The Buzz

Dear Parents/Carers

Our first HPP principle of the academic year is challenge. I am so proud to say that every child at HJS has challenged themselves in the first few weeks and done exceptionally well settling into their new class, learning new routines, getting to know their new teachers and the year group expectations. They have all worked incredibly hard and made a super start - well done! Thank you to all the parents who have also commented on how brilliantly the children have transitioned into their new year, we hope this continues over the next few weeks.

At HJS we are very proud of our school uniform and want the children to be too. Please ensure they have the correct uniform at all times. This includes black shoes (not trainers - unless it’s a PE day). If you have any questions about the school uniform, please speak to your class teacher.

Communication between school and home is vital. We have many lines of communication including the weekly Buzz, emails and Facebook. However, predominantly communication will be sent out via ParentHub. Please ensure you have downloaded this APP and correctly registered - we wouldn’t want you to miss any vital information.

If your child is in years 5 or 6, and bringing a phone into school, please ensure that the permission form has been completed. Checks will start next week and if a child has a phone and no form, the phone will be confiscated and a parent will need to collect it at the end of the school day.

All year groups have now delivered their parents welcome meetings. The information shared at these meetings can be found on the school website. As mentioned during these presentations, please do read the home school agreements found in your child’s diary with your child and add their name to the top when you have. These will be checked over the coming weeks by myself or a senior leader.

May I also remind you to be considerate when parking around the school. You must not park on the double yellow lines around the school nor must you drop your child off whilst stationery at the zebra crossing. It is both illegal and dangerous for our children. Parking Wardens will be in attendance at various times and fully supported by the school.

Finally we are sending home clothing bags for you to fill up. Please fill with old clothing (no uniform). These need to be brought to school on the day of collection (4th October). Unfortunately we cannot take these prior to this date as we have no storage facilities.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mr Jon James

3D - Sophia A

3G - Senara T

3M - Frankie F

3S - Oliver O

4C - Indi F

4P - Berk T

4S - Faith S

4B - Eve P

5S - Samuel L-L

5D - Rosie T-H

5H - Arthur E

5C - Luke R

6W - Ellis N

6GB - Olivia A

6B - Charlotte B

6L - Anna S

Our Achievers last week were:

3S- Noah P

3M- Finley C

3G- Elena M

3D- Emma S

4P- Matteo T

4S- Theodora J

4B- Maliya P

4C- Austin P

5S- Isla S

5H- Hanna E

5D- Riley M

5C- Nora S

Congratulations to the following children for completing this week's Maths Challenge:

Bronze Maths Award

Poppy 3G

Alfie 3G

Freddie B 3M

Esme J 3M

Stella I 3M

Adharva P-S 3M

Oliver S 3M

Finn C 3M

Thomas 5S

Yousef 5H

Arthur B 5H

Silver Maths Award

Alfie 3G

Arthur B 5H

Yousef 5H

Gold Maths Award

Saanvi 5H

Arthur E 5H

Platinum Maths Award

Saanvi 5H

This week the following children completed the following reading challenge:

Bronze Reading Challenge

3G - Lily

3G - Senara

4P - Aida 4P

4P - Sienna

4S - Nora B

5H - Hannah

Silver Reading Challenge

5H - Yousef C

The class with the best attendance last week was 4B.

The class with the least numbers of lates last week is 3M, 3S & 5C.

As a reminder, if your child is visiting a secondary school please do let the office know so that they can mark this absence as authorised in your child's records. As per our Attendance Policy any child not in year 6 who wishes to attend any secondary school visits will not be authorised.

All children at HJS should now have a reading book to take home. Please ensure you are reading regularly at home with your child. At the back of their home-school diaries, you will find some questions to support them with developing their reading comprehension. We encourage the children to read for 5-10 minutes every day, so they can continue to develop their reading fluency and comprehension. If you would like more information on how you can support your child when reading at home, we are running a Reading Workshop for Parents on Friday 20th October at 9am in the Rose Hall. We would love for you to come and join us.

If your child would like to read more widely, then here are some recommended books for each year group:

The Reader Teacher is a website which shows recommended reading lists for each year group, and includes a variety of fiction and non-fiction and a variety of genres. These lists are updated regularly, so is an incredibly useful website for broadening reading diets.

Reading challenges

It has been great to see some children at HJS already receiving their bronze reading challenge certificates. The reading challenges were updated over the summer so make sure to have a look at the new challenges, uploaded on Google Classroom.

Librarian visit

This week, Evie, a Children and Communities Librarian for Richmond Library Service, ran an assembly for the children and spoke to them about the services on offer at the local libraries, including borrowing a ukulele, using the computers and borrowing ebooks. Here is the Front to Back booklist, curated by librarians for 7-11 year olds:

She also spoke about Chatterbooks, a reading group for 8-10 year olds, which the children can sign up to. Details are given here:

We hope to welcome Evie back again to tell us about the Summer Reading Challenge later in the year.

We are looking for an experienced, flexible person with a caring nature who enjoys working with children of all abilities. The candidate will need to be able to work across the partnership, and is comfortable working in both KS1 & KS2.

Year 6 parents will have been sent home this week the AfC Transfer to secondary school presentation 2024. A further copy is attached.

Reminder that secondary applications close on Tuesday 31 October 2023

Wow what a fantastic experience year six has had! From exciting adventures to beautiful weather to delicious food we really couldn’t have asked for a better week. The children took everything in stride and showed true resilience and determination when participating in their activities. Some include: the fancy dress and talent competitions, surfing, rock climbing and endless football matches on the astroturf. The entire year group represented HJS incredibly well and should all be so proud of themselves. A huge thank you to all staff who organised the trip and supported the children to made it a week they will never forget!

Children often need some additional emotional support during their time at school, and we are very proud to be able to offer an array of interventions and support. One of which being a 1:1 counselling service for our pupils. This service is provided by Thames Valley Trust.

I am a professionally trained and experienced school counsellor working in both primary and secondary schools for a number of years. Until early 2023 I also worked part-time for a local authority-commissioned drug and alcohol service in South London, working with families and also running the counselling service where I led a team of volunteer professional counsellors.

I started my professional career in Sweden working with children with special needs and children of refugees. Since moving to the UK, I undertook a postgraduate training in psychotherapy at Roehampton University whilst working 8 years in a pastoral care role in a large comprehensive school. I have therefore been exposed daily to the full range of challenges within a school setting and familiar with schools' safeguarding protocols and the variety of ways they promote students' wellbeing.

Though my mother-tongue is English, I am in fact Swedish by nationality and attended university there. But my mother was Indian and I grew up in the middle East. From Sweden, I moved to Chile where I lived and worked as a language tutor for many years before settling in the UK in the early 2000s where I have family. I therefore have a naturally international outlook and cultural awareness, speaking fluent Spanish, French as well as Swedish.

Dear children and young people

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are visiting your area as part of an inspection. We will be looking at arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

We would like to hear your views about the support that you get and how it is helping you. You can do this by completing an online survey at the link below:

Your views are important to us. They will help inspectors understand your experience of SEND arrangements in your area. The survey will close at 9am on 20 September 2023.

You do not have to take part if you do not want to. We do not ask for your name.

If you complete the survey, you agree to SmartSurvey sending your information to Ofsted.

To learn about how CQC and Ofsted collect and use information during inspections please see their privacy policies: CQC privacy statement; Ofsted privacy policy

Thank you

Joanna Walters

His Majesty's Inspector

Email: office.hjs@hpp.school
Website: hpp.school
Location: Hampton Junior School, Percy Road, Hampton, UK
Phone: 020 8979 2545
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HamptonJuniorSchool