Welcome to our March 2022 edition of our newsletter! It has been a very busy two weeks here at FPJS- we've celebrated Pancake day with seeing how many pancakes the head students could flip, we've celebrated world book day with inspired costumes and creative potato book characters, and both Heron and Eagle class have shimmied, jived, boxed and swung their way to the local dance festival where they proudly performed their dances. I was lucky enough to see Heron class perform and they were absolutely fantastic! I am so proud of all our of performers for showing such confidence and passion for their dance. FPJS also came 2nd overall in the county Berkshire Sportshall athletic competition- what a fantastic achievement- and like many of our achievements at our school, it does come down to passionate staff who really do go over and above to provide such great opportunities. Thank you to Miss Morales, Mrs Tisshaw, Mrs Winter and Mr Kemp for all their hard work with the recent sporting events. We are very much looking forward to lots of other exciting events this term!

Anna Clark, Head of School

Coming up soon: Dates for your diary

Monday 14th March: FPSA Happy Bags to school (email sent 1st March)
Tuesday 15th March: Parents evening (face to face): 3.30-5.30pm- Kingfisher class 3.30-6.30pm (email sent 1st March)
Thursday 17th March: Comic relief talent show dress rehearsal for all children taking part

Y4 road safety workshop

Parents evening (face to face): 3.30-7.30pm- Kingfisher class 4.30-7.30pm

Friday 18th March: Comic relief day and talent show & dress down day - (Email sent 7th March)
Thursday 24th March: FPSA AGM by zoom (email sent 2nd March)

Half Term World Book Day Competition- results!

Well done to all our children who took part in the book character potato competition- we had some fantastic entries! Overall, Danes won the inter-house competition and the final 4 children who won the overall book prize were:

Y3: Liyana M

Y4: Rose W

Y5: Maisie M

Y6: Sophia PW

Have a look at our wonderful entries and all the children who won house points in their year group (above)

World Book Day at FPJS

On Friday, 4th March, FPJS enjoyed a full day celebrating our love for books! Each class spent the day exploring children's favourite books, creating their own books, listening to stories and having fun with a variety of quizzes and activities. Explore our pictures below to see just how much fun we had dressing up for World Book Day! Thank you to every parent who kindly sent in donations or purchased a book from our amazon wish list. It isn't too late to buy a book- we will keep our wish list open all year so please do buy a book at ANY time- and we will add these in to our library! Click the link below to purchase a book:

Buy a book for our library!

Dance festival- heron class

On Thursday, Heron class in Year 6 went to Braywick Leisure Centre to attend a dance festival. The theme for their dance was boxing and they performed to the song ‘Eye of the Tiger’. They had been practicing their dance for weeks. The parents of the children came to watch and enjoyed it as much as the children did. After an outstanding performance, Heron class were extremely proud of the wonderful show they had put on and were glad all of their practice was worth it!

Shreya Telfer and Ellen Pierre Y6

Dance festival- eagle class

This week Eagle class performed a fast paced, energetic dance at the Junior dance festival. Our dance was based on the style of jive which was a way of spreading cheer during the war in Birmingham. It was preformed to an upbeat song from the musical Hairspray ‘You can’t stop the beat’ in front of a large audience on a very professional stage!

Over the last five weeks, we have worked together as a class to learn our dance which included lots of kicks, formations and cheesy smiles! We wore bright coloured skirts with matching bow ties that filled the stage with colour and looked fantastic under the lights.

It has been a fantastic group effort and was a fantastic opportunity to represent Furze Platt Junior school. We did ourselves very proud.

Y6 debate- the results!

This house believes children should choose their own lesson ! What I hear you cry - well don't get too excited or panic as this was the title for the final of the house debating competition- Danes vs Normans . It was a brilliant competition and some year 5 classes came and watched as well. In the end this house did not believe that children should choose their own lessons ( much to the relief of the teachers ) and the Danes came out as clear winners

200 Housepoints to the Danes

150 Housepoints to the Normans as runners up

and 75 points to Romans and Vikings

Well done all we look forward to doing it all again next year .

