July Update

It was absolutely wonderful to see so many parents attending such a sunny sports day last week. It only dawned us during the event that most parents have not experienced our epic sports day before (due to covid of course!) and we hoped you enjoyed the event as much as we did! It does take a lot of organisation to ensure the smooth running of such an event- there were over 100 races which allowed all children to play to their strengths. Thank you to all the staff and of course the FPSA for the refreshments for both parents and children. We are a very lucky school to have so many brilliant parents to support us so much! Lots of pictures and information from the day can be found in this newsletter! Well done to Normans who pipped the Romans to the post in the end!

Thank you to every parent who supported our summer fair, either by volunteering or just turning up and spending lots of money! It really does make a huge difference to the experiences we can provide for your children. It was encouraging to see so many people at the fair and I am sure this has raised a signficant amount of money- we can't wait to find out the final figures!

In this edition, we are sad to announce two further teaching staff moving on to pastures new. However, we are excited to announce our new teacher appointments. I want to reassure parents we are confident that we have a very strong and passionate teaching team for next year which will continue to help FPJS move forward into the future, always focusing on our vision "to be the best that we can be".

Anna Clark- Head of School

Coming up next: Dates for your diary

Tues 5th July: Y5 Swimming (continued)
Tues 5th- 6th July: Y6 transition days to new schools (please check with secondary schools regarding dates- these vary depending on school. Children go directly to new school on these transition days)
Weds 6th July: Y5 trip to Cadbury World (app message sent 20/6)
Weds 6th July: Y2 join FPJS for lunchtime
Thurs 7th July: Guitar concert for FPJS Guitarists (Invited parents only from Mr Hastings)
Friday 8th July: Reports to be sent out by today via Seesaw from your class teacher (app message sent 1/7)
Week beginning 11th July: Final weeks for after-school clubs
Tues 12th July: Matinee Y6 production- Purple cast (9.15am)
Weds 13th July: Matinee Y6 production- Orange cast (9.15am); Evening performance Y6 production- Purple cast (7pm)
Weds 13th July: New Class transition afternoon (information regarding your child's new class will be sent home with your child on this day)
Thurs 14th July: Drop in session for parents to look at books 3.30-5pm (app message sent 1/7)
Thurs 14th July: Evening performance Y6 production- Orange cast (7pm)
Mon 18th July-19th July: Y4 residential trip to Longridge
Tues 19th July: Year 6 Oscars/Pizza Party day -finish at 5pm. (app message sent 9/6)
Weds 20th July: Year 6 Leavers' Assembly End of Term. School finishes at 1.30pm

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FPJS News

Sports Day 2022

What a fantastic day we had at our annual FPJS sports day! Well done to Normans, who won this year. We also looked at our scores for each year group, and it was interesting to see that Y3 and Y6 Romans won, and Y4 and Y5 Normans won, so it was very close in the end! See our sports section for more details on individual performances. We took some brilliant photos on the day and will share these via Seesaw to different year groups in due course.

Head Students Update

This week at FPJS, Year 6 have been busy preparing and selling for the business project. Earlier in the week everyone was rushing trying to finish everything before selling on Wednesday. Posters were being drawn, wool pets made and everyone was panicking before the big day. As Wednesday break time started, hoards of children flocked to the stalls to buy everything from pet rocks to tattoos! Everyone had an amazing time buying, selling and raising money for 2 brilliant charities (the link foundation and education Africa plus we also learned a LOT about running a business and how much profit you can make! Thank you to everyone who bought items, the Y6's for running the stalls and the teachers for organising the project.

