Dear Parents,

As we come to the end of another challenging term, my thanks go to our entire team for giving their very best to the children in our care. Our teachers and LSAs are dedicated every single day to making a difference for our children. The office staff work tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of the school, looking after children and their families, while Mr Turner keeps the premises in check. We are very grateful to our governors for their support and it has been lovely that they have been able to make numerous visits to the school this term. The children continue to show resilience beyond their years and it has been wonderful to see them enjoying their learning and growing in confidence. Last but not least, thank you to all parents for your support and understanding over the last few months. I hope this Christmas you are able to enjoy the company of others more than last year.

WISPA's Christmas Market last Friday was a huge success, raising an amazing £1800! This will go towards new maths equipment and our library project. Thank you again to all the committee and volunteers for their brilliant organisation and creating such a lovely festive atmosphere, and to Writtle College, local businesses and parents for their support and generosity. The raffle continues until 1st January, so please buy your tickets if you can, there are some amazing prizes to be won - hampers, cupcakes, beauty vouchers, afternoon tea and meals for two!

This week we enjoyed a Christmas assembly from Reverend Tony, our class parties and today's Christmas lunch. WISPA has presented every child with a book as a Christmas gift.

A reminder that Tuesday 4th January is an INSET day so we look forward to seeing the children return on Wednesday 5th January. Forest School lessons begin in the week commencing 10th January. Due to staffing requirements, we will continue Forest School lessons for Sharks next half term on Tuesdays, with Turtles class on Wednesdays. Clubs and piano lessons also start in the week commencing 10th January (apart from Dance club which starts on 7th January) - we will inform you of places on staff clubs for Years 1 and 2 on our return. I will update you if there are any changes to arrangements, given the current circumstances.

Please refer to the letter sent from Essex County Council yesterday about procedures to follow for close contacts of a positive case. The school should be informed of positive cases up until the evening of Sunday 19th December and from Monday 3rd January onwards. Please email parents@writtleinfantschool.com, the account will be monitored over the holidays.

Have a safe and happy break and I look forward to working with you during 2022.

Helen Castell

We encourage healthy lunches for all children. Please support us by not including sweets or chocolate in your child's packed lunch and reserving those treats for home.
A reminder that we love to share awards, medals, trophies, even anecdotes from children’s achievements outside of school. Please hand them to me or email parents@writtleinfantschool.com for assemblies on Friday.
Diary dates and school events can added from our website to the calendar on your phone. Click on your chosen list of dates from the Links section and then click export at the bottom of the page.

DOLPHINS - Olivia for always being so polite and lovely. Leo for being so brilliantly inclusive all the time. Florence for her fabulous independence and Sylvia for her politeness and inclusion of others all the time. Arjana and Hope for perseverance.

SHARKS - Daria and Poppy for persevering with their high frequency words and phonics sounds. Sophia and Thomas for independence. Phoebe for deciding to donate her angel Christmas costume so another child as tall as her doesn’t have to miss out on being an angel!

PARROTS - Oliver & Ozzy for persevering each week to get changed independently. Ella for honesty.

TURTLES - Cienna for perseverance with her phonics. Frankie for both honesty and perseverance! Prezlee and Raury for independence.

This week, we have been super busy completing a range of cross-curricular Christmas themed activities. These have included some phonics and maths escape rooms, making Christmas cards, completing a Santa Dash and learning about how other countries celebrate Christmas. The highlight was each class’ talent show where the children excelled themselves! Don’t worry about Britain’s Got Talent, Writtle has plenty!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for working with us alongside your children and supporting their learning. Many thanks for the wonderful cards, gifts and kind messages we have received. We are truly grateful and your generosity is greatly appreciated. We wish you all a very happy Christmas with your families and loved ones and look forward to working together in the New Year. Stay safe!

Click here for this week's home learning.

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

That’s a wrap, Year One! You have all been amazing and made so much progress, we are so proud of you all. This week has been crazy and filled with so much joy! We
watched ‘The Snowman’ and retold the story using a story map and wrote down the story in our own words. In Maths, we have continued to compare groups using greater than and less
than. We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas parties and it was lovely to sit together in the hall
for our Christmas dinner. Thank you for a great first term! We wish you all a very merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Click the link for this week's home learning.

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

How amazing and bewildering that we are at the end of the Foxes' and Squirrels' first term at school already! We could not be more proud of the children - how well they have made friends, learnt lots of new rules, had fun with phonics, maths and a whole host of other subjects! This week has been as busy as ever. The children enjoyed a whole school assembly on Tuesday with Rev Tony. This was only the second time that Foxes and Squirrels had attended assembly in the hall! Rev Tony spoke all about love being the true gift of Christmas. The children listened really well and Rev Tony was delighted with their comments and questions.
On Thursday the children enjoyed their Christmas party with lots of songs, dancing and party food and today it was Christmas dinner time with all the trimmings!
Thanks to all the parents and children for this wonderful term and for all your kind presents, cards and good wishes. We are looking forward to the new year together, keeping Rev Tony's lovely words in our hearts.
Happy Christmas to you all!