Dear parents and carers,
Welcome to the penultimate newsletter of this academic year! The time has just flown by! This is actually the second newsletter I have written because the original one did not save properly and I lost it, so I am sure I have missed some things out in version 2 (but hopefully not!).
There has been much EGG-citement in school this week due to a new arrival in our library. This incubator is currently looking after 15 potential new additions to our AFJS 'flock' but don't worry, we won't be keeping them all! Some won't hatch at all and any male chicks will have a home at the Hen for Hire HQ but we are hoping to keep some more ladies to join Meggy and Peggy in their new and improved coop. The children are becoming EGG-sperts in keeping a close eye on the temperature in the incubator and letting me know if they are worried about anything and they have lots of EGG-cellent questions about what is going to happen and how they can help ensure the safe delivery of these precious little chicks. Some of them are predicting that the different size or colour of eggs will produce different breeds of chick so watch this space to find out!
We have also started to welcome Mrs Berry back from maternity leave, in preparation for her full return to work for September. She has covered lots of different lessons to meet as many children as possible and get 'back into the swing of things' and she says she has really enjoyed being back! She is looking forward to finding out which year group she will be teaching next year and who will be in her class, as are all the other staff! We also had a little visit from Miss Trainer and baby Jesse this week and the children loved meeting him and seeing Miss Trainer again!
Year 5 enjoyed their trip to the Space Centre straight after half term and year 4 came to school extra early to head off on their trip to the Cotswold Wildlife Park at the start of this week. On both occasions, not only did the children have a great time but they also represented our school brilliantly with their manners, behaviour and interest in the topics they were learning more about on their visits. A special thank you to the parents that volunteered to come along and help too - we couldn't have gone ahead without you and I hope we haven't put you off volunteering again in the future! :)
We celebrated all things number and maths related on our MATHS DAY this term - children enjoyed dressing up in number-themed non uniform and tried lots of different mathematical challenges to develop their reasoning and problem solving skills whilst having great fun! If you want to know more about the maths curriculum here at AFJS, why not take a look at the maths page on our school web site by clicking here
It has been great to see so many of you in school for different events over the past few weeks and especially this week's open afternoons. It is lovely to see the joy on parent's and children's faces when they get involved in learning together -playing tennis or rounders and even building space rockets! We look forward to seeing many more of you at the events we still have coming up in this final half term (see diary dates below for more information).
Do not forget that we are always here if you need us. There is always a member of SLT on the gates in the morning, staff are on the playground at the end of the day and you can contact us via the admin email - no question is too silly or problem too small!
Mrs Webb :)
The quality of education at AFJS
We were pleased to welcome our school improvement advisor Mr Watts in to school again recently. He was very impressed with the children and their learning both when he went into lessons and when he met with children in groups to look at books and discuss their learning across the whole year. He commented particularly on the quality of the writing he saw in books and on displays around school. He went into lessons across the whole school and noted that the quality of the lessons and the learning behaviours of the children were excellent. He was also really impressed with the amount of curriculum knowledge children are retaining and able to articulate, which they do with confidence and enthusiasm! Great work TEAM AFJS! :)
I have also been enjoying going into lessons over the past week and still have more classes to visit next week. This is one of my favourite things to do because it is so great to see the children enthusiastic in their learning and keen to show me what great Farmers they are, with our school values on show everywhere! I have seen lots of maths and have been impressed with the mathematical language, discussions and 'respectful disagreements' between pupils as they tackle the different ambitious challenges their teachers set for them both in the whole class teaching and the pupils' independent work. I have also seen year 3 in action in DT and was impressed with the mini greenhouses they have built and the knowledge they used about strong structures, ways to join materials and the properties of materials to make their products successful.
Year 6 need a final special mention in this section this time too, not only because of all the hard work they put in to their SATs revision and the tests themselves, but also for the resilience, reflection and ambition they have been showing in their writing lessons. We are sharing some of their work with the Local Authority this week . Finally, we have also had many positive comments from local secondary school staff that have been coming in to visit or welcoming our pupils to visit them recently. One teacher commented on the positive, respectful attitudes the children showed towards them on their visit and the way children greeted them and approached them to ask questions and offer their thanks. They said our school feels like a very special place, so thank you year 6 for being such great ambassadors for our FARMERS FAMILY!
A very musical Summer term for AFJS!
While the Summer term is always a busy term sports-wise, it is also a very busy term music-wise this year, which is joyous to see (and hear!) Year 5 and 6 have been to a singing workshop at Warwick Arts centre and then the AFJS choir performed on stage at the Benn Hall recently. Coming up, year 3 are performing at Warwick Hall, Year 5 are joining in the Rugby School Festival on the Close celebrations at The Big Sing and the choir are performing twice more - once at the Temple Speech Rooms and then at THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!
If your child enjoys singing and is interested in joining our school choir, keep an eye out for a letter coming out in the next few weeks about YOUNG VOICES 2025! Rehearsals will be starting on a Thursday straight after school in September to make sure we have all the songs and the lyrics down to a tee by the concerts at the Resorts World Arena in January.
AFJS sporting achievements
Following their success at the level 2 Panathlon event at Houlton Sports Centre recently, a group of 10 pupils attended the level 3 event in Coventry last week and were proudly presented with their certificates in assembly last week.
