Welcome to FPJS 2021!

Welcome to our first Newsletter of the new school year! We hope that our bi-weekly update will give you a flavour of all the wonderful events that happen at Furze Platt Juniors.

We have only been back for a few weeks but already we are incredibly impressed with how all of our children have settled into their new classes, working really hard and being so engaged in their learning- see our Year Group news pages for more detail for your child's year group. It is always wonderful to see the new Year 3 children learning around the school site, enjoying our brilliant outdoor areas. We are so lucky at FPJS to have such a varied space for children to learn. Over the summer, the environmental area had a bit of a make-over, with brand new paths for the children to explore. We hope that Y3 parents will be able to join us soon in a tour of the school to see what a special place FPJS is!

We have also enjoyed most of our assemblies being back in the hall and finally being allowed to sing again! I hope the children are bringing the songs home to parents- they will really brighten up your day!

We have already begun the process of putting together our pupil leadership team for this academic year- we were amazed that over 30 children put themselves forward to become one of our "Head Students"- writing a speech and presenting this to their year group. This week all the staff and children will be voting! Following this, we will be choosing House Captains for each house.

There is so much to look forward to at FPJS this year- let's hope we can continue to find our new normal, and enjoy the many varied events we have planned!

Anna Clark

Head of School

Jaqueline Wilson to visit FPJS!

On Friday 24^th September we are honoured to be welcoming Dame Jacqueline Wilson to the school to speak about her work as a leading children’s author and particularly her latest book The Primrose Railway Children.

We are hoping that we are able to allow all the children in to the hall to see Jaqueline Wilson “live”, but please be aware that due to a few covid cases within the school, we may need to limit the number of children we can have in the hall to ensure we can create spaces between the year groups and Jacqueline herself. However, we will set up a live zoom, so all children will be able to hear her speak.

Dame Jacqueline, a former Children’s Laureate and internationally best-selling author, has written over 40 children’s books, many of which have been adapted into films and television programmes. She has won major awards for titles such as The Illustrated Mum, The Story of Tracy Beaker and Double Act, and was awarded an OBE in 2002 and DBE in 2008 in recognition of her achievements in and for children’s literature.

115 years after the publication of the much-loved children’s classic The Railway Children, Jacqueline Wilson, pays tribute to the novel with a modern reimagining of the adventure story, referring to Edith Nesbit as her ‘all-time favourite classic children's author’.

The Primrose Railway Children centres around Phoebe who loves making up stories – just like her wonderful, imaginative dad. When he mysteriously disappears, Phoebe, her siblings, Perry and Becks, and their mum must leave everything behind and move to a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. Struggling to settle and missing her dad terribly, Phoebe’s only distraction is her guinea pig Daisy - until the family discover the thrilling steam trains at the railway station and suddenly, every day is filled with adventure. But Phoebe still can’t help wondering what her mum is hiding – and when she will see her dad again…

If you would like to order a signed copy of The Primrose Railway Children

for £10 (discounted from rrp £12.99) please click on the button below to buy online:

Click to buy a book!

In Pictures: Y3 at FPJS

Take a look at our brilliant new Year 3 children around our school site, having great fun learning and getting to know everyone!

Zack, Shreya and Jess- our newly appointed Head Students

Head Students for FPJS 2021-22

A record number of Year 6 students put themselves forward for the position of "Head Student" last week. Over 30 Year 6 pupils wrote and presented their vision for why they should be chosen to represent the whole school. The Year 6 team were very impressed with all of the speeches and the confidence shown by the pupils and had a difficult time deciding who would make the final shortlist of 10.

The final 10, were: Archie, Diana Ethan S, Gus, Jess, Lizzie, Rosemary, Shreya, Vivaan, Zack. Each of these children were then given a further opportunity to convince the rest of the school why they should be chosen.

We are delighted to announce that FPJS voted for Zack, Shreya and Jess to become Head Students this year. They will now meet with Mr Wallace and Mrs Clark to discuss the roles they will play in developing and supporting Furze Platt Junior School.

hugo the pet therapy dog

This week, we have been delighted to welcome Hugo, our pet therapy dog into FPJS. We hope that over the course of the year, all children will have time with Hugo. There are a wide range of benefits of spending time with a therapy dog including reducing student stress and anxiety and improving interpersonal skills and empathy. Doesn't he look adorable?!

fpjs library update and how you can get a free book!

