​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been learning about fractions of amounts and fractions on a number line in Maths. In English, they have begun to write their own versions of 'The King who banned the dark', focusing on character and setting descriptions. They have concluded their Humanities topic by comparing The Stone Age, The Bronze Age and The Iron Age. They compared food, homes, clothing and tools used during these different periods. They have begun their new Science topic about plants and have planned an investigation about plant growth. All of Year 3 were amazing on sports day, everyone tried their best in all of their activities and races. It was a fantastic day, Miss Booth and Mrs Macdonald are very proud of how well everyone supported each other throughout the day.
Year 4 – have had the worst luck, they entered their classrooms to find a crime had been committed - three apples were stolen from a magical apple tree! The criminal, eight-year-old Noah Barleywater (definitely not Alexander) has been arrested and will be brought up in front of the judge (Zuzanna) next week. In English, they have put on their barrister wigs and have been writing their opening and closing statements as well as questions for the witnesses that will stand up in court. In Maths, they have been working very hard! Each member of Year 4 sat their multiplication test (MTC). This was a very tricky timed test, but they handled the pressure brilliantly and all tried their best. In Science, they have been investigating food webs.
Year 5 – have been very busy this week editing and publishing their newspaper articles about the Platinum Jubilee.  Everyone worked hard to include commas for parenthesis, relative clauses and apostrophes for possession.  The finished pieces of work are lovely and really show the improvement many of the children have made. They have converted millimetres and millilitres, and learnt how to convert metric units using part whole models and bar models in their maths lessons this week. They have also used some lessons to look back at some of the tricky work Year 5 have already completed. In their Topic lessons this week, they have continued to look at Asia.  They have learnt about the landscapes, regions and culture. Everyone who attended Sports day thoroughly enjoyed it and everyone was very happy with the effort made during the races and the encouragement given by the supporters.
Year 6 – have continued to work hard on rehearsals for their production, Bugsy.  This week the children have been learning the songs in the production and have started to learn some dances, use props and work with scenery.  We have also been sorting out costumes.  All of the children who took part in sports day did really well and had a great day.  Back in the classroom, in science the children have continued to learn how nutrients are transported around the body; and have finished producing their great posters to illustrate this.  In maths they have continued to work on their bakery project and have this week used maths skills linked to the four operations and converting units of measure.

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been writing a persuasive letter in English in reaction to the King's decision in Y3’s class book 'The King Who Banned the Dark'. The children came up with some persuasive arguments to try and get the King to reverse his decision. They come up with creative and imaginative reasons to keep the dark that really impressed their teachers. In Maths, they are using their division skills to understand fractions and have even moved onto decimals. In Science, they have completed the topic of fossils by creating fossils of their own! They have completed their last lesson of Humanities in Year 3 by creating an extremely informative, non-chronological report of prehistoric Britain. Despite the heat this week, they have persevered and completed some fantastic work.
Year 4 – have rounded off their maths topic on time by converting analogue and digital times. They have also had one final big push on times tables, ahead of the scheduled MCT next week. English this week was inspired by the amazing morning spent learning about and taking part in some of the events at the Commonwealth Games. They have been writing a poem all about this year's up-and-coming event being held in Birmingham this summer. Their poems include stanzas about some of the 19 different sports available. In Science, they have continued to investigate classification and have searched the playground looking for invertebrates to classify.
Year 5 – have been continuing their work on translation and reflection.  They have learnt to label each vertices and carefully translate or reflect from the mirror line.  They have identified which reflections are correct or incorrect and explained how they know. During Year 5’s English lessons, they have been planning a newspaper report about the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.  Whilst writing, they have focused their attention on including parenthesis and speech marks correctly. In Science, they have been looking at life cycles of different animals and compared them.  Once this was completed, they worked with partners to produce a play script for a wildlife documentary called 'Life'.
Year 6 – have been mainly focussing on rehearsals for the end of year production, Bugsy, this week.  The children have been working really hard to learn lines and songs; the production is gradually starting to take shape!  Back in the classroom, Year 6 have been focussing on their science topic this week: Animals, including humans (the circulatory system).  The children have identified and named the parts of the circulatory system and have explained the functions of each part.  They have also looked at how water and nutrients are transported within the body, producing some great posters to explain this.  As well as science, they have started a maths project linked to a bakery where the children are using a range of previously learnt maths skills.

