Cross Country News

After his very impressive top 50 finish in the Suffolk Schools Area Cross Country Championships, Arthur recently took part in the next round of races at the Suffolk Schools Area Cross Country Championship Finals. These took place at Woodbridge School and provided the opportunity for the top 20 runners to progress through to the Anglian Championships. Arthur again took part in the minor boys’ section, which involved him completing a 3040m course. The recent spell of frosty and wet weather made for tricky and muddy running conditions. However, Arthur ran a fantastic race and finished in a very respectable 64th place, out of a very strong field of around 200 runners! Well done Arthur.

Sports Leaders: Playground Leader Training

On Monday 18th November 2024, our Year 5/6 Sports Leaders worked with Mr Jordan and staff from Ipswich and South Suffolk School Games to complete their Playground Leaders training. During the training the Sports Leaders first completed a theory-based session where they learnt about the qualities required to make a good leader. The Year 5/6 Sports Leaders then put their leadership skills into practice as they took it in turns to organise and deliver a number of playground activities to each other, before delivering the activities to one of our Year 2 classes. As part of this year’s School Games membership, as a school we have also invested in the Playground Leaders programme. This programme aims to provide our Sports Leaders with the training and resources to be able to provide and deliver playground activities to our KS1 pupils during lunchtimes. As well as providing our Year 5/6 Sports Leaders with leadership opportunities, the programme will also provide our KS1 pupils the opportunities to take part in structured skill-based activities at lunchtime, which in turn also provides links to the governments recommended 60 minutes of physical activity for children per day. Mr Jordan was immensely proud of the incredible leadership skills shown by all of our Sports Leaders. They really were a credit to themselves and our school. Mr Jordan is very much looking forward to working alongside the Sports Leaders as they deliver their playground activities within their Playground Leaders role throughout the year!

Cross Country Success for Arthur

After finishing a very impressive 3rd place during last year’s Ipswich & South Suffolk School Games Cross Country event, Arthur (Year 6) was recently invited to represent the School Games team in the Suffolk Schools Area Cross Country Championships. The Area Championships, which again took place at the Royal Hospital School, involved competitors within Arthurs section (minor boys) to complete a 3040m course. With the top 50 competitors progressing through to the Area Championships finals at Woodbridge School, the race was an extremely competitive affair. After yet another very impressive race, Arthur was able to secure himself a top 50 place finishing in a very impressive 34th place. As a result, Arthur has now qualified to take place in the next round of the Area Championships! Well done Arthur!

Celebrating our Pupils Sporting Achievements

We always love to hear about what our pupils are achieving in the times they are not in school. We were therefore excited to hear about three of our children who have received medals and certificates this week, for taking part in dance exams which they took during the summer term. Amelia (Pandas) received a commended grade for Modern Ballroom Waltz whilst Grace (Badgers) and Emily (Owls) both received the commended grade for the under 8s dance test. Well done girls, we are very proud of your hard work!

Well done also to George (Year 3). He loves to do karate, and he entered a competition at the weekend. We were thrilled to see he came 3rd! What a fabulous achievement George, a big well done!

Please do keep sharing your children’s successes – we would love to celebrate these with you! 

Wake Up and Walk Event 2024

The beginning of this week saw the return of our ‘Wake Up & Walk’ event. The event, organised by Mr Jordan, encouraged pupils, parents and carers to take part in a Daily Mile inspired 2 lap walk around the KS2 field, before school. The turnout for the event by both pupils and parent/carers exceeded the numbers from last year’s event with an impressive 195 pupils and 128 parents/carers taking part during the KS1 & KS2 events! It was fantastic to see so many of our pupils and parents/carers enjoying the physical, mental and social benefits from the early morning exercise. Mr Jordan would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that helped to make our ‘Wake Up & Walk’ event another massive success!

Bikeability

Last week 12 of our Year 5 pupils took part in a Suffolk County Council led cycling training course known as ‘Bikeability’. Throughout the two-day course, the pupils were taught, and assessed, on their cycling skills and safety. The pupils demonstrated their skills during off road/playground activities (Level 1), before continuing their training on quiet local roads (Level 2). A massive congratulations goes to all of the pupils for passing their Level 1 award and the 11 pupils that were also able to achieve their Level 2 award. The instructors were very complementary of the pupils’ effort and exemplary behaviour throughout the two days! Following the success of this year’s Bikeability, Mr Jordan has already spoken to the instructors to secure dates for next year!