We love reading at FPJS and we are thrilled that we are able to open our SMaRt library to our pupils once again. Our library was refurbished 4 years ago with the kind support from Spoore, Merry and Rixman, a local Maidenhead charity. We believe that reading for pleasure has a huge impact on a child's ability to progress in all areas of the curriculum and our library is the perfect place to ensure all children develop such a love for books. We regularly update books in the library as building in brand new reads and exciting authors encourages children to read even more. We are currently refreshing our library with new reads from the commission we receive from running Scholastic Book Fairs, and have a lot of great reads which we would like to donate to our school community! We have been offering free books for children to take home and still have many to give away. On Monday 20th September after school, we will be putting all the books out on the playground for parents to have a browse and take for their children. These are free but if you are able to donate something to the school for further purchases of books, we would be very grateful!

All the children will have a weekly opportunity to visit the library to browse and take out books during the school day and we are hoping to increase this to lunchtime and after school in the near future.

We will also be launching our virtual library soon which will give everyone access to a huge variety of book recommendations- watch this space!

Spelling at FPJS

Many parents ask us about how spelling lessons work at FPJS and what they can do to help. This year, we are adapting our approach to allow more time for children to explore the rules and patterns of spelling in lessons to support long-term learning in memory. Although there are some national expectations of words to be "learnt" by the end of Year 3/4 and Y5/6 (which can be found in the back of the home-school diary), research shows us that learning many specific words for a test doesn't always translate into long-term learning. This means a child may be able to memorise a correct spelling for a test, but cannot reliably spell the word correctly in other writing contexts. Instead, exploring rules and patterns with the children so they can apply this knowledge to unfamiliar words often gives children the best tools for long-term learning and the confidence to tackle new, more ambitious vocabulary.

All teaching teams will now be communicating to parents via Seesaw the rule or pattern for the week with a suggested list of words for children to practice. These will be differentiated to support children who find spelling more difficult, but will also give opportunities for further challenges for children who have a natural flair for spelling. We still feel that a weekly focus and the ability to practice, learn and be tested is important and so children will be involved in spelling "quizzes" to see if they have retained the learning by being able to spell words which fit the pattern or rule. There will at times be some words you simply have to learn by rote that don't fall into a rule or pattern or are particularly tricky. Teachers will give children hints and tips on ways to do this as part of the lessons.

The space in the home-school diary for spellings will instead be used as a personal spelling area for children to write common words which they often spell incorrectly (as directed by the teacher). This means there will not always be spellings in this area weekly and that it will be used to support your child as and when it is required.

Parents can help support their children by ensuring they practice these spellings regularly. We do know that some children struggle with spellings and need regular revision of previously taught rules and sounds and therefore put in place additional support and intervention as needed.

We hope this will help your child become a confident speller!

Homework at FPJS

Does your child struggle with completing homework? If so, read on...

At FPJS, we gradually build up our expectations of completing homework. For all year groups, the most important aspect of homework is daily reading. Your child should be reading daily (either aloud to you or a sibling or independently once they are a fluent, free reader) and recording this in their home-school diary.

We also expect children to practise their times-tables (TT rock stars is brilliant for this!) for speed of recall, and work on any spelling rules.

In Year 3 and Year 4, we set one piece of formal homework a week, alternating maths and English. In Year 5 and Year 6, this increases to 2 pieces a week.

Although homework can be frustrating for both children and parents, it is our duty to prepare children to be "secondary-ready", enabling children to get into good habits with completing homework tasks.

If your child is struggling with any of the homework set, please DO let teachers know. The children should be able to complete most tasks without adult support- if your child needs your full support when completing the work it is too hard for them and needs to be adjusted, or they may need further support in class.

Each teaching team is also setting up a "Homework Help" lunchtime club, designed to support any child who finds it difficult to complete work at home. This is not a punishment for children who don't hand in homework, but rather a supportive time in the school day where children can complete tasks with adult support. Please do tell your class teacher if you feel your child would benefit from attending this. Teams will put further details on SeeSaw about when the "Homework Help" club will take place.

Quick Links

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Curriculum

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Term Dates

Well-being

Calendar

Stars of the week

Star of the week newsletter 17th September 2021

Well done to all our stars this week!

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.

Our stars are in a downloadable format if you want to print to keep!

TT Rock stars Update

Well done to all our children who have started using TT rock stars regularly to practise times tables! Year 3 are yet to produce a score as they need to play at least 10 times before creating a studio speed- but have been practising well already.

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.

Sports Update

PE Lessons

WELCOME BACK EVERYBODY!

