Mr T’s Weekly Review

Monday 5th May to Friday 9th May

Without a doubt, the highlight of this week has been the VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations. Building up to the day itself, we looked at what VE Day means and why it is so important that we continue to remember it still all these years later. As always, the children engaged with these ideas wholeheartedly, respectfully and with a joyous enthusiasm which in itself is such a great memorial to the heroic generation involved. 

The day itself culminated in a final assembly, in which I showed a video kindly made by my father-in-law (who was 7 on VE day) in which he shared his first-hand memories of the events. The children and staff then celebrated VE Day 80 in true LJS fashion with an extra Golden Time together, in the glorious sunshine on the school field. A memorable way to mark the day!

In other news, congratulations to our Year 3/4 hockey players this week: another great performance and result from all involved!

Finally, next week is SATs week for the Year 6 children. They have worked incredibly hard since Year 3 and I know they’ll face the challenges ahead as they always do: together and with the staff team full square behind them. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

Monday 28th April to Friday 2nd May

The week started with a highlight of any school’s calendar: class photo day. I can always tell when the photographers are in from that little bit of extra time that has been spent doing hair and planning wardrobe for the day that I notice when I walk around the school...and that’s even before the children have started to arrive! 

On a more serious note, congratulations to our Year 5/6 hockey players who were excellent in this week’s pyramid sports competition as always. Great teamwork everyone!

The children’s curriculum and attainment information were also made live to families at the end of the week. Please remember to log into Arbor to keep up to date with everything from your contact details to your child’s current attainment and attendance levels. All curriculum information can be accessed via the school website.

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s class teacher/year team if you have any questions about the information, including reminders about where to find it or explanations about what it means.         

Monday 21st April to Friday 25th April

It was great to see everyone back in school, fully recharged after the Easter holiday. However you spent it, I hope you managed to enjoy quality time with your loved ones. 

The new term started with a launch of our latest initiative: OPaL (Outdoor Play and Learning). Over the coming weeks and months, we will be working on maximising the children’s play opportunities in school. This is something that we as staff have been super-excited by whilst getting things ready ‘behind the scenes’ last term and I’m delighted to report that even in these early days the children are equally enthused by what we are trying to achieve.

As you will know, Joy is a central part of what we aim for with the children and at LJS and we see this as a great opportunity to develop probably the most consistently joyous parts of the children’s day: lunchtime and playtime. It has also provided yet another great opportunity for collaboration with the Infants who share our enthusiasm for the importance of positive play experiences. 

Please continue to keep an eye out for updates on this area of school life - particularly as we approach ‘wet weather season’. 

Monday 31st March to Friday 4th April

This week was the last week of the Spring term…and what a way to end it! Our wonderful Year 4 and 5 children entertained the school community brilliantly with their amazing Easter medley of songs.

This year’s focus was on Musicals and the children/staff from each year group excelled themselves with their wonderful teamwork; singing; dancing and acting. As I’m sure many of you will know, the end of term performances are always a personal highlight for me and I thought this year’s Easter performance was outstanding. Very many congratulations to everyone involved!

Congratulations also to our Netballers in Year 3/4 who represented the school brilliantly - and were super successful - at the pyramid sports competition on Wednesday. Another great example of LJS teamwork!  

Monday 24^th March to Friday 28^st March 2025

On behalf of the children, staff and I: Happy Mother’s Day everyone! We hope you had a fabulous day yesterday and were suitably spoilt by your loved ones! It was brilliant to see so many of you at our Lower and Upper School Mother’s Day assemblies on Friday. A really brilliant opportunity to celebrate everything you do each and every day for the children and, in turn, how much they love you for it. You really are ‘the wind beneath their wings’ and ‘SuperMums’ one and all..!

I’m delighted to see the sun in recent days for a variety of reasons (long may it continue!). One of those reasons being that the school sports events come thick and fast. Congratulations to our Year 3/4 Cross Country runners this week who took part in the District tournament on Thursday. They did incredibly well as always. Resilience and determination demonstrated in the bucket load. It was also brilliant to see so many of our runners finishing in the top 10% of the field. Congratulations also to our Year 5/6 Hockey players who also represented the school brilliantly at the cluster schools tournament on Wednesday, finishing second overall. Great achievements all round!

Thank you also to everyone that entered the ‘Be Bright, Be Seen’ spirit on Monday. This is always a great opportunity to remind the children in a fun and visual way how important road safety in general is and, specifically, making sure you can be seen by traffic. Congratulations to our winners of the ‘Bling My Bike & Scooter’ competition (John and Leon), who were chosen from all the entrants by our wonderful School Council (who organised the event for us) and received a ‘goodie bag’ of road safety related merchandise.

Finally, thank you to everyone who attended our Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) awareness evening on Tuesday. It was wonderful to be able to talk about an aspect of school life which is incredibly important to us all. Thank you also to Mrs Colmer and our specially-trained SEMH team of staff for providing such a great evening for us all to enjoy.  If you have any questions relating to our SEMH provision, please do not hesitate to reach out to Mrs Colmer; Mrs Rose or you child’s class teacher in the first instance.

Monday 10^th March to Friday 21^st March 2025

Spring was given a kick start on Wednesday 12^th when our Year 3/4 Golf team took part in the District tri-golf tournament. As always, the children did a fantastic job representing the school by showcasing their exceptional teamwork skills of Golf technique. They amassed the most points of any team in the competition and had great fun doing it too. A brilliant afternoon spent under the early Spring sunshine. Well done everyone!

