c 9th February 2015 Dear Parents, Next month we will be celebrating World Book Day on Friday 6th March. Children will be bringing home a 1 book voucher which can be used to swap for one of 10 World Day books. A selection of the books is shown below. An alternative is to use the voucher to get a 1 discount off a book of their choice. Along with the Infants, we will be dressing up for the day. Children can choose any character from a book, for example Alice in Wonderland, Boy in the Dress, Private Peaceful, Where the wild things are or The Hobbit. The choice is yours. One of our focuses this year will be poetry. Poetry is a word of Greek origin. It comes from a verb which means to make, to create. When we approach a poem, we ask ourselves some simple questions which should help us to understand it. What is the poem about? Who is the voice speaking in the poem? To whom is the poem addressed? How is the poem written and why has the poem been written? Each of the classes will choose a poem, study it and then video themselves reciting their chosen poem. We will then share their recitals with the rest of the school. We will also be studying some of the story craft videos from famous authors such as Cressida Cowell, Liz Pichon, Charlie Higson, Francesca Simon and Jeremy Strong. If anyone would like a preview or would like to do some activities at home please visit the website www.worldbookday.com. As always I would ask all parents to ensure that they are reading with, listening to or, for older children, ensuring children are reading each day. The impact of daily home reading is very noticeable and has a positive impact in the classroom on attainment, progress and general confidence. If you or your child are unsure as to their next book to read, please do come and speak to me or Mrs Brine (Librarian) and we will recommend a book for you. And remember if we haven t got a book in school that you want to read, we will buy it! Kind regards, Alexis Conway Dads Day Thank you to all of you who came in for Dads Day. Over 160 of you spent the morning in class with your children. There was such a fantastic community spirit in the hall prior to visiting the classrooms and a real buzz of excitement from the children. And I am pleased to say the Dads behaviour in the playground was exemplary! Here are some of the comments summing up the morning. Pleased and impressed how my son has been helped and developed in maths. A subject that he had previously struggled with and lacked confidence in. Very good atmosphere in the classroom. Good interaction between pupil and teacher. Impressed with teaching methods. Very impressed with teaching methods used - positive atmosphere in class. She loves her lessons she is always praising the teaching staff and lesson content.
Table Tennis One step away from the All England Finals!! On Sunday 31st January our girls and boys table tennis teams travelled to Tower Hamlets for the South East Counties Table Tennis Championship. Using tables that were used in the 2012 Olympics, our teams took on representatives from counties including East Sussex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. The SJA girls team were the first West Sussex U11 Girls Champions to compete in the SE Championships. Against some tough opposition our girls team played some outstanding table tennis finishing a very respectable fourth. Well done Evie, Isabelle, Chloe, Alicia and Freya. The boys team were at the Championships for the third year running, showing the depth of talent at SJA. After a tough first few hours the team topped their league, and drew the East Sussex Champions in the semis, beating them convincingly 8-0. In the finals the result came down to the last game of the last match, with SJA just missing out on first place. As runners up the SJA boys team now travel to Bristol to compete for a place in the National Finals. Well done Sheel, Oliver, Sam, Ben and Zack. All the children were exemplary in their sportsmanship, umpiring and support of each other. Our PE Twitter account can be found on the front page of our website. @Southwaterja_PE.It has the latest news and photos from our sports teams as well as PE lessons. Please have a look and do follow us. Website Over the last month we have been revamping the website. We have taken on board advice from parents and made it more user friendly and also more informative for current and prospective parents. Have a look at our kindness page with each class s Random Acts of Kindness videos. Feedback would be appreciated. Parent Forum The spring term forum will focus on the new computing curriculum with a chance to get hands on in the computing suite and maths problem solving. We will also tell you about our plans for using minecraft in school and 3D printing. As always there will be the opportunity for you to ask any questions. Please contact the office if you would like to come along. Parents Evening After the success of the online sign up for parents evening we have decided to use the same system again. You should by now have had a letter with your log in details. This will be the log in for this term and future terms. Please sign up ASAP to secure your time. Y3 Preston Manor Please return permission slips for the Y3 Preston Manor trip. Requests from the office Please can parents ensure that end of day pick-up arrangements are sorted out well in advance? If there is an emergency and arrangements need to change please ensure you speak to a member of staff prior to 2.30pm. Please do not email or leave messages on the answer phone. If your child requires tape for earrings during P.E. please ensure ear tape is brought into school. Please also note we no longer make phone calls home if children have forgotten any items they require in school such as musical instruments and/or P.E. kits.