For more info about the charities

Education Africa : https://educationafrica.org

The Link Foundation: http://www.linkfoundation.co.uk

Staff Update

As we approach the end of term, we have a few announcements to make with regard to staffing. Following on from our last newsletter, we are sad to announce two further staff members who are moving to pastures new as below:

Mrs hooper moving on

Mrs Hooper joined FPJS in 2015 as a full time teacher and team leader and has played a huge role in the development of the school. Mrs Hooper has a passion for both maths and reading and has been a key player in developing both aspects in school. If you have had a child in her class, you will know how much she really values each and every one, and is determined to find the perfect book for every child to develop their passion for reading. Mrs Hooper has changed her hours in recent years to concentrate on other interests outside of education, and has now made a decision to move to a school nearby her locality. We want to thank Mrs Hooper for all her passion and enthusiasm for her roles during her time at FPJS and we will sincerely miss her.

Miss Kent Moving near To Kent!

Miss Kent joined FPJS in 2017 as a newly graduated teacher after spending some time training alongside Miss Johnson! Miss Kent has worked in both Year 5 and Year 6 and has developed into a great teacher during her time at FPJS. One of Miss Kent's strengths is the care and well-being of every child in her class. Miss Kent is moving away from Maidenhead to be closer to her family, who ironically live in Kent! She is joining a school near the Oval Cricket Ground, where she will teach year 6.

Meet our new teachers...

In our last edition, we introduced you to Mrs Cindy Barry, who will be taking over as Y3 team leader. Meet our other new staff joining our teaching team. Our final staffing structure for 2022-23 will be communicated before the end of term.

Meet Miss Georgia Ross, who will be joining our Y5 team in September. Georgia is an experienced teacher, who currently teaches across the other side of Maidenhead and has a passion for the arts.

Meet Miss Emily Keating-Bell who is an experienced teacher, joining us from a school in Slough. Miss Keating-Bell will be joining our Y4 team and "cannot wait to get started!"

Meet Miss Gemma Brewerton, who knows the school well as she went to FPJS as a child! Miss Brewerton has been working at several schools in Maidenhead in the last few years and is very excited to be coming back to the school she loved as a child! Miss Brewerton will join our Y4 team.

Meet Mr James Sawle- who you may well know already! Mr Sawle joined FPJS in 2019 as a teaching assistant and has spent this year completing his teacher training qualification. He is joining the Y6 team and is already very familiar with the year group! We are thrilled Mr Sawle has chosen to begin his teaching career at FPJS, as he is very much "home-grown!"

Meet our new finance assistant

We are delighted to welcome Mrs Celina Frost to FPJS to join our office team. Mrs Frost has already taken up the post and is getting to know all the staff and children. I am sure some of you will meet her in the coming weeks if you come into the office!

Stars of the week

Star of the week newsletter 16 2022

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 Rockstars & Cracking TT

Well done to all our children who are back on to practising regularly with their times tables!

The photos in this edition show the top children in each year group and the children who have made the most progress in the last 2 weeks...

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

Year 3 have been busy busy with our own end of term reports; reflecting on our year including what has gone well and what we would like to improve on next year.

Our maths lessons have been full of measurement whether that be capacity, length or weight and we've had lots of fun using equipment to measure items around the classroom.

In English, we have been reading a book called Night Sky Dragon and learning all about the Chinese Empire, investigating the emotions and feelings of the characters.

Our afternoons have been filled with science, topic and mummy painting! In science, we have been learning about light and shadows; investigating which materials would be the best for making a vampire's curtains and how we can create shadows. Our topic lessons have seen us diving deeper into the past and learning about mummification and why the pyramids were built.

Mrs Lawrence-Davis Y3 Team Leader

Year 3- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt:

Why were the pyramids built?

How are shadows made?

Tell me what you have learnt about the book Night Sky Dragons so far.

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

Night Sky Dragons - Elspeth Graham and Mal Peet

Toro! Toro! - Michael Morpurgo

Knights and Bikes - Gabriel Kent

Year 4 News

Year 4 have been busy completing their Multiplication Tables Checks over the last few weeks. Well done to all the year 4 children who have shown such determination in learning their tables at such a fast pace; year 3 have a lot to live up to next year!!