Celebrating our Pupils Sporting Achievements

Once again, we are pleased to be able to celebrate the achievements of some of our pupils here at Whitehouse. Siblings, Skye, Ruby and Effie recently performed in a dance show for the Suffolk Academy of Dance and Performing Arts. This was held at the Regent Theatre to celebrate the dance school’s 30th anniversary! The girls did a wonderful job making their family incredibly proud of them. Well done girls!

Amelia in Year 3 has also been busy as she achieved her orange belt in karate after less than two months of attending the class. Amelia was so excited she brought in her belt to show her class. This is a wonderful achievement, well done!

Street Dance, is also proving popular with our children. Darsie in Year 1 recently won two National Street Dance competitions and received trophies, whilst Carmen, also in Year 1, has been collecting badges and a key ring for taking part in street dance activities. What a talented bunch of children we have at Whitehouse! Well done to all of you. You have found some wonderful activities to help you stay fit and have fun with your friends.

Wake Up and Walk 2024 - Coming Soon

Following the popularity and success of last year’s event, we are happy to announce the return of our Daily Mile inspired ‘Wake Up & Walk’ event. We would therefore like to invite all of our parents/carers to join us to take part in this year’s event. The event will take place before school (during drop off time) during the final week of term. As with last year’s event, this is an informal and optional event, which will give parents/carers the opportunity to take part in a 2 lap walk around the KS2 field before school with their child. Yr5/6 pupils who walk to school by themselves may also take part in the event. As an incentive for those that take part in the event, there will be certificates for both parents/carers and pupils and also a non-school uniform voucher for pupils to use during the final week of term. This year’s ‘Wake Up & Walk’ event will be conducted as one of our school’s ‘House’ events. Therefore, during the event we will also be collecting for our four chosen ‘House’ charities. A donation bucket will be available for those wishing to make an optional donation during the event. All proceeds made from this event will be shared out between each of our chosen charities.

Event details: Dates: Monday 15th July 2024 (EYFS & KS1 Pupils & Parents/Carers) Tuesday 16th July 2024 (KS2 Pupils & Parents/Carers) Time: 8:30am – 8:40am

Additional Information: No sign up is required. Simply meet Mr Jordan on the KS2 field, entering school via the Marlow Rd or Waterford Rd gate.

We very much look forward to seeing many of our parents/carers and pupils enjoying the event.

Celebrating our Pupils Sporting Achievements

As you may remember, it was National School Sports Week from 17th to 23rd June 2024. With this in mind we are pleased to celebrate a few of our pupils with their sporting efforts. Lucas and his sister Carmen love to be involved with playing sports all year round and recently Lucas took part in a very muddy ‘Race for Life’ for children. It was a 5km race, with obstacles throughout and we were very impressed to hear that he ran the whole way! Super effort Lucas. Meanwhile Carmen was also getting active as shown here when she attended her street dance class! As well as this they attend basketball, swimming and beavers, so they are certainly keeping fit! Well done to you both.

Well done Eli, from Year 4, who took part in kayaking this week with the Scouts, which he absolutely loved! He listened well to instructions to respect the wildlife as they went on their way along the River Gipping at Bramford Meadows. Eli even managed to do a trick as he stood on the back of the kayak without falling, although the teacher did splash him so he got wet! He had a wonderful time and looks forward to having another go. Mum was very proud of his achievement and so are we! Well done Eli.

Finally, We are also pleased to share the sporting efforts of Seth and Jason, from Year 4, who both play football for Witnesham Wasps. On Saturday, a couple of weeks ago, the boys played in a football tournament where they both received a medal for taking part. Seth scored the winning goal, making it a 2-1 win for Wasps. Well done boys – fabulous achievement.

