Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 136

Friday 9th October 2020

Message from Mrs Hall

Please can we ask everyone to be considerate of others when parking near the school site. Ideally, we would like as many families to walk to school as possible. Not only is this safer for the children (less cars on the road), and better for their health to walk but it also helps the environment. Thursday 8^th October was ‘National Clean Air Day 2020’ and Ipswich Borough Council shared a short film with us, which I have added to the school website: https://whitehouse-community-primary-school.primarysite.media/.  Please do share the film with your family and think about the small steps we can all make to support the children and the environment. Thank you for your continued support. 

Attendance for the Previous Week

Classes with the Best Attendance – Badgers, Owls and Jaguars (100%)

Class that needs to improve their Attendance – Rabbits (89.5%)

                                    Class that need to improve their Punctuality –  Rabbits

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Launching our Eco-School: How can we work together as a school to become more environmentally friendly?  (UNRC Link: Article 29: I have the right to education which encourages me to respect the environment).  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.

Parental Survey

We are currently working on plans that in the event of a Covid case in the school community or in the case of a national or local lockdown, the children will still be able to receive their education.   Can we please ask that ALL parents/carers please respond to the following survey if you haven’t already.  The survey will close on Thursday 15^th October. There are only a few questions but it will enable us to gather the information we need to see what technology is available for the children if they need to work from home.  Thank you for your continued support.  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/6FJY3BC

Dinner Debt

Unfortunately we still have a number of parents/carers who owe money for their child’s school dinners.  Texts are sent regularly to remind parents/carers of amounts that are due and we would ask you to please ensure payment is made promptly.  If more than five dinners are owed, your child will need to bring a packed lunch to school until the debt is cleared.

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Packed Lunches

Please note as a school we are happy if children want to bring a Packed Lunch with them to eat at lunchtime, however as a Healthy School, we do ask that these must be a healthy lunch, and not contain chocolate or items which may contain nuts.  Also, we have recently had several parents either send in a McDonalds lunch in the morning with their children or try to bring one in just prior to lunchtime.  Can we please remind parents/carers that we will not allow children to eat McDonalds or bring in a hot lunch as we are not able to control the temperature of the food, which could lead to food poisoning. 

Paralympic Week

This week pupils have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in our annual Paralympic week.  During PE lessons throughout this week, pupils have swapped their normal PE curriculum to take part in some of the following Paralympic sports/activities: Archery, Boccia, Goalball, New Age Curling. Seated Volleyball and team building activities.  The aim of our Paralympic athletes to successfully perform their events.  Additionally, it also provides pupils with the underlying message that with hard work, determination, perseverance and courage we are able to overcome our barriers and challenges to achieve our very best.

GB Athlete Visit

Last Friday we were again extremely lucky to have a Covid-safe visit from GB athlete Gianni Frankis, along with Sports Sportsivator and former ITFC player, Ian Miller.  GB hurdler Gianni (World and European Youth Bronze medallist and U23 European Silver medallist) spent time with our Year 4 classes.  Each class was treated to a truly inspirational and engaging assembly, followed by a question and answer session and then a short fitness session.  The main concept of the visit was to provide the pupils with a chance to be inspired by a GB athlete.  It was also a fantastic way of kick starting our Paralympic themed PE lessons this week.  To ensure that none of our pupils missed out on the motivational message of ‘never giving up’ and ‘always trying your best’ each class was given the opportunity of watching a recording of Gianni’s assembly.  As always, memories were made and an inspiring take home message was shared that will stay with our pupils for years to come!

Year 5

The children in Year 5 have been very busy over the last few weeks designing an Ancient Greek pot and this week had a chance to try making them using clay. They learnt to use joining and sculpting techniques to ensure the pots had stability and form.  Shortly the children will decorate the pots using their own Greek designs.

Year 6 Children

We have had some reports from parents/carers that some of our Year 6 children are running around in between cars whilst waiting to come onto the school site.  Can we please ask that you discuss this with your Year 6 child and stress the importance of being safe whilst walking to school and being aware of the traffic near the school at drop off times.

Payments

Can we remind parents/carers that due to the current circumstances we are unable to take money in school.  We would encourage where possible that payment is made online using either a debit or credit card, through Suffolk County Council using the following links:

Dinner Money: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/school-meals/.  Please note you will be asked which days your child will be eating a school dinner.  You can enter any dates as we do not use this information, but will continue to ask your child each day what they would like for lunch.   There is a minimum payment of £11.50 which is the price of five school meals.

Breakfast Club: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/pay-for-a-school-trip/

Dates for the Diary

Monday 26^th October – Friday 30^th October – Half Term Holiday

Monday 2^nd November – PD Day (No school for children)

Friday 13^th November – Children in Need

Thursday 19^th November – Parent/Carer Evening

Wednesday 25^th November – Parent/Carer Evening

Friday 27^th November – Whole School SMSC Event

Monday 7^th December – Flu Immunisations

Monday 21^st December – Friday 1^st January – Christmas Holiday

Monday 4^th January – PD Day (No school for children)

Friday 12^th February – PD Day (No school for children)

Monday 15^th February – Friday 19^th February – Half Term Holiday

Thursday 4^th March – Parent/Carer Evening

Wednesday 10^th March – Parent/Carer Evening

Friday 19^th March – Whole School SMSC Event

Monday 29^th March – Friday 9^th April – Easter Holiday