Newsletters

Friday 6th October, 2023

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Friday 6th October, 2023


Another two weeks has flown past since the last newsletter!

Next week we are welcoming some parents into school to talk about different countries around the world. This maybe a homeland or a country someone has a special affinity with. We have many nationalities in school and it is wonderful to share with each other information, pictures and stories about our wonderful world. We would like the children of Sprowston Junior to be truly global citizens with a great understanding of the world around them. 

Please look out for an email regarding Parents' Evening next week. The dates for the evenings are below. As ever, if these dates do not suit you, please get in contact to make a more suitable appointment or alternatively, ask for a phone call or an online meeting. 

This week we had the Friends' AGM and I'm pleased to say that Emma Hartley (Chair) and Chere Lewis (Treasurer) are continuing to lead the friends this academic year. School budgets are getting tighter every year and the money raised by the friends is so important to enable the school to provide extra resources for all the children. Please do offer support if you are able to. Even if you are able to help for one event across the school year, it would be much appreciated. If you'd like to help or find out more, Emma can be contacted via the school office. 

At last night's Governors' meeting, Paul Weeks signalled that he will be stepping down from the position of Chair of Governors and leaving the governing body later this term. Paul has been a governor at the school for 13 years and we are indebted to him for his service during this time. His support for the school in the last decade has been tremendous, and we wish him all the very best for the future. We are pleased to announce that Hayley Stockwell has agreed to take over the chair position when Paul leaves. Hayley is a very experienced governor and has been on the governing board for many years at the school. We are also pleased to announce that Laura Latimer will be Vice-Chair of the governing board. Laura also has many years of experience serving as a governor at the school. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards

Matt Walton, Headteacher 


diary dates – Orchard Brae School

October

Mon 9th - Individual photos 

Tue 10th - International Day 

Fri 13th - Cross Country @ Sprowston Recreation Ground (2pm)

Mon 16th Oct - U11s football v Poringland

Tue 17th - Jack Ramm tournament (football) 

Wed 18th Oct - Year 5/6 coffee morning (9-10am)

Thu 19th - Year 4 Family Lunch

Thur 19th - Halloween Disco (6:30pm - 8pm)

Fri 20th Oct - Half-term 

November 

Thur 2nd Nov - Cross Country @ North Walsham (11am)

Mon 6th Nov - Year 3 visiting Norwich Cathedral

Tue 7th Nov - Parents' Evening (3:30pm - 6pm)*

Wed 8th Nov - Year 5 visit to Norwich Central Mosque

Wed 8th Nov - Parents' Evening (5pm - 7:30pm)*

Fri 10th Nov - Bikeability - Year 4

 

* Timings may differ slightly for some teachers 


French Day

Last Tuesday, we had a lovely morning studying French speaking countries, enriching the teaching of French in school. 

All year groups had a different country to study and produced various outcomes such as posters, songs and poems. These were shared at a special assembly in the afternoon. The children loved sharing what they had been doing with each other and it made for a lovely end to the day.

Year 3 - Year 3 looked at France and particularly at French landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral. They became tour guides for the morning! They sang Frere Jacques and learnt about the French Revolution. 

Year 4 - Year 4 filled shoe boxes with information all about Quebec. They made flags, sang songs and learnt all about the culture and history. 

Year 5 - The children in Year 5 explored the country of Benin. They listened to, and then retold, a story all about how Benin began, found out more about the geography, culture, traditions, some fascinating facts and languages of Benin and even had a go at producing some Benin-inspired art. A book has been produced for the library with some examples of the amazing work completed during the day - it's definitely worth a look next time you're in school.

Year 6 - Year 6 looked at Tahiti and learnt all about the island, the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. They enjoyed joining in with quizzes, creating art work and making posters. 

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Year 3/4 Coffee Morning 

We had a fabulous turn-out for the first coffee morning of the year. I hope that everyone who came along enjoyed spending time in school. The children certainly enjoyed reading with you, and we look forward to hosting another one in a few months time. 


School Improvement 

If you'd like to see what we are working on for school improvement this year, please click on the link which takes you to the school website where we have shared the overview :

School Improvement Overview 23/24


Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to Marvellous Me. We currently have almost 141 parents who have downloaded the app and are making the most of being able to find out what their children have been up, receive 'thumbs ups' and other notifications as well as receiving messages from classes.

Here are links to a parent walk through guide and a 'parent app explained' video with some useful information about how to get started.

If you have any questions, or need some help, please let a member of the year group team know. You can also email Mr Arthur: deputy@sprowstonjunior.norfolk.sch.uk who will be able to get you up and running.


Uniform Shop

Every Friday, we are opening our uniform shop - anyone is welcome to come in and take items of second hand uniform. You are most welcome to come along at any time on Friday morning. All items are free. 

We appreciate any donations of uniform. Thank you to everyone for your help. 


Football Report 

The Year 5/6 football team made a great start to the season with a win at St William's Primary School. The game was a close 3-2 win, with Olly scoring all 3 goals for the team. It was a good team performance with everyone playing well and contributing towards the win. 

Last night, the team went to White Woman Lane for the second fixture of the season. They found themselves two goals down and in a difficult situation, but they dug in and twice scored to reduce the scoreline to 3-2. Olly was on the score sheet again with another two goals. They were so unlucky not to equalise when a looping shot from Ethan seemed to take an age to drop and hit the crossbar! So unlucky, but another good performance and great teamwork from the whole team. 

Football Clipart Vector Art, Icons, and Graphics for Free Download


Science Ambassadors

Four Year 6 children (Talia, Elyas, Blake and Lexi)  were invited along to Norwich School this week for training to become science ambassadors for the school. As well as taking part in activities such as building the tallest paper tower structure and looking at electrical circuits, they also discussed how they could help improve science in their own schools. The children really enjoyed the morning and are excited about supporting science in the school this year. 

Kids Science Clipart Images – Browse 12,741 Stock Photos, Vectors, and  Video | Adobe Stock

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Pupil Ambassadors

This year's Year 6 Pupil Ambassadors have been selected and are already busy planning their first exciting project. As you know, we have developed a fantastic link with the Norwich Foodbank over the last few years and our current Pupil Ambassadors are keen to continue the great work. They will be visiting the Norwich Foodbank on Friday 20th October. Watch this space for details of what they have in store.

Our Pupil Ambassadors are: Lexi, Mollie, Darcie, Francesca, Theo, Jessica, Imogen and Rachel.


Maths Champions

We have five new Maths Champions who have already put their heads together and have some brilliant ideas of how they are going to help promote maths across the school this year. 

The Maths Champions this year are: Ethan, Oliver, Olly, Ben and Filip


School Council

This year each class has two representatives on our School Council. Last week we held our first meeting of the year and picked a topic to discuss in this week's Class Councils. We are looking forward to seeing what the School Council has planned this year.

The School Council reps this year are: 


The School Shop is back by popular demand

Our ever-popular school stationery shop is back for the new school year. Indigo, Mollie and Lexi will be opening up for business on Friday lunchtimes. The shop has a variety of stationary available to buy with prices from 20p to £1.

Keep an eye out for posters appearing around school with more information.