Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 124

Friday 31st December 2020

Message from Mrs Hall

Sometimes it can be necessary for a Headteacher to close a school due to exceptional circumstances, this can include flooding, heating failure or extreme weather such as heavy snow. If I do need to make this decision, I will let families know as soon as possible (usually by 7 am). This will be through the school’s text system, the front page of the school website and on the local radio. To find out more about our school closure procedures, please have a look at our website for further details https://www.whcps.org/school-closures/ Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week

Classes with the Best Punctuality – Owls. Jaguars and Pandas

Class that needs to improve their Attendance – Frogs (89.0%)

Classes that need to improve their Punctuality – Frogs, Foxes, Tigers and Toucans

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: NSPCC: Speak Out, Stay Safe.  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.

Reception Classes – Shared Reading

Our Reception classes are pleased to invite a parent/carer or other family member to come into school each Tuesday afternoon from 2.30pm to 2.45pm to share books with the children. The first session will be on Tuesday 11^th February where we will have a short talk about reading and how you can help your child at home.   Each child will then be given a free Reading Pack to take home and enjoy.  We hope you will come along and join us for a biscuit and a great session!

Dinner Debt

Can we please ask parents/carers to ensure any outstanding dinner debts are cleared as a matter of urgency.  Thank you.

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Parents / Carers Online Safety Workshop

Are you muddled by Minecraft or rattled by Roblox?   Come along to our Parent/Carer workshop on Wednesday 5th February at either 2.00pm or 4.00pm to learn about your child's online world and where to go for more help and advice.  The workshop will be run by the NSPCC and O2 and will be an hour-long interactive event, providing parents/carers with tips, tools and advice in helping to keep your children safe online.  Talking about online safety with your child does not have to be difficult.  We will help build your confidence and enable you to have these important conversations. We look forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Parents/Carers Sessions

As you may have noticed in recent newsletters we have a number of sessions at school coming up to which parents/carers are invited to come in and work with their children in class.  We hope to see lots of you there:

Football Match

As you will know we were kindly donated 75 sets of tickets for the Ipswich Town Football Match last Saturday.  A draw took place and we were thrilled to see so many of the children had such a lovely time. For many of them this was their first football match and they were warmly welcomed by ITFC.  A big thank you to them for making Whitehouse the ‘School of the Day’.

Year 5/6 Girls Football

Last week our Year 5/6 Girls Football team played a Quarter Final Cup Match against St Mary’s Primary School.  The girls were 3-0 down at half time but worked extra hard and managed to make a 3 goal comeback!  Unfortunately, they lost 4-3 but they gave it their very best and never gave up.  Well done to Ruby for taking part in her first game and to Tilly, Talia and Isabel for scoring a goal each.  Players of the match went to Darcy and Grace.  Thank you for all parents/carers who supported the team.  Miss Horne and Mrs Reddington were very proud of all of the girls.

Scooters

A reminder that scooters are NOT to be ridden on the school site.  We would appreciate your co-operation in this matter to ensure the safety of everyone on site.  Thank you.

Helping in Schools: Courses for Parents/Carers

Are you interested in volunteering or working in a school?  Would you like to become an effective parent/carer helper and be able to help your children’s learning at home?  Would you like access to tools to help with maths and literacy?  We will be running a 6 week course at Whitehouse starting on 25^th February. It will run each Tuesday from 9.15 am to 12.15 pm.  If you are on benefits or a low income this course is free, if not, the cost will be £11.55 to take part in the first week and an additional £57.75 to continue to attend the following five weeks. If you are interested please speak to Mrs Kate Gotts in the Pastoral Team or go online to book a space at enrolonline.wea.org.uk. 

Art Café - Nursery

Miss Tempest would like to invite all parents/carers of the Dolphin Nursery Class to an Art Café on Wednesday 12^th February.  Lots of fun art activities have been planned that parents/carers and children will be able to share during the session.  There will be a chance to experiment with paints and glue to make a piece of artwork to take home!  In addition, they will be serving a delicious homemade snack.  The Nursery Team look forward to seeing you all and having lots of messy fun!  Any questions please speak to Miss Tempest.

                                        Morning session will run from 9.00am to 10.30am

                                      Afternoon session will run from 12.30pm to 2.00pm.

Girls Wildcat Football Taster Session

Last week 22 girls from Years 3-6 took part in a Girls Football Taster Session run by FA qualified coaches, Rebecca Bolton and Kirsty Smith from Wildcats.  The initiative was launched by the FA to inspire girls aged between 5-11 to be more involved in football. It was clear from the fun and engaging session that the girls really enjoyed this opportunity to develop their football skills. An email sent to Mr Jordan following the session thanked the school for allowing Wildcat Coaches to come and work with the girls. Another aim of the session was to provide our pupils with links to girl’s football sessions and clubs outside of school. Therefore, if any of the girls are interested in attending football sessions, Whitton Sports Centre hosts Whitton Wildcat Sessions on Thursdays.  Sessions run between 4pm = 5pm and cost just £3.00 per child or free with an iCard.  For more information please visit the Ipswich Fit website: https://www.ipswichfit.co.uk/ssewildcats.

