside cages with lemurs, monkeys, sloths...

A truly brilliant day that I hope the children won't soon forget.

See Year 3 News for photos.

On Friday 9th, year immersed themselves in the past and experienced Tudor day in style!

In the morning, we spent some time learning about Tudor past times; playing chess, cards and badminton as well as creating our own coat of arms to represent our families. We also shared a Tudor banquet trying out a range of Tudor foods - some we liked, others weren't quite to our modern tastes. Thank you to all parents and carers for providing such a delicious feast.

In the afternoon, we completed some Tudor artworks, finishing off the other half of portraits of Tudor kings and queens. It really was a fantastic day and the children all looked wonderful in their costumes!

"My favourite bit was badminton because at the start I wasn't good but at the end I was excellent!" - Adam

"I really enjoyed the banquet because I tried new foods, my favourite was the ginger biscuits!" - Zoe

After what can only be described as a "unique" year, we decided on an educational and also fun filled day out for the year 5 children to Kidzania.

We had a fantastic time with the children earning a salary for each of the different jobs they carried out over the course of the day. Favourites included the aviation academy, where the children used a flight simulator to become a pilot. The television studio was also popular, where a green screen enabled the children to present the weather along with a newdesk for the day's top stories. A surprisingly sought after job was that of a delivery person. For this the children had to ensure they took their parcels and letters to the correct addresses across Kidzania, without the parcel sustaining any damage. Some were more succesful at this than others!

A brilliant day was had by all. The children behaved fantastically all day and did a great job (no pun intended) of representing FPJS. Well done year 5!

Review written by Ethan HB, Tillie and Caitlin in Class KM

Are you a history and mystery lover? Well if so, Anne Marie's books are for you! Her latest book, "Mystery of the Night Walkers" is the latest historical mystery book by award-winning children's author A.M. Howell . The book is set in 1910 as Halley's Comet approaches its closest point to Earth leading to both trepidation and excitement among the general population.

We were lucky enough to see AM Howell by zoom and she was really inspiring as she has so many stories to tell- many of them based around history. In her writing, she produces so many twists and turns that it is really exciting to read. She also explained to us that her main characters always have a piece of herself in her stories which makes them so special.

She was really inspirational and it made us want to read more of her books in the future!

I am delighted to announce a new member to the Furze Platt family; meet Hugo the miniature schnauzer. Hugo has already been into school to meet all the children in their assemblies and he will continue to come to school once a week in the new academic year. Small groups of children will work with him in a separate room away from the classrooms.

While some children may have phobias of dogs, it is important to outline that Hugo the dog has been trained and only accepted to be of Pets as Therapy standard due to the fact he is well trained, calm around both children and adults and is incredibly docile. Alongside this he is well groomed and cleaned reducing any risk of allergies. We will be sending further details of his visits with consent forms in the autumn term.

Numerous research studies have shown the benefits of therapy dogs in schools. They have shown that they can help to provide a holistic and rich teaching environment developing cognitive, social, emotional and physical attributes for children. The evidence has shown that enjoying the companionship of a dog can help to stimulate memory, problem solving and to encourage playing games and turn taking. Alongside this it enables children to start asking questions and create discussions and encourages wellbeing and focused interaction with others. A school dog improves self-esteem, and lifts mood through fun and games. Playing and working with dogs can also teach compassion and respect for other living things as well as relieving anxiety. Most importantly for some pupils the biggest benefit will be that interacting with dogs can reduce blood pressure having a calming effect, and they can provide tactile stimulation for those who need it. It can also assist with motivation to encourage children to move, walk and stimulate the senses.

Mrs Endacott

PE Lessons

Hello Everyone, what an end to the school year it has been! As we all know its been a challenging and difficult time in schools throughout this covid pandemic, but FPJS managed to make PE the best it possibly could be. Throughout the year we have covered many virtual games events, had different house competitions happening and of course tried to make our PE lessons for each class as fun for the children as we possible. Covering a numerous range of sports from Cricket, Netball, Basketball, Athletics, Rounders, Scatterball, Kickball, General Fitness and plenty more. Mr Kemp and Mrs Winter are exceptionally proud in how all the pupils handled such a drastic change in how PE was structured during this school calendar year. The children's participation has been exceptional throughout 2020-2021, so a big WELL DONE to every single pupil involved. We are already looking forward to the new start coming up in September 2021.

By Mr Kemp/Mrs Winter

What a crazy, unpredictable and amazing year we have had.

In recent weeks, we enjoyed our trip to Hampton Court Palace which built on our learning about the Tudors. We spend the morning exploring Henry VIII's apartments and kitchens and couldn't believe how large the fireplaces were! After picnicking on the lawn, we then moved on to explore the grounds and gardens of the beautiful palace, soaking up the sun and taking in the impressive architecture. Thank you to all the parent helpers who made this trip possible!

As well as this, on Tuesday, we participated in STEM day which saw us finishing and decorating our wooden frames and building and testing floating platforms. The team work we witnessed was fantastic and one of the platforms built held a whopping 4700g! English and maths have seen us planning dream holidays, finishing off Charlotte's Web and spending some well deserved time saying goodbye to one another.

We are so incredibly proud of everything that the children have achieved this year. You have shown resilience, perseverance and determination in the face of so much change and have still managed to progress and develop. We hope that you will enjoy the last few days of term with your teachers and will treasure your memories of year 4.Thank you also to all parents/carers who have supported the children and the school this year, we are ever grateful for your enthusiasm. Enjoy your summer holidays, take a good rest and best of luck in year 5!

By Miss Lawrence

This year has been full of surprises - some not so good ( more lockdown) and some brilliant - Rhos on , then off , then ON - but whatever it has thrown at us the year 6's have coped admirably with everything.

This year we have managed to squeeze a lot into a shorter amount of time including studying light, the Maya people, the Battle of Britain, the effects of Palm Oil, Giacometti sculptures, Stanley Spencer, Jazz, Goodnight Mr Tom as well as Rhos, the play, the Oscars and the Maths business project - Phew !

The year 6 team have thoroughly enjoyed teaching and that is mainly to do with the smashing effort and behaviour of the year 6 children who have made this year so rewarding.

We all wish them every success as they move forwards to their new school and are incredibly glad we managed to give them the end of year experience they deserved. Take care year 6 and well done all of you.

By Miss Johnson