Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 246

Friday 13th October 2023

A message from Miss Siddall

There will be two open mornings in November for parents/carers whose children are starting school in September 2024 (article 28: children have the right to education). Reception school places must be applied for by 15th January 2024. Therefore, if you know anyone who may be interested in finding out more about our wonderful school and the high-quality education we provide, please let them know about these open mornings (see below for further information). 

We are always keen to show parents/carers some of the fabulous work that goes on in school.  Many thanks to the year 4 team who hosted a wonderful DT (salad tasting) and science (digestive system) event in year 4 this week and many thanks to the 58 parents/carers who were able to attend.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Starfish (100%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Why is food important? What is World Food Day?  (UNRC Link: Article 6: I have the right to life).  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.

Absences

As another week passes, we are seeing a number of absences across the school.  These are predominantly due to coughs, colds and sickness bugs which we know cannot be avoided.  Here at Whitehouse, we reinforce good hygiene practices such as regular hand washing and cleaning along with ensuring classrooms and work spaces are well ventilated.  Unless your child is very unwell, please feel free to send them into school.  Being in school every day is the best way for your children to learn and reach their potential.  Surrounding themselves with their classmates will ensure their wellbeing and wider development thrives.   As you know, attendance is so important.

Awards

As you may be aware the children are encouraged to follow ‘The Whitehouse Way’ in school to help them in their learning and in becoming good citizens. Our ‘Wonderful Week’ awards this year will be given as a recognition that the children have worked very hard in one of these areas:  Courage, Perseverance, Reflection or Responsibility.  This will be shown in the colour coded lists below.  We are so proud of our children at Whitehouse and their wonderful achievements.  Well done to you all.

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Westbourne Academy: Year 6 Parent/Carer Afternoon Tea

We understand that some children will find the transition to High School more of a challenge and may need some extra support.  Mrs Abbott, (SENDCo) and Mrs Percival (Asst SENDCo) at Westbourne, would therefore like to invite parents/carers who feel the transition may be an issue to come along for a chat on Thursday 17^th October 2023 at 2.00pm to 4.00pm at Westbourne Academy.  The event is free of charge and you are welcome to drop into school, with or without your child, at any time between those times.

Blue Peter Launch Book Badge and Book Club

Blue Peter have recently launched a new ‘Book Badge’ designed by Sir Quentin Blake, a well-known illustrator, with the aim to reach out to all children to inspire a love of reading that will last a lifetime.  They are also introducing a monthly Book Club packed full of fantastic stories.  Each month, the presenters will showcase a new book and will be joined by young readers to talk about the stories, new worlds and fascinating characters they discover.   

Blue Peter, together with an expert panel of librarians, booksellers, and children have chosen a list of Book Club recommended reads, which we hope to stock in our school libraries over the coming weeks. These books are listed below:

Michael the Amazing Mind-Reading Sausage Dog – Terrie Chilvers

Finding her Feet – Eve Ainsworth

The Christmas Carrolls – Mel Taylor-Bessent

Juniper Mae: Knight of Tykotech City – Sarah Soh

Poems Aloud: An Anthology of Poems to Read Out Loud – Joseph Coelho

Am I made of Stardust? – Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock

At Whitehouse, we are always keen to hear about children’s achievements outside of school and with this in mind, we kindly ask that if your child is awarded a ‘Blue Peter Book Badge’ you encourage them to bring it into school so that we can celebrate it in one of our Friday assemblies.  For more details of how to participate in this exciting initiative, please follow the links below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/blue-peter-apply-for-a-book-badge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/blue-peter-book-club

Terrific Tudors at Christchurch Mansion

During the October half-term holiday Christchurch Mansion will be hosting lots of visitors from Tudor England as part of the Ipswich’s Wolsey 500 celebrations. Go along between the 24^th to 26^th October 2023 and you can make a Tudor Rose, hear tales of the Tudors from washerwoman Lizzie, ask Tudor residents of the Mansion lots of questions and even meet Cardinal Wolsey!  If you are there on the 26^th October, there will also be Tudor dancing and a chance to learn about musical instruments of the era!  This would be a great opportunity all our children, but especially for Year 5 who will be studying the Tudors later in the year and Year 6 who learnt about this last year.

