Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 235
Friday 16th June 2023

Message from Mrs Hall

Due to the success of last year’s Summer Fair we have decided to organise this event again. However, we really need the help of our parents and carers to run stalls.  If you would like to join the P.F.A or have some time to help run events and share ideas, then please contact Ms Salmon: pfa@whcps.org We really hope that you are able to support the school, so that we can raise some money for new resources for the children. In addition, if you work for a local business and they would like to donate a raffle prize for the Fair this would be gratefully received. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Pandas (100%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for the week after half term will be: World Blood Donor Day: Why do people donate their blood?  Why is it important to volunteer and help others? (UNRC Link: Article 24: I have a right to the best health possible and to medical care and to information that will help me to stay well).  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.

Parking

Unfortunately, we are again experiencing issues with parking outside of the school at the start and end of the day.  Can we please remind parents/carers that it is an offence to park on the yellow zig-zag lines outside of the school gates.  It is vital these areas are kept clear so that our children and families can safely cross the road.   In addition, we would ask you to be courteous to neighbouring homes so that local residents are able to reach and leave their homes.

A Message from our Mrs Calver: Attendance Officer

The sunny summer weather is certainly here and it is really starting to warm up!  Please remember to encourage your child to drink plenty of water and be sure they bring their water bottle with them to school.  Drinking plenty of water can boost your immune system, help you concentrate, gives you more energy and can also improve sleep quality.  Did you know watermelon contains over 90% water?  There are lots of foods high in water content. These foods can help your child stay hydrated and healthy too. Please enjoy the sunny weekends safely so your child is fit and ready for the week ahead!

Awards

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Purple Man Reading Competition

Well done to the winners of the Purple Man competition for last week (a competition that rewards classes with the highest average reading minutes across KS2).

Nominations Needed!

This summer, National Book Tokens are running a ‘Big Prize Draw’ offering schools five fantastic prizes of £1,000 in tokens to be spent on the purchase of new books for their library.  Nominations can be made by school staff, parents, friends, relatives and members of the local community, as long as they are aged 16 or over.  To make a nomination, you just need to complete a ‘tick box’ entry form with your details on it.  It is very simple, so please do take a moment to nominate us at the following link: https://www.nationalbooktokens.com/schools.  The lucky winners will be drawn at random after Monday 31^st July and will be announced in September.   As an added incentive, if your form is one of the five winning entries, you will also win a £100 National Book Token to spend in your favourite bookshop.

Message from Mrs Balaam: School Librarian

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be busy recruiting a team of Voluntary Pupil Library Assistants in preparation for the next academic year.  Any child currently in Year 4 or 5 is eligible to apply provided they are not working as a Prefect, House Captain or Sports Leader. Children were informed of this exciting opportunity in today’s assembly and were asked to collect a job description and application form from the KS2 library next week.  I would love to chat to anyone who is interested in applying so I can tell them a little more of what the role involves, so please do encourage your child to come and visit me in the library during break or lunchtime.

Can I also remind you that all school library books need to be returned to school by Monday 17th July 2023. We currently have a significant number of overdue library books, so over the course of next week any child with overdue books will be provided with a list of outstanding titles to search for at home.  Please encourage your child to return these as soon as possible.  If a book cannot be found, we do ask for a contribution of £5 towards the purchase of a replacement book.  As a little incentive for children to return the books promptly, every class who manages to clear their list of overdue books (either by returning them or paying the £5.00 replacement cost) by Friday 30^th June 2023, will be entered into a prize draw.  Thank you for your continued support!

Online Safety: Limiting Harm from Upsetting Content

Childnet have a great free resource, including activities for younger children to help them if they see upsetting content online and to reinforce the importance of talking to a trusted adult.  Please click the link to view:  https://www.childnet.com/resources/limiting-harm-from-upsetting-content/

Sports Day 2023

“What a fantastic way to start the final half term of the school year!” said Mr Jordan.  Last week saw our pupils from each year group (Nursery to Year 6) put their athletics skills to the test as they represented and competed against their peers as part of their ‘Houses’ within their classes across six different athletics-based events in our annual Sports Day.   As with previous years, 8 individual sports days over three days were planned by Mr Jordan to allow each year group the opportunity to have their own sport day sessions.  Each session began with an opening ceremony.  Parents/Carers and family members lined the playground to cheer and clap as each class were introduced and welcomed onto the KS2 field. It was amazing to see the amount of effort each class had gone to, to produce banners and signs to celebrate the ‘Houses’ the pupils would be representing during their session.

The pupils’ effort, behaviour and enthusiasm throughout each sports day session was amazing.  It was great to see so many pupils putting in so much effort with big smiles on their faces and demonstrating ‘The Whitehouse Way.’  It was also amazing to see so many family members in attendance, enjoying the events and cheering the children on.  Mr Jordan would like to give a big thank you to all of our pupils, staff, Sports Leaders, parents/carers and family members for all they did to help make this year’s sports day a huge success.

Sports Day Results

The scores from each of the individual year groups sport day sessions and the overall results have been counted and verified!  We can now reveal the results and the winning House from this year as follows:

National School Sports Week

Next Monday marks the start of ‘National School Sports Week’ (19th – 25th June 2023). 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 TeachActive lessons.

Additionally, during PE lessons we will be conducting our annual Paralympic Week. This will include  two inclusive/Paralympic activities to deliver to their class, with 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 school (30 minutes) and outside of school (30 minutes).

Examples outside of school could include:

• Playing in the garden
• Playing football at the park
• Going for a walk or run 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.

After School Club: PE Kit Reminder

A reminder to all parents/carers that pupils attending an after-school sports club, will need to attend this club in their WHCPS PE kit.  As with PE days, your child should therefore come into school on club days (sports clubs) in their PE kit.  Please note that this also includes no jewellery to be worn.  Thank you for your continued support.

Summer Fair at Whitehouse

We are in need for some more raffle prizes for our Summer Fair which is taking place on Friday 7^th July 2023.  If you are able to donate or know of a local company who would be willing to donate an item, please inform the school office or contact Ms Salmon on pfa@whcps.org.

Dates for the Diary

Tuesday 20^th June 2023 – Foxburrow Farm Trip – Year 3

Friday 23^rd June 2023 – Whole School SMSC Day

Monday 26^th June 2023 – Mersea Day Trip – Year 6

Monday 26^th June 2023 – Duxford Trip – Year 2

Tuesday 27^th June 2023 – Mersea Day Trip – Year 6

Wednesday 28^th June 2023 – Transition Morning

Thursday 29^th June 2023 – Transition Morning

Friday 30^th June 2023 – Kentwell Hall – Year 5

Friday 7^th July 2023 – Afternoon Tea for New Reception Intake

Friday 7^th July 2023 – Summer Fair

Friday 14^th July 2023 – Visit to ‘Maggie the Community Playbus’ – Nursery Dolphins Class

Monday 17^th July 2023 – Year 6 Production

Tuesday 18^th July 2023 – Year 6 Production

Wednesday 19^th July 2023 – Leavers BBQ

Friday 21^st July 2023 – Leavers Assembly

Friday 21^st July 2023 – Last day of the Summer Term

Monday 24^th July 2023 to Thursday 31^st August 2023 – Summer Holiday

Friday 1^st September 2023 – PD Day – School Closed for Children

Monday 4^th September 2023 – PD Day – School Closed for Children

Tuesday 5^th September 2023 – First day of Autumn Term for Children