Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin

Friday 4th October 2024

A Message from Miss Siddall

This week I've been visiting classes to see some of the fabulous homework projects being brought into school. Thank you for your support with this - the homework projects really do help the children to engage with their learning and to develop both skills and knowledge.  We look forward to welcoming parents and carers into classrooms at the end of the day very soon so that you can see the fantastic project school work and homework for yourselves. Teachers will open their doors 10 minutes early and they will stay open for 15 minutes after the end of the school day to give you plenty of time to visit different classes if you have more than one child.

Attendance for last week:

Class with the best attendance: Seahorses (99.2%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Black History Month.  (UNRC: Article 2 – I have the right to protection against discrimination. This means that nobody can treat me badly because of my colour, sex or religion, if I speak another language, have a disability or if I am rich or poor). Try and take some time to speak to your child. Why do we have Black History month?  What black figures do we learn about in our history lessons?

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

Well done to the winners of our Duck Races last week:

Cold Weather

As we now move through into the colder months of the year, can we please remind parents/carers to please ensure their children are wearing coats and bring their jumpers into school.  Thank you for your co-operation! 

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:

World Mental Health Day: Wear Yellow!

We are pleased to be able to show our support for World Mental Health Day on Thursday 10^th October 2024 by inviting all members of our school community to wear something yellow! 

There is no donation being collected, just the opportunity for us to recognise how important it is for all of us to look after our mental health.

Community Events

Please see details here of two events which may be helpful for you and your family.  The NHS have their ‘Be Well Bus’ coming to the area on Wednesday 9^th October 2024 from 9.30am to 4.00pm where you can ask for information and advice on lots of different health issues. 

Then on Wednesday 30^th October 2024 at Burlington Church you can go along and meet various local family agencies and charities who again will be able to offer advice and support.

Year 6: Westbourne Parent/Carer Session

Are you hoping to send your child to Westbourne Academy next year?  We are pleased to let you know that they will be holding a Year 6 Parent/Carer drop-on Afternoon Tea on Thursday 17^th October 2024 between 2.00pm and 4.00pm.  This will be an opportunity to go along and ask any questions or discuss any concerns you may have about your child’s transition to Westbourne in September 2025.  They have asked that on this occasion siblings please do not attend with you.

Also a reminder that they are holding their Year 6 parent/carer Open Evening which you can attend with your Year 6 child on Thursday 3^rd October 2024 at 6.00pm. 

PFA (Parents/Carers and Friends Association)

Thank you to those parents/carers who have stepped forward to help Ms Salmon organise the Christmas Fair, which can now go ahead this year.  We are still looking for a little extra help, so if you can offer a little bit of time or a particular skill, please do let the school office know or come along to their next meeting.  This will be held on Monday 14^th October 2024, straight after school.  Please meet at the school office.  It is fine for you to bring your child with you.

Christmas Fair: Advance Notice

Please note our Christmas Fair this year will be help on Friday 13^th December 2024 so please do put the date down in your diaries!  We will also be holding our usual non-uniform day on Friday 6^th December 2024, where we ask parents/carers to donate chocolate or sweets instead of money, which is then used in our very popular tombola.

Accelerated Reader

A huge well done to the children below for having been awarded the following certificates:

Ready Reader:  Henley (Rabbits) and Laura (Owls)

Independent Reader: Laura (Owls)

Advanced Reader: Aro (Foxes)

Super Reader: Oliver (Toucans) and Maddie (Chameleons)

We are very proud of each of you!

Autumn/Winter Menu

We are pleased to let you know that when the children return to school after the October Half Term holiday, we will be moving to our new autumn/winter menu.  This will be in place from Monday 4^th November 2024 and has lots of tempting dinners to keep the children fed and warm!  To view the current and new menu, please see the following page on our website:  https://www.whcps.org/school-dinners/

Asda Cashpot for Schools

A big thank you to all of our parents, carers and staff who have been busy earning money for our school through Asda Cashpot for Schools.  As of Wednesday morning, we have currently earned £329.40 which we will be able to use for resources for the children. 

There are still 57 days to go to earn some pennies, so if you have not started yet, please download and sign up for the Asda Rewards App. Then you can go into Cashpot for Schools and sign up for Whitehouse CP School. 

Whenever you shop and scan, Asda will donate a percentage of your shop to the school. Please note this will not affect the rewards you earn for yourself from your shop. We look forward to seeing how much more will be added to our total! 

