Autumn I 2019
Newsletter
Contact Us
Southwater Junior Academy
Worthing Road
Southwater
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 9JH
Headteacher : Mrs Rebecca Toogood
Telephone : 01403 730475
Contact us via email at [email protected]
Year 3 pupils enjoying the peace and tranquility of Southwater Country Park
Headteacher Headlines
The SJA newsletter is posted on the academy website and sits alongside our academy twitter feeds as anoth-
er way we regularly keep in touch with you. There is also a calendar on the school’s website which is kept
updated with all the events that are happening within the school
We send out a newsletter in the last week of each half term. These will be sent electronically for those par-
ents for whom we have an email address. Please ensure that we have any new addresses so that we can
update our system and then let us know if you do not receive the communication.
There are always some spare newsletters in the office should you be unable to access a copy at anytime. If you
would prefer to receive the newsletter by pupil post we can arrange that, if you let the office know.
It’s been a busy start to the year and I’m pleased to see that our new year 3 cohort are settling into life at
SJA really well.
The calendar, as usual, has been jam-packed with events and activities, many of which feature in articles
within this newsletter. However, there are a couple of events which haven't been included that certainly
deserve a mention. One highlight was the World War II drama day. Year 6 staff and pupils looked amaz-
ing in their costumes; the children certainly looked the part, dressed as WWII evacuees. Another high-
light has been the opportunity to come into school for a class visit, allowing parents/carers the chance to
work with their child in class. The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive as usual.
Thank you for taking the time to share your views.
On another note, it was lovely to see so many parents attend the recent curriculum meetings for an over-
view of the academic year ahead. If you weren’t able to attend, you can find the Power Point for your
child’s year group meeting on the academy website. Each presentation contains important information
on the year group curriculum for 2019-20 and outlines how you can effectively support your child’s learn-
ing at home.
At this point in the term, it’s important to take the opportunity to thank those parents who have signed
up to help us this academic year. Some parents have given up their time to support a school trip: a visit to
Southwater Country Park (Year 3), Hampton Court (Year 4) and Chichester Planetarium (Year 5). Other
parents have helped out at special events such as sporting tournaments or supported PTFA fundraising
activities e.g. the recent Comedy Beats evening or the ‘Chuck your Change’ initiative (which incidentally
has raised nearly £1000—thank you!) Many parents have volunteered to regularly support the children
as parent readers, which is a fantastic way to support the academy and is greatly appreciated by staff and
children alike. Thank you to all those who have helped out in some way so far this year—your support is
invaluable to us and I know the children love to see you around the school.
I hope you enjoy reading the SJA Newsletter. Some highlights inside include the Year 3 trip to Southwater
Country Park and the Year 5 Mayan Morning.
Mrs R Toogood, Headteacher
Medication
Recently, we’ve had a number of children bringing
their own medication to school. On no account
should a child come to the academy with medicine
if he/she is unwell. Parents may call into the acade-
my and administer medicine to their child, or they
may request that a member of academy staff ad-
ministers the medicine. Pupils should not hold any
medication in school for self-administration.
Medicines must be delivered to the academy with the appropriate consent form.
Messages from
the office
Dates for your Diary
Notes Music at SJA is buzzing!
Pupils across the academy have been tackling this half term’s music projects enthusiastically.
The whole academy sang together to celebrate BBC Music Day.
A record number of Year 6 children have started rehearsing for ‘Young Voices 2020’.
‘Big Sing’ have been preparing to take part in a world premiere of Dragons by Malcolm Singer, joining a massed choir, accompanied by Yehudi Menuhin musicians.
Year 5 pupils have represented SJA at a choral workshop at Christ Hospital.
Sounds good!
