Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 194

Friday 27th May 2022

Message from Mrs Hall

It has been a short but very busy half-term! We have managed to offer lots of clubs and trips and have lots more planned next half-term (please check the diary for dates). In addition, this week Y6 have been auditioning for their end of year play ‘Robin Hood’; we are really looking forward to watching these performances. Also, we are now in the process of organising classes and staffing for next year. Please note there will be changes to the current Y3, Y4 and Y5 classes as they move up into their next year group and we will continue to use the covid catch-up funding to support the children’s learning. If you have any questions or concerns about class changes please speak to your child’s phase leader for more information. We do hope that everyone has a wonderful half-term and that you enjoy the Jubilee celebrations; 70 years of service is a fantastic achievement. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Monday 6^th June. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week

Class with the Best Attendance – Toucans (98.6%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for the week after the half term holiday will be: The Crisp Packet Project: How can recycling enhance people’s lives?    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.

Purple Man Reading Competition

Well done to the classes who won last week: Chameleons (Y6), Jaguars (Y5), Hedgehogs (Y4) and Foxes (Y3). 

Library Photo Competition

Thank you to everyone who sent in photographs of our children reading in unusual places.  We now have lots of lovely new pictures on our library walls of Harper, Henley, Ava, Blake, Kezzia, Ruby, Maddie, Frankie and Sophie.  The Year 2 children’s pictures are in the KS2 library so they will be able to see them when they come back in Year 3 in September.

Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Online Safety

With half term upon us, now is a good time to check your children’s devices for privacy settings and to remind them on what to do if an online incident occurs and how to report it.  Internet Matters have a good range of guides that help parents with family pairing (where available), privacy settings, reporting and much more.  This is a really helpful resource with lots of tips and tricks.  Click the following link to see the website: https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/social-media/.  If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact with Mrs Cox, our Online Safety lead, via the main office.   

Year 5/6 Netball Tournament

On Tuesday the Year 5 and 6 Netball team went to Ipswich Sports Centre at Rushmere to take part in the Ipswich and Suffolk School Games Bee Netball Tournament.  This was a competitive event which was made up of two groups with five teams in each group.  The winners from each group then played each other for a place at the County Final in July.  With two halves each lasting six minutes, each game played was of high quality and at a fast pace. The girls showed some excellent teamwork and netball skills in both attack and defence.  After losing their first game, the girls picked themselves up and using the Whitehouse Way went on to win 3-2 against Gorseland Primary.  This win gave the girls a boost and they went on to win their other two games: Dale Hall 4-3 and Heath 3-1.  Ms Salmon was extremely proud of the effort, behaviour and teamwork of the girls.  Unfortunately, despite three wins, the girls did not qualify for a place in the playoff final, having just missed out on goal difference.   A special mention to Ebunoluwa, who was awarded with the Fair Play for the Whitehouse team.

Ms Salmon has found it a real pleasure to coach the team this year and has thoroughly enjoyed watching them all grow and develop in both skills and confidence.  They have represented the school very well and shown the Whitehouse Way at all times.  We wish the Year 6 girls all the best in their netball as they move to High School in September.  A big thank you to all the parents/carers for your continued support and helping us to be able to attend the events and matches.

News from the RRSA Committee

Hello,

We are so pleased to have achieved RRSA Silver.  We are now working on our next step and we have sent an invitation to all the Headteachers in the Children’s Endeavour Trust this week to attend an Information Event on Thursday 30th June about our journey so far.  We hope lots of them come!

Ava and Laniyha

On behalf of all the RRSA Ambassadors

Walk to School Week

Well done to everyone that took part in the ‘Walk to School Week’ challenge last week. It was amazing to see so many of our pupils taking part in the challenge, enjoying the daily activities and placing their daily sticker on their class wallchart. As with previous years, it was also again fantastic to 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.   As a school it was very exciting to be involved in the media promotion of this year’s ‘Walk to School Week’. Mr Jordan and a number of our pupils were involved in both a newspaper press release and a live radio interview on BBC radio Suffolk (links for both of these can be found in last week’s newsletter).

