Home School Links 2021 - 4

Friday 29th January 2021

Message from Mrs Hall

As I am sure you are aware from the coverage in the media this week, the government has announced that the earliest schools will be open for all children will be the 8^th March. We know this news will be very disappointing for many children and families, we were also saddened by this news as we believe the best place for children to learn is in school with their peers. However, it is imperative that we all do our very best to protect the NHS by staying at home, so that we can ensure cases of coronavirus decline and vaccines are administered to vulnerable groups. Please know you are doing an amazing job with home schooling, the quality of work we are seeing from the children each week and engagement in learning is fantastic and we know this is not easy in this challenging time. Do look after your well-being and we will continue to support families through our online learning platforms, phone calls and home visits – remember we will all get through this if we continue to work together and follow ‘The Whitehouse Way’.

Reading Awards

We have had some more children this week who have been super busy reading and have earned the following awards:

Live Lessons

As you will know our Key Stage 2 children began their live lessons this week.  Mr Johnson would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has managed to access the lessons so far.  We hope the children have enjoyed them and found them helpful to their learning.  We are so proud of all our children (and parents and carers) who have overcome so many obstacles to get this far and have truly shown the Whitehouse perseverance!  The number of children accessing the live lessons has been very encouraging and shows the children’s willingness to always try their best.  If you need any further help and support in accessing the live lessons, please do not hesitate to contact the school office who will arrange some help for you.

Speech and Language Resource

For those parents/carers who are wanting to support their child’s speech and language needs whilst at home, we are pleased to share the following website: https://speechandlanguage.info/parents.  It is a free website which offers activities, information and resources which you may find very helpful.

Whitehouse Reading Challenge

We are pleased to let you know that if your child is working on The Winter Mini Reading Challenge in connection with Suffolk Libraries, the date has been extended to Friday 19^th February.  Information about the challenge can be found on our Website at the following link: https://www.whcps.org/competitions/.

We are excited to also let you know we are introducing a new Reading Challenge just for the children at Whitehouse.  Details can also be found on the above link where there are two lists of challenges to work on.  The first is for children in Years 1-3 and the second for Years 4-6.  Children will need to do at least six of the challenges on their list to earn a certificate.  Maybe they will really want to challenge themselves and see if they can even do them all!  The more challenges completed, the more chance the children will have of winning a prize.  The challenge will run for the whole of this term and you can bring in your Record Sheet showing all you have done at the beginning of the Summer Term.  You can download a copy of the Record Sheet from the website. Happy Reading!  We look forward to seeing who will earn certificates and prizes.

Dinner Menu

Please see the menu for next week for the children who are in school (Children of Critical Workers and Vulnerable Children):

Monday: Sausage Roll or Cheese and Onion Roll with Diced potatoes, Sweetcorn and Peas

Tuesday: Macaroni Cheese or Tomato Pasta with Carrots and Sweetcorn

Wednesday: Chicken Pie or Quorn Sausage Wraps with Mash, Carrots and Green Beans

Thursday: Roast Gammon or Quorn Roast with Stuffing, Roast Potatoes and Green Beans

Friday: Salmon Fishcakes or Vegetable Puffs with Chips and Beans

Booking a school place in the Critical Worker and Vulnerable Child Bubbles

Please note all spaces for critical workers need to be booked on a weekly basis.  Please send an email to parents@whcps.org by 3pm each Thursday to book spaces for the following week, we will then confirm the space on Friday (please ensure that you provide evidence of your critical worker role).  If your child is attending school as a vulnerable child, this space will be kept for them and there is no need to book each week.  Please be aware that any space booked for your child will be for the full week (Monday to Friday) even if you choose not to send them in. This is to minimise the number of contacts children have and to work within our risk assessment.  If your child will not be attending on a particular day, please email the office on parents@whcps.org as soon as possible to confirm they will be absent. Please note we have a high demand for spaces at the moment, please only book a space if you need it – the government guidance remains – stay at home. Thank you for your assistance.  If you have any questions, please contact the office team on 01473 741249.

Free School Meal Vouchers

We are pleased to inform you the Government have confirmed Free School Meal Vouchers will continue until the beginning of March.  If your child is eligible for Free School Meals, you will have received an email each Monday from Edenred, which contains a code for you to redeem to obtain your voucher.  Please ensure you watch out for these and obtain your vouchers.  If you do have any problems or cannot trace your emails, please do contact the school office or parents@whcps.org and we will assist you.   If you feel you may have become eligible please apply at the following link: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/apply-for-free-school-meals/

Lockdown Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Mr Jordan’s PE Challenge

Next week, Mr Jordan will be uploading the next PE challenge, which will be part one of a three-part challenge.  Dan ‘The Skipping Man’ has teamed up with the Ipswich and South Suffolk School Games to set up a Key Stage 1 and a Key Stage 2 virtual skipping challenge for everyone to take part in.  All of the information and resources you need, including Mr Jordan’s instructional video and, of course Mr Jordan’s attempts, can be found on our website at the following link: https://www.whcps.org/mr-jordans-pe-challenges/.

As this is a virtual event, Mr Jordan will be collating pupils’ scores from each of the three parts of the challenge.  Key Stage 2 children can submit their score sheets via Google Classroom.  Key Stage 1 children can email their scores to Mr Jordan via the school office: parents@whcps.org. Parts two and three of the challenge will be set over the coming weeks.  Please remember that we love to celebrate pupils’ engagement in the PE challenges on the PE page of our website.  Therefore, please feel free to send any photos or videos to parents@whcps.org.

Home Learning in Lockdown

We have been super impressed with the effort the children have put into their home learning. Here are some examples of the excellent work that is being achieved:

Year 6 have been successfully expanding their mathematical knowledge through long division. Well done to Greta in Y6 for demonstrating excellent perseverance on challenge 3 in maths and for ensuring her work was super neat.

Year 3 have been retelling the story of ‘The Lost Thing’, using expanded noun phrases, prepositional phrases and time adverbs. Eva and Kezia have shown outstanding reflection and effort. Amazing work.

Don’t forget!

As well as Google Classroom and Tapestry we have a number of other learning platforms that the children are able to use to support their learning. Please remember to log in to these resources as teachers are setting fun activities on these platforms as well. Every child has been provided with a username and password for these websites and these can be found in their reading journals. If you cannot access these websites, please contact the school for support.

Education City - https://www.educationcity.com/

Myon - https://www.myon.co.uk/

Times Tables Rock Stars - https://ttrockstars.com/

Accelerated Reader - https://ukhosted5.renlearn.co.uk/2248276/default.aspx

Also, a reminder to Key Stage 1 children they can use Numbots.  Log in details can be found in the children’s reading journals.

Finally, if you have any queries regarding your child’s remote learning, you can contact a member of staff from your child’s year team by emailing:  

Nursery and Reception: blendedlearningey@whcps.org

Years 1 and 2:  blendedlearningks1@whcps.org

Years 3 and 4:  blendedlearninglks2@whcps.org

Years 5 and 6: blendedlearninguks2@whcps.org

Dates for the Diary

Friday 12^th February – PD Day (No school for children)

Monday 15^th February – Friday 19^th February – Half Term Holiday

Thursday 4^th March – Parent/Carer Evening - Online

Wednesday 10^th March – Parent/Carer Evening - Online

Monday 29^th March – Friday 9^th April – Easter Holiday