Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 251

Friday 24th November 2023

A Message from Miss Siddall

This week, we welcomed the CEO and member of the Trust Board into school. They were very impressed with the improvements they could see in the children’s writing – well done to all the children and staff for their hard work in improving writing.  We are very proud of all the children and how they consistently display ‘The Whitehouse Way’. Don’t forget, we have lots of parent/carer events planned over the next few weeks, so please check the newsletter for the exact dates to avoid missing out.  Thank you for your support.

Attendance for last week:

Class with the best attendance: Foxes (100%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: What is Buy Nothing Day and why is it important? (UNRC Link: Article 26: I have the right to help from the government if I am poor in in need).  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.

Fundraising: Non-Uniform Day

Sadia in Year 6 has written a letter to Miss Siddall and Dr Hall, asking if we could, as a school, raise some money to help people whose lives are in danger and whose homes have been destroyed due to bombing.  Sadia and Sevan have also spent some time researching various charities that could help support this and based on their research, we have decided to hold a non-uniform day on Thursday 30^th November.  There is a suggested donation of £1.00 with all funds raised to be given to The British Red Cross Society (the United Kingdom body of the worldwide network, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement). The British Red Cross is also the charity voted for by Diamond House to support this year.  We are extremely proud of Sadia and Sevan for embracing our rights respecting ethos.  Well done!

Readers’ Cup

Well done to the following classes who won the Readers’ Cup the week before half term:

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:

Help Needed

Our Year 5 children are learning about modern day Greece and we are looking for someone who works in the travel industry who would be willing to come into school and talk to the children about what it is like to visit Greece and the Greek Islands.  It would just be a short talk of about 15 minutes and would include talking about the different places you can visit, and various places of interest. 

If you are able to help, or know someone who could, please let the school office know.  Any help would be very much appreciated.

The Arrivals: Suffolk Migration Project

At Whitehouse we have always welcomed new arrivals from all over the world and supported refugees from different countries, making sure they become part of our big and hospitable family.  With over 30 languages spoken at our school, we are a very diverse, multilingual and multicultural community.  Celebrating all backgrounds and all heritages is one of our major themes and part of our school ethos.  This is why we were so eager to take part in the project called The Arrivals: Suffolk Migration, which is run by Suffolk Archives. Some of our KS2 EAL (English as an Additional Language) children used their art skills to decorate a bird which will be part of a new exhibition at The Hold. Special thanks go to Bana, Sadia and Sevan in Year 6 for giving extra time and effort to the project.

Our bird now proudly displays a variety of traditional patterns native to the countries our children have come from in Europe, Asia and Africa. Suffolk Archives also kindly provided some souvenirs and the lucky winners of the prize draw were Adelaide, Ergi, Hannah, Idunnu, Maya and Zofia.

The exhibition is free of charge and will run from 24^th November 2023 through to 14^th April 2024.  It is worth a visit to The Hold to learn more about historical and contemporary migration to Suffolk and to admire our fabulous bird! 

Inclusion Quality Mark

As you know Whitehouse were recently awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark and were made a Centre of Excellence due to our great work on inclusivity.  We have now received the award as shown and wanted to share just a few of the comments made about the school in the report.  We are all very proud of Whitehouse and the wonderful community our school is for everyone.  

• Whitehouse Community Primary School is a particularly outstanding example of a school committed to meet the needs of its pupils and is outstanding in its commitment to and implementation of inclusive practice.
• Inclusion is evident in all aspects of the school’s work and there are good links with the community to offer support for families.
• The Pastoral Team demonstrates a commitment and focus on ensuring the school caters for the needs of every child. 
• Children with SEND, children with EAL and vulnerable groups of children are ably supported and cared for and they achieve well. 
• Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent and pupils feel cared for and supported in their learning with teachers and support staff understanding their pupils’ needs.  
• All staff have an enthusiasm and passion for their part in the learning and lives of the pupils at the school.  They are dedicated and positive about the futures of their pupils. 

History at Whitehouse

If you have been near the Purple Block in the last week, you have probably seen a brand-new outdoor timeline that has already seen lots of visitors from parents/carers and children.  This new resource will support the children at Whitehouse with their learning about history and understanding where their topic takes place within history.  If you look closely, you will see it has been edited for Whitehouse and Ipswich with key dates in our own history as well.  It has already been used in some lessons and it has been wonderful to see how everyone has engaged so well with it.  Please do take some time to go and have a look.  We hope the children continue to enjoy this wonderful coloured, detailed timeline.  We are very proud of our history curriculum at Whitehouse and this is just a part of what makes teaching history so engaging as a subject for our children.

