Furze Platt Juniors 2024-25 Newsletter

It's been a busy term, but it seems to have flown by so quickly! It has been such a great start to this academic year- all of our new staff and children have settled into the "FPJS way" and we can already see such great progress across the curriculum thanks to the dedication of our hard-working staff! I have really enjoyed wandering in all of the classes and seeing the children working on all brilliant things our curriculum has to offer. Each week, I take part in "Book Bingo" where I meet one child from each class and we look at their books together. This is my favourite part of the week and I always come away with a sense of how happy and how passionate the children are about their learning- no matter what level of ability they present. Our staff have been particulalry working hard to ensure we "scaffold" all children so that they can all succeed across every subject and the children's books show such wonderful outcomes- I do hope that you enjoyed the chance to see your child's books at parents evening this week.

Our school site is also looking wonderful- we are so lucky to have a newly vampted log park area for our younger children to enjoy, not to mention a wonderful planted quiet area (planted by none other than Mr Wallace!). It is always a pleasure to show visitors around FPJS. Mrs Sweatman has put together a time lapse film of the log park being built- which also show just how much the weather has varied this term: See the video here!

Thank you to all your support this term- particularly to our new parents! Thankyou for filling out our Y3 transition survey- see results below. We hope you enjoy a wonderful half term break and your children feel refreshed and ready for the lead up to Christmas!

Anna Clark

Head of School

Diary Dates:

Monday 4th November- Term 2 begins: Y5 Shadow puppet workshop
Friday 8th November- Prospective parent talk n tour 9am
Friday 8th November- Author visit - Phillip Kavvadias
Monday 11th November- Flu immunisation
Tuesday 12th November- Bedrock Learning parents' eve (virtual) 7pm
Thursday 14th November- Celebrating Children in Need day:
Friday 15th November- INSET DAY
Sunday 17th November to Saturday 23rd November- Y6 Residential to Rhos-Y-Gwaliau
Friday 22nd November- Dress down day for the FPSA Christmas fair (bring in Tombola gifts)
Monday 25th November- Panto production for whole school
Friday 29th November- Prospective parent talk n tour 9am
Saturday 30th November- FPSA Christmas Fair 11.30am-2.30pm
Tuesday 10th December- Wren Class Y3 Christmas Play 9.15am
Wednesday 11th December- Robin Class Y3 Christmas Play 9.15am
Thursday 12th December- Finch Class Y3 Christmas Play 9.15am
Friday 13th December- Christmas jumper day
Wednesday 18th December- Christmas lunch
Friday 20th December- End of term & dress for Christmas!

Quick Links

Curriculum

Lunch Menu

Term Dates 24-25

Calendar

Who's who at FPJS

Website including housepoints update

FPJS School News

Medical Wristbands at FPJS

From after half term, we will be trialling using disposable wristbands with children who have either had a head bump during the day or have used their asthma inhaler during the school day. This is to ensure that all staff (and parents) are alerted to this important medical information in a simple, visual way.

If your child has had a head bump during the day, we will put a RED wristband on your child. We will also always contact you via telephone or email so that you are fully aware of the incident.

If your child has asthma and has used their inhaler during the day, we always record their usage but will ask them to wear a BLUE wristband so that all staff are alerted to this.

Your child can of course dispose of the wrist band once they are at home.

Harvest Festival Thanks!

Thank you to all the families who kindly donated items as part of our Harvest Festival celebrations! We had a huge amount of items that were collected by Foodshare and will support local people. Thank you also to Wayne Dixon for leading the assembly which focussed on the value of "sharing". We also enjoyed singing our new song, Harvest rock n roll as part of the celebrations!

Library News

Congratulations to our chosen Librarians who will be running both our junior library and supporting the infant school during lunchtimes too!

Library news!

We are pleased that we are now able to share our library catalogue online. If you or your child would like to check whether we have a book in stock or whether a book is available to loan, please click below. Please note, this does NOT include our recent new class books which are available to read in the classes.

FPJS Library Catalogue

Digital Leaders

Congratulations to the following children who gained the honour of being chosen as the digital leaders for their classes this year. The children, led by our computing lead, Mr Sawle will be charged with supporting and developing our use of ICT at school. This year our digital leaders will be sharing their skills and expertise with others, attending coding clubs alongside opportunities to test and try out new resources!

Y3 Parent survey

Many thanks to all of our Y3 parents who responded to our survey recently. We wanted to know how effective our transition arrangements have been this year and we were encouraged with the responses:

Over 90% of respondents said their child had settled well into FPJS (4-5 ratings)
Over 90% of respondents felt that the information prior to starting at FPJS helped to prepare for joining the juniors
95% of respondents said that the transition activities had prepared their child well for the move to juniors.

