Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 289

Friday 22nd November 2024

A Message from Miss Siddall

I have already seen some amazing homework projects being sent into school or shared via tapestry.  Thank you for your ongoing support with our enquiry curriculum.  Our next project showcases are on Tuesday 17th December 2024 (YR, Y2, Y4 and Y6) and Thursday 19th December 2024 (YN, Y1, Y3 and Y5).  The children are always proud of the work they produce and the project showcase events give the children the opportunity to share all of their related topic work with the visitors.  This will include a range of reading, writing, geography, history, music, art, DT and computing.  We look forward to seeing you soon. 

Thank you for your support. 

Attendance for the week before half term:

Class with the best attendance: Foxes (98.0%)

Ipswich Fit: Free Swimming Voucher

Please note we will be sending the children home today with a voucher to have a free swim at Crown Pools when accompanied by a fully-paying adult.  The voucher can be used at any time during November or December 2024.   To use the voucher, it must be presented at the Reception on arrival. If your child is not in school today, please ask the class teacher who will be able to pass this to you on their return to school.    Please be aware that if lost, these cannot be replaced.

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) Policy: Parent/Carer Consultation

Please note we have made some changes to our RSE Policy and this requires us to consult with parents/carers as we work together to review all relevant information including national and local guidance.  During this process, parents/carers and any other interested parties will be invited to attend a meeting about the updates.  The policy can be read at the following link: https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/whitehouse-community-primary-school/UploadedDocument/cee526e4-8dd9-474a-8049-a8937d09b08c/relationships-and-sex-education-policy-updated-2024-for-parent-carer-consultation.pdf

RSE is about the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils and involves learning about relationships, sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity.  RSE involves a combination of sharing information and exploring issues and values.  RSE is not about the promotion of sexual activity and the content is always age appropriate.

Our RSE curriculum is set out as per Appendix 1 of the policy but we may need to adapt this as and when necessary.    If pupils ask questions out the scope of this policy, teachers will respond in an appropriate manner so that pupils are fully informed and do not seek answers online.

Please review the document and we will advise you of the details of the meeting shortly.

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:

Holiday Activity and Food Programme (HAF)

As in previous years, we are pleased to let you know the Holiday Activity and Food programme will again be running across the Christmas holiday and will be free for all children in receipt of free school meals.  This allows you to book your child into a number of holiday clubs and activities where they will also be provided with a lunch.  For further information, including how to book please see the following page: https://infolink.suffolk.gov.uk/kb5/suffolk/infolink/advice.page?id=Zj4vWQtEbvA.

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be: Universal Children’s Day: Children’s Rights (UNRC: Article 1 – Everyone under 18 has all these rights).  As a school who has been awarded with the Gold Rights Respecting School Award, we do a lot of work around these rights with the children.  Why not ask your child which one if their favourite and why they feel that one is so important?

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

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

Online Safety

Did you know that one of the biggest online concerns for Primary age school children is around group chats getting out of hand and causing disruption and distress.  ‘Childnet’ is a wonderful resource which parents and carers can use which has lots of useful activities to address issues such as:

• Starting conversations, the positives and negatives
• Digital wellbeing
• Bullying and gossip
• Inappropriate content

To access the free guide which you can download, please see the following link:  https://www.childnet.com/resources/group-chats/

Reporting Absences

Can we please remind all parents/carers that if your child is absent from school for any reason, then you need to either email parents@whcps.org, send a message on the Arbor app, or phone the school on 01473 741249 and select the absence line to give the reason behind the absence.  This should be completed by 9.30am and should be completed every day your child is absent.  If you have not done so, you will be contacted by the Attendance Officer and it is vital that a response is then sent to the school.   Unless you report the absence each day, we are not able to mark this as illness and so your child may be given an unauthorised absence.  Please also remember that if you have a change of email address, telephone number or home address, you must either update this on Arbor or contact the school office to do this for you.

Book Fair

A reminder that our Book Fair will take place on Monday 25^th and Tuesday 26^th November 2024, in the Marlow Hall as usual from 3.00pm to 4.00pm.  As a little festive treat, Scholastic have very kindly provided us with a number of Dogman magazines to be handed out for free (whilst stocks last) with every order placed.  The Dogman novels are extremely popular with the children and their enthusiasm is only likely to increase with the prospect of the new Dogman film being released in cinemas shortly after Christmas!  We look forward to seeing you, and don’t forget the school earns rewards for every purchase made so we can buy extra books for our libraries.

New Community Choir

We know a few of our children have enjoyed choir events held previously at St Mary le Tower Church so we thought you might like to know that they are starting a new community choir there for children aged from 5-8 years of age.  This is part of their community outreach programme encouraging community singing and as part of the church being redesignated as a Minster.  The choir will be supported financially by the church (so free of charge to attend) and they welcome children from all parts of the community to join.  Sessions will be on Wednesday evenings from 4.00pm to 4.45pm and will begin in January 2025.  In addition, they are also holding a ‘Trees at the Tower’ event on Wednesday 27^th November 2024 at 4.00pm, see posters below for more details.

