November update
It has been a busy few weeks at FPJS as we head rapidly towards the lead up to Christmas! We've had a brilliant company called "Fantasic Fred" in to talk about mental health (see more in this newsletter), Y4 have been on a very nearby trip to Oaken Grove to create leaflets to inspire people to visit, Y6 are currently enjoying their (rather rainy) week at Rhos-y-Gwaliau taking part in many outdoor activities designed to promote working as a team, resilience and growing independence at being away from home and Y3 are busy already preparing for their starring roles in their Y3 Christmas plays. Alongside this, there are so many brilliant learning activities happening inside the classroom, which you can see in the year group pages below. We have also enjoyed our dress down day today raising money for Children In Need- a very worthy charity. Well done to everyone who dressed in Pudsey clothes or spotty attire!
Thank you to all parents who completed our homework survey. We have summarised the results overall below, and as you can see the overwhelming response is positive. We have taken on board feedback from the comments in order to tweak things to make them even better. You can find some of the comments and our responses in the year group pages. Whilst the vast majority of responses were positive, we picked out some comments to explore in more detail- these were the most common suggestions or comments in each year group. We hope you find these useful!
Anna Clark
Head of School
Quick Links
Coming up soon:
Mon 21st November: Final Y2 talk n tour for Y2 parents
Weds 23rd November: Adisa the Verbaliser- poet performance for whole school and Y5 workshops
Fri 25th November: Dress down day for donations for Christmas Fair- children will also be doing a house cross-country competition and house quiz today- so please come dressed for outdoor running!
Mon 28th November: Whole school Christmas pantomime performance
Saturday 3rd December: FPSA Christmas Fair
Homework results- poetry competition and survey results
1st Place - Joselyn F - Swift Class Year 4
2nd Place - Isabelle V - Kingfisher Class Year 4
3rd Place - Karina D - Cormorant Class Year 6
FANTASTIC FRED
On Wednesday 3rd November, the whole school were invited to watch a fabulous performance by the Fantastic Fred Team. During the assembly the children learnt about four ways to have good mental health. They watched a really humorous performance about how Fantastic Fred needed the following things to feel good mentally; Food, Rest, Exercise and Devices (hence FRED). Their homework was to come home and tell you all about it, let's hope they did! Please find attached a link with more explanation and tips for at home here: www.thefantasticfredexperience.com/for-parents-guardians'
Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars
TT Rock stars Update
Well done to all our children who have started using TT rock stars regularly to practise times tables! Here are our top 10 for each year group and those who have made the most progress in the last 2 weeks.
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.
Congratulations Finn & Ernie from Y3 who have mastered their times tables! Well done!
Year Group Updates
Y3 homework responses (1).pdfYear 3 News
We have had a wonderful start back in Year 3 after half term.
The children have been creating their own poems over the past couple of weeks and these are now coming together and looking fantastic! The children have also been focusing on punctuation and grammar.
In maths, we have been multiplying and dividing, which the children have thoroughly enjoyed. They have been using a range of resources to support their learning which even included the use of sweets!
In French we have been learning key colours and in Science we have looked at health and well-being and how our body works.
We also enjoyed making poppies and biscuits on Friday 11th November for Remembrance Day. The poppies are in the windows on display in the Year 3 block.
The children have also been practising our Year 3 Christmas production 'Midwife Crisis' and so listen out for songs and any key lines the children need to practice. We are very excited and cannot wait to show you all of the children's hard work.
Mrs Barry- 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!:
What are the features of a poem?
How can you show multiplication and division in a variety of ways?
Can you say the colours red, blue, green and yellow in French?
Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...
The Iron Man - Ted Hughes
Horrid Henry - Francesca Simon
The sound collector - Roger McGough
Y4 homework responses.pdfYear 4 News
Since returning to school after the half term, Year 4 have been working brilliantly.
The term began with a rainy trip to Oaken Grove park where the children looked at the facilities available and reasons why people would want to visit the park. Since then, they have been publishing persuasive leaflets based on the park and we will be sending the best ones to the local council to be put on display in the park - keep an eye out to see if your child's is there!
In maths, the children have focused on learning their times tables up to 12 x 12. They have learnt lots of new strategies and we are seeing their pace really increasing! Keep up the good work.
An exciting experiment has kickstarted the children's learning about the digestive system in science. They have learnt about the functions of the teeth, saliva, stomach and intestines to name a few!
Keep up the great work, year 4!
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!:
What are the different parts of the digestive system and can you tell me about their function?
Have you noticed any patterns in the times tables you have been learning?
Why would Oaken Grove park appeal to a wide range of people?
Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4...
Two Weeks with the Queen - Morris Gleitzman
The Firework-Maker's Daughter - Philip Pullman
The Story of Flight - Jakob Whitfield
Year 5 News
It has been an excellent first half of the term and lots of new learning is well underway. We have been impressed by how much the children are engaging with all the new topics of work across the curriculum. Fantastic effort!
In English, we have been focusing on using figurative language to write poetry. We have been looking at a poem called the 'Barbershop Blues' where the poet compares getting his hair cut with being tortured! Next week, we welcome 'Adisa the Verbaliser' who is going to deliver a workshop in Year 5 which we hope will further inspire the children's writing.
Maths has been quite challenging in places for some of the children as they have been busy learning formal written methods for multiplication and division.
An interesting DT project on pulley and leavers is also underway. The children are making their prototype based upon a chosen theme. We can't wait to see them finished and fully functioning.
Keep up the good work, Year 5. Well done!
Miss Edwards, Y5 Team Leader
Y5 homework responses.pdfYear 5- What are we learning?
