Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 272

Friday 7th June 2024

A Message from Miss Siddall

It has been a wonderfully busy first week back in school with Y1, Y3, Y4 and Y6 already having taken part in educational visits to the seaside, the River Deben, the Victorian School and Crucial Crew.  Thank you for supporting this by providing wellies, costumes etc. 

Thank you also to all our families who attended this year’s sports day – the children have really enjoyed the event and it was lovely to have so many supporters.  

As I am sure you are aware, this time of the year is always so busy in school, so do check the dates section of this newsletter so that you or your children do not miss out on all the planned activities. Thank you again for your continued support.

Attendance for the week before half term:

Class with the best attendance: Puffins (97.85%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Blue Cross:  How to be safe around dogs.  (UNRC: Article 6: I have the right to life.)   Resources related to this assembly will soon be available on our website.  To access them, go to Learning and click on our Enquiry Based Assemblies.

Whitehouse Prefects

We are very pleased to announce our prefects for 2024-2025.  These children have all been extremely hard-working and responsible members of Year 5 this year and are great examples to us all of following the Whitehouse Way.  Well done to you all.

Y6 Mersea Trip: Parent/Carer Information Session

For all those children attending the residential trip to Essex Outdoors, Mersea, a parent/carer information session will be held in the Waterford Hall on Monday 10^th June 2024 at 3.20pm.  Before the session, please wait on the grassy area on Waterford Road to allow staff to leave the car park safely. For anyone unable to attend, a letter summarising the key information will be sent home afterwards.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding the trip, please do not hesitate to contact Miss Payne via the school office.

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.

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Year 4: Victorian School Visit

This week, Year 4 went on a trip to a visit a Victorian School in Great Cressingham.  Wearing their costumes, the children were able to experience the school day as a Victorian child, with strict letter drills, reading and maths and then learning how to play in the courtyard and the meadow.  The staff were very impressed with their perseverance whilst using the spinning tops and hoops!  The boys went on to draw pictures of Victorian artefacts whilst the girls had a singing lesson and made lavender bags.  Lastly, the children each wrote a letter using ink pens which looked great.  Everyone had a wonderful day and can now put themselves in the shoes of a Victorian child for their history unit.

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

Well done to the winners of our Duck Races the week before half term:

Readers’ Cup

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

Family Breakfasts

We are very pleased to let you know that our popular Family Breakfasts are starting again on Monday morning.  This is a lovely way to start the school week, as parents/carers are invited to come into school at 8.00am and enjoy a simple, free breakfast with their children.  Please come in via the Key Stage 1 playground on Marlow Road, where Mrs Gotts will meet you and show you where to go.  We look forward to seeing many of you there! 

News from the House Captains

We have recently counted up the House Tokens and we have a winner!  Well done to everyone involved.  There will be a non-uniform day for everyone in Ruby on Friday 14^th June 2024. Why not try and wear something red!

Results:  4^th place – Diamond with 327

              3^rd place – Emerald with 420

              2^nd place – Sapphire with 422

              1^st place – Ruby with 438

House Captains: JJ, Kacey-Mae, Logan, Maddison, Derek, Sophia, Dougie and Dylan 😊

A Message from Mrs Zantboer, our Attendance Officer

As you will be aware, attendance is extremely important and as a school we are very proactive and here to support your children to be in school every day.  We are very grateful to all of our parents/carers who also work hard to ensure their children are in school. In addition, thank you to those who inform us when their child does have to be absent explaining the reason why.

We would ask that wherever possible parents/carers provide more detailed information about the specific illness which is preventing their child attending school. We have several children at Whitehouse School, who have medical conditions which lead to their immune systems being compromised. They are therefore more susceptible to becoming severely unwell.  It is important that those parents/carers concerned are informed about this in case their child is at risk of catching an illness from another pupil who has been with them in school.  Thank you for your help in allowing us to support each family and keep our children as safe and healthy as possible.

Walk to School Week 2024

Well done to everyone that took part in the ‘Walk to School Week’ challenge during the final week before half term. It was amazing to see so many of our pupils taking part in the challenge, and enjoying walking to school. It was again fantastic to also hear that a number of families opted to park their cars further away from school and walk the final part of their journey into school throughout the week.  

As with previous year's, and to add a fun competitive element to the week, Mr Jordan set an extra challenge to see which class in each year group was the most active and had the greatest number of pupils walking to school throughout the ‘Walk to School Week’. 

The results for the inter-class competition were as follows: 

GB Athlete Visit

We are all very excited to welcome yet another visit from a GB Athlete to our school next Monday, 10^th June 2024. This year’s visiting athlete will be GB gymnast Kelly Simm.  Kelly has won numerous medals at British, Commonwealth, European and World championships. Most recently, Kelly won a gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games!  During Kelly’s half day visit, she will be meeting and working with pupils from our Reception and KS1 classes. As with the previous athlete visits, Kelly will be providing pupils with an inspiration assembly, before meeting and conducting a fun 10-minute fitness session with each class (Reception, Yr1 & Yr2). To help the day run smoothly, we ask that pupils involved in the athlete visit to come to school in their PE kit on Monday 10th June. 