We were thrilled to hear that Callum (Year 4) had won an award from Ipswich Valley Rangers, the football team he plays for. IVR football club held a Seasons Award Ceremony on Friday and Callum received the Most Improved Player award. What an amazing achievement Callum, well done on all your hard work!

National School Sports Week 2024

Next Monday marks the start of ‘National School Sports Week’ (17th – 23rd June 2024). National School Sports Week is an annual event which aims to highlight the importance of getting children to fulfil the recommended minimum time of being physically active for 60 minutes a day. To acknowledge this event, in addition to our already very active week (lunchtime activities, after school clubs etc.), next week during English & Maths, class teachers will be encouraged to include Teach Active lessons. Additionally, during PE lessons we will be conducting our annual Paralympic Week. Staff will conduct two inclusive/Paralympic activities to deliver to their class. This includes activities such as Archery, Boccia, Goalball, New Aged Kurling, Seated Volleyball, Goalball and Team Building Activities.

To ensure that children are fulfilling their 60 minutes of physical activity per day, it is recommended that they should be physically active in and outside of school. Examples outside of school could include:

- Playing in the garden

- Playing football at the park

- Going for a walk, run or bike ride with a family member

- Being active on the play equipment at the local park

- Attending a sports club, or being active at a club outside of school.

Therefore, we would love to see the different ways in which our pupils are being active away from school during next week’s National School Sports Week. Please feel free to share photos with us by sending them to parents@whcps.org.

Sakura from Year 5, has been working extremely hard at her Karate. During her end of year awards ceremony, Sakura’s hard work was celebrated as she received a trophy for the Most Improved Student as well as two medals for being in the competition squad and for achieving medals in previous competitions! Well done Sakura, what a wonderful achievement!

Sports for Schools GB Athletes Visit Continued

On Monday 10^th June 2024, we were treated to a visit by GB Gymnast Kelly Simm. During Kelly’s half day visit to our school, she met and worked with pupils from Reception and KS1 classes. Kelly’s visit began with a truly inspirational assembly. During the assembly, Kelly told pupils about her sporting journey to becoming a GB gymnast. The pupils were especially impressed by the video of Kelly’s gymnastic routine on the uneven bars during the Commonwealth Games. Kelly also explained that despite winning numerous medals at British, Commonwealth, European and World championships, that there were times during her gymnastics career where she had to face disappointments, setbacks and injuries. However, with hard work, determination and lots of perseverance she was able to achieve her goals! After their assembly each class from Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 took part in a short high energy 10-minute fun fitness session with Kelly. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the fitness session and working closely with Kelly. The motivational music, encouragement by Kelly and the fun exercises ensured that each pupil gave 100% effort during the session. Before leaving, Kelly also took time to conduct a meet and greet with our Yr5&6 Sports Leaders. During their meeting, the Sports Leaders were also able to conduct a Q&A with Kelly, and were also given the opportunity to see the Commonwealth Games Gold medal won by Kelly in 2022.

Each of our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the visit from Kelly. The opportunity and memories of meeting and working closely with such a top-level international athlete will, I’m sure, stay with our pupils for years to come!

Sports for Schools GB Athlete Visit

We are all very excited to welcome yet another visit from a GB Athlete to our school next Monday, 10th June 2024. This year’s visiting athlete will be GB gymnast Kelly Simm. Kelly has won numerous medals at British, Commonwealth, European and World championships. Most recently, Kelly won a gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games! During Kelly’s half day visit, she will be meeting and working with pupils from our Reception and KS1 classes. As with the previous athlete visits, Kelly will be providing pupils with an inspiration assembly, before meeting and conducting a fun 10-minute fitness session with each class (Reception, Yr1 & Yr2). To help the day run smoothly, we ask that pupils involved in the athlete visit to come to school in their PE kit on Monday 10th June. Previous GB athlete visits have always been an exciting and very inspiring experience for both our pupils and staff. The visits have also provided our pupils with the opportunity to meet and work closely with top level international athletes. As a result, we are very much looking forward to Kelly’s visit!