Reception September 2024: Opening Mornings

We are pleased to let you know that we will be holding Open Mornings for any parents/carers whose children are due to start school in September 2024.  Please feel free to attend if this includes you at the following times:

Monday 6^th November 2023 – 9.15am and 11.15am

Tuesday 7^th November 2023 – 9.15am and 11.15am

Year 2: Christchurch Park and Museum Trip

On Wednesday last week, Year 2 had an amazing trip to Christchurch Park and Mansion as part of their enquiry learning of Our Local Area and our science learning about Habitats.  We had the chance to look around the Mansion and saw how life would have looked years ago when the park was first opened in 1885 (the mansion itself was built in 1548)!  We saw some pictures by John Constable, including Willy Lott’s house, which features in The Haywain – the famous picture we are studying in our art.   They then explored the wooded area near the duck pond and discovered many squirrels, a range of ducks and an interesting looking caterpillar living within a rotting tree.  After our woodland exploration, we moved to the more open area of the park and created some observational drawings of the clumps of trees before playing some running games.

Year 4: Parent/Carer DT Session

On Tuesday Year 4 invited their parents and carers in to school to taste and evaluate a salad they had created.  The final salad creation was a culmination of six weeks of work on a DT unit looking at cooking and nutrition.   The children have been learning about different food groups, balanced diets, investigating foods from around the world and learning about how key industry individuals use seasonal ingredients. After designing their salad using a success criteria, the children were then able to practice their chopping and mixing skills to create a healthy, attractive and tasty salad, which they shared with their adults.  There was a lot of positive feedback on the taste, texture and appearance of the salads and lots of fun was had in eating them up in the classroom!  Best of all, the children were able to name their salads and a great many imaginative names were thought up!

School Nursing Team

Have you ever wondered what the School Nursing team do, what support they can offer and how to get in contact with them?  They have produced this short video for parents/carers to watch to learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmrr9zFT6tk.  In addition, they have a new website with lots more information which can be viewed here:  www.suffolk.gov.uk/schoolnursing.

ChatHealth: If you are a parent/carer of a young person, there is a service run by the School Nursing Team called ChatHealth which allows you to text a School Nurse and seek help advice or support about issues affecting you or your child.  The service is available Monday to Friday 9.00am to 4.30pm (excluding Bank Holidays) on 07507 333356.

U11 Boys 7x7 Football Event

Last Thursday, Mr Jordan took ten Year 5 and 6 pupils to take part in the Ipswich and South Suffolk School Games U11s Boys 7x7 Football Event, which took place at Whitton Sports Centre. This very popular annual event was again well attended with seventeen schools taking part.  Four separate groups determined which teams would progress from the group stages, to the semi-finals.  With only one team from each group progressing, the matches were closely contested and very competitive!  The boys were drawn to play in Group 2 and played four matches throughout the event, facing tough opposition in Britannia, Clifford Road, Dales Hall and St Marks Primary Schools.  Despite it being the first time the boys had played together as a team in a Level 2 (Inter-School) event, their confidence grew with every match.  As a result of their efforts the boys managed to win one match, draw two and lose just one.  Unfortunately, this means they did not progress to the next stage of the event. Despite this, Mr Jordan was extremely proud of the team’s efforts, work rate and pleasing football skills shown throughout.  A special mention goes to Charlie for receiving the ‘fair play’ award voted by the young leaders at the event.

Year 5/6 Girls 7x7 Football Event

On Tuesday 10^th October Ms Salmon and Mrs Pipe took ten Year 5 and 6 girls to Whitton Sports Centre where they hosted the all-girls Football Event.  Whitehouse were placed in Group 2, which meant they were playing against Claydon, Shotley, Ranelagh and Rushmere. The girls started quite nervously as this was their first time playing as a team together but as the first game against Shotley got underway, it was very evenly matched until Shotley scored a last-minute goal seconds before the whistle was blown.  The girls quickly became a stronger team and their match showed some great teamwork and excellent defending with Sophie making some great saves, leading to a 2-0 win to Whitehouse.

