All this week we have been the Hallam FM School of The Week. The highlight of the week was on Free Fruit Friday when we were thrilled to have the Transformers vehicles with us! To see the photographs click here.
Posted May 2015
Along with our Family of Schools, we celebrated Wishbone Day. The day was part of an international awareness effort for Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as 'brittle bones'. The children wore yellow and took part in activities throughout the day to produce some wonderful art work.
There is more information available on YouTube,click here to view - Me, Myself and OI.
Posted April 2015
Thanks to everyone for a wonderful bedtime story day. The Y1 children from Halfway Infants joined us for an exciting afternoon of activities led by Y6 children. In assembly we received a ‘Story Chair’ from a mystery benefactor. After school Y2 and Y3 parents and children enjoyed the campfires and dens created by Mrs Hunter from the infants. It was a wonderful event, enjoyed by all involved!
Posted March 2015
Below is a copy of the parental feedback from the recent Family of Schools survey.
Click here to see the latest Sparkle and Shine updates!
Posted Feb 2015
Click here to check out the Change 4 Life website for some great healthy food and activity tips!
Please support our drive to become a healthier school by making sure children only have water to drink in class and by providing them with healthy snacks e.g fresh fruit, cereal bars, rice cakes or breadsticks.
Children - don't forget your to hand in your Healthy Lunchbox competition entry by
Wed 11th Feb!
Posted Feb 2015
We will be celebrating Safer Internet Day (SID) during assembly, where the focus will be about the risks of using Snapchat and Instagram. Please support your child at home by looking at the SID website together - www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2015
Posted Feb 2015
The Y3, Y4 and Y5 classes all spent a great day at Twycross Zoo last week! Everyone agreed it was an excellent trip and the children thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately due to the snow the Y6 trip was postponed - the good news is that a new date has been booked and the children will now be going on Tuesday February 10th!
Posted Feb 2015
We're collecting! - Sainsbury's Active Kids vouchers can be collected from 28th January until 5th May 2015 at all Sainsbury’s stores, petrol stations and when ordering groceries online. One voucher is earned for every £10 spent in a single transaction at Sainsbury’s Supermarkets.
Donating your vouchers to Halfway Junior School means we can exchange them for an exciting range of sports and cooking equipment.
Posted Jan 2015
Below is a letter from Westfield School in response to the recent Ofsted inspection.
To see the full Ofsted Report please click here.
We would like to remind you how we will communicate any information during adverse weather conditions.
Posted Jan 2015
Well done to our Athletics Team who travelled to Ponds Forge to compete in the next round of their competition. The team came 3rd overall and narrowly missed out on making it through to the next stage. Mrs Sweeney was impressed by the teams’ gamesmanship and camaraderie which has made taking part a pleasure. Well done to everybody involved and thank you to parents and families who have supported us throughout the event.
Posted Jan 2015
We would like thank all our parents and families who came to support our performance 'It's a Cracker!' We hope you enjoyed it just as much as we did! The show would not have been possible without the hard work of all the staff and children of Halfway Juniors and special thanks go to Mrs Crofts and Mr Dixon. The feedback from our families, governors and visitors from Shortbrook and Halfway NI has been overwhelmingly positive. We are so proud of all our children who made the shows such a success with their fabulous singing and acting!
Posted Jan 2015
Our choir, along with choirs from our Family of Schools, came together for a joint carol singing event at Crystal Peaks last week. Despite singing outside in the cold weather they did us proud. People once again commented how wonderful the singing was. Well done to everyone who was involved in making the event success.
Posted Dec 2014
We would like to extend a huge thank you to our School Choir and bag packing team who were a credit to our school last week. The children were praised by the Morrisons staff for their beautiful singing and they commented that Halfway Juniors was the best school they had ever had! Our bag packers delighted the shoppers , who commented that they were polite and enthusiastic. Well done to everyone involved and thank you to all our parents and families who came to support their children.
Posted Dec 2014
Recently a group of our Y5 and Y6 children took part in Bikeablity Cycle Training. The majority of our children reached the Level 2 standard and now have the skills to become experienced road cyclists. Certificates for all children which took part will be awarded in our next Celebration Assembly.
