We have a strong commitment in providing a range of wider opportunities at Milford Junior School. Having a variety of positive experiences, both academic and non-academic, develops well rounded children who are better equipped for the future.

Here are some of the wider opportunities that your child could be part of at Milford Junior School:

• A proactive School Council
• Theatre group performances
• A variety of sports clubs
• Music lessons
• School visits
• Residential visits to Mill on the Brue and the Isle of Wight
• Resident artists
• An ‘Outdoor Play and Learning’ (OPAL) philosophy for all playtimes

2024-2025

Clubs Overviews – Autumn Term

Eco-Club

If you're passionate about environmental issues, then Milford Eco-Club is the perfect place for you! In this club, you'll explore various ways to care for our planet while embracing a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle. During our first meeting, we will have an introductory discussion and then focus on two or three key topics selected from those recommended by Eco-Schools, an organisation dedicated to helping schools become more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious.

Choir

Choir are meeting together every Thursday after school to sing together. We are learning some new songs in preparation for an exciting performance we have been invited to take part in at Westlands on the 12^th November with some singers, dancers and drummers from Africa.

We will be one of many schools in the area joining to sing mostly African songs from Kenya so we are having to learn Swahili! The songs are very fun and easy to pick up and we are enjoying putting some actions to some of the songs and singing in different parts with harmonies and in rounds.

Arts and Crafts

This half term in arts and crafts we have made autumnal wreaths. The children used a variety of techniques to complete their wreath including cutting and sticking pictures and drawing their own images. This week, we made a pop-out drawing of a raccoon popping out of a pumpkin. We are looking forward to lots more arts and crafts next half term, including some festive crafts as we get closer to Christmas.

Netball and Football Clubs

During Autumn term Mr White will be running a year 3 football club, year 4 football club, year 5&6 football club and a year 5&6 netball club. At the club the children will learn the basic skills and rules about these sports and will get to use what they learn to compete in skilled activities and competitive matches against each other.

2023 - 2024

Choir

Choir will be singing together again this term and we welcome any new members. We will be learning some more songs to put towards a performance in July, where we will be joining with the drama group to showcase some of the ‘Musical Hits Through the Decades.’ If you love singing, why not come along!

Cricket & Rounders

During Summer term Mr White will be running a year 3&4 cricket club, year 5 rounders club and a year 6 cricket club. At the club the children will learn the main skills and rules about these sports and will get to use what they learn to compete in skilled activities and competitive matches against each other.

Bush Craft Club

During our Bush Craft club the children will be delving into the outdoors and learning various survival and outdoor living skills. We aim to build dens that we can fit into (we may even get to test them), learn about the fire triangle and how to safely build a fire using a variety of modern and more traditional methods, basic first aid, knot tying, bush craft skills and more. We will be out no matter the weather enjoying the “great outdoors”.

Drama Club

 Drama club is where the children get together and work on elements of performance.  For example, improvisation, script work, character studies, intonation, pronunciation, movement and gesture.  It's a great opportunity to build confidence and the skills to become not only an actor but in any situation where they need to speak to an audience.

Board Games and Puzzle Club

In board games club this half term, the year 5 and 6 children have been playing different games with their friends. They have enjoyed Charades for Children, Chess and Snakes and Ladders. It is a great opportunity to have fun with friends but also practice how to solve disagreements and manage losing.

Upper-school Book Club

We have continued with the Brightstorm adventure book and we are hooked! The story has an exciting plot and is full of twists and turns. The children that come along to book club are always so excited to read the next few chapters each week. We are currently making predictions about the ending!

Over the next few weeks, we will have finished the book and will be using our knowledge of the main characters (Arthur and Maudie Brightstorm) to create character profiles. We will then use these profiles to apply to Blue Peter for our Book Club badges.

Science Club

The year 6 pupils attending the Science club on Mondays have been tasked with brainstorming, formulating ideas, building and testing designs that will endeavor to win them the weekly challenges set. The pupils work in small groups of two or three and compete against each other. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities include “Egg Zip-wire”, “Marshmellow catapult”, “Balloon Rocket”, “Spaghetti Sculpture” and “Magic Milk Potion” to name a few!

Let the madness begin

Choir

In the Spring Term we are offering all year groups the chance to sing together. This involves learning warm up techniques for the voice and a variety of different songs. Some will be sung a cappella (voices only) and some with piano accompaniment.