Having a team talk the girls were reminded that as long as they were smiling, they were winning and to just enjoy the day and have fun.    This is exactly what the girls did and the next game saw great defence from Scarlett, Lexi and Isla.  A lovely ball from Skye saw Kezia score another win for Whitehouse, 4-0.  The final game against Rushmere was another tight one, with some great play from our midfielders, Ivy and Sakura. Sophie made great efforts to stop a goal but unfortunately the ball slipped through, leaving a final score of 1-0 to Rushmere.

Ms Salmon was extremely proud of how well the team progressed though the event.  Well done to Sophie, Emily, Sophia, Kezia, Scarlett, Isla, Sakura and Ivy.  An extra well done to Sophie who received the fair player of the event for Whitehouse. Lastly a big thank you to all those parents/carers who provided transport and stayed to support the team, this is always very much appreciated.

Readers’ Cup

Well done to the following classes who won the Readers’ Cup last week:

Ipswich Hospital Garden Redesign

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation have contacted us and invited us to be part of their journey to design and transform their external courtyard space for the Children’s Department at Ipswich Hospital.  They would love the input of the children in what would make a good garden space for children who are in hospital, so we will be sending home worksheets with the children this week so they can design a space and put their ideas on paper.  If your child would like to take part can you please ensure these are returned by Thursday 19^th October 2023.  The suggested designs will then go to a selection panel who will choose some designs to move forward with and these will be reviewed by the architects and a team at the Ipswich Hospital.  We look forward to seeing what the children come up with!

PFA (Parents and Friends Association)

A big thank you to the eleven parents/carers who kindly attended the PFA meeting this week.  There will be another meeting on Wednesday this coming week straight after school, where they will be discussing and planning the Christmas Fair.  We still do need more people to come along and help, and everyone will be made very welcome.  The more ideas and people we have involved, the better the events will be!  Please come along if you are able to. 

Dates for the Diary

Monday 16^th October 2023: Parent/Carer School Dinner Taster Session – 2.30pm

Tuesday 17^th October 2023 – Year 5 Greek Day

Wednesday 18^th October 2023 – Year 3 Mosque visit (afternoon)

Monday 23^rd October 2023 to Friday 27^th October 2023 – Half Term Holiday

Tuesday 31^st October 2023 – Year 4 West Stow Anglo Saxon visit

Tuesday 31^st October 2023 – Flu Immunisation Team in School

Tuesday 31^st October 2023 – Year 2 Framlingham Castle visit

Wednesday 1^st November – School video

Friday 3^rd November 2023 – Whole School SMSC Day: Healthy Eating

Monday 6^th November 2023 – Reception 2024 Open Morning – 9.15am and 11.15am

Tuesday 7^th November 2023 - Reception 2024 Open Morning – 9.15am and 11.15am

Tuesday 7^th November – Year 6 Martlesham RAF Tower Museum visit

Wednesday 29^th November 2023 – Autumn Term Reports home to parents/carers

Thursday 30^th November 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Friday 1^st December 2023 – Travelling Book Fair

Wednesday 6^th December 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Friday 8^th December 2023 – Nursery Nativity Play

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Reception Nativity Play

Thursday 21^st December 2023 to Wednesday 3^rd January 2024 – Christmas Holiday

Thursday 4^th January 2024 – PD Day (Children not in school)

Monday 19^th February 2024 to Friday 23^rd February 2024 – Half Term Holiday

Friday 29^th March 2024 to Thursday 11^th April 2024 – Easter Holiday

Friday 12^th April 2024 – PD Day (Children not in school)

Monday 24^th June 2024 to Tuesday 25^th June 2024 – Year 6 Residential Trip at Mersea