60 Second Lunchbox Hacks
Posted 20th April 2021
As part of ‘Veg Power’s’ ongoing mission to encourage the UK to eat more veg, they would like to make it easier for parents and carers to add more veg to their children’s lunchboxes. Recent research from Leeds University found that only one in five children had any vegetables or salad in their packed lunch.
Below, please find a PDF titled, ’60 Second Vegtastic Lunchbox Hacks’ that has been created with a range of different ideas to support parents and carers.
60 Second Vegtastic Lunchbox Hacks
Improvement of the school grounds
Posted 19th April 2021
Welcome back Purbrook! What a fantastic first day back – you have all worked incredibly hard! As Mr Williams discussed during assembly today, Mr Gibbs and Mrs Ginn worked incredibly hard over the Easter holidays tidying, improving and enhancing our school grounds. A new ‘WOODY WALK’ trail has been created with bug hotels and bird boxes for you to enjoy. In addition to this, the ‘Cabin and Woodland Area’ has been enhanced with new plants and woodchip. Finally, the poles that border the playground have been painted the house colours – we think it really brightens up the school grounds! A further litter pick was also carried out so as to ensure our grounds are clean, bright and refreshing for all to appreciate. At Purbrook, now more than ever, we understand the importance of being outside, appreciating nature and taking in the fresh air – it improves our #mentalhealth and #wellbeing and makes us feel good. An exciting start to the summer term! #gopurbrook
Red Nose Day – Superheroes!
Posted 19th March 2021
Today, children and staff dressed up as their favourite superheroes in support of Comic Relief. Everyone looked absolutely fantastic. We managed to raise over £280 – amazing! Well done Team Purbrook! #gopurbrook #dreambig
Climate Change Zoom with Professor Terry V Callaghan
Posted 10th March 2021
On our return to school, Purbrook Junior School has focused their attention on the different aspects of Climate Change and celebrated Science Week. Today, we were extremely lucky to have a whole school zoom about climate change and why the Arctic is so important for it. The zoom was led by Professor Terry V Callaghan, an arctic plant ecologist who has worked in every arctic country and has been in the field for over 50 years. During that time, he has seen significant changes in the Arctic ice cap decline and has contributed to major arctic and global organisations and environmental assessments including IPCC. He has also been recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize for his services to mankind. We were hugely privileged to be able to ask questions and glean vital knowledge that will allow our community to raise awareness and make a difference. Nobody is too small to make a difference. #gopurbrook #dreambig
Summer Arts Show Competition
Posted 10th March 2021
Dear Parents,
The Royal Academy of Arts has announced their annual summer show and are inviting all budding artists to have a chance to put their art on show. We would like as many children as possible from Purbrook Junior School to let the art world see their talent!
Artwork can use any medium – a painting, sculpture, photograph, installation, video, drawing or a combination of all of these! I know that there has been incredible amount of art going on in lockdown and it would be amazing for some of the children from Purbrook Junior School to have their talent recognised by the Royal Academy of Arts.
Your child can submit up to three pieces of artwork of any type and the good news is there is no theme.
When work is entered, you will need to include images of the artwork plus some information about the piece such as a title, size, and a little text about the artwork and why they created it. The artwork will be seen by their panel of judges and then the selected pieces will be shown on the Royal Academy of Arts online exhibition. Some of them will also be shown at the Royal Academy of Arts Gallery in London!
To submit the artwork, send a picture of the art, along with above information to Mrs Kennett on: d.kennett@purbrook-jun.hants.sch.uk
By submitting work to Mrs Kennett, we will take this a consent that you give permission for the image/item to be submitted to The Royal Art Academy Summer Show.
Submission closes on 26th April 2021 with the judging being held in May 2021 and the online and onsite exhibitions will open on 11th July 2021.
If you need any further information, please do contact either Mrs Kennett or myself via the school office.
Many thanks
Mrs C Gray
Art Lead
Return to school update
Posted 23rd February 2021
We are excited that all children will be able to return to school on Monday the 8th March, as per the government’s announcement yesterday (22.2.21). Guidance has been released from the Department of Education that makes it clear that attendance at school from this date is mandatory for all children, unless they are clinically extremely vulnerable and have to shield on the instruction of their doctor.
Further information about our reopening will follow next week. We have reviewed our operating procedures based on the latest guidance and there will only be a few slight changes from the plans that were shared with you in advance of our planned reopening in January. Thank you for your continued support and we very much look forward to welcoming all of the children back to school soon.
Outdoor Treasures Challenge
Posted 5th February 2021
Thank you to everyone who has sent in pictures of children out and about ‘collecting’ the outdoor challenges for the week. It is great to see so many of you outside in the fresh air (when the weather allows of course) and enjoying yourselves. If you have any pictures to send in, please send to Mrs Kennett at d.kennett@purbrook-jun.hants.sch.uk. Please check out our social media pages to see all the wonderful pictures which have been sent in so far.
- Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/PurbrookJunior/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purbrook_junior/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/purbrook_junior
School Closures for Half-term
Posted 5th February 2021
The Department for Education have advised that all schools will close as usual over the February half term (Monday 15th to Friday 19th February 2021). We will therefore not be open to any pupils during this week.
Online Meetings
Posted 29th January 2021
From a safeguarding perspective, it is imperative that we monitor, evaluate and review our work regarding best practice online. As a result of this, we are refining some of our expectations when entering an online meeting.
Please can you ensure that when your child enters an online meeting via their chosen device, it is very clear who the user is. If we see an unknown name/ user in the waiting room for zoom e.g. Tony’s I phone we will not permit entry. Please can you check the individual device settings to enable this to be successful. Also, we expect cameras to be switched on so that we can see the children and know it is them . Please help and support us with this.
If we are unsure of anyone’s identity trying to gain access to a meeting, we will not allow them to join the meeting. This is in the best interests of the meeting and your child’s safety online. Thank you for your continued understanding.
Expectations for Online Learning
Posted 15th January 2021
The online learning experience will never be able to replicate a real classroom. However, there are some rules and regulations that we would like children to adhere to whilst working online. Please could you help your children understand the importance of this and reinforce our high expectations at home? Your support as parents through these incredibly challenging times has been phenomenal – thank you and please keep doing the best that you can. We completely appreciate the immense pressures and challenges you are under as families at home. Keep up the great work and please get in touch with us if we can help in any way.
Expectations for Online Learning
- Be ready
- Be appropriate
- Dress appropriately – are you ready for learning?
- Speak properly – not in text style – please use the chat bar facility appropriately
- Behave virtually as you would in class
- Be the best you can be…
See Zoom expectations PDF below:
Purbrook Junior School Zoom Expectations
INSET day – CANCELLED
Posted 12th January 2021
The INSET day scheduled for Wednesday 27th January 2021 has been CANCELLED.
This will be deferred until a later date.
-PJS
First week back – from Mr Williams
Posted 8th January 2021
Dear Parents/Carers
Well, what a start to the New Year! The announcement of lockdown 3 on Monday evening from the Prime Minister certainly sent everyone into a spin…
Like you, we have all been extremely busy digesting the guidance and ensuring that we have the right people in school. The decision to limit on-site provision to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, does not suggest that school is no longer safe. Instead, limiting attendance is about reducing the number of contacts that all of us have with people in other households.
As a Headteacher and a dad, I appreciate the challenges around trying to work from home as well as supporting your child with remote learning. It is extremely difficult on all levels so please be kind to yourselves. Try to establish good routines as if attending school – this will help in the long run. Also the curriculum expectations now are very different from the first lockdown. The curriculum provided to your children should mirror the standard of work they would expect to receive in school. There is an expectation for work to be completed and we will be following up with families if we fail to see children or learning is not being completed.
Our teachers have been amazing in supporting families via Google Classroom. We appreciate
for some of you this has been a challenge but please persevere with it and encourage your children to do the same. Your children are very resilient and would be encouraged to push themselves within the classroom environment normally.
Following the initial lockdown, a huge investment was provided by the DfE to create an online platform in every school to support blended and online learning. These were heavily subsidised by the government to make it affordable to schools. The two recommended options were Office 365 and Google. Several members of staff researched these options as well as others. Google was felt to be the best option for us.
Over the last term we have created a blended learning policy and guidance for parents. These can be found on our website and are also attached for your convenience. We appreciate that this may be a challenge to begin with, getting to grips with new ways of learning and technological difficulties. However we will get slicker and more efficient at working together with this over the coming weeks. We are learning together. Please can I reiterate that we would like children to persevere with this way of learning. If you continue to have difficulties then please contact the class teacher who will be delighted to help. I am very proud of our staff here who are incredibly hard working, creative and flexible. Please support them during these very challenging times as we will support you.
Thank you for your continued support. We are all doing our very best through extremely challenging times.
Craig Williams
Merry Christmas from Purbrook!
Posted 18th December 2020
I would like to thank all parents/carers for the support you have shown the school over this past term. The thank you messages we have received over the past couple of weeks have been gratefully received. The children need to be congratulated too on their resilience and positive attitudes during this most challenging of times.
We are now entering the school holidays and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please do take care and keep yourselves safe.
We look forward to welcoming the children back into school on Monday 4th January.
-Mr C Williams
Headteacher
Christmas Lunch date change
Posted 5th December 2020
Christmas Lunch and Christmas Jumper Day has now been moved to Friday 11th December. All orders already placed for the lunch will be carried over to the new day, so there is no further action needed by parents (unless you are still to advise us of your child’s choice for lunch on this day).