In maths, we have been learning about the properties of shapes and learning associated vocabulary. Some of our children have also created wonderful symmetrical patterns.

We have been focusing on writing playscripts in English, linking with our movie making on iPads. It is looking like we will have some great movies to share with you soon.

As well as using the iPads in English, we have been using an app to create pop art versions of ourselves in the style of Andy Warhol. Can you recognise anyone in the pictures in this newsletter?

With only a few weeks to go before the end of the school year, it is great to see year 4 working so hard in all subjects and making the most of their learning time. We have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks!!

Mrs Barbosa, Y4 Team Leader

Year 4- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt:

What do the words parallel and perpendicular mean?

Can you explain some dfiferent ways in which humans can damage ecosystems?

What can you tell me about Andy Warhol's pop art work?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4...

Below are some of the books that Year 4 have been enjoying, as part of their book talk lessons and for pleasure!

The Wonderling - Mira Bartok

The Race to Space - Clive Gifford

The Listeners - Walter De La Mare

Year 5 News

We've had another busy few weeks in Year 5.

In English, we have been studying Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, The Jabberwocky. From this, the children have been learning about portmanteau words and have now written their own nonsense poems. We are now using the app, Garage Band, to set their poem to a piece of music they have composed! Listen out on Seesaw for your child's poetry to music soon!

Meanwhile in Design and Technology, the children have been learning about breads of the world and have now taste tested a variety of these. This week, the children have been baking their own bread using the fantastic facilities at Furze Platt Senior School. Hopefully, some of this made it home for parents and carers to taste as well!

Last week we were visited by the Maidenhead Fire and Rescue Service. During this time the children had the opportunity to learn about fire safety whilst also testing their speed at putting on a firefighters clothing and examining the contents of a fire truck. The children particularly enjoyed testing the sirens in the fire truck and attempting to lift some of the equipment. Now we know why firefighters need to be so strong!

Mrs Pierron, Y5 Team Leader

Year 5- What are we learning?

Ask your child the following questions to see what they have learnt:

What are portmanteau words? Can you give an example?

What does "Stop, drop and roll" mean? When should someone do this?

Give me an example of some metric and imperial measures. Can you convert between the two?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

The Year 5 children would like to recommend the following books:

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner

Dial a Ghost by Eva Ibbotson

Good News: Why the world is not as bad as you think by Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Year 6 News

Alan Sugar eat your heart out - as you will read above the year 6's have done a great job selling goods and games to the rest of the school to raise money for charity. Details on how much they made and where it will go will follow soon but well done as we clearly have many budding entrepreneurs in our midst.

The play is nearly here - lots of rehearsals have been taking place and we are impressed with the motivation and enthusiasm that the children have shown- only 2 weeks until curtain up!

Year 6 have also been looking at the causes of poverty and discussing what this really means and why it happens and what absolute poverty actually looks like for those living in developing countries. Which 5 countries do you think are the most impoverished - look it up - you might be surprised.

Could you make a vacuum in an a hour and a half or a robot art machine - year 6 have had a good go at this in their STEM activity week where they realised a vacuum is actually a backwards hairdryer and that sometime art can be created without a human touching the paper. All this linked to our electricity topic in science and technology. A lot of fun was had by all and they learnt a lot about failing and trying again in engineering challenges. Well done all.

Miss Johnson- Y6 Team Leader

Year 6- What are we learning?

What is poverty and why does it occur?

How do you make money in the year 6 business project?

How can you make your own homemade hoover or art robot?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

Giant - Nicola Skinner

Moonfleet J.M.Falkner

The Consequence Girl - Alistair Chisholm

Sports Update

PE News

What a brilliant few weeks it has been sports-wise!

It's been a very frantic and busy schedule with Sports Day being held on June 24th! What a magnificent school effort from everyone involved, from every staff member to all the pupils participating. We managed to get through a whole morning with over 100 events taking place. During some of the morning, we even had 4 sports day events running at once which included track and field!

