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December 2023 Edition

• To ensure our children are happy and we explain things well
• To ensure no child leaves our school unable to read
• To ensure children learn a broad vocabulary to access the world around them
• To enhance the educational experiences of diagnosed and undiagnosed children with SEND

This year's Christmas production, the brain child of our Head of School, Mr Baffoe, did not disappoint us. The production was brought to life by Mr Darral and supported by the teachers. This production stood out amongst many before due to the incredible acting, singing and dancing of all the children involved. The story line was an adaptation of 'The Nativity' but set in today's society remembering the importance of all people in society and the impact that they have on our lives not just at Christmas but at all times. It allows us to think and be humble of all that we should be grateful for. A powerful play orchestrated by a powerful performance from all the children in Jessop. Well done! Many thanks to all parents who supported us by sending costumes, rehearsing lines and ensuring that the play was a roaring success. Most of all thank you to all parents, carers, family, and friends who came to watch the performance.

What a term we've had.

Our activities since the start of the year have left us with long lasting memories of new learning experiences.

As we reflect on our school lives during this month of December, we take time to think about the many workshops, trips, assemblies, performances, playtimes, lessons and special sessions that have made this term so fascinating.

This month we also think about the value of Generosity. Our Christmas production told the story of ordinary people who made space in their lives for generosity towards others, even when they were facing their own difficulties.

Some of our characters were doctors and nurses working under pressure, but still finding time to look after people's feelings as well as their bodies. Some were transport workers who found ways to help passengers get to the places that they needed to get to, despite the trains and buses not working as they should. Others were volunteers, helping out food banks and giving generously from their own small supplies. Each story told was an example of how the value of the month is displayed in our communities each day.

As we approach the season of goodwill, we encourage the entire community to give generously in any way that we are able to! Season's Greetings!

Keep an eye out for the December SEND Newsletter out now!

We kicked off Anti-Bullying Week 2023 on Monday 13th November. This was an opportunity to encourage children and adults to express themselves and celebrate their individuality, highlighting what makes us all unique! To join in, we asked the children and adults to simply wear odd socks to school.

BBC Children in Need is a charity that provides grants and funding to projects based in the UK that have the aim of helping disadvantaged young people. This help comes in a wide variety of forms. For example, a lot of Children in Need’s invaluable work involves supporting charities that help children who have been affected by poverty, disabilities, abuse, and mental health difficulties. We chose to link this appeal with a further awareness of how our children can capitalise on the positve effects of mental health. We taught them support startegies that could be used whenever they need it.

Music Masters started our Christmas Festivities in Style! All children from Year 2 through to Year 6 played the cello and violin serenading us with our Christmas favourites. You would never believe that some children had only started playing a month ago! The standard was extremely high with groups of children playing together and solos. One of our children have done remarkably well and played alongside our professional musicians where not a beat was missed! We sulute you young violinists and cellist of the future, and a special thanks goes to Music Masters who has opened up the opportunities to many of our children.

Many thanks to our parents, carers, families and friends who came and supported the children on the day and the dedicated support with encouraging the children with their rehearsing at home.

To find out more about Music Masters or to make a donation please click on the link provided below.

https://musicmasters.org.uk/

Early Reading Development

At Jessop we use the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) program for reading. In EYFS and KS1, children are taught 20 minutes of phonics everyday. Ask your child what sound they are currently learning?

We encourage children to continue applying their phonics learning to support their spelling in KS2, particularly for those tricky words. You are never too old to use phonics!

At Jessop we teach reading discreetly, this means it is taught as a single subject. Each day we have a different focus.

On Mondays it is ‘Text and Talk,’ the children are introduced to their new text for the week. Children are exposed to a variety of different text types and genres. The children hear the text being read to them and identify new vocabulary and meaning of words.

On Tuesday, the children become ‘Word Detectives’. The children answer retrieval questions. This is where they can find the answer in the text. Children use their skimming and scanning skills to find their answers.

On Wednesday, children use their ‘Thinking Caps’. They answer a variety of inference questions. They are taught the skills that help them use your prior knowledge and textual information to draw conclusions, make critical judgments, and form interpretations of a text.

Thursday is our ‘Building Blocks’ lesson. This is where children look at the grammar and structures of the text they have been reading.

On Fridays, children answer opinion questions. We call this our ‘Points of View’ lessons. Children are encouraged to express their opinions and make links to the text and their own experiences in the world.

The children revisit the text daily reading it aloud, independently and with their peers.

Try reinforcing the day's learning with focussed questioning during home reading time!

