What’s On – Friday 9th September 2022

Message from Mrs. Castell

Dear Parents

A warm welcome back to school after the summer break, and special wishes to our new children and their families who are joining us this week. It has certainly been a week of contrasts, as we try to come to terms with the passing of HM The Queen. We held a special assembly this morning and we wait to hear what arrangements will be made for the state funeral and how this affects the school. Our staff will do their utmost to support any children who may be upset and to manage the next few days sensitively. We then received the wonderful news that Mrs Espinosa Pardo had given birth to a baby boy the very same day. We send her our warmest congratulations.

The children have all settled well this week, it has been a pleasure to see them in school. Thank you to parents who attended our Meet the Teacher session on Monday. We have also seen an improvement in punctuality and attendance, so thank you for your co-operation. A reminder that our doors closely promptly at 8.55 to enable our teachers and teaching assistants to be back in class to support the children. I am still receiving a number of holiday requests and will be considering possible action on a case by case basis. While I appreciate the costs involved with holidays, this is at odds with parental concerns about time missed due to lockdowns and the need for children to catch up.

Avia’s mum wanted to thank everyone for their kindness and best wishes while Avia is still receiving treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She was overwhelmed as we raised nearly £400 for GOSH. Avia cannot yet return to school, but we keep in weekly contact and hope to see her soon.

Dates for your diary have now been published on our website and we will collate these into a list for parents on Monday. Once we know the date of the upcoming funeral and how it might affect the school, we will publish meeting dates for parents of children in Years 1 and 2, to discuss the curriculum and year ahead. Reading Mondays, where parents come into the classroom for a short weekly reading session with their children, will start on Monday 26th September to give time for our new children to settle in.

Unfortunately we have had significant issues with our internet access this week, so please forgive the delay in setting up new parents on ParentMail. We will communicate with Foundation Stage parents via Tapestry for the moment and hope to send your ParentMail logins early next week. Tapestry is only used for Foundation Stage, so for Year 1 and Year 2 parents, communication will be via the weekly newsletter or via ParentMail. Please remember that you can email us on parents@writtleinfantschool.com for urgent daily messages and you can also use the class email addresses (foxes@, dolphins@ etc.) to contact your child's class teacher.

Please read our newsletter each week. We often have queries (which we are happy to answer) about information that we have already released. I know we are all busy, but the newsletter is our main way of communicating with you. All key policies are on our website, including the Behaviour and Relationships policy.

Car parking
We have already had a near miss on Long Brandocks this week, caused by cars parked on yellow lines on both sides of the road. Please park with due consideration for other motorists, pedestrians and local residents. Separately, we have also seen a number of parents walking across the staff car park as a shortcut to or from the Junior School. Please do not use the staff car park as a shortcut, it is extremely busy and can be dangerous.

Clubs and Forest School
A reminder that clubs start next week with the exception of Yoga, which starts on 23rd September. Allocations for staff clubs will be sent home on Monday. We will not be able to change allocations, so please consider this a commitment for the term. Forest School lessons in school time also begin on Tuesday for Sharks and Wednesday for Turtles. Please check the ParentMail for details of clothing and footwear. Dolphins and Parrots will have their turn after half term.

Parent Volunteers
We are so grateful to our parent volunteers who make such a difference in our classrooms. It is statutory that parent volunteers attend safeguarding training, so I propose to hold a meeting on Monday 19th September at 9am for existing volunteers and those who are interested in joining us. Safeguarding checks for new volunteers must be arranged with the school office before any volunteering can commence.

Finally, please read the important notices and safeguarding information below.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Helen Castell

Notices

  • Please note that the daily snack must be fresh or dried fruit or vegetables. Small fruit that might present a choking hazard must be cut in half, e.g. grapes and cherry tomatoes.
  • As we have children in school with life-threatening allergies, please do not send products containing nuts into school, or egg-based foods such as egg mayo, scotch egg, omelette, frittata etc.
  • We do take children out in all weathers, so they bring a coat to school daily now the weather is turning.
  • Please take extra care when crossing the road as due to staff sickness we only have one School Crossing Patrol at the moment.
  • We welcome donations of spare joggers and white polo shirts aged 4-5/ 5-6 to keep in class as spare clothing. Boys and girls pants and socks are also always welcome.
  • Teachers cannot always check the class email during the day. Please send urgent messages to parents@writtleinfantschool.com.
  • 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.

Safeguarding

We all have a duty to safeguard the children in our care and if the school suspects or knows that a child is at risk of significant harm, we will make a referral to Social Services. The school does not investigate any disclosures that children may make, we are a referring agency. Procedures on safeguarding from the Government make it clear that all staff should operate with an ‘it could happen here’ approach to any concerns they may have. If you have any concerns about a child please telephone the Essex Child and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627.

Year 2 News

What a fabulous start to Year 2! Everyone (including all our adults!) are excited to be back in school and have settled into their new classrooms with ease. This week we have been getting used to daily routines and spending time with our adults and new friends. We have started our new topic London’s Burning. In future weeks, we will be learning more about the Great Fire of London.

Year 2 PE days are Mondays and Fridays. Make sure jewellery is removed and children have a full PE kit in school.

Sharks have Forest School lessons each Tuesday. Dolphins will be after half term. Please read the email regarding clothing and footwear for Forest School.

The children have been sent home with a library book which will be changed every Monday. They will also bring home a colour banded reading book which they can change as and when required. Some children may come home with sets of words and sounds in the following weeks to practice at home.

Please click here for this week's home learning.

Year 1 News

Welcome back Year One! It has been so lovely to see how quickly the children have settled into their new classes. The children have had lots of opportunities to play in the classroom but have also taken part in small group activities with adults. We have practised writing our full name in our brand new English books and counting forwards and backwards in Maths. We had fun in P.E building our fitness levels through skipping, running and worked with Mrs Gowers to build our ball skills. Have a lovely and relaxing weekend!

Please click here for this week's home learning.