Where do we even start? It has been a fantastic start to the new school calendar year in PE. We have officially now taught every new class in the school, and are still trying to learn 90 new names amongst the year 3's. A lot of physical activity has already started at FPJS and we are certainly looking to thrive even more in sports this year!

Week one of PE sessions consisted of many warm up games, tactical challenges, brain teasers and even the simplicity of remembering how to throw and catch. A favourite game played by the upper school was Tic Tac Toe, or some might say noughts and crosses: A rapid team game played with coloured bibs, where using your tactical skills will help you outwit the opposing team. For the lower school it was more about using co-ordination as well as team work during week 1, to help us adapt with working with different and new people.

In week 2, we have started to introduce a few sports. The main sport being played is Netball, as we know this is a favourite with the FPJS pupils. With Year 3 and 4 mainly focussing on their knowledge of passing . For Year 5 and 6 it has been a bit more advanced, using their understanding of spatial awareness and when to use movement on and off the ball when attacking and defending.

It has been a very positive start to the school year in PE and we are most certainly looking forward to taking all of our pupils to a school competition at some point throughout the calendar year. A BIG WELL DONE to everyone settling back into PE lessons and fitness- and remembering to come in their PE kit!

By Mr Kemp/Mrs Winter

Year 5/6 Dynamos Cricket

On Thursday 16th September FPJS took a team of year 5 and 6's over to Altwood School, to compete in the FIRST school competition for over 18 months! The event was called Dynamos Cricket Festival, held by Berkshire Cricket Club. A round-robin of matches was played between different local schools where we competed for wickets, runs and points. Furze Platt started extremely well against Oldfield by coming out on top by over +35 runs, as well as hitting two early wickets on the first over.

This amazing start didn't stop there, as shortly after the first game we were up against our local rivals Courthouse. In what was a very tough game for both teams, we managed to produce another win! This time only winning by 12 runs. The outstanding bowling from Max and Remy certainly played a role in this great winning display, as well as some unbelievable catches and fielding from Jack and Zach.

The final game was against Wessex, who decided to bowl first, so we knew our batting game needed to be strong for this one. Amelia and Nikko certainly showed off their skills with a cricket bat and hit several runs during two overs. A dominant batting display meant we had every opportunity to kick on and win the game. With the pressure getting intense as we bowled to stop Wessex generating any runs on the board, Isla led the way in this as she bowled her over (5 Balls) with no runs scored for the opposing team. Following this, Lizzie M made some remarkable throws towards our stumps during the fielding period, to make the opponents have a harder decision on whether to try and score runs or play safe. In this last game FP did not take any wickets for the first time all competition. However, with the excellent bowling and fielding we managed to stop the other team from scoring hardly any runs!

Overall FP won all 3 matches which meant we would claim first position on the leaderboard. It was very well deserved due to some outstanding cricket being played and Mr Kemp was thoroughly impressed to kick start the new school year with a win. We hope we have many more successful days to come this year!

Kickboxing Taster Sessions

This week we have been very fortunate to have been joined by one of our external coaches (Michael Cardrick) to give every class and every pupil a kickboxing taster session. With a high intense warm up to kick start the session, it was sure going to be a tough half hour for our pupils! Using skill, balance and coordination, pupils were taught a range of punches, kicks and a combination of tricky footwork to stay in full control of their movement. The sessions have had wonderful positive feedback from the teachers and members of staff (who seemed to also have a lot of fun participating and demonstrating to the children their kickboxing skills!) A special mention to Miss Lovegrove, who certainly showed the year 3's her boxing expertise. Well Done EVERYONE!!

PE Stars of the Week

Class Swan - Zach, Lizzie

Class Heron - Eve, Uzair

Class Comorant - Katelyn, Alfie

Class Kite - Leo, William

Class Eagle - Phoebe, Max

Class Kestrel - Rosie, Liam

Class Swift - Dylan, Megan

Class Kingfisher - Nate, Sarim

Class Skylark - Theo, Jessica

Class Wren - Macey, Frankie

Class Robin - Adam, Beatrice

Class Finch - Albie, Evie P

Well done to all the PE stars over the last two weeks!

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

Wow what a fantastic start of term! We are absolutely amazed by how well you have settled in; you would never believe that you’ve only been with us for a week and a half. Well done to all the children for their excellent behaviour and 'can do' attitude and to the parents too. Starting at a new school can be daunting for everyone involved but we've been inspired by how confident the children are.

