Newsletters

Friday 18th October,  2024 

Dear Parents & Carers

We've enjoyed another busy week in school and the children have less than a week to go before they get a well-earned break, with next Thursday being the last day of the half-term.

I've enjoyed spending time in classrooms this week and have witnessed excellent learning behaviours and plenty of effort and enthusiasm. I was able to see many children trying really hard to improve their handwriting which is something we are really focusing on this half term, alongside improved writing skills. Hopefully you'll be able to see that when you look at your child's books during the upcoming parents' evening. 

We're really pleased that we had a good number of parents attend the workshop on 'childhood anxiety' yesterday. There is no doubt, more and more children are exhibiting anxiety related behaviours and we are thankful to the Mental Health Support Team for hosting the session yesterday. Thank you for the positive feedback. We are hosting another workshop on Friday 7th November. The session is on building confidence. We hope many of you will be able to join us. 

I've been talking to the children this week about litter. We do have quite a bit of litter in the playground, with quite a bit being blown from the bins on windy days. We also do have litter dropped by the children at break times. If a break-time snack can be provided without any packaging, it would help to cut down on the amount of rubbish being put into the bins on a daily basis and help to keep the playground area litter free. We'd appreciate any help with this! We will continue to talk to the children to ensure they are being responsible and using the bins. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher  

October 

Wed 23rd - Year 3 parent lunch and tour - welcome from 11:30am

Thu 24th - Flu immunisations (all year groups), first session

Thur 24th - Last day of the half-term 

November

Mon 4th - Second half of autumn term begins 

Mon 4th - Ship Planning Exhibition (3:30pm - 5:30pm)

Tue 5th - Norwich East SSP Year 3-6 cross-country event at UEA Sportspark (9:30am - 1:00pm)

Wed 6th - Girls' football @ Firside - 3:30pm 

Fri 7th - Building confidence workshop & coffee morning (9:30am)

w/c Mon 11th - Anti-Bullying week 

Mon 11th - Parents' evening (3:30pm - 6:00pm)

Tue 12th -  Anti-Bullying week (Odd Socks day)

Wed 13th - International Day (see below)

Wed 13th - Parents' evening (4:30pm - 7:00pm)

Thu 14th - Flu immunisations (all year groups), second session

Fri 15th - NPSAA cross-country race 2 (Falcon Junior)

Fri 15th - Children In Need

Fri 15th - Friends of SJS - Disco Bingo 

Tue 19th - Ancient Greek Day - Year 3/4

Thu 28th - Year 5 Reading Cafe 

Looking ahead...dates for your diary

Tuesday 10th Dec - Christmas Concert - Year 3/4 @ St Cuthbert's - 1:45pm (parents/carers  welcome)

Wed 11th Dec  - Christmas Concert - Year 5 & 6 @ St Cuthbert's - 1:45pm (parents/carers welcome)

Reading 

We agree with Barack; the importance of reading daily for primary children is the gateway to the curriculum. How can you help your child at home? Here are a few ideas:

Encourage your child to read

Reading helps your child’s wellbeing, develops imagination and has educational benefits too. Just a few minutes a day can have a big impact on children of all ages.

Read aloud regularly

Try to read to your child every day. It’s a special time to snuggle up and enjoy a story. Stories matter and children love re-reading them and poring over the pictures. Try adding funny voices to bring characters to life.

Encourage reading widely 

Give children lots of opportunities to read different things in their own time - it doesn’t just have to be books. There’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, magazines, recipes and much more. Try leaving interesting reading material in different places around the home and see who picks it up.

Read together

Choose a favourite time to read together as a family and enjoy it. This might be everyone reading the same book together, reading different things at the same time, or getting your children to read to each other. This time spent reading together can be relaxing for all.

Talk about books

This is a great way to make connections, develop understanding and make reading even more enjoyable. Start by discussing the front cover and talking about what it reveals and suggests the book could be about. Then talk about what you’ve been reading and share ideas. You could discuss something that happened that surprised you, or something new that you found out. You could talk about how the book makes you feel and whether it reminds you of anything.

 

Year 3

Martham have been busy preparing Ancient Greek theatre masks in preparation for an in-class performance of King Midas. We can't wait to see the final performance!

Children in Martham have been creating models using Lego. They included houses, rockets and even a transformer! Here are some wonderful examples by William, Johny, Eve and Lexi. Well done everyone - they look great!

Year 5

Year 5 are studying Forces in Science this half-term. They investigated air resistance by creating and testing paper aeroplanes. Blake's plane flew the furthest - almost making it to the end of the school hall!