A BIG ‘shout out’ to the children and staff of 6C too for an amazing assembly on Thursday 13^th. A wonderful opportunity for us all to share in and enjoy the children’s breadth and depth of learning so far this academic year. Wonderfully presented by them all too. Great work everyone!

Congratulations also go to our Year 3/4 Hockey players who came second at the Priestlands Sports event on Wednesday 19th . Meanwhile our Year 5/6 Ultimate Frisbee teams dominated the District event on Thursday 20th with both teams winning every game. All involved represented the school brilliantly, demonstrating the amazing team work and team spirit that we value so highly at LJS.

Friday was Red Nose day 2025. A BIG thank you first of all this week for your amazing support of this great cause! The school looked really vibrant with the children and staff proudly wearing red and together we managed to raise £231.76. A great day all round!

Well done everyone!

Monday 24th February to Friday 7th March 2025

It was brilliant as always to welcome everyone back to school after half term. The fortnight started with a wonderful joint INSET day with the Infants’ staff team where we looked at ways of making play and lunchtime even more fun for the children in both schools: more exciting information on this to follow in a few weeks’ time..!

We then ended a great couple of learning weeks with World Book day. A HUGE thank you to all the children, staff and families for the amazing effort that went in to costumes again this week. The day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the excitement of stories and to inject some colour and even fun into the school day: exactly what being part of LJS is about!!

Massive congratulations also go to the school’s dodgeball and golf teams who both did an amazing job at the recent District competitions, representing the school amazingly well and coming in the top 3 of each event. Also, well done to 6C for a wonderful class assembly. Sadly, it’s their last at LJS but they managed to end on a high note. Great achievements all round!

Monday 10^th February to Friday 14^th February 2025

What a lovely way to end another successful half term at LJS this week has been.

The week started with an inspirational visit from local gold-medal winning Paralympic athlete Aaron Phipps. Aaron told the children about his journey from teenage double-amputation to Paralympic Gold as part of Team GB’s wheelchair rugby team. The children (and staff!) sat in awe listening to Aaron speak about the determination; courage and, above all, resilience it takes to be so successful. Thank you again to Aaron for sharing his amazing story with us. Not all heroes wear capes..!

It was also lovely to see so many of you at Parents’ Evenings this week. We hope you enjoyed looking through your child(ren)’s work; celebrating their successes and chatting through next steps with their teachers. A really important part of the support structure that underpins their development and success. Thank you to everyone who attended and to the staff for working late at the end of a long half term in order to facilitate the appointments. Another example of great LJS teamwork!

I’d also like to say a BIG thank you to the Year 4 parents who helped the staff team take the children to Buckland Rings for their annual trip to the hill fort. The children had a great time and learned lots about their local history. Also, a BIG well done to our Upper School Dodgeball team who represented the school brilliantly on Wednesday afternoon. Great work all round! 

I hope you have a lovely week with your loved ones during the half term break and the staff and I look forward to welcoming everyone back for the second half of term when school re-opens for the children on Tuesday 25^th February 2025. Have fun everyone!

Monday 3^rd February to Friday 7^th February 2025

Mock SATs week. Three words that usually strike fear into the hearts of staff and children at Primary Schools. Not LJS though! The children and staff of Year 6 have been working really hard this week to simulate what the children will experience during ‘real’ SATs week in May. The purpose of this is to de-mystify the experience for the children by making the unfamiliar, familiar and also to enable the staff to identify how best to support the children over the coming 11 weeks or so.

I was SO proud to see how well the children engaged with the practice tests and took the process confidently in their stride. This reflects the great work they have put into their learning (and confidence building) over the past 3 and a half years at LJS. The learnings from this process (including next steps) will be shared with Year 6 parents at their upcoming Parents’ Evening.

Congratulations also to our Year 3/4 Dodgeball team for their wonderful performance (and victory) at the Priestlands sports competition this week. Great teamwork everyone!

Monday 27th January to Friday 31st January 2025

In assemblies this week we have been exploring the ideas of equity, equality and human rights. I find one of the most rewarding things about working with Junior-aged children is how deeply, thoughtfully and genuinely they engage with concepts such as these. Ideas like equity, fairness, compassionate and respect are so such an important part of life at LJS, I was really proud (and truly inspired!) to hear the children’s thoughts and ideas about these important issues. A great reflection on our whole school community. Well done everyone!!

In other news, it was great to welcome a member of the St Barbe’s team into school this week to lead a really engaging workshop linked to smuggling. This  ties into the great learning the children have been doing in History lessons this week and really helped bring it all alive to them. They also experienced an in-school pop-up planetarium to support their work on the solar system in Science. Great examples of Learning, Joy and Success in action!

Talking of great learning, it was also brilliant to welcome the parents of children in 4MR into school for their class’ assembly. As always it was a wonderful showcase of the children’s great achievements in all their subjects this year. Thank you once again to everyone who was able to attend and, of course, the amazing children and staff of 4MR for all their hard work and enthusiasm! 

Monday 20th January to Friday 24th January 2025

Talking of teamwork making the dreamwork as I was last week...this week’s assembly theme was about exactly that: working together. Amongst other things, we spoke with the children about the benefits of working together to solve problems and develop each other’s skills, knowledge and understanding.

At LJS, we are really fortunate to be part of such a large team with the children at the heart of everything we do.

This week has been about celebrating that and making explicit to the children all the people they have in their lives (including the approximately 300 people inside the school building as well as all those outside it) who are willing and able to lend them a helping hand when they need one (as we all do from time to time!).