-PJS
Parents’ Evening Reports
Posted 27th November 2020
A brief report has been sent to you today by your child’s class teacher. If you have any queries or concerns, please do contact the school, preferably via email to adminoffice@purbrook-jun.hants.sch.uk. Arrangements will then be made for the class teacher to contact you.
-PJS
Christmas Lunch
Posted 27th November 2020
The school Christmas lunch will be on Thursday 10th December. Please see your ParentMail account (under the FORMS section) to respond with your child’s choice of lunch by Friday 4th December. Please also respond if your child will be having a packed lunch so that we don’t have to chase up your response.
Children will be eating their lunch in the classroom as per COVID usual arrangements, but we will ensure that the atmosphere is as festive as possible with crackers (kindly provided by the PJSA) and music. We would also like to invite children to wear Christmas jumpers/t-shirts on this day too.
Christmas Raffle 2020
Posted 25th November 2020
On behalf of the PJSA, please find attached information about this year’s Christmas Draw.
-PJS
School Photographs – Monday 23rd November
Posted 20th November 2020
Please remember that it is school photographs on Monday (23rd November). Yellow School Photographers will be taking the photos in a COVID secure way and it will not be possible for sibling photographs to be taken this year.
Year 6 have PE on Monday, but have been asked to come to school in their school uniform (see ParentMail message sent 19.11.2020).
-PJS
Coronavirus update
Posted 20th November 2020
Reminder – face coverings must be worn whilst on the whole school site, not just if you are entering reception. There have been several instances recently where face coverings have not been worn. We are, of course, aware that some adults have hidden disabilities and are unable to wear a mask. In this instance, please ensure that you are wearing your lanyard and it is visible, so that you are not challenged whilst on the school site.
Thank you once again for your continued vigilance and adherence to our control measures to try and keep our school community safe.
Mr C Williams
Year 3 Christmas Reading Competition
Posted 19th November 2020
To spread some festive spirit this year, we have launched a Christmas reading competition.
The children simply need to read 5 times a week! (Children are welcome to write in their own reading record but we kindly request a grown up initials in there to acknowledge their reading). Children will receive a raffle ticket for each week they read and enter the draw to win ‘The Christmasaurus and The Winter Witch’/’There’s an Elf In My Book’.
Starting the 1st December, every class will be reading ‘The Christmasaurus’ by Tom Fletcher. Some children mentioned they had a copy at home and they are welcome to bring it in to read along with us! (Copies of the story are on offer at the moment for £4 in Tesco)
We can’t wait to start reading!
The Year 3 Team
Children In Need
Posted 13th November 2020
Today it was Children In Need and it was lovely to see so many children and staff wearing bright colours to support this annual event.
The school has raised a total of £346.28. Well done!
HSE Inspection
Posted 13th November 2020
On Thursday this week, we had a visit from the Health and Safety Executive for a COVID-19 Spot Check Inspection. The purpose of the inspection was to assess the school’s management arrangements to control the risks associated with COVID-19 and formed part of a wide programme of planned HSE inspections of schools. Mrs Saunders and I met with the two inspectors for nearly 3 hours yesterday and this included a tour of the school to see how we have implemented our control measures. The inspectors also met with Mrs Ashton and Miss Footner as representatives from our teaching and support staff.
The inspectors were extremely complimentary of the school and how we have all adapted to COVID-19. They acknowledged the huge amount of work staff and children are putting in place to keep everybody safe. One inspector acknowledged that we were ’up there’ in terms of COVID-19 safety. She also acknowledged the great team spirit, culture and mental health and well-being around the school.
-Mr C Williams
Wearing coats to school
Posted 13th November 2020
We are at that time of year again when the weather has turned and temperatures are falling. Please ensure that your child brings a coat to school as we will be outside during playtimes and lunchtimes as much as possible. In addition to this, with the added ventilation (open doors and windows) to help prevent the spread of COVID, classrooms will also be colder than normal. If your child feels the cold, please do send them in with extra clothes (for example a vest under their school t-shirt). School uniform will still need to be worn, so any additional clothing needs to be underneath the uniform please.
-PJS
Parents’ Evening – Autumn Term
Posted 6th November 2020
During this time of COVID, we will not be able to hold Parents’ Evening Meetings with parents. In place of these meetings, teachers will be preparing a short personal paragraph for each individual child. This will be sent to parents (via ParentMail) on Friday 27th November. Once you receive this, if you have any queries or concerns, please do contact the school, preferably via email to adminoffice@purbrook-jun.hants.sch.uk. Arrangements will then be made for the class teacher to contact you.
-PJS