Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 260

Friday 16th February 2024

A Message from Miss Siddall

It has been great to see so many parents in school this half-term at one of our share events or at a family breakfast (Article 5: family guidance as children develop). We have so many more events planned this year, so do check the newsletters carefully for the dates.  The children are always very keen to share their great work with adults from home or other adults in school. This week, I have seen some fantastic learning in school, including sewing in Year 2, some amazing painting in Year 1, maths in EYFS and music in Year 5.  Well done everybody. We hope that you all have a wonderful half term break and look forward to welcoming you back into school on Monday 26^th February.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Frogs (99.33%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Healthy Eating.  (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

Readers’ Cup

Well done to the following classes who won the Readers’ Cup last week:

Year 5 Parent/Carer Guided Reading Session

Our Year 5 children really enjoyed their parents/carers joining them last Tuesday for a reading lesson.  The children were able to explain and share how to answer ‘Rex Retrieval’ type questions on a text called ‘The Hero Twins’.  This text links to the Year 5 topic focus on the Mayan civilisation.  It was a session enjoyed by all, as reflected in comments from parents: ‘It was great to come in and work with my daughter’ and ‘it was interesting and engaging.’  We would like to say a big thank you to the parents/carers who were able to attend, it was wonderful to have your participation. The children told us how much they had enjoyed working with you all.  We hope to hold another parent/carer session for Year 5 next term which will involve tasting flapjacks, so do come along!  Keep an eye on upcoming newsletters for the date.

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:

Thank you!

The Reception teachers would like to say a big thank you to all the parents and carers who have attended a phonics lesson over the last couple of weeks.  It was great to see so many of you interested in helping your child to read at home. Remember, little and often works for young children, a few minutes each day makes all the difference.

Online Safety Poster Winners

After receiving dozens of amazing posters in our Online Safety competition, the House Captains are excited to announce the winners of our poster competition.  Congratulations to:

Year 2 – Lily-Cerise (Dragons)

Year 3 – Rebecca (Rabbits)

Year 4 – Hannah (Hedgehogs)

Year 5 – Lucas (Macaws)

Year 6 – Laycee (Chameleons)

Well done to everyone who participated for their thoughtful and creative posters!  If you want to learn more about online safety, keep an eye out for our display, as the winners and runners up will have their fantastic work put up for all to learn from next half term.

Beat the Street

 Have you and your children signed up to take part yet?  Your child should have brought home information about this fun game which is taking place across Ipswich.  Please do sign up and take part with your children.  It is a really lovely chance to get out and about and have fun together.  Don’t forget too that you will be part of the Whitehouse CP School team and together we can build our points total to try and win prizes for the school. 

What is Beat the Street?

Between Wednesday 14th February 2024 and Wednesday 27th March 2024, Ipswich is being transformed into a giant game! Beat the Street is a free and fun game which gets pupils, along with their parent/carers and teachers out and about in the local area, increasing activity levels, whilst also having lots of fun and keeping healthy.

How does it work?

Last week, game materials including game cards, game instructions (leaflets) and a game map were provided to all pupils, parents/carers and teachers.  A number of game card readers called ‘Beat Boxes’ are be positioned around Ipswich, including one outside our school. Players use their contactless game cards to hover over the Beat Boxes to score points as they travel around from Beat Box to Beat Box. These points will contribute to individual and school leader boards which can be viewed by visiting www.beatthestreet.me once the game commences. Top school teams will be in with a chance to win hundreds of pounds worth of sports and book vouchers.  As well as prizes, players can also complete fun in-game challenges to win awards.

For more information about Beat the Street visit www.beatthestreet.me or watch the short Beat the Street YouTube video https://youtu.be/WMS6rQPIt0o.

We hope you will all have lots of fun taking part in the Beat the Street game, collecting as many points as possible!

We would also love for you share photos with us of our pupils taking part in Beat the Street. Therefore, please feel free to send photos to us at parents@whcps.org.

Online Safety

Following on from Beat the Street, why not take the opportunity in the half term holiday to have a break from screens and spend more time on other activities. We know this can be a real challenge but here are a few ideas which may help:

• Lead by example – children will often take their cues from what their parents do or say.  Why not have a day or a scheduled time where the whole family turn screens off.
• Organise alternative activities – Children love to spend time with their parents and siblings.  Maybe make slime or play dough together.  You could make the play dough into eggs and hide things inside for each other to find.
• Create an ‘I’m Bored’ jar – have your children write down some activities they enjoy on slips of paper and put them in a jar to pull out when they are bored.  Even things like playing a board game, or going on a nature hunt can be a lot of fun.
• Don’t ban screens completely – some screen time can be beneficial, engaging and educational.  Having a healthy balance is the key. Drawing tutorials, dance lessons and yoga sessions on YouTube can be great fun for all. 

E-Scooters

Please note we are unable to have e-scooters on site.  Can we please ask that these are not brought into the school site by children, or parents/carers.  Thank you for your cooperation.

House Points: Spring 1

The House Captains are excited to announce the winners of this half term’s House Cup competition. Congratulations to Diamond House who came in first place and have won a non-uniform day on Friday 1^st March 2024.

Dates for the Diary

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

Friday 1^st March 2024 – Non-uniform day for Diamond House

Monday 4^th March 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 4^th March – Year 6 Walton-on-the-Naze trip

Thursday 7^th March 2024 – World Book Day

Friday 8^th March 2024 – Reports sent home

Monday 11^th March 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 11^th March 2024 – Scholastic Book Fair

Tuesday 12^th March 2024 – Scholastic Book Fair

Tuesday 12^th March 2024 – Parents Evening

Friday 15^th March 2024 – Comic Relief

Monday 18^th March 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Wednesday 20^th March 2024 – Parents Evening

Monday 25^th March 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

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

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

Tuesday 30^th April 2024 – Class Photos

Monday 6^th May 2024 – May Day Bank Holiday

Monday 13^th May 2024 to Thursday 16^th May 2024 – Year 6 SATs Week

Monday 27^th May 2024 to Friday 31^st May 2024 – Half Term Holiday

Monday 3^rd June 2024 – PD Day (Children not in school)

Wednesday 5^th June 2024 – Nursery and Reception Sports Day

Thursday 6^th June 2024 – Years 1, 2 and 3 Sports Day

Friday 7^th June 2024 – Years 4, 5, and 6 Sports Day

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

Wednesday 26^th June 2024 – School Transition Afternoon

Thursday 27^th June 2024 – School Transition Morning