Newsletters

NEWSLETTER | July 2022

 British Council International School Award success!

We are really excited to tell you that we have been awarded Foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award in recognition of its work to bring the world into the classroom. This award is in recognition of the work the staff and children have undertaken alongside our partner school - Racecourse Primary, Nairobi.

The International School Award celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life and work in today’s world.

Our international work includes working alongside Racecourse Primary School, Nairobi – our British Council partner school. We have been involved in reciprocal visits, cross-school challenges, pen pal style letters and even video clips of children explaining how to complete maths challenges.

John Rolfe MBE, Schools Outreach Manager at the British Council, said: "Sprowston Junior School’s international work has earned the school well-deserved recognition with the British Council International School Award - Foundation Certificate. We are delighted and proud that Sprowston Junior is committed to developing a whole school approach to embedding and celebrating international work. The dedication from everyone is enriching education and supporting globally aware young people and the development of key skills. We thank all involved in this important work."

The award is now available worldwide in countries such as India, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Around 6,000 International School Awards have been presented to successful schools in the UK since the scheme began in 1999.

The International School Award encourages and supports schools to develop:

• An international ethos embedded throughout the school
• A whole school approach to international work
• Collaborative curriculum-based work with a number of partner schools
• Year-round international activity
• Involvement of the wider community 

Activemark Award

We are delighted to announce that we have achieved the School Games Silver Mark Award for the 2021/22 academic year. The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust to reward and recognise school’s engagement (provision and uptake) in the School Games against a national benchmark and to celebrate keeping young people active, and we are delighted to have been recognised for our success. Our physical activity and school sport achievements this year include: 

- Football League Winners (Autumn League)

- Cubitt Cup Winners (football)

- County final Winners (football)

- City Sports Field Event - Winners

We have competed against other schools in football, cricket, tennis, cross country and athletics. 

We believe in the power of physical activity and school sport as a school and give opportunities to those young people that need it most either as a participant, leader, official or volunteer. As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas linked to the five School Games outcomes and we are pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.

West Runton - Year 3

On Monday Year 3 travelled to West Runton for a day at the beach. The seaside has been their topic for the last few weeks and it was a great opportunity to find out more about they have been learning. The first activity was rock pooling. Armed with a bucket and a net, everyone had great fun browsing the rock pools trying to find different creates living in their habitats. It wasn't long before they had spotted shrimp, limpets, sea anemones, sea snails and crabs (of various sizes). 

After a quick break the class went off in different directions for the next part of the day. One class looked at fossils and found out how long parts of the beach have been around. They also discovered which animals might have been roaming around West Runton over millions of years ago. Did you know that the West Runton Mamoth is the best example of the species to be unearthed so far (anywhere in the world!), being 85% complete?

The other class headed back to the rock pools to find pebbles, rocks, seaweed and anything else they could to help them create some wonderful wild art. As you can imagine, there were some wonderful creations which were left on the beach for other visitors to enjoy looking at.

Before they knew it was time for lunch before heading back to school on the bus. It was an amazing day and everyone had a great time. Sadly Mrs Wills wasn't well but she had planned everything, so the trip ran smoothly - thank you Mrs Wills.

Hilltop - Year 6 

On Wednesday 22nd June Year 6 packed their bags and headed off for three days away at Hilltop Outdoor Centre near Sheringham. It is the first time that Sprowston Junior has visited Hilltop and as Year 6 drove in through the gates everyone was excited to see what it was like. It was brilliant! Nestled in amongst the trees it felt like they were in the middle of nowhere. Over the three days (two nights) away they managed to pack in: assault courses, sliding down a giant zip wire, climbing up on high ropes, archery, air jump, crate stacking, a disco and even a trip to the enchanted forest. The children might have even managed to sneak in a little midnight feast as well! They returned to school on Friday afternoon tried out from all the fun they'd been having. Everyone at Hilltop helped make our first visit to Hilltop a really memorable one.

Year 6 had such a good time that we have booked in for next year. The current Year 5 classes (soon to be in Year 6) will be going back to Hilltop for more fun and adventure in June 2023.

A big thank you to all the children for behaving so well while we were away, the parents for helping them prepare for the trip and for all the staff who went along.

Attendance 

This term's attendance has been a little disappointing at 91.1%. Our overall attendance for the year stands at 92.4%. This will, I feel, put us under the national average which itself is considerably lower this year due to covid, particularly in the autumn term. 

Improving attendance in September will be a school development priority, and it is important that we all work together to ensure that all children's attendance is as good as it can be. Holidays taken during term time cannot be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances.  Any unauthorised absences of 4.5 days or more (9 sessions), will lead to a referral to the Local Authority and a may result in a fine of £60 per parent/carer.