Newsletters

23/24 - Summer 1, Week 3

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Dear parents and carers,

Our curriculum

"What did you learn about at school today?"

"Dunno - not much."

That can quite often be the conversation I have with my children when I get home from work.  Hopefully, your children are much more excited to tell you all about their day!  However, I suspect that is not always the case.

So what does happen each day at school?

This page on our website: William Ford Junior School - Our Learning (williamfordschool.co.uk) provides our overview and links to further information.  This is known as our curriculum intent.  It summarises what we want for the pupils at William Ford.  Whilst this has been in place for a while, it was rather wordy and difficult to remember, hence I have rebranded this.

So how do we do this?  Well there is much information on our website but as a brief summary.....

To be successful:

Our lessons are designed to raise aspirations: to motivate children to consider careers in the future that they may have not considered before.  We ask children to work in role - undertaking a project for a client, so they can get a taste of different jobs.  This also makes learning much more fun and motivating, which leads to improvement.  We also ensure there is support in place if pupils are experiencing difficulty, along with our careful pupil tracking ensuring gaps in knowledge and skills are quickly addressed.  Our new Lighthouse provision also supports those pupils who require further support, be it minimal or extensive.  All lessons should also feature what we call the 4 C's - the skills employers are seeking.  These are creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration.

To be healthy:

This includes being physically, mentally and spiritually healthy.  From lessons around drugs, relationships, crime, abuse to learning how to cook a healthy meal, we strive to ensure we cover this across the curriculum.  We ensure pupils are active and aim to provide many clubs for them, ensuring they know the benefits of physical activity.  We have invested heavily in mental health support along with our Hamish and Milo interventions, which have benefitted several children.  Beginning each new unit of work with 'The Big Question; - linking the Bible to learning and providing a safe space for ALL children to share their views and opinions on this, developing tolerance, understanding and knowledge of our own and others' beliefs.  This is further supported by our theme days such as School Vision Day, School Values Day and Spirituality Day.

To be happy:

There is a great big world out there to explore.  From our more grand trips such as the West End, France and South Wales residential to trips to the beach, park and London, we want children to embrace all the good things this world has to offer.  Our behaviour policy too also supports and rewards positive behaviour whilst addressing any behaviour that causes concern.

To make a difference:

Our democratically elected pupil voice groups ensure all pupils have a voice within the school and have a say in the decisions that are made.  Our community month (each June) ensures pupils can have a presence and be involved in their local community, whilst our work supporting our sponsor children in Colombia empowers pupils to be involved in global change.  This is in addition to our other ecological and charity initiatives and curriculum learning about such issues.

So, much does take place each day at school.  From our last parent survey I am aware parents want further information around specific subjects.  This can also be found on our website using the above link to further support but to make this easier, we will shortly be sending out termly curriculum overviews. 

I pray you all have a wonderful weekend.

 

Mr. David Huntingford

Headteacher

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Next week we will be having a special assembly on Wednesday with the Sycamore Trust to learn about Autism and how we can support people with this neuro diversity.

Please ask you children about this special event and what they have learnt. 

We still have multiple pupils visiting the office frequently to borrow PE Kits.

Please ensure your child has a PE kit in school to change into for PE lessons. Unfortunately, we have a limited number of items due to them often not being returned after use.  

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We all want the best for our children, but parenting can be really tough sometimes.  Place2Be has developed a free Parenting Smart online parenting course in partnership with SLAM (South London and Maudsley-NHS Foundation Trust). It's based on tried and tested techniques and experiences from supporting children, young people, and their families. The course is designed to support parents and carers of primary-age children's parenting journey. 

The next 4 week course date is 11 June 2024, and the deadline to sign up is 27 May 2024. It is split up into 15 minute chunks that can be completed over an hour each week. A Place2Be professional is available to support you in the forums with your online learning.

Please speak to the school's Place2Be Mental Health Practitioner, Vivienne McCarthy if you would like more information or learn more at parentingsmart.org.uk.

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This week 'Dork Diaries' by Rachel Renne Russel has been recommended. 

This is a series of books, written in a diary format. It uses drawings, doodles, and comic strips to show the daily life of the main character, Nicole "Nikki" Maxwell. 

You should read these books because I find them fun and interesting. 

Demilade 4W

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SATS WEEK
All Day
From 13 May until 16 May
13
May
End of SATS treat trip
All Day
17
May
France Day Trip Yr5&6
6:00am – 11:00pm
17
May
Pupil Voice Meetings
All Day
From 20 May until 24 May
20
May
Parent Meeting - Our approach to Sex and relationships education
9:30am – 10:30am
20
May
Parent Meeting - Our approach to Sex and relationships education
5:00pm – 6:00pm
20
May
HALF TERM
All Day
From 27 May until 31 May
27
May
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03 May 2024
Frozen - The Musical
This week Godgift from Year 6 writes about a trip to see Frozen in the West End.
Read more
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Year Three

It has been so lovely to have a change in the weather this week and the children are clearly enjoying playing outside in the warmer weather. We can't believe that we are already halfway through this half-term.

What we have learnt about this week

In English this week, we learnt how to write our own similes and then used them to describe Hercules, a character from our shared reading book. 

In maths, we have used number lines and bar models to further develop our understanding of equivalent fractions. 

In science, the children planned an investigation to discover what a seed needs to germinate.

In art, the children learnt a technique called frottage which involved them making rubbings of various textures and then creating a flower collage from them. 

