Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 234
Friday 9th June 2023
Message from Mrs Hall
It has been an incredibly busy week back in school! Thank you to all our families who attended this year’s sports day, the children really enjoyed taking part in all the events and we look forward to learning which House won overall. Thank you to Mr Jordan for organising the event so successfully. Any feedback about the days would be appreciated. Please email parents@whcps.org with suggestions or comments. As I am sure you are aware, this time of the year is always so busy in school, so do check that the dates section of this newsletter so that you or your children do not miss out on all the planned activities. Thank you again for your continued support.
Attendance for the week before half term:
Class with the best attendance: Dragons (100%)
Year 4: Victorian School
This week Year 4 visited the Victorian School in Great Cressingham. The children were dressed as Victorian school children and many had even packed their lunches in a piece of cloth! As the children entered the school they were asked to line up separately, boys and girls, and were given their slate rags, ready for the classroom. Once inside, they were given slates and slate pencils to practice their handwriting and were taught prayers and hymns which they sung along to, accompanied by a harmonium. To warm up, they were asked to help to put logs onto the fire and boil the kettle for the teachers! Before long the children were having their hands inspected for cleanliness (which they cleaned with carbolic soap) and were reading aloud to the teacher, before being allowed outside to play with a range of Victorian toys in the meadow and playground. In the afternoon the girls were instructed in sewing and the boys were given drawing instruction. It was a fun packed day and the children really immersed themselves in the Victorian school experience!
Message from Mrs Balaam: School Librarian
It is hard to believe I am in my second term at Whitehouse, the time has flown by. Everyone has made me very welcome, I can already see what a very special school it is! One of the highlights so far was our Travelling Book Fair which raised over £200 in rewards for the school to spend on new books. It has been wonderful speaking to the children to know what books they would like to see in our school libraries, they have been very excited as we build our ‘Book Wishlist’. The requests ranged from more Harry Potter books, to non-fiction books on space, trees and animals. It is lovely to have our children help choose our new books! A big thank you to all those parents/carers and children who have donated books to the school too. I have busy cataloguing these and they will be available to borrow and read from next week.
Moving forward, I will be looking to recruit and train our new team of Library Assistants in preparation for September and will also be recognising the outstanding achievements of our ‘Word Millionaire Readers’ and our current outstanding Year 6 Library Assistants, so watch this space!
Finally, can I please remind you that all library books need to be returned by Monday 17th July 2023. Pupils who ensure their books are returned by 3.00pm that day will be entered into a prize draw. More details will follow.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
The NHS are offering the following programme of virtual workshops offering advice and guidance to parents/carers. The workshops are live on Zoom and any parent/carer is welcome, whether their child has been given a diagnosis or not. Please see the links below to book a space:
Neurodiversity - What you need to know as a parent: 6th June 2023 at 6.00pm
Managing big feelings (including anxiety and low mood): 3rd July 2023 at 1.00pm
How the brain develops: 8th August 2023 at 6.00pm
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/childhood-neurodiversity-how-the-brain-develops-tickets-641258480377
Understanding and managing behaviour: 7th September 2023 at 1.00pm
Further workshops will be added throughout 2023-2024.
In addition to the above courses, SENDIASS are also offering some free courses for parents/carers. Suffolk SENDIASS provide impartial and confidential information, advice and support to children and young people with SEND. Further details of these courses including booking information can be found here:
Purple Man Reading Competition
Well done to the winners of the Purple Man competition for the week before half term (a competition that rewards classes with the highest average reading minutes across KS2).
Year 3 | Badgers (38 mins) |
Year 4 | Foxes (66 mins) |
Year 5 | Jaguars (59 mins) |
Year 6 | Ocelots (39 mins) |
Online Safety: The Cyber Helpline
The Cyber Helpline are a charitable organisation in the UK who are focused on helping and supporting victims of cyber-crime. There is a lot of useful information on their website, including a page full of guides and a wide range of topics from malware, cyber bullying and harassment, unauthorised access (e.g. if your gaming account has been hacked) and much more. Please follow the link below: https://www.thecyberhelpline.com/guides-2
U11s Netball Tournament
On Thursday 25th May 2023 Ms Salmon and Mrs Zantboer took 14 of our Year 6 girls to an U11’s Girls/Mixed Bee Netball Tournament. The afternoon was split into two sections, a ‘Develop Tournament’ and a ‘Complete Tournament’. Alyssa, Isla, Poppy, Julia, Emily, Megan and Kaycee played in the Develop Tournament. The girls were quite nervous but very excited to have been given this opportunity. They played in a group with Sproughton, St. Marks, and Broke Hall. Each game was centrally timed with half time of 1 minute to rotate positions. Mrs Zantboer looked after the team for the afternoon and said it was a real pleasure to coach them and to see each of them show great perseverance and have huge smiles on their faces! Well done girls!