We will be working on songs to perform at the end of the term. One performance will be to the parents at school and we are also planning a visit to a local care home to bring some joy and music to the residents there.

The children have enjoyed being involved in the choosing of some of the songs.

French Club

French club meets on a Thursday after school and it is a chance for us to practice our French with some fun activities, songs and games. Whether its learning our French numbers with a hide-and-seek game, playing 'Lotto' or making paper pizzas to practice food vocabulary, the activities we do encourage us to enjoy speaking French and learning another language. We are also discovering more about French culture and what it is like to live in France. It is the perfect club for Francophiles!

Film Club

In film club we love choosing a film together and relaxing while watching it. Children are able to drink water and eat snacks while enjoying a film with their friends. Films are always U rated and appropriate for the year groups.

Coding Club

During Coding Club this term, we will come together to explore the world of computer programming in a fun and interactive way using Purple Mash software. By the end of the Coding Club sessions, we aim to have created and developed our very own games, which can be shared at home with friends and family. 

The children will design and create these games over several weeks and will build on the skills taught in school as part of their Computing curriculum.

Dodgeball Club

In Dodgeball Club during the Spring Term, year five and six children will focus on a range of different skills including: throwing, catching, safely retrieving and evading dodgeballs. As the term progresses, the children should develop the skills and understanding of the rules required to partake in a full dodgeball match/tournament. Some children may even have the opportunity to represent the school in an Inter-School Dodgeball Tournament. 

Basketball Club

During Spring term Mr White will be running a year 3 basketball club, year 4 basketball club and a year 5&6 basketball club. At the club the children will learn the basic skills and rules of basketball and will get to use what they learn to compete in skilled activities and competitive matches against each other.

Lower School Book Club

In LKS2 book club, we enjoy sharing a new, award winning book together. We have lots of copies of one book, each child gets to follow the words as the teacher reads it aloud and then we discuss the various themes and ideas that crop up as we read. It is a relaxing and inspiring hour for children that love reading new stories.

Upper School Book Club

We have had a lovely start to our book club. During the first week we made our very own personalised book marks. Since then, we have started reading an amazing book called Brightstorm by the author Vashti Hardy. 

Football and Netball Clubs

During Autumn term Mr White will be running a year 3&4 football club, year 5&6 football club and a year 5&6 netball club. At the club the children will learn the basic skills and rules about these sports and will get to use what they learn to compete in skilled activities and competitive matches against each other.

International Club

For International club so far, we have 'travelled' to Australia, Vietnam and the USA. We have filled out the population, currency and main language of each country in our passports and have completed an activity in each destination. We had great fun doing some Australian aboriginal symbol art and creating tourist posters to encourage people to visit Vietnam. We look forward to our upcoming 'visits' to Kenya and Mexico!

OPAL Club

Our outdoor, play and learning (OPAL) club encompasses the philosophies we follow for our break and lunchtime play. Quality play opportunities have been proven to support mental wellbeing, physical development and the building of stronger relationships with others. Within this club, children can be creative with 'loose parts' e.g. tyres, cable drums, develop better communication skills and have lots of fun outdoors!

Art Club

Lower school children have enjoyed attending art club this term. It is a friendly, learning environment where every week we are inspired to explore and create our very own mini masterpieces!

In our first week, we were inspired by Pablo Picasso’s cubism period. We had fun drawing our very own Picasso style cubist portraits! We used whiteboard pens and chunky felt tips to colour our work and even created our own gallery at the end of the session. We were so proud of our work; we took it home before Miss H. could take a photo!

In week two, we were introduced to Yayoi Kusama and her incredible dotty pumpkins! We were taught how to draw a pumpkin using pencil. After this, we used oil pastels to create a second pumpkin on black paper. So many children commented on our incredible work!

At the time of publication, it is currently week 3 and we have just had a lovely lesson exploring watercolour paints. We were shown how to use plenty of water and enjoy the experience of having the paint move on the page. We are painting autumnal landscapes and will finish off with some black pen patterns next week.

This is just a flavour of what happens in our creative club!

2022-2023

Bike Club 

Bike Club has returned on our new school site. Eight enthusiastic cyclists were present for the first session. We looked at basic bike safety and then completed a variety of skill activities such as scooting, saddle push and relay handovers. 

