Furze Platt Juniors 2023-24 Newsletter

It has been wonderful to finally be back at school after my unplanned absence! I have really enjoyed taking the time to walk around the school and see what is happening in the classes and it has reminded me of how lucky our children are to be part of FPJS! There are so many wonderful learning opportunities happening: in Y3, the children have enjoyed a full day's workshop learning about samba dance, and Mr King is providing the children with exciting samba lessons where each child will take part in a whole-class band; in Y4, our children are taking part in their swimming lessons weekly and are busily preparing for their class assemblies; in Y5 the children were enthusiastically telling me about their wonderful art lessons learning about Mayan architecture and designing Mayan temples, and although our Y6 children are in the throes of last minute preparing for SATs tests, there are still lots of other brilliant learning opportunties happening across the curriculum. For example, in music, the children are learning how to create original music using garageband which will ultimately accompany their films they will write, direct and produce by the end of the term! I know that my time at primary school was never as exciting as this!

I have also loved being back at the helm of singing assembly- teaching the children "Waterloo" by ABBA was so much fun. It's hard to believe that song is 50 years old this month! It is only right that our childen learn such classics to sing along to!

For our Y6 pupils, the SATs tests will be taking place during 13th May week. We know that our Y6 pupils have worked very hard towards the tests, but we have continued to stress to the children that the tests only measure a small part of what they are capable of and are 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. If your child is in Y6, please do reassure them of this fact as we approach SATs week.

Anna Clark, Head of School

Staffing Update

Last week, Mrs Dean began her maternity leave and today Mrs Barbosa will be leaving us temporarily to have her second child. We wish both Mrs Dean and Mrs Barbosa lots of love and luck with their new arrivals as they take a break from school. We will of course update parents when we hear baby news!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Mrs Sherwin's baby, Quinn who arrived on 9th April, weighing 6lbs 2oz. Mother and baby are doing brilliantly and we send them lots of love!

Miss Priti left us last week to begin a new role as a family support worker and we wish her well with her new endeavour.

We have two new teaching assistants that have joined our FPJS team:

In Y4, Mrs Juszczak has settled well into her role with the Y4 team, and we will be shortly welcoming Mrs Karthikeyan who will also be joining our Y4 team. Mrs Mulè and Mr Browne will be spending some time in both Y4 and Y6 this term.

Our updated staffing photo board can be found on our website, here: https://www.furzeplattjuniorschool.co.uk/whos-who/

Quick Links

Curriculum

Lunch Menu

Term Dates 23-24

Term Dates 24-25

Calendar

Website including housepoints update

Diary Dates:

Monday 6th May - School Closed (Bank Holiday Monday)
Tues 7th May- Sex Ed meeting for Y6 parents (email sent 24th April)
Monday 13th May - Thursday 16th May - KS2 SATs Week
Monday 13th May- Y4 VR Prime workshops
Tues 21st May- Skylark class assembly- start 9.05am
Weds 22nd May- Kingfisher class assembly- start 9.05am
Thurs 23rd May- Swift class assembly- start 9.05am
Friday 24th May- Longridge Final payment due for Y4 parents
20th-25th May- Walk to School week
Friday 24th May - Term 5 ends
Monday 3rd June - Term 6 starts
Monday 3rd June - Friday 21st June - Y4 Multiplication Tables Checks
Tuesday 4th June - Y6 trip to Silverstone
Monday 10th June - Y3 Roman Day
Tuesday 11th June - Y3 and Y6 road safety workshops (rearranged from February)
Wednesday 12th June - Y4 road safety workshops (rearranged from February)
Thursday 13th June - Y5 road safety workshops (rearranged from February)
Friday 14th June- Dress down day for FPSA summer fair- bring in donations for the adult tombola to the playground.
Tuesday 18th June - GEMS coffee morning at FPIS 9.30
Wednesday 19th June- Y2 transition parent meeting 6.30pm *TBC)
Saturday 22nd June - FPSA Summer Fair
Friday 28th June - Sports Day (morning only)
Thurs 4th July- Reserve sports day
Friday 5th July - Y5 trip to Cadbury World
Tuesday 16th July & Thursday 18th July - Y6 play performances. Times TBC
Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd July - Y4 trip to Longridge
Wednesday 24th July - Term 6 Ends- PLEASE NOTE SCHOOL WILL END AT 1.30PM