Walk to School Week 2024

Well done to everyone that took part in the ‘Walk to School Week’ challenge during the final week before half term. It was amazing to see so many of our pupils taking part in the challenge, and enjoying walking to school. It was again fantastic to also hear that a number of families opted to park their cars further away from school and walk the final part of their journey into school throughout the week. As with previous year's, and to add a fun competitive element to the week, Mr Jordan set an extra challenge to see which class in each year group was the most active and had the greatest number of pupils walking to school throughout the ‘Walk to School Week’.

The results for the inter-class competition were as follows:

Celebrating our School Community

As always, we love to share the wonderful achievements of our children and staff. This week we celebrate Millie in Year 4. Millie had her football presentation at the end of the season and was awarded Supporters Player for the second year in a row! She was very excited as her medal was presented by two of the Ipswich Women’s team, Kyra Robertson and Maria Boswell. Keeping with a football theme, we also celebrate a member of our staff Miss Huggins, who plays for a local team as a goalkeeper. This week she played in the Suffolk Women’s Football County Cup final at Portman Road. There were 25 teams in the competition so to reach the final was an amazing achievement. Unfortunately, the final score did not go their way but the team were still very pleased as they were four divisions lower than the other team! Well done Millie and Miss Huggins, you have done wonderfully well!

Walk to School Week 2024

Walk to School Week is back! Next week Monday marks the start of ‘Walk to School Week’ (Monday 20th May 2024 to Friday 24th May 2024). As a school, we will again be taking part in the ‘Living Streets: The Magic of Walking Five-Day Walking Challenge’. As a result, we would like to encourage you and your child to walk to school for the whole week. If you live too far to walk, maybe you could use public transport or even consider parking the car before walking the last 5 minutes into school. An activity booklet with daily fun activities to complete on the way to school will be provided to each pupil. Additionally, as with previous ‘Walk to School’ weeks, each class will also be provided with a visual wallchart and daily reward stickers to track their class’s participation in the challenge. To add a healthy competitive element to this year’s ‘Walk to School Week’, Mr Jordan will again be introducing an inter-class competition to see which class has the greatest number of pupils walking to school throughout the week. As with previous PE challenges, we would really like to celebrate our pupils’ efforts and engagement in the challenge on the PE page of the school website. Therefore, please feel free to send any photos of your child during their walk to school throughout the week to parents@whcps.org.

Beat the Street Celebration Assembly

You may remember our wonderful achievement during the Beat the Street event earlier this year, in which our school finished top of the leaderboard for the total number of points scored and second for the average number of points scored for the West Ipswich schools. Following that achievement, last Friday, our pupils were treated to a celebration assembly conducted by Libby, the Beat the Street engagement coordinator for Ipswich. During the assembly, we were presented with an impressive first place Beat the Street trophy and a framed certificate, which are now both on display within our trophy cabinet at the front of the school. In addition, we were also presented with £350 of Waterstone vouchers to further celebrate our achievements during the Beat the Street event. We would again like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you that took part in the Beat the Street event!

Beat the Street Success

WOW!  We have been so impressed with everyone’s efforts with Beat the Street over the last few weeks.  We hope you have really enjoyed getting out and around the streets of Ipswich and even feel a little fitter because of it!  We have done so well over the last week especially.  Last Friday, we reported that we were in third place, with the school above us having been about 12,000 points ahead.  However, everyone heeded our call to action and we went from 12,000 below to 27,000 points ahead of that school, taking us to 2^nd place!  We are very proud of every one of you that joined in.  What a wonderful team we are at Whitehouse.  We truly did show the Whitehouse Way of perseverance and courage! 

We are sure you are all as excited as we were to hear that Ipswich Town Football Club were promoted to the Premier League last week. Thank you to all those who shared photos of your children and families enjoying the event.

As well as the men’s team, Ipswich Women’s Team also played at the weekend and we really enjoyed seeing Millie’s photo. Millie was able to not only watch the match but met Lenna Gunning-Williams who gave her a pair of her football boots, signed! What a lovely treat! Well done Millie.

Save the Date - Sports Day 2024

We know lots of our parents/carers like to attend our popular annual sports days. To help you plan to be able to come along, we are pleased to announce the following Sports Day events dates and times for your information:

Mrs Jouseiffe's Brighton Marathon Success

A massive well done to Mrs Jousiffe, a member of our Office Team, who completed her first marathon during the Easter holiday. Mrs Jousiffe has been training very hard and was thrilled to be able to travel to Brighton to run the course. She completed it in 4 hours and 45 minutes. A big well done to you! She is already planning for her next marathon!