Parking Concerns

Unfortunately, we feel it necessary to again address the issues of parking outside of the school at the start and end of the days.  Despite a number of reminders, we are still seeing some adults parking in a way which could compromise the safety of those coming and going on the school site.  Could we please urge all parents/carers, if you do need to bring the car to the school, to ensure you park following the highway directions.  We would ask you to please ensure driveways are left clear so local residents can access their homes, that cars are not parked on the zig-zag lines outside of the school, that you do not drive on the pathways and that when moving off you are very careful of all parties in the area.  We would very much appreciate the help of everyone so we can keep all parties safe. 

If you see something which concerns you, please note this should be reported directly to Ipswich Borough council (see details on the poster).

Music at Whitehouse

This term, our school are learning to sing ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten.  We have chosen this song because it links to our Whitehouse Way and shows courage.  The children have been working hard in our weekly assemblies to learn the song and we have all been very impressed with the progress they have shown already.  If you would like to practise the song with them at home, you can follow the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a1qTzh16hY.

Some of our classes have also started to learn some of the signs to the song to give all of our children the opportunity to take part.  If you would like to have a go, you can see them on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM5iNOY07m0.

KS2 Primary Panathlon Event

Last Friday Ms Salmon and Miss Huggins took five pupils to Inspire Suffolk to take part in the KS2 Panathlon event. This event is a skills-based competition, in which each team rotate around a carousel of fun and inclusive fundamental skills that include sending and receiving activities and striking skills. During each activity each pupil aimed to score as many points as possible for their team. Each score was then 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 were extremely excited to be presented with a trophy and gold medals for finishing the event as the overall winners! An amazing and well-deserved achievement, well done!

U9 Mixed Dodgeball Festival

Last Tuesday Mr Jordan took ten Year 4 pupils to Inspire Suffolk to take part in the School Games U9 Mixed Dodgeball Festival. As with previous U9 Dodgeball events, the festival was again a very popular and exciting event with a total of 18 separate schools attending the event. Each school was placed into one of two groups in which each team played a Round Robin of Dodgeball matches against the other schools within their group. Each match consisted of three 2-minute games, which made for high tempo action packed matches. The teamed performed brilliantly, implementing the dodgeball skills they had been practicing during the after-school dodgeball club. Mr Jordan was incredibly proud of the effort, team work and individual dodgeball skills in which the team showed during their matches throughout the festival. 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!

U11’s Inclusive Ten Pin Bowling Event

On Wednesday, Mr Jordan took five Year 6 pupils to the U11 Inclusive Ten Pin Bowling event which was held at Tenpin Ipswich, Martlesham. As with previous Inclusive Ten Pin Bowling events, the event involved each school playing 2 games of bowling. Each school’s total team score at the end of the first game was recorded and compared to determine which position each school would finish.

The team had an amazing time and played extremely well. As a result of their fantastic bowling skills throughout the two games, the team managed to score 1 strike and 12 spares between them! To celebrate their hard work and participation within the event, each pupil in the team received a medal and certificate. Mr Jordan will receive an email to inform the team of which position they finished in the event, so we will keep you updated!

Dates for the Diary

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

Monday 25^th November 2024 – SATS information session for parents/carers – 9.00am / 4.30pm

Monday 25^th November 2024 – Book Fair – Marlow Road Hall – 3.00pm to 4.00pm

Tuesday 26^th November 2024 - Book Fair – Marlow Road Hall – 3.00pm to 4.00pm

Wednesday 27^th November 2024 – Year 6 Bletchley Park Visit

Monday 2^nd December 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

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

Tuesday 3^rd December 2024 – Year 4 Parent/Carer Art Session - 2.00pm

Wednesday 4^th December 2024 – Year 2 – Visit to St Thomas the Apostle Church

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

Thursday 5^th December 2024 – Helping Hands 2.00pm-3.00pm

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

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

Monday 9^th December 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

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

Thursday 12^th December 2024 – CET Christmas Concert – 6.30pm (ticketed event)

Friday 13^th December 2024 – Nursery Christmas Songs

Friday 13^th December 2024 – Christmas Jumper Day

Friday 13^th December 2024 – Christmas Fair

Monday 16^th December 2024 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 16^th December 2024 – Reception Nativity

Monday 16^th December 2024 – Christmas Dinner – Year 1

Monday 16^th December 2024 – Year 4 Christingle Service – St Thomas the Apostle Church

Tuesday 17^th December 2024 – Christmas Dinner – Year 2

Tuesday 17^th December 2024 – Year 2 Parent/Carer Christmas Crafts Session – 2.00pm

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

Wednesday 18^th December 2024 – Christmas Dinner – Year R and Year 3

Thursday 19^th December 2024 – Christmas Dinner – Year 4

Thursday 19^th December 2024 – Helping Hands 2.00pm-3.00pm

Thursday 19^th December 2024 – Autumn 2 Project Showcase (Nursery, Years 1, 3 and 5)

Friday 20^th December 2024 – Christmas Dinner – Year 5 and 6

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