We are really fortunate to get to spend so much time amongst such a great group of people. Something that can be easy to take for granted but, really, is the most precious thing any of us can have. Thanks to everyone in ‘team LJS’ for everything they do to help each other.

Together Everyone Achieves More   

Monday 13th January to Friday 17th January 2025

The children’s assessment data for the end of the Autumn Term was made live via Arbor this week. They all worked incredibly hard last term and whatever the assessment, I know like the staff and I you will all be incredibly proud of them for that.

To help interpret the information provided, the following codes are used:

GDS: Above the standard expected for the Year group

EXS: At the standard expected for the Year group

BLW: Below the standard expected for the Year group

The most important reason we provided the information termly is to help you understand how your child is getting on with their learning in school; celebrate their achievements over time and understand the ways that we all can help them continue along their learning journey.

If any of this is unclear at any time, please reach out to your child’s teacher. This can be done in any of the following ways:

• Collection time at the end of the school day
• Via the school office
• Year group email address

As with everything at LJS, teamwork makes the dreamwork!

Monday 6^th January to Friday 10^th January 2025

Welcome back to a brand-new term. A very Happy New Year to all of our students, staff, and families! I hope you had a restful and enjoyable Christmas break, and that everyone is feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the exciting challenges and opportunities that the new term/year brings.

As always, the first week back has been a whirlwind of activity. Everyone has returned to school with smiles, energy, and enthusiasm which I’m always super-proud to see. Thank you everyone!

It’s been great to see all the children reconnecting with their friends and teachers so happily, and there’s been a real buzz of excitement around sharing Christmas stories and grasping the opportunity to spend time together again. There’s always something special about the first week after a holiday and never more so than this time of year as we spend time setting new goals and reflecting on the year ahead.

During the week, I’ve had the pleasure of walking around the school and seeing some of the fantastic work taking place in classrooms. It’s clear to see that the children have come back with their usual positive mindsets and are eager to continue building on the progress they made last term. Well done them!

Here’s to a great 2025. The staff and I are really looking forward to continuing to work together to enable the children to learn, succeed and experience joy in the process. Happy New Year everyone!

Monday 9^th December to Friday 13^th December

What a great week!! Christmas has finally arrived at LJS!

This week has been dominated by wonderful performances. Our amazing Year 3 children and staff entertained the rest of the children of our school; very special guests (the Year 2 children and staff) from the Infant School; parents and grandparents across 4 performances. I can’t speak highly enough of the singing, dancing, activity and, above all, team work. I was SO impressed and proud of everyone involved. It was truly inspirational! I would like to say a HUGE thank you and well done to the children and staff of Year 3, once again, for how amazingly well they entertained us and, also. how brilliantly they have settled into life at LJS. Great work all round!

Another HUGE well done goes to the children who take part in Rocksteady who entertained a sell-out crowd in the hall on Thursday afternoon. There were 6 bands in total and every single one of them totally rocked out: they were amazing!

Thank you to all this week’s performers for their effort and bravery and to all the staff who work so hard to provide the platform for our stars to shine from. The LJ Way!!

Monday 2^nd December to Friday 6^th December

The children and staff have been making the most of the calm before the Christmas storm this week to complete our Autumn term assessments. These will be accessible via Arbor at the start of the Spring Term (after Christmas) once they have been marked and analysed. Should you have any questions about your child’s assessments in any of the subjects, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher via the usual channels: they will be very happy to talk through what they mean and how you can work together to continue to build on progress to date.

Congratulations also go to our Year 5/6 swimming team who won the Priestlands gala on Wednesday. A brilliant result!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone (children, staff and parents) for all the great work this term!

Monday 25^th November to Friday 29^th November

It was time for the school council’s annual trip to Westminster to visit the Houses of Parliament this week. The children (and staff!) had another great day on our private tour of the Palace of Westminster as well as experiencing all the sights and sounds that part of London has to offer.

In addition to looking round the Palace and meeting our local MP (Sir Desmond Swayne), this year’s trip was particularly memorable as it overlapped with the debating of the Terminally Ill (Adults) Bill, which has of course received so much attention in the press recently.

This provided us with a great opportunity to discuss with the children once again the important role that MPs and Parliament play in all our lives and why it is so important that they exercise their right to vote when they are old enough: just as they and their peers did in September to elect the members of the School Council.

A BIG thank you goes to the children for their impeccable behaviour on the trip and also to all the staff involved in organising and supervising it, particularly Miss Bithell who runs our amazing School Council for us. Great work everyone!

Monday 18^th November to Friday 22^nd November

In assemblies this week, the children and staff have been thinking about a fundamental British Value: the rule of law.

We have been exploring this complex idea by thinking about what life would be like if we didn’t have any laws or if the laws in place were not fair to all. These ideas were then used as a starting point for children to learn about the ways that other countries use fair laws (or not) and compare that to our system - something the school council members will be experiencing first hand next week…

We also explored what school life would be like if everyone could just do whatever they wanted without any boundaries or consequences for choices/actions that were negative for others. I’m glad to report we all agreed that (perhaps after the initial novelty had worn off) it wouldn’t be much fun!

I am really proud of the way the children and staff at LJS work together day in day out to create and maintain an environment that is safe, secure and fair for all. Well done everyone!

Monday 11^th November to Friday 15^th November

One of the most important weeks in the calendar at LJS started off with our whole school remembrance assembly on Monday 11^th. During the assembly, which included an impeccably observed 2 minute’s silence at 11am, we reflected with the children on why the process of remembrance is so important and discussed how the freedoms we enjoy today are the result of the sacrifice of others.

