More events may be added during the course of the term. Are you going to join us in this years sunflower challenge run by Parents of Deepcar Students? Growing kits, containing everything that you need, will be available to purchase for just £2. All profits from the sales will be going to school funds. PODS will be selling the kits at the school gates after school from the 15th March to the 29th March. (weather permitting) Who can grow the tallest sunflower? Are you ready to take on the challenge?  Our Eco Council will be launching a new recycling campaign at St John's -The Big Battery Hunt. This is the UK’s biggest school battery recycling programme, run by the National School Partnership. Last year they managed to recycle 4 million batteries. This year, we want to help 'The Hunt' Please see the attached link for more details.  18th March 2019 - Parents' Evening Parents' evenings are important because they give you an opportunity to discuss with us what your child is doing at school and how they are getting on. Parents' Evening also gives you a chance to discuss any issues you may want to talk about with your child's teacher. Letters will go out nearer the time with booking information.  Monday 25th March 2019 The Big Pedal has been going from strength to strength for nine years now and we are aiming to make Sustrans Big Pedal 2019 the best year yet. For the first time, walking will be counted alongside cycling and scooting. We will be taking part in the challenge for one week.On each day of the challenge, schools compete to see who can record the greatest number of pupils, staff and parents cycling, walking or scooting to school. A school’s best five days will determine their final position, but they can log journeys on all ten days if they wish. There are daily prizes up for grabs, including equipment and accessories to help schools travel actively. In previous years we have finished within the top schools in Sheffield and would like to improve on this result. It would be amazing if we could get the whole school either walking, scooting or cycling to school.  Wednesday 17th April. As part of our Easter celebrations this year all children can enter ‘Best Decorated Egg’, ‘Egg Rolling’ and Easter Bonnet/Hat competitions. There will be prizes awarded for each competition. All eggs need to be hard boiled and labelled with your child’s name. Pupils will need one decorated egg and one hard boiled (two per pupil). Pupils do not need to enter all the competitions. The Best Decorated Egg and Easter Bonnet/Hat will be chosen during school time. The eggs that have been brought in for the egg rolling will be rolled down the drive of Deepcar St John’s aiming at Humpty around the following times: Y3 – 2.15 pm  Y4 – 2.25 pm Y5 – 2.35 pm Y6 – 2.45 pm If parents would like to come and watch. Please stand at the front gates at St John’s at the time above. Please be aware that these are approximate time that we are aiming for but they could take place earlier or later. We are not charging to enter each competition but parents are welcome to make a donation to school fund for the prizes we will be purchasing. Any extra funds will go towards outdoor resources. Have fun decorating the eggs and making the bonnets/hats. We can’t wait to see the different creations you come up with. Past events 15th March 2019 This year we supported this amazing British charity again and have been selling Red Noses in school. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a Red Nose and helped support Comic Relief. Thank you to those who also came to school wearing something red and made a donation of £1. We will let you know how much we have raised once all the money has been counted.             Thursday 14th March We are delighted to have welcomed back M and Productions to St John's for the production of The Secret Garden. The Secret Garden by M an M Productions told the story of a 10-year-old orphan, who came to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors. She then discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden. Based on the book by Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett. We are keen to give the children as many experiences as possible in order to fire their imaginations and assist in their writing and what better way than bringing a book to life with a magical theatre performance.    12th March 2019 British Science Week, run by the British Science Association is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths, featuring entertaining and engaging events and activities across the UK for people of all ages. On Tuesday 12th we had a day dedicated to Science, with a special science based assembly. Year 3 and 4 linked Science day to their current science topic of Rocks and Soils and looked at the how fossils are formed. Year 5 used water spray guns to investigate how far germs travelled. They were astonished when they realised that germs from a single sneeze could travel over 3 metres. Year 6 went outside for their science experiment to investigate the impact of exercise had on their heart rate.     