To add an additional competitive element to the week, Mr Jordan set an extra challenge to see which classes would be the most active and have the greatest number of pupils walking to school throughout the week. Mr Jordan presented a class certificate to the winning class in each year group. Well done to the following classes:

Class Activity Bags

Our class activity bags have been a big success, as each class across KS1 and KS2 have been enjoying using the equipment within their bag.  The aim of the activity bags, introduced during this half term, is to provide our pupils with the opportunity to use the equipment during break times, lunch times and Golden time (supervised by staff). This in turn will allow the pupils to become more active during these times, learn to play with others and provide them with the responsibility of looking after their class bag/equipment.  It has been fantastic to see so many pupils engaged and active with the help of the class activity bags! 

Year 1/2 Virtual Football Competition Winners!

During the Autumn Term pupils across KS1 and KS2 took part in the Ipswich and South Suffolk School Games Virtual Football competition. Unlike the usual Level 2 (inter-school) events, the virtual event provided the opportunity for more pupils to take part in School Games events and represent their school in a Level 2 sporting event within their PE lessons. 

The football event consisted of pupils taking part, and scoring points in a number of football specific skills/stations. The points scored by each class was combined within their key stage and sent off to the School Games organiser as part of the competition against other schools.

We are delighted to announce that as a result of efforts shown, and the points scored, by our Year 1 and Year 2 classes, that we won the KS1 Virtual Football competition! The KS1 pupils were extremely happy to be told the news by Mr Jordan and to see the trophy awarded to the school as a result of winning the competition. Well done year 1 and 2!

U7 Dodgeball Festival

Last Thursday Mr Jordan took six Year 2 children to Inspire Suffolk to compete in the School Games U7 Dodgeball Festival. The team played a Round Robin of games against four other schools within their group. In total the team played seven matches, with each match consisting of three 2-minute games. As well as showing some excellent Dodgeball skills and teamwork, Mr Jordan was incredibly proud of the effort and excellent behaviour shown by all of the pupils throughout the festival. The team showed the true ‘Whitehouse way’ as they took time to thank their opponents and the umpires after each game. The team really enjoyed the festival and finished each game with a big smile on their faces. Well done everyone!

Year 3 Roman Day

Our Year 3 children celebrated the end of their Roman topic with a Roman Day.  The children dressed up in their costumes and designed a Roman ‘Bulla’ purse with coins.  They learned how to sew their design on to the purse and some of the children even mastered cross stitch!  The purses have Roman coins inside which they designed and used multicoloured wool to fasten the purses up.  Other activities during the day included learning how to solve Roman numeral puzzles and Latin words derived from the Romans.  A final march ended the day in true battle style!

Sports Day Timings

We know many of our parents/carers love to come along to our Sports Days in the Summer Term, so please find below the timings for your information:

Dates for the Diary

Monday 30^th May to Friday 3^rd June – Half Term Holiday

Tuesday 14^th June – Year R - Easton Farm Park Trip

Friday 17^th June – Year 2 - Duxford Airfield Trip

Friday 24^th June – Career Day

Tuesday 28^th June – Year 5 Kentwell Hall Trip

Monday 4^th July to Wednesday 6^th July Year 6 Mersea Residential Trip

Wednesday 6^th July – Year 1, 2 and 3 Sports Day

Thursday 7^th July – Year 4, 5 and 6 Sports Day

Friday 8^th July – Nursery and Reception Sports Day

Tuesday 12^th July – Year 1 Felixstowe Trip

Wednesday 13^th July – Thursday 14^th July – Transition Mornings

Friday 15^th July – Reports home to Parents

Monday 18^th July – Year 6 Production (Cast 1)

Tuesday 19^th July – Year 6 Production (Cast 2)

Thursday 21^st July – Leavers Assembly

Friday 22^nd July 2022 – First day of the Summer Holiday