Dear Parents/Guardians,

As we head into the last few days of school before we break for Christmas, we are seeing an immense increase in COVID-19 cases in our school community.  We are so thankful to all of our parents who continue to support us by following the restrictions to keep our community safe. 
The government and scientists have announced that the Omicron variant is extremely contagious and we are to expect a wave of infections.  In light of the announcement on Sunday and the fact that we have an increased number of cases in school we are making the very difficult decision to cancel our Carol Concert planned for this Wednesday evening. Instead we will film the children singing their Christmas Songs so that you can still enjoy the performance.  More details of how you can see your child’s performance will be provided later on this week.

Please complete the online form below to give permission for your child to be part of the video as it will be posted on our school's private Youtube channel. This means that only the people with the link to the video are able to view the carols. We will send the link to parents as a text later in the week.

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have worked really hard to show off all they have learnt in their assessments and deserve a pat on the back! In English, they finished their persuasive letters to Mr. Iron Man. They have been really convincing and they included some excellent reasons for the Iron Man to come to IVJS. They showed that they really understood how to write an informal letter and have edited their work beautifully. In Maths, they have been using their knowledge of the four operations to solve word problems. They have understood how to spot when a question is asking them to add, multiply or divide. They used bar models to help them as well as their column method addition and multiplication and their bus stop division. In Design and Technology, they created some terrific finger puppets using their own designs. In PSHE, they discussed the importance of cultural diversity and how our differences make us, and the country, better.
Year 4 – have worked really hard in their assessments and have impressed their teachers with their positive attitudes towards the assessments. In English, they have been reporting on the events at Iver Circus and the mysterious magic act that had Leon visiting 'The Place Between', a place where magic lives. They have worked really hard to make their newspaper reports read like real newspaper articles. In Maths, they have been working on their 6 times table this week and solving problems using these factors. In Humanities, Year 4 have learnt about southern Africa and in particular, the country South Africa and have then put together their knowledge of all five regions of Africa into an information leaflet. They have finished their sound topic in Science by writing an explanation text about all the things they have learnt over the half term.
Year 5 – have really had to focus on their end of term assessments! We know that all the children have tried hard to do their very best. They have also thoroughly enjoyed making Greek pots out of clay using the designs they created in their art books.  Everyone has been very impressed with the quality of the pots! Next week, they will be painting them before taking them home.
Year 6 – have been working hard with their end of term assessments; we are really pleased with the progress the children are making! They have started a new piece of writing in English - a non-chronological report about owls.  The children had a fun session researching owls and have now started writing their reports.  They finished their science investigation about the growth of mould and the children will now be writing their conclusions.  In Humanities, the children have been finding out about life in a Brazilian city and tourism in Brazil; and in Computing they created online display boards about digital footprints.

​A couple of weeks ago, we were asked by one of the estate agents; Hilton, King and Locke, if we would help them transform their shop window. The brief was simple: Christmas houses. With Miss Rowe’s guidance Year 4 rose to the challenge and created a combination of houses decorated for Christmas and a delicious collection of gingerbread houses. Hilton, King and Locke were so impressed by the houses, complete with HKL for sale signs, they have picked two pictures to win a prize. At school we also picked a third place winner. Well done to all who created a house or two… You can see a selection of the houses on display in the Hilton, King and Locke window over the Christmas period.

​This Week In School…
Year 3 – have been delving into the story of the Iron Man even more. They have been making their own predictions about where the text is heading and have started their own letter to try and get the Iron Man to visit the school. In Maths, there have been using their division and multiplication skills to solve word problems. They have been using bar models to help represent their calculations and have begun to use inverse operations in order to self-check their work. In Science, they have discovered that there is a magnetic field around the entire Earth and have used this field to make a compass to help the elves visiting their classes to find their way home. On Friday, Year 3 were really excited to welcome Farmer Nicola back and had lots of interesting questions for her. They were also really excited to see all of the snow that covered the Scottish Highlands!
Year 4 – have taken on the role of being newspaper reporters in English, they have been interviewing the main characters from Leon and the Place Between after Leon vanished during a magic trick he took part in. They then turned their quotes from directed speech into reported speech ready to use in their article writing next week. In Maths, they have been solving multiplication and division problems using the 3 and 6 times tables. In Science, Year 4 have started to consolidate their knowledge of sound by creating a leaflet of interesting information. In DT, they have designed their own brand of cereal and have designed the packaging for them. Next week, they will turn this into an actual box that they can hold.
Year 5 – have completed their narrative based on the Cyclops chapter of the book Odysseus. Everyone has really concentrated on producing their very best work by going through their work and taking care with the editing process and when it was published. In Maths, they have continued with work on fractions. They have continued to look at improper and mixed number fractions and how they compare.  They have used their understanding of this to identify rules to find unknown terms in a number sequence.  Year 5 used bar models to help them understand this. They completed their Science topic on Materials and were excited to conduct an experiment looking at the chemical reaction when we added Mentos to a variety of bottles of Coke. 
Year 6 – have completed writing their diary entries and have now published them in English. In Maths, they have continued to look at fractions and have been adding, subtracting and multiplying mixed numbers and proper fractions.  The children have been busy researching Paralympians in their PSHE lesson which celebrates diversity. They have demonstrated kindness, empathy and understanding of challenges some people face in life.  Our mouldy bread in their science investigation is progressing and the children are now able to see a variety of coloured mould on the bread!  In Humanities, the children have continued to study aspects of Brazil and have been learning about the Amazon Rainforest and urbanisation.