Dear Parents/Guardians of Year 6,
​
Sex and Relationship Education

As part of the school’s Personal, Social and Health Education programme your child will soon receive lessons on relationships and puberty. 
 
The purpose of Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) is to provide knowledge and understanding of how the human body changes during puberty and about relationships based on love and respect.
If young people can start their transition into adulthood with good information and the confidence and knowledge to understand what is happening to them, they will hopefully grow into confident and healthy adults able to make positive choices. This can start with learning the basics about growing up and the sessions in school may reinforce what you are already doing at home.
 
The SRE programme includes watching a series of videos from BBC Active and input from the class teachers.  All teaching materials are appropriate to the age and emotional maturity of the pupils concerned and the teachers will aim to present the programme in an objective, balanced and sensitive manner.
 
The programme will cover:

• Growing up and the physical changes associated with it.
• The cycle of life, from birth to death.
• Feelings, respecting other people's feelings and managing our own

Parents can withdraw their children from all or part of sex and relationship education that does not form part of the statutory National Curriculum. 

If you wish to withdraw your child from all or part of the school’s sex and relationship education programme, please email to your child’s class teacher before the programme starts. Emails are rowling@ivjs.school and rosen@ivjs.school. Class teachers in Year 6 will begin the programme Thursday 30th June 2021.

Yours sincerely,
 
Y6 Team

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been writing instructions about how to make the perfect den during English. They have been focusing on including adverbs, time prepositions and subordinating clauses. In Maths, they have been revising multiplication and division before learning about fractions next week. In Humanities, they have been creating posters about Stone Henge, including the different theories about why it was built! They have begun to look at Judaism in R.E. and have created a story board looking at the story of Abraham and Sarah.
Year 4 – have been celebrating in English! Having written some extremely passionate and persuasive letters to Miss Digweed last half term regarding break times, they have been writing a setting description of their dream playground. Whilst the budget might not quite stretch to Olympic sized swimming pools, onsite coffee shops, rollercoasters or even unicorn playtime assistants, they have definitely let their creativity run wild. In Maths, they have continued studying time and looking at the units of time including, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, days and years. In Science, they have started looking at animal classification and sorting them using classification keys. In PSHE, they have also looked at water, rail and road safety.
Year 5 – have been writing poems based on a video clip called Junk. The children have been given the opportunity to use any type of poetry style; rhyming or not rhyming.  The children have been challenged to try and use some alliteration, a simile or a metaphor in their final piece. In Maths, they have identified regular and irregular polygons, used reasoning skills with 3d shapes, identified and plotted coordinates in the first quadrant and translated shapes on a grid. They have continued their science topic about living things and their habitats and watched a video about the research carried out by the scientist Jane Goodall. They have a very busy final half term and are looking forward to all the exciting things coming up!
Year 6 – have been working extremely hard to produce some excellent writing linked to a short video clip called Glued.  We have been really impressed by just how much progress they have shown they have made in their writing - well done Year 6!  In Humanities, they have continued with our history topic about the Maya Civilisation and in Science, they have started the new topic about the circulatory system.  This week, they were finally able to cast the upcoming Year 6 Production, Bugsy.  The children who auditioned were fantastic and it made it extremely difficult for the Year 6 team to decide on the key roles.  However, all of the children are involved in one way or another and everyone is confident they will produce a great show! Rehearsals will begin next week…

To Year 5 Parents/Guardians

This year, we have been working hard to develop pupils speaking and listening skills. As part of this, we have been supporting pupils to talk for a range of purposes in lessons and perform this to an audience of peers. We would love to be able to share this with parents and guardians so you can see the great progress your child is making in this area.
Therefore, we have set up a private YouTube channel which we would be able to upload recordings of pupils on. The videos on the channel would only be accessible for those with a direct link to an individual video. There will be no option for likes or comments on the videos. Once a video has been uploaded to the YouTube channel, a QR code will be generated which will be shared with parents so you are able to watch the video of your child.
Please email the school (if you have yet to return the paper slip) to indicate whether you consent for videos including your child to be uploaded to the YouTube channel. 

Kindest regards,

Miss Couves