Furze Platt Juniors 2024-25 Newsletter

It has been a busy few weeks at FPJS as we head rapidly towards Christmas! We've had a great few weeks at school with a Brass concert band, an inspiring author, Children In Need and a Panto! On top of this: Y4 have been on a very nearby trip to Oaken Grove to create leaflets to inspire people to visit, Y5 have had a fantastic art workshop from Norden farm and Y6 have enjoyed the most magical, snowy adventure at Rhos-y-Gwaliau!

Y3 are now in full swing with their learning their lines and songs for their Christmas productions and as you will have seen from our recent letter home, we LOVE celebrating all things Christmas at FPJS- and there are lots of great things planned over the next month including a whole school Christmas homework competition. Next week, we will be setting a homework all based on the Sainsbury's Christmas advert which features Roald Dahl's BFG. This is a chance for children to be creative and to produce a response to the film. We will be giving lots of suggestions on what they could do, but as long as their writing/drawing/film making/outcome is based on the film, they have a chance to win housepoints for their house and to win an overall prize. We will be showcasing and celebrating children who have put in their best efforts in the final assembly on Friday 20th December.

Please do come along and support the FPSA Christmas Fair tomorrow- from 11.30am- Our wonderful choir, supported by Mr King will be singing as you enter to really get you in the festive mood!

Anna Clark

Head of School

Diary Dates:

Saturday 30th November- FPSA Christmas Fair 11.30am-2.30pm
Monday 2nd December- Y3 Lantern Making in classes
Thursday 5th December- Christmas Homework set for all classes (see seesaw for info)
Thursday 5th December- Y4 Christmas Unwrapped at St Peter's church.
Saturday 7th December- Y3 Lantern Making parade in Maidenhead
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 & Inter-house tree decorations afternoon
Monday 16th December- FPJS Christmas Carol Concert (children only) 1.30pm
Tuesday 17th December- Guitar concert 2.30pm (Parents of guitarists only invited)
Wednesday 18th December- Christmas lunch and film afternoon
Thursday 19th December- Deadline for all Christmas homework
FPSA Christmas discos Y3/4 4-5pm/ Y5/6 5.15-6.30pm
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

Reading at FPJS

If you missed our recent online parent workshop to support with reading at home (and how we teach reading at school) you can access both the video recording and the slides on our website using the link below.

Reading at FPJS

Philip Kavvadias- Author Visit

On Friday, 8th November we welcomed Philip Kavvadias to FPJS who entertained us all with his drawing of his microraptors and explained to us how he created lots of different story ideas. He even gave the children a chance to vote on the settings and characters for his upcoming books- so look out for this in the future!

Pantomine at FPJS!

On Monday, our children enjoyed all the fun of the panto, with the touring theatre group M and M Theatrical productions who gave a very entertaining version of "Beauty and the Beast". It was a fantastic performance, full of energy with singing dancing and adult participation too! What a great start to Monday morning!

Children in Need fundraising day

Thank you to all of our wonderful families for kindly donating to our Children in Need day appeal. It was lovely to see our school full of children wearing spots and ears in aid of the loveable pudsey bear! We raised over £1000 for this great charity. Well done all!

Brass Quartet performance

On Wednesday, 20th November our children were treated to a brilliant brass band performance courtesy of the Berkshire Music Trust. The band, made up of a two trumpets, a french horn, and a trombone played a range of tunes which really did mesmerise our pupils. The concert also taught the children many interesting facts about the instruments! We will be offering brass lessons to our pupils shortly. If you would like to find out more about your child can access lessons, please click on https://ukberkshire.speedadmin.dk/registration#/

All children who were interested in taking up lessons had a "hands on experience" this week- it was brilliant to hear them using lots of energy to make sounds!

Y6 Residential to Rhos-y-Gwaliau

Let it snow! What a magical week Year 6 had at Rhos Y Gwaliau. The memories made on this trip are normally remembered for a lifetime however it was made extra special this year with deep snow that created picturesque landscapes and a lot of snow fun!

Throughout the week, the children showed great amounts of resilience, team work and independence. Despite the cold weather, we all completed a range of activities throughout the week including: climbing a mountain, visiting a slate mine, canoeing, via ferrata and much more. Over the course of the week, they also had to make their own lunches, make their own beds, look after their clothing and complete lots of chores around the centre - skills we hope they have continued back at home.