We have a great deal of pupils learning instruments at SJA and are very fortunate to have a superb team of instrumental teachers to inspire and help the children. We currently offer brass, woodwind, violin, percussion, guitar and keyboard. In the Spring Term, there will be another ‘Sharing Space’ event. This gives our instrumentalists the opportunity to perform to each other in a low key space. In the Summer Term, a group called ‘Ensemble’ will be starting. This will give our instrumentalists the opportunity to play together.
If your child would like to have the experience of learning an instrument at SJA, please do not hesitate to contact me or speak to Mrs Berry or Mrs Tydd in the school office. Alterna-tively, go to the West Sussex Music website for more infor-mation. Currently, our guitar and drum teachers work inde-pendently from West Sussex Music and their details can be given to you in the school office.
Mrs Kerney-Haynes, Music lead
Hakuna Matata:
what a wonderful opportunity for Year 3 and Millais Students
Year 3 pupils welcomed over 15 Millais students to SJA on Thursday 10th October. The Mil-
lais students, who are studying PE, brought their considerable dancing and teaching skills
to two dance sessions during the morning. The Year 3 children were treated to a very en-
ergetic warm-up led by the Millais students and their teacher. Once the children were
ready, they were split into four groups according to their colour teams. The Millais pupils
then introduced the Y3 children to their task, to perform a dance to The Lion King theme
song.
The Millais students demonstrated the dance, one
section at a time and the Year 3 children were able
to practise until they felt confident. As each part
of the dance was learnt, it was combined to create
a single dance, which after 20 minutes or so was
ready to be performed. The Year 3 pupils enjoyed
working with the Millais students who demonstrat-
ed how kind, respectful and enthusiastic they
were. The dances encouraged the children to
move across the floor at different levels and to
mimic the movement of the animals they were
representing as they went to meet the Lion King.
Once the dances had been performed, many of the Year 3 children asked if the Millais stu-
dents could join us again for more lessons. Mr Showell and the pupils and staff in Year 3
have already looked into future collaborations and we look forward to working with the
girls once again later in the academic year.
As part of their topic this term, Year 5 welcomed historian Paul
Ullson in to talk to them about the society and culture of the
Mayans. The children really enjoyed themselves throughout
the morning as they experienced a variety of different activi-
ties. Every child was allowed to dress up in colourful clothes
for the day.
With Miss Abbott and Paul Ullson, the children conducted an in-
terview into the lives of the Maya, and learnt about their rise and
fall. This followed on with the children learning how to write their
own first name using the Mayan alphabet. Mrs Sleight welcomed
the children into her room where they looked closely at some Ma-
yan artefacts from the time period and enjoyed discussing the us-
age of the obsidian (volcanic) glass. Meanwhile, Mr Whetton
taught the children how to play ‘Puluc’, a Mayan strategy game
similar to chess. The buzz around the room showed the children’s excitement at having
the opportunity at learning something very different! Every activity was a lot of fun and
the children thoroughly enjoyed doing them, and we all commend the children for their
positive attitude throughout the whole morning.
We are looking forward to welcoming our historian back in for
Greek and Roman day later in the summer term.
The Year 5 Team
Year 5 Mayan Morning
Thought for the Week
Thought for the Week (TftW) is a new approach at SJA. Every week, children consider thought-
provoking questions rooted in one of our three academy values… and we’re already seeing the impact!
The class discussion and debate that follows has become a fantastic way to promote pupils’ personal,
social and emotional development.
"Education is not just about the gaining of knowledge and the acquisition of skills but the basic aim of
our schools is to aid the personal development of all our students in the fullest sense." (Amanda Spiel-
man, HMI Chief Inspector)
The TftW helps children to explore some fascinating topics whilst also learning about inspirational exam-
ples, from both the past and present. This half term, the children have been introduced to a variety of
key figures and ideas including MC Escher, Michelangelo, Greta Thunberg, Will Bailey (Paralympian and
MBE) and ‘Leon’s Butterfly’, to name just a few.
