​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been learning about perimeter in Maths, using their problem-solving skills to work out the missing lengths of shapes. In English, they have been writing a narrative about 'The Wishgranter' focusing on writing setting and character descriptions and developing their own plot. In Humanities, they have started their new topic focusing on the Bronze Age. In Music, they have been exploring musical notation to keep in time to music and in French they have learnt the names of some favourite fruits. It has been a busy week!
Year 4 – have been very excited to start their week by having the Year 6's take over the school! The children were then able to write an amazing diary entry about their morning. In Maths, Year 4 have started learning about fractions, understanding the whole, counting beyond 1 and partitioning mixed number fractions. In Science, Year 4 have been really excited to start their new topic 'The Digestive System'. In History, Year 4 have started learning about Ancient Rome, understanding the Romans place in history and what life was like for the rich and poor. 
Year 5 – have had a really exciting start to the week as Year 6 took over the school on Monday! Inspired by this, the children wrote diary entries that let them explore their feelings and opinions about them - the teachers were impressed by how many success criteria they still managed to include! The children have also worked really hard on their understanding of decimals up to thousandths; deepening their understanding about representing them as fractions and as decimals. In Humanities, the children deepened their understanding of Mayan food by making hot chocolate following a Mayan recipe! It was really exciting! In Science, the children designed investigations to explore more about friction and mechanisms. All in all, it has been an exciting week in Year 5!
Year 6 – have started off their week on Monday by taking over the school for part of the day!  The children had written letters of application for various roles within the school and we were very impressed by how they managed the range of tasks associated with their roles.  We had children taking assembly (where teachers had to sit on the year 6 benches whilst the children sat around the edge of the hall on the teachers' chairs!); children taking registers in class; some introducing lessons; others helping children with their work; some doing break and lunch duty and helping in the diner; one working with Miss Lainsbury in the school office; and we even had children stepping into the roles of SENCo, Deputy Headteacher and a couple of children taking on Miss Digweed's role as Headteacher!  The children were exceptionally helpful and really enjoyed their time in their new roles.  So much so that they are now in the process of writing letters to Miss Digweed in English to persuade her to do another day in the summer term, but this time for a whole day!  As well as taking over the school, the children have worked hard in Maths learning algebra; plus they have continued with their science topic about light and have started to look at their goals for their future in PSHE.

Dear Parent/Carer
 
As part of our drive to keep children and young people safe online we are recommending the following webinar around understanding computer misuse, hacking and cybercrime.
 
Cyber Choices is a programme that supports those people at risk of committing computer misuse offences, such as hacking.
 
These risks are far more real than most people recognise, with around 1 in 4 young people admitting to committing low-harm cybercrimes, perhaps without even realising what they were doing was illegal.

The webinars are ideally suited to parents/carers of children in Year 3 (age 7) and above, all the way up to college, university and beyond, and will help understand what computer misuse is, what the risks to young people are, how to recognise some of the indicators that young people may be involved in committing cybercrimes, and how the Cyber Choices programme supports at-risk individuals.
 
The Cyber Choices programme is led by the National Crime Agency, and delivered locally by SEROCU (the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit).
 
Dates and registration links for the sessions are below.
 
When: Feb 27, 2024 10:00 GMT
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f85LCF9XQQiveByxpGjBRA
 
When: Feb 28, 2024 20:00 GMT
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XZSXC9NnRBWVsnUzxFUtgg
 
When: Mar 4, 2024 11:00 GMT
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2fwzDzv3RMmo7Gm0PGf_3w
 
When: Mar 4, 2024 20:00 London
Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2ROjhkKsSKueNgILJ7lSfQ
 
After registering, a confirmation email containing further information about joining the webinar will be automatically sent out.
 
If anyone has any issues with booking on to any of the sessions, please contact the SEROCU Cyber Choices team on [email protected]

Dear Parent/Carer

This half term, we have an EXCITING opportunity! We have hired a swimming pool for 3 weeks so that children in Year 5 and 6 can develop their swimming skills in line with the Statutory School Swimming Programme as part of National Curriculum Physical Education.
By the time a child is ready to leave primary school they should be able to swim, know how to get out of trouble if they fall into the water, know the dangers of water and understand how to stay safe when playing in and around it. This includes understanding and adhering to national and local water safety advice, being able to use appropriate survival and self-rescue skills if they unintentionally fall in or get into difficulty in the water, and knowing what to do if others get into trouble.
Swimming is effectively ‘Wet PE’. As such, in addition to the above, our aim is for pupils to be physically active during their School Swimming lesson and have opportunities to:
● Engage in competitive situations (both against themselves and others) and co-operative physical activities,
● Communicate, collaborate and compete with each other,
● Develop an understanding of how to improve; learn how to evaluate and recognise their own success.