Golf Success for Jessica

Jessica in Year 6 has been continuing with her golf journey. We were thrilled to hear that she won her first competition on 31st March 2024. Jessica won the 9-hole Lady Di Memorial Cup at Fynn Valley Golf Club. What a fabulous achievement. Well done Jessica!

Beat the Streets Final Week!

It is our final week of Beat the Street, as the last chance to collect points is on Wednesday 27th March 2024. So, it is time for everyone to get on their walking boots, grab their cycles and scooters and get busy for the next few days! Great news, every box this week is double points so we can earn even more points to add to our Whitehouse total. We are currently in third place so everyone has done an amazing job! We have quite a lot of points to gather to catch the second place school up, but it is always possible if we work hard! We hope you have all really enjoyed getting out and about in the sunshine (and rain!) as we all got a little bit healthier and a little bit fitter moving around Ipswich.

Beat the Street Update

We hope you and your children have been enjoying playing Beat the Street over the half term holiday – lots of staff have been joining in too! The game continues right through until Wednesday 27th March 2024, so there is plenty of time to keep gathering those points! If you have not started playing, why not get out this weekend and have a go! Don’t forget that to earn points you need to scan two ‘Beat Boxes’ within 60 minutes. If you have downloaded the App, you can see where Whitehouse is on the leaders table! Currently we are in 3rd place, with just two schools ahead of us, so lets all put on our walking shoes and keep going! For more information about Beat the Street visit www.beatthestreet.me or watch the short Beat the Street YouTube video https://youtu.be/WMS6rQPIt0o.

We have loved seeing your photos of your adventures so far, including Holly from Year 4 who loves collecting points on her way to school, Eli from Year 4 who has loved going out during half term come rain or shine (mostly rain!) and is trying hard to find all 128 boxes. Also, we have Carmen and Lucas (Year 1 and Year 6) who joined their family out on a bike ride to find 19 boxes in the local area. Well done everyone!

We would love to see some more photos of you all enjoying the game, so please share these with us by sending them to parents@whcps.org.

Beat the Street

As a school we pride ourselves on our inclusive PE provision which provides our pupils with many opportunities to increase their levels of activities beyond the school day. We are therefore, extremely excited to offer all of our pupils, parents/carers and teachers the opportunity to take part in ‘Beat the Street’.

What is Beat the Street? Between Wednesday 14th February 2024 and Wednesday 27th March 2024, Ipswich is being transformed into a giant game! Beat the Street is a free and fun game which gets pupils, along with their parent/carers and teachers out and about in the local area, increasing activity levels, whilst also having lots of fun and keeping healthy.

How does it work? This week, game materials including game cards, game instructions (leaflets) and a game map will be provided to all pupils, parents/carers and teachers. A number of game card readers called ‘Beat Boxes’ will be positioned around Ipswich, including one outside our school. Players use their contactless game cards to hover over the Beat Boxes to score points as they travel around from Beat Box to Beat Box. These points will contribute to individual and school leader boards which can be viewed by visiting www.beatthestreet.me once the game commences. Top school teams will be in with a chance to win hundreds of pounds worth of sports and book vouchers. As well as prizes, players can also complete fun in-game challenges to win awards.

For more information about Beat the Street visit www.beatthestreet.me or watch the short Beat the Street YouTube video https://youtu.be/WMS6rQPIt0o. We hope you will all have lots of fun taking part in the Beat the Street game, collecting as many points as possible! We would also love for you share photos with us of our pupils taking part in Beat the Street. Therefore, please feel free to send photos to us at parents@whcps.org

Year 2 Framlingham Castle Visit

On Tuesday, our Year 2 children headed off to Framlingham Castle as part of their Enquiry question ‘What was life like in a castle?’ When they arrived, the children did not waste any time exploring the castle and identifying some of the things they had been learning about. The children especially enjoyed walking around the wall at the top of the castle and taking part in some archery fantastically run by the ‘Robin Hood of Whitehouse’ himself, Mr Jordan! Thankfully the rain held off and a lovely day was had by both children and staff alike.