Y4 Norden farm workshops

Norden Farm visited year 4 on Thursday 3rd March to run some workshops linked with their 'Magical Lands' exhibition.

The work that the children have done will form part of a multi-sensory gallery experience using light, sound and projection to create a magical Artspace. Centred around a giant beanstalk growing up into the sky, the exhibition will conjure up magical lands through projection of light, both still and moving images, onto different surfaces.

Using cardboard tubes, withies, tissue paper and PLENTY of PVA glue, the children created sections of a beanstalk which will form part of the larger exhibition and will be displayed in the Gallery at Norden Farm across the Easter holiday.

Staff news:

Mrs Slyfield: Those of you with eagle eyes will have spotted that Mrs Slyfield's world book day costume was a bit of clue... we are delighted to announce that Mrs Slyfield is expecting her 2nd child and will commence maternity leave during this academic year. Mrs Slyfield is hoping to stay on until the end of the Y6 SATS test. After this, Mrs Tisshaw has confirmed she will cover the class full time for the rest of the academic year.

Mrs Clark: Congratulations to Mrs Clark who married her partner, Lee during the half term holiday. As many of you may know, Mrs Clark was previously widowed and ended up on GMTV last year being interviewed about life in a blended family, with her widowed partner and all of their children. Mrs Clark decided to get married on 22/2/22 as it would be a date to remember! Mrs Clark will keep her previous name to make life easier for the children at FPJS.

FPSA news

Well done to all the families who took part in the "Twosday" competition over half term. Thanks to your generosity and creativity with "2", the FPSA raised a fantastic £395.45. There were some lovely entries, including reading 2 books, swimming 2222 miles, cycling 2 miles, or 22 miles, planting 2 trees and feeding 2 bubbies! Well done to Finch class who had the most participants and won the prize of "22 minutes extra playtime!".

Coming Soon-red nose day 2022: FPJS Talent Show!

Just a reminder to families that next Friday, 18th March is Red Nose Day and FPJS will be participating in our usual way with plenty of fun all in aid of a very good cause.

Please donate all you can to support this fantastic charity and remember that this is a dress-down day where children can wear whatever they like- go funny for comic relief if you want!

Click on the link below to donate!

Donate to Comic Relief here!

Quick Links

Curriculum

Lunch Menu

Term Dates 21-22

Term Dates 22/23

Well-being

Calendar

Stars of the week

Star of the week newsletter 10 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- we have moved up to 9th in the top schools nearby- well done

The photos in this edition show the top 12 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

It has been an exciting start to the new term in Y3 with lots of new learning to embrace.

In maths, we have been learning about fractions. Investigating what a fraction is using equipment and calculating what we might need to add to make a fraction a whole.

Our English and comprehension lessons have been all about a book called Escape from Pompeii and we've been learning about what 'writing ingredients' we need to use to create a script. We're really looking forward to reading more of the story and finding out whether the main characters; Livia and Tranio, can escape the deadly Vesuvius. To accompany this learning, we have been reading a non-fiction text all about volcanoes to find out how they work and what can make them so dangerous.

In topic, we have been learning about the Celts and what life might have been like for them. Eventually, we will begin to consider how the Roman invasion may have changed their lives. Will it be for the better or the worse?

We've also enjoyed the excitement of world book day and want to say well done to everyone for their fantastic costumes and spectacular spuds!

Mrs Lawrence-Davis Y3 Team Leader

Year 3- What are we learning?

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

What are the features of a playscript?

What is a fraction? Can you draw me a diagram to represent 1/2, 2/4, 4/5?

How did the Celts live?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

Below are some of the texts that Year 3 have been enjoying as part of their comprehension lessons and for pleasure:

Escape from Pompeii - Christina Balit

National Geographic: Erupt! - Joan Marie Gulat

The Roman Record - Paul Dowswell

Year 4 News

Year 4 have made a brilliant start back after half term.