Mr Kemp and Mrs Winter would just like to say a big thank you to ALL STAFF members for their sublime efforts. Whether they were on the start line, marshalling equipment, organising children in houses, running field events, being on the finish line, supervising children or even in the scoring tent calculating results! This was truly a marvellous team display and it made this day a special one to remember. Last but not least a huge well done to Mrs Tisshaw for her expertise on organisation and for always demanding more of us staff, so that the children have the amazing day we thoroughly provide.

WELL DONE to every pupil taking part on such a big event, but a special mention has to go to the NORMANS on a sensational sports day display, just pipping Romans to the winning post!

By Mr Kemp / Mrs Winter

PE Stars of the Week

Class Swan - Myah, Pieush

Class Heron - Dillon, Ellen

Class Comorant- Isabel, Ajitesh

Class Kite - Henry, Nevaeh

Class Eagle - Abbie, Luca

Class Kestrel - Adam, Rishaan

Class Swift - Samuel, Charlie

Class Kingfisher - Jasroop, Pippa B

Class Skylark - Jack, Libby

Class Wren - Hafsah, Lorenzo

Class Robin - Lucy, Lexi

Class Finch - Aaradhya, Martin

Well done to all the PE Stars!!

SPORTS DAY RECORD-Breakers!

Here is the full list of all the children that managed to break our school records during our school sports day. All of these children will receive a medal for their amazing achievements!

Track Records:

Year 6 Boys Sprint (80m) - Archie- Heron

Year 3 Boys Sprint (60m) - Sunaav- Finch

Year 3 Girls Sprint (60m) - Lucy E- Robin

Year 6 Hurdles- Leticia- Swan

Year 4 Hurdles- Immy- Swift

Y6 Atalanta- Hadar- Heron

Y5 Atalanta- Ervin- Kestrel

Field Records:

Year 6 Boys Chest Push - Remy- Heron (9.5m)

Year 3/4 Skipping Festival

On Wednesday 23rd June Mr Kemp took 9 pupils from year 3 and 4 to attend a skipping festival over at Courthouse Junior School. After the short walk down the road and across Oaken Grove park our pupils got to participate in some difficult and challenging skipping activities. From individual rope skipping, to skipping on one leg and even using a double Dutch rope in small groups. After all there hard work on such a glorious sunny day the children were treated to a mini skipping show performed by Ascot and Maidenheads very own Dan the Skipping Man. He showed us many tricks and skips that you can do with a single rope, short rope, long rope, and even two ropes. The pupils were highly engaged throughout the morning session and were brilliantly behaved throughout, a big WELL DONE to the 9 children who took part in this event.

Y5/6 Footgolf

Thursday 16th June was a big day at Furze Platt as we hosted the year 5/6 foot-golf competition for the schools sport partnership. This enthralling event had a number of football stations in which each team had to help one another to gain the most points, as well as working on skill, accuracy, co-ordination, and luck! All the teams completed 6 football stations in total and every point counted towards each teams final score. After the stations all the participants in each team then went around a 6 hole Foot-Golf course, which was aimed to mainly work on your passing accuracy and to get as close to the pin as possible. This meant the fewer shots taken to get the football into the hole, the better chances of the team calculating a low overall score. Furze Platt had 2 teams represent the school on the day and they certainly showed off there fantastic skills. I am happy to say one team finished a well deserved 4th place out of 8 teams and the other team went a few places higher and managed to grab a silver medal by coming in 2nd place! A HUGE well done to all the children who took part in this wonderful event, but just to mention an even BIGGER thank you and well done to the 12 year 6 sports leaders who ran the whole competition throughout this hot summers day. They had great enthusiasm, professionalism and most importantly a positive attitude towards helping other children from different schools.

Housepoints update 1.7.22

Useful Information For Parents

W&M Q&A poster 7 June 22.pdf

Maidenhead's Big Read update

Raring2go magazine- ideas for the summer holidays!