Thank you FoJ for such an amazing Winter Fair it was extremely well organised and well attended. The children had a fantastic time! This year there was added excitement and anticipation as the children also raised money for their class selling items that they had made as part of Enterprise Week. The children take much learning from developing a concept, pitching for investment and creating pop up businesses. We are so proud of their creativity. Total profit this year was a whopping £560.05 and all proceeds will be spent on classroom resources of the children's choice.

Please help support your child with their spellings by looking at the spelling rules, sounds and patterns in each word. Practising spellings daily (or as much as possible) will help your children to learn and remember each word.

In KS1, children will need to choose five spelling words to put into sentences.

In KS2, children will need to write a sentence for each word, using neat, joined handwriting.

This will give the children the opportunity to understand the meaning of each word, put the word into context and allow them to practise their handwriting.

The children will complete a Spelling and Times Table test during the week.

Please remember, there is a 'Word of the Week' for every subject.

In this Jessop Journal, we cast a spotlight on some of the vocabulary learnt in Science this term.

What science word of the week has your child been learning?

Year 1- material Year 4- vibration

Year 2- evidence Year 5- approximated

Year 3- attract Year 6- predominant

Please reinforce the learning by asking them what it means.

Monday 8th January

Tuesday 9th January

Friday 12th January

Monday 15th January

Monday 15th January

Thursday 18th January

Friday 19th January

Tuesday 23rd January

Thursday 25th January

Friday 26th January

Friday 26th January

Central to raising standards in all schools and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential, is the need for children to attend school regularly to benefit from their education.

There is a strong link between good learning, high achievement, rapid progress and developing good social skills with excellent attendance.

We want to take this opportunity to outline our expectations for school attendance this academic year.

If your child arrives at school from 9.01am they will be marked as LATE, if they arrive after 9.30am they will be classed as “late after the register is closed” and their attendance is classed as absent for the morning session. As the registers would have already been returned to the Department for Education.

Regular poor punctuality can also have a negative effect on your child’s attendance as well as their academic learning. Being 6 minutes late each day equals 30 minutes of missed learning every week.

If your child’s attendance drops below 90%, we will need to share our concerns with the Local Authority Education Welfare Officer at Lambeth Council.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2022/12/aaa-guide-for-parents-on-school-attendance.pdf

Going forward, we will share the direct links to the new learning updates on the website with you.

You will also be able to access our current term curriculum learning (Knowledge Organiser) from there too.

https://jessop.lambeth.sch.uk/early-years-foundation-stage/

https://jessop.lambeth.sch.uk/key-stage-1/

https://jessop.lambeth.sch.uk/lower-key-stage-2/

https://jessop.lambeth.sch.uk/upper-key-stage-2/

https://www.bjsfederationofschools.co.uk/

It is important to us that any concerns or questions you may have are dealt with as efficiently as possible. The structure we have in place is designed to do just that.

The structure

1) Your first port of call is -Your child’s class teacher

(email via the admin team to request a meeting)

2) You may contact the leader of your child’s phase

This includes issues regarding communication and organisation

(email via the admin team to request a meeting)

Should you be dissatisfied with the handling or outcome…

3) You may raise your concerns with Mr Baffoe

(email via the admin team to request a meeting outlining the nature for the purpose of the meeting)

Leaders are required to share items (as appropriate) with Mr Baffoe on a weekly basis, even if the matter is being handled by them.

We request that you do not field your concerns to FoJ but instead work directly with the school staff as outlined above.

When we need particular support from our parent community, we post for help on our 'Call to Action' page on the schools website, and send the direct page link in an email to our parent community. So signing up is really easy!

Perhaps you would like to be a secret reader (reading a story to your child’s class), or would like to support us in maximising children’s opportunity to practice their reading skills.

New this week! We are looking for parents to help us prepare, organise and sort resources for our SEND learners. If you would like to support these children by giving some time to the school, please click on the link above.

We need you. Click on the title to find out more.

Our November SEND Newsletter is out now, find out more about Zones of Regulation, meet our Federation Inclusion Team, and lots more!

Look out for our Parents Science Work Shop focusing on our science curriculum. Prepare to be wowed! All details will be sent nearer the time. Put this date in your diary, Monday 15th January start time 09:00.

Get ready to have your say in our Parent Survey this will go live on Monday 15th January. We value your opinion and would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions on how we can best improve our practice.

Parental voice is important to us. Each year we carry out a parent survey. The responses are carefully analysed and woven into our School Development Plan. Further details will go out nearer the time.

Survey closes Tuesday 23rd January.

For more information on any of the above and more, press below to visit the schools website and follow us on Twitter!