In English, we have been writing spooky stories. This is something all our children have really enjoyed and they have become experts at building up suspense!
Over the last two weeks, we have been converting between fractions and decimals and applying this knowledge to dividing by 10 and 100.

We have begun our topic on rivers and have been busy learning the names of the continents and their longest river. This is something we are going to continue practising over the next few weeks.

We have our Comic Relief talent show to look forward to next week as well as a workshop on road safety!

Mrs Barbosa Y4 Team Leader

Year 4- What are we learning?

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

How do you turn tenths and hundredths into decimals?

Can you name some of the major rivers around the world?

How many different animals and plants live in a pond habitat?

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 Wild Robot - Peter Brown

Stuart Little - E.B. White

Zombierella: Fairytales Gone Bad - Jospeh Coelho

Year 5 News

The new term has brought a range of new topics and opportunities!

The children are thoroughly enjoying exploring William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as they prepare to write a diary entry inspired by the piece. This week they have been learning all about Shakespearian language. This has included developing their best Shakespearian insults to include in their writing when detailing the quarrel between Demetrius and Helena.

In Maths we are finishing our work on decimals and have moved on to understanding percentages. We have then been learning how to convert between fractions, decimals and percentages.

We have been very excited to start our new unit of work in Geography all about South America. Already the children have been using atlases and maps to find the location of South American countries alongside other human and physical features. They have also been researching the difference in weather between London and Brasilia before completing their own bar graph to show their findings.

We very much enjoyed all the costumes and book related learning of World Book Day. Now we are looking forward to the Comic Relief Talent Show and our upcoming Samba performance. More information about this coming soon!

Miss Moakes, Y5 Team Leader

Year 5- What are we learning?

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

What does the word percent mean?

What are 5 different types of adverbials and can you given an example of each?

Can you name two human and two physical features of Brazil?

our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

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

Mythologica: An encyclopedia of gods, monsters and mortals from ancient Greek by Dr. Stephen P. Kershaw

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

Shackleton's Journey by William Grill

Year 6 News

It has been all go in Heron class getting ready for the dance festival and the class were even roped into making their belts for the costumes. Mrs Tisshaw was very impressed with their sewing skills in this tricky bit of needlework and we are sure they looked fantastic at the dance on Thursday.

On World Book Day year 6 classes came up with their own quiz questions and quizzed each other about their favourite authors and there were some amazing outfits on show and a superb effort after a slow start to the potato competition.

"Decorating the decrepit walls were large claw marks of a supposedly "lone gone " beast." No, not a description of the toilets but some outstanding atmosphere and settings work completed by year 6 this week as part of a larger unit on narrative. Pulling together all they have learnt about metaphor, figurative language and the senses , they produced some amazing short pieces and will be building on this in the coming weeks.

The bulbs are starting to come up - year 6 helped get the bulbs in the allotment back in November and now we are seeing the results with crocuses out in full bloom - more flowers to come as we hope to have a riot of colour in the coming months .

Miss Johnson- Y6 Team Leader

Year 6- What are we learning?

How do you find the volume of a cuboid ?

What do you need to do to write an effective description that gives atmosphere?

How are fossils formed?

our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brockett - John Boyne- our new book which we love.

The Mermaid in the Mill Pond by Lucy Strange

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Elements - Lisa Congdon ( great if you want to be able to answer all the periodic table questions on Pointless)

Sports Update

FPJS loves writing! Check out our star pieces this week...

At FPJS our aim is to give children a passion and a purpose for their writing. We want our children to love exploring the written word to become confident and articulate in their thoughts and creations. This week, several of our Y6 writers wrote a piece of their choice designed to entertain or inform readers of the school newsletter!

Here's Jess and Ellen's pieces. I am sure you will agree how brilliant they are!

Ellen Pierre - diary entry.pdf

JC article 070322.docx

PE News!