Year 5/6 Boys Football – Cup Match

This week the Year 5/6 Boys Football Team were back in action hosting Castle Hill Junior School in their second round of the IPSSA Knockout Cup Tie.  With the winners progressing through to the quarter finals stage, the match was set to be a closely contested affair.  This was certainly the case with both teams enjoying spells of possession and creating many opportunities in front of the goals. An earlier first half goal from Frankie, who captained the team, was cancelled out by an equalising foal from Castle Hill just before half time.  Castle Hill struck first in the second half, however a skilful chop over the goalkeeper from Jemira brought the score level once again.  With the full time score at two all, the game moved into extra time.  Despite chances from both teams to finish the game, extra time finished goalless, forcing the match into penalties. Both teams felt the pressure of the shoot out and after five spot kicks each, Castle Hill finished on top winning the shoot-out 1-0.  Mr Jordan was extremely proud of the competiveness shown by the entire team throughout the match.  The boys should feel very pleased with the efforts during this year’s cup run to finish in the last 16.  Well done to all.

Reception Coffee Morning – Speech and Language

We are pleased to inform you that we are holding a Coffee Morning on Wednesday 4^th March at 9.00am for parents/carers of children in Reception.  The focus of our Coffee Morning is to discover fun ways to support your child’s speech and language at home through fun, interactive games.  There will be resources and games to try out and take home.  More information to follow.

Lost Property

A reminder that we have a number of items of lost property.  If you are missing an item please do check as all uncollected items will be donated to charity at the end of term.

Suffolk County Council: Suffolk Childcare 2020 Smart Survey

Suffolk County Council are reviewing the County’s Childcare Sufficiency Assessment and are looking for as many parents/carers to complete the survey as possible.  They are interested in hearing from those who currently access childcare and those who may wish to do so in the future.  If you can help with this please follow the link:  www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/childcare-information-and-support-for-parents-and-providers/childcare-sufficiency-report.  The results will be published on completion.

After-School Clubs – Thursday 6^th February

Please note due a number of our children and staff going to the Young Voices trip at the O2 in London, there will be NO after-school clubs running on Thursday 6^th February. Thank you for your understanding.

Dates for the Diary

Tuesday 4^th February – EAL Coffee Morning

Tuesday 4^th February – Year 1 Parents/Carers Session 2.30pm – Making Bird Feeders

Tuesday 4^th February – Cooking Club – Making Pizza with Parents/Carers

Wednesday 5^th February – NSPCC Online Safety Parent/Carer Workshops – 2.00pm / 4.00pm

Thursday 6^th February – Young Voices – Choir to the O2

Friday 7^th February – Grandparents Lunch – Year 2

Friday 7^th February – Victorian Day – Year 4

Tuesday 11^th February – EYFS Shared Parent/Carer Reading Sessions Begin – 2.30pm

Wednesday 12^th February – Nursery Art Café Parent/Carers Session – 9.00am/12.30pm

Thursday 13^th February – French for the Family afternoon workshop - (Badgers) – 1.10pm

Friday 14^th February – Times Tables Rockstar Session – Year 4 – 8.45am

Monday 17^th February to Friday 21^st February – Half Term Holiday

Wednesday 26^th February – Year 6 Pancake and SATs Parents/Carers Information Session – 2.15pm

Wednesday 26^th February – Year 6 SATs Parents/Carers Information Session – 5.00pm

Thursday 27^th February – Year 2 Love of Reading Parents/Carers Session – 2.00pm

Friday 28^th February – Grandparents Lunch – Year 1

Wednesday 4^th March – Coffee Morning for Reception Parents/Carers – 9.00am

Thursday 5^th March – World Book Day (Dress up as your favourite book character)

Thursday 5^th March - Parents/Carers’ Evening

Friday 6^th March – Grandparents Lunch – Year R

Wednesday 11^th March- Parents/Carers’ Evening

Thursday 19^th March – Whole School Science Day

Friday 3^rd April to Friday 17^th April – Easter Holidays

Friday 8^th May – May Bank Holiday

Friday 22^nd May – PD Day – School Closed to children

Monday 25^th May to Friday 29^th May – Half Term Holiday

Friday 26^th June Sports Day (Morning) - Reception, Year 1 and Year 2

 Friday 26^th June Sports Day (Afternoon) - Year 3 and Year 4

Friday 3^rd July Sports Day (Afternoon) - Year 5 and Year 6

Wednesday 8th July – High School Transition Day

Thursday 9^th July – High School Transition Day

Wednesday 22^nd July – PD Day – School Closed to Children

Thursday 23^rd July – First Day of the Summer Holiday