Your child will have a 2 week programme every day of 30-minute lessons, starting on the 11th March 2024.
The company will also supply a qualified swim teacher and a lifeguard (there will always be a member of IVJS with the children).
Your son/daughter will be taught the following skills and strokes in different water-related contexts:
● how to enter and exit the water,
● floatation,
● submerging,
● rotating from back to front and front to back and regaining an upright position,
● pushing and gliding and an understanding of streamlining,
● aquatic breathing,
● moving effectively and efficiently through the water using alternating and simultaneous strokes on front and back, such as front crawl, back crawl, breaststroke, side stroke,
● swimming longer distances and for increasing amounts of time,
● using swimming skills and strokes for different purposes such as water polo and synchronised swimming,
● survival and self-rescue skills: treading water, Heat Escape Lessening Position (HELP) and Huddle positions, floating and resting in the water, attracting attention, sculling and swimming in clothes/buoyancy aids,
● water safety: knowledge and understanding of different water environments, how to stay safe when playing in and around water including recognising flags and warning signs and understanding national and local water safety advice,
● what to do if others get into difficulties: stay safe: shout, signal; throw, do not go into the water; raising the alarm 999,
● play competitive games such as water polo and apply basic principles suitable for attacking and defending.

Please see the paper copy of this letter (sent home with your child) for the permission slip to complete giving permission for your child to participate and explaining their current ability level. If you do not have a copy of the letter, please email permission and ability level (Cannot swim/Can swim 0 - 10 meters/ Can swim 10-25 meters) to office @ivjs.school.

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been developing their poetry skills in English this week using the wonderful story of ‘The King Who Banned the Dark’. They worked very hard to include a range of poetic devices including rhyme, alliteration and adverbs. In Maths, they have continued to develop their measurement skills focusing on converting different units of length accurately. In Computing this week, the children developed their knowledge of the different ways to keep safe online as part of ‘Safer Internet Day’. Towards the end of the week, the children completed their final piece in their ‘Mixed Media’ art topic. Their creations all drew upon the skills from their chosen artist with their own unique twist. They have worked very hard this week and we hope they enjoy a restful half-term break!
Year 4 – have been working hard in Maths, learning about perimeter of rectilinear shapes, missing lengths in rectilinear shapes and perimeter of regular polygons. In English, they have finished writing their biography about Varjak Paw. Year 4 have also had an exciting week in Art! They have been exploring traditional African crafts, they have created a piece of clay artwork inspired by the artwork of the Benin and investigated the artwork of Esther Mahlangu. In PSHE, children have been discussing and working out the steps to take to achieve a goal and do this successfully as part of a group.
Year 5 – have had the opportunity to consolidate their learning on a few grammatical features; their hard work impressed us! The children have also been working very hard in Maths, delving in to the world of tenths and hundredths. They were also excited to listen to a few more chapters in Cosmic and their insights and engagement were impressive! In Humanities, the children learnt all about Mayan food and in Science they designed a marble maze to help investigate friction. The children particularly impressed some speakers (who spoke to them about jobs, goals and motivation) by asking them sensible questions and showing enthusiasm. It has been a fun learning week in Year 5!
Year 6 – have finished writing their diary entries in character as Michael from their class book Skellig.  In maths, they have started to look at algebra and have explored function machines.  This builds on their work in earlier years using operations and their inverses to find missing numbers.  They have also finished all their assessments for this half-term and we are very proud of just how hard everyone has been working.  Well done everyone!

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have written a fantastic set of diary entries based on the short film 'Taking Flight'. They included past tense verbs (both regular and irregular), setting descriptions and coordinating conjunctions. In maths they started their topic on measurement. They looked at mm, cm and m and how to use a ruler to measure things accurately. They have also started to compare lengths. In French, they looked at how to say 'I play the ... ', bringing together their learning from the past couple of weeks. Year 3 were very excited to start their art topic this week. They looked at Matisse and created a still life drawing. Following that, they looked at Picasso and produced a mixed media piece of art inspired by cubism and finally they have looked at the Australian contemporary artist, Pete Cromer.
Year 4 – have continued to read their text 'Varjak Paw' and have started writing an amazing biography about Varjak Paw. The children have been working hard in Maths, where they have started learning about metres, kilometres and perimeter. In Geography, the children have been looking at why Africa is diverse in cultures and traditions. They were also interested to learn about trade in Africa and the importance of fair trade. In Art, the children were excited to make their own African traditional paper beads, they look amazing!
Year 5 – have been busy diving in to the world of fractions; they have been learning all about fractions of amounts. They have also been working hard in English, continuing to write the narrative 'The Dreamgiver'. In Humanities, they conducted research in to finding more about Mayan lifestyles: what they wore, what their homes were like, what food they ate etc. The children have also worked hard on their scientific skills by setting up an experiment to investigate water resistance - their designs were remarkable! In Art, the children also created sculptures that were inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. It was a busy but fun week in Year 5!
Year 6 – have started a new piece of writing in English.  This is again linked to their class book, Skellig, by David Almond and is a diary entry from the perspective of the main character, Michael.  In Maths, they have been concluding their topic on ratio by solving problems linked to ratio and proportion and will be moving on to algebra.  The children have also finished their Humanities topic on North America this week, where they took part in a debate about the distribution of wealth in North America.  They have started their new Science topic all about light and how we see things. In Computing, the children are creating their own text adventure stories.