Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 301

Friday 7th March 2025

A Message from Miss Siddall

Thank you to everyone for your support in making World Book Day a success. Many of the children have come to school dressed as their favourite book characters.

We have also had a wonderful ‘Pop-Up Book Shop’ in school, run by Mrs Balaam and Mr Taylor. All children, from Nursery to Year 6, have been able to choose a free book to keep, courtesy of National Book Tokens. We are delighted that we have been able to support all the children in receiving their free book and would like to thank WHSmith for their help in providing the books for us.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance:  Chameleons (99.52%)

Accelerated Reader

Many congratulations to the following children who all recently received certificates for their reading.   A big well done to you all.

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 is 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:

Dinner and Breakfast Club

Please note we have a number of families who have a debt on dinner money or breakfast club.  Can we please ask this is cleared as a matter of urgency.  Thank you.

Celebrating our Children

This week we are pleased to celebrate the achievements of Olivia-Mai  (Year 4) who loves to play football.  Olivia-Mai plays for Woodbridge Town Football Club and was thrilled that only did her team win their Sunday match, 3-1 against Bury Town, but Olivia-Mai also received the Player of the Match award.  Well done!  What a great achievement, keep up the good work!

Child Accident Prevention Trust: Safety Warning

Young children are vulnerable to all sorts of dangers in the home.  One of the most present issues can come in the form of every day cleaning products.  Some like sink unclogger can look like fruit juice.  With its thick consistency and apple juice colour it may be particularly enticing. However, one threat stands out above all others – the washing pod!  Many pods bear a striking similarity to over the counter sweets.  For children this mistake can be easy to make, especially when washing pods may be kept in a lower location than other cleaning supplies. The Child Accident Prevention Trust has recently published a page that looks to offer guidance on this issue.  You can find this guidance here:   https://capt.org.uk/washing-pods-and-capsules/.

Job Vacancy

Please note we currently have a vacancy for a Midday Supervisor. We have placed all the information and an application form on our website at the following link:  https://www.whcps.org/vacancies/.  If you would be interested in applying for the position, please note the closing date is 9.00am on Monday 17^th March 2025. If you would like a paper copy of the application form, please ask at the office.

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

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

Scholastic Book Fair

Don't forget, the final of our Scholastic Book Fairs is being held on Monday from 3.00pm-4.00pm in the Marlow Hall. There's a fabulous range of books to choose from and the school receives commission on all purchases in the form of vouchers to spend on books for our libraries. Yesterday, most children were able to view the books available with their class when they picked up their free World Book Day book from our pop-up book shop.  They were also given the opportunity to vote for the books that they would like to see available in our libraries. The most popular books will be prioritised for purchase with any commission we receive. Finally, don't forget to bring your book fair mini flyer with you. Please write your child's name and class on the reverse and hand it to one of our prefects to enter our free prize draw, with a chance of winning a book. We look forward to seeing you at our final book fair of this academic year.

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum

You may have seen from time to time we share items from the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum.  So, who are they and how can they help our parents/carers?  They are a charitable organisation whose aim is to shape and improve provisions and services for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) from the age of 0-25.  They represent families of children with SEND as they liaise with the Local Authority and NHS services.  They also are able to signpost families to services and host various events.  Membership is free and open to parents/carers of children with SEND throughout Suffolk. To become a member visit www.suffolkpcf.co.uk/membership.

Year 5/6 Girls Netball

On Tuesday, in the lovely sunshine, the Year 5/6 girls Netball team played their first IPSSA Netball league game against Springfield Primary School. The girls took to the court full of confidence and determination and it wasn't long before Imogen took the lead, scoring an amazing goal from just inside the circle. The team kept most of the possession throughout the first quarter and another 2 more goals were scored. What a great way to finish the first quarter; 3-1 to the Whitehouse girls. The second quarter the girls carried on pushing, showing high quality play as they passed the ball quickly and confidently to each other.  With lots of supporters on the sideline cheering them on, the girls received a boost as Ruby and Ivy popped another 2 goals into the net. Springfield didn't lose hope and scored another goal. However, Whitehouse showed great defence skills and managed to get back possession of the ball, leading to Imogen and Violet scoring 3 more goals. The score going into the last quarter was 8-2 to Whitehouse, so we were looking to be earning our first win.  

The supporters continued to cheer and the girls continued to play some outstanding netball. How the girls have progressed over the last few weeks has been exceptional and Ms Salmon was beaming with pride and happiness. Perseverance really does pay off in the end! Mia and Idunnu ended the match against Springfield scoring another 2 goals making the final score an amazing 10-3 to us.

Well played girls and a special well done to Imogen for receiving player of the match from Springfield. Ms Salmon gave her player of the match to Idunnu for showing courage and perseverance

Our next game is Tuesday 11th March 2025 away to Heath Primary School.

Non-Uniform Days

Can we please remind parents/carers that on non-uniform days it is still very important that the children wear sensible shoes which will enable them to move around school safely.  We do specifically ask that children do not wear crocs, backless sandals or flip flops.

Homework Project Showcase

A big thank you to all of our children who completed their homework last half term and brought them in so they were part of our project showcase.  The feedback from parents/carers was that they loved seeing all the wonderful work that had been done.  Each class had a chance to look at the work of their classmates and then had a vote to choose their favourite.  So, a huge well done to the following children:

Dates for the Diary

Monday 10^th March 2025 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Thursday 13^th March 2025 – Helping Hands Hub

Thursday 13^th March 2025 – Year 5 Maths Parent/Carer Session 2.15pm

Tuesday 18^th March 2025 – Year 3 Colchester Castle Trip

Thursday 20^th March 2025 – Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 5.30pm

Friday 21^st March 2025 – Comic Relief – Non-Uniform Day (for small donation)

Monday 24^th March 2025 – Year 3 Roman Day

Tuesday 25^th March 2025 – Parents Evening – 3.30pm to 6.30pm

Wednesday 2^nd April 2025 – Whole School SMSC Day

Monday 7^th April 2025 to Monday 21^st April 2025 – Easter Holiday

Tuesday 22^nd April 2025 – PD Day (School closed to children)

Monday 5^th May 2025 – Bank Holiday (School Closed)

Friday 23^rd May 2025 – PD Day (School closed to children)

Monday 26^th May to Friday 30^th May – Half Term Holiday

Monday 23^rd Tuesday 24^th June 2025 – Year 6 Residential (Danbury)

Tuesday 22^nd July 2025 – Last day of the Summer Term

Wednesday 23^rd July 2025 – First day of the Summer Holiday

Monday 1^st September 2025 – PD Day (School closed to children)

Tuesday 2^nd September 2025 – PD Day (School closed to children)

Wednesday 3^rd September 2025 – First day of term for the children