Newsletter : 26th April 2024
A Message from Mrs Murphy
Dear Parents and Carers,
What an exciting start to the Summer term we have had here at St James. Not only have the children returned to school ready to learn, and are already making fabulous progress, many year groups have already been on school trips.
Year 1 went to Wisley Gardens on Wednesday this week to learn about plants;
Year 6 went to the Elmbridge Junior Citizen Workshop to complement their life skills lessons;
Year 4 have began their swimming lessons for the term;
and Reception went on walk to Broadwater Lake and had a lovely picnic.
All the children were excellent ambassadors for St James on all these trips and all demonstrated their school values during the visit. Thank you to all the parent helpers who volunteered to help, we could not run these curriculum enhancement visits without parental support.
Also this week, a small group of Year 5 children returned to Reeds school, in Oxshott, to compete in the Launch Car Challenge. Well done Johan, David, Isla, Erin and Pippa who won the heats to compete for the school. They have all given up their time to create a presentation on their design and they raced their cars against 17 other schools yesterday at Reeds. Johan and David's creation came 5th and Isla, Erin and Pippa's car came 12th. Thank you to Miss Franklin, our DT Lead, who has coordinated and supported the children in this competition.
In further news, you may have seen that our barn did have to be removed before Easter. We have now funded a replacement and today the new pavilion outside classroom was opened to the children. This will be enjoyed by all the KS2 children during lunchtimes and breaktimes, as well as being an extra space for Sunset and Sunrise club. This pavilion does seat 30 children so can be used for outdoor lessons in warmer weather as well.
KS2 Writing Challenge
Today all Key Stage Two children received an exciting red letter from me to launch our new Writing Challenge. As a key stage, all the children have been challenged to improve their sentence openers in their writing and add ' A SPICE' to their writing over the next term. To support the children in remembering ways to do this, we are using the acronym A SPICE to provide a lists of different ways sentences can begin. This is explained below.
A stands for Adverb
This is a word (quickly, angrily, unhappily) which tells you how, when or where something happens.
Example: Quickly and sneakily, the boy ate the last piece of chocolate cake.
S stands for Simile.
A simile is a phrase that describes something like it is something else.
You can put these at the beginning of your sentences
Example: Like an elegant swan, the swimmer glided through the crystal clear water.
P stands for Preposition
A preposition is a position word like under, over, above.
Example: Under the moonlit sky, the unicorn danced angelically.
I stands for 'ing suffix word'.
This could be any verb with the ‘ing’ suffix.
Example: Sitting comfortably in the arm chair, the old man read the newspaper.
C stands for Conjunction.
This can be because, although, after.
Example: Because the sun was shining, the children had ice-creams.
E stands for the 'ed' suffix.
Using a word that ends in ed to start a sentence.
Example: Amazed and delighted at what work the children had created, the teacher marked the books with a smile on her face.
Parents can support their children in this challenge by drawing their attention to different sentence openers when reading. Parents could encourage children to create a list of sentence openers they see in books or encourage them to experiment with different sentence openers at home to write amusing sentences. We hope the children can have lots of fun with this. I have already seen some fabulous examples today from Year 4, where the children have already tried these techniques out. I look forward to seeing some more amazing sentences and writing over the next few weeks.
And finally,
Tomorrow we have a group of children competiting at the Cross Country at Notre Dame. I would like to wish them all the best of luck as they compete for the school.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
Mrs Murphy.
Reading
Safeguarding
School Spring/Summer Menu
Please find below the new Spring/Summer menu from our school caterers, Twelve15. This is a three week rolling menu which will come into effect after the Easter holidays. All children choose from one of the three meal options at the start of each school day.
If your child is in KS2 and has a school meal, please remember to pay for and book their meals in advance using the SCOPAY app.
Summer Term School Clubs
2024-Club-dates-and-times-Summer-Term.323177382.pdfFamily Support
Collective Worship at St James
Week beginning: 15th April 2024
Monday : Vision and Values - revisit
Tuesday: Father Damian - Olympics
Wednesday: Class Assembly - Picture News
Thursday: Singing Assembly
Friday: Celebration Assembly
Week beginning: 22nd April 2024
Monday : Sun Safety
Tuesday: Father Damian - Olympics
Wednesday: Class Assembly - Picture News
Thursday: Singing Assembly
Friday: Celebration Assembly
Celebration Awards
Y1 Wrens: Beth
Robins: Duke / Rosie
Y2 Woodpeckers: Nishan / Diona
Kingfishers: Charlie / Kermori
Y3 Barn Owls: Edwin / Evie G.
Snowy Owls: Yoana / James A.
Y4 Kestrels: Isabella / Molly / Henry
Merlins: Aria / Billy E.
Y5 Falcons: Ryan / Summer
Kites: Tabitha / Mia H.
Y6 Eagles: Tom G. / Keaton
Hawks: Mason / Vlad
Values Certificates and Counter Collection
This week we awarded:
LOVE: Avni / Hudson / Mia V. / Robert F.
RESPECT: Charlie / Jack S. / Pia / Ollie / Olive
UNITY: Harriet / Oscar
COURAGE: Theo / Noah / Pippa / Erin / Isla / David
Diary Dates
DIARY DATES:
Wed 1, 8, 15, 22 May Y4 Swimming
Wed 8th May Y6 Parents meeting - Isle Of Wight Residential 2.30pm - 3.15pm
w/c Mon 13 May Y6 SATS
Friday 17th May Friends Summer Ball
Tues 21 May Reception - Painshill Park day trip
Thurs 23 May Mufti Day - 'Break The Rules'
Fri 24 May Inset Day - (School closed)
W/C 27 May Half Term.
Mon 3 June Back to School.
Fri 7 June Someone Special stall
Mon 10 - Fri 14 June Y6 Residential - Isle Of Wight
Tues 18 June Y6 - Leavers Service at Guildford Cathedral 11:30am - 3:00pm
Wed 19 June Y6 Peer Productions workshop at school
Wed 26 June Year 3 Assembly - 9.15am
Thurs 27 June Y1 Cake sale
Fri 28 June Sports Day
Fri 5 July Year 2 Assembly - 9.15am
Tues 9 July Y6 Leavers Production (4.15 - 7pm)
Wed 10 July Y6 Leavers Production (4.30 - 7pm)
Fri 12 July Friends Mufti Day
Sat 13 July Summer Fair
Tues 16 July 'Moving Up' Morning
Wed 17 July Y6 Leavers Service at St James Church 9:00am -10:45
Thurs 18 July Year 1 Assembly - 9.15am
Friday 19 July End of Summer Term - 1.30pm finish (no After-School Club)
St James' Church, Weybridge