During our geography lesson this week, the  children were full of awe and excitement when the volcano on our class island actually erupted! 

What we will learn about next week

Next week the children will be learning how to use the possessive apostrophe and will be planning a description of their own superhero in English.

In maths, we will continue with one more week of fractions before moving on to telling the time. 

In science, we will set up an experiment to discover the function of the roots of a plant.

In history, we will learn about the Battle of Marathon through drama.

Year Four 

It has been a great and busy week in year 4. The children have remained focused and engaged with their learning. 

 What we have learnt about this week

In Year 4, the children have been engaging in various exciting learning activities. They have been carrying out research on life in Roman Britain, exploring shapes and angles in Maths, and delving into the animal food chain in Science. Additionally, in History, the pupils collaborated in pairs to design a Roman town settlement.

What we will learn about next week

Looking ahead to next week, the children will be focusing on creating a brochure based on their research findings about Roman Britain in English lessons. They will continue their exploration of shapes and angles in Maths. In Geography, a new topic on rainforests will be introduced. Furthermore, in History, the children will be learning about Pompeii.

Year Five

What a fantastic week we have had this week with our visit to watch Frozen in the West End! We hope that the children thoroughly enjoyed this experience and that their smiles when talking about it was as big as their smiles in the theatre.

What we have learnt about this week

This week, the children worked diligently in English when writing their play scripts. We focused on stage directions this week, which involved lots of brilliant acting. Maths concluded with the children recapping regular and irregular polygons before moving onto 3D shapes. In Science, the children completed and experiment where they were testing which materials were soluble and which were insoluble - the children were able to predict this and then complete an observation of what they could see. 

What we will learn about next week

Next week in maths, the children will begin to study position and direction - with a focus on translation and symmetry. In science, the properties of materials conclude with the children thinking about reversible and irreversible changes - using their prior knowledge of states of matter.

Year Six

SATs are fast approaching and it continues to be the focus for the children's learning this week.

What we have learnt about this week

This week, the children have continued to work hard in the lead up to their SATs tests.  In maths, the children have had revision lessons on division, percentages and fractions as these are all especially tricky concepts that appear in various forms within the maths SATs tests.  The children have also worked in pairs to complete a number of reading comprehension tests; the particular focus each time was to encourage the children to retrieve evidence from the text to support their answers.  The children have also had the opportunity to look at errors they made in their own assessment tests last week.  This allows the children to see first hand the errors they made and how they could avoid similar mistakes in the upcoming SATs.

What we will learn about next week

Next week, the children will spend the majority of their lessons revising and preparing for their SATs.  As always, they will continue with their P.S.H.E. and P.E. lessons and there will be some opportunities to continue with other areas of the curriculum.

 

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Each week, staff select three children from each class who have shown effort and commitment to upholding an aspect of our school vision, shown at the bottom of the page. Congratulations to this week’s ‘stars of the week’ for their tremendous endeavours!

 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Three

3F

Name: Carter

For: working hard and trying his best in all lessons

 

Name: Hollie

For: always being generous with her time and helping her friends and teachers

 

Name: Amelia

For: always being a kind and calm member of the class

3M

Name: Hunter

For: listening really well and answering questions accurately across a range of lessons.

Name: Elsie

For: generously offering her thoughtful ideas in English this week.

Name: McKelle

For: always demonstrating perfect classroom behaviour and for refusing to get distracted by others.

3N

Name: Jamie

For: working hard in his phonics lessons.

Name:  Emily

For: working well with her classmates in group work.

Name: Martin

For:  being calm and ready to work in all lessons.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Four

4D

Name: Frankie-Lee

For: working hard to improve his handwriting and presentation this week

 

Name: Shiven

For: being kind and helpful when working with a partner

 

Name: Isabella

For: always having a peaceful and calm demeanour 

4IW

Name: Ayaan

For: making a fantastic effort in all the lessons this week. 

Name: Joseph

For: being generous with his time to help others. 

Name: Shalom 

For: having a calm approach to challenging situations. 

4W

Name: Lilly-Jean

For: being more focused and trying her best.

Name: Ezinne

For: being a helpful member of the class.

Name: Deba

For: living at peace and working well in a team. 
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Five

5A

Name: Aisha

For: her brilliant write-up of her science experiment.

 

Name: Jasmine

For: helping her classmates with their work this week.

 

Name: Daniella O

For: being a calm influence in class this week.

5H

Name: Ajwa

For: working diligently and trying her best in all lessons. 

Name: Eososa

For: acting generously by helping another member of the class on the Frozen trip.

Name: Elliot

For: always having a calm approach in and around the classroom.

5P

Name: Charlie

For: working really hard to produce his script in English.

Name: Tilly

For: representing the school well on our trip to see Frozen, being considerate to others.

Name: 

For: representing our school well by being calm and polite on our trip to see Frozen.
 

Working diligently

 

Acting generously

 

Promoting peace

Year Six

6B

Name: Ted

For: excellent focus and participation in maths lessons.

 

Name: Favor

For: sharing her ideas when working with a partner in lessons.

 

Name: Aimee

For: her calm approach to her peers and her work in class.

6F

Name: Chase

For: great work revising methods in maths. 

Name: Kyle 

For: supporting others with their art work.

Name: Bobby 

For: being more focused and independent in his learning this week. 

6I

Name: Cristina

For: Working hard and trying her best in everything she does.

Name: Lexi

For: Generous behaviour and always has high spirits.

Name: Evie

For: Always at peace and has a calming presence in the classroom.
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