Y5 visit from Fire and Rescue Service

Year 5 were lucky enough to have the Maidenhead Fire & Rescue Service come into school to talk to the children about fire safety as well as showing the children around a fire engine. The children were able to ask lots of questions about the fire engine and were also offered the opportunity to go on to the fire engine to look inside the truck. The children were also able to spray the hose coming off of the truck! The children had so much fun that the firemen had to leave the school momentarily to fill the truck back up with water and come back! It might also have had something to do with some of the staff having too much fun!

Mr King, Y5 teacher

Y3 Brazilian Dance Workshop

Year 3 were lucky enough to have a visit from One Day Creative who led a Brazilian Dance workshop for us on Friday 26th April. This was part of our South America topic and the children enjoyed sharing the facts they had learned so far. The instructor taught the children how to dance using samba movements to carnival music and the children thoroughly enjoyed performing this as well as waving maracas and flags. We had so much fun and the children could not stop laughing!

Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars

Congratulations, Liam!

A very big 'well done' to Liam S (Year 4, Swift Class) who received the award for 'Players' Player of the Year' for the U9's at the end of season rugby awards at Maidenhead Rugby Club last weekend.

Achieving this award is an achievement to be proud of and holds great significance as it is bestowed upon a player by their team mates—the ultimate endorsement! Liam received the award not only for his on-field performance (great tackling!) and commitment, but also for his contribution to the team dynamics: always kind, caring and supportive, a real team player - these are all qualities which Liam also displays in school! Well done, Liam!

Well done to Marni!

Congratulations to Marni went to the gymnastics nationals and gained 6 medals! One for participation, 3 bronze and 2 silvers all for different gymnastic disciplines. Well done Marni!

Congratulations to Megan!

Well done to Megan who also went to the gymnastics nationals and gained 4 medals and a trophy, 1 bronze and 3 gold all for different gymnastic disciplines. This meant Megan became the national champion coming 1st in her age group! Superb Megan!

Congratulations to Priyah!

Priyah's aunt entered her into the Young Writers competition and her poem was published in a book called 'Once Upon a Dream- In The Land of Dream'

Here is the poem and a picture of Priyah with her certificate. The book will be out on 28th of June. Well done Priyah! What fabulous writing! We hope school is not THIS terrible and that you have just used hyperbole and powerful imagery to exaggerate!

Congratulations to Damon!

Damon and his team won the cup final for under 10s Maidenhead Football team. Superstars!

Newsletter Star of the week April/May

Well done to all our stars over the last few weeks:

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.

TT Rock stars- Top Ten most played this week

Well done to all our children who use TT rock stars regularly to practise times tables! In this edition we have published the children who have played the most this week as well as the overall top 10 players currently at FPJS

Top Ten Overall at FPJS

Bedrock Learning- Top Ten

Spelling Shed- Top Scores

Sports Update

PE News!

What a great start to summer term one. The children have been learning tennis and cricket skills in their P.E. lessons. Within their lessons they have been working on racket techniques in tennis, improving their skills in forearm, back arm, sending and receiving the ball. In our cricket lessons they have been working on their batting and bowling skills as well practising their catching and fielding.

Miss Gill

Mixed Dynamos Cricket Skills Festival

17 girls and boys from Year 4 represented Furze Platt Juniors at Pinkneys Green Cricket Club on Tuesday 30th April. The children that attended this event developed their skills of: agility, catching, batting, bowling and their throwing skills.

Miss Gill

Cross Country yr 3/4

On Thursday 2nd May 12 children from Year 3 and 12 children from Year 4 (6 girls/boys) represented Furze Platt Junior School at St Pirans School in a cross country event. The children did two laps of their field which equates to 1500m.

