Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 182

Friday 11th February 2022

Message from Mrs Hall

It has been great to welcome parents/carers back into school for our Families Connect course (Article 5: family guidance as children develop). As Covid-19 restrictions are beginning to lift further, we hope to be able to offer more opportunities soon for parents/carers to come into school to work alongside their children.

Unfortunately, we have had a number of concerns raised from our neighbours about some of the parking at the beginning and end of the school day. Whilst we appreciate that many of you park considerately, please could I remind you not to park on the yellow chevrons outside the school, in front of driveways or up on the pavements. This not only causes a problem for our neighbours but also puts our children at risk on their walk home.

Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week

Class with the Best Attendance – Hedgehogs (96.0%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Why do we need to recycle? What could happen to the planet if we don’t?  UNRC Link: Article 29:  I have the right to education which tries to develop my personality and abilities as much as possible and encourages me to respect other people’s rights and values and 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.

School Times

Please can we remind parents the timings of the start and end of the school day:

We would encourage you to please ensure that your children arrive promptly in the morning so they are in class and ready to learn.  If your child is running late, please be aware that the gates are all locked at 8.55am and from that time onwards all children will need to enter via the main school office. Please note if you struggle to get your child here at this time, we do offer two Breakfast Clubs each morning which start at 8.00am and cost just £1.00 a day.  The children are able to have a simple breakfast and then either do some physical activity or some quieter sitting down activities. 

Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

World Book Day

This year World Book Day takes place on Thursday 3^rd March.  It is always a fun time but this year is extra special as it marks the 25^th anniversary of this event.  Your child is invited to come dressed up as any book character that day and in addition bring along one of their favourite books to share in class.  All children will receive a book token to the value of £1.00 which will allow them to purchase a book from a range of places including the major supermarkets.  You can find out more about the books available from this link: https://www.worldbookday.com/books/.  We look forward to seeing some wonderful costumes and books.

Reading Recommendations

Please see below the latest recommendations for books to read to help the children to widen their book choices.  There will be rewards for any children who read and quiz on these books.  This week’s recommendations are: 

Year 5/6 Mixed Basketball

On Wednesday, 14 of our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils took part in the Ipswich and South Suffolk School Games Mixed Basketball event at inspire Suffolk. During the event, each match was divided up into two halves with the girls’ teams from each school playing against each other in the first half, and the boys’ team playing the second half.  In total the team played four matches against schools from Woodbridge, SET Causton, and Sproughton. All four matches were played at a very high tempo, with each team having to continually run up and down the court to attack and defend.  Mr Jordan and Ms Salmon were extremely proud of the teamwork and impressive basketball skills the children demonstrated.  As a result of their fantastic efforts, our team finished 4^th overall.  A special well done to Caleb for receiving the School Games ‘Fair Play’ award, voted for by the young leaders at the event.  Well done everyone!

Online Safety

Although there is plenty that trusted adults can do to make the internet a safer place, it is also vital that we educate and empower our children to create a more hospitable, more tolerant online environment – whether that is thinking more carefully about the content they post and share, or considering how they interact with other people when they are online. Safer Internet Day 2022 explore this theme of respect and relationships in the digital world, and the NOS are supporting this event by releasing two guides on the subject.  One guide is designed to help children maintain positive communication online, while the other highlights ways that parents/carers can support young people in being good digital citizens.  Please see these posters on the following pages (see main newsletter).

Purple Man Reading Competition

Well done to Hedgehogs (LKS2) and Tigers (UKS2) for winning the Purple Man Reading Competition last week.  Keep going Key Stage 2, let’s see who will win next week!

News from the House Captains

Hello KS2,

We are excited to announce that we are going to have a TTRS battle between the houses starting on Monday 14^th February and ending on Friday 18^th February.  Amazingly, the winning house will be rewarded with a non-school uniform day!  Therefore, please do your best to take part!

As House Captains, we will collate the results after half-term and announce the winners during the first week back.

Good luck and try your best.  Let the battle commence…

Sofija, Derin, Jayden, Mason, Lily, Tayla, Ceylin and Ala

Times Table Rockstars CET Battle

Over the past month, children in Key Stage Two have been battling the seven other schools within the Academy Trust on their times tables.  Whitehouse have performed brilliantly, achieving a hard fought third position.  Points were won based on the amount of correct answers given per child, with Whitehouse achieving an impressive average of 2,593.  Special mentions go to the Hedgehogs class, who came third out of all the classes within the battle.  The top three players from Whitehouse were Laycee (Hedgehogs), Elsie (Tigers) and Vakaris (Jaguars).  Laycee also achieved first place out of all the students across all of the schools.  Well done everyone!

Dates for the Diary

Monday 21^st February to Friday 25^th February – Half Term Holiday

Monday 28^th February – PD Day (School Closed to Children)

Thursday 3^rd March – World Book Day – Dress as a book character

Wednesday 16^th March – Parents Evening

Friday 18^th March – Comic Relief

Thursday 24^th March – Parents Evening

Thursday 31^st March – Rights Respecting School Silver Award Verification Day

Friday 8^th April – PD Day (School Closed to Children)

Monday 11^th April to Friday 22^nd April – Easter Holiday