Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 213

Friday 2nd December 2022

Message from Mrs Hall

At the end of last week, we welcomed the CEO and member of the Trust Board into school. They completed a learning walk across the school and were very impressed with the calm, purposeful learning observed across each key stage. We are very proud of all the children and how they consistently display ‘The Whitehouse Way’. Don’t forget, we have lots of parent/carer events planned over the next two weeks, so please check the newsletter for the exact dates to avoid disappointment. Finally, we hope to see lots of families at our Christmas Fair today. Access to the Fair is through the KS1 playground only. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Macaws (97.3%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: What is a person with a disability? What can we do, as a school and as a community, to make sure all persons with disabilities have the same opportunities as we do?  (UNRC Link: Article 23: If I am disabled mentally or physically, I have the right to special care and education to help me develop and lead a full life). 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.

Children in Need

Thank you for all your support for Children in Need last week.  We are happy to confirm we raised £383.64 which will be used to help many wonderful causes.  A special mention to Jess and Alysha from the Macaws class in Year 6 who held a cake sale in school and raised £35.54.  What a fabulous effort, well done girls!

Christmas Jumper Day

Please note we will be holding a Christmas Jumper Day on the last day of the term, Friday 16^th December 2022.  Children should come to school in school uniform but are invited to also wear their Christmas jumpers, for a small donation.  All money raised will be split between the charities chosen by the Houses.  We look forward to seeing all of their colourful jumpers!

Year 6 – Christmas Reading Session and Mince Pies!

We are happy to invite the parents/carers of our Year 6 children into school on Monday 12^th December 2022, from 9.00am to 9.30am for a Christmas Reading session and some mince pies.  Please enter school via the Waterford Road car park.  We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!

Awards

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Helpline

Did you know that Barnardo’s have launched a new telephone helpline service in Suffolk?  It is a free and confidential emotional wellbeing service for parents, carers and young people aged from 0-25 years old.  

They can provide signposting, information, resources and support services that can help and direct callers to any appropriate services that are required. 

The helpline is available from Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm.   The phone number is 03456 002 090 Option 2.

Please see the picture here for more information.

Global Citizenship Day: EYFS

The children in EYFS loved taking part in Global Citizenship Day.  Their day was focused around a story called ‘Mama Panya’s Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya’ by Mary Chamberlain.  The children learnt about African culture by creating African art, doing African singing and dancing and best of all, taking part in an African Drumming Workshop!  What a fabulous day! 

Global Citizenship Day: Year 4

The children in Year 4 had a great day on Friday learning how to be environmental citizens.  There were several opportunities for the children to learn and discover how to help the environment by recycling. The children read ‘Ada’s Violin’ which is a story about a girl who lives in Paraguay on a landfill site.  This true story leads Ada to find recycled rubbish to build instruments, creating the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay.  In the hall, we had our landfill of rubbish and the children were fascinated to learn how long items take to decompose. Did you know that it can take a nappy 500 years to decompose?  During the afternoon, the children designed their own guitars out of recycled items and played along to the Landfill Harmonic.  You can see a short video about the Harmonic here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYbORpgSmjg

Global Citizenship Day: Years 5-6

Years 5 and 6 also had a wonderful day learning all about Malawi. A country in Africa.

The children were quite outraged to learn how in some countries, including Malawi, children have to work to make a living and survive.  They enjoyed a variety of activities throughout the day including some work experience, creating paper bags for market traders.  In the afternoon they learnt more about windmills and had a go at designing their own!  

 Purple Man Reading Competition

Well done to the winners of the Purple Man competition from last week:

Primary Panathlon Event: KS2

Last Friday, Ms Salmon, Miss Horne and Mr Fox took eight of our Year 5 and 6 pupils to take part in the Key Stage 2 Primary Panathlon event.  Knowing how well the KS2 pupils did last year, the pressure was on from the beginning.  The pressure did not show however, as the team were soon smiling and having great fun competing in each of the nine inclusive, fundamental, skill-based activities.  During each activity the pupils aim was to score as many points as possible.  The scores were added together from each event to give teams an overall score.  Each pupil was awarded a medal for their hard work and determination.  Well done to all.

Reporting Sickness

Please remember that parents/carers are asked to contact the school on a daily basis before 9.00am when reporting an absence due to sickness.  It is important that you provide full details of the reason for your child’s absence and avoid phrases such as ‘feeling unwell’. ‘poorly’ or ‘sick’.  It is important that instead we receive accurate information in order to determine if this should be recorded as an authorised or unauthorised absence.

You can notify the school by leaving a message on the school absence line (option 1 when you phone the school number), by sending an email or a direct message via Arbor. If you have any questions or difficulties in using Arbor please don’t hesitate to contact the school.  Please could you also take the time to ensure your contact details are correct on Arbor.  This not only means that we can contact you if your child is absent from school, but is also vital should we need to contact you in the event of an emergency.   Thank you for your assistance.

Time Tables Rock Star

Results are in for the latest round of TTRS battles.  In LKS2, Owls defeated Squirrels, Badgers beat Foxes and Hedgehogs overcame Rabbits.  In UKS2, Ocelots beat Toucans, Tigers beat Chameleons whilst Macaws and Lizards beat Pandas and Jaguars.  Battles for this week have already commenced so get yourself logged on to TTRS and get battling!  If you want to see how many battles your class has won, check out the TTRS display next to the KS2 library.

Dates for the Diary

Tuesday 6^th December 2022 – Book Fair – 3.15pm

Wednesday 7^th December 2022 – KS1 Parent/Carer Reading Share – 2.40pm

Thursday 8^th December 2022 – Reception Nativity Play – 9.30am and 2.00pm

Thursday 8^th December 2022 – Book Fair – 3.15pm

Monday 12^th December – Year 6 Parents/Carer Christmas Reading Session – 9.00am

Monday 12^th December – Christmas Dinner – Reception

Tuesday 13^th December 2022 – Nursery Parent/Carer Christmas Craft Session – 10.30am

Tuesday 13^th December 2022 – Christmas Dinner – Years 1 and 3

Tuesday 13^th December 2022 – Reception Parent/Carer Christmas Craft Session – 1.45pm

Wednesday 14^th December 2022 - Nursery Christmas Songs Performance – 11.00am

Wednesday 14^th December 2022 – Christmas Dinner – Years 2 and 4

Thursday 15^th December 2022 – Christmas Dinner – Years 5 and 6

Friday 16^th December 2022 – Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 16^th December 2022 – Last day of the Autumn Term

Tuesday 3^rd January 2023 – PD Day (School Closed to Children)

Wednesday 4^th January 2023 – First day back at school for the children