Gymnastics After School Club Fun!

Last half-term some of the Year 3 children very much enjoyed taking part in a gymnastics after school club. They learnt how to safely use a range of gymnastic equipment and had lots of fun each week using the equipment to make different pathways and shapes.

We are thrilled to celebrate the success of another one of our pupils. Sakura, in Year 5, took part in a Karate competition. She did wonderfully and achieved three different medals in Kumite, Kick Misester and Paired Kata and Kata. What a great achievement! Well done Sakura, we are very proud of you!

Ipswich Half Marathon

Well done to three of our staff members who took part in the Larken Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon last Sunday, each running over 13 miles. Mrs Bendell, Mrs Jousiffe and Ms Salmon all were very happy with their times and all their training paid off. What an inspiration you are to us all!

We love to celebrate the achievements of our children and this week want to share about Jessica in Year 6. She loves to play golf and over the summer she achieved her England Golf official handicap, which means she can now compete officially. Jessica has worked so hard to achieve this and plays golf at least twice a week! This is amazing, Jessica we know you are going to go on and become a real superstar!

A big well done to four members of our staff who recently took on the challenge to walk or run the equivalent number of miles to journey from Lands End to John O’Groats. It took Miss Horne, Miss Jaspal, Ms Salmon and Mrs Greggor a year to complete the challenge to walk 874 miles. What a great example of perseverance and hard work!

‘PE with Bluey’

Ipswich Town Football Club’s team mascot ‘Bluey’ has been delivering some live fitness workouts for everyone to enjoy taking part in. The 10-minute videos can be found on ITFC’s YouTube channel at the following link https://youtu.be/-N3G_VohYYI. ITFC hope to add a new episode at least once a week. Have fun!

Park and Stride

Some of you may have noticed the new Suffolk County Council signs which have appeared outside the school recently, encouraging us to think about the way we travel to school, other than using our cars. Popular ideas are to walk, cycle or scoot, but have you thought about ‘Park and Stride.’ Some of us live too far away to walk however, Park and Stride suggests that we drive some of the way to school, park a few streets away and then walk the remaining way. This not only helps to keep the streets around the school much quieter and safer at school times, but reduces the air pollution and helps us get some exercise. Why not give it a try?

Aldi Vouchers Update

A very big thank you to everyone who has helped us collect the ‘Aldi’s Kit for Schools’ vouchers. As a result, we have managed to complete one of the posters and are well on the way to completing a second. With the campaign ending soon, we would love to be able to complete and send off both posters to help increase our chances of winning the prize. Please help us in a final push to collect as many vouchers as possible. Thank you again for all your support.

Aldi's Kit for Schools Progress

We are nearly there! A massive thank you to everyone that has helped us to collect the Aldi kit for schools stickers. We only need 18 more to complete our poster. The promotion ends at the start of November, so please keep collecting for us.

New Football Kit and WHCPS Team Jacket

We are very excited by the arrival of our new WHCPS team jacket and football kit. The WHCPS team jackets will be worn by pupils representing the school during our Level 2 (inter-school) competitions and events. The football kit will also be worn by both the boys and girls football teams when they are representing the school. We are sure you will agree that the children will look very smart and professional in their new kit! A big thank you to The Black Tiles Restaurant and Bar, Martlesham for sponsoring our football kit.

Aldi’s Kit for School 

Daily Mile

We are proud to have joined over 8,000 schools and nurseries in becoming a registered Daily Mile School! Since the start of the Summer Term, classes have enjoyed taking part in the 15 minute mile during the school day. Whether pupils walk, jog or run, one of the main purposes of the mile is to get the children out of their seats to become more active, fitter and healthier. Additionally, the mile is used as a tool to help break up the school day providing pupils with an opportunity to improve their ability to concentrate within the classroom. It has been amazing to see so many classes, and staff, enjoying taking part in the mile. It has also been pleasing to hear that so many of our children are reaping the benefits of the miles in and outside of the classroom.