Summer term begins!

It has been such a busy start to the new term already, made all the better with the warmer weather and lovely sunshine!

Our Y3 children enjoyed a great day out to Ufton Court- you can read all about this below. Many thanks to all the parents who helped to support the trip and make it a great success!

Our Y4 children have been busy learning more about the Jubilee and practising for their class assemblies later this term- we can't wait to find out more!

Our Year 5 children have begun swimming lessons at Claire's Court and have really enjoyed their time exploring a different type of exercise. Well done to our Y5 team for organising the logistics of getting 90 children to and from the pool each week, and especially Mr Sawle who is cycling and walking different groups to the pool for the entire afternoon! He is certainly getting his exercise too!

Our Year 6 children have been superstars this week completing their national SATs tests and we have been incredibly proud with the calm and confident way that ALL of the children have coped with the tests. We know it has been a very challenging time, particularly for this cohort who have missed a considerable amount of school time over the past few years due to covid, and this has been the first year of national tests for 3 years. Although all of the staff and pupils have worked very hard to "catch up" missed learning time, we have continued to stress to the children that the tests only measure a small part of what they are capable of and nothing they should worry about. At FPJS, we value all aspects of school life and although we endeavour to ensure all of our children are "secondary ready", we also want the children to be happy, confident and passionate learners. Our Year 6 children have already begun rehearsing for their Y6 play and we hope they enjoy this aspect of their remaining time at the school.

We look forward to all the exciting events coming up this term and hope to see some of you at Mr T's Quiz night on 20th May- we have 2 staff teams who are all very competitive!

Anna Clark, Head of School

Coming up next term: Dates for your diary

Weds 18th May: Class photos (and Y6 leavers photos)
Weds 18th May: Coffee Morning re children & Asthma (message sent 29/4)
Thurs 19th May: FPSA school discos - Y3/4 4-5pm; Y5/6 5.15-6.30pm (message sent 3/5)
Fri 20th May: FPSA Mr T's quiz night- (message sent 4/5)
Mon 23rd May: Swift Class Assembly- 9.15am (message sent 10/5)
Tues 24th May: Skylark Class Assembly-9.15am (message sent 10/5)
Weds 25th May: Kingfisher Class Assembly- 9.15am (message sent 10/5)
Thurs 26th May: Y6 Trip to Silverstone- (message sent 10/5)
Fri 27th May: Jubilee celebration at school- non uniform day- wearing red, white and blue (see below and separate message sent today)
End of term 5

Quick Links

Y5 Swimming

As part of the national curriculum, the Year 5 children have now started their swimming lessons. Once they received their very shiny FPJS swimming hat, they got into their groups and began their lessons. We have been very impressed with how sensibly the children have been behaving, both walking to and from the pool and also whilst on poolside. Even after two weeks, we can see clear improvement in water confidence, especially from those children who have less experience. For our more confident swimmers, they have started the process of perfecting their strokes and improving their efficiency in the water.

In the coming weeks, the children will be learning more about water safety and life saving skills whilst continuing to improve their swimming ability. We are very much looking forward to seeing their continued progress!

Y3 UFTON COURT TRIP

Year 3 enjoyed an exciting trip to Ufton Court on Friday 29th April as part of our learning on the Romans.

In our classes, we explored a range of activities. One activity was learning about Roman life skills. This included using flint to make sparks, making thread out of wool and building a wall by weaving wood.

Our next activity was learning about Roman artefacts. We looked at lots of different things that the Romans would have used including an ear cleaner and a weekly calendar.

Lastly, we were Roman soldiers and took part in some military manoeuvres learning how to work as a team to protect certain members of the army using shields to create a tortoise, shield wall and orb formation.

What a fantastic opportunity to learn and have fun! More photos can be found in the Y3 section of the newsletter.

JUBILEE CARD FOR A QUEEN... THE WINNERS!

Congratulations and well done to all of our amazing artists who took part in our Jubilee competition to design a card for the Queen's 70th Jubilee. We had some brilliant entries showing creativity and originality for the design. Every child who entered the competition received 5 housepoints, with those who were highly commended receiving 20 housepoints! The ultimate winners, who will be participating in the Mayor's jubilee party for children are:

Y3: Chizara from Finch & Y6: Flynt from Cormorant

Please do take time to look at some of the amazing entries!

Chizara's card (Y3)

Fynn's card (y6)

FPJS to Celebrate 70th Jubilee

We are delighted to confirm the arrangements in school on Friday 27^th May, celebrating the Platinum Jubilee. Our staff and Y6 children are busy planning to make this significant event a very memorable and enjoyable day for everyone. Thanks to Miss Johnson, you may have already noticed some beautiful hanging baskets with red, white and blue flowers around our school sites too.

On the day, children can wear non-uniform clothes – with a red, white and blue theme. Please make sure clothing and footwear is suitable for a busy day at school.