Thought for the Week is delivered through: daily discussions held by teachers /LSAs
weekly year group assemblies
weekly whole academy assemblies
For an overview of this term’s TftW questions,
see below:
Autumn Term – Resilience
Week 1: 9th September
Week 2: 16th September
How can we be resilient when faced with challenges?
Week 3: 23rd September
Week 4: 30th September
Week 5: 7th October
What does it mean to have high expecta-tions?
Week 6: 14th October
Week 7: 21st October
Week 8: HALF TERM
Week 9: 4th November
Week 10: 11th November
How can we help others to be resilient indi-viduals?
Week 11: 18th November
Week 12: 25th November
Week 13: 2nd December
Week 14: 9th December
“Your mind is a garden. Replace the weeds of excuses with the seeds of greatness.”
Week 15: 16th December
Before and After School
Parking
Many of you will have seen me in my high-vis jacket at the
end of the school day patrolling the area just outside of the
Junior Academy. Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you
to all of the parents and children who park and travel sensibly
and responsibly every day. We also have the support of our local
village community wardens who offer their help on a regular basis.
We are aware of how busy our parents are and that dropping off
and collecting children to and from school can be difficult to plan.
To ease the congestion around the school layby, we would like to
ask that you take advantage of the parking available either at the
Broadacres development car park or in the Lintot Square and then
walk with your children up to the Junior Academy. This will ensure that we keep the congestion down
to a minimum right outside of school. As a result, children will experience a safer and calmer start and
end to their day.
Walking from these car parks will also count towards the children earning their Walk-to School badge as
part of our Walk to school and Healthy living ethos.
What can parents do to support the Academy?
I would like to take this opportunity to send out reminders of how the layby should be used if there is
ever a need to use it as an exception.
All cars should be parked in the zone marked by white
paint. No parking is permitted on or between the yellow
zig zag lines.
In order to keep traffic flowing, drivers should avoid
crossing the direction of traffic as they enter and exit the
layby.
If children are being dropped off in the layby, they should
be ready with their belongings to aid a quick and smooth
exit from the car and allow traffic to flow easily.
A safe journey to school: why not take advantage of park-
ing available at Broadacres or
the Lintot Square?
Broadacres Development
Thank you to everyone who is using the Broadacres car park already and
walking their children over to the school.
Unfortunately, Berkeley Homes are experiencing problems with parking, mainly at
school pick up and drop off times where some parents are parking inappropriately
on the housing estate rather than in the designated spaces in the car park. In re-
sponse to this, UKCPM will be operating on the Broadacres development as of 28th
October 2019. Please can we ask all parents to drive and park responsibly when
picking up or dropping off children.
Arrival at school
Please can I remind all parents to help us ensure the children have a positive start to the day by ensur-
ing that the playground is used appropriately by all children in the mornings and afternoons.
Children should not be arriving for school earlier than 8:35am unless they have a club to attend. Alt-
hough the side gates to the school open at 8:20am for clubs, any children arriving for school before
8:35am should be supervised by a parent. The playground is not supervised by staff until 8:35am and so
we ask that children are not left unattended before staff arrival on the playground.
On the Playground
Once on the playground, can we remind everyone of the following;
Running games should only be played on the runway behind the yellow line
No scooters or bikes should be used on the playground (including by younger siblings)
The trim trail is out of bounds at these times as it is not supervised by a member of staff
Additionally, the path between the Infant and Junior schools can be busy and so we encourage all chil-
dren to walk sensibly and to not ride bikes or scooters.
We really do appreciate your support with helping us to keep all children safe during these times.
Mrs K Brown, Deputy Headteacher
The Value of Charity
At SJA, we know that together with our
value of kindness, the ability to work
together for charity, we can be a powerful force for good.
Thank you to all those who donated or bought cakes in our recent charity cake sale. We raised approximately £100 which will be donated to one of our chosen local charities. Thanks to all who took part - events like these help to make our school feel truly special.
