Whitehouse Weekly Bulletin 349

Friday 15th May 2026

A Message from Miss Siddall:     

Well done to Year 6 for continuing to demonstrate the ‘Whitehouse Way’ during SATs week. We are extremely proud of the children and will share the results with them when we receive them in July. Over the next few weeks, the curriculum will change slightly for Year 6 as they prepare for their end of year play and also their transition to High School.  Year 2 have also had a busy week as they have been completing their DT project by learning how to make bread.

We have lots of trips, visits and parent/carer sessions planned over the next few weeks, so do check the diary at the end of this newsletter so you don’t miss out. Thank you for your continued support.

      Attendance: Top 3 classes with the best attendance for week ending 8^th May 2026

                       Chameleons (100%)  Starfish (99%)  Toucans (98%)

                            Whole School Attendance: 95%

Amazing Attendance Chameleons!  You achieved 100% attendance all week! 🎉This means, not only did Chameleons get to look after ACE (Attend Class Everyday) Bear, but they also enjoyed Attendance Golden Time too.  We hope you all enjoyed the popcorn! 🍿

Remember, if you come to school every day and arrive on time, your class could:

🐻 Look after ACE Bear for a week

⭐ Enjoy Attendance Golden Time

You will also:

🦆 Be entered into the weekly Duck Race

📘 Earn stamps on your Attendance Passport to spend in the kiosk!

Nursery Spaces Available for September

We are pleased to confirm we still have some spaces available for our popular Nursery in September.  We offer sessions from 8.30am to 11.30am each day (total of 15 hours a week) and children can begin the term after they turn 3 years old.  If you are interested in enrolling your child please come to the main school office for an application form. 

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. Well done to you all.

EYFS:

Key Stage 1:

Lower Key Stage 2:

Upper Key Stage 2:

Find the Right Words

Virgin Media and Internet Matters have released a wonderful new resource for parents/carers.  Called ‘Find the Right Words’, the video and resources help with some of those difficult conversations about how to keep children safe and online.   This can be accessed here:  https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/find-the-right-words/

Free School Meals

As you will be aware, there will be some changes with Free School Meals from September.  If your child is already receiving FSM they will continue to receive them in September, you do not need to reapply, even if your circumstances have changed.  From September the following changes will come into play:

• All children in households receiving Universal Credit will be entitled to FSM, regardless of income.
• To qualify for FSM from September, your household must be receiving Universal Credit at the time of eligibility assessment.
• FSM eligibility will be checked once a year from September

We will share additional guidance as it becomes available but if you have any additional questions at this stage, please email freeschoolmeals@suffolk.gov.uk.

The Children’s Commissioner’s National Survey

Dame Rachel do Souza, who is the Children’s Commissioner has just released her National Survey: The Big Future, which is open for children of all ages to take part in.  She would like to hear from as many children as possible, from all backgrounds and in all parts of the country. She would like to know their views on what they would like to see in their communities, to understand what their biggest concerns are and what they hope for the future.  To join in, please help your child to access this survey at this link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/TheBigFuture/.

Accelerated Reader

A big well done to all the children below who have recently received certificates for their reading.

Attendance: Duck Race Winners

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

Olympic Athlete Visit

On Monday, we are all very excited to welcome yet another visit from an elite Athlete to our school, as we are joined by Olympic cyclist Alice Sharpe. To date, Alice’s achievements include representing her country (Ireland) in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, a European Bronze medal, a World Cup Gold medal, two times National Championships, and competing in the Commonwealth Games!

As with the previous athlete visits, Alice will be providing pupils and staff with an inspirational assembly, before meeting and working with each class (Reception – Year 6) as she conducts a fun fitness session for the pupils to participate in.

To help the day run smoothly, we ask that pupils to come to school in their PE kit on Monday (18th May).   Previous athlete visits have always been an

exciting and very inspiring experience for both our pupils and staff as they have met and worked closely with top level international athletes. As a result, we are very much looking forward to Alice’s visit!

Walk to School Week (Monday 18^th May to Friday 22^nd May)

Next week sees the return of ‘Walk to School Week’ (Monday 18th May – Friday 22nd May). As a school, we will again be taking part in the Living Streets: Mission Move Walking Challenge. As a result, we would like to encourage you and your child to walk to school for the whole week. If you live too far to walk, maybe you could use public transport or even consider parking the car before walking the last 5 minutes into school. An activity booklet with daily fun activities to complete on the way to school will be provided to each pupil. Additionally, as with previous ‘Walk to School’ weeks, each class will also be provided with a visual wallchart and daily reward stickers to track their class’s participation in the challenge.

