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Friday 4th April 2025

Dear Families,

The strength and dedication of our JKPS community is one of the many wonderful assets of our school and the Friends of Judith Kerr really embody that commitment. The support, hard work and time given by the FoJKPS and other volunteers has always played a huge part in the development of JKPS. It is on this note that I would like to extend a massive thank you on behalf of us all, staff and children, to Celeste, Jane, and Paula (who remains on the council) who stepped down from their roles at the AGM last week - your work over the past two years has been invaluable. And a warm welcome to Stef and Claire as their successors - you are already doing so much for our school, and it is great to know that you will be a key part of the FoJKPS team moving forwards. More from the Friends below. 

Music is definitely good for the soul and it was lovely hearing KS2 singing along to Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colours during their music assembly this week. And well done to the RockSteady bands who rocked the top floor hall on Wednesday and Thursday mornings this week! So much blossoming talent and, most important of all, so much fun. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Spring break, and to those of you who celebrating Easter and/ or hunting for chocolate eggs, Frohe Ostern!

Patrick 

Key messages:

Farewell to Mr Alfie who is leaving us today - we wish you all the best, and knowing you won't be far away, I am sure we'll see you around. 

The Mog Chronicle team has been hard at work this term uncovering all manner of scoops around JKPS, reporting on world politics and reviewing everything they’ve read and watched. We’ve also had a very exciting invite from our local MP. Please take a moment to read all about it: www.mogchronicle.com 

*Brockwell Park Community Team are running Easter workshops over the holidays: Each session gives kids the chance to connect with nature and get creative, inspired by our beautiful garden. TO BOOK, CLICK HERE*

School will reopen for the Summer Term on Tuesday, 22nd April. 

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Around school this week... 

Year 1 had fun doing some rather wonderful observational drawing in the Forest area. It has prepared them well for their science topic next term, which is all about plants. 

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Meanwhile, Year 2 wrote these wonderful poems inspired by the nature around them. 

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And continuing with the outdoor theme, Year 3 took their maths lesson about measuring capacity into the playground. Such a privilege to have all this outdoor space. 

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Coming soon: Science Week - week beginning 28.04.25

In advance of our postponed Science Week, we are thrilled to announce a Science Poster Competition. This competition offers a platform for students to showcase their creativity and knowledge in science through engaging posters. There will be three categories: 

  1. Nursery/Reception

  2. KS1

  3. KS2

Theme: Change and Adapt The theme for 2025 is 'Change and adapt,' inviting students to explore various STEM topics. Participants can create posters illustrating how plants and animals adapt to changing seasons or environments, human adaptations to evolving technology, climate change mitigation strategies, or their favourite science experiments demonstrating change. Creativity in interpreting the theme is encouraged!

How to take part: this is an ideal activity for the holiday period. Posters should then be submitted to class teachers by Wednesday, 23rd April.

We look forward to seeing the innovative interpretations and scientific insights from our talented students.

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A Year 1 trip to Brockwell Park Community Gardens

They learnt about habitats, particularly what environments are best for minibeasts and pond animals! They learnt how to pond dip safely and be minibeast experts! Can you believe we even saw a pond leopard. It was glorious weather, and they discussed what signs of spring there was around us such as blossoming flowers!

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Attendance

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School attendance is mandatory for all students of compulsory school age. Whilst we understand that it isn't always possible to reach 100% attendance, we are fully committed to ensuring the highest levels of attendance to ensure we enable every student to meet their potential.  

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From the Anthem Community Council

We would like to invite parents to a feedback session to share results of the parent survey on Thursday 8th May at 5:30pm in school. We hope this is also an opportunity to meet with you to update on the roles currently active in ACC and put some faces to names. 

Additionally, we wanted to extend our gratitude and thanks to Jane and Paula for their incredible work as co-chairs of Friends. Their enthusiasm and efforts over the past two years have sustained the vibrancy and energy in community events which we all enjoy. The fundraising Friends achieves for JKPS is extraordinary and we feel the benefits within school for all our children. You have worked so hard and we are very lucky to have had safe and trusted hands at the helm. Thank you. 

Congratulations to Stef and Claire as new co-chairs of Friends and thank you for taking on the baton for this important role within our community.  

SEND

Thank you to everyone who responded to the Anthem SEND & Inclusion Survey. If you haven't yet managed to respond and would like to share your views, the survey is still open at: Parent/Carer SEND & Inclusion Survey

Friends Corner

Many thanks to you all for helping with our events and activities this term. We’re starting to make plans for the Summer Picnic on June 28th and appreciate any support, ideas and help. Please get in touch with your class rep(s) or email us at fojkps@gmail.com if you can volunteer to help make this a great celebration of the year.

A quick look-ahead to next term and beyond. You can find event dates on our website, including parent-organised camping trips. 

🌳 Gardening Day - 27th April

🌞 Summer Picnic - 28th June

🏆 Sports Day - 16th July

🍻 Oktoberfest - 20th September

Ioana, a Reception parent, is working on setting up a JKPS Tonies Club, a parent-led initiative designed as a rental model - please respond to this quick survey if you’re interested, so that we can get an idea of numbers. 

Sensory Room update - the work is scheduled during the holidays to begin remodelling and rewiring the room. We look forward to seeing this finalised in May half term. 

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. The link to join is here. 

Have a restful Easter break!

Key Dates

Summer Term starts                                                       8:40am Tuesday, 22nd April

Y4 Multiplication Check Parent/Carer Coffee Morning      9am Thursday 24th April

Science Week - Change and Adapt                                                            w/c 28th April

Bank Holiday                                                                                       Monday 5th May 

Year 1 Singing Festival                                                                     Wednesday 7th May 

Author visit: Frann Preston-Gannon                                             Wednesday 7th May 

Year 6 cake, bracelet and German book sale                                         Friday 9th May

Year 6 SATS Week                                                                                         w/c 12th May 

School Photos                                                                                              w/c 19th May

Bloom Nature Workshops for Y6 and Y5          Tuesday 20th/ Wednesday 21st May 

Year 5 trip to Imperial War Museum                                                 Tuesday 20th May

EY/KS1 Perform drama workshop                                                      Tuesday 20th May

Half-Term                                                                                       26th May - 30th May

Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check                                               2nd June - 13th June

Year 1 Phonics Screening                                                                             w/c 9th June

Year 1 rescheduled trip to Dulwich Picture Gallery                     Wednesday 2nd July

Year 6 Residential                                                                                         7th - 9th July

Cycle Confident Training for Year 5                                                        10th/ 11th July

Year 1 Trip to Tower of London                                                             Friday, 11th July

Sports Day                                                                                       Wednesday 16th July

Summer FunDay                                                                                Thursday 17th July

Year 6 Graduation                                                          from 4pm, Thursday 17th July

Summer Term ends                                                                     2pm Friday 18th July

Please note dates for Academic Year 2025-26 are also now available. 

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