What’s On – Friday 25th November

Message from Mrs. Castell

Dear Parents

Despite the wet weather this week we have made the most of our time indoors, with rehearsals in their final stages for our Christmas performances and lots of festive craft activities today. A reminder that you can purchase tickets for the year group performances at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/writtle-infant-school with a maximum of 2 tickets available per family. We can't wait to perform for you all. 

The children have been very excited about the World Cup and it has inspired us to start our own mini-tournament in school. We have mixed teams across the school who will play football matches during lunchtimes. Thank you to Mrs Scott-Simons and Miss Wakeling, our answer to FIFA, who have organised the 107 children who expressed an interest in participating - it will be quite an event and we will keep you updated.

As Christmas festivities are underway both in and out of school, a reminder that staff clubs (Wednesday afternoons) have now finished for the term. Please check the clubs timetable for the final dates of our other clubs and ensure that you have made arrangements for your children to be collected at 3.10pm.

We understand that delays are inevitable sometimes, particularly with recent weather and traffic issues, but we must close the playground gate and school doors at 8.55am to ensure that all staff can return to class. Learning starts as soon as your child enters the classroom and the children really don't like to feel like they're missing out on the first part of the day. 

I am getting multiple complaints from parents and residents about parking and even abuse directed at one of our parents. I have again reported issues to the parking enforcement agency and urge you all to keep doing the same, to try and get some official support to deal with this.

The Big Jingle Christmas Fayre is not long away, on Friday 9th December at 3.15pm in the infant school playground. This is a joint event with Writtle Junior School and we send huge thanks to both parents' associations for organising what will be a very festive occasion. If you can help us in any way with this crucial fundraising event, please speak to the school office. You might be able to:

  • Help with setting up or putting away at the end of the Fayre
  • Man a stall for a short shift
  • Donate a raffle prize
  • Donate gifts for our Elfridges stall

Both schools will hold Christmas dress down days as follows, in exchange for the following donation requests:

Friday 2nd December for sweets, chocolates and loose change for our money tree
Friday 9th December for bottles and soft toys

This week's Eco Warriors Club tip - please turn off Christmas lights when you are not in the room! Use reusable Christmas trees instead of real ones and use recycled paper for wrapping, or reuse gift bags.

Attendance this week is 93.2% compared with our school target of 96%, however we are seeing many cases of chickenpox this week, so please be alert to the symptoms and follow NHS advice. We also require a 48 hour period of absence after any instance of sickness or diarrhoea. There is advice on our website about treatment and isolation periods for common childhood illnesses.

Finally, a reminder that parents of children due to start Reception or Year Three in September 2023 must apply for their school place by 15th January 2023. Late applicants risk losing a place at their preferred school. We have our open day on 12th December, please invite family and friends who may be interested.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Helen Castell

Notices

  • Children go outside in all weathers, so it is essential that they bring a coat to school daily. Please label all belongings, clothing and footwear sent into school.
  • It is really helpful if you can write your child's name on bananas sent in as a snack!
  • 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.
  • 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.

Awards

SHARKS - Ruby H for being a wonderful polar bear! Leighton for a fabulous week in school!

DOLPHINS - Cienna for her patience and perseverance in being dressed and adapted to be a polar bear!

PARROTS - Willow & Ruby for persevering to improve their presentation when writing.

TURTLES - Dorothy for fantastic perseverance with her brilliant writing! Hayden for perseverance and showing good listening and effort.

SQUIRRELS - Poppy joe for perseverance when letter writing. Libby for perseverance when making Christmas chains. Eric for always being polite 

FOXES - Maia for being independent and writing a beautiful message to her brother. Dylan for being helpful and inclusive with your friends.

Safeguarding

The following document from the DFE gives information about keeping children safe from harm and is written for parents. We would recommend you take a look as it is very useful advice.

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

This week we have been scientists and polar explorers. The children learnt all about how Polar Bears are adapted to living in the Arctic. They recalled facts from the ‘Ice Bear’ and used scientific vocabulary eg: camouflage, transparent, blubber etc. Many thanks to our volunteer Polar Bears who dressed up to demonstrate. They also used their detective skills to learn about a variety of Polar Explorers (some new to us!) and presented their discoveries in different ways. They have a really good understanding of the past and how things were different. The week finished on a high with everyone having fun making Christmas decorations.

Reminders:
Remember reading books. They need to be in school every day.
Please help your child learn their words for the Christmas play.
Make sure your child has a full PE kit in school - lots of children are missing out as they do not have socks, tops etc.

Please click here for this week's home learning.

Year 1 News

We’re getting closer to Christmas!!! We have had a lot of rehearsals this week in preparation for our show next Thursday. The children are so fantastic and cannot wait to show you their performance. We have retold the story of Pattan’s Pumpkin using adjectives and story starters. We revised our number bonds to 10 and introduced fact families. We also explored the suitability of materials and compared their properties. We also had a super fun ‘Decoration Day’ that we used for the children to create their own decorations for them to take home soon.

Please click here for this week's home learning.

EYFS News

This week we have been very busy practising for our Christmas show! The children have been so amazing, waiting patiently as we practise the different parts. They have been learning all the words to the poems and the songs. For two days we have been making decorations for the Writtle Christmas Tree Festival at All Saints' Church. We had a look online to see photos of previous festivals and some children said they would like to go! This week in maths we have been looking at the number 5 and finding all the different ways we can make 5. In phonics we have learnt the letters b, f, ff and ll. Have a lovely weekend!