Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 160

Friday 9th July 2021

Message from Mrs Hall

It was lovely to meet all our new children this week who will be joining the school in September. They all seemed very excited to start our great school. Please note, we only have seven days left until the end of term and there is still lots of important learning to complete, therefore, holiday requests will continue to be unauthorised. Today, you should have received your child’s report which summarises the progress they have made this year and, overall, we are delighted with the effort the children have put into their school despite the disruptions caused by Covid-19. Well done everyone, we are super proud of you all.

Attendance for the Previous Week

Class with the Best Attendance – Toucans (99%)

Whitehouse Prefects

We are very pleased to announce our prefects for 2021-2022.  These children have all been extremely hard-working and responsible members of Year 5 this year and are great examples to us all of following the Whitehouse Way.  Well done to you all.

Purple Man Reading Award

The winners last week were Badgers and Lemurs – well done!  We have now come to the end of the year and the results of the Purple Man Reading Award can now be announced:

LKS2: In 3^rd place was Hedgehogs.  2^nd place was Robins and in 1^st place this year was the Foxes class.

UKS2: In joint 3^rd place were Pandas and Lemurs. 2^nd place was Tigers and in 1^st place this year was the Ocelots class.

Congratulations to Foxes and Ocelots who both win the coveted award of a McFlurry each! Also, a big well done to all our children who have continued reading and quizzing, despite the challenges we faced this year and have helped their classes gain the award each week.

Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Virtual Author Visit

On Tuesday, Year 4 were lucky to have a virtual visit by the author Cat Weldon.  She talked to the children about her book series ‘How to be a Hero’ which has characters from the Viking age.  We heard about how that had inspired her to write novels (she used to be a script writer in the theatre!) and her love of Norse mythology and old stories, which inspired her books.  Some of the children were able to ask some very thoughtful questions and she gave us some great responses.  Her new book, ‘Land of Lost Things’ comes out on Thursday, it could be a good summer holiday read!

House Competition on Children’s Rights

As part of our Rights Respecting School journey towards Silver, Whitehouse is organising a House Competition for the week commencing Monday 5^th July.  The aim of the competition is for pupils to show their understanding of the following rights, which have been covered in assemblies this term, by designing a poster which demonstrates how we promote these rights in our school.  Each house will focus on a particular right which is linked to the Heads of House roles within the school:

Diamonds: Mrs Shalka – Article 12: The right to have a voice and be listened to

Emerald: Mr Jordan – Article 21: The right to play and relax

Ruby: Mr Johnson – Article 28: The right to education

Sapphire: Mr Christopher – Article 24: The right to best health

Please take this opportunity to discuss these rights with your children and encourage them to take part.  Winners will not only receive a certificate and earn points for their house but their posters will also be enlarged and used to promote the rights around the school.  We know that we have wonderful artists in our midst and the Heads of House cannot wait to judge all the wonderful entries.

KS1 and KS2 Sports Days

Following the disappointment of not being able to have a Sports Day last year, we were all extremely excited to be able to have our Sports Dav events last week. A lot of careful planning went into ensuring that we were able to deliver COVID-safe sports day events for each year group.  Despite the current Government restrictions forcing us to make changes to our usual planning, we were very proud to be able to invite parents and carers to be able to share the individual Sports Day events with us.  The hot temperatures over the two days definitely did not deter the effort and enthusiasm of the pupils.  Each and every one of them were absolutely amazing and put 100% effort into every activity, demonstrating ‘The Whitehouse Way’ throughout.  The results from KS1 and KS2 events are as follows:

A big thank you to all pupils, staff and spectators for making the KS1 and KS2 Sports Day events extremely successful!  We are now very much looking forward to the EYFS and Nursery Sports Day events on Thursday 15^th July.

Advice for the Summer Holiday

Please note Suffolk Constabulary have issued some advice for parents/carers with regards to the upcoming summer holiday:

“We ask that you know where your child is, what they are doing and who they are associating with. Children should be allowed the opportunity to develop, explore and play, but this must not be at the expense of theirs and others safety and quality of life. As children do not always appreciate the risks in certain situations or fully understand the consequences of their behaviour; it is the responsibility of parents, guardians and carers to keep them safe. Remember the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years of age.” 

Please see the following link for more advice:  https://www.whcps.org/07-07-2021-suffolk-police-advice-for-summer-holida/

Year 6 Photos

We are pleased to let parents/carers know that our year 6 classes will have their photos included in the Ipswich Star’s ‘Top Class’ supplement which will go on sale on Wednesday 14th July.  Keep a look out for it!

Dates for the Diary

Thursday 15^th July – Nursery Sports Event – 9.15am to 10.15am

Thursday 15^th July – Reception Sports Day – 10.30am to 11.30am

Thursday 15^th July – Year 6 BBQ – 4.00pm to 5.15pm

Friday 16^th July – EYFS Afternoon Tea (New Reception Children) - 1.30pm to 3.00pm

Monday 19^th July – Year 6 Production (Chameleons / Ocelots) 9.00am / 4.30pm

Monday 19^th July – Year 6 Production (Tigers / Toucans) 11.00am / 6.30pm

Tuesday 20^th July – YR-Y5 Transition Morning

Tuesday 20^th July – Year 6 Picnic and Celebration with Parents – 1.30pm

           Wednesday 21^st July – Start of the Summer Holiday