Dear Parents and Carers,
There is no getting away from it now – Christmas has arrived at Johnston!
On Tuesday our Early Years and LRC pupils performed a wonder Christmas concert to kick off our busy few weeks. It was a lovely afternoon and the children really shone!
Last week our amazing Friends of the school put on our yearly festive Bingo; a big thank you to everyone who supported the event. Now firmly established in our calendar, this event is one of our favourites.
On Wednesday, we enjoyed our Christmas Lunch. As ever, pupils and staff thoroughly enjoyed the food and we are very grateful to our excellent catering team.
As well as our Christmas events, learning is still very much continuing at Johnston. Pupils have been completing end of term assessment and reviewing the topics that they have completed this year.
With best wishes,
Mr. Williams.
Attendance Reminder
Reminder - We are not closed at all next week. Our final day in school is Friday 22nd December. Our whole school attendance has been below our target.
Don't forget the really useful guidance provided by the NHS: Is my child too ill for school?
This will help you make a decision about whether to keep a child off school or send them in. Please remember that minor coughs and colds should not prevent a child from coming into school.
This time of year is really exciting and busy. If children miss school they are not only missing learning, but often will miss lots of our special events and activities, which makes them feel left out.
Curriculum Information
An area which really sets Johnston apart from other schools has been our approach to curriculum design. In the past, I have written to you on numerous occasions about the new Curriculum for Wales 2022 and how it allows fo schools to set their own curriculum. A wide breadth of research tells us that school need to ensure that they are providing children with a knowledge rich curriculum. In all of our curriculum mapping work, we have aimed to ensure that we are thinking carefully about the balance and diet that we are providing pupils.
The skills vs knowledge debate
When you dig into the research, you find that the best way to teach complex skills is by breaking them down into smaller parts, teaching those smaller parts, and gradually combining together the constituent parts in increasing complexity. This is essentially because our working memories are very limited, and struggle to handle lots of new items of information at once. We can’t learn complex skills directly.
What you also find is that in most school subjects, those smaller parts look like what we typically call 'knowledge'. For example, in order for students to “find, select and sort information from a variety of sources” they need to know the meanings of some words. In order to “describe the main features of conflicting world belief systems in the past and can present informed views on the consequences of such conflict for societies then and since”, they need to know when different historical events happened.
In the words of Dan Willingham, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Virginia:
“Data from the last 40 years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well requires knowing facts, and that's true not simply because you need something to think about. The very processes that teachers care about most – critical thinking processes such as reasoning and problem solving – are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge that is stored in long-term memory (not just found in the environment).”
During the new year, I am going to share more information about the systems and planning that we have engaged with to sure that our curriculum provided pupils with engaging and exciting opportunities to thrive during their educational journey.
I have been asked to set up a new school facebook to keep parents updated and share information. Before I joined the school, a facebook account had been established to share information. Unfortunately, the staff member who ran the page has now left the school.
Please note, the facebook page will only be used to share information and to celebrate events and achievements. The facebook page is linked to our school mobile telephone. Staff members will not spend time reading and responding to comments. If you have a query or question, please telephone the school office.
Lines of communication:
- School Seesaw Account. Seesaw allows us to share any information/letters that we need parents to see. Whilst I understand that Seesaw isn't perfect, it is a free software and allows us to avoid an expensive subscription.
- Twitter and Facebook. We will use these pages as much as possible to share updates.
- Notice Board. We have a notice board located at the front of the school which is updated every Monday.
Key Dates
Please note that this list will be updated each week as more events are added to the diary.
- 8th November - Year Four Carew Castle Trip.
- 11th November - URDD Cross-Country in Cardiff.
- 12th November - Remembrance Sunday.
- 14th November - Year Six Crucial Crew.
- 17th November - Children in Need events & Sports matches against against Coastlands School during the afternoon.
- 21st November - Year Three Castell Henllys Trip
- 27th November - School is closed for an inset day.
- 7th December - Christmas Bingo
- 8th December - School is closed for an inset day.
- 13th December - Christmas Dinner Day.
- 20th & 21st December - Christmas Events after school.
- 22nd December - Last day of school.