Enriching our curriculum with experiences for our children is important to us here at KPJA and this term has been filled with exciting and enriching experiences across all year groups. Year 5 had an engaging time at the Space Centre, expanding their knowledge of the universe. Year 3 welcomed a variety of animals into school, including land snails and spiders, giving them a hands-on learning experience about different species. Year 6 participated in a powerful Holocaust Experience, deepening their understanding of history and its impact. Meanwhile, Year 5 showcased their creativity by designing and selling bags, demonstrating their entrepreneurial skills. Year 4 also took the stage as they held their parent assemblies, confidently presenting their learning to their families. 

This term, our assemblies have played a vital role in reinforcing key values and important topics. They have focused on our PARK Values—Pride, Achievement, Responsibility, and Kindness—encouraging students to embody these principles in their daily lives. Additionally, we have explored our Behaviour Curriculum, helping students understand expectations and positive conduct. Assemblies have also covered British Values, promoting democracy, individual liberty, mutual respect, and the rule of law. Furthermore, we have highlighted the importance of Protected Characteristics, fostering inclusivity and respect for diversity within our school community.  The children’s understanding of these was demonstrated by one of our Year 4 classes who, whilst reading their class novel The Firework Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman, were outraged when it was mentioned that the daughter could not make fireworks because she was a girl. They instantly responded with, that’s against the protected characteristics! It is wonderful to see these young people gaining the knowledge to be responsible citizens of tomorrow. 

Attendance is a key focus in our school, and we encourage all children to be an Attendance HERO—Here, On time, Ready to learn, Every day. To celebrate and promote excellent attendance, we recognise achievements every Friday in our Star of the Week assembly. The class with the highest attendance percentage above 96% in both the lower and upper school is announced, and their teacher is crowned King or Queen of the Staffroom for the following week. The children eagerly anticipate the results, and this initiative has contributed to a significant improvement in our overall attendance. 

I hope you all have a lovely break and I look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 24th February.

In year 3, we have done many exciting things! In DT we made seasonal fruit and vegetable tarts. We learnt all about food hygiene and how to safely chop and peel different fruits and vegetables using the bridge grip and claw grip. Some children made a sweet tart using blackberries, apples and pear with a sprinkle of cinnamon and others made a savoury potato, leek and mushroom tart sprinkled with cheese. A few brave chefs decided to mix savoury and sweet by adding cheese to their berries or combing all of the ingredients together!

In science we’ve been learning about animals! We’ve looked at nutrition, muscles and skeletons. To help us understand the skeletons we had a special visitor who brought in lots of different animals and told us about their bones. We saw and held rabbits, birds, tortoises, snakes and even a tarantula!

Here’s what we had to say:

“I was so scared of the millipede. It had so many legs and felt really strange!” - Chayil.

“I was terrified of the tarantula but then I held it and I wasn’t scared anymore!” - Stefan

“The snake was my favourite. It had beautiful patterns and lovely colours.” – Lartshier

This term, Year 4 have really enjoyed our topic in art.

We have been experimenting with different tints and shades to see how we can make our pictures look more 3D. We have learnt that in order to find different shades of colours we need to add black to a colour.

In order to find different tints we add white. We have explored using different techniques such as pointillism and water washes to create our compositions. 

During our first half term in 2025, Year 5 have been immersing ourselves in our topic of space and our novel "Wonder" by R J Palacio. 

We were fortunate enough to go on our trip to the Space Centre in Leicester, where we not only got to explore the interactive display and (awesome) rocket tower but experienced a show in the planetarium. In the planetarium, we were flown across our solar system to look closer at the planets we are surrounded by. All of the children were mesmerised by the experience (and a little dizzy!).  One of the favourite interactions is with a replica of a Mars rover: the children are challenged to control the rover over sandy terrain to various targets. It was a tiring but fantastic day out!

It is not only science where we have been inspired by space but also in art. At the beginning of the term, we begun to look at artwork from the 50's and 60's which depicted the future. Then, the children learnt the craft of collagraph printing in order to create space themed bags. Each child created their own bag inspired by space and the concept of what the future will look like. 

Year 6 have had a fantastic start to 2025!

We continued our cricket sessions in PE, working on tactics we can use to score points or defend when fielding. The children have had a variety of experiences across the curriculum, including a visit from the National Holocaust Centre and some exciting food tasting to help with their writing.

We really got our hands dirty when completing our Art this term, using charcoal to create seemingly 3-D pictures which looked to come off the page.

As the half-term draws to a close, the children are looking to finalise their reading projects, ready to present to the class about their chosen author and persuade them to try out some of their books. 

The new fence poles for the lower playground have arrived and should be put up in the next couple of weeks.

World Book Day Disco - Thursday 6th March.  More details to follow after half-term.

PTA Meeting Wednesday 12th March at 17.30 to plan events for the summer term. We would love to see some new faces at the meeting.  The meeting will be held at the school. All are welcome. 

We look forward to another term of raising money for the school and making small improvements that make a big difference to our school.

Thank you to everyone for your continued help and support. 

• Help with free school meal vouchers can be found at freeschoolmeals.ncc@northnorthants.gov.uk
• Monday 24th February 2025 is the first day of term.
• Class 6 swimming starts on Monday 24th February - Please remember your swimming kits.
• Please order school dinners via school grid before the first day of term.
• Please ensure P.E kits are brought to school on the first day of term.