​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been creating their very own scrumptious ice creams (at least they have written the instructions on how to make their dream ice cream). They included some fantastic and persuasive adjectives that left all their teachers craving ice cream after reading through their work. In Maths, they have looked at time. They explored a calendar to find out what information it could provide and converted hours, days and months into different units of measurement. In Computing, they created their own binary database to help categorize different items of fruit. Also this week, they had a lovely visit via Zoom from Farmer Nicola up in Scotland. They saw the deer out in the fields as well as the stags' new antlers that have just begun to grow
Year 4 – have finished writing their diary entries based on their class text, ‘Escape from Pompeii’. They have really worked hard to make sure that they included the features of the Year 4 success criteria as well as making their entries personal, informative and full of feeling. In Maths they have been tackling the tricky topic of learning to tell the time. They have been converting years, months, weeks and days, as well as hours, minutes and seconds and have been converting 12- hour digital time to 24 hours. In Science, they have finished their habitat topic by looking at ways to improve the air quality of our own local environment and have designed so rather funky bug hotels. In French they have continued to practised saying items of stationery they have at school. In Humanities, they have been very mature and imagined what it would be like to live in areas of Ghana that have suffered with a drought – they wrote some very deep and thoughtful entries.
Year 5 – have continued working on shapes in Maths, building on their knowledge of translation. They worked hard to translate whole shapes independently using their knowledge of co-ordinates. In addition, they have discussed symmetry and reflection of shapes on a co-ordinate grid. In English, they have begun writing newspaper reports based on the King's coronation, focusing on the key events of the weekend. In Science, Year 5 have become experts in the life of Jane Goodall, and have produced some lovely diary entries as though they were her during her adventures in Tanzania. They also explored the life cycles of amphibians and insects, talking specifically how frogs and insects go through metamorphosis.
Year 6 – have continued to work hard with writing their non-chronological reports about wolves in English. The children have also started a maths project about baking and have been applying skills learnt in Maths throughout the year. So far, they have used ratio and proportion, measure and the four operations to solve problems linked to amounts of ingredients and cost of ingredients. In Science, the children have produced some great posters to explain the link between the digestive system and the circulatory system and how nutrients and water are transported around the body. They have also enjoyed learning the songs for our end of year production - we are very impressed with their singing so far!

Dear Parents/ Guardians,

​As a treat for our pupils, we have managed to secure another visit from the Hobgoblin Educational Theatre Company on Friday 9th June! The show will be during school time for the entire school and is designed for school children so has a strong focus on literacy, presented in a way to make sure all the children are engaged, interested and enjoying learning!

If you would like to help contribute to cost of this event, you are able to make a donation via the Shop tab on your School Money account (suggested donation: £2). We will also be accepting cash donations.
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https://eduspot.co.uk/

Thank you in advance.

Mrs Chapman Allen

UpperActivity clubs for next half term are now available to book!
PLEASE NOTE, IF YOU PAY BY CHILDCARE VOUCHERS, PLEASE EMAIL THE SCHOOL TO RESERVE THE CLUB PLACE YOU REQUIRE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND WE CAN ALLOCATE THE SPACE, IF THERE ARE SPACES AVAILABLE.
Mondays:

• Street Dance Club with Christina Marks - This is booked directly, more information here: STREET DANCE CLUB INFORMATION
• Lego Club with Miss Begum

Tuesdays:

• Puzzle Club with Mrs Chapman Allen 
• Table Tennis Club with Mr Clifford
• Cartoon Drawing Club with Mrs Macdonald

Wednesdays:

• Upper School Cricket Club with Mr Bell
• Lower School Book Club with Miss Digweed

Thursdays:

• Lower School Rounders Club with Miss Bagri
• Art Club with Miss Rowe

As before, clubs will show as a payment on your child's School Money account (www.eduspot.co.uk). Please do not pay this unless you want to book your child a space. Club payments that are not paid/needed for will be removed from your account after Monday 12th June. 

Clubs start Monday 5th June and run for 6 weeks, the last club being Thursday 14th July. All clubs are 3.15pm to 4.30pm with pick up at the front of the school. Clubs cost £7 per club and can be booked for the full half term, £42. We are still offering a discounted rate to any children entitled to Pupil Premium (the discounted cost will show automatically to anyone entitled).
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Should you have any issues logging into your School Money account, please email office@ivjs.school.

