Dear Parents

Today would h ave been our Christmas Fayre, a huge annual fundraiser for the school. In its stead, we are so grateful to WISPA and to you all for donating prizes to The Big WISPA Christmas Raffle - which we are delighted to say is now available online! Please sign up and buy tickets, the closing date is next Friday at 8pm. There are currently 25 wonderful prizes up for grabs but more are being added every day.

Many of us would be visiting the Christmas Tree Festival in the church this weekend - we have sent home details of the village's outdoor alternative and I would love to see pictures of your Christmas trees. We added our own contributions this week with the inflatables at the school entrance, which have been very popular! We have also begun our 12 Days of Forest School Christmas on Facebook, Twitter and our website. Thank you to Mrs Winsley for such a brilliant idea. The school is looking lovely and festive and I am hearing how naughty the elves have been in your homes! Rehearsals are going well in school and we look forward to your reactions to our virtual Christmas performances.

Many thanks to WISPA who have funded new games for each classroom, chosen by the children and staff. While we have been lucky with the weather (until yesterday!|) we need provision for the children during wet weather breaks.

There have been rumours of an early finish for Christmas but I can categorically state that Essex intends us to break up as normal on 18th December. This does depend on schools having enough staff to open safely. Despite the challenging circumstances of this term we have still achieved a lot and our updated School Improvement Plan is now published.

Christmas lunch will be on 17th December and you can order this for your child in the usual way via ParentMail. Please note cut off for ordering. My thanks go to our catering team in advance for this logistical challenge.

Just a reminder that we will not distribute Christmas cards in school. Although the risk of cross infection is small, we are doing everything to keep the school open and not risk isolations affecting Christmas. Children can give out cards in the playground, as that is a matter for parental supervision, but we would urge that the cards go home with parents/carers.

Have a good weekend and stay safe.

Helen Castell

Well done to the following children in Years 1 and 2 who have been awarded Shooting Stars for setting a great example to others this week.

Sharks: Nayla Rae for doing some super reading and being proud of her achievement! Emily For being such a kind friend and helping to cheer others up!
Dolphins: Alfie for always showing kindness, care and consideration towards others! Bethany for becoming more confident when sharing ideas and answers!
Turtles: Scarlett for improving in her phonics skills and being proud of herself! Stanley M for coming back into writtle infant school and trying so hard with his learning!
Parrots: Evelyn for improving her phoneme knowledge! Thomas for taking pride in his presentation during handwriting!

Here's what to look forward to next week.

English: The girl who went to the Arctic, writing a story to match the animation. Writing instructions for Christmas crafts.
Maths: Money problem solving and introduction to Multiplication making equal groups.
PSHE: Cosmic Yoga Joybob the Polar bear. Playing new classroom games from WISPA
Looking at Christmas Traditions around the world.
Art/DT: Making Christmas cards.

Topmarks (Money) https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money

Don't forget your home learning activity passports!

Our email addresses are dolphins@writtleinfantschool.com and sharks@writtleinfantschool.com.

Here’s what to look forward to next week:

English: We are starting to learn about informal letter writing and write our own letters to Father Christmas.
Maths: We are recapping our 2D shape knowledge to make christmas patterns.
Art/D&T: We are continuing to create some wonderful christmas decorations.
PE: We are practising for our in-house skipping competition.
Forest School: Turtles every Tuesday. Please arrive in Forest Schools clothes and trainers. Wellies stay in school. A change of clothes is only necessary if it will be wet that day.

Please click this link for the week's home learning.

We have published our video, letting you know how the children are getting on in Year 1! Please take a look at https://www.writtleinfantschool.com/2020/12/04/video-year-1-autumn-2/

Our email addresses are parrots@writtleinfantschool.com and turtles@writtleinfantschool.com.

It’s all about Christmas this week! We have carried on making our decorations and bags to put them in. We have been learning about why Christians celebrate Christmas and listening to lots of stories about the Nativity. We have been practising for our Christmas secret surprise and will be recording ourselves on Tuesday 8th in our PJs! Next week we will be looking at 2D and 3D shapes in maths and the sounds j, v and w and the tricky word 'into'. Next week we will be learning about the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. Have a lovely weekend.

Our email addresses are foxes@writtleinfantschool.com and squirrels@writtleinfantschool.com.