We are very proud of all the children who took part and would like to share the feedback which we received from the instructors: “….. a very welcoming school, with friendly and helpful staff including reception, caretaker and teachers. The children were polite and well behaved. Overall, they showed great enthusiasm for the training and were a pleasure to teach”.
Posted Nov 2014
Our meeting to discuss the national changes to assessment in Primary Schools and the shared approach of both Halfway Infant and Junior Schools will take place on Wednesday 26th November. There will be a session at 2pm and another at 5pm. Mr Varnam, Mrs Carter and Miss Kay will be there to meet parents and refreshments will be available. Please complete the slip below to indicate if you are attending.
Posted Nov 2014
UPDATED This week our children have spent time designing and making anti-bullying posters. The winners from each class were chosen and their posters have been displayed in school and each child has received a prize for their fantastic efforts. Thursday was a fabulous day, when we were joined by Steve Varnam from Halfway Infants for a balloon release! The sky was filled with brightly coloured balloons and our children celebrated that Halfway Junior’s is a place where bullying is never tolerated. In the newly cleared beds in our garden area we have planted two new trees, purchased with some of the money raised from our Spooky Sponsored Walk. Every child in school has also decorated a heart with anti-bullying statements. The hearts will hang like leaves on our Friendship Trees.
Updated Nov 2014
We recently sent a team of 20 children to compete in an indoor Athletics Tournament at Westfield School. Once again, our Halfway Juniors children showed amazing team spirit and sportsmanship. Our team came joint first, along with Brook House Junior School, and will now go on to the next heats at Ponds Forge in January. Well done to all those who took part and thank you to all our parents and families who transported children to and from the event and supported them throughout the competition.
Posted Nov 2014
Staff and parents of Halfway Juniors are organising a spruce up of the school grounds on Saturday 8th November 10am-12pm. We are planning a good tidy up, weeding, fence painting etc. A letter will be coming home after half term and everyone interested will be able to sign up and join us!
Posted Oct 2014
UPDATE - Thank you to our staff and families who came along to spruce up the school gardens and grounds this weekend. Despite the driving rain, the event was a great success and we got lots done! A special thank you goes to the Kirby, Taylor and Gregg families for all their help and hard work on the day.
Update Nov 2014
We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who attended our annual Firework Party! It was fantastic to see the Infant and Junior School communities unite and we would like to say a special thank you to Steve Varnam for helping the two schools come together so successfully.
Additional thanks go to Mr Berry for his help organising the event and lighting the fireworks on the night. Thanks to Mrs Furness, mum to Daniel (Y4) who made the delicious curries and jacket potatoes, they went down a treat! Thank you to Mrs Byrne who made our fantastic sweet bouquet raffle prizes. The raffle was drawn during our Celebration assembly and our winners were 1st Olivia (Y5WL), 2nd Owen Y3 (Y3BC) and 3rd Mrs Greaves. The ‘guess how many pumpkins in the jar’ game was won by George (Y3KS). Well done everyone, enjoy your prizes!
We would really like to hear your thoughts about the Firework Party click here for a feedback form.
Updated Nov 2014
We took two Y6 teams to the Westfield Futsal Tournament in the last week of term. Both teams showed great sportsmanship throughout their games and made it to the final where they played each other. The final score was a 3-3 draw! Thank you to all our parents and families who transported children to and from the tournament and for supporting and cheering our teams on at the touchline.
Updated Oct 2014
We would like to say a huge well done to all our children who completed the Spooky Sponsored Walk just before half-term. Although the weather was kind on the day, the heavy rain fall the previous day made it a very muddy walk in the woods! Thank you to all our volunteer parents and families who walked with their children and joined in the fun. Please bring any sponsor money to school in an envelope with your child’s name and class and the amount enclosed.
UPDATE - The total amount raised will be announced in the Celebration Assembly on Friday 21st November and the prize, a £15 Smyths Toys voucher, will be awarded then!
Updated Nov 2014
What's Going On is a publication for all children and young people with disabilities, special educational needs and long term health conditions, plus their parents, carers and front line service providers. Click here to view.