Future charity events this term include our annual ‘Christmas Charity Flumpet’ sale and our ‘Children in Need’ shop. Read on for further info...
Non Uniform days
Year 3 Southwater Country Park Visit
On Friday 20th September, Year 3 went to Southwater Country Park. Fortunately, the sun shone through-
out the entire trip! During the day, the children conducted a traffic survey either outside the school or
at the entrance to Lintot Square. The information collected helped the children to understand why cer-
tain types of traffic were entering the village and how the vehicles reflect the changes to their village.
The children also spent time looking at the housing along Cedar Drive and Timbermill. They were then
able to compare this to the new housing developments opposite the school and at the southern end of
the village.
The children also paused at the war memorial in Lintot Square to discuss why it is there and the signifi-
cance it has to the village. Y3 then enjoyed a brisk walk to Southwater Country Park where they came
across visitors enjoying the watersports facilities and café. This enabled us to discuss how and why the
country park had been developed and the benefits or challenges it might bring to the village. As
lunchtime approached, Y3 found a sunny spot to enjoy their sandwiches. The weather was glorious and
the children were envious of the families using the barbeques in the park! The children learnt a lot
about their own locality during the day and this has enabled them to begin to compare their local area
to places in the Americas in geography lessons.
It was a great day for all and the Y3 staff would like to thank the volunteers who joined us on the day to
accompany the children. We look forward to further trips and experiences throughout the year to sup-
port the children’s learning in school.
Miss Cooper, Year 3 Leader
Year 6 Update
Thank you very much if you attended our Year 6 Curriculum Evening on the 10th of Sep-
tember. The Powerpoint from that meeting is saved on our school website under News
and Events. There is a great deal of information on it about dates and what we are learn-
ing about in Year 6 this year.
The children have recently voted for the Colour Team Cap-
tains, and the children that they have chosen will be re-
sponsible for counting up team points at the end of the
week and sharing the totals with Mrs. Toogood.
Thank you for visiting us for our recent parents’ visit to classes on 30th September. The
children enjoyed having you support them in lessons, and we are looking forward to dis-
playing a variety of evacuee letters from across the year group that were written on that
day.
We are encouraging the children to have a balanced
diet of reading which means that they are choosing a
range of texts from a variety of authors. We will be
sharing information in year group assemblies via
Parentmail to give children and parents titles and au-
thors that we think will interest the children.
We are looking forward to sharing with you in the
next newsletter some photos and quotes from the
children on our Evacuee Day that is being held on
Monday 21st October. In the meantime, we will share
some snippets via Twitter.
There is a great selection of books on this photo-
graph that Miss Ford took of the bookcase at the Im-
perial War museum.
Thank you for all of your support this term.
Mrs Mussellwhite, Year 6 Leader
Attendance ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Here at the Southwater Junior Academy, we pride ourselves on the fact that more
than 90% of pupils are happy in school and attend school regularly (taken from pu-
pil survey and attendance records).
Attendance Target
We have an attendance target of 97% because we believe that regular and consistent school attendance
is of great importance for your child’s continuing achievement and friendships in school. Under the law,
the school has a duty to ensure that all of our pupils attend school regularly. Regular school attendance
is important in giving your child the best possible start in life. Children who have high attendance rates
are more likely to enjoy school, have secure friendships and go on to achieve well. There are 190 school
days in the academic year which leaves 175 days (weekends and holidays) for holidays and days out.
Unfortunately, attendance below 90% can lead to children achieving less well than their regularly attend-
ing peers and experiencing problems with developing social skills.
97% attendance is equivalent to 5 days off across the whole academic year.
90% attendance is the equivalent to 20 days off in just one school year.
When is an absence unauthorised?
Unauthorised absences are when a pupil has been marked in the school attendance register as being ab-sent from school without authority. It is only a Headteacher who can authorise absence for any reason from school.