These concepts have been followed up with the children in classes during the rest of the week. I really want to congratulate the children for how well they have engaged with these complex ideas, particularly at such a young age.

At LJS, we will remember them!

Other highlights of the week included a really well attended Open Morning on Tuesday for parents of children currently in Year 2. It was lovely to see so many people there and be able to share the amazing ‘feel’ of a morning at LJS. If you know anyone with a child currently in Year 2 who may be interested in joining us for Year 3 from September 2025, we will be running another session on Tuesday 7^th January 2025 at 9:30am. Please encourage them to come along and meet us. The more the merrier!

On a linked note, due to a low birth rate, we currently have limited spaces available in the current Year 3 too. If you know anyone with a child in that year group that might want to take the opportunity to join us, please encourage them to contact the school office.

Finally, thank you for all you donations to Children in Need on Friday and a HUGE well done to 6DP for an amazing class assembly on Thursday. It was an excellent showcase of all the wonderful opportunities that have been squeezed into the first 8 school weeks - everything from riding a bike; to the constituents of blood; to being on residential – and also the children’s confidence, enthusiasm and resilience. I was immensely proud of the entire Year 6 team, children and staff! 

Monday 4^th November to Friday 8^th November

Welcome back! I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and restful half term. I’ delighted to say that the children (and staff!) settled back into life at LJS really quickly and smoothly. In fact, in many ways it was as if we hadn’t been away. Well done everybody!

The week started with a brilliant INSET day. The teachers took part in a District wide meeting of subject leaders, which enabled brilliant reflection on our curriculum provision for the children as we constantly strive to offer them the best opportunities we can. Meanwhile the rest of the team focussed in school on the ways that we motivate, celebrate and reward the children’s success to ensure this remains as relevant and consistent for the children as possible. A way to start the half term!

It was then straight into the wonderful experiences for the children. Amongst the highlights of this was Year 3’s visit to St Barbe’s museum (thank you to those parents that lent a helping hand!). 

We were also really grateful to the Friends of the school for coming in on Friday to speak with the Year 6 children about plans to raise funds for the leavers’ events. These are always a highlight for the children at the end of their journey at LJS but there is no way we could provide them free of charge without the monies raised through the year. Thank you to everyone, including those of you that buy things!, involved in helping the children achieve their goal!

Monday 21^st October 2024 to Friday 25^th October 2024

What a half term! I find the way that time passes in schools to appear to defy the laws of Physics. How simultaneously the summer can seem like a lifetime away, whilst at the same time the year seems to be flying by: I can’t believe it’s only 2 months now to Christmas!  

The main reason for this is how much is packed into every day at LJS. I’d like to say a MASSIVE thank you and well done to the children and staff for everything that goes into achieving this. We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated and hardworking staff team providing so many platforms for the children to leap from and such a brave and enthusiastic group of children to take those leaps. One can’t be achieved without the other. It’s this teamwork that makes LJS the unique place it is. I’m very proud of you all!  

Thank you also to all the adults that attended our online safety presentation for parents and/or parents’ evening appointments this week. This year saw the biggest ever up-take of parents’ evening appointments (thank you also for your patience with the booking system here) which was brilliant to see. Another great aspect of the LJS community teamwork that helps the children be so successful.

The staff and I would like to wish everyone a relaxing half term and we hope you manage to have as much quality time together with your loved ones as possible.

We look forward to seeing the children again on Tuesday 5^th November. 

Monday 14^th October 2024 to Friday 18^th October 2024

This week’s undoubted highlight came on Thursday when we were very fortunate to be visited by the Premier League trophy. The trophy is so unique (and expensive!) that it isn’t usually taken into schools which meant we were able to provide a really unique opportunity for the children (and staff). It was also great to experience the excitement created by the visit; and experience the ‘buzz’ around the school.

As a Southampton fan, I don’t anticipate getting that close to it again any time soon unfortunately so, like everyone else, I made the most of the photo opportunity.  

A really BIG thank you to everyone at Barclay’s Bank in Lymington for arranging this for us. Another memorable day at LJS!! 

Monday 7^th October 2024 to Friday 11^th October 2024

Thank you to everybody that came into school wearing Yellow on Thursday this week to continue our aim of raising awareness for world mental health day. This is something that we have a real focus on in school and a key part of our strategy to support; enhance and/or improve each other’s mental health and well-being is to make it something that is openly thought about and, really importantly, spoken about. Opportunities to raise awareness within the whole school community like this are a really important part of that process. Should you have concerns about your child’s mental health at any point please do not hesitate to speak to Mrs Rose and their class teacher.  Together we can have a huge impact on the way we all feel about ourselves and the situation we find ourselves in: let’s all try to make that impact a positive one!

Another BIG thank you to everyone that came to support and encourage the children in our whole school sports afternoon on Friday. It was a brilliant turn out which really helped to make the afternoon a joyful celebration of sport in school. Thanks again to Miss Morris and Miss Cooper for their great organisation of the event and Mrs Rose for arranging the tea/coffee/cake sale as part of our fund-raising efforts throughout October for Oakhaven Hospice. A wonderfully successful afternoon full of great teamwork all round: LJS at its best!

Monday 30^th September 2024 to Friday 4^th October 2024

It was lovely to see so many Grandparents at our first Grandparent’s Day celebration on Friday. Our aim was to thank Grandparents for the invaluable role they play in supporting; encouraging and nurturing all members of the LJS community. It was brilliant to be able to meet so many of you and we look forward to doing the same again next year.