There were some wonderful positive comments which have been passed on to the relevant teachers, praising our communication, positivity. We were encouraged to hear that the letters sent from Y3 to Y2 really helped our younger children feel a sense of belonging to their new school!

We also had some very useful feedback with future improvements and opportunities which we have taken on board for the future. These include:

More information and support with homework apps and expectations
More information in regards to the library and reading books
For some information to be recorded or streamed to allow parents who are unable to attend live meetings to view
More information/ workshops to support learning at home.

Bedrock learning-sign up for support

We're excited to continue working with Bedrock learning this year to support us to enhance literacy across the school and improve outcomes for our learners. We're delighted to invite you to a parents' evening they are running for parents of FPJS. We're keen to get parents and guardians involved to maximise the impact this has. Taking place on Tuesday 12th November, it's a virtual event that you can join from anywhere. You can find the link and sign up HERE.

Eco Council and Eco Warriors

Congratulation to the following children who have been chosen as Eco- Council Reps this year. A staggering 40 children applied for the role by writing to Mrs Sweatman to persuade her why they would be a good choice. 6 children were then picked to join the school council as experts on all things eco. We have also choosen an additional 8 children to become eco- warriors. These children will support their classes become more eco-friendly throughout the year- they have already taken part in a environmental review of the school and identified things we need to work on this year!

See below for an eco challenge that we would like all children to take part in over November!

Y5 trip to Winchester Science Museum

On Tuesday the 8th of October, all 91 of our Year 5 pupils went to Winchester's Science Centre and Planetarium for an educational and fun-filled visit. From wearing a space suit and seeing the world through rainbow glasses to exploring our galaxy and beyond, the children seemed to have had a brilliant time. They took an active part in a space-themed workshop, explored the many areas at the center for a unique hands-on experience and travelled through a literally 'out-of-this world' show about our solar system. Year 5s did a great job of representing FPJS and we are very grateful to all our parent volunteers for coming along for the ride and supporting us. Well done Kites, Kestrels and Eagles!

Y6 WW2 day

Year 6 had a brilliant day exploring what life was like during WW2. It was brilliant to see the children and teachers come dressed in 1940's attire. The corridors were decorated with propaganda posters and 1940's music was playing throughout the day. The day began with them learning about and making Anderson shelters out of corrugated cardboard to represent the corrugated metal that would have been used. During this time, we had two 'raids' were children had to take cover. We past the time sharing stories and singing songs until the all clear siren came. Later in the afternoon, children made war time carrot biscuits (which got mixed reviews), trained to be a part of the RAF in a filter room and had a go at cracking the enigma code. It was a brilliant day and it really did feel like we travelled back in time.

Coming soon- Author Visit

We are looking forward to welcoming Author Philip Kavvadias to FPJS after half term! Philip is a local author who has a mission to engage boys in reading! He has written a number of books, which are available to order here. All books will be signed by the author.

Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars

Well done to...

Finley in Eagle class (Y5) who became the Berkshire 10 and under champion in Tennis!He also won the Maidenhead Club tournament at the beginning of September. What a fantastic achievement Finley!

Star of the week Newsletter 2: 24th October 2024

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, Bedrock Learning and Spelling Shed stars

TT Rock stars- Top Ten

Well done to all our children who have started using TT rock stars regularly to practise times tables!

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.

Spelling Shed- Top Ten

Well done to our top ten spelling pupils this week!

Bedrock Learning

Well done to all our children who are regularly completing their homework tasks to improve their vocabulary! Here are our top 10 children this week by year group who have earned the most points:

Sports Update

PE updates

This term the children have been working on:

Year 3- gymnastics/ball skills, Year 4- gymnastics/ netball, Year 5/6 - dance/tag rugby.

Moving onto next term year 3/4 will carry on with Gymnastics/ Sports Hall Athletes/ Fundamental. Year 5 dance/ Sports Hall Athletics/ yoga and year 6 will be taking part and learning more about fitness/yoga/ Sports Hall Athletics.

Reminder for parents- as it is starting to get colder, please make sure children are dressed appropriately for their P.E. lessons as they will be outside. Earrings need to be taken out before their lessons and long hair tied up.

Miss Gill

Speed Stacking - Year 3/Year 5

On Wednesday 9th October Year 3 Wren class and Year 5 Kite class represented Furze Platt Junior School at the Speed Stacking festival at Altwood School. On the day the children went around different stations that had different ways to speed stack. Sport stacking is an individual and team sport that involves stacking nine or twelve cups in pre-determined sequences as fast as you can. Speed stacking helps improve your coordination skills and both classes enjoyed the opportunity to take part in such a fun event!

