Newsletters

Friday 24th May, 2024

I've really enjoyed accompanying the children this week on a couple of educational visits - it's been a busy one for visits out. 

On Tuesday, I went with Year 4 to the castle and I was impressed with the enthusiasm the Year 4s showed. An enjoyable trip with plenty of good learning and plenty of deeper level thinking. The castle staff made it a very enjoyable trip. 

Yesterday, I went with Year 6 to Crucial Crew which is a morning event that has been run for many years, supporting Year 6 children with their knowledge and understanding of safety in many differing situations. It's a brilliant opportunity to hear from the police, fire service, coastguard, road safety team and St Johns Ambulance service (amongst others) under one roof!

The year 3 and year 5 children haven't missed out this week, with Ancient Egypt day In Year 3 and the Year 5 London trip yesterday. It was lovely to see the Year 3 children enjoying dressing up and immersing themselves in the historical period. 

All in all, a great week to finish the half term. As you can see below, there is plenty going on after we return. More information will be sent out regarding the sports days and some of the other events when we return.

I hope everyone has a good week off school. 

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher 

 June

Mon 3rd - New half-term begins

Mon 3rd - Multiplication Tables Check - Year 4 (over a number of days)

Tue 4th - Year 5/6 Cricket competition @ Postwick

Mon 10th - Individual photos (Yr 6) and class photos 

Mon 10th - Friends' Father's Day shop

Wed 12th - Salhouse visiting Dragon Hall

Fri 14th - A Day of Welcome 

Mon 17th - Year 3 French Cafe @ 1:45pm 

Tue 18th - Year 4 Visit to Hickling Broad

Wed 19th - Year 6 to Hilltop 

Fri 21st - Year 6 return from Hilltop 

Mon 24th - City Sports (Field) 3:30pm

Tue 25th - City Sports (heats) 1:30pm 

Wed 26th - Year 6 to Norfolk Show 

Thur 27th - City Sports (finals)

July

Mon 1st - Year 3/4 Sports Day 

Tue 2nd - Year 5/6 Sports Day 

Tue 2nd - Year 2 Parents' Evening (6pm)

Wed 3rd - Year 6 family lunch 

Fri 5th - Year 3 visiting West Runton 

Fri 5th - Friends'  Summer Fete 

Wed 10th - Year 5 Mexican Dance 

Thur 11th - Sprowston Academy transition day 1

Thur 11th - All pupils to meet new class teachers (am)

Thur 11th - Leavers' BBQ & disco 

Fri 12th - Sprowston Academy transition day 2

Fri 12th - Royal Shakespeare Company Playmaker's Festival 

Sat 13th - Lord Mayor's Procession (pm)

Mon 15th - Year 6 Play (Shrek) Dress Rehearsal 

Tue 16th - Year 6 Play - Matinee performance 

Tue 16th - Year 6 Play (Evening Performance 1)

Wed 17th - Leavers' assembly (9am)

Wed 17th - Year 6 Play (Evening Performance 2)

Fri 19th - Last day of term

Year 4 Castle Visit 

Year 4 had a brilliant visit to the castle this week to bring their work studying the Romans to an end. They took part in 4 different activities and did the following: 

- Met a Roman soldier, learnt about armour, weapons and tactics 

- Explored the Boudica and Roman gallery, discovering the similarities and differences between the objects both groups left behind.

- Explored Roman culture through objects, with an Iceni who collects tax for the Romans. Caught between the two cultures, they had to consider what she should do. 

- They studied the Snettisham Treasure of Iceni torcs before making their own. 

We asked the children what they thought about the trip:

Maggie - I enjoyed learning about the weapons, my favourite was the spear.

Julian - I enjoyed the third activity which was looking at silver and gold torcs and making our own. 

George - We looked at Roman coins and Iceni coins - Roman coins had faces on but Iceni coins had patterns on the animals. We also looked at artefacts and houses. 

Year 5 trip to London

Year 5 spent an exciting day in London visiting the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum this week. 

After a long journey, they arrived just in time for a Wonderlab for the Wonder Show. Children discovered more about matter, forces and chemical reactions. They had a front row seat for some amazing experiments including: making elephants' toothpaste, sitting on chair of nails, the power of a vaccum and making a gigantic glow stick! After that they spent some time looking at some of the fascinating exhibits - the favourites were Exploring Space, Fly Zone and Making of the Modern World.

After a quick lunch in the basement of the Sciecne Museum they wandered round to corner to the Natural History Museum.

