Autumn Newsletter 13 [Friday 9th December]
Dear Parents & Carers
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… preparations are in full swing for next week’s performances. Lots of dancing, singing & dressing in bright, sparkly outfits - & that’s just the staff! I know the children are excited too – they can’t wait for their families to see them on stage.
I’d like to thank the intrepid band of FOWSA volunteers who organised Festive Friday today, it was great success & the children had a wonderful time. FOWSA members give a great deal of their own time to make sure these events happen; they work incredibly hard on behalf of the school & often get little thanks. These events don’t just happen; they wouldn’t take place without this small posse of people dedicated to helping our school. FOWSA do a fantastic job raising much needed money for school – with real-terms cuts to our school budget, every penny they raise is gratefully received. On a different note, I was disappointed to hear that members of FOWSA & our office staff have been receiving flak from parents who missed the deadline for their children to participate in Festive Friday. The deadline was there for a reason; certain items had to be pre-ordered - this was made clear. Unfortunately, if you missed the deadline your child could not take part.
Every time a pupil achieves TT Rock Stars Rock Hero status, we induct them into Woodlands Rock Hero Hall of Fame. Rock Heroes are pupils that can complete ten ‘Studio’ TT Rock Star games, based on multiplication & division facts from 1x1 to 12x12, in an average time of less than 1 second per question. We celebrate their achievement in our Star of the Week assembly on a Friday afternoon; they are presented with a Rock Hero badge & sign one of the electric guitars from our TT Rock Stars display. Each time pupils are inducted into the Woodlands Rock Hero Hall of Fame a different member of staff chooses a ‘rock’ song to play. I thought you may be interested in the choices so far…
Wolfmother ‘The Joker & the Thief’ [Mr Grant 3G] No, me neither…
The Stranglers ‘No More Heroes’ [Mrs Rimmer 6R] A punk classic – took me back to my youth.
Europe ‘The Final Countdown’ [Mrs Mowatt 3/4M] Unbelievably, this went down a storm!
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ [Miss Dale 5D] A great song, but LadBaby has a lot to answer for… the children all sang, “I love sausage rolls.”
Blink-182 ‘All the Small Things’ [Mrs Crilly Purple Class] The children loved this – we almost had our very own mosh-pit
Metallica ‘Enter Sandman’ [Mrs Simpson Nursery] A beast of a song.
Bon Jovi ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ [Miss Morgan Green Class] I thought this would be a real crowd pleaser – it was.
Here’s this week’s ‘nudges’ to help you find about your children’s learning…
Nursery
Can you retell the story of Little Red Riding Hood?
{Literacy}
Reception [Red & Blue]
What are stars?
{Understanding the World}
Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]
Why did King Charles I not want to listen to parliament?
{History topic: ‘Kings, Queens & Leaders’}
Y3&4 [3G, 3/4M & 4T]
Describe the mythical bet that you invented for your version of the Greek myth, ‘Jason & the Argonauts’.
{History topic: ‘Ancient Greece’}
Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]
How would you describe the Ethiopian Highlands?
{Geography topic: ‘Mountains’}
This week, our whole school attendance has fallen to 90.0% - we know there’s a lot of illness out & about just now. We had no classes with 100% attendance this week & only 1 class exceeding our 97% target: Yellow Class (98.6%).
We only had 1 class who had no late marks this week: 3/4M. We had 50 late marks across the whole school. 44 late marks were ‘before the register closed’ (that’s before 9.20am) & 6 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.
Have a lovely weekend.
KD Williams
Headteacher
Last word
I went into the bookshop & asked the woman for a book about tortoises.
She asked, "Hardback?"
I replied, "Yeah, & little heads too."