Miss Gill

Panathlon -Year 6

On Friday 11th October, six of our year 6’s represented Furze Platt Juniors at Braywick leisure centre in the Panathlon competition. On the day there were 9 different stations all with different activities. The children had to collect as many points as they could on each station to get an overall score. Our year 6’s did amazing and finished in 1st place!! They are now going to the finals- well done!

Miss Gill

Little Musketeers Fencing- Year 4/Year 6

On Wednesday 16th October, 24 year 4 students represented FPJS at Furze Platt Senior school and later, Year 6 Heron class represented FPJS at FPSS taking part in Little Musketeers Fencing. On the day there were different fencing skills the children were learning at stations around the hall and children had to work in pairs/individually and in groups. All children showed excellent team skills at the event- well done!

Miss Gill

Cross Country Yr 4/5/6

The Cross Country competition was held on Wednesday 18th October at Altwood School for year 4/5/6. It was a fantastic opportunity for the 12 students that attended the competition. They all ran 1km around the field. Everyone showed excellent sportsmanship, cheering their team mates on and helping them when needed! We took an A team and a B team: Year 4’s Cici, Dulcie, Isaac S and Sebby B. Year 5’s, Cleo, Megan, Fred and Cameron. year 6’s Freya, Bea, Jack J and Aiden.

Everyone did incredibly well: Isaac S came 3rd in his race. Fred came 2nd in his race followed by Cameron coming in 3rd place. Cleo came 3rd in her race. Bea came 1st in her race followed by Freya coming in 2nd. Aiden came 2nd in his raced followed by Jack J coming in 3rd place. Overall out of all the schools our B team came 1st!! The B team all received a medal for their team. Well done everyone who participated!

Miss Gill

Netball update

Furze Platt Juniors played an away match against St Ed’s. They all played so well, FPJS won 14-1. Well done girls and boys- it was a great match!

Miss Gill

Congratulations to our Young Sports Ambassadors

This year, for the first time, we are sending 6 pupils from year 6 to represent our school at the Primary Young Sports Ambassador Training day. The pupils were voted by their peers and teachers to carry out the roles. The training will teach the team ways to inspire others to: take more exercise, join in with our sports clubs, teach others about the value of exercise and sport, speak in assembly, about health and fitness and organise play / games at FPJS, and more! The inspirational team are: Freya T, Jack J, Millie G, Bea F, Damon L and Jamie P.

Mrs Tisshaw

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

What an amazing first term the Year 3 children have had - we are so pleased with how well they have settled and how hard they are all working.

In English the children have been looking at features of a poem and reading the poem 'The Sound Collector'. They then needed to plan their own poem based on this and recorded each aspect of this using keynote. The children also used audio when reading this and presented to the class.

In maths we have been working on addition and subtraction over the past few weeks. This has involved the children using their place value knowledge as well as recognising when numbers in the ones and tens columns needed to be exchanged. We then moved onto using the written column method.

In history the children have been working on the Stone Age and have learned how life was at this time. The children have looked at Stonehenge and Skara Brae and how these were discovered or created.

In science our topic is 'Forces'. The children have been looking at how magnets attract and repel, what makes a fair test and predicting friction on a variety of surfaces.

In French we have learned colours, greetings and French numbers 1-10.

What a wonderful start we have had so far. Well done Year 3!

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 features of a poem can you remember?

What would you need to do if you had 12 ones when adding two numbers?

How do you count to 10 in French?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

Year 4 News

Wow! What a busy end to the term we have had in Year 4. We have been choosing school councillors, eco councillors and warriors, and have earned many marble treats!

In English, the children have been writing build-ups taking inspiration from our video 'The Dream Giver'. They have been using short sentences to create suspense and learning how cliff-hangers make our audience want to read on.

During our maths lessons, the children have been developing their addition and subtraction skills using a range of methods and applying these to word problems. We are setting ourselves a year group goal to be the year who wins the most plays on Times Table Rock Stars over half term - I know we can do it!

In history, they have loved researching and fact finding all about the Anglo-Saxons. They have recalled all of these facts to create a diary entry as an Anglo-Saxon. They even chose an Anglo-Saxon name!

Wishing the children a lovely, restful half-term break!

Mrs Batchelor - Year 4 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 is another word for 'addition' and 'subtraction'?
How can I build suspense in my writing?
Why did the Saxons settle in Britain?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4..

Planet Omar Accidental Trouble Magnet

Zanib Mian

The Great Chocoplot

Chris Callaghan

Fairy Vs. Wizard

Jenny McLachlan

Year 5 News

Year 5 have had a fantastic and a very busy start to the year!

In English we have completed our persuasive letters to Mrs Clark about why we should not have homework.