To add a healthy competitive element to this year’s ‘Walk to School Week’, Mr Jordan will again be introducing an inter-class competition to see which class has the greatest number of pupils walking to school throughout the week.  As Friday is a PD day, why not finish off the walking challenge as a family or with friends. As with previous PE challenges, we would really like to celebrate our pupils’ efforts and engagement in the challenge on the PE page of the school website. Therefore, please feel free to send any photos of your child during their walk to school throughout the week to parents@whcps.org.

New Football Kit Sponsor

We are very excited by the arrival of our brand new WHCPS football kit which has been worn by both our boys and girls football teams recently. I’m sure that you will agree that the children will look very smart and professional in the new WHCPS football kit.

A big thank you to Ryan (Olivia’s Dad) for all his hard work in organising this and to Protect & Detect

for sponsoring our football kit!

U9 Cricket Festival

Last Thursday morning, Mr Jordan took ten Year 3/4 pupils to the Ipswich Hockey Club to take part in the U9 Cricket Festival. The event, which was led by Suffolk Cricket, involved each team rotating around a carousal of fast paced conditioned cricket games against the other teams. The games provided the perfect opportunity for our pupils to put into practice all of the cricket skills they had learnt with Mr Jordan during their recent after school cricket club. Not only did the team demonstrate some fantastic batting and fielding skills during each of their games, they also showed fantastic sportsmanship as they took time to shake hands with their opponents after the matches! Throughout the festival, the team played six separate games, winning 4 and losing just 2! A fantastic effort from the team, well done!

KS2 Inclusive Sailing

Following the success of last year’s event, we were again delighted for nine of our KS2 pupils to have the opportunity of taking part in an inclusive sailing event last Thursday. Accompanied by Mr Jordan, Mrs Welham, Mrs Sharkey and Miss Siddall, the event took place at Suffolk Yacht Harbour in Levington.

Once the pupils and staff had received their safety briefing and had been fitted with their life jackets, they headed to the marina to begin their session. After being introduced to the instructors from the East Anglian Sailing Trust (E.A.S.T), the pupils got to see the boats they would be sailing in during the session. Each boat contained three pupils, a member of WHCPS staff and two E.A.S.T instructors. Once out of the marina and out on the open water of the River Orwell, the instructors in each of the boats demonstrated and taught the pupils how to sail the boats, including pulling the correct ropes to set the sail and most importantly how to steer the boat. During the session, the pupils were also given the opportunity to sail the boat for themselves under the supervision and guidance of the instructors. Miss Siddall joined the pupils and staff on the water as our official photographer.

All of the staff were incredibly proud of the effort and courage shown by all of the pupils throughout the session. It was amazing to see so many happy and smiling faces throughout the session…including the staff! At the end of the session, all of the pupils commented on how amazing the session was and some even went as far to say that they would like to buy their own boat! Mr Jordan would like to take this opportunity to thank the East Anglian Sailing Trust and our School Games organisers for offering such an amazing opportunity!

U9 Rugby Skills Festival

Last Friday, Mr Jordan took ten Year 3/4 pupils to Suffolk One to take part in the U9 Rugby Skills Festival, which was led by the sports students at Suffolk One.  It involved each school rotating around a carousel of fun high-energy rugby specific activities which were designed to allow the pupils to practice an array of rugby skills from passing, tackling (tagging) to conditioned gameplay.  Despite the very warm conditions, all the pupils worked incredibly hard and had lots of fun as they worked closely with the Suffolk One students to develop their rugby skills.  Mr Jordan was incredibly proud to see the pupils applying the fantastic rugby skills they had worked on throughout the after-school rugby club into the different activities!

Year 5/6 Girls Football

It has been a busy few weeks for our Year 5/6 girls football team with two home league matches.  The girls began by hosting Broke Hall CP School.  Having not played together as a team since before the Easter Holidays and playing against the high pressing attacking football played by Broke Hall, the girls knew it was going to be a tough match.  However, the girls persevered and worked extremely hard to try to close down the Broke Hall attacks.  The match was definitely a game of two halves as the girls played the second half with a lot more confidence.  After much improved spells of possession and build-up play, the girls hard work was rewarded with two goals from Shola and Lacie-Mai.  Unfortunately, this was not enough to change the score line and the game ended with a win for Broke Hall.