The children carried on where they had left of in the Science Museum by looking at some of the brilliant displays. Being able to see some if the exhibits up close and personal was great. From the enormous blue whale to the scary T-Rex, from the hair-raising creepy crawlies to the terrifying earth quake simulator - they experienced it all! 

Before they knew it, their time at the museums had come ot an end and they headed back on the bus. Heavy traffic meant that they got slightly longer on the bus than they had planned, but that just meant more time for Top Trumps, making chatterboxes, singing and of course dozing off!

After a long journey home they arrived back at school with smiles on their faces because of a great Year 5 road trip.

Thanks to all the staff and parents who helped with the trip. I think you've all earnt a week off next week!

Here's what some of the children from Year 5 thought of the trip:

"It was really fun and I learnt a lot! I really enjoyed the earthquake room."

"I loved the earthquake room. It was good to see how things might have been in an earthquake. I also liked looking at all the old bones." Ada

"I liked watching all the dinosaurs move - they looked so realistic!" Hayleigh

"I liked everything!" Carley

"I thought the Wonder Show was good because they used lots of scientific language and then explained exactly what it meant so I learnt a lot." Freddie

"I thought everything was great and couldn't pick between the Science or Natural History museums for a favourite." Bertie

"I enjoyed singing the football songs on the bus." Ethan 

 

Summer is nearly here!

We have had a small peek into what may be quite a hot summer term. A reminder please to ensure your child has a water bottle in school and brings a cap or sun hat to wear at lunchtimes on the hotter days, as well as sun cream applied in the mornings before they arrive. 

Year 6 visit to Crucial Crew

Year 6 had an enjoyable morning at Crucial Crew yesterday. Over the morning, they heard all about safety in the home, safety online, at the beach, on the roads and how to support people in medical emergencies. The feedback from the pupils was very positive, and they enjoyed listening to the different experts in their fields. 

Below is a picture of a session talking about safety on the beach!

 

Year 3/4 tennis 

Some Year 3/4 children enjoyed a morning of tennis at Thorpe St Andrew High School. They played a number of games against children from other schools in the area with the winning teams going forward to represent Norwich East at the County competition later in the term. 

Well done to all our tennis players and a big well done to Bia, Zariya, Sam and Jack who came second and qualified to represent Norwich East. 

 

Attendance

Whole school attendance continues to be slightly under the national average (93%) at 92.1%. It would be pleasing to see this rise as we go through the summer term, and we can't stress enough the importance of excellent attendance, so children do not have gaps in their learning which can lead to a child progressing much slower than they should be.  

Did You Know?

One full school year at 90% attendance is the equivalent of 4 weeks of learning missed!

Over 5 years of school, this adds up to half a school year missed. 

Lord Mayor's Procession - Saturday 13th July

We have entered the school in to the Lords Mayors Procession in Norwich on Saturday 13th July.

This year Sprowston Infant and Junior School will be performing together with No Limits – Norfolk dance school.

We still have some spaces if your child would like to perform in the procession. The theme this year is ‘Carnival’ and we will be celebrating our children as part of this. We will be dancing, waving flags/ribbons and generally having a great time as we walk the procession route.

If you would like your child to take part, then please complete the online form as soon as possible.

Here is what you need to know:

Each child will need to be accompanied by a parent (this is in case your child needs to leave the procession at any point)

Parents will be encouraged to join in the celebrations (this can be from holding a banner to joining in the dancing!)

Children will need to be available from 12pm – 5pm on Saturday 13th July (it is unlikely to be from 12pm but we won’t know specifics until closer to the time)

The route takes about an hour to walk and it is a slow pace - this year it will feature a new parade route, starting out from Norwich Cathedral and heading along St Andrews Street and up Exchange Street to Gentleman’s Walk, before turning towards Chapelfield Gardens 

The dance/ procession will be rehearsed in school but there will also be an hour rehearsal at 3:30pm on Saturday 6th July at the infant school (if you are unable to attend this don’t let this stop you from entering but it is ideally attended)

Details on clothing/ costumes will come out closer to the time – it will be carnival themed

If you have children at both schools and wish for them both to perform please just return one form with both children named. They will only need one parent/ carer for both children.

Sadly, due to the nature of the event we can only have infant and junior school children attend – no siblings (but they can watch)

If you have any questions, please contact Mr Arthur: deputy@sprowstonjunior.norfolk.sch.uk