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been writing a diary entry in English, using a story called 'Taking Flight' as their inspiration. They have demonstrated great imagination and have focused on including adverbs, adjectives and co-ordinating conjunctions in their work. In Maths, they have started learning about time, including looking at the 5-minute intervals on a clock. In Science, they have continued to learn about rocks, looking at the rock cycle and creating their own very realistic fossils. Year 3 have been working very hard learning their times tables each morning, also working on them at home. Their progress is really starting to show, well done!
Year 4 – have created their final art pieces using all they have learnt this term about environmental art. They took some amazing photos using the iPads and were really inspired by nature. Their printmaking was just as impressive! In Maths, they finished their money topic this week by taking part in two ‘practical’ lessons. Year 4 had to plan a party and needed to budget accordingly and then had the chance to plan their own dream playground. In Science, they looked deeply at the different causes of habitat damage. In English, most children have finished writing their newspaper reports about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It has been a busy week!
Year 5 – have been working hard in Maths, improving their understanding of co-ordinates. As the week progressed, they built on this knowledge by translating points and shapes on a grid. In English, they have been focusing on poetry, the children have really impressed us with their creativity and natural rhyming talent. During the afternoons, Year 5 have expanded their knowledge of volcanoes in Asia, by looking more specifically at the causes of volcanoes and the impact of their eruptions. Finally, they have been lucky enough to experiment with some real henna in Art, the children designed their own mehndi patterns to create a final piece.
Year 6 – have had another busy week! After last week with their SATs, this week the Year 6 children have been working hard again - but this time on their writing. They have been researching wolves and have started writing a non-chronological report on the subject. In Science they have started their new topic about the circulatory system and in Art, the children have produced their own environment painting showing one-point perspective. Outside of the classroom, the children have taken part in auditions for our end of year production, The Island That Rocks. We were very impressed with the acting and singing skills we saw and will find it very hard to cast the production!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

National Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)

As many of you will be aware, the National Curriculum states that all children should be confident with all times tables up to 12x12 by the end of Y4. The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided. Rapid recall of these times tables really gives all children an excellent foundation on which they can build a wide variety of mathematical skills.
The current Y4s will do the check in school in small groups on iPads and will take about five minutes to do. The outcome of the check should inform both us as a school and you as parents as to where each child is in terms of times tables. We can then celebrate their successes and work together to identify and address any gaps.
What can you do? Please regularly quiz your children on times table recall. There are also lots of online apps, card games and puzzles widely available to support children to learn their tables in a fun and engaging way. For example, we have Speedway Jumbles that the children can complete against the clock as they race to get better and better with their timetables.
Crucially, we also ask that you encourage your Y4 child to use their online TTRockstars account as regularly as possible – it has an excellent track record for improving times table recall and is great fun! Children can earn coins and create an online Rockstar avatar by battling one another and taking part in arena tours! We have attached your child’s log-in details to this letter. One of the excellent features of TTRockstars is the ‘Sound Check’. This is an online game set up in the same way as the MTC. Practising via ‘Sound Check’ will help children to prepare for the MTC. Equally, MathsFrame have also created an online check that is very similar to the MTC: https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check 
If you have any further questions about the MTC, please contact the school.
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Yours sincerely,
 
Mr Clifford

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been writing a newspaper article all about the coronation of King Charles III. They have used their own knowledge as well as some research to use factual information in their newspaper article. They have been working to included their grammar focuses in their writing. These included: past tense verbs, speech marks and subordinate clauses. In Maths, Year 3 finished their topic on money by learning how to find change. They have also started their next topic - time. They learnt all about Roman numerals up to 12 to prepare them for when they move onto looking at analogue clocks next week. In Art, they were really creative in designing and executing their final pieces. They chose between the styles of work that they had learnt about the previous week.
Year 4 – have had the chance to practise different types of printmaking. They had the chance to try mono printing, relief printing and collagraphy. It was a messy but fun-filled afternoon for all the children and staff involved! In Maths, they have been finishing their work on decimals and have moved on to their new topic this week, money. They will be taking part in a practical money problem-solving lesson next week. In English, they have been writing their own newspaper reports about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They have been expert reporters, using quotes and creative headlines! In Science, they revised their lessons on habitats and moved on to learning about the dangers of habitats for animals.
Year 5 – have been expanding their knowledge of angles in Maths by learning how to calculate angles on a straight line, around a point and within different shapes. In English, they have started a new unit on poetry. The children have explored many different types of poems and their features. They have started planning a rhyming poem about a race linked to our class text 'Running on Empty'. In Humanities, they have been labelling the parts of a volcano and learning about the 'Ring of Fire'. The children were fascinated to find out that 75% of the world's volcanoes are located there! The children have also begun planning their final piece of artwork for this half-term. They have been focusing on Chinese and Indian artwork and the children have created some beautifully intricate designs inspired by Mehndi patterns.
Year 6 – have been sitting their SATs - they have started each day really positively, enjoying breakfast together and we have been so impressed with their whole attitude towards the tests.  The children have put their best effort into the tests and we are very proud of them.  Away from SATs, the children have been enjoying doing some art this week.  They have been studying different architects and have produced some work inspired by some of the architects studied.  They have also started to learn about one-point perspective.  They have started their new book this week, Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, which the children are enjoying.