The following week and the girls were back in action as they hosted Britannia Primary School.  Following their previous defeat, the girls were more determined to play at a quicker pace and with more confidence with the ball at their feet and the girls did exactly that!  The team played extremely well.  They closed the ball down quickly, regained possession and put the Britannia defence under a lot of pressure.  Despite being a goal behind, they continued to play some fantastic football.  A number of excellent saves by Ilya in goal, kept the team in the game.  They managed to pull a goal back with an excellent finish by Shola.  The girls continued to put on pressure and went close to scoring again on a number of occasions. Despite the game finishing with a 2-1 win to Britannia, the girls and Mr Jordan were extremely proud of how well they played throughout. Great effort girls, well done.

Year 5/6 Boys Football

Last Friday saw the turn of the Year 5/6 boys football team to be back in league action as they travelled away to play against Britannia Primary School. With Britannia currently sitting second in the league the boys knew that the match would be a competitive affair, and it was exactly that! As expected, Britannia made a very good start to the game and quickly took the lead. However, undeterred the boys showed fantastic resilience and determination to get themselves back into the game. The boys quickly settled and began playing some excellent football of their own, passing and linking up well to enjoy good spells of possession and create a number of their own chances. The match was an extremely closely contested affair, with both teams creating shooting opportunities in front of goal. The second half of the match continued where the first half left off, with end to end football from both teams. At times the game was more like a basketball game as goals were flying in at both ends of the pitch. The boys continued to grow in confidence throughout the match and played some fantastic attacking football. The boys also worked extremely hard to get back and close the ball down when defending the ball. Some fantastic saves from Logan towards the end of the game kept Britannia from extending their lead. After what was an incredible game of football, the final result finished with an 8-6 win to Britannia. A fantastic effort boys!

Dates for the Diary

Monday 18^th May 2026 – Thursday 21^st May 2026 – Walk to School Week

Monday 18^th May 2026 – Family Breakfast – 8.00am

Monday 18^th May 2026 – Athlete Visit (Please wear PE kit)

Tuesday 19^th May 2026 – Nursery Sports Day - 9.00am to 9.30am

Tuesday 19^th May 2026 – Reception Sports Day – 9.45am to 10.45am

Tuesday 19^th May 2026 – Years 1 and 2 Sports Day – 11.00am to 12.00pm

Tuesday 19^th May 2026 – Year 3 Sports Day – 2.00pm to 3.00pm

Wednesday 20^th May 2026 – Year 4 Sports Day – 9.45am to 10.45am

Wednesday 20^th May 2026 – Year 5 Sports Day – 11,00am to 12.00pm

Wednesday 20^th May 2026 – Year 6 Sports Day – 2.00pm to 3.00pm

Friday 22^nd May 2026 – PD Day (School closed to the children)

Monday 25^th May 2026 to Friday 29^th May 2026 – Half Term Holiday

Thursday 4^th June 2026 – Year 3 River Deben Trip – Rabbits Class

Friday 5^th June 2026 – Whole School SMSC Day: Thinking about Thinking

Wednesday 10^th June 2026 – Year 6 Crucial Crew

Thursday 11^th June 2026 – Year 3 River Deben Trip – Owls Class

Thursday 18^th June 2026 – Year 3 River Deben Trip – Badgers Class

Monday 22^nd June to Tuesday 23^rd June 2026 – Year 6 Residential Trip to Mersea

Wednesday 24^th June 2026 – Transition afternoon

Thursday 25^th June 2026 – Transition morning

Friday 10^th July 2026 – Reports home to parents

Tuesday 14th July 2026 – Year 6 Production- 9.30am and 6.00pm

Friday 17th July 2026 – Year 6 Leavers Picnic and Assembly – 1.50pm

Friday 17^th July 2026 – Last day of the Summer Term for the children

Monday 20^th July 2006 – PD Day (School closed to the children)

Tuesday 1^st September 2026 – PD Day (School closed to the children)

Wednesday 2^nd September 2026 – PD Day (School closed to the children)

Thursday 3^rd September 2026 – First day of Autumn Term for the children