On behalf of the entire LJS community, thank you once again for everything you do: you are amazing!

Thank you also to the children, staff and parents of Year 6 children for making Greek day such a great experience for all involved on Tuesday. The costumes (and food!) were amazing and it all really helped to bring the children’s learning linked to ancient Greece to life. Another great day!

Monday 16^th September 2024 to Friday 20^th September 2024

Year 6 residential week…and what a week it was! To start with, how lucky were we with the weather..?! The blue skies above Weymouth bay added a very welcome backdrop to the week’s activities!

This year was the school’s first year at Osmington Bay and boy did PGL deliver. The children had a fabulous week enjoying a variety of fun and adventurous activities ranging from giant swings and zip wires…to climbing and abseiling…with raft building and Dragon Boat riding thrown in at the National Sailing Academy on Portland for good measure.

En suite dormitories and plenty of food choice also meant that the children were re-fuelled and ready between the activities…some even managed to fall asleep! 😊

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Mr Page for organising the week so meticulously as always and to the rest of the team for accompanying the children. The residential is a great example of a wonderful experience that we are only able to provide for the children because the staff so generously give of their time to provide the best opportunities possible.

A wonderful experiences underpinned by great teamwork: the LJ Way in action!

Monday 9^th September 2024 to Friday 13^th September 2024

This week started off with what for many is a highlight of the start of the academic year: individual school photos. It’s always great to see the children (and staff!) making that little extra effort to ensure they come in to school ‘photo ready’. Looks like we’ve got a few future fashion models in our midst..!

Thank you to the families who joined the year teams after school each day this week for the curriculum presentations. These take place at the start of each year and are an important way for you to meet your child’s teacher; find out first-hand what the children will be learning and talk through routines and expectations for the year ahead.

If you weren’t able to make the presentations for any reason, however, please don’t worry. The information shared by the staff is available to download via the Class Pages tab  - which is accessible from the ‘Children’ button in the top right hand corner – on the school website.

BIG thank you to the staff for preparing and sharing the information. All very helpful!

Tuesday 3^rd September 2024 to Friday 6^th September 2024

Welcome back to the 2024/2025 academic year!If you’re a returning family or one joining us for the first time, the staff and I would like to warmly welcome you to the exciting adventure that is a new school year at LJS!

As I sit and write this after the event, I am delighted to report that, as usual, the children in all year groups settled brilliantly into school during week 1. This is an excellent achievement in all year groups. As adults, we know that the prospect of change can often be a daunting one for us to go through. I am always in awe of how bravely the children embrace the unavoidable changes that a new school year brings. The speed with which any nerves or worries that may have been there towards the end of the summer turn into excitement for the new opportunities ahead is so energising to be around. They are an inspiration to us all!

I would like to extend a particularly big WELCOME and WELL DONE to the children who joined us in Year 3 this week. They have faced, and embraced, the most changes of all of us. Something that they have done with enthusiasm, positivity and great positivity. The staff and I can’t wait to get to know them more and more over the next 4 years..!

Another HUGE ‘shout out’ goes to our new year 6 cohort. They too have warmly embraced the challenges and opportunities that come with being the oldest children, and in many ways the most influential role models, in the school. The staff and I are really looking forward to watching them continue to Thrive in their final year at LJS!

Monday 22^nd July to Tuesday 23^rd July

The focus of the 2 days this week was on celebrating the year and looking ahead. For our year 6 children that meant their wonderful Leavers’ Party on Monday (which they have been busy funding raising for all year) and their lovely Leavers’ assembly on Tuesday morning. Thank you to the Friends of the School for generously funding the children’s leavers’ gifts: very appreciated as always!

I would like to take this opportunity to say a final ‘thank you’ to the children in all year groups for their amazing attitude; commitment; hard work and resilience this year…and over the past 4 years in the case of the children in Year 6!

Thank you also to the children’s parents for everything you do to support and encourage your children to greatness.

And finally, thank you to our amazing staff team for everything they do to provide the children with so many varied experiences and challenges throughout the year.

The school simply wouldn’t be the place it is without you all.

Good luck to our Year 6 children in the next stage of their adventure. The staff and I look forward to welcoming everyone else back on Tuesday 3^rd September 2024.    

I hope everyone has a fabulous summer holiday! 

Monday 15^th July to Friday 19^th July

This week started and ended with showcases of the children’s wonderful achievements this year. On Monday, the children’s end of year reports were emailed out families. This was the first year this we were able to do this using our relatively new Management Information System (Arbor) which helped to streamline the process massively. Thank you to Mrs Tombleson and Mrs Solly in the office for all their hard work in recent months embedding this system for us!

The week ended with our annual book showcase after school where family members are invited in to see (and take home) the children’s books for the year and discuss reports with class teachers if they would like to.  There’s an old saying, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”. At LJS that should be, “the proof of how much learning the children do, is how hard it is to carry their books home”. Not as catchy, but anyone who has tried it would agree it’s equally true!

Between those whole school events were our amazing Year 6 leavers’ performances. The productions at LJS are always a huge part of the year group calendar and a real highlight of each term for me; the was no exception. The children were absolutely amazing. Wonderful acting, dancing, amazing singing…and the ‘cracker jokes’ were right up my street. Bravo!!

HUGE congratulations go to the children for their amazing achievements this year which have been captured so well by the staff that work with them within their reports. Whether it be making lots of new friends; making great progress in learning and/or attending school as often as possible the children have achieved great things this year and I hope they are extremely proud of themselves for doing so!

