Autumn Newsletter 1 [Friday 9th September]
Dear Parents & Carers
We held an assembly this morning to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The children & staff reflected on what a special person she was & how she served our country so well for the past 70 years.
Our first week is almost over; it’s been incredibly busy & has raced by – time flies when you’re having fun! After our N1 children (new starters) visited nursery on Monday & Tuesday, the unit is up & running & following its core hours. Our reception classes (Red & Blue) were in school for 3 half days & are now, hopefully, full-time pupils at Woodlands for the next 7 years. On Thursday, they (reception pupils) were able to sample the delights of Holly’s (& her wonderful team in the kitchen) cooking for the first time; the most popular choice by far was spaghetti bolognese. The children thoroughly enjoyed their lunch, although one or two of them did leave the hall resembling a certain orange-coloured resident of Mar-A-Lago… The children in the rest of the school have made the transition to their new year groups smoothly – they have behaved impeccably & shown a genuine eagerness to learn – their teachers & TAs have been most impressed.
I’d like to welcome all our new families whether your child has started in nursery or reception or one of our other year groups. As ever, staff have been impressed with how caring our children are – making sure the new children in their classes feel welcomed, included & cared for.
The children in our oldest classes, Miss Dale’s, Miss Pickford’s & Mrs Rimmer’s, have been getting to grips with their Chromebooks. Every child in Y5&6 will have their own tablet to use across the curriculum; after trialling their use next year we know this will enhance their learning. I’d like to thank FOWSA for helping fund this project, & everyone who has attended a FOWSA event – everyone at Woodlands appreciates the support you give the school
Next week, we are holding Parent Information meetings (reception – Y6) so that your children can make the best possible start to the new academic year in their new classes. The teachers will be running through a whole series of subjects: from how you can help your child at home to our school rules; from the topics your children will be studying to what day they’ll have PE; from what their homework expectations are to when forest school or swimming will be.
Each of the following meetings will begin at 5pm (all the meetings will be held in the junior hall, apart from reception which will be held in Red & Blue classrooms):
- Monday 12th September: Reception {Red & Blue} [Miss Dollery & Mrs Fortune]
- Tuesday 13th September: Year 5&6 {5D, 5/6RP & 6R} [Miss Dale, Miss Pickford & Mrs Rimmer]
- Wednesday 14th September: Year 1&2 {Green, Purple & Yellow} [Miss Morgan, Mrs Crilly, Mrs Chadwick & Mrs Dempster]
- Thursday 15th September: Year 3&4 {3G, 3/4M & 4T} [Mr Grant, Mrs Mowatt & Mrs Taylor]
Here’s his week’s ‘nudges’ to help you start conversations with your children about their learning…
Nursery
What do you like about nursery?
{Understanding the World}
Reception [Red & Blue]
What have you enjoyed doing most this week?
{Understanding the World}
Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]
What is a lighthouse & why are they important?
{English topic: ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ Ronda & Davis Armitage}
Y3&4 [3G, 3/4M & 4T]
What can you tell me about the city state of Athens?
{History topic: ‘Ancient Greece’}
Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]
How do cartographers partition the globe?
{Geography topic: ‘Spatial Sense’}
This week, our whole school attendance (excluding reception just for this week) is 96.9% - almost at our 97% mark! We have 5 classes which bettered 97%: Purple (97.6%); Yellow (97.1%); 3/4M (98.0%); 5D (97.7%).
We had 8 classes who had no late marks this week: Red Class, Blue Class, 3G, 3/4M, 4T, 5D, 5/6P & 6R. Every single class in KS2 (juniors Y3-Y6) had everyone arriving punctually – well done! We’ve had 12 late marks across the whole school. 8 late marks were ‘before the register closed’ – that’s before 9.20am & 4 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.
I’d like to remind everyone to take care when moving through the school car park with their children. Members of staff & visitors need to use this throughout the school day – it is a working car park. There was a ‘near miss’ the other day, when an unsupervised child walked behind a reversing vehicle – luckily, no harm was done. Parents do need to be aware of where their children are at all times.
Have a great weekend
KD Williams
Headteacher
PS
We’ll have news on the new website soon – honest!
Last word
What do you call a woman standing on top of a mountain 2 miles away?
Dot…
