Upcoming Dates

Tuesday 10th February

• Internet Safety Day: Join Mrs Steadman and other parents to talk about internet safety, 2:30pm in the main hall

• Uniform giveaway in the hall at the same time

Wednesday 11th February

Y5/6 Gymnastics competition 12.30pm

Friday 13th February

• Last day of Term 3

• PSA Cake Sale after school

Monday 16th - Friday 20th February

• Half Term break

Monday 23rd February

• First day of Term 4

Tuesday 24th February

• Parent meeting about the Bordeaux trip

Friday 27th February

• PSA Quiz night

W/c 2nd March

• Whole school CARE week

Thursday 5th March

• World Book Day

Friday 6th March

• Careers fayre

Monday 16th - Friday 20th March

• Turing trip to Bordeaux 

Tuesday 24th March

• Dance Umbrella (Years 3 & 5)

Wednesday 1st April & Thursday 2nd April

• Parent and teacher pupil progress meetings

Wednesday 1st April

• Mini Police visit American Museum

• Year 1 visit Holborne Museum

Thursday 2nd April

• Last day of Term 4

Friday 3rd - Friday 17th April

• Easter break

Monday 20th April

• First day of Term 5

Monday 20th - Friday 24th April

• Turing trip to Barcelona

Message from Mrs Noall

We are joining in with the Winter Olympics with a 'Get Set for Milan' challenge! Each class (and the staff) are in a team who need to log our physical activities to be in with a chance to win Gold, Silver or Bronze for being the most active team in the school. If your child completes activity and exercise over the weekend or after school do let their teacher know!

News and Events

CARE WEEK - week beginning 2nd March 2026

During our next Care Week, we are fortunate to be having three days of training with Wiltshire & Bath Air Ambulance (W&BAA) staff, here at PSJ.  They will be working with classes from Y1 to Y6 to teach the children some basic first aid, including making a 999 call, dealing with choking and putting people into the recovery position. Our older children will also have the chance to learn CPR and how to use a defibrillator.  

First aid is part of the statutory curriculum for PSHE and we are very excited about the opportunity for our children to learn from experts.  W&BAA is a charity and, as such, charges per child for these valuable and potentially life-saving sessions. We are asking parents for a discounted voluntary contribution of £2 per child towards this cost.  

Please make your contribution - which will all go to the charity - by 8.30 am on 2nd March 2026.  

The payment is available on Arbor/Activities/Trips from 4.00 pm this afternoon.

Changes to the PSHE Statutory Curriculum

From September 2026, there is a new PSHE statutory curriculum produced by the government after consultation. The Jigsaw scheme that we use at Peasedown has been updated in line with these changes. The adaptations are very much an update rather than an overhaul, with some improved or added content, and some new lessons. Below are the main changes. 

• A new area has been added: Personal Safety. This will cover safety in and out of the home, including safety around water, roads, fire and railways. 

• Sex Education (defined as teaching about conception, pregnancy and birth) will only be taught in Years 5 and 6 and the option remains to withdraw children (although this is discouraged). Schools can choose whether to teach sex education; at Peasedown, we have opted to teach this to Upper Key Stage 2 as we feel strongly that children benefit from having this information from trusted educators in a safe environment before they leave primary school.

• There is a greater emphasis on supporting children to recognise when, where and how they can find help and support if it is needed. Children will be taught how to recognise when something feels unsafe in a range of contexts, including online, and how to identify trusted adults. 

• There is a greater emphasis on digital literacy and online relationships and safety, including the risks posed by online gaming, financial harm and sharing images. 

• Greater links are made between physical and mental wellbeing, and these topics are now grouped under the heading of ‘General Wellbeing’.

• There is new information about health protection and hygiene. 

• There is clarification about when key topics are taught. Menstruation is introduced in Year 4 to ensure that children have this knowledge before it happens. Naming external private parts is to be taught in Year 1 in a safeguarding context. 

We are very positive about these changes, believing that they address many areas recognised by parents and educators as vital for the health and wellbeing of children today. Although this new curriculum is non-statutory until this September, we have opted to begin to use it from Term 4 as we feel that the content is beneficial. Staff are updating resources and planning where needed. 

As always, parents are welcome to view PSHE resources that will be used in class so that they can support children with their learning at home. The new statutory guidelines state that schools should provide parents and carers with materials to enable this discussion. To this end, we are hoping to send home puberty leaflets in term 6, and to increase our communications next academic year.  

If you would like more information about content, please see your child’s class teacher or Mrs Dallimore, PSHE lead. You can also request a password so that you can view the online resources on the Jigsaw website. Please talk to the class teacher about this. 

Here is an overview of the new curriculum. 

Jigsaw PSHE overview of content.pdf

World Book Day - Thursday 5th March 2026

World Book Day will take place on Thursday 5th March 2026, and this year we are delighted to be partnering with the National Year of Reading, encouraging children to ‘read their way’.

To celebrate this, we would love for children to bring their favourite book into school to share with the other children in their class. If your child would also like to dress up as a character from their favourite book, we would be thrilled to see their costumes; however, there is absolutely no requirement to dress up.

Following the success of last year, we have invited Mr B’s Bookshop to return with another fantastic book fair. This will take place in the school hall after school on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th March. Children will have the opportunity to browse the book fair with their class on Monday and Tuesday before the event.