Thursday 7th March On Thursday 7th March we took part in World Book Day 2019. This is a worldwide celebration of reading, books, authors and illustrators. A key aim of World Book Day is to give every child in the UK and Ireland a book of their own to keep, by distributing World Book Day Tokens to children. Children can exchange this token for one of eight exclusive World Book Day Books at participating booksellers. On the day, we asked children to come to school dressed as a book character and was amazed by the high number of children who took part and the quality of their costumes. Various activities linked to books and reading took place during the day, starting with a special Word Book Day assembly during which all children took part in the World Book Day Bumper Book quiz. The day culminated with some St John's children going over to Royd to read a story to them at the end of the day. Year 3  Year 4   Year 5  Year 6   Week commencing 11th February As you know, the NSPCC visited our school on recently and delivered their Speak out. Stay safe. assembly about how children can keep themselves safe from harm and get help if they have any worries. It was a very worthwhile and empowering session for both pupils and teachers. They spoke to the children and staff about the valuable work they do across the country, and talked about how important it is for everyone in our school community to join them in their ‘fight for every childhood’. As a charity, they can only provide these vital resources thanks to the financial support and generosity of their supporters. We would like to help the NSPCC’s work in schools, and took part in a fundraising event. Children completed a sponsored circuit training – which was not only exciting and helping keep our children physically fit but also allowed us to raising money for the NSPCC’s vital work. Participation is purely voluntary but if you would like to support the NSPCC’s work, please return your sponsor form and money raised to school by Tuesday 26th February. Every child who took part in the fundraising event will be receiving a special Buddy badge.   The NSPCC’s work in schools encourages conversations about staying safe – and they have a number of child-friendly materials to help you carry on the conversation afterwards. That includes ‘Talk PANTS’, a simple way for parents to help keep children safe from sexual abuse – without using scary words. The guide uses the rules of PANTS to teach children that their body belongs to them and them alone. You can find out more and download the free resources at nspcc.org.uk/pants If you’d like to know more about the NSPCC’s work, or take a look at the wide range of information and advice which is available for parents and carers, please visit their website nspcc.org.uk/parents. We had a special visitor this morning from the NSPCC, who returned to say a personal thank you to all the children for working so hard at raising money for their Speak Out. Stay Safe campaign. Year 3, were awarded a special certificate for completing and returning the most sponsorship forms. Thanks again to everyone who helped raise money for this worthy charity.  We've played games, danced, eaten fabulous food and had lots of fun. A huge thank you to our Parents of Deepcar Students for organising our Valentine's Day disco. It has been brilliant!      5th February 2019 The NSPCC’s Speak out. Stay safe. programme visited our school to make sure our children have the knowledge and understanding they need to stay safe from abuse. With the help of their friendly mascot Buddy, they presented an assembly to the children as well as a workshop for Years 5 and 6. Their specially trained staff and volunteers gave our children information about how to keep themselves safe from harm and how to get help if they have any worries, sensitively discussing issues like bullying and sexual abuse, without using scary words or adult language. If you would like any more information about the Speak out. Stay safe. programme you can come in to speak with Miss Jones or visit the NSPCC website at nspcc.org.uk/buddy Friday 1st February 2019 Thank you to all the parents, carers and family members who joined us for our Poetry Slam on Friday 1st February. This time each class took to the stage reciting their poems to a hall full of family members and friends. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.  A big thank you has to go to Parents of Deepcar Students, who organised our recent Movie Night to raise funds for the school. The children loved it.   Week commencing 7th January 2019 - Poetry Week It is a statutory requirement in the the National Curriculum that children learn to recite poems from heart. This week has been Poetry Week at  Y3 SB - The Trouble with my Brother On the 11th January, an expectant audience of children and staff were thrilled to hear each class recite their chosen poems. As they each took to the stage it became increasingly difficult to separate such strong performances. Each class were a credit to the school and joy to watch and listen to. We are really proud of all our children, who have worked so hard this week.        The Winners; Lower School – Mrs Bell’s and Mrs Thompson’s class  Upper School – Mrs Riley’s and Mrs Stewart’s class  The judges said "The standard was truly exemplary with performance levels making it very difficult to choose an overall winner” but at the end of a fantastic morning Mrs Bell’s and Mrs Thompson’s class were announced the overall winners. Year 3 Whole School Winners  Art Week Picasso did not feel that art should copy nature. He felt no obligation to remain tied to the more traditional artistic techniques and wanted to emphasize the difference between a painting and reality. Cubism involves different ways of seeing, or perceiving, the world around us. Year 3 are taking inspiration from Picasso and today have been practising sketching techniques before creating their own cubism piece of work.    Year 4 have been mastering their sketching techniques and looking at various pieces of Picasso's work for inspiration. Later this week, they will be using Modrock, which is a plaster bandage that is used for modelling, casting and crafting, to create sculptures.    For 'Art Week', year 5 have been taking their inspiration from one of the great artist, Pablo Picasso. They are going to be creating their own piece of art work using photographs, which they have started to take this afternoon.    |