This includes: any absence marked in the register as unauthorised persistent late arrival at school after the register has been taken a holiday in term-time, which has not been authorised by the Headteacher The Government has directed that Headteachers may only grant leave for a holiday in term-time where there are exceptional circumstances. West Sussex County Council may issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) if a pupil has accrued unauthorised absence of 10 sessions in 10 weeks.
Additionally, we are monitoring punctuality carefully as it is more challenging for late arrivals to settle
calmly in to their learning. In order to find out some of the barriers to attending school punctually, we will
be asking children to provide a reason for their lateness on arrival at the school office. If you are con-
cerned about ongoing lateness for your child, please contact their class teacher in the first instance to dis-
cuss what sort of support strategies we can put in place.
How do we inform you of your child’s attendance?
In order to make our attendance systems clear, we have produced a concise table of attendance infor-
mation for reference. This helps to explain what our systems are at each stage of the process. At each
point on the attendance ladder where attendance is a concern, we offer support strategies to help im-
prove attendance percentages and we also monitor each case closely to look for improvements over
subsequent weeks and months.
Where there are ongoing medi-
cal concerns or investigations,
related absences can be logged
as medical. If this is the case
for your child, please provide
any relevant paperwork to the
school office for us to hold on
file. This will avoid attendance
concern letters being sent
home.
100% Attendance – 100% attendance certificate awarded in assembly
99% Attendance –Excellent attendance certificate awarded in assembly
97% - 98% Attendance – Good attendance certificate awarded in assembly
96% and below – A letter home warning of a slip in attendance
92% and below – A letter home warning of potential persistent absenteeism
90% and below – A meeting to be held in school with attendance officer
What can the school do to support your child with attendance?
Support strategies can include meeting a buddy once in school, building a positive celebration book
and one to one time with a learning mentor to reduce any potential barriers that may exist. There are
many other strategies that can be used and personalised for each individual. If you would like further
information, please contact your child’s class teacher or book an appointment to see me.
Thank you for your continued support in this matter.
Mrs K Brown, Deputy Headteacher
School Book Fair
Following last year’s very successful book fair, we are pleased to announce that The Book
People book fair will be back again this year.
We will be holding our book event on Wednesday 5th November and Thursday 6th No-
vember between 3.45pm and 4.45pm in the Library. You will be able to purchase books
on the day or if you are unable to attend, you will be able to order books from a leaflet
which will be given out to the children in the lead up to the book fair.
This will be a great opportunity to buy some early Christmas presents or just to treat
yourself or your loved ones. We look forward to seeing you there.
Mrs Brine, Librarian
?
Hot Choc Friday nomina-
tions are based on the
values within our school
shield...
HOT CHOC FRIDAY RECIPIENTS OF THE GOLDEN TICKETS THIS HALF TERM
KINDNESS Daisy
Jamie
Elise
Charles
Jasmine
Kai
Evie
Emily
Natalie
Ella
Archie
India
Jack
Evelynn
Sophia
Thomas
Maisy
Reggie
Isla
Millie
Hanna
Mollie-Ellen
James
Anri
Callum
Joella
Anna
RESILIENCE Oliver
Malachy
Kate
Mylo
Lily-Nicole
Noah
Mahala
Alfie
Shay
Corey
Roger
Demi
Matthew
Ralph
Sherryleigh
Chloe
Felix
Mair
Harry
Robbie
Constance
Natalie
Daisy
Graice
Akira
WORKING HARD Leo
Alfie
Erin
Mia
Dylan
Anish
Catherine
Rafael
Bradley
Jacob
Rachel
Sophia
Oliver
Penny
Tyler
Jodie
Jack
Shelby
Oscar
Louis
Joseph
Holly
Joe
Emily
Safeguarding Update
The Horsham Hub has produced a booklet to provide information about various supports and groups for families in the Horsham area.
The booklet can be found at the URL below:
http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/early_years_and_childcare/cfc_programmes/horsham.pdf
It can also be found on the West Sussex Local Offer website. Some copies are available in the Family Sup-port folder in the School Office.