Rhos 2024, really was a trip to remember for all of the children and staff. We would like to particularly thank the staff and volunteers who came along with us for their dedication to the trip.

Y5 Art workshops - An oppARTunity

Norden Farm have been working with artist Amelia Pimlott to create a magical Gallery Space to bring the story of Pinochio to life with shaddow puppets and animations.

They were looking to work with three community groups and three schools to create beautiful content for the exhibition in a free, hands-on workshop with expert tuition from set designer and artist Amelia.

We gladly took this opportunity and the year 5 children really enjoyed the 80 minute workshops, which were held for each class on the 4th of November.

The exhibition will be on view at Norden Farm throughout the Christmas holidays. It is a wonderful opportunity to have our children’s artwork displayed locally, in a professional gallery space and we hope you can pop along to have a look!

Message from Norden Farm

Hello,

Thank you so much for working with us on our Pinocchio themed gallery installation. The work the students created looks wonderful and we are thrilled with the gallery space. We have used the mobiles to throw shadows over the walls in the space and there is an interactive shadow theatre where children can create their own shows. We hope that you can make it along to take a look! The gallery is open Tues 26 November - Sat 28 December.

You can find out more information about the exhibition here:

https://norden.farm/events/pinocchio-chill-out-space

FPJS Inter-house Quiz results

Before half term, each year group had an entertaining hour in the hall with Mr Wallace and Mrs Clark, testing their general knowledge. The children were in house groups, and it was a case of "fastest finger first" on the ipads to score the highest points. Overall winners for Y3/4 were the Romans and overall winner for Y5/6 were the Vikings. Well done all children for working co-operatively in teams and most definitely displaying passion for winning!

Stars of the week - Class Stars & PE Stars

Star of the week Newsletter 3: 29th November 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 and Bedrock Learning

TT Rockstars- Most Progress

Well done to our superstars below who have been working really hard to make amazing progress with their times tables knowledge. The pictures below are the top ten most progress over the last few weeks. Well done!

TT Rock stars- Top Ten

Here are our top ten for each year group. Remember to keep practising every day to become fluent and fast at your times tables!

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

In the last few weeks, the children have been developing their gymnastics and fundamental skills in year 3/4 and in year 5/6 have been developing their fitness and doing some mindful relaxation yoga and meditating. It has been brilliant to see how wonderfully relaxed the yoga strategies have made the children! Ask them to try this at home!

Miss Gill

Netball Update

A massive well done to the Year 6 netball team who won their recent game on the 27/11/24 against Riverside. All of the team played amazingly! Freddie was also given POM (player of the match) well done everyone for their fantastic team ethic during the game.

Miss Gill

Invictus Festival

On Tuesday 19th a group of year 6’s attended the Invictus Games at Altwood School. They took part in 4 different sporting activities: pillow polo, indoor curling, bowls and danger ball. They had great fun trying to beat their scores and defeat the other teams. The children represented the school brilliantly with their sporting skills and positive sporting attitude.

Fencing-little muskateers

Last week, all of our children were lucky enough to have a taster fencing session. All of the children really enjoyed learning some of the basic moves.

If your child is intersted in taking up fencing lessons at school, please contact the school office for further details.

Year Group Updates

Year 3 News

What a fantastic start to the new term the Year 3 children have had. Nativity practices are now in full swing and the children are enjoying learning their lines and the songs for this.

In English the children have created their own Stone Age leaflet based on last terms learning and have enjoyed learning about features such as headings and bullet points as well as how to link their sentences to extend them.

In maths the children have looked at multiplication. We have discussed the difference between sharing and grouping, arrays and how these look, the 3 times table and how to divide.

In RE, the children have looked at Christmas and Christianity and what it means to Christians. We have also discussed how we celebrate in our families and what we do that is special in any festival or celebration.

In Geography the children have looked at climate zones and why some countries are hotter/colder than others. The children also discussed the difference between weather and climate and located specific countries using an atlas.

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 is the difference between weather and climate?

Can you make an array to represent 3 x 5?

What BOBS conjunctions can you remember?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y3...