In the year 3 boys' race, Isaac came second, in the Year 4 boys' race, Fred came first and Morgan 3rd and in the Year 4 girls' race, Megan came 1st and Cleo came 2nd. Overall the year 4 girls and boys won which meant they both returned to school with two shields! The year 3 boys were one point away from winning. All 24 children demonstrated amazing resilience and passion and ran their best and I am very proud of all of them!!

Well done!

Miss Gill

Netball

Our Year 6 netball team played their last match against Holy Trinity on Wednesday 24th April. This match was very competitive on both sides. I am very proud of the girls it was one of their best matches they have played! The final score was 13-8 to Holy Trinity. Bailee and Kimberley were chosen as players of the match.

Well Done!

Miss Gill

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

We have had another fantastic couple of weeks in year 3 and a great start to the new term.

In English we have been working hard on planning our own 5 part adventure stories and have been focussing on using adjectives, speech, adverbs and noun phrases. The children have enjoyed creating their own characters and settings.

In maths we have been focusing on fractions. This has included counting up and back in tenths, adding and subtracting fractions and finding fractions of amounts.

In science our topic this term is 'Rocks'. We have been looking at where rocks come from, how they are formed and the 3 different types of rocks. The children then tested rocks in the class to see what type they were.

In geography our topic is 'South America'. The children have used the atlas to locate South America as well as the countries within this continent.

The children have been programming using Lego in computing which they have thoroughly enjoyed.

Mr King will be teaching the children samba this term! The children have been engaging well with this and the music is loud but wonderful.

As part of our French topic, we have looked at body parts which have been connected to the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

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 3 types of rocks called?

What words can you think of that are adverbs?

What is the largest country in South America?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

George's Marvellous Medicine - Roald Dahl

The Witches - Roald Dahl

Gangsta Granny - David Walliams

Year 4 News

What a fabulous start to Summer term 1 we have had! The children have been immersed in a range of new topics and learning that has been capturing their interests and passions. The project homework was fantastic and the children have very much enjoyed sharing them with their classes. Well done!

Within maths, the children have been finishing off a their decimal unit- looking at divided by 10 and 100. They have learnt steps to success to help them achieve this, like a pirate with a map looking for treasure. This week in particular, the children started their new topic of money where they have been looking at recognising the coins and creating, comparing and converting amounts in pounds and pence.

In English the children have been activists, trying to persuade President Widodo (of Indonesia) to stop the vast amount of deforestation currently happening in Asia. They have been looking at how to make their writing more persuasive and have been expanded sentences with subordinate conjunctions. The main focus has been on the impact to wildlife, global warming and plants. They have been really compelling and once again PASSIONATE!

Finally, in History year 4 have been learning all about the Tudors- we have so far looked at Henry the VIII, why he left the Catholic church and discovered who Elizabeth I was. The children have carried out tasks putting key events onto timelines, taking part in role plays and answering questions about the Tudor Monarchs lives.

Coming up, Year 4 have the VR Prime workshop day to look forward to and they are continuing to practise for their class assemblies which they are keen to share soon.

Miss Keating-Bell 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:

In your opinion, did Henry VIII leave the Catholic church and create the Church of England for 'love' or 'religion'?
Can you describe the way the particals move for a solid, liquid and gas?
What is the biggest threat the rainforest is currently facing?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4..

The Highland Falcon Theif

M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman

The Wind In The Willows

Kenneth Grahame

Train To Impossible Places

P.G. Bel

Year 5 News

We have had another fantastic couple of weeks in Year 5 and have started the term really well.

In maths we have been looking at angles and how they can be drawn, measured and estimated. This has invlolved using our protractor skills as well as making sure we can all draw a straight line!

In English we have been writing some Greek Myths based on the Myth of 'King Midas and the Golden Touch'. When writing the myths we have been working on our use of direct speech and showing our use of charactisation through a reporting clause.

