We hosted The Venerable Luke Miller- Archdeacon of London at our school this week and held an Church Assembly, Ask the Archdeacon. Children had some excellent questions to ask Father Luke about faith, his work, prayer and where he works.

Earlier in the day Father Luke toured the school, met staff and learnt a little about our distinctive Christian ethos. 

The phonics screening check is designed to confirm whether pupils have learnt phonic decoding to an appropriate standard. It will identify pupils who need extra help to improve their decoding skills.


The check consists of 20 real words and 20 pseudo-words that a pupil reads aloud to the teacher. The test is conducted in school and you will be informed whether your child is at the standard of the tests or not. 

From 2016, KS1 national curriculum test outcomes will no longer be reported using levels. Scaled scores will be used instead; guidance is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/scaled-scores.

A new set of KS1 national curriculum tests replaces the previous tests and tasks. The new tests consist of:

• English reading Paper 1: combined reading prompt and answer booklet
• English reading Paper 2: reading booklet and reading answer booklet
• mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic
• mathematics Paper 2: reasoning

English grammar, punctuation and spelling papers will be sent to schools but there will be no requirement in 2016 to administer them or to use the result to inform teacher assessment. 

From 2016, KS2 national curriculum test outcomes will no longer be reported using levels. Scaled scores will be used instead. More information is available at www.gov.uk/scaled-scores.

There will only be 1 set of tests for each subject. The tests will include a small number of questions designed to assess the most able pupils so separate tests, such as the previous level 6 tests, are no longer required.

The mental mathematics test has been replaced with an arithmetic test.

The KS2 tests consist of:

• English reading: reading booklet and associated answer booklet
• English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 1: short answer questions
• English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 2: spelling
• mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic
• mathematics Paper 2: reasoning
• mathematics Paper 3: reasoning

You can take a look at the sample materials from the DFE by following the links below. Please don't use these sample tests with your child as they are being used in school by class teachers to help children prepare for their assessments. 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum-assessments-2016-sample-materials

We had a brilliant afternoon at the Big Pit going down into the old coal mines. 

Class 5 have arrived safely at Paddington Station and are on the train to Cardiff. We'll keep you updated on this blog and on Twitter throughout the week.

If you're not a follower already, you can follow us on: https://twitter.com/sjcprimary_

​We have turned our parking area into playground garden. From this term, only emergency and delivery vehicles will be allowed into our playground. A team of volunteers from Skanska and Friends of City Gardens moved in recycled planters, donated by Broadgate Estates and created a new green space. Another team of volunteers from Skanska repainted the roof top planters to make the veg garden ready for Open Garden Squares Weekend and City in Bloom.
 
Open Garden Squares Weekend is on 18/19th June www.opensquares.org. The school roof garden will be open on Saturday 18th from 10.30 am to 4 pm. The PTA are organising a pop up café, which will serve refreshments and scones and cream to visitors. This week children are sowing pots of herbs and beans so they can sell fresh produce to raise funds for the school. Parents and children are invited to come and visit the garden on the 18th and support the PTA.