The Year 6 Rounders team took a break from all their writing and preparation for secondary school yesterday to take part in the School Sports Partnership Rounders tournament AND THEY WON! Mr Corbett and Miss Wood were very impressed with how they worked as a team, the extensive knowledge and skills they showed of the game and tactics and of course, in true AFJS style, their wonderful sportsmanship. They were particularly strong at fielding, which meant they were able to stop the opposition from scoring rounders, then score a good few of their own to beat off all the competition, including our close neighbours Paddox in the final! A big well done to the team but also to Mrs Beech for her excellent coaching skills in practices that helped them secure this win!
Messages from the PTFA
There is another planning meeting for the fair straight after school on Monday 17th June - everyone welcome and as much help as possible is greatly appreciated. Without the support of our community, there may be stalls that we cannot run and that means less funds raised for projects in school next year.
Raffle tickets will be sent home soon. Please keep an eye out for them in your child's bag and sell as many of them as you can to help us in our fundraising efforts. If you need more, just ask!
You may have also seen the new banner outside school, which we won as a way to help promote our Easyfundraising account - give the QR code a scan and get started raising funds for our school as you shop!
Transition
Transition Day is Wednesday 10th July and children will all be spending the day with their new teachers in their new classrooms. We will send out a letter at the end of June/start of July to tell you who your child's teacher will be. On the day, children will go straight round to their new classrooms. The majority of year 6 will be spending the day in their new secondary schools and we will be welcoming all our new year 3s for September for the day too.
If your child is struggling emotionally with this period of change, please remember that Sam and Lois can be contacted on pastoral2421@welearn365.com and they can chat to you over the phone or you can come in for a meeting and they will make you a cup of tea as a bonus if you have any worries about your child as they prepare for the transition to a new class or new school! There are also lots of useful links to support pupils and families with transition on the Warwickshire website at https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/transitions and the Education Psychology team at Warwickshire have also produced some super videos that you can find here https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/educationalpsychology
Diary Dates
UPCOMING EVENTS - more information will be shared closer to the time but keep these dates in your diary
- week beginning 17th June - Sports week
- week beginning 17th June and 24th June - year 6 swimming
- Friday 21st June - training day - SCHOOL CLOSED TO ALL PUPILS
- Monday 24th June - Year 5 at Rugby School Festival on the Close - The Big Sing
- Thursday 27th June - Year 3 & 4 at Rugby School Festival on the Close - workshop day - letter to follow by the end of the week
- Friday 28th June - year 4 overnight camp - don't forget to send us the signed form attached to the email we sent out to book your child's place at the camp and give us any medical information needed.
- Monday 1st July - Sports Day - events in the morning followed by a family picnic on the field, weather permitting! Letter to follow as soon as possible
- Wednesday 3rd July - choir at Temple Speech Rooms letter to follow by the end of the week
- Thursday 4th July - school being used as a polling station but STILL OPEN TO PUPILS
- Friday 5th July - year 3 trip into Rugby town
- Friday 5th July - year 5 overnight camp - don't forget to send us the signed form attached to the email we sent out to book your child's place at the camp and give us any medical information needed.
- Tuesday 9th July - choir at Royal Albert Hall
- Wednesday 10th July - Warwickshire transition day
- Friday 12th July - year 5 athletics fetsival
- Friday 12th July - Pupil reports out to parents
- Friday 12th July - PTA Summer Fair
- Tuesday 16th July - year 3 to Warwick Hall for their 'Warwickshire Sings' performance
- Thursday 18th July - pm - Year 6 leavers play to parents
- Friday 19th July - break up for Summer Holidays
Term dates for next academic year
We can now confirm our training days for next academic year, after consulting with the Infant School to help our families who have pupils at both schools.
Class assembly dates
Just Mrs Hartwell's class assembly to go this term - Tuesday 25th June at 2:50pm. Then it is time for the year 6s to start their leavers production. The performance of this to parents will be on 18th July at 2pm but further information will be sent out to year 6 parents directly closer to the time.
Messages from the office
Thanks for your patience recently whilst we have been struggling with the very inconvenient malfunction of our messaging and payments system, Eduspot. We have tried our best to keep to 'business as usual' and to help you with any issues you have had but please accept our apologies in advance for any letters that come out in the next few days that may be later than we had hoped, but unfortunately we just had no way of getting everything out to you so we have had to wait.
On the plus side, in the next few weeks, we are migrating to a new Management Information System in school. The aim was to try and streamline messages, payments and admin tasks such as trip permissions and updating contacts into one app to hopefully make things much simpler for parents as well as us. However, in the light of all our recent frustrations with Eduspot, we are hoping it will help relieve these frustrations for us all too! The only thing that will remain separate will be lunch ordering, which will still be via Stir. There may be some teething problems to begin with, but anything has to be better than the system we are struggling with now.
We will be sending out further information to you as and when needed, so just keep an eye out for communications from us and act on any updates that we need you to complete so that we can hopefully have a seamless start to the new academic year in September :)
Outstanding payments - to help us with the transition across to our new system, we need all accounts to be brought up to date by JULY 5th in your School Money account please.
Year 4 parents - please remember that you must pay the deposit for our brand new residential to Gullivers' by JULY 1st if you want to reserve your child a place. More details can be found in the meeting slides which were sent out to all parents via email last month.
Medication - if your child needs to take a regular dose of medication within the school day for a short period of time for any reason, you need to complete a form at the office and hand in the correct daily dose to the office ladies for safe keeping. Do not put it in your child's bag. Please note that we are unable to refrigerate any medication.