Previous GB athlete visits have always been an exciting and very inspiring experience for both our pupils and staff. The visits have also provided our pupils with the opportunity to meet and work closely with top level international athletes. As a result, we are very much looking forward to Kelly’s visit!

Year 5/6 Mixed Bee Netball

On Thursday 23^rd May 2024, our netball team were back in action, with another successful event run by School Games, which was held at the Ipswich School Sports Centre.  Ms Salmon and Mrs Pipe took eleven Year 5/6 girls and four Y5 boys to participate in a Mixed Bee Netball Tournament. The event was split into a Compete and Develop tournament, which meant we could enter one team in each section.  The Compete team played against The Oaks, Dale Hall, Claydon Primary and St Marks, whilst the Develop team were against Rushmere 2, Bucklesham Primary, St Marys Hadleigh and St Marks.  Ms Salmon and Mrs Pipe saw some outstanding teamwork, dedication and perseverance throughout the event.  Each of our children played with smiles on their faces and appeared the happiest children at the tournament!

As it was a School Games event, the young Year 10 helpers (who were the umpires) chose a player of the match and these were totalled up at the end of the day and a goodie bag was presented to one person in each team.  Our Compete team was made up on Dexter, Oliver, Ivy, Imogen, Skye, Maddison, Dunyin and Violet who was voted the player of the match.  Whilst the Develop team were Amberley, AJ, Jess, Isla, Vicky, Lacey, Kyla and Ian who received the award.   A big well done to all of you - you made Whitehouse very proud of each of you.

Summer Fair: Please Help!

As you are aware our Summer Fair is planned for after school on Friday 5^th July 2024.  However. we are in desperate need for further help so we ensure this can take place.  If you are willing to do a little to help, please do let the office know, so we can inform Ms Salmon.  We are also in need of prizes for our raffle.  If you or anyone you know would be willing to provide one, again please speak to the office or directly to Ms Salmon. 

Please also note that we will be holding a Non-Uniform day on Monday 1^st July 2024, where we would ask for a small donation of chocolate or sweets.  These will then be used on the tombola at the fair.

Year 3: Ducking Down the Deben

This week the Owls Class went ‘Ducking Down the Deben’ for their school trip, linked to this half term’s enquiry question, ‘How does a river get from it’s source to the sea?’  The class started their explorations in Debenham, looking at the source of the river and taking some measurements, before travelling to Brandeston.  Here the river began to widen and so the children went pond dipping for wildlife, and managed to catch lots of different bugs!  After this, they ventured to Woodbridge, where the river was even bigger and they learnt how the river here had become tidal because it was so much closer to the sea.  Everyone really enjoyed the day and the children showed super behaviour and respect for the public whilst they were out and about.  Stay tuned to see how the other Year 3 classes enjoy this trip over the next two weeks!

Dates for the Diary

Monday 10^th June 2024 – Family Breakfast at 8.00am

Monday 10^th June 2024 – Athlete Visit – Reception, Year 1 and 2 to wear PE kit

Monday 10^th June 2024 – Year 6 Residential Parent/Carer Information Session – 3.20pm

Tuesday 11^th June 2024 – Year 3 Ducking Down the Deben – Badgers Class

Wednesday 12^th June 2024 – Year 2 Duxford Imperial War Museum Trip

Friday 14^th June 2024 – Non-Uniform day for Ruby House

Monday 17^th June 2024 – Family Breakfast at 8.00am

Tuesday 18^th June 2024 – Year 3 Ducking Down the Deben – Rabbits Class

Monday 24^th June 2024 - Family Breakfast at 8.00am

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

Friday 28^th June 2024 – Year 5 Kentwell Hall visit

Monday 1^st July 2024 – Family Breakfast at 8.00am

Monday 1^st July 2024 – Non-Uniform Day (bring sweets or chocolate)

Friday 5^th July 2024 – EYFS Afternoon Tea for new Reception children (Sept 2024 intake)

Friday 5^th July 2024 – Summer Fair

Monday 8^th July 2024 – Family Breakfast at 8.00am

Friday 12^th July 2024 – End of year reports home

Tuesday 16^th July 2024 – Year 6 Production

Thursday 18^th July 2024 – Y6 Leavers BBQ

Friday 19^th July 2024 – Y6 Leavers Assembly – Parents / Carers invited

Friday 19^th July 2024 – Last day of the Summer Term

Monday 22^nd July 2024 to Friday 30^th August 2024 – Summer Holiday

Monday 2^nd September 2024 – PD Day (Children are not in school)

Tuesday 3^rd September 2024 - PD Day (Children are not in school)

Wednesday 4^th September 2024 – First day of Autumn Term

Friday 15^th November 2024 – Flu Vaccinations (more details will follow)