A MASSIVE thank you also goes to our amazing staff team for all the planning, preparation, marking, encouragement, support and challenge that goes into helping the children achieve these wonderful things.

Also, a BIG thank you to you, the children’s families, for the support and encouragement you give to the children (and school) on a daily basis. Great teamwork all round!

Monday 8^th July to Friday 12^th July

Despite Monday’s INSET meaning that the week was only 4 days long, it didn’t stop our wonderful children and staff packing it full of great experiences as always! This week was all about preparing for new adventures in September.

Tuesday saw all of the children in the pyramid experiencing what school life will be like for them in September in their new classrooms/schools and with their new teachers. There was a great buzz around the school as we welcomed our new Year 3 children for their first full morning at LJS. The children in all year groups took part in fun activities, many of which were specifically designed to help them get to know their new teachers and vice versa. 

Our Year 6 children also got to spend a great day as Year 7 in Priestlands. Whilst it will be really sad for us to see the children move on, it was great to hear them speak so enthusiastically about their day when they returned to us on Wednesday. Well done everybody!

Monday 17^th June to Friday 21^st June

The week got off to a great start. It was absolutely brilliant to see so many of you at our Father’s Day assembly on Monday; what a great way to start the week! Thank you to everyone that was able to come in and join the celebration of the importance of positive male role models in our children’s lives.  It was lovely to hear directly from the children themselves why what you do is valued so highly by them. Thank you for everything you do! A particularly big thank you to those Dads that ‘volunteered’ to be part of the quiz. It was very generous of you to ‘let’ the children win too..!

It was lovely to welcome the Year 2 children over again on Tuesday to learn computing in our fabulous IT suite. This is another part of the Infant children’s transition process with us which continues in various ways over the next few weeks and is designed to help them settle into life at LJS as quickly as possible in September: something our current Year 3 did amazingly well last year! Thank you to the amazing staff teams at both the Infants and here at the Juniors for all the time, thought and effort that goes into achieving this!

It was also another great week for sport at LJS with our Year 5/6 cricketeers doing a great job at a cricket festival on Monday. As always, they represented the school brilliantly. We then had the fun of Lower School sports afternoon on Wednesday followed by Upper School sports afternoon on Thursday. Thank you to all the family members that attended these events. It’s great for the children to have such a large crowd of loved ones cheering them on. Thank you also to Miss Wyeth and the staff team for organising the afternoons and helping them run so smoothly for the children. As always great teamwork all round!

Monday 10^th June to Friday 14^th June

This week saw the very of the statutory assessment period for the children (and staff) in Year 6. Having been selected by the Local Authority for our 4-yearly writing moderation visit at the end of SATs week, the moderators arrived on Wednesday to double check the staff’s judgements. I am very pleased and proud to report that the moderators were incredibly complimentary of both the children’s writing and the accuracy of the staff’s judgements. The year team celebrated with a much deserved ice cream on Friday courtesy of Vision for education. Well done everyone!

We were also very lucky to be able to provide 20 children with an all-expenses paid trip to Marwell zoo this week courtesy of the generosity of Lymington Rotary Club. In order to be as fair as possible, the children were selected at random to take part and the lucky individuals selected had a great day. Thank you very much to Mr Burton and the Year 3 TA team for supervising the children on the day and, of course, to Lymington Rotary Club for organising and paying for it all. Hopefully we’ll be given the opportunity to go again in the future..!

Finally, it was lovely to welcome our new Year 3 children into the school on Friday afternoon for our annual ‘treasure hunt’ with the current Year 3 children. This always marks an important part of our annual calendar as it is an important part of the ‘getting to know you process’ for our prospective Year 3 children, while also being a rite of passage for our current Year 3 children as they prepare to be ‘old hands’ in Year 4 from September…and an amazing Year 4 they will be!

Mr T’s Weekly Review Monday 3^rd June to Friday 7^th June

As we enter the second half of the Summer term, we have officially entered the final straight of the 2023 – 2024 academic year.

We spent a lot of time as a school community last week reflecting on the concept of ‘real’ heroes: ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Our stimulus for this was, of course, the 80^th anniversary of D-Day. We used assemblies to remind the children of the bravery of those amazing heroes and why we continue to commemorate their sacrifices to this day.

We also took the opportunity to encourage the children to make the most of that sacrifice by challenging themselves whenever possible to be the best versions of themselves they can. We agreed we would all continue to try to be heroic in our own way by doing things like not giving up when learning gets tough; being kind, caring and honest in school and generally doing what we can to make the school community as great to be a part of as possible. LJS will never forget!

In other news, this stage of the school year is always a cause for mixed-emotions. On the one hand, we have the excitement of all the fun events planned for this time of the year, particularly: the Year 6 leavers’ assembly/party/production; sports days; trips/visits etc and the excitement of even more new opportunities from September.

While on the other, we know that we only have another 7 weeks or so with our current Year 6 cohort who, as ever, will be greatly missed when they leave.

All of this, however, provides great motivation for the children and staff alike to make this half term as memorable as possible for everyone. I for one cannot wait..!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: Monday 20th May to Friday 27th May

I hope you all had a great half term.

The last week before half term can be seen by some as an opportunity to start winding down: not at LJS though. The opportunity for Learning, Joy and Success continued all the way to everyone’s well deserved break. 

