Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin

Friday 17th November 2023

A Message from Miss Siddall

It has been a good week in school and it has been lovely to talk to some of the Year 1 pupils who visited the Ipswich Transport Museum on Monday.  Thank you to the teachers for organising the trip and for all our parent helpers who supported on the day. 

If you have any concerns or queries about your child, please remember to see the class teacher in the first instance.  If your concern is not resolved, the next step is to see your child’s phase leader.  The flowchart below details who these people are.

Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for last week:

Class with the best attendance: Toucans (98.26%)

Concerns

As per Miss Siddall’s message above, if you have any concerns or queries around your child, we are very keen for you to let us know so can help resolve these as soon as possible.

The flowchart show shows the way concerns are dealt with at Whitehouse, so we would ask you to first contact the teacher as this can usually resolve most issues.  However, if you do require further assistance please follow the chart so we can ensure help is provided.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Global Education Week: Why is education important? (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.

Awards

As you may be aware, the children are encouraged to follow ‘The Whitehouse Way’ in school to help them in their learning and in becoming good citizens. Our ‘Wonderful Week’ awards this year will be given as a recognition that the children have worked very hard in one of these areas:  Courage, Perseverance, Reflection or Responsibility.  This will be shown in the colour coded lists below.  We are so proud of our children at Whitehouse and their wonderful achievements.  Well done to you all.

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Eco-Club News

Eco-Club have been really enjoying meeting each week to take part in a variety of activities.  Last week they made recyclable poppies in aid of Remembrance Sunday.  The children cut plastic bottles and painted them with acrylic paint to resemble a poppy.  They then used a glue gun to assemble them.  We are sure you will agree that they look great and have been on display outside the purple block.

Fundraising: Non-Uniform Day

Sadia in Year 6 has written a letter to Miss Siddall and Dr Hall, asking if we could, as a school, raise some money to help people whose lives are in danger and whose homes have been destroyed due to bombing.  Sadia and Sevan have also spent some time researching various charities that could help support this and based on their research, we have decided to hold a non-uniform day on Thursday 30^th November.  There is a suggested donation of £1.00 with all funds raised to be given to The British Red Cross Society (the United Kingdom body of the worldwide network, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement). The British Red Cross is also the charity voted for by Diamond House to support this year.

We are extremely proud of Sadia and Sevan for embracing our rights respecting ethos.  Well done!

Readers’ Cup

Well done to the following classes who won the Readers’ Cup the week before half term:

New Reception Children

If you have a child who is due to start school in September, then please note the deadline to apply for a school place is 15^th January 2024.  Even if your child is already at our Nursery, you will still need to make an application to Suffolk County Council. Please see the poster for more details.

Christmas Dinner

Please note we will be having our ever-popular Christmas dinners on the week commencing Monday 11^th December 2023.  Letters will go home next week with more details and confirmation on how to book a dinner for your child.

For your information they will be as per the following schedule:

Monday 11^th December – Year 1

Tuesday 12^th December – Year 2

Wednesday 13^th December – Year R and Year 3

Thursday 14^th December – Year 4

Friday 15^th December – Year 5 and Year 6

Suffolk FA U10 Girls Football Festival

On Thursday 9^th last week, Ms Salmon took 5 Year 5 pupils to Ipswich Town Football Club to attend the Suffolk FA U10 Girls Football Festival.  As in previous years, the festival provides a fantastic opportunity for the girls to play on the astro pitch within the ITFC stadium.  With no goalkeepers, no referees and minimal coaching from staff, the aim of the festival is to provide the girls with the opportunity to simply enjoy playing football and this is exactly what our girls did!  Their teamwork, confidence and football skills improved as they went through the afternoon.  The team were placed in Group 2, so they played against Bealings, Brittania, Bucklesham and The Oaks Primary Schools.  Out of the ten matches played, the girls won 4, drew 2 and lost 4.  They all had a fantastic time and enjoyed every moment.  Well done Maddie, Hasti, Leonna, Vina and Imogen. An extra thank you to the parents/carers who helped to transport their children to the event.  

KS1 Primary Panathlon Event

Following on from the recent KS2 Panathlon event, last Friday saw the turn of 6 of our Year 1 and 2 pupils to take part in the KS1 Panathlon event. The KS1 event also consisted of a skills-based competition, in which each team rotate around a carousel of fun and inclusive fundamental skills which also included sending and receiving activities and striking skills. Each activity lasted seven minutes in duration, and during this time each team aimed to score as many points as possible for their team. Each score from the six different activities were added together to give each team an overall score. The pupils had lots of fun completing each of the activities and as a result of their hard work and perseverance the team finished the event as runners up! An amazing and well-deserved achievement, well done!

U9 Dodgeball Festival

On Tuesday Mr Jordan took eight Year 4 pupils to Inspire Suffolk to compete in the School Games U9 Mixed Dodgeball Event. The event consisted of a Round Robin style competition in which the team competed against six other schools within their group. Each match consisted of three 2-minute games, which made for high tempo action packed matches. The team performed brilliantly, implementing their dodgeball skills from last half terms after school dodgeball club into action. Mr Jordan was incredibly proud of the spirit and effort in which the team played their matches throughout the event. The team showed the true ‘Whitehouse way’ as they took time to shake hands with their opponents after every match. They all represented the school fantastically, well done!

Year 1 Trip: Ipswich Transport Museum

On Monday our Year 1 children enjoyed a lovely trip to the Ipswich Transport Museum as part of their current enquiry unit.  They were able to explore a variety of different types of transport which were made or used in the Ipswich area. The tour was led by the Museum’s knowledgeable volunteers and took the children and staff on board trams, buses and even fire engines. The children loved wearing the firemen’s helmets and ringing the bells.  All of Year 1 behaved beautifully throughout the trip and this was commented on by the volunteers.  Well done Year 1. Also, a big thank you to those parents/carers who came along to help.  

Dates for the Diary

Monday 20^th November 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 27^th November 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 27^th November 2023 – Year 3 Stone Age Extravaganza

Wednesday 29^th November 2023 – Autumn Term Reports home to parents/carers

Thursday 30^th November 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Friday 1^st December 2023 – Travelling Book Fair

Monday 4^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Wednesday 6^th December 2023 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Thursday 7^th December 2023 – Trip to St Thomas Church – Year 2

Friday 8^th December 2023 – Nursery Nativity Play

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Reception Nativity Play

Monday 11^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner - Year 1

Tuesday 12^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 2

Wednesday 13^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner - Year Reception and Year 3

Thursday 14^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 4

Friday 15^th December 2023 – Christmas Dinner – Year 5 and 6

Friday 15^th December 2023 – Christmas Fair

Monday 18^th December 2023 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 18^th December 2023 – Christingle Service – Year 4 – Parents/Carers invited. 1.45pm at St Thomas’ Church, Bramford Lane.

Thursday 21^st December 2023 to Wednesday 3^rd January 2024 – Christmas Holiday

Thursday 4^th January 2024 – PD Day (Children not in school)

Monday 19^th February 2024 to Friday 23^rd February 2024 – Half Term Holiday

Friday 29^th March 2024 to Thursday 11^th April 2024 – Easter Holiday

Friday 12^th April 2024 – PD Day (Children not in school)

Monday 24^th June 2024 to Tuesday 25^th June 2024 – Year 6 Residential Trip at Mersea