{item_alt_tag}

Friday 8th March 2024

Dear Families,

Happy International Women's Day! - read on to find out how we will be marking this in school. 

What a fabulous way to end the week - a true celebration of books and reading. Reading focused activities have been running through the week and have included:

  • Guest authors and readers
  • Shared reading between classes and year groups
  • D.E.A.R. - drop everything and read!
  • A teachers' reading relay
  • Dressing up as some of our favourite book characters

Thank you so much to the parents who have been visiting classes and reading some German stories to the children - it is great for them to see how a love of reading is cross-cultural. (See the pictures below of some of the activities.)

Have lovely weekends and why not try and find some time to get stuck into a really good book!

Patrick 

Messages for the week:

So as not to lose the message whilst we're busy celebrating books, we will celebrate International Women's Day next Friday. Our Y6 children have been learning about the Suffrage movement and will be going into classes to teach the younger year groups about the importance of this day.  They will do a short activity with each class which we will display in the playground the following week. To mark the day, children can wear something purple on the day. This could be a hair tie, a ribbon, socks, hat or even a t-shirt or jumper!'

MOGS have written an article explaining what the children have been up to! Be sure to visit the website and check it out over the weekend! https://mogchronicle.com/

Don't forget to use your child's book voucher to buy a new book. These have come home in their book bags today and we are also attaching an online token. 

 

{item_alt_tag}

Celebrating books and a love of reading!

{item_alt_tag}
{item_alt_tag}
{item_alt_tag}
{item_alt_tag}

200 Reads!

Well done to the following children in Year 1 who have reached 200 reads this week: Leon, Clio, Alessandro, Wolfgang

Lunchtimes

Following recent concerns around behaviour in the lunch hall (dinners being thrown straight into the bin and food waste being a principal concern), we have refreshed our expectations. We have encouraged the children to ask the adult serving to put on their plate the food they would like. Salad is always served as a choice. When children have come to the bin with a lot of food still on their plates we have encouraged them to try more. This is always in conversation with the children and no forcing or coercion is used. We have got some star stickers that we have given out this week for beautiful table manners or empty plates. However, we have also strongly said to all children “Not every day will be an empty plate day, sometimes our tummies are full before we have finished and sometimes we try a new food that we don’t like.”

We have been more consistent with enforcing the no running rule in the hall and we have a newly implemented 1 way system that has stopped accidents or plates ending up on the floor. Most children (except EYFS and Yr1) go out to play first now too, as this has ensured children are playing or eating their lunch rather than waiting in a long line in the hall.

We have also started playing calming music in the hall on some days and on other days our wonderful piano-playing children have played to their dining friends. We will continue to refine and tweak the systems until we have a happy balance in the lunch hall and the playground.

The refresh of the school expectations at lunchtime is going well so far and the children have appreciated being able to play longer outside, as well as 

Friends Corner

Finally, some sun has arrived, and with the feel of Spring in the air, we are planning to do some overdue work on the outdoor spaces. We are hoping to have lots of new planting at the next Friend’s Gardening Day, 24th March, and will need to relocate some of the planters in the Early Years play area to allow a new reading shed to be installed by the school. Please come along and meet friends, we will provide the refreshments to keep the energy up. 

We are starting to make plans for the Summer Picnic on June 22nd and appreciate any support, ideas and help on the day. In discussion with the School, we are at the early stages of developing a Commemorative Artwork to mark the 10th Anniversary of the JKPS. This is planned as a collaborative piece for the children to participate in, and will remember Judith Kerr’s legacy together with the School’s history. Do get in touch if you would be interested in supporting and/or finding out more.

Upcoming Dates for your Diary - a reminder you can add these to your calendars from this link.  

11th March 9am-12pm - Auditorium Clearout - Call out for some parent volunteer power to clear the auditorium, build some shelving and organise the Second Hand Uniform stock. Sounds like fun - well with the right company and tea/coffee provided, it will be!

22nd March - Friends Evening - ‘What AI can do already and what it will be doing in a year’ (Tim Rocktaschel). Location/Time TBC

24th March - Gardening Day - get out in the garden with the parent community to freshen up the outdoor spaces.

22nd June - Friends of JKPS Summer Picnic -  a school community celebration to mark Judith Kerr’s Birthday and JKPS’s 10th Anniversary.

If you have any parent planned events in mind, do get in touch at fojkps@gmail.com and we can add them to the Friends’ Calendar. Remember to join our Community WhatsApp channel if you’d like to be able to find the main messages we send out in one easy place. Link to join is here. 

 

Magic Bookings

Please check your MagicBooking account and settle any outstanding fees; the Spring fees are due for payment by Wednesday 20th of March 2024.

Can we please ask that all childcare vouchers and Government Tax Free payments are made by Sunday 17th of March to allow us to credit these to your MagicBooking account before the Summer term application becomes live.

Key Dates

Y3 Trip to British Museum                                                             Tuesday, 12th March 

Yinka Shonibare Class performing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

                                                                                                          Saturday, 23rd March

Neurodiversity Celebration Week                                                     18th - 24th March

End of the Spring Term                                                                 Thursday 28th March

INSET day (school closed to pupils)                                                 Monday 15th April

Summer Term starts                                                                          Tuesday 16th April

Y5 Trip to Unicorn Theatre                                                          Wednesday 17th April

Bank Holiday                                                                                            Monday 6th May

KS2 SATS                                                                                                    13th - 16th May

School Photos                                                                                           20th - 24th May

Y5 Trip to the Odyssey                                                                 Wednesday 22nd May 

Year 6 Residential                                                                                        8th - 10th July

Year 6 Graduation (from 4pm)                                                      Wednesday 24th July 

Summer Term ends                                                                            Thursday 25th July