On Tuesday, Year 6 went on their trip to Steamer Point to walk the coast as part of their Geography unit. The children and staff had a great day, helped in no small part by the weather holding out for them. A particularly big ‘well done’ to whoever was in charge of organising that..!

Wednesday saw a visit from the international athlete Leon Greenwood who inspired the whole school with details of their journey to sporting success. I look forward to welcoming ex-students back to the school in future years to share their journeys and inspire future generations! A particularly BIG tank you to Miss Wyeth for organising this opportunity and also to our amazing families for raising £676.88 which will be spent by Miss Wyeth and our sports leaders on equipment for the children to play with at play and lunchtime.

It was the turn of the Year 3 children on Thursday to get stuck into their Roman Day. Thank you to everyone involved (children, staff and parents) for organising and wearing such great costumes to really help bring the day’s hands-on learning to life. Great work all round!

Finally, the whole week was ‘walk to school week’ where we encourage the children to reflect on the positive benefits of exercise in their lives. Once again, a HUGE thank you to families for their support with this.

Here’s to yet more great opportunities to come as we head towards the end of yet another academic year…

Mr T’s Weekly Review: Monday 13th May to Friday 17^th May (SATs Week)

Question: Which two-word phrase can often spread fear and dread through Primary Schools around up and down the land..?

Answer: ‘SATs Week’

Everywhere that is, other than at LJS!

Last week was SATs week. I am really proud to report that the Year 6 children were, as always, superheroes! Despite, I’m sure, having the mixture of feelings that are usual during weeks like this; they all bravely cam into school with smiles on their faces and poured their best efforts into each and every test. I am incredibly proud of each and every one of them and hope that, more importantly, they are proud of themselves to. Legends one and all!

I’d also like to say a HUGE ‘thank you’ to our equally amazing staff team for everything they did to encourage and support the children last week. Whether it be the Year 6 staff members who have worked so hard to prepare and inspire the children all year or the staff from every year group that helped make breakfast; administer the tests and/or let the children know they were there for them with a smile and encouraging word.

BIG thanks also to the children’s families for encouraging and supporting them at home in the run up to last week and each and every day since joining us in Year 3.  It takes their whole support team to give the children the best possible platform to spring from.

Great work everyone!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: Monday 29th April to Friday 3^rd May

Last week started off with one of the highlights of the school year, class photos. It was lovely as always to see so many super-smart people looking great after spending that little extra time in front of the mirror before school…and that was just the staff! 😊

You should have received information on how to purchase class photographs if you would like to. If not, please don’t hesitate to speak to Bev in the office.

The rest of the week was as busy and successful as always. I love the summer term for many reasons, most of them being linked to the weather. One such reason is the amount of sport that is available for the children to take part in and, once again, our teams did an amazing job!

Congratulations this week goes to our athletes. Children from Years 3 and 4 took part in Cross Country running on Tuesday and children from Years 5 and 6 took part in various athletics events on Wednesday. Both groups did incredibly well and represented the school brilliantly. Well done everyone!

Thank you once again for your patience with our assessment launch in Arbor last week. We’re really hoping that once we get any teething problems ironed out – and we’re able to help everyone understand what the information means (future parents’ evenings will be great for this) – that it will be a really useful way for you to keep up to date with the progress your child is making in school. 

Finally, I hope you all had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: Monday 22^nd April to Friday 26^th April

Last week was another great week in the life of LJS!

The week started off with local visits for the children in the Upper School. Year 5 visited Lymington Library and Year 6 visited St Barbe’s museum to learn about how seaside Holidays have changed over the years. I was really proud to hear that staff received lots of compliments about the children’s attitude, enthusiasm and behaviour at the library/museum and also on the journey to/from school. Well done everyone!

Not to be out done by our amazing Upper School Hockey players’ achievements the week before, it was the turn of the Lower School children on Wednesday. Once again the children played really well; worked incredibly hard as a team and had great fun whilst also finishing unbeaten (1 draw and 3 wins) to claim second place overall. Brilliant achievements all round!

Finally, the week was rounded off by an amazing class assembly from the children of 5C who confidently showcased the wonderful variety of subjects they have learnt about so far this academic year.  Well done everyone: great work!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: 15^th to 19^th April

The children settled back into school really well last week following the Easter Holiday which, as usual, was brilliant to see. I’m super proud of them and the staff team for creating an environment which is so easy to come back to; even after two weeks of fun. Great work all round!

Our assembly theme last week was Online safety. We talk to the children lots about this throughout the year in a range of ways during assemblies; Computing/PSHE sessions and/or when related incidents occur. It is one of the biggest, and fastest moving, challenges that we want and need to help the children learn strategies for in order to keep themselves safe in all the related ways. Should you ever require additional information linked to Online Safety (or anything else related to the children’s wellbeing for that matter) please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Rose either on the gate each morning or via the School Office.

Last week was also a great week for LJS Sport. HUGE congratulations go to our lower school Hockey players and Golfers. Both teams did exceptionally well as usual with the Hockey team coming 3^rd! They won lots of their games; represented the school brilliantly as always and had great fun while doing so. Exactly what our school is all about. Well done everyone involved!

Finally for this week, a HUGE thank you to the Friends of the School for securing grant funding to enable the building of our lovely new bike/scooter shelter! It’s great to see it already being used by so many families. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s just to the right of the building as you look towards the school office. A lovely resource for us to use for many years to come. Thank you all involved!

Here’s to more learning; joy; success and (hopefully) dry weather to come next week…!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: 25^th to 28^th March 2024

Welcome back! The staff and I hope that you all had a lovely Easter Holiday and that your plans weren’t spoilt by the weather. Fingers crossed the sun comes out, and stays out, now we are in the summer term…!!