This week they explored which shapes would create less water resistance. They chose four different shapes (designed by Grace, Giovi, Bia and Blake) to test by dropping into a cylinder of water and recording the time they each took to hit the bottom. Which shape do you think was the fastest to hit the bottom? (answer below!)

(Answer: It was Grace's - the shape Salhouse named 'the chicken's foot'!)

 

In Literacy, they have been reading The Butterfly Lion by Micheal Morpugo. For homework, they were challenged to discover some fascinating facts about lions. Here are some of their favourites:

Lions are the only big cats that live in groups.

A group of lions is called a pride.

Prides can grow up to 30 lions in the pack depending on how much food and water there is.

Female lions are the main hunters, while the male looks after the little ones.

A lion's roar can be heard from up to 8 kilometres away.

Male lions typically sleep for up to 20 hours a day.

Lionesses can reach speeds up to 50 mph (80kmph) wow!

Here's an example by Nicholas of the fabulous work that Salhouse have produced:

SHIP

What a fabulous start to the year! We have been so busy  with so much learning. We have been getting to know each other. We have been cooking gingerbread men and enjoying sensory experiences. We have been learning about the ancient Greeks in history and the story of Troy in literacy. We have finished our unit on number place value and testing our skills with addition and subtraction in maths. We have enjoyed  assemblies and PE and a day celebrating languages !

We have even had parent cafe!

Looking forward to next half-term already!

Pupil Ambassadors visit Norwich Foodbank

Last week our Pupil Ambassadors visited Norwich Foodbank to meet Hannah and Peter. They had the chance to look round and even help sort and pack some food boxes ready to go out to people who need them.

This is the fourth year we have been working with the Norwich Foodbank and each year our Pupil Ambassadors do an amazing job of helping out. This year is no exception, with Penny, Liv, Poppy, Carissa, Xheison and Horace all representing our school amazingly.

There will be some news from the Pupil Ambassadors about the Norwich Foodbank after the holiday, so watch this space!

Bikeability

This week, children have been taking part in Bikeability to help develop cycling skills and road awareness. It was great to see everyone taking to the roads and navigating a series of manoeuvres over the course of the week.

The children enjoyed the course and were awarded their certificate and badge in assembly this morning. 

Click here to find out more about Bikeability.

Sprowston Junior Football

The Year 6 football team have been busy, having played two matches this week. The first was a close game in the cup against Taverham Junior. In the end, the boys came away 2-1 winners with goals from Wayne and Alfie Biddle (Toby player of the match).

Our second game of the week was a league game against Old Catton. This was a much more comfortable match winning 8-0 in the end. There was a hat trick from Wayne as well as goals from Julian, Toby, Jack, Alfie and Jasper. Player of the match went to Jack. Well done, boys!!

Thank you to all the parents/carers who have helped with transport and cheered from the sidelines. Thanks as well to Mr Ingham for organising the fixtures and managing the team.

International Day at SJS 13^th November 2024

Let’s celebrate our diversity and uniqueness!

A little note for Year 3 parents:

Hello, my name is Emma Pearce and I am from North Wales. I grew up in a small Welsh village and was taught through the medium of Welsh. I have lived in Russia and Greece and worked in Italy. I am passionate about celebrating cultural diversity and languages.

At SJS, we have children with connections 21different countries and 41 languages. 

Come along for coffee and biscuits to share recipes and customs. All Welcome. 8.40 - 9.30 am

Children will spend some of the day celebrating different countries. They are encouraged to wear traditional dress and share customs or traditional recipes of their countries with the rest of the class. (We are a nut free school).

Last year, we were fortunate to have some wonderful parent volunteers who were happy to share information about their countries. It was truly wonderful to share with the children and they learnt so much – so did we- If you would be interested in talking to your child’s class or sharing with other classes in the school, please let me know: epearce@sprowstonjunior.uk

If you did this last year- it would be fantastic to welcome you back. I will be on the playground in the mornings next week if you would like to get involved!

Enjoying Norfolk Card

The Enjoying Norfolk Card is an 100% recycled card that entitles you to discounts and deals across Norfolk. From theatres to restaurants, shops to salons. The list of offers available is growing all the time and you can use your Card to enjoy them again and again throughout the year.

Once the year is up, simply purchase a new Card to carry on the Enjoyment.

 

• Was £10/year - Currently Pay What You Can Afford!

• Discounts, offers and deals across Norwich and Norfolk

• Use your card again and again – multiple times throughout the year

• New deals and offers are added all the time

• Makes a great gift!

For more information visit the Enjoying Norfolk website.