The Big Ambition

Dame Rachel de Souza, who is the Children’s Commissioner for England, has recently launched ‘The Big Ambition’ which includes a survey for all children aged 6-18 to complete and for parents/carers to complete on behalf of their children who are aged 0-5.  Dame de Souza is very keen to hear from every child in England about their school, community, family life and the wider world as well as the dreams, hopes and aspirations they have for the future.   The survey can be accessed on the following link:  www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/thebigambition.  As a Rights Respecting School we would encourage you all to join in and share what is important to you and your child.

PE Updates

It was a sport filled day last Friday, with two sporting fixtures taking place during both the morning and afternoon.

U11 Tag Rugby Festival

The day began with Mr Jordan and Ms Salmon taking ten of our Year 5/6 pupils to take part in the School Games U11 Tag Rugby Festival. The festival was hosted by Northampton Saints Rugby and took place on the impressive rugby pitches at St. Joseph’s College. Throughout the festival the team played seven matches with each match lasting 8 minutes in duration. During each match the team put their tag rugby skills, learnt during this half term’s tag rugby after school club and PE lessons, into action and performed amazingly as a team. Mr Jordan and Ms Salmon were particularly impressed with the teams passing, tackling (tagging) and fantastic knowledge of the rules. As a result, the team were able to win a number of their matches, scoring a large number of ‘tries’ between them throughout the festival.

Year 5/6 Boys Football: IPSSA Cup Match

After a little while since their last football fixture, last Friday finished with our Yr5/6 boys’ football team back in action in their first round IPSSA football cup match. The boys faced tough opposition in St. Matthew’s CofE Primary School. St. Matthew’s started the game on the front foot, which saw them enjoy lots of possession and create a number of opportunities in front of goal. Despite some fantastic saves from Arthur in goal, the team found themselves three goals behind at half time. In spite of this, the boys showed fantastic perseverance throughout the second half, working extremely hard to close down the ball and track the runs of the opposition. As the boys’ confidence grew, they also enjoyed their own periods of possession and counter attacking football, with some very pleasing individual and team efforts. The team’s hard work throughout the second half was rewarded with a very well taken goal at the back post by Liyoh. The boys continued to work very hard in both attack and defence right up to the final whistle. Despite the final score (4-1), the boys were very positive and pleased with their second half performance. A great effort boys!

Book Fair

A reminder that we have the Book Fair coming up very soon.  Please note there has been a change of dates and these will now take place on Tuesday 5^th December and Thursday 7^th December 2023, straight after school in the Marlow Road Hall.  Please do come along and have a look as there is a special offer, 3 books for the price of 2.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Parent/Carer Evening

A reminder that the first of our two Parent/Carer Evenings takes place on Thursday 30^th November 2023.  Please note all appointments will be online.  Please do ensure that you book an appointment for that day or on the later session on Wednesday 6^th December.  You should have received an email containing a link which you will need to book a slot.  If you have not received the email or have any problems, please contact the School Office who will be able to help you.  Please note that for the Macaws class only, the second day of appointments will be on Thursday 7^th December 2023 instead of Wednesday 6^th December 2023.

Dates for the Diary

Monday 27^th November 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 27^th November 2023 – Year 3 Stone Age Extravaganza

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

Thursday 30^th November 2023 – Non-uniform day for The Red Cross (as requested by children)

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

Monday 4^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Tuesday 5^th December 2023 – Travelling Book Fair – 3.10pm

Wednesday 6^th December 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening (All except Macaws Class)

Thursday 7^th December 2023 – Trip to St Thomas Church – Year 2

Thursday 7^th December 2023 - Travelling Book Fair – 3.10pm

Thursday 7^th December 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening (Macaws only)

Friday 8^th December 2023 – Nursery Christmas Songs

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Reception Nativity Play

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner - Year 1

Tuesday 12^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 2

Wednesday 13^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner - Year Reception and Year 3

Thursday 14^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 4

Friday 15^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 5 and 6

Friday 15^th December 2023 – Christmas Jumper Day (for small donation)

Friday 15^th December 2023 – Christmas Fair

Monday 18^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 18^th December 2023 – Christingle Service – Year 4 – Parents/Carers invited. 1.45pm at St Thomas’ Church, Bramford Lane.

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