JUNIOR SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER
Friday 5th July 2019 Dear Parents
And so, we draw to the close of the school year. In keeping with the rest of terms, we’ve finished this one at a gallop, with as many things as possible crammed into the last week – and all carried out in glorious weather. Monday afternoon saw three groups of Discovery Award children head off to Swerford, Long Compton and the Rollright Stones, in order to carry out their Theme 5 expeditions. Having planned their routes in the classroom, they found that navigating them on the ground is a different matter: there isn’t an OS symbol for nettle-invaded paths and giant thistles! However, they all completed their hikes successfully to arrive back at school. After a brief rest they had to pitch their tents. The surprise result from this is that Nick Hadley, Alice Pennell and I have stumbled upon a new reading comprehension to work on – following the written instructions was not their strongest point! Nonetheless, the tents were eventually assembled and hungry stomachs turned minds to food in place of shelter. Out came the Trangias and the groups cooked some cordon bleu “Pasta’n’sauce” before carrying out some team-building games and having smores. A big thank you to Alice Pennell and Helen Arnold for accompanying the expeditions and to Nick Hadley and Toby Spence for their assistance with the tents. But most of all a huge “Well done” to the children who completed the expedition and, in doing so, the award. Your parents and teachers are proud of you and you should be too!
A dawn chorus of “Take me home, country roads” (thank you Logan!) made sure that we were all up in time for breakfast and the heady excitement of Sports Day. As ever it was a close-run thing, with some fabulous team performances in the field events, before some hot-footed
speeding on the track. Key Stage 1 and Foundation showed us that they’ve been brushing up on their picnic laying skills (handy for the summer holidays – all part of a Sibford education!) Having been soaked by the children in Angie Wiffen’s absence, dear friend of the Junior School, Jayne Woolley handed me the fateful sheet of paper relating that Fry were the House Champions. Well done Fry – I’m sure Nick Hadley co-ordinating the event had nothing to do with it! A huge thank you to all the parents who came to support. Wednesday saw the entire Junior School give Lynne Singer a bit of peace and quiet as we headed down to the Cotswold Wildlife Park. Year 5 and 6 had informative sessions by Lion enclosure, while the rest of the school got up close and personal with snakes and tarantulas. It was a wonderful day out and I’m pleased to report that we received plenty of compliments about good behaviour – we even had a couple about the children! Thursday presented an opportunity for us to let our hair down with a BBQ lunch followed by our class parties, in the pool for the younger ones and in Forest School for Year 5! This was very well earned by Year 5 and 6 who had spent their morning on educational visits. Year 6 travelled to “Jump in!” while Year 5 walked over to Sibford Gower Meeting House to complete their focus this term on the Quaker faith in RS. We finished the term and the year with our final Awards Meeting. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate so much success in so broad a field of subjects. Congratulations to the following children who were awarded major trophies and keep it up next year.
Final Meeting also gave us the opportunity to say (or should I say, sing!) goodbye to Helen Arnold and to thank her as she goes off to try her hand at teaching in another country. Since starting with us as a brightly eyed NQT, Helen has become a fundamental member of the team. First in and last out, she shows an incredible standard of energy towards her teaching and an unflappable level of patience that we would all do well to emulate. And that’s just about it from me and the newsletter for the summer. I hope you all have a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing you all in the new academic year. In the meantime, try this for some Holiday homework, originally set by an Italian teacher: 1. In the morning, at times, walk along the seashore alone, thinking about the things you love most in life and feel happy. 2. Try using all the new words you learned this year: You can say more things, you can think
more things and the more you can think, the freer you’ll feel. 3. Read, as much as possible, not because you must. Read because the summer inspires adventure and dreams. By reading you will feel like birds in flight. Read because it is the best form of rebellion. 4. Avoid all things, situations and persons that make you feel negative and empty. Look for stimulating situations and of friends who appreciate and understand you for who you are. 5. If you feel sad or scared, do not worry. The summer, like all great things, puts the soul in harmony. Try keeping a diary where you can write about your feelings. 6. Dance – without feeling ashamed. On the street, near your home or in your bedroom. The summer is a dance. It would be a shame not to be a part of it. 7. Play a lot of sports. 8. If you see a person near you in life, bestow on them your gratitude. No matter if he or she understands. If they don’t reciprocate, then he/she was not meant to be part of your destiny. 9. Remember what you learned in school and refer to your notes. 10. Be happy like the sun, untamed like the sea. 11. Don’t utter curse words. Always be polite and gentle. 12. Be good. Have a wonderful summer. In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School PS. Did you know that Independence Day should actually take place on the 2nd of July as that is the date that Congress approved the resolution to separate from Great Britain.