In future weeks we will focus on different types of bike races: track cycling, BMX and Cyclo-cross. 

Board Games Club 

In board games club, we have been playing lots of different games including charades, pictureka and snakes and ladders. We have also been doing puzzles, playing Jenga and colouring. 

Athletics Club 

Over the next 4 weeks during athletics club we will be focusing on our running, jumping and throwing skills where the children will learn different techniques and compete against each other in some mini competitions. 

Running - Our running skills will consist of sprinting and managing a steady pace over a long distance. 

Jumping - Our jumping skills will consist of standing long jump, running long jump and triple jump. During these activities we will focus on the run up, take-off and landing. 

Throwing - Our throwing skills will consist of over arm, spinning and pushing techniques. These skills will be used in activities such as Howler, Javelin, Shot Put, Discus and Hammer Throw. 

Rounders Club 

In this club, we will be learning how to play rounders following the English Rounders Association rules. In the first few sessions, we will focus on developing our throwing and catching skills to help us when we are fielding and then batting a ball using different types of bats.  

Once we have developed these skills, we will then apply these to rounders games. In each game everyone will have a turn at batting and fielding. Throughout these sessions, we will be focusing on our collaboration skills.  

Sketching Club 

As an introduction to sketching and drawing club we practised drawing fruit, focusing first on getting the shape right. We also looked closely where the light hit the fruit to improve our understanding of shading. Last week we looked in more detail at the tones of shading we could use and practised using heavy pressure to lighter pressure, to achieve a variety of shades from our pencils. We have drawn 3D shapes, which the children enjoyed doing without having to use rulers! We have lots more activities to complete for the rest of the term, some of which have been chosen by the children in the club.   

Theatre Club 

The children have had a fantastic start practising for the Lion King Show which will be taking place at the end of this term. We have all really enjoyed our first few attempts at learning the lyrics of 'Hakuna Matata' and 'I can't wait to be king'. It is going to be a 'mane' event and a performance this cast of lions can all be proud of! 

Cricket

This half term we are running cricket after-school clubs for all the year groups where they will learn many skills such as bowling, fielding, batting and wicket keeping. We will also learn the basic cricket rules such as the number of balls that are in an over, the different ways you can score runs and the different ways you can get the batter out. The children will also take part in loads of fun cricket games that will test all these skills along with team work and communication as well.

Eco-club

If you are interested in environmental issues then eco-club is the club for you! Here, you will learn more about the many ways to look after our planet and adopt a healthy lifestyle. After an initial discussion on our first meeting, we will focus on two or three topics taken from the topics recommended by eco schools, which is an organisation that helps schools to become more eco-friendly and environmentally aware. The topics we have chosen for the Summer term are improving the school grounds, biodiversity and litter. 

Craft Club

During Summer Term 1, Mrs Douglas will be running an origami and paper craft club. Each week we will be completing a different type of craft activity, including creating something to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.  

French club

 In French club we have had the chance to improve our French by singing songs and playing games. We have learnt about French numbers and colours as well as learning how to spell out our names using the French pronunciation for the letters of the alphabet. In the last week we practised and performed role plays based on a cafe scenario. We have become much more confident at speaking French!

Running Club

 This half-term, a group of 18 children took part in running club with Mr Clist. The children spent time looking at both longer distance running, as well as shorter, sharper sprints. In addition to this, there was lots of discussion about techniques when it came to running and the children played many games/took part in a variety of different races to make sure that it was as enjoyable as possible for them.

Multi Skills 

During Spring Term 2 Mr White will be running Multi Skills after school clubs for all the year groups at MJS. During the clubs the children will work on a wide range of skills that would be needed in many different sports such as football, rugby, cricket, tennis etc. These skills include Accuracy, Agility, Balance, Coordination, Communication, control, reactions, speed, team work and many more. The great thing about multi skills is there is an unlimited number of games and challenges the children can take part in through exercising and team building whilst putting all the skills listed above to the test. 

 Netball 

During Spring Term 2, Mrs Bews and Mrs Lloyd will be running a Netball club for Years 5 and 6 pupils. During the sessions, the children we learn the rules of high 5 netball and the different passes that you are allowed to use. They will be also learning the footwork rules and will be practicing passing the ball within the 4 second time limit.  Also, they will practice shooting into the netball posts from different positions in the shooting circle. Each week, there will be a number of drills before the children will be apply these skills in some netball games.