Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 310

Thursday 22nd May 2025

A Message from Miss Siddall: 

Thank you to all the parents and carers who have visited the school for a Parent/Carer session in class and to everyone who attended one of our project showcases this week.  We hope you enjoyed seeing your children’s wonderful work.  Over the next few weeks we will be organising the classes for the next academic year. As soon as this is arranged we will let parents/carers know. The children will have a chance to meet their new teachers at the end of June. I hope that you all have a wonderful half-term break with your families. Please remember that school starts back on Monday 2^nd June. Thank you for your continued support.

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Tigers (99.5%)

Sports Days

Please see below the details of the sports days this year.  We hope as many of you as possible will be able to come along and enjoy the event with us.

A Message from our Attendance Officer

As Summer 1 ends, attendance remains a key priority and we appreciate your efforts in ensuring children are in school regularly and on time. This term we have seen a number of illness-related absences across the school, with sickness, diarrhoea and chickenpox being the most common.  We understand how challenging this can be and are grateful to families for keeping unwell children at home to help prevent the spread of infection. 

We would also like to remind everyone of the importance of avoiding term-time holidays wherever possible, as every school day counts towards your child’s learning and progress.

A heartfelt thank you to all parents/carers who have kept us informed each day that their child has been absent.  Your communication really does help us to manage attendance effectively and support the children’s wellbeing.

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:

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be Lunchtime Activities: What activities can we do and enjoy? (UNRC: Article 31: I have the right to play and relax by doing things like sports, music and drama).  

Suffolk Show Art Club

The children who attended the Suffolk Show Exhibition Art Club have made a beautiful meadow collage to be shown at the Suffolk Recycles stand at the Suffolk Show next week.  The briefing we were given was to create a large-scale artwork from recycled materials, which reflected the beautiful outdoors and Suffolk wildlife.  The time frame to complete the project was very tight and the children did an incredible job to complete the collage in just two sessions.  They used a range of materials which would otherwise have been thrown away or sent for recycling.  We think they have done an incredible job.  Well done to you all.

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

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

Suffolk Libraries: Get Ready for School Book Bag

We know it can be daunting when you have a child who is about to start school and Suffolk Libraries have prepared some book bags which can help prepare you and your child for this new adventure.  Their ‘Get Ready for School Bags’ contain handy information cards and three reassuring stories about the school day.  If you would be interested in borrowing one of these bags to share with your child please see here: https://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/resources/get-ready-for-school-book-bag

House Captains: Bake Sale

The House Captains would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who donated baked goods and came along to their charity bake sale.  They had a wonderful time in the lovely sunshine whilst managing to raise £142.50 for our House charities.  Well done!

Celebrating our Children

This week we celebrate Ruari from Year 6.  We were very excited to hear that he has been in a show on the West End of London last weekend!  Ruari attends the Pauline Quirk Academy and as part of that was in a performance of Across the Line, at His Majesty’s Theatre.  We hear the show was absolutely amazing, the dancing, singing and acting was fantastic.  Well done Ruari, what an amazing achievement!  It sounds like you have a great future in front of you!

Athlete Visit

On Monday after half term, we are all very excited to welcome yet another visit from an athlete to our school.  On Monday 2^nd June 2025, we will be joined in school by Invictus Games champion Rich Potter.  During the 2023 Invictus Games, Rich successfully achieved a gold medal in the 100m, silver medal in table tennis and bronze in the relay!

As with previous athlete visits, Rich will also be providing pupils and staff with an inspirational assembly, before meeting and working with each class (Reception – Year 6) as he conducts a fun fitness session for the pupils to participate in.  To help the day run smoothly, we ask that pupils come to school in their PE kit on Monday 2^nd June.

Previous 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 Rich’s visit!

PFA Meeting

Please note there will be a PFA meeting on Wednesday 4^th June 2025 at 3.30pm, where the planning for the Summer Fair will take place.   All parents/carers are invited to come along and support the committee in whichever way you can.  Please come to the main office if you would like to attend.  Thank you for your support.

Accelerated Reader

We have also had a large number of children who have recently received certificates for their reading.   A big well done to you all.

House Point Competition

The House Captains are excited to announce the winners of the House Point competition this half term. 

In fourth place with 415 points is Emerald.

In third place with 422 points is Ruby.

In second place with 469 points is Diamond.

And in first place with 550 points is Sapphire.

Well done to Sapphire House who have won a non-uniform day on the first Friday back after the holidays.

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum

As you will have seen in previous newsletters, the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum do a lot to support families who have a child with SEND needs.  If you would like to view their latest newsletter it can be viewed here:  https://suffolkpcf.co.uk/information/spcf-newsletters/.  Please note that SPCF will be closed during half term and will reopen on Monday 2^nd June.  The newsletter does have details of available support services which may be of use during their closure.

Dates for the Diary

Monday 26^th May 2025 to Friday 30^th May 2025 – Half Term Holiday

Monday 2^nd June 2025 – Athlete Visit – All children to wear PE kit to school

Tuesday 3^rd June 2025 – Year 4 Victorian School – Hedgehogs Class

Thursday 5^th June 2025 – Year 4 Victorian School – Squirrels Class

Thursday 5^th June 2025 – Year 1 Felixstowe Beach

Friday 6^th June 2025 – Non-Uniform Day for Sapphire House

Monday 9^th June 2025 – Year 4 Victorian School – Foxes Class

Monday 9^th June 2025 – Year 6 Crucial Crew

Tuesday 10^th June 2025 – Year 3 Ducking Down the Deben – Owls Class

Wednesday 11^th June 2025 – Sports Day – Nursery / Reception

Thursday 12^th June 2025 – Sports Day – Years 1, 2 and 3

Friday 13^th June 2025 – Sports Day – Years 4, 5 and 6

Tuesday 17^th June 2025 – Y3 Ducking Down the Deben – Rabbits Class

Thursday 19^th June 2025 – Y2 Duxford Visit

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

Tuesday 24^th June 2025 – Y3 Ducking Down the Deben – Badgers Class

Wednesday 25^th June 2025 – Transition Day (including those transferring to Westbourne)

Thursday 26^th June 2025 – Transition Day (including those transferring to Westbourne)

Friday 27^th June 2025: SMSC Day: British Values

Friday 4^th July 2025 – Summer Fair

Tuesday 8^th July 2025 – Project Showcase (Years R, 2, 4 and 6)

Thursday 10^th July 2025 – Project Showcase (Years N, 1, 3 and 5)

Friday 11^th July 2025 – Reports Home to Parents/Carers

Wednesday 16^th July 2025 – Year 6 Production

Monday 21^st July 2025 – Year 6 Leavers BBQ

Tuesday 22^nd July 2025 – Year 6 Leavers Assembly

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