Young Voices Concert at the 02 Arena On Tuesday 27 th January seventy Year 6 children from Southwater Junior Academy made their way excitedly to the 02 Arena to take part in a Young Voices concert. They were to be a part of a choir of some 7,560 singers, quite possibly the largest school choir in the world! The children had been rehearsing each Monday lunchtime since the start of September with Mrs Kerney-Haynes and Miss Bumford and had learnt a huge and diverse repertoire of music including: movements from Mozart Requiem, old time musical songs, traditional African songs, songs from West End musicals and the very latest pop songs from 2014. Arrangements were not only in unison but in two and three parts and challenged the children to sing in different languages such as Latin and Zulu. Also, the music encouraged the children to think about bigger issues such as apartheid through the Tribute to Mandela. The children rose to these challenges brilliantly and rehearsals had a positive, purposeful and buzzy feel. Enjoyment was high! At the 02 the children were immediately struck by the enormity of the event they were taking part in and responded brilliantly to the direction of the conductor David Lawrence. Not only singing their hearts out but also dancing and moving throughout the rehearsal and concert. Urban Strides, who were the first ever street dance group to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, lead the way here. They inspired the children to move confidently and try out their own moves. Even the parents were encouraged to join in! Highlights were also singing with boy band Mic Lowry, Lucy Spraggan and Tom Billington. The children got to experience at first hand the excitement of performing alongside professional musicians/performers with professional lighting and sound in a world class venue. The experience really couldn t be beaten. Children, teachers and parents who were a part of the experience were unanimous in their praise for the day. Mr Conway said, One of the best nights I ve had in years and the parents and children will have memories for a very long time. Miss Bumford enthused, Brilliant music, fantastic dance moves and a great atmosphere. Gabriella Farci(Year 6 pupil)summed up, A life changing experience amazing, wonderful! We are already looking forward to Young Voices 2016. Watch this space Year 5! Y3/Y4 Sportshall Athletics On Thursday 5 th February, along with 9 other schools, Southwater entered the Year 3/4 team into the annual Horsham Schools Sportshall Athletics competition. With the girls starting off with the track events, while the boys competed in the field events, the girls won a vast amount of races, both individually and relay, while the boys went from strength to strength in different types of jumping and throwing activities. At the half-way stage we led the competition by a single point from Greenway. With the roles reversed, the boys were now competing in the track, and girls in the field events, both groups continued to excel scoring highly in every race or jump. Southwater ran out winners of the event by around 20/30 points winning the competition for the first time. A fantastic achievement by all involved! Well done! Elsie, Eloise, Jessica M, Jessica G, Ruby, Jasmine, Jemima, Nicole, Faith, Caiden, George, Bertie, Finley, Frankie, Harry Y, Nicholas, Chico and Harry L.