This week, we started our curriculum learning and have had loads of fun using the equipment in maths to represent numbers and learn about place value. In English, we’ve started our learning on adjectives; writing descriptive pieces about 'the boy on the beach'. Can you remember what you saw in the picture? In topic, we’ve been investigating where we have travelled and have started using a map to locate different countries in Europe and in science, we have been getting our hands dirty investigating sandcastle buildings.

On Tuesday, we really enjoyed our visit from Berkshire maestros who introduced us to samba music! We loved using the instruments and our favourite was definitely the big surdo drum. We can’t wait to have another go next week and are looking forward to working as a class (or ensemble!) to play a piece of samba music at the end of the unit.

Looking forward to the rest of the year together!

Mrs Lawrence-Davis 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!:

Explain the difference between an adjective and a noun?

Where did samba music start? Tell me about the instruments you used and how best to play them.

Would you rather use wet or dry sand for building a sandcastle? Explain why.

Year 4 News

Year 4 have really impressed us with their positive start to the new school year. The children have come into school every day with a positive attitude and their participation and enthusiasm in their learning has blown us away!

In English, we have been reading the book Planet Omar by Zanib Mian. The children have enjoyed listening to Omar's antics and finding out about all the trouble he gets himself into! We have written some wonderful character descriptions and have also been improving our comprehension skills by answering questions about the story.

In maths, we have been looking at place value related to four digit numbers. The children have been using a range of practical equipment to visually represent numbers and then add and subtract 10, 100 and 1000.

Afternoons in year 4 have been jam packed with science, topic, art, French, music and RE lessons! We have been learning about the different appliances that use mains and battery power and how to keep ourselves safe when using these appliances. In music, we have been learning to use rhythm to say a tongue twister in unison; it's been tricky but lots of fun to try!

It has been a really successful start to the term for year 4. We can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Mrs Barbosa Y4 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!:

Explain some of the dangers of electricity.

Can you explain some of the traits of invaders and settlers?

Can you show me how to use a place value grid to add or subtract 10, 100 or 1000 from a number?

Year 5 News

We’ve had a brilliant start to Year 5 with lots of exciting activities going on. Already in Art, the children have developed their skills in drawing three dimensional shapes before creating an excellent study of an apple in its stages of being eaten. In English, we have been very impressed with how much the children have recalled and improved their ability to write a range of interesting sentences. This includes using fronted adverbials, subordinating and coordinating conjunctions.

In Maths we have been focusing on our positive maths mindset by solving problems and realising that not all maths questions have a “correct” answer. We particularly enjoyed writing a letter to Zero detailing its worth as part of the number system. This week we have begun our work on place value with the children exploring number to one million.

Science has involved an introduction to space and learning about the planets. Our brand new Geography topic is all about Berkshire. The children have been developing their understanding of human and physical geography and are working towards a project comparing Berkshire with another region of a different country.

We are so pleased with how well the children have settled back into the school routine and their great attitude towards their learning. We are all looking forward to the coming weeks, especially our exciting author visit!

Miss Moakes Y5 Team Leader

Year 5- What are we learning?

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

Why is zero important?

What is the difference between subordinating and coordinating conjunctions and can you give some examples of them?

What interesting facts do you know about the planets in the solar system?

Year 6 News

It has been all go in year 6 at the start of this year- as you will have seen over 30 children went for the initial rounds of head student, which is the most we have ever had and shows just what leadership potential there is in this year group. Now it is time for the house captains and the school will be voting on this very soon. Mr Sawle has also been overwhelmed with the response to his request for librarians and may have to hold further interviews to decide who can take up these prized roles.

Year 6 have settled quickly into work mode and we have been exploring poetry in English and reminding ourselves of key grammar rules as well as recapping on place value in maths.

We have already had the glockenspiels out in Music as we explore the world of "Jazz" ( yes do the jazz hands as you say it!) and in Topic we have been looking at timelines and Chronology and trying to work out what happened when and in which order. (be honest could you name what was happening in 730 BC or 764 AD?) In French it's all about the numbers at the moment and in RE we have been looking at who inspires us and exploring the question of why religions endure over thousands of years.

This has been a brilliant start to the year and we look forward to seeing just what the year 6's can achieve.

Miss Johnson 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 is the difference between a main and subordinate clause - can you give an example?

What has happened so far in Kensuke's Kingdom?

Can you explain how we round any number including decimals ?

Housepoints:

Useful Information For Parents

Parents and social media scams.pdf