As Whitehouse A Team, Sophie W, Mylie, Ebunoluwa, Georgia, Jasmin, Lilia and Evie competed in the Complete Tournament against The Oaks, Tattingstone, St Marks, Henley and Stratford St Mary. The girls have developed into very talented young netball players. Watching the difference in the quality of play from last year to this year has been incredible! They have taken on all the coaching advice Ms Salmon has provided them and looked to improve in every aspect. Their passing of the ball was exceptional, creating space for the next pass, amazing shooting and fantastic defending and interceptions. The girls just missed out narrowly on the silver position due to goal difference, so got the bronze award at the event. Ms Salmon would like the team to know that it has been an absolute pleasure to have worked with the girls for the last 2 years in Netball Club. They truly are amazing and she hopes they will continue their Netball journey as they move on to High School. Well done girls!
U11s Dynamo Cricket Event
On Wednesday 7th June 2023, Ms Salmon took 7 children to represent Whitehouse in an U11 Boys/Mixed Dynamo Cricket event. The children who took part were Ben C, Ben N from Year 4, Jack from Year 5 and Romey, Mylie, Junia and Mossawer from Year 6. They all played extremely well, working in pairs to score the points/runs and the fielding as a team was outstanding. It took the children a while to adjust to the rules but after losing our first game to Copdock 66-77, Whitehouse rallied on and showed some great determination not to lose another game and went on to win 73-47 against Claydon and 72-58 against Ranleigh. Well played all of you!
Assemblies
The theme of our assemblies for the week after half term will be: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Month. (UNRC Link: Article 8: I have the right to an identity). 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.
Summer Fair at Whitehouse
We are very pleased to announce we are having our very popular Summer Fair again this year, on Friday 7th July 2023, directly after school. As always there is a lot of preparation involved and Ms Salmon cannot do it alone! There will be a PFA (Parents and Friends Association) meeting on Wednesday 14th June 2023 straight after school for anyone to attend who would like to be involved and help. We are also looking for prizes for our raffle, so if you know anyone or any companies that would be willing to donate a prize this would be greatly appreciated also. Any queries, please contact Ms Salmon on PFA@whcps.org.
***Job Vacancies in School***
We are pleased to let you know we currently have job vacancies for lunchtime assistants. Full details of the vacancies along with application forms are available on our website: https://www.whcps.org/vacancies. In addition, application forms can be collected from the school office. The closing date for applications is 10.00am on Monday 12th June 2023.
Duties will involve:
Dates for the Diary
Thursday 15th June 2023 – Easton Farm Park Trip – Year R
Tuesday 20th June 2023 – Foxburrow Farm Trip – Year 3
Friday 23rd June 2023 – Whole School SMSC Day
Monday 26th June 2023 – Mersea Day Trip – Year 6
Monday 26th June 2023 – Duxford Trip – Year 2
Tuesday 27th June 2023 – Mersea Day Trip – Year 6
Wednesday 28th June 2023 – Transition Morning
Thursday 29th June 2023 – Transition Morning
Friday 30th June 2023 – Kentwell Hall – Year 5
Friday 7th July 2023 – Afternoon Tea for New Reception Intake
Friday 7th July 2023 – Summer Fair
Friday 14th July 2023 – Visit to ‘Maggie the Community Playbus’ – Nursery Dolphins Class
Monday 17th July 2023 – Year 6 Production
Tuesday 18th July 2023 – Year 6 Production
Wednesday 19th July 2023 – Leavers BBQ
Friday 21st July 2023 – Leavers Assembly
Friday 21st July 2023 – Last day of the Summer Term
Monday 24th July 2023 to Thursday 31st August 2023 – Summer Holiday
Friday 1st September 2023 – PD Day – School Closed for Children
Monday 4th September 2023 – PD Day – School Closed for Children
Tuesday 5th September 2023 – First day of Autumn Term for Children