Spring Newsletter 1 [Friday 12th January]
Dear Parents & Carers
2025. A busy year ahead: Taylor Swift’s Eras tour lands in the UK in June; Germany hosts Euro 2024 [June/July]; Woodlands Festival of Sport [June/July]; the Olympics [July/August] & Paralympics [August/September] in Paris; a general election?
It was lovely to welcome everyone back to Woodlands after the Christmas break. There was lots of excited chatter about the presents they’d been given, how much chocolate they’d eaten & how late they’d stayed up on New Year’s Eve – that was just the staff… The children were pleased to see their friends & eager to talk about what a lovely time they’d had over the holiday. They quickly settled back into the school routine & were soon getting down to work.
One of the strengths of Woodlands is our book-led curriculum. We use high quality & varied texts to provide a stimulus to explore different genres and develop literacy skills. On the return to school this week, each phase has started a new round of English texts.
- Nursery Fairy Tales [part of a traditional tales topic]
- Reception While the World is Sleeping Pamela Duncan Edwards & Daniel Kirk [part of a topic looking at nocturnal & hibernating animals]
- Y1&2 Goldilocks & the 3 Bears traditional tale
- Y3&4 The Lost Happy Endings Carol Ann Duffy & Jane Ray
- Y5&6 holes Louis Sachar
The books have cross curricular links and explore cultural, emotional and social issues allowing children to express their ideas and contextualise real world issues.
Here are the first ‘nudges’ of 2024:
Nursery
What season is it? How do you know?
{Understanding the World}
Reception [Red & Blue]
What are nocturnal animals? Can you name some?
{Literacy ‘While the World is Sleeping’}
Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]
How does Bear feel when he finds himself in the city?
{English topic: ‘Goldilocks & Just One Bear’ Leigh Hodgkinson}
Y3&4 [3A, 3/4M & 4G]
What similes did you use to describe the witch in The Lost Happy Endings?
{English topic: ‘The Lost Happy Endings’}
Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]
Tell me about the characters in the novel ‘holes’. What are your predictions for the story?
{English topic: ‘holes’}
Just a reminder that the closing date for applications for places in reception classes for September 2024 is on Monday (15th January). https://www.sefton.gov.uk/childrens-services/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/starting-primary-or-secondary-school-in-september-2024/
This week, our whole school attendance is 96.2% - below our 97% target. We have 0 classes with 100% attendance & we have 4 classes equalling or bettering 97%: Yellow Class (99.3%), 3/4M (98.6%), 5/6P (98.7%) & 6R (99.4%).
We only had 1 class who had no late marks this week: 5/6P. We had 40 late mark across the whole school. 38 late mark were ‘before the register closed’ – that’s before 9.20am & 2 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.
Finally, on a personal note, I want to let you know that I have decided to retire at the end of this academic year (August 2024). It has been a privilege to have been part of the Woodlands community for the past 17 years - 10 of those as headteacher. It has not been an easy decision to make, but I feel after almost 37 years as a teacher, it is the right time for me to step down. The strong relationship between pupils, parents, staff & governors is what makes Woodlands so special. Our governors, alongside Sefton local authority, will begin the process of finding my replacement during the spring term. I’m sure the new headteacher will lead the school from strength to strength. There is a letter from the governors attached to this message.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend
KD Williams
Headteacher
Last word revisited
Fell through the roof of a French bakery,
in a lot of pain right now
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