BBC 500 Words Competition

This year we are going to be taking part in the BBC 500 words writing competition.  This is a national competition which asks children from 5-11 years old, to write a story about absolutely anything they want to.  The only rules are that is has to be an original idea and within 500 words (title not included).  The prizes are really exciting as well: finalists are invited to Buckingham Palace for an award ceremony as well as receiving lots of books for both themselves and their school!  We hope lots of our children are excited to take part.  If your child would like to submit a story, they will need to write their 500 words story onto a piece of paper, name it and pass it to their class teacher.  We ask all children who are submitting a story to have parental consent due to names potentially being published if a child makes it to the final.  You can access the consent form on our website at the following link: https://www.whcps.org/27-09-2024-bbc-500-words-competition/.  Alternatively, the school office can provide a copy for you. 

 For further information please visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/500-words. We look forward to seeing lots of wonderful stories. 

Virtual Author Event

We are very excited to announce we have managed to arrange a free virtual author event by Hannah Gold for all children in Year 5.  The online event will take place on Friday 11^th October starting promptly at 9.00am.  Hannah is an exceptional author whose books cover environmental issues in a sensitive and child-friendly way.  Her first two award winning books ‘The Last Bear’ and ‘The Lost Whale’ both feature in our recommended reads in UKS2 and have proved immensely popular by all who have read them. As a result of this, she has been chosen as our ‘Spotlight Artist’ in our Key Stage 2 library.  There is also talk of ‘The Last Bear’ being made into a movie at some point in the future.

Hannah is running virtual ‘Meet the Author’ events for schools across the country to promote her new book 'Turtle Moon'.  The issues covered in this new and exciting title offer some promising links to areas of Year 5's topic work for next half term.  In recognition of this, we have chosen the book as one of the options for our Year 5 Topic Homework projects for next half term and will shortly have copies in our library for Year 5 and Year 6 to borrow.

For further information on Hannah Gold and her published books, visit Hannah's website at https://www.hannahgold.world/about-hannah-gold.  She also offers a free newsletter that you can subscribe to via her website.

Attendance

Please see below for the confirmation of start times for all year groups.  We would ask all parents/carers to ensure the children are at the classroom doors promptly.  For the safeguarding of all children, the school gates will now close across the whole site at 8.55am.  Access will then be through the main office, where a registration mark will be given in line with the below timings.

Behaviour near Site

Could we please ask any parent/carer to be considerate of others whilst waiting for the gates to open and to enter the school site.  We would very much appreciate that you avoid smoking or vaping near other people waiting so we can keep the area nice and clean and free from smoke.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Dates for the Diary

Monday 7^th October 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Tuesday 8^th October 2024 – Year 4 Local Walk

Thursday 10^th October 2024 – Wear something Yellow for World Mental Health Day

Thursday 10^th October 2024 – ELSA Diabetes Screening

Monday 14^th October 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 14^th October 2024 – PFA Meeting – Straight after school

Tuesday 15^th October 2024 – Autumn 1 Project Showcase (Nursery, Years 1, 3 and 5)

Thursday 17^th October 2024 – Autumn 1 Project Showcase (Reception, Years 2, 4 and 6)

Friday 18^th October 2024 – Year 3 Mosque Visit

Monday 21^st October 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Tuesday 22^nd October 2024 – Year 2 Parent/Carer Phonics Session 9.00am-9.30am

Tuesday 22^nd October 2024 – Year 3 Parent/Carer Accelerated Reader Session – 2.30pm

Friday 25^th October 2024 - Whole School SMSC Day

Monday 28^th October – Friday 1^st November 2024 – Half Term Holiday

Friday 8^th November 2024 - Open Morning for Reception 2025 children

Monday 11^th November 2024 – Year 2 Framlingham Castle Visit

Thursday 14^th November 2024 - Open Morning for Reception 2025 children

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

Monday 2^nd December 2024 - Open Morning for Reception 2025 children

Wednesday 4^th December 2024 - Reports home to parents/carers

Thursday 5^th December 2024 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Friday 6^th December 2024 – Non-Uniform Day – Bring chocolate / sweets as a donation

Tuesday 10^th December 2024 – Online Parents/Carers Evening

Friday 13^th December 2024 – Christmas Fair

Tuesday 17^th December 2024 – Autumn 2 Project Showcase (Reception, Years 2, 4 and 6)

Thursday 19^th December 2024 – Autumn 1 Project Showcase (Nursery, Years 1, 3 and 5)

Friday 13^th December 2024 – Flu Vaccinations Catch-up Session (more details will follow)

Friday 20^th December 2024 – Last day of the Autumn Term

Monday 23^rd December 2024 – Friday 3^rd January 2025 – Christmas Holiday

Monday 6^th January 2025 – PD Day (Children are not in school)

Tuesday 7^th January 2025 – First day of the Spring Term

Thursday 9^th January 2025 - Open Morning for Reception 2025 children