In Maths we have been working hard on written methods for both addition and subtraction as well as identifying square, prime and cubed numbers.

For Science the children have really enjoyed learning all about space, including our fantastic trip to the Winchester Science Centre.

In History we have learnt all about life during the Victorian period, with a particular focus on the arrival of the railway in Maidenhead.

For RE we discussed the question How far would a Sikh go for his/her religion?

Our final spacescapes in Art look fantastic - so bright and colourful. The children have developed their understanding of composition.

Next term we have lots of exciting learning coming up, before the excitement of all the Christmas activities!

Miss Scott & Mrs Slyfield, Y5 Team Leaders

Year 5- What are we learning?

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

How does the Earth, Moon and Sun affect our daily lives?
Explain the impact of the introduction of the railway on Maidenhead.
What are the prime numbers up to 20?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

Year 6 News

Wow! What a brilliant and jam-packed first half term we have had. It seems like just yesterday the pupils were having their first day in Year 6. We are very proud of the role models they are becoming to the rest of the school!

In English, we have completed our writing unit that focused on speech. This was based off of one of our recommended read books 'Holes' by Louis Sachar. The children were thinking carefully about how to use speech to show character and move the story forward.

In maths, we have now completed our unit on the four operations and we have now begun our fractions unit looking particularly at equivalent and simplifying fractions.

In History, children have learnt all about what life was like on the home front and are able to talk about the experiences of a range of people from the time.

In science, we have looked at how light travels. They have developed a range of scientific skills such as observing and experimenting.

In RE, the children have produced brilliant final pieces representing the 5 pillars of Islam showing the ways Muslims commit to their religion.

We have lots of fun lessons planned for after half term and of course our upcoming residential trip to Rhos. Year 6 have worked so hard this term and we are sure this will continue as we tip toe towards Christmas.

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 material would be effective during the blackout?
How did people protect themselves on the homefront during WW2?
How do Muslims show commitment to Islam?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

SEND updates

October 2024.pdf

FPSA Update

Mr T's Quiz Night (18th October)

The FPSA quiz night was back last Friday and there was a very good turnout with 115 tickets sold and 22 teams entered. The music round finished with a fine rendition of the 1971 John Denver hit, 'Take Me Home, Country Roads'. History was made as a Juniors staff team ('Is your name on it?') won the quiz!

The FPSA would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came and supported this event, Charlotte Young, Tess Slater and Steve Craig for running the bar and the staff at Palmieri's for providing us with the lovely food.

Personalised name label stickers

We have an updated discount code for buying school uniform labels and labels for water bottles etc. from the 'Easy2Name' company. Simply order from the following site: https://www.easy2name.com/stickeasy, quote code 'FR-FPIS-72' and not only will you will get free delivery, the FPSA will receive 20% of the order value. These labels will help the schools return mislaid uniform and will help cut down on the lost property.

Windsor & Maidenhead Community Lottery

This 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

Copas Farm Shop

Copas Farms have a PTA cashback scheme. Please visit www.copasfarmshop.co.uk and they will donate 5% of the order value to the FPSA. Ideal for your Christmas turkey!

Please use the following code: FPJS24PTA.

Dates for your Diary:

Happy Bags - Friday 29th November

Our next collection of unwanted clothes etc. is on the morning of the 29th November. Filled bags can be dropped off by the Infants entrance.

Christmas Fair - Saturday 30th November (11.30am - 2.30pm)

The Christmas Fair is back at the very end of November. We be running the usual Silent Auction and this time the raffle will be online! Christmas Fair letters detailing how you can help will be going out after half term.

The stall volunteer list can be found here: https://volunteersignup.org/RFCFW

A huge thank you to everyone who signed up to have an Oakwood Estates agents board outside their house advertising the upcoming fair, we had just under 80 households which will raise ~£450.

Junior School Discos - Thursday 18th December

DJs Sawle and King are back playing the tunes for the Juniors to boogie. As usual, the years 3 & 4 disco is first (4-5pm) followed by the years 5 & 6 disco (5.15 - 6.30pm).

Tickets will be on sale in November via our pta-events platform.

Useful Information For Parents

Smartphone free childhood- top tips for parents

Top Tips Tanya Goodin OCT '24.pdf

E-scooter leaflet.pdf

W&M SEND October half terma activities brochure 24 (1) (1).pdf

Halloween costume swap A4.pdf

Copy of Booking Tots reminder.pdf

t-t-24073-halloween-safety-tips-poster-_ver_1.pdf

6.7600_beis_opss_fireworksafetycampaign_a5leaflets_general.pdf

Royal Windsor Racecourse Fireworks Night.pdf

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