Family Support
Monitoring your child’s online activity
Keeping a healthy dialogue with children about their online activity and a degree of monitoring, espe-cially on messaging sites, and setting clear boundaries is the best way of keeping them safe. If you’re unsure about the suitability of some of the more popular apps, the minimum age requirements are shown below. You may find this information useful when talking to your child about being safe online. WhatsApp - 16 TikTok - 13 Facebook - 13 Snapchat - 13 Instagram - 13 Skype - 13 The internet is constantly changing, and new issues and online platforms are arising all the time. We would advise parents and carers to have an open and honest conversation with their children. Ask your children about what they’re seeing online; you may wish to talk through some of the issues such as mental health and how images can be edited online. The NSPCC has some great advice for when you need to talk about difficult topics. The Childnet social networking hot topic looks at some the things parents need to know about
their children being on social media. The hot topic looks at some of the FAQ’s about social media and keeping your child safe online.
The UK Safer Internet Centre also has useful social media guides for parents. These look at the safety features available on some popular social networking sites.
For more information, please go to our website where you’ll find even more information. Alternatively, you can visit www.saferinternet.org.uk
West Sussex Road Safety Team
The West Sussex Road Safety team have recently set up a Facebook page, ena-bling them to get unlimited Road Safety related messages out into the public domain.
By accessing the Facebook page, you will be able to find information about local Road Safety campaigns, season-ally related topics, advice to support all modes of transport and much more - essentially delivering a wealth of important and much needed Road Safety information.
For example, recently, the Facebook page featured a link to Step Up which is a project aimed at Year 6 students, who are getting ready to move up to secondary school providing useful in-formation on how to get to school safely.
Firework safety: Staying safe on fireworks night
We are warned every year of the dangers of fireworks and how much damage they can do if they aren’t
properly controlled. Here are some tips on firework safety and how to ensure a safe event, taken from
https://www.shponline.co.uk/fire-safety-and-emergency/infographic-staying-safe-on-fireworks-night/
Handle fireworks with great care at all stages; Ensure people have sufficient experience and have as
few people as possible actually involved with the fire-works;
Do not allow smoking when fireworks are being handled, or at any time during the display
Unpack fireworks with great care and well away from any open fire, naked flame or flammable material. Re-member, fireworks are fragile and can easily be broken. Keep fireworks in a secure box which is kept closed;
Before lighting any firework read the instructions on it carefully (by torchlight);
Make sure that the wind and the display are angled away from spectators;
For lighting display type fireworks, a device called a Portfire is often provided by the manufacturer. Use portfires when available and always light fireworks at arm’s length. Keep unused Portfires in a metal or wooden box and never carry them in pockets;
Alternative forms of safety lighter, such as a slow match, are often available;
If any firework fails to go off, don’t go back to it. It could still be live. Half an hour is the absolute mini-mum time to wait before you consider approaching it again;
Pay attention to the weather. A sudden change of wind could cause fireworks to fall dangerously among spectators. In very windy weather, you should consider putting off the display altogether, how-ever disappointing that may be
Pupil Achievements
Congratulations to the following:
Bella in 4LB who took part in the Sussex gymnastics championships acro
competition with her partner and they won a gold medal.
Joshua T. in 6DM who shared a cricket medal with the class that he was
awarded at a sports awards evening.
If you have any pupil achievements that you would like mentioned in the
newsletter, please email the office: [email protected]
Text only, no photographs, please.
Do you have any comments about any information in the newsletter?
Do you have any suggestions or concerns?
Please let us know what you think below:
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Hand in to the school office, via the red post box on the front desk.
Parent/Carer:
Name of child: Class:
(PLEASE PRINT NAME OF CHILD)
Do you agree?
This half term, pupils have been thinking about
our value of resilience and we posed this idea...
