Summer Newsletter 9 [Friday 28th June]
Dear Parents & Carers
Apologies for the lack of a newsletter last week. The Woodlands newsletter elves were reportedly recovering after ‘over-celebrating’ Albania’s 2-2 draw with Croatia at the Euros. Rest assured, disciplinary proceedings are underway…
I must congratulate Y6 on the way they conducted themselves at their residential trip to PGL at Boreatton Park in Shropshire last week. Their behaviour was exemplary throughout their stay: they were respectful to everyone they met; they supported each other throughout, encouraging their peers to push themselves to (quite literally) greater heights; they were kind & caring – looking after anyone who was under the weather or a wee bit homesick. Most importantly, everyone had wonderful time. The children can be proud of themselves as they continually rose to conquer each challenge in front of them. Personally, my ears are still ringing from the screams of Mrs Mowatt as she tackled the giant swing… This was my fifteenth trip to PGL with Y6 at Woodlands & I can honestly say that I haven’t supervised a better group. They were a genuine credit to Woodlands & their families.
We’ve nearly completed the first week of Woodlands Olympic Sports Festival fortnight & it’s been brilliant! The festival kicked off with a wonderful opening ceremony featuring Woodlands junior choir & a terrific troupe of dancers. The whole school then sat enthralled as the were treated to a dynamic display by Matt & Charlie from Fusion Extreme BMX riders. Matt is currently the reigning British ‘flatland’ champion. Our Y5&6 children were then lucky enough to be able to take part in BMX workshops. Holly Hibbort (GB swimmer) ran fitness circuit training sessions throughout Wednesday – she certainly ensured that the children had no time to rest. We must also thank Alternative Adventures for helping the children from Y1 to Y6 scale the heights of the climbing wall – it was great to see so many children pushing themselves to take that extra step upwards. Today, we’ve had Sefton Active Lifestyles making smoothies with reception & Y1&2 – they looked delicious & went down a treat with the children. A great friend of the school, Ray, & his team from Pro Skills Sports, have been taking the children through a carousel of activities: kinball, dodgeball, football, handball, football skills & ‘money bank’. This has been absolutely brilliant – lots of teamwork, lots of energy expended & lots of fun too. The Pro Skill Sports coaches are so enthusiastic & positive with children - Sport for All indeed!
Here’s this week’s ‘nudges’ to help you find out about your child’s learning…
Nursery
Can you remember what happened to Tiddler?
{Literacy: ‘Tiddler’ Julia Donaldson}
Reception [Red & Blue]
Can you talk about how you made a healthy smoothie?
{Sefton Active Lifestyles / Woodlands Olympic Sports Festival}
Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]
Who is Holly Hibbort & what has she achieved?
{Woodlands Olympic Sports Festival}
Y3&4 [3A, 3/4M & 4G]
Why are the values of excellence, respect & friendship important amongst Olympians?
{Woodlands Olympic Sports Festival}
Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]
What type of cam have you chosen for your DT project? Explain how it works.
{DT topic: ‘Moving Toys’}
This week, our whole school attendance is 96.2% - below our 97% target. We had no classes with 100% attendance. We have 4 classes equalling or bettering 97%: Red Class (97.7%) Blue Class (98.7%), Green Class (99.3%) & 3/4M (97.0%).
We had 2 classes who had no late marks this week: 5/6P & 6R. We had 29 late marks across the whole school. 26 late mark were ‘before the register closed’ – that’s before 9.20am & 3 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.
Next week. our Woodlands Olympic Sports Festival continues. We’ve got tennis & football coaching & visits from Dan Purvis (Olympian gymnast), Tina Cullen MBE (hockey Olympian) & Paula Milnes (one of the ‘Lost Lionesses’ from the women’s 1971 World Cup in Mexico https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/extra/LNoYd7se8m/the-lost-lionesses)
We’ve also got 2 sports days scheduled:
- Wednesday 3rd July Reception & KS1 (Red, Blue, Green, Purple & Yellow classes)
- Thursday 4th July KS2 (3G, 3/4M, 4W, 5D. 5/6P & 6R)
Both sports days will begin as soon as possible after morning registration. We have pencilled in a reserve date on Friday 5th July for if either, or both, sports days are cancelled due to the weather or conditions under foot. Unfortunately, if the reserve sports day is also washed out then we will hold the sports days when we can but parents & cares will not be able to attend. Fingers (& toes) crossed for the weather to be kind!
Nursery sports day will be held on Wednesday 10th July at 1.30pm.
Don’t forget to vote in the general election next Thursday, 4th July.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
KD Williams
Headteacher
Last word revisited
I went into the bookshop & asked the woman for a book about tortoises.
She asked, "Hardback?"
I replied, "Yeah, & little heads too."