As we get into slightly warmer weather it is a pleasure to be able to continue our PE sessions outside in the sunshine. This week we further developed our basketball skills which included mini games and more tactical drills. Inside activities have included our new dance topics for each year group, which every pupil has enjoyed immensely. We are also continuing to work on sequencing, patterns, creativity and improving our performances. A special staff mention to Mrs Ing, Mrs Slyfield, Mrs Tisshaw and Miss Morales for working incredibly hard at this years dance festival. Your time and efforts do not go unnoticed and without your support the children would not get the fantastic opportunity they fully achieved. Lastly a nice big thank you to Mrs Winter for her great support and encouragement during the Sports Hall Athletics County Finals last Friday.

By Mr Kemp

Year 5/6 Sports hall athletics finals

Written by Jude in Y6:

On Friday the 4^th of March 2022, children from Furze Platt Junior School travelled to St Bartholomew’s School in Newbury to compete in the school Sportshall County Championship.

At 12:30 the competition started with the girls’ relay. The relay team was comprised of Amelia, Keira, Bessie and Jude. They came in 3^rd place, starting the competition well.

After the obstacle races, it was time for the first round of boy’s field events and Remy continued the good start getting 9 metres in chest push. In vertical jump, Nikko achieved an impressive 50cm. The girls then took on the field events; Jude put in an excellent performance in speed bounce by getting 52 bounces in 20 seconds. After that, it was time for the longest race of the day, the 6 lap parluf in which both the boys (Archie and Eduardo) and the girls (Lizzie and Jude) won their races. Afterwards, it was time for the over under relay and in the girls’ team it was Amelia, Bessie, Jude and Alice. In the over under relay it is just as it says: over, under, over so it is a very fun race to take part in and both the boys and the girls came 2^nd. The final field event of the day was the javelin. Nikko did amazingly, throwing the javelin a whopping 18m and earning himself the furthest throw of the day.

The big finale of the day was the 4x1 relay in which FPJS won both the boys and the girls’ race. As can be seen in the picture, the children were delighted to receive the silver medal in the awards ceremony. All round it was a brilliant day for Furze Platt Junior school.

PE Stars of the Week

Class Swan - Harry, Myah

Class Heron - ALL OF HERON

Class Comorant - Diana, Khadija

Class Kite - Evie, Archie

Class Eagle - ALL OF EAGLE

Class Kestrel - Viren, Ervin

Class Swift -Dylan, Imogen

Class Kingfisher - Sarim, Pippa W

Class Skylark - Josh, Jessica

Class Wren - Celine, Daisy

Class Robin - Sami, Aryan

Class Finch - Aaradhya, Jack

Well done to all the PE stars last week!

Year 5 Football Competition

On Friday 4th March FPJS took a year 5 football team to Claire's Court Junior School for a special invitation only tournament. Competing against 14 other schools meant it would be a real tough test for the team. The team played 4 group games, in which we successfully won 2 and drew 2, which left us on 8 points and in 2nd place in our group. This meant a triumphant progression into the next stages, which was the quarter finals. It has to be said a very close 1-0 victory saw FPJS then go another step further and move into the Semi-finals. This game was by far the toughest and most tense, as both teams tried to play brilliant free flowing football and come out as winners. The game somehow managed to finish 0-0! This then only meant one thing a dreaded penalty shoot out. Both teams were exceptional for the first 3 penalties, so it went to sudden death. Unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be for the team as we crashed out 4-3 on pens. A truly inspiring effort and team performance from all the players involved, who throughout the whole tournament did not concede one goal during any match!

Well done team, you should be proud of your achievements, I know Mr Sawle was incredibly impressed with everyone's attitude, team work and great sportsmanship .

Housepoints update ammended 14.3.22

Useful Information For Parents

whatsapp.pdf

Optalis Current Vacancies.pdf

Streetsafe Parent Newsletter.docx

Parent Newsletter CDL (1).docx