Can you explain how a lever and pulley works?
What is air resistance?
Can you tell an adult what the 'Goldilocks Zone' in space is?
Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...
King of the Cloud Forests - Michael Morpurgo
The Factory Made Boy - Christine Nostlinger
The Scarecrow and his Servant - Philip Pullman
Y6 homework responses.pdfYear 6 News
We have had a great start to term two in year 6!
We kicked off the term with a trip to Bentley Priory to round off our unit on Britain at war. Here, we got to see where Hugh Dowding (head of the RAF) made all of his critical decisions to help bring Britain to victory. We took part in a workshop that showed us how they used radar systems to track aircrafts coming in from over the sea and how they collated information such as the quantity of the aircraft and whether they were hostile or friendly. During our tour of the museum, we learnt about the one, the few and the many and how everyone's role during the war no matter how big or small was essential.
We have now started out design technology unit and we are working towards making our seasonal soup. We have had a chance to try lots of different vegetables soups - soup were definitely liked more than others!
In English, we are writing time capsules to our future selves in the form of a biography reflecting on what we aspire to be in the future.
We are looking forward to our next newsletter where we can update you on our week at Rhos.
Keep up the excellent team work Year 6.
Miss Morales, Y6 Team Leader
Year 6- What are we learning?
What are vascular plants?
Can you name 5 well known cities in England?
Who were the one, the few and the many during the Battle of Britain?
Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...
Finding Wonders - Jeannine Atkins
Oranges in No Man's Land - Elizabeth Laird
Cogheart - Peter Bunzil
Sports Update
Cross Country
10 years ago, Furze Platt Junior won the sport partnership's first annual cross country competition. Since then we have gone on to win the event many more times and this year was no exception. 12 of our pupils made up 2 teams from years 4,5 and 6. Each of the 6 races had 13 competitors as there were 8 other schools involved. Amazingly, 4 out of 6 of our first team won medals! - Katie E gold, Eduardo bronze, Jamie P silver and Bea F silver - and their team, including Daniel T and Kitty also won gold, beating Courthouse Junior with just a one point difference. Our second team: Bessie, William G, Albert, Mattie, Lucy E and Isaac were not far behind in 5th place overall. We saw some valiant running efforts from all our pupils and are very thankful to Bessie who stepped in last minute to save the day when we lost a team member through illness. I felt proud to be at Altwood and watch them all support each other so well. Well done all!
Mrs Tisshaw
Invictus Games
On Tuesday, 10 year 6 children competed with 9 other schools in the Maidenhead Invictus Games at Altwood School.
They took part in games including 'Danger Ball, 'New Age Curling' and 'Target relay' with a focus on enjoyment, being active and key skills such as courage and respect.
All 10 children did FPJS proud, scoring very high marks in all events and showing the key values for the competition.
I was particularly pleased to see, without any prompt, how supportive our team was of the other schools; including high fiving and fist pumping other teams after competition. The team really showed our school values!
Well done to all of them.
Mr Wallace
Useful Information For Parents
Online Cyberbulling- advice
How to combat online bullying.pdf
STEM Job Opportunities
Have you taken a career break of any length from STEM and wish to return? Are you working below your capability in a different sector? Do you have a STEM qualification that you aren't using? Do you wish to transfer STEM sectors? If so, this could be the opportunity for you!
STEM Returners provide STEM Professionals with a supported route back into the career they worked hard to build. Plus advice, career coaching, networking opportunities and mentoring to ensure they are ready and confident to return. We do this through partnering with STEM organisations to run returner programmes, enabling professionals to return to an equitable and inclusive industry.
We have recently launched a new STEM Returners programme with AWE, based at their sites in Berkshire, in areas such as manufacturing engineering, systems engineering as well as IT positions. For more information about these opportunities, please visit www.stemreturners.com or email hello@stemreturners.com.
No career break is too long, register to return to STEM today!
Reading Football Tickets!
Over 5,000 tickets were sold for local children, parents, teachers and coaches for our 1st Schools and Grassroots fixture of the season when we beat Huddersfield Town on Saturday 1st October.
As our manager Paul Ince said after the match: "We won’t always win games. But I hope these kids keep coming again and again and that we see them here again for the years to come!"
With that in mind, we would be delighted if you could join us for our 2nd schools and grassroots fixture of 2022-23.
When?
Reading vs Coventry City
Saturday 10th December 2022, 3pm
Where?
Select Car Leasing Stadium
What’s happening?
This will be our first fixture back after the World Cup break, so a great opportunity to welcome the team back to league football with a bumper crowd and invite all your all your friends and family, your school teachers and your club coaching staff for just £1 for all those aged 12 and Under and only £10 for adults!
12 and Under: £1
17 and Under: £3
18 to 24: £5
65 and over: £5
Adult: £10
That’s right, with this special offer your children can come to watch our Championship match against Coventry City for just £1!
How many tickets can we purchase?
There is no limit on the number of tickets you can buy using your unique code: #FurzePlattJuniorSchool And, for every ticket which is purchased by your School, you will receive one entry in a prize draw for a chance to win the School a series of ‘money can’t buy experience’ prizes!
Important! This offer applies to tickets in the Eamonn Dolan Stand blocks and Y19/Y20 of the Sir John Madejski Stand. Coupons codes are valid up until 4 hours before kick-off and availability is limited, so please act quickly to avoid disappointment.
We hope to see you all on Saturday 10th December!
Come on URRRZZZ!
Maidenhead's Big Read November Update
You can find out more information about this upcoming important event here: