JUNIOR DEPARTMENT NEWS

Whilst the Junior Department can’t join together as a whole at the moment, the start of our Challenge Advent Calendar did a rather good job of bringing the Department together. Challenges this week included decorating a star and a maths problem related to the Twelve Days of Christmas. We would welcome some help with the Friday challenge which is to find out how Merry Christmas is said around the world. Thank you to Santa’s little helpers (After School Care) who so ably decorated the Junior Christmas tree last Friday. Elf on the Shelf has appeared and is up to all sorts of mischief…although thankfully the children aren’t as there is a Santa Cam in the Junior Hall!

This week in Reception

It was lovely to see so many of you for our Christmas performances this week. I’m sure you’ll agree that all of the children were phenomenal and that they helped set the scene for Christmas. We will share more photos of the production with you in our end of term newsletter, but in the meantime, here are a few photos that were taken at our dress rehearsal.

Reception Christmas Performances

This week in Year 1

It’s all about Advent, and with the arrival of December, things have turned decidedly festive in Year 1 and there has been much excitement over the Junior Department Advent Calendar, which has required the children to complete a challenge each day.

In addition to this, the children have all been busy creating a Christmas picture at home, which will form part of a class Advent Calendar, where a new picture is being displayed each day.

There was more festive excitement on Thursday for Year 1 Deco Day! Mrs Le Bas, Mrs Roden, Mrs Johnston carried out Christmas decoration activities in each classroom. There were some fantastic results and we will use the decorations to display in the classroom.

This week in Year 2

Thank you to Year 2 who took the business of learning a joke so seriously! The hilarity on Monday was a great start to our week and our countdown to Christmas. Extra jokes are appearing on our Giving Advent Calendar in each classroom which is already a firm favourite each morning.

It felt like ‘not a creature was stirring not even a mouse’ when Year 2 got down to the serious business of writing a letter to Santa. Top on their wish list was Lego and cuddly toys although I’m pleased to report that surprises featured highly too. Thankfully presents were requested for families too. Clearly, your children know you well and have requested makeup bags, glittery jumpers, bobble hats and posh shoes – so fingers crossed! Questions asked to Santa were… How are you not afraid of heights? How do you know which house is which? Which is your favourite reindeer? Letters should have found their way home for the task of forwarding to the North Pole. Do let us know if you get any replies!

Topic work has continued to focus on materials. Following a materials hunt around the school, we expanded our vocabulary when we described the properties of materials using words such as rigid, flexible, transparent and viscous. Our favourite activity was attempting to name liquids and solids in test tubes through sight alone.

Year 2 Materials

Year 1 & Year 2 Christmas Performances

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you to the year group Christmas performances next week.

A reminder of the dates for each year group:

Year 1	Tuesday 7 December
Year 2	Wednesday 8 December

Timings are as follows:

Tea & coffee in Junior Courtyard	0845
Performance Hall doors open	0905
Performance start	0915

Please arrive for Tea & Coffee via Orchard Gate.

Unless you are exempt, we kindly ask that you wear a mask. In addition, please may we ask you to perform a lateral flow test on the morning of the show.

We are looking forward to a wonderful show! The Junior Team

Head’s Commendations

Congratulations to this week’s recipients of Head’s Commendations:

ENGAGE: Year 1 – Eddie R, Allegra D, Hugo Y, Drish K; Year 2 Sasha L, Lucinda C, James R, Owain M-P,

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY RECOMMENDED READING LIST

FROM THE JUNIOR LIBRARY

Stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Look no further! Our fantastic Junior Library ladies have done the leg work and put together a comprehensive list of recommended reads for the Christmas holidays, and beyond. Click the image below to read the list.