During the day, the children will be participating in a number of creative and learning activities relating to the theme of the 70th Platinum Jubilee and they will be working across year groups in their House Teams (Normans, Danes, Vikings and Romans), led by the Y6 House Captains. Additionally, Year 4 have been busy learning all about the Jubilee and will be presenting their class assemblies to the whole school and parents in the week leading up to Friday 27th.

Caterlink have devised a Jubilee Picnic Menu so that, weather permitting, our children will be able to enjoy a picnic lunch outdoors. The Jubilee Picnic Menu replaces our usual hot school lunches, provided by Caterlink. Therefore, all existing pre-orders for Friday 27^th May have been cancelled. If you would like your child to have a picnic lunch provided by Caterlink, please log into your account and select from the menu choices available. Otherwise, please provide a packed lunch for your child to eat at lunchtime.

Thanks to the FPSA, after school, instead of the usual ice cream sales, the FPSA will kindly be providing an ice lolly for every child in the Infants and Juniors to enjoy. To help manage the distribution of lollies, children will be staggered slightly out at the end of the day, with Year 3/4 leaving classrooms at 3.10pm, followed by the Y5/6 at the usual time.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for some lovely weather and hope that everyone will enjoy this very special day.

Curriculum

Lunch Menu

Term Dates 21-22

Term Dates 22/23

Well-being

Calendar

Stars of the week

Star of the week newsletter 13 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 3 weeks.

To prove how fast our top boy, Thomas can do his timetables, please see the video below- you won't believe it but he really is that fast!!

ThomasTTrockstars.mov

Well done to Grace in Kingfisher, Alyana in Robin and Mia in Skylark for passing level 10 of their cracking times tables!

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

As ever, we have been busy, busy, busy in year 3!

In maths, we have been learning about telling the time and converting between analogue and digital. We enjoyed mixing up our classes and working with different children and adults to help us with this learning.

Our fantastic volcanoes learning has continued in English and topic where we have been learning about how volcanoes are formed, where we find them in the world and what effects they can have. By the end of next week, we should have written our own non-chronological report on volcanoes to teach others everything that we have learnt!

In the afternoons, we have been investigating plants and flowers, considering where they grow and why as well as learning about famous tapestries and why they are famous.

Mrs Lawrence-Davis Y3 Team Leader

Year 3- What are we learning?

What do AM and PM stand for?

Tell me how a volcano is formed.

What is a tapestry and what was the name of one of the tapestries you learnt about in technology this week?

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:

Iron Man - Ted Hughes

Stone Age Boy - Satoshi Kitamura

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark - Jill Tomlinson

Year 4 News

Since returning from their Easter holidays, Year 4 have been working non-stop! As well as lots of learning, we have also been preparing for our upcoming class assemblies.

In English, we have been learning about the lives of Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges. We have been discussing the Civil Rights Movement in America and how much things have changed. The children have written reflective pieces in which they also think about the changes which still need to be made in society today,

Our maths learning has centred around decimals and money. Year 4 have learnt to compare and order decimals as well as use the four operations with amounts of money. There has been lots of problem solving to challenge everyone too.

The Tudors are our topic for this half term and the children have been thoroughly enjoying learning about Henry VIII and his 6 wives. This week, they created an advert for a new wife for Henry - these were very amusing!

Mrs Barbosa, Y4 Team Leader

Year 4- What are we learning?

Tell me what you have learnt about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges

What is a solvent and a solute?

Show me some different ways to subtact amounts of money

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!

Tar Beach - Faith Ringgold

How To Live Forever - Colin Thompson

Black Dog - Levi Pinfold

Year 5 News

It’s been a busy first few weeks in Year 5 after the Easter break.

Rainforests are our topic this term, with an initial Geography lesson in which the children used a variety of differently orientated maps to locate the world’s rainforests. The children have also been researching the impact of the increased production of palm oil on rainforests and the animals that live in them. This work will then inform our English where the children will write an explanation text to ensure others understand the effect of the production of palm oil on orangutans.

In Science, we are learning about the life cycles of plants including different forms of reproduction. The children have now taken a cutting from a mint plant to attempt to grow a series of new mint plants demonstrating a form of asexual reproduction.

In maths, we have started the term by recapping our understanding of decimals. This has included showing our understanding of what happens to a decimal number when we multiply or divide by multiples of ten. Following this, we are now learning all about angles, including leading one another through a maze using only mathematical terminology as instructions.

We are very excited to have finally started our swimming lessons! More about these at the start of the newsletter.

Mrs Pierron, Y5 Team Leader

Year 5- What are we learning?

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

What is parenthesis and why would you use it in your writing?

What are the differences between sexual and asexual reproduction in plants?