Dance workshop Our Dance Club recently performed at the West Horsham Dance Festival at Collyer s College. Since the demise of the West Sussex Dance Festival, SJA arranged for a group of West Horsham schools to perform and take part in a workshop at Collyer s. Led by the Collyer s Head of Dance, Mrs Martin and Collyer s students, our pupils had a great time working alongside other schools and performing their dance to the assembled audience. They are now preparing their dance to show at Christ s Hospital in March. A-Life On Tuesday 27th of January, Year 4 were lucky enough to have a company called A- Life come in and work with them in relation to our Superhuman/Superhero topic. The day consisted of a healthy workshop in the morning which enabled the children to have a hands on experience at learning the benefits of having a healthy lifestyle. This covered things such as the importance of a balanced diet, cleaning teeth and the dangers of smoking. This was followed by a fitness workshop in the afternoon. This enabled the children to use specialist equipment, inspiring them to try out new forms of exercise. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and found it not only exciting and enjoyable, but also a worthwhile learning experience. Netball Congratulations to the netball team who are currently unbeaten in the Horsham Schools A League. On another freezing night at Holbrook the team again played quick, exciting netball. Some excellent defending, good use of the whole court and accurate shooting led to victories over All Saints (7-1) and St.Mary s (6-0). It s going to be a very exciting run up to the end of the season. Well done Kiera, Mollie, Isabelle, Tilly, Henry and Harry. Rugby On Tuesday 20th January, Southwater Junior Academy entered 2 teams into the Horsham Schools Tag-Rugby Festival. Along with 16 other teams, the pupils battled hard against some excellent opponents, and some freezing weather! With our teams using a wide range of pupils from Years 4, 5 and 6, both the A and B teams performed fantastically, with the A team winning 4 out of 5 matches, and the B team winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 1. A fantastic achievement by our pupils, most of which had never played a tag-rugby match at all! We now look forward to the main tagrugby tournament on the 18th of March. Well done Gustav, Zach, Finn, Oscar, Daniel, Jaime, Leo, Georgia, Harry, Oli, James, Frankie, Jack, Tobey, Patrick, Luke, Thomas, Ross. Basketball On Monday 19th January, we took five year 5 boys along to The Forest School for a fantastic morning of basketball. Along with three other local Primary schools, the boys were treated to some great teaching from Mr Parsons, who is the PE teacher at Forest, and some year 9 boys. They learnt some new skills and finished off with a mini-tournament. Thanks to The Forest School for hosting a great morning. On Thursday 29th January, we took two teams along to Henfield Leisure Centre for the first of three basketball tournaments. Both teams participated well and gave 100% throughout. Both teams played 4 matches, with both winning 2, and losing 2. The A team secured bragging rights however by beating the B team in the final match! Well done all! Zach, Henry, Harry, Finlay, Freya, Sophie, James, Thomas, Oscar, Theo.
Charity Stalls Due to the overwhelming response we have received from children wishing to run charity stalls, we have decided to run this event over two afternoons. The first event will still take place on Monday 9 th March and the additional date will now be Monday 16 th March. The start time is still 3.20pm for both dates and the finish time is usually around 4.30p.m. If your child has volunteered to run a charity stall please ensure you sign the parental consent form and return to the academy office. Forms were handed out during the week of 2 nd February. Your child will be notified which date they will be running a charity stall before the end of this week. All charity stall places have now be filled so we can no longer accept any more new requests. The selected charity for this year s event is Coco s Foundation. If you have any queries about the charity stalls please contact either Mrs Kingsbury or Mrs Wright. Do you have any other comments about any information in the newsletter? Parent: Name of child: Class: Spring Term 2015 Monday 9 th February pm West Sussex Table Tennis Tournament @ SJA Wednesday 11 th February 9am Parent Forum Thursday 12 th February 4pm Basketball @ Collyer s Friday 13 th February 2.45pm 4LM Class Assembly Half Term Monday 23 rd February INSET Tuesday 24 th February 3LB to Preston Manor (am) Wednesday 25 th February Y4 Music Festival Rehearsal @ Tanbridge House 3KG to Preston Manor (am) 3CE to Preston Manor (pm) Thursday 26 th February am Y5/Y6 Sportshall Athletics @ Collyer s Friday 27 th February 4pm Hockey League @ Tanbridge Monday 2 nd March Parents Evening Wednesday 4 th March am Quiz Club Tournament @ Leechpool Parents Evening Thursday 5 th March Cross country @ Christ s Hospital pm Maths Competition @ Christ s Hospital Friday 6 th March World Book Day 4pm Y3/Y4 Football @ BBH Monday 9 th March 3.30pm Children s Charity Stalls in the hall Wednesday 11 th March 4pm Netball League Friday 13 th March 2.45pm 5KL Class Assembly Dance Festival @ Christ s Hospital 4pm Hockey League @ Tanbridge House Tuesday 17 th March Tag Rugby Festival @ Collyer s Wednesday 18 th March Climbing Wall for Y6 2pm Y5/Y6 Indoor Cricket Thursday 19 th March 4pm Basketball @ Henfield Leisure Centre Friday 20 th March 2.45pm 4CB Class Assembly 4pm Y5/Y6 Football@ BBH Wednesday 25 th March Gymnastics Festival @ The Pavilions Thursday 26 th March Y4 Music Festival Rehearsal @ Tanbridge House Friday 27 th March Decades Day for Y5 2.45pm 5PW Class Assembly Last Day of term