This year, we are also excited to offer the children the chance to return to school at 5:00pm on Thursday 5th March to take part in Bedtime Stories. Children are welcome to come along in their pyjamas and will be able to choose which story they would like to listen to. Further information about this event will be sent out closer to the time.

While the children are enjoying Bedtime Stories, we would like to invite parents and carers into the hall for a short talk about why reading is so important for children and how you can support reading at home.

We look forward to celebrating World Book Day with you and the children.

Reminders

Break Time Snack

If your child wishes to have a snack at morning break, please ensure this is healthy. Fruit, veg, breadsticks, cheese cubes, rice cakes are some examples.

Internet Safety Day  - parents invited

Join Mrs Steadman to find out more about keeping your children safe online. Tea, coffee, second-hand uniform and lost property all available at the same time.

Class News

Find out what we have been up to on our class pages and on Face Book. There are so many wonderful things happening across our school from the Year 3 trip to Stonehenge, Mini Police on speed watch, Year 6 Speak Out, forest school and so much more!

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 Reception, Year 6, Year 3 and Year 5 - your year group attendance so far this year is above 95%; the highest in the school. 

We are aiming for every pupil to have attendance of at least 97% over the whole year which would mean no more than a week off over the year. 

Please encourage your child to be in each day so that they can achieve this target.

SEND Updates

Thank you to everyone who has attended the SEND review meetings with their child's class teacher. All parents will have the opportunity to meet with their child's class teacher on Wednesday 1st April or Thursday 2nd April  for the Parent and teacher pupil progress meetings. Look out for the sign up on Arbor after half term. 

Families and community groups

It's easier than ever for you to take part in Children's Mental Health Week at home or with your community group!

Children's Mental Health Week is taking place this week, from 9 - 15 February 2026!

Place2Be's official free resources are now available to download for anyone wanting to take part as a family or a community group.

This year's theme is This is My Place and we're encouraging families and community groups to support their children and young people to feel a sense of belonging.

See how you can take part in Children's Mental Health Week whether you want to get involved with your family or as part of your community group.

How can my family get involved in Children's Mental Health Week?

1

Download our pack for families

Our families pack includes top tips for families, parents and carers, as well as lots of amazing fundraising resources and inspiration!

2

Sign up to fundraise

Sign up to fundraise and get your hands on some extra fundraising materials!

3

Set up your fundraising page

Get a head start on your fundraising and set up your JustGiving page today!

Find out more:

https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/families/

https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/  

EYFS Updates

PSJ BITESIZE Mathematical Development - Cardinality and Counting

Subitising: recognising small quantities without needing to count them all

Subitising is recognising how many things are in a group without having to count them one by one. Children need opportunities to see regular arrangements of small quantities, e.g. a dice face and be encouraged to say the quantity represented. Children also need opportunities to recognise small amounts (up to five) when they are not in the ‘regular’ arrangement, e.g. small handfuls of objects.

Numeral meanings

Children need to have the opportunity to match a number symbol with a number of things. Look for opportunities to have a range of number symbols available, e.g. wooden numerals, calculators, handwritten (include different examples of a number, e.g. 4 4 4).

Conservation: knowing that the number does not change if things are rearranged (as long as none have been added or taken away)

Children need the opportunity to recognise amounts that have been rearranged and to generalise that, if nothing has been added or taken away, then the amount is the same.

Challenge

Play hidden object games where objects are revealed for a few seconds; for example, small toys hidden under a bowl – shuffle them, lift the bowl briefly and ask how many there were.

Have a go at the BBC Bitesize Numberblocks game https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/bitesize-ivor-numberblocks?exitGameUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbbc.co.uk%2Fbitesize%2Farticles%2Fzf3r96f 

Fun Maths Facts for PARENTS

In working out mathematical equations, the Greek mathematician Pythagoras used little rocks to represent numbers. Hence the term 'calculus', which means pebbles in Greek.

Without maths, the pyramids would never have been built! According to archaeologists, Egyptians had to use complex geometry and algebra to build the massive structures.

The name of the popular search engine ‘Google’ came from a misspelling of the word ‘googol’, which is a very, very large number (the number one followed by one hundred zeros to be exact).

National Year of Reading

Their story starts with you! 

What you do when you are at home with your child has a powerful impact on their little lives. You are helping to shape your child’s future speaking and listening skills, develop a love of reading, and grow in confidence as a reader. These literacy skills will help them in both their education and support their wellbeing.

Don’t feel overwhelmed! It's often hard to know where to start, especially with young children, but there are lots of little moments that are already happening every day without you even noticing which are contributing to your child’s early language development.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not a big reader or very confident – just looking at the pictures, pointing out animals or asking them what’s going on in a picture are all part of developing those crucial literacy skills. This special time together not only gives you a moment to unwind before bedtime but helps toddlers and children learn new words and understand how to use them.

These little moments together can make a big difference. Here are a couple of videos for you to watch about the points made above: 

https://youtu.be/SCWVB-XMvgA 

https://youtu.be/Wrp-VIH1HXc 

Happy reading!

Miss Skipp 

Evo Sports at PSJ

Welcome to the year of the Horse! Chinese New Year is always a big event for after school club and it is difficult to choose which of the array of crafts children may like to do. We of course had to create a Chinese dragon and children made Chinese lanterns towards the end of the week. In between, we created paper fortune cookies and origami bunny rabbits. Until next year…

PSA Updates

Reminder - cake sale after school THIS Friday!

Quiz Night - Friday 27th February - tickets now on sale!

Community News and Events