Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 316

Friday 11th July 2025

A Message from Miss Siddall: 

I am very proud to report that forty-three children in Key Stage 2 completed this year’s recommended read challenge (fourteen more than last year!). The children had a wonderful day out yesterday, visiting Christchurch Park and Waterstones bookshop.  Each child chose a book to keep and these will be presented in assembly.  Well done everyone.  Today is the final day of after-school clubs for this academic year and I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all the staff who have run clubs throughout the year as well as to the children for attending.  They are a fantastic opportunity for the children.  Thank you for your continued support.  

Attendance for the previous week:

Class with the best attendance: Jaguars (99.00%)

Assemblies

The theme of our assemblies for next week will be Safety in the Summer Holiday.  (UNRC: Article 19 – I have the right to be protected from being hurt or badly treated).  You may want to talk to your child about the things you have planned for the holiday for your family and how you can all help each other be safe.

Bikeability

Last week 12 of our Year 5 pupils took part in a Suffolk County Council led cycling training course known as ‘Bikeability’. Throughout the two-day course the pupils were taught, and assessed on their cycling skills and safety. The pupils demonstrated their skills during off road/playground-based activities (level 1), before continuing their training on quiet local roads (Level 2). As a result of their fantastic efforts over the two-day course, we were extremely proud to be informed from the instructors that all 12 pupils had passed both their Level 1 and Level 2 awards! The instructors were extremely complementary of the pupils’ effort and exemplary behaviour throughout the course! Following the success of this year’s Bikeability, Mr Jordan has already spoken to the instructors to enquire about additional dates for next year! Well done everyone!

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/Breakfast Club Debt

Please can we ask all parents/carers to ensure all debt is cleared by the end of next week. Balances can be viewed on Arbor or you can check with the school office.

REMINDER: WHCPS ‘Wake Up and Walk’ Event

A reminder to all parents/carers and pupils that next will see the return of our Daily Mile inspired ‘Wake Up & Walk’ event.   

The event which will take place before school (during drop off time), invites all parents/carers the opportunity to take part in a 2 lap walk around the KS2 field before school with their child. Yr5/6 pupils that walk to school by themselves may also take part in the event.  

Certificates for both parents/carers and pupils and also a non-school uniform voucher will be awarded to those that attend/complete the event.

Event details:

Dates: Monday 14th July 2025 (EYFS & KS1 Pupils & Parents/Carers)

Tuesday 15th July 2025 (KS2 Pupils & Parents/Carers) 

Time:   8:30am – 8:45am 

Additional Information: No sign up is required. Simply meet Mr Jordan on the KS2 field, entering school via the Marlow Rd or Waterford Rd gate.

We very much look forward to seeing many of our parents/carers and pupils enjoying the event.

U1 Quadkids Event

On Tuesday, Mr Jordan & Miss Greenacre took a team of Year 5 and 6 pupils to take part in the annual U11 Quadkids event which was held at Northgate Sports Centre. The Quadkids event is an athletics event which involves teams competing in a rotation of 4 separate events made up of two running events (75m sprint and 600m race), a throwing event (Vortex Howler throw) and a jumping event (standing long jump). Quadkids is always a very popular event in the sports calendar, and this year was again no exception with 39 teams from 34 different schools taking part. Each school was allocated a country to represent during the event, our pupils represented Argentina. The event began and finished with an opening and closing ceremony in which each school/team walked around the running track waving their flags and banners of their respective country. Despite the warm conditions, the team gave each event their absolute best effort. Mr Jordan was extremely proud of the team’s performance and also their impeccable behaviour. They were an absolute credit to our school! Mr Jordan would like to thank the parents/carers for providing transport and supporting the team during the event, your support is always very much appreciated!

Mr Jordan will inform the team which placed they finished once he has received the email to confirm the results from the event organisers. Well done everyone!

Dinner Money – Increase in Charges

Unfortunately, we have to inform you that price of our dinners will increase from 1^st September 2025 following rising costs of food and staffing.  All dinners will increase from £2.52 to £2.62.  Please note dinners for Reception through to Year 2 will still be provided free of charge as well as to those families who are eligible for free school meals. If you feel your child may be eligible please note you can make an application here:  https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/children-families-and-learning/schools/school-meals-uniforms-and-trips/apply-for-free-school-meals.

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

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

Hand Fans in School

We have had some enquiries as to whether children are able to bring small hand fans into school to help them keep cool.  When the weather is extremely hot, we would be happy for children to bring in either a battery-operated hand fan (batteries to be installed at home) or one of the fans worn around the neck (similar to a headphone style) for personal use only.  Please note that children would be expected to handle these sensibly and if they do not, these may be taken off the child and returned to parents/carers at the end of the day.  Please be aware that there may be times in class that children are asked to turn these off if they are interfering with the lesson activity.  Should the battery run out whilst in school we are unable to provide additional batteries.

Year 1 DT Puppet Workshop

As part of their Enquiry Question ‘Why do we love the seaside?’ Year 1 children made some Punch and Judy puppets recently.  They all had a lovely time with their parents/carers who came in to help.  The puppets were created out of different materials and the children enjoyed learning how to thread a needle and how to sew a running stitch.  Thank you to all those parents/carers who were able to attend.  All of the children did a wonderful job and the puppets were wonderful!

Dates for the Diary

Monday 14^th July 2025 - Family Breakfast 8.00am

Monday 14^th July 2025 – Wake Up and Walk – 8.30am to 8.45am

Tuesday 15^th July 2025 – Wake Up and Walk – 8.30am to 8.45am

Wednesday 16^th July 2025 – Year 6 Production

Monday 21^st July 2025 – Family Breakfast 8.00am

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