The different life cycles of different types of animals is something we have been looking into in science. The children have been completing tasks about the 3 different types of mammals, insects and amphibians.

In history, our new topic is the Ancient Maya Civilisation. The children have already looked at where this civilisation is placed on a timeline as well as their number system, writing and calendar.

The children have been learning about databases and how data can be stored along with how they can search within the base using 'AND' and 'OR'.

Hip Hop is our new genre of focus in Music and the children have already started to create their own Hip Hop tracks using GarageBand.

The weather is the area of focus in French this term. The children have been working out how to say and write the different types of weather we can experience - which is a very useful thing living in England!

Mrs Slyfield & Y5 Team

Year 5 - What are we learning?

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

Who was the god of stonemasonry in Greek mythology?
What is the total number of degrees around a point?
Can you write the number 23 using the Maya number system?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

Mythologica - Steven Kershaw

Mayan Civilisation - Izzi Howell

The Last Bear - Hannah Gold

Year 6 News

Wow! We are so proud of how hard Year 6 have been working since coming back from out Easter break.

In English, we have been focusing on speech and character description. We have been using our writing 'toolkit' to come up with alternative endings to a short animation about a ferocious battle between Rock, Paper and Scissors. In particular, we have been looking at how to use speech effectively to show character and move the story forwards.

In maths, we have been focusing mainly on mathematical vocabulary and reasoning questions. The children have been tackling lots of multiple step math questions that require them to make lots of connections across their mathematics.

In science, we have been looking at electricity and exploring circuits and voltage. We have investigated the affects of voltage and how to draw scientific diagrams.

In History, we have started our unit of Black and British which links nicely with our class book 'Black and British - an illustrated history by David Olusoga. We have researched the life of Olaudah Equiano and Lillian Bader.

The play has also been revealed to Year 6. We will be performing 'Pirates of the Curry Bean' and are excited to get started with this next week!

Keep up the good work Year 6! There are lots of fun and exciting things coming your way.

Miss Morales, 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 affect does voltage have on a circuit?
What is a determiner?
Who were the first black and British people in the UK?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

Coming to England

Floella Benjamin

Black and British

David Olusoga

Shipwreck Island

Struan Murray

FPSA Updates

FPSA team update

The team were delighted to have Sarah, Catherine and Euan join the FPSA recently so we are up to 12 members now.

Windsor & Maidenhead Community Lottery

This lottery is a weekly lottery that raises money for good causes in the Royal Borough including the FPSA. Tickets for the lottery cost just £1 and from that 60p goes to good causes including 50p to the FPSA. Each ticket has a 1 in 50 chance to win a prize each week with a top prize of £25,000! So please sign up and buy a weekly ticket or two using the following link: https://www.windsorandmaidenheadcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/furze-platt-schools-association

Dates for your Diary:

Junior School Discos - Friday 17th May (4-5pm and 5.15-6.30pm)

DJs King and Sawle will once again be banging out the music for the Juniors at 2 separate discos. Tickets are available at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa

Summer Fair - Saturday 22nd June (11.30am - 2.30pm)

Fun for all the family at our biggest fund-raising event of the year. Please save the date! We have a 'Euro 2024' theme this year.

Summer Fair - Oakwood Estates board sponsorship

Once again, Oakwood Estates are kindly sponsoring our summer fair so parents can sign up to have a board outside their house advertising the fair. We receive money for every house signed up so it is a great way to raise funds for both schools.

We have had a good initial response with 50 households signed up but obviously the more people that sign up, the more money raised for both schools. If you are happy to have a board up outside your house for 2 weeks before the summer fair (Sat 22nd June), please sign up using this link: https://forms.gle/JCmF5JtrvEBJRPsC7

SEND Updates

IAS newsletter May 2024.pdf

SEND courses for parents.docx

Other Useful Information For Parents

Nine-year-olds added to malicious WhatsApp groups- please be aware:

We have been made aware of this issue via BBC news. Please do read the link below. If your child has a mobile phone please do remind your children of the dangers of such groups.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0l4z8n1p9o

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