Foundation and Reception The summer has finally arrived and we have been very busy making the most of it this week. In preparation for our zoo visit we used the crates, tyres and tubing to make our very own zoo. It had a cheetah, rhino (can you spot the cone horn), a snake and a pen for the ponies. We also looked at pictures of the animals that we were going to see. We had to choose which 3 animals we wanted to see the most and place our dominoes on those animals. The children really wanted to see the lions, reptiles, tortoises and monkeys so we made sure we got to see them at the zoo. The children were just brilliant at the zoo and we got to see almost everything. When we did get to the monkeys they decided that the bamboo on the other side was far more interesting! In other news we decided to make our superheroes some super boats and Becca Edwards came along with some old pen lids that just added to the creativity. The children in EYFS each received an award:
Elliot - End of term award Rita - Confidence Amelie - Kindness Lily - Caring Sofia - Brave Noah - Confidence Lottie - Enthusiasm Toby - Adventurous Jemima - Curious
Year 1 and 2 As already alluded to in the awards meeting, it’s been an extremely busy week, but that hasn’t stopped KS1 from doing some great activities. They started by reading ‘Wombat Stew’, rewriting the instructions, but then making their own versions. Firstly, they ventured over to Forest School to use things to make an ‘outdoor’ wombat stew, such as stones for flies, pinecones for gum nuts and leaves as creepy crawlies. However, Becca Edwards and Helen Sinton did let them make a slightly more appealing wombat stew in the form of strawberry cheesecake, though it was adorned with raisins, sunflower seeds instead of the real ingredients for wombat stew!
Year 3
Tuesday saw them read one last Aboriginal dreamtime story about ‘How the birds got their colours’, which was wonderful preparation for their visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, though they had to complete sports day first! They got the opportunity to get hands on and hold many different reptiles, also animals which had featured throughout their Awesome Australia topic. All in all, it’s been a fabulous but busy week and they topped it off by discussing the many different ways in which they can amuse themselves over the summer holidays, to spend some time away from any electronic devices and enjoy the great outdoors and what the UK (or further afield) may have to offer.
Year 3
Year 3 kept on the straight and narrow at the beginning of the week, as they spent their maths lesson learning about lines. They went on a ‘line hunt’ around the school, searching for different kinds of lines including parallel, horizontal and perpendicular. As soon as they set eyes on the adventure playground, they were overwhelmed by the abundance of lines just waiting to be spotted! They also had a go at creating the various different lines using their bodies, whereby many of the pupils took a very creative approach towards the embodiment of lines! Tuesday’s maths lesson took quite a different turn. The pupils measured their heights and compared them with their heights in the autumn, which all revealed that Year 3 had been doing lots of growing throughout the year! They put their data into clear bar graphs which enabled them to answer questions such as, ‘Who had grown the most throughout the year?’
Year 4
Speaking of growing and changing, Year 3 had a think about what makes them…them. Did you know that within a time period of 7 years, every cell in our bodies is replaced (?) yet, Year 3 were adamant that they were still the same people that they were when they were born. Lots of things were discussed including things like personalities, DNA and souls (a very interesting lesson indeed). They created a ‘roll on the wall’ to describe what they look like and what their personalities are like. Here, they thought about which features have always been part of them, and which have developed over time. Finally, they have been reviewing their year, thinking about their best memories and also thinking about what they are looking forward to in Year 4.
Year 4
Some pictures from our school trip to the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Year 5 Some pictures from our school trip to the Cotswold Wildlife Park and our walk to the Sibford Gower Quaker Meeting house.
Year 6 You may have noticed that the children in Year 6 are rather more subdued than usual. During the last week, many of them have completed a 10km hike, an overnight camp, sports day, a trip Year 6 have had a very busy week, finishing their sailing course on Monday and preparing and to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, a trip to Jump In, as well as class parties and all the other end of rehearsing their Leavers Meeting. We hope you enjoyed their presentations today! term activities. It has been a perfect, but very tiring, end to an excellent school year. We wish all the children the very best in Year 7 in which ever school they are going to. We look forward to seeing those of you who are staying on in your green blazers in September.
Lunch and Before/After School Clubs Booking Forms – Autumn Term 2019
Forms for Junior School Clubs will be sent out w/c 2nd September 2019 and will commence Monday, 9th September 2019. After School Care for EYFS to Year 6 will be available from Wednesday, 4th September. Class Booklet Meetings – Autumn Term 2019
Class Booklet Meetings for each new year group will take place during the first couple of weeks of the Autumn Term. These will be held in your child’s classroom by their class teacher. You will be updated with class information, including timetable, long term plan for 2019/20, class expectations, etc. A Class Booklet will be provided at the end of the meeting for each child. A letter will be sent out with dates and times on our return on Wednesday, 4th September. Year 6 Sailing – Autumn Term 2019
As part of the Outdoor Education programme there will be an opportunity for Year 6 pupils to go sailing in the Autumn Term. We are proposing the following dates and a letter will be sent out upon our return with full confirmation of dates and costs. Friday, 6th September 2019 Monday, 9th September 2019 Wednesday, 11th September 2019 Friday, 13th September 2019 Monday, 16th September 2019
Sailing encourages teamwork and we shall be studying weather in geography; a good link. The sailing course includes tying knots and rigging a boat and it is hoped that they will have reached at least Stage 1 standard by half term. Sibford Junior School has so much to sing about and share that it now has its own dedicated Twitter page. Give @SibfordJS a follow on Twitter and keep up to date with all the Junior School news and daily activities. https://twitter.com/SibfordJS’