I always find that it’s with mixed emotions that I enter the summer term. On the one hand, excitement for what’s to come but on the other conscious that we’ll soon be saying goodbye to our current Year 6 group. Here’s to a great 14 weeks or so before we have to face that though..!

Now to round up last term: The final week saw our amazing Year 4/5 production.  This year’s theme was the ‘Greatest Showman’ and the children really did put on a great show! The singing was, as usual, absolutely amazing but the thing that always impresses me most is the way that 128 children can work so seamlessly well with each other. This of course comes down to the awesome teamwork between the children but also with the amazing staff teams involved. Huge thanks to each and every one of them. Brilliant entertainment!

In other news…Year 3 enjoyed an exciting trip to Hillier gardens. This was linked to the work they had been doing in Art. Despite the rain, the children and staff had an amazing day and represented the school brilliantly. Well done Team Year 3!

The final week ended with what is always a personal highlight for me, the termly Rocksteady concert. A HUGE ‘well done’ to our RockStars of the future for the time and effort that has gone into learning their instruments/song words in order to entertain us all so brilliantly. A wonderful way to end the last week of term!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: 18^th to 22^nd March

As we continue to race towards the Easter Holiday, we have reached the final weekly review this side of the summer term…but don’t worry, I will update everyone regarding this week’s events when we come back on Monday 15^th April.

As usual, last week was another eventful one at LJS. A MASSIVE ‘well done’ first of all to the Year 5/6 Netballers who took part in the pyramid sports competition on Wednesday. I’m reliably informed that the children played really well as a team; had lots of fun and represented the school wonderfully well: exactly what the event is about. Well done everyone!

Year 6 had a visit from the PCSO on Friday as part of their Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) programme. The PCSOs looked at various ways of avoiding and combatting anti-social behaviour in the community. As always, the children were a credit to themselves and the school, engaging in the sessions with enthusiasm and great maturity. The staff and I were very proud of them all!

Finally, you’ve probably noticed some building work currently going on near the staff car park. I am delighted to report that the Friends of the school have managed to secure funding from the local authority for a new bike and scooter shelter. Not only will this provide a valuable resource for any and all site users wishing to travel to/from the site in these ways, it also hasn’t cost us a penny to build. Great result all round: HUGE thanks to the Friends of our School for arranging it!

I hope you all have a great Easter Holiday. Fingers crossed the sun comes out for us all..! 

Mr T’s Weekly Review:  11^th to 15^th March 2024

I can’t believe we’ve reached the start of our last full week of the Spring Term…time is running away with us as always!

We had another jampacked week in school last week. In addition to all the great in-class learning, Year 6 and Year 4 visited the library. It was great for the children to experience the facilities and resources that our community is very fortunate to benefit from. If you haven’t been for a while, we would highly recommend calling in at some point…

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 4 Netballers who did really well at Priestlands on Wednesday. On top of representing themselves and the school brilliantly with their positive play and teamwork, 'team 2' came back with a medal for finishing 2^nd place. Great achievements all round!

Friday saw us raise money for Red Nose Day. It was wonderful to see the school so colourful and, on top of that, our community raised £226.00 for an amazing cause. I spoke with the children during assembly about the good that the money does. On behalf of the people who benefit, thank you!

Finally, a BIG thank you to everyone who came to see our Mother’s Day assemblies on Tuesday. As last year, they were really popular and it was great to see so many of you there! Thank you once again for your patience – we had aimed to do them on Friday 8^th March but there were just so many things going on that we couldn’t fit everything in – and also flexibility: sadly, the hall just isn’t big enough to do one for everyone.

Here’s looking forward to another great week…!

Mr T’s Weekly Review: 4^th to 8^th March 2024

Hello everyone and welcome to a new weekly, feature. The children, staff and I want to share with you the amazing things that happen at LJS during term time, as soon after they happen as possible…and what a week to start us off!

Our theme for the week was inspirational women. This was to tie in with International Women’s day on Friday and Mother’s Day yesterday. The highlights of our inspirational week included:

Sport events: Well done to all the children that took part in the Indoor Athletics competition for Years 3 to 6 at Priestlands on Wednesday. They ran, jumped and threw with skill and enthusiasm; representing the school brilliantly in the process. Great work everyone!

World Book Day: Thursday saw what for many of us is our annual highlight: World Book Day.  The children and staff dressed up as book characters; enjoyed stories and swapped books. I absolutely adore the fun, colour and excitement that the day brings to the school. Fun and inspirational: a perfect combination!

Our wonderful week culminated on International Women’s Day itself with a ‘fantastic Friday’.

School Council trip to London: Our brilliant School Council went on their annual trip to London. This amazing day saw the children travel to/from the capital by train and tour the Houses of Parliament as usual. This year’s ‘special extra’ was a tour round Westminster Abbey. It was a truly inspirational day and even made the 6am start bearable..!

Girls’ Football World Record: Meanwhile, back at base the rest of the children took part in a National record attempt to have as many girls as possible playing football at the same time. At LJS, all the children (boys and girls) got involved and we were able to contribute 98 girls towards the official record attempt. Fingers crossed as many other schools as possible took part too..!

I would like to say a particularly BIG thank you to all the children, parents and staff for their input last week. Whether it was with costumes; getting to trains on time; encouragement or, most importantly, getting involved with the fun: these amazing opportunities couldn’t

happen without it!