Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 237

Friday 30th June 2023

Message from Mrs Hall

The children really enjoyed the opportunity to meet their new teachers and classes on Wednesday and Thursday this week. They have been asking lots of questions about what they will be learning next year and if there will be any trips or visits. All information about our exciting curriculum can be found on our website, as I know lots of the children may want to start researching in the holidays: https://www.whcps.org/the-whitehouse-curriculum/ If you have any concerns or questions about next year, please don’t hesitate to ask.  Finally, I do hope that everyone will be able to join us at our Summer Fair next Friday after school. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Pandas (98.2%)

Ready…Set…Read!

The Summer Reading Challenge gets underway at a library near you on Saturday 8^th July 2023.  This very popular challenge aims to encourage children to keep up with their reading throughout the summer.  This year’s theme is ‘Ready, Set, Read!’ and has a theme of sports and games. To take part, all your child needs to do is visit their local public library and ask to sign up.  The Librarian will explain what they need to do and help your child set a personal reading goal.  They will be given a special collector folder and each time they finish a book; you child just needs to pop back to the library to collect special stickers and rewards.  A few trips to the local library is a lovely, free, treat for your child which they can look forward to, however if visiting the library is difficult for you, they can also take part online.  To find out more contact your local library or visit the link below:

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/#online.

Nominations Needed!

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has already nominated our school in the National Book Tokens Prize Draw.  If you have not done this yet, there is still time!  The more nominations we receive, the more likely we are to win the prize of £1,000 worth of book tokens.    Making a nomination is very easy, just click on the following link and complete a simple form.

https://www.nationalbooktokens.com/schools#nominate-your-school-title

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).

Library Books

The last day to borrow books from the library will be Wednesday 12^th July 2023 and all books must be returned by Monday 17^th July.  It is vitally important that all school library books are returned by the deadline so that the end of academic year procedures can be completed before the end of term. As an added incentive for all children to return their books on time, all pupils who return all of their school library books by 3pm on Monday 17th July will be entered into a prize draw.

Year 2 Visit: Duxford Air Museum

On Monday, Year 2 had a fantastic school trip to Duxford.  The children enjoyed travelling by coach to the museum and looking in the different hangars at aeroplanes and the history of flight.  They were able to look inside some of the old aircrafts, including Concord, and there were lots of interactive spaces for the children to learn more.  The children were also lucky to see planes and helicopters take off and land whilst walking around.  Everyone was incredibly well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed their visit.  Well done Year 2.

Year 6: Mersea Visit

On Monday and Tuesday this week, Year 6 attended the Essex Outdoor Activity Centre on Mersea Island.  Throughout the day the children completed a variety of activities including rock climbing, caving and archery.  In each of the activities, the children had to work as a team in order to be successful and they showed incredible perseverance to complete some very difficult tasks!  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was a wonderful, celebratory trip for all of the hard work Year 6 have done this year!

Celebrating our children

We love to celebrate our children and all they achieve and this week can share about Sakura in Year 4.  She recently took part in a Karate competition and came second in one section and first in the other!  What a fantastic achievement! Sakura has worked extremely hard to achieve this and we are very proud of you! 

Meanwhile, Harrison, also in Year 4, has been working on his Karate skills too. He is currently a purple belt and working hard towards earning his brown belt.  He works very hard, training 3-4 times a week, as well as swimming and working towards his Stage 7 Swim England certificate!  Well done Harrison, we were so pleased to hear of all your achievements!

Non-Uniform Day – Monday 3^rd July 2023

Don’t forget we have a non-uniform day this coming Monday, in readiness for our Summer Fair which takes place on Friday.  We are asking everyone to donate some chocolate or sweets, which will be used at our very popular tombola stall at the fair.  Thank you for all your help and we look forward to seeing you at the fair!

Year 5/6 Girls Football

It has been a lengthy time off the pitch since the girls’ cup run at the beginning of the year.  However, the Year 5/6 football team were finally back in action last week.  The girls began the week with a visit to league leaders Sidegate Primary School.  Having not played together as a team for a while and playing against the high-pressing attacking football played by Sidegate, the girls knew it was going to be a tough match!  However, our team persevered and worked extremely hard to try to close down Sidegate’s attacks.  The match was definitely a game of two halves as they played the second half with a lot more confidence. After much improved spells of possession and build-up play, the girls were rewarded with a good goal by Evie. Unfortunately, this goal was not enough to change the score line and the game ended with a win for Sidegate.

On Thursday last week the girls played their second league match of the week, away to second in the league, Brittania Primary School.  Following the defeat to Sidegate at the beginning of the week. The girls were more determined to play at a quicker pace and with more confidence with the ball at their feet…and they did exactly that! They played extremely well.  They closed the ball down quickly, regained possession of the ball and put Brittania defence under lots of pressure.  Despite going two goals behind, the girls continued to play some fantastic football.  A number of excellent saves were made by Mylie in goal and kept the team very much in the game. The girls managed to pull a goal back during the second half with an excellent finish by Tilly.  With Britannia on the back foot and the girls playing some excellent football, the team piled on the pressure towards the end of the match and went close to scoring again on a number of occasions. Despite the game finishing with a 2-1 win to Brittania, the girls and Mr Jordan were extremely proud of how well they had played throughout the match.  Great effort girls, well done!

School Games Sports Mark

As with previous year’s the School Games Sports Mark is awarded to schools based firstly upon their level of engagement and participation with the School games programme (sports events, tournaments, festivals etc).  Additionally, the award also recognises the opportunities, participation, engagement and the quality of the school’s PE and sport provision (PE curriculum, after school clubs etc).

We are extremely proud of all the hard work and effort that continues to go into our PE/Sport provision.  As a result, we are also extremely pleased to announce that we have again successfully been awarded with a Gold Sports Mark Award.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank every pupil that has been involved in any of the after-school sports clubs and/or has represented the school in any fixtures, competitions or festivals. We would also like to thank the staff that have given their own time and efforts to support this year’s PE provision. Lastly, we also like to that this opportunity to thank all of our parents/carers for all of your continued support with our PE provision.

Well done everyone on a fantastic achievement!

Nursery Spaces - September

We are pleased to let you know that we will have some spaces in our popular Nursery from September 2023.  We offer spaces for either 15 hours a week or 30 hours a week for those who have a 30-hour code (or who wish to pay for the extra hours).  We accept children from the term after their 3^rd birthday.  Timings for our sessions are: Morning: 8.30am to 11.30am or Afternoon: 12.15pm to 3.15pm

If you would like more information please contact the school office and ask to speak to Miss Sara McCullum who will be able to assist. 

Dates for the Diary

Monday 3^rd July 2023 – Non-Uniform Day (Bring donation of sweets/chocolate for school fair)

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

Friday 7^th July 2023 – Summer Fair 3.15pm

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