Explain to me how palm oil production can impact the rainforest.

our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

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

Borneo Rainforest (Expedition Diaries) by Simon Chapman

The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher

Rise Up: Ordinary Kids with Extraordinary Stories by Amanda Li

Year 6 News

We have to start this newsletter by saying well done to year 6 for working so hard in the SATs - you just came in and got on with it and we are very proud of your positive attitudes. Everyone actually seemed to quite enjoy the week as there were lots of extra breaks and the odd biscuit as well as plenty of play rehearsals.

Talking of which, the play is now starting to take shape and soon all the children will need to know their lines. Mrs Tisshaw is busy order some very strange looking hats and various costumes are appearing - we will be in touch if we need anything provided.

We are moving on to our unplugged unit in computing where we will explore what the internet really is and how computers understand codes and soon they will become a computer!

English and maths have focused on revision but now it is back to the writing next week where we will be exploring a theme linked to science and electricity.

We would also like to say farewell (for now!) to Mrs Slyfield who is leaving us to have her baby! We will of course update you with any news in due course!

Miss Johnson- Y6 Team Leader

Year 6- What are we learning?

As it is SATs week something a bit different: Lines for the play !!!! Check they know them including song lyrics.

our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

When Fishes Flew: The Story of Elena’s War by Michael Morpurgo

Nowhere boy - Katherine Marsh

Out of my mind - Sharon Draper

Head Students Update

Over the past few weeks, we have been very busy at Furze Platt. Last Friday, many year six pupils had the pleasure of running a bake sale to raise for Ukraine. They sold all of the cakes in under 20 minutes and we are proud to announce they raised a whopping £374.80. We are amazed at how much money they made and thank everyone who purchased and sold products.

We are also very pleased at the return of the thought of the week at our school, which was our idea! This week's thought of the week was "Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony".

Also this week the House Captains and Head Students have been planning the Jubilee celebrations on the last day of term. We are very excited to say that this will be a day to remember!

The year six play is now well underway! Costumes are being designed, lines are being learnt and scenes are being set. This week, Year Six pupils have been participating in the National SATs exams- it wasn't too bad but we are glad they are over now!!

Shreya, Zack & Jess

Sports Update

PE News!

As the weather has warmed up, we have been able to be out on the playground and field more frequently and play a range of sports such as Cricket and Rounders. In cricket we have been working a lot on our bowling technique, throwing whilst fielding and looking at the appropriate batting stance for the best possible shots. In rounders, Mrs Winter has been working extremely hard on the rules and regulations of the game, with Year 3 learning about the sport for the first time ever. As for the upper school, a lot more positional play has been worked on to achieve the best results for the team.

In other lessons, year 4 have been working on certain dance styles which link to topic within the year group. The sessions so far have been on rivers, mountains and Tudors. Mrs Douglas, from school sport partnership, has been leading these sessions.

By Mr Kemp / Mrs Winter

Panathlon

On Thursday 28th April, Mr Kemp and 8 pupils travelled over to Bracknell Leisure Centre for a multisports panathlon event. The activities and stations consisted of skill, concentration, team work and determination. A total of 7 stations were completed by all the children, and for each station they were scored as a team to gain as many points as possible. After an exhausting but fun afternoon all the scores were finally tallied. FP did such a great job that they managed to finish in 3rd place, which meant a BRONZE MEDAL for the team. A HUGE congratulations and well done to Diana, Erin, Harry, Jayda, Malakai, Maryam, Oliver L and Ollie W who represented the school in such a fantastic way. Also thank you to all the parents for helping out and most importantly taking the team to this event in their own personal time.

PE Stars of the Week

Class Swan - Vivaan, Daisy, Pieush

Class Heron - Uzair, Isabella, Eve

Class Comorant - Sunny, Amelia, Ajitesh

Class Kite - Henry, Leo, William C

Class Eagle - Melinda, Lucas Y, Abbie C

Class Kestrel - Holly, Alice G, Jessica

Class Swift - Max, Louis, Chloe

Class Kingfisher - Betsy-Rose, Molly, Leo

Class Skylark - Rose, Olivia, Farhan

Class Wren - Holly, Eisha, Ronnie

Class Robin - Aiden, Nikhil, Sami

Class Finch - Chizara, Imogen, Archie

Well done to all the PE Stars!!

Year 3/4 Cross country

On Thursday 5th May FP had a cross country invitation to compete at St Pirans School. A mixed team of 8 children from year 3 and 4 participated in this very challenging event. Overall, the mixed Year 3's finished a brilliant 3rd place out of several schools competing, and the mixed Year 4 team also finished an impressive 3rd place out of all the schools. A big WELL DONE to all 16 runners who took part and represented FP at this invitation only event. Mrs Tisshaw was very happy with the team's high spirits and how well behaved each individual was on the day. A special mention and big thank you to Mrs Francis, who kindly helped out on the day, taking children to and from the event and supporting all the participants.

Housepoints update 13.5.22

Useful Information For Parents

Maidenhead's Big Read newsletter- April

GC Poster 2022.pdf

IAS newsletter May 2022.pdf