Weekly Newsletter

Upcoming Dates

Monday 20th October

• PSA Disco for Reception, 5pm - 6pm

• PSA Disco for Years 3 & 4, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Wednesday 22nd October

• Year 3 Book in a Box and art exhibition for parents, 2:45pm

• PSA Disco for Years 1 & 2, 5pm - 6pm

• PSA Disco for Years 5 & 6, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Thursday 23rd October

• Year 3 trip to Bristol Museum

Friday 24th October

• INSET Day - no school for pupils

Tuesday 4th November

• Parent-Teacher Pupil Progress Meetings

Wednesday 5th November

• Flu vaccinations

• Parent-Teacher Pupil Progress Meetings

Tuesday 11th November

• 9am Reception Parent Drop In

Friday 14th November

• OPAL Stay and Play

Friday 21st November

• Non-Uniform Day in exchange for tombola prizes

Wednesday 26th November

• Rainbow Group meeting at The Hive, 9am - 10am

Saturday 29th November

• PSA Christmas Fayre, 11am - 2pm

Wednesday 3rd December

• PSA Christmas Wreath Workshop, 7pm - 9pm

Message from Mrs Noall

Thank you to our PSA for organising the discos this week; we have 4 separate discos over the course of this week! If you think you can offer to join our PSA, please get in touch with them. For a large school, our PSA is a very small committee and all offers of support will be gratefully received. I look forward to seeing your children on the dance floor later!

Please remember that the last day for children in school this week is Thursday. I hope you have a restful half term break - it has been a very long term and I am very proud of how well our children have progressed in this first term. I look forward to seeing them again on Monday 3rd November.

News and Events

Parent-Teacher Progress meetings

You can now book your appointment to meet your child's teacher on either Tuesday 4th or Wednesday 5th November using Arbor. 

Reminders

Morning Gates

Please be reminded that the gate and side entrance to the school are open until 8:55am but only for pupils of The Star. If your child arrives later than 8:45am they must please enter school through the main front door. They cannot enter via The Star entrance.

Head Lice

Please can you check your child's head for headlice or eggs (nits). Whilst these are common in young children, they cause a child's head to feel itchy and spread to other children very easily. 

The NHS website has more information on how to treat your child if you find headlice or nits in their hair.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/head-lice-and-nits/ 

Class News

Find out what we have been up to on our class pages and on Face Book.

Home Learning

The button below will take you to this week's home learning for every year group. Home learning is designed to enable children to practice skills they will need in school and so it is really important that they spend some time over the week on this home learning. 

Attendance Matters

Well done! Our whole school average attendance this term is 95.9%. This is great - thank you for all your support in ensuring your child is in every day and on time. 

SEND Updates

PFSA Updates

Please use the links on our website if you need to reach our for external support over half term: https://www.psjprimary.co.uk/our-school/support-for-families/ 

EYFS Updates

PSJ BITESIZE Fifth Challenge - sing a song of sixpence off by heart

Listening and Attention

Nursery rhymes also develop children’s listening and attention skills. Listening skills have been proven to pave the way for efficient development of other skills such as reading, writing and maths as well as understanding and language development. 

Nursery rhymes can be divided into several lines with special beats. Beats

help the children to have better attention to the lines and then produce the rhymes. Clapping a beat when singing nursery rhymes helps to develop children’s listening skills.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,

Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house counting out his money,

The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey

The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,

When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

FUN FACT FOR PARENTS

'Sing a Song of Sixpence' was a coded message used by the legendary pirate captain Blackbeard to recruit pirates. 

Sixpence and a hip flask of rye whisky was the weekly pirate's wage. 

The 'blackbirds' were Blackbeard's pirates and the 'pie' his ship. The King's ships were the targets of Blackbeard's raids, so the pie full of blackbirds was a 'dainty dish' to set before him.

USEFUL LINK

EYFS Listen and Play - BBC Teach https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zrrvhbk 

UPDATES

RECEPTION HALLOWEEN DISCO  - Monday 20th October @ 5.00pm-6.00pm in the main hall.

RECEPTION PARENT EVENINGS - Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th November. Please book an appointment on the Arbor App.

RECEPTION PARENT COFFEE MORNING - Tuesday 11th November @ 9.00am in the new hall. Come and have a chat over a hot drink and biscuits with Mrs Tutton, Early Years Phase Leader and Reception Teacher and Mrs Steadman our Parent Support Advisor. 

OPAL and Forest School Updates

OPAL Stay and Play – You're Invited! 

We are excited to invite you to our OPAL Stay and Play event on Friday 14th November – a wonderful opportunity to come and experience the joy and creativity of outdoor play with your children!

Event Times:

• KS2: 1:00 – 2:00pm

• KS1: 2:00 – 3:00pm

To support our OPAL play provision, we kindly ask for a donation from the list below or a £1 contribution via Arbor. Card payments will also be accepted by Mrs Stenner, who will be located by the boat in the playground.

• Laundry baskets 

• Suitcases 

• Pushchairs (real or toy) 

• Office chairs 

• Wheelbarrows 

• Tarpaulins 

• Guttering 

• PVC Pipes 

• Barrels 

• Plastic crates 

• Flexi-tubes 

• Brushes/Mops 

• Scooters 

• Chalk 

• Paintbrushes 

• Watering cans 

• Dressing up clothes 

We can't wait to welcome as many of you as possible to celebrate and share in our play – it promises to be a fantastic afternoon!

Evo Sports at PSJ

EVO Sports have had another great last few weeks at PSJ.

This week in After School Club we have been making the most of the resources around us. We have made been making wreaths, lanterns and some beautiful wildlife pictures. We have also enjoyed making dens and going on some nature scavenger hunts. This week will be everything celebrating Halloween.

Evo Sports at PSJ

In PE, we have been having lots of fun learning: 

Y5  have been doing cricket 

Y2 have been working on their Fundamental Skills

Our Year 6 Sports Captains have also been teaching some playground games to the younger children.

Evo Sports at PSJ

Don’t forget, EVO Sports will be running their fun and exciting Half Term Holiday Club at PSJ. Please contact us if you would like to sign up and get your children involved:

We are also now taking bookings for next term’s clubs with EVO sports. There are spaces left for: 

Mon - Y1 and Y2 football 

Tue - Y3, 4, 5 & 6 Multi-skills 

Wed - Y3 and Y4 football

Thurs - Y5 and Y6 football 

Please click the link below to book:

https://evo-sports.childcare-online-booking.co.uk/ 

PSA Updates

Please help!

For the PSA to continue after the Christmas fayre, we need volunteers to be Chair and Secretary to replace those whose children are moving on from the school. 

After many years, both the chair and secretary positions must be filled urgently. We would make sure that the new post holders had a good handover after their election at the AGM on the 29th November. We would also welcome at least one new trustee for the PSA committee. All parents/carers with a child at the school and school staff are eligible for nomination.

Please register nominations on the PSA email address psjprimary.psa@gmail.com  by 21st November so that candidates can be included in the election at 10.30am in the school hall on the day of the Christmas Fayre 29th November 2025.

Community News and Events