Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 220

Friday 3rd February 2023

Message from Mrs Hall

There is an expectation from the Department of Education that all schools should provide a school week of at least 32.5 hours by September 2023. We already have this in place for KS2 but will need to alter arrangements for EYFS and KS1. Therefore, from September 2023 we intend to change the drop off and collection times from school. The new hours would be:

The Governing Body have considered these changes and the Trust will meet to consider them next month. If you have any questions about this or would like to make any comments, please contact parents@whcps.org by 20^th February. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Ocelots (98.6%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Safer Internet Day?  Want to talk about it? (UNRC Link: Article 19: I have the right to be protected from being hurt or being badly treated). Resources related to this assembly will soon be available on our website.  To access them, simply go to Learning and click on our Enquiry Based Assemblies.  

World Book Day – Thursday 2^nd March 2023

It’s coming…World Book Day will be on Thursday 2^nd March this year.  Everyone in school looks forward to this special event where the sharing of books is celebrated.  You can find out more by following the link below on the theme for this year.  Please mark the date on your calendar and start thinking about the book character your child would like to dress up as.

https://www.worldbookday.com/celebrate-world-book-day/ 

Purple Man Reading Competition

Well done to the winners of the Purple Man competition from last week:  

Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Parent/Carer Guided Reading Session – Year 5

On Tuesday this week, Year 5 pupils really enjoyed sharing their guided reading lesson with their parents/carers. The children were able to explain and share how to answer ‘Rex Retrieval’ type questions on a text called ‘The Chocolate Tree’.  This text links to the Year 5 enquiry curriculum question on ‘What was important to the people of the Maya civilization?’   Comments from parents/carers included: ‘It was great to come in and see all the amazing work,’ ‘I enjoyed working with my son,’ ‘It was interesting and engaging.’

We would like to say a big thank you to the parents/carers who attended, it was wonderful to have your participation.  The children told us how much they had enjoyed working with you all.  Year 5 will be holding another parent/carer engagement session next term which will involve tasting flapjacks, so we hope you are all able to come along again!  Keep an eye on the newsletter for the date!

Year 4: Longboats

Year 4 have been working very hard this week to make their own Viking Longboats in their DT lessons. The children designed their boat, then spent time cutting them out and building them.  Each ship has three moving parts, the oars, the shields and sails.   We are sure you will agree they look splendid!

Can you help?

Our Eco-Committee are busy working on lots of issues around school to see how we can become a ‘greener’ school.  In readiness for a whole school SMSC/Art Day which is being held on Friday 24^th March 2023, they have asked us to collect plastic lids and bring these into school.  They can be any size and any colour, milk bottle lids and coffee lids would be perfect.  If you have any that you can donate, please send them in with your children and pass these to the class teachers or bring them in to the school office.  Thank you for your assistance.

Eco-Committee News

This week, the Eco-Committee set up a new recycling scheme in school. They noticed that each week we were throwing away lots of pens and glue sticks that were unfortunately ending up in landfill. They have now placed specific recycling boxes in each year group for pens and glue sticks. Let’s see how many we can recycle this term! 

Scooters

We have had a report that some children are travelling to school on scooters but doing so unsafely.  Could we please encourage parents/carers to speak to their children about the importance of being careful around the roads, and to always stop and check roads are clear before crossing.  Thank you for your assistance.

Message from our Attendance Officer, Mrs Calver

As we get closer to the end of another half term, I am pleased to report that overall attendance at school has improved.  Towards the end of the Autumn Term there was a considerable amount of sickness but as we started the Spring Term this has greatly improved.  Thank you to all parent/carers who continue to report on a daily basis when your child is absent from school.

Please can I remind you of the importance of letting school know when your child is absent and the reason for their absence.  Without this contact I am unable to determine if the absence should be recorded as authorised, or unauthorised.  Failure to let the school know will result in an absence being unauthorised and after seven unauthorised sessions a Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued.

If you think your contact details on Arbor are out of date, please make sure you update via the Arbor App or inform the office staff so that we are able to reach you. Can I also remind you to make every effort to arrange medical appointments outside of school hours to reduce the impact on your child’s school day and learning.  There may be times when this is not always possible and in these circumstances, we would ask you to provide a copy/proof of the appointment to the school office.  Thank you for your assistance.

Dates for the Diary

Wednesday 8^th February 2023 – Parent/Carer KS1 Phonics Share – 2.40pm

Monday 13^th February 2023 to Friday 17^th February 2023 – Half Term Holiday

Wednesday 22^nd February 2023 – French for the Family Afternoon – Hedgehogs Class

Wednesday 1^st March 2023 – French for the Family Afternoon – Squirrels Class

Thursday 2^nd March 2023 – World Book Day

Thursday 9^th March 2023 – Right Respecting Gold Verification

Wednesday 15^th March 2023 – French for the Family Afternoon – Foxes Class

Wednesday 15^th March 2023 – Parent/Carers Evening (in person)

Thursday 23^rd March 2023 – Parent/Carers Evening (in person)

Friday 24^th March 2023 – Whole School SMSC Day

Monday 3^rd April 2023 to Friday 14^th April 2023 – Easter Holiday

School Closed – Monday 1^st May (Bank Holiday)

School Closed – Monday 8^th May (Bank Holiday)