The Iron Man - Ted Hughes

Planet Omar - Zanib Mian

Charlie and the Chocolate factory - Roald Dahl

Year 4 News

We have had an exciting start to our half term in Year 4. Our visit to Oaken Grove Park has inspired our writing and we even got to play in the playground to test it for our readers.

In maths, our times tables have really come along. We have been recapping our 3, 4 and 8 times tables, and learning the 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables. The 9s and 11s are definitely a favourite for being the easiest!

During our science lessons, we conducted an experiment to show how food moves through our digestive system. Although it was incredibly fascinating to see how our digestive systems works, it was very gross too. A lesson the children will never forget!

Our geography lessons this half term have taught us the importance of rivers, the water cycle and all about famous rivers from around the world.

We have so many lovely Christmas activities coming up for the children to enjoy - we can't wait!

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 do you notice when you compare multiples of 3, 6 and 9?
What are the 3 stages of a river?
What symbols do some Christians wear to show their commitment to God?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y4...

Apes to Zebras - An A-Z of Shape Poems

Poems by Liz Brownlee and others

How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?

Brooke Barker

Finding Her Feet

Eve Ainsworth

Year 5 News

We have had a very busy few weeks in Year 5!

In English, we have been busy creating ideas for our new planets and we will be writing a non-chronological report about these fictional worlds.

In Maths, we have been working hard on fractions, including finding equivalent fractions and converting improper fractions to mixed numbers.

For Science, the children have been learning about forces and investigating air resistance and friction.

In Geography, we have learnt about the 7 summit mountains and discussed how fold mountains are formed, using playdoh to recreate this phenomemon.

For RE, we are investigating the story of the Nativity.

We have been busy in DT designing fairground rides and we are now starting to make them. This includes some important skills such as connecting a circuit and using a saw and a glue gun.

Over the next few weeks we have lots of exciting Christmas events coming up!

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:

What does it mean if fractions are equivalent? Can you give any examples.
Explain the process of how a fold moutain is formed.
Does friction slow on object down, or make it go faster?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y5...

Year 6 News

I am not sure we could have a better start to the half term. We have enjoyed starting our new units and of course our trip to Rhos.

In reading comprehension, our class book is 'Herstory by Katharine Halligan' which is a series of mini biographies of women who shook up the world. We are exploring different themes each week.

In maths, we have finished our fractions unit and we are beginning our work on decimals.

In science, we have started our new unit on classification. We have started to learning about Carl Linnaeus and his work on taxonomy.

We have also started our first unit in geography which aims to answer the question ' What is it like to live in the UK?'. We have started to look at human and physical features around the united kingdom. We have been very impressed with the array of project homework that has come in based on this unit.

The run up to Christmas is speeding by and we still have so many exciting things to fit in.

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!:

Name one physical and one human feature of the UK.
When dividing fractions, what does KCF stand for?
Who is Carl Linnaeus?

Our current reads we are enjoying in Y6...

SEND updates

November 2024.pdf

FPSA Update

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

The Christmas Fair is back tomorrow!

We look forward to seeing lots of you tomorrow at the fair. Here are a few key points:

FREE ENTRY FOR ALL

Enter via the Infants to get your programme showing locations of our seasonal stalls across both schools.

ENTERTAINMENT

We have plenty of fun for all the family with the return of festive favourites such as Reindeer Coin Drop, Secrets Room, Hook a Christmas Duck, Beauty Room and of course the legendary Santa’s Grotto on the big red bus!

Pick up some gifts at our Nearly New Stall and shop from local sellers at our Christmas market stalls.

Stock up on pre-loved uniform.

Enter our Silent Auction and Raffle for the chance to win some fabulous prizes!

Enjoy all this with hot dogs, mulled wine and cakes whilst listening to merry music provided by:

Furze Platt Junior School Choir

St Sebastian Wokingham Brass Band

BRING LOOSE CHANGE

Please bring cash with you if possible as only certain stalls have card readers.

DONATIONS OF NUT-FREE CAKES, NEARLY NEW TOYS, BOOKS & CDS, UNIFORM, CHRISTMAS JUMPERS, SECRETS ROOM GIFTS etc.

Please bring any final donations to the Junior School hall between 9am and 10am tomorrow.

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.

Date for your Diary:

Junior School Discos - Thursday 19th 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 next week at www.pta-events.co.uk/fpsa

Useful Information For Parents

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