Posted Oct 2014
Sadly our Caretaker, Mr Douglas will be leaving us at half-term. Mr Douglas has worked at Halfway Junior's for two and a half years and has been an invaluable member of the team who has gone above and beyond in his role as Caretaker. He will be sorely missed by all our staff, children and families. We hope you will join us in wishing him all the best in his new role.
Posted Oct 2014
Please join us on Thursday 23rd October at 2.15pm for our Curriculum Showcase. The classrooms will become museums for the afternoon and our children will be historians and teach their visitors all about ancient times! Take Away Task homework will be displayed in the Red Community Room.
Posted Oct 2014
We would like to say a big thank you to the team at Ideal Envelopes who have kindly donated a variety of stationary items to school, including card, paper and some exciting Christmas goodies!
Ideal Envelopes, based in Beighton, are one of the market leaders in the quality envelopes, card and paper sector. Click here to find out more!
Posted Oct 2014
This terms Take Away Task 'The Ancients' is due back to school by Friday 17th October. We are looking forward to seeing the children's work, which will be on display during our Curriculum Showcase event on Thursday 23rd October.
Click here for a reminder of the tasks!
Posted Oct 2014
Parents evenings are on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th October 3.30pm-6pm. This is your opportunity to reflect on how your child has settled in to the their new class, and to look at some of the work they have completed so far this term. Please return the slip on this weeks newsletter if you would like to make an appointment.
Posted Oct 2014
After the success of last year we will once again be celebrating Halloween, by taking part in a Spooky Sponsored Walk on Wednesday 22nd October. Sponsor forms will be sent home this week so you can begin collecting sponsorship from friends and family. Parent and families are welcome to join us on the walk, please let the office team know if you would like to come along!
Posted Oct 2014
It's Harvest Festival time and once gain we are supporting our neighbours the residents of Blackberry Flats. We are inviting you to help by bringing in donations of dried, tinned or packet items such as baked beans, rice pudding, coffee/tea, cereals, sugar, cooking sauces, pasta, spaghetti, jam, biscuits etc. The items collected will be on display in our Harvest assembly on Thursday 16th October 2.15pm.
Posted Oct 2014
Our Macmillan Coffee Morning was a resounding success and raised a tremendous £185!!! We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our parents and families who came along to support such a worthy cause. There was an impressive array of cakes and buns on offer, all donated by our Halfway community. Our children got to visit the event throughout the day and they were joined by many of our parents and families. We would like to extend a huge thank you to everybody who was involved for making this one of our most rewarding fundraising occasions!
For more details please click here to visit the Macmillan website.
Posted Sept 2014
The latest 'Let's Grow' campaign from Morrisons is under way and we are taking part again this year. The Gardening Club have a 'wish list' of items they would love to order, including soil, watering cans, a wheel barrow and some secateurs. We need around 6000 vouchers to fulfil their wish list, so if you, your friends or family shop at Morrisons, please remember to ask for your vouchers and donate them to our school.
WANTED! Do you have any second hand or unwanted items on our wish list? They would be very gratefully received, along with any spare seeds or plants you may have. Do we have any tomato growers in our community? If so, would you donate your old grow bags to our Gardening Club? The leftover soil is great for our garden and would be put to very good use!
Posted Sept 2014
Mrs Carter would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who came to our Open Afternoon last week. We received some lovely feedback from our parents and families who said they really enjoyed the afternoon and that it was a great opportunity to meet their child's new class teacher and be able to work with their children.
Posted Sept 2014
Our first WOW day of the new school year took place on Friday. To compliment this half term topic, Walk Like An Ancient, we invited children and staff to dress like an ancient for the day! Everyone joined in with this exciting start to our new term by dressing in their ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian finery. We also had a few explorers and mummies! Our Y6 classes had a Greek tasting session where they got to try feta cheese, olives, humus, dates and other traditional Greek foods. Throughout the day all our children joined Mrs Sweeney in the school hall where they visited an Ancient Tomb and took part in a fact finding mission. They enjoyed an archaeological dig and also a group art project. There was a buzz around school and everyone really enjoyed the day!
Posted Sept 2014