Message from Mrs. Castell
Dear Parents
As we are coming into our last half term of this academic year please do check the dates on our website as there are many exciting events happening including performances, Sports Day and the Summer Fete, our major fundraiser of the year. There will be a sign up sheet for help, please consider what you can do, our budget is shrinking and every penny will go towards some exciting projects, including development of our garden spaces.
Ofsted report
We are thrilled with our recent OFSTED report and this has been shared with you separately. It notes the hard work we have been doing on attendance and linked to this I am increasingly concerned by the unprecedented amount of holiday applications I am getting. We are obliged to consider fines for families in each case and while this is not my favoured course of action, preferring to work with parents, the increasing amount of learning time lost is concerning. Attendance this week is 92.4% compared to our school target of 96%.
Writtle Parish Council
Our thanks go to Chris Hibbitt who presented prizes for the Parish Council poster competition this week. Isla came 3rd, Hettie 2nd and Annabel 1st. All of the entries will be displayed at the Writtle parish fete on 22nd July. A very good friend to our school, Wendy Walker from the parish council passed away on Monday. She was instrumental in developing links between our schools and the council and she will be very much missed.
Sports Day
As we are all practising for Sports Day on Wednesday 21st June, please ensure that children have a full PE kit in school every day, including trainers. The weather is warming up so please ensure they also have sun hats and sun cream is applied daily before school. Children are not allowed to do PE in earrings, as this invalidates clauses of our insurance policy should an accident occur. Please remove earrings on PE days or ensure that children can remove their own earrings. If you are planning to get your child’s ears pierced, please wait until the beginning of the summer holidays, so they can take part in all activities.
Author Visit
This week we have had a visit from author Lynn How who presented her new book Your Rainbow. The book can be purchased at a discounted price from this link: https://positiveyoungmind.com/product/your-rainbow-school/. Dolphins enjoyed their library visit on Thursday, Sharks class look forward to their visit next week.
African Drumming & Dance workshop
Today the Year 1 and 2 children enjoyed a fantastically energetic African dance and drumming workshop. All children watched dancer Sherifa and drummer Papis perform in assembly, as well as an impromptu stint in the playground at lunchtime, so the EYFS children didn't miss out on the African rhythms! We were all totally uplifted by their presence today.
Year 2 Mini Games
We were very proud of all of our Year Two children who attended the Mini Games on Tuesday. We came 3rd out of a group that included some much larger schools. My thanks go to the staff who accompanied them and the parents who came to spectate.
Next year 2023-24
I have had a few queries about whether we are mixing classes for next year. There is no need to do so this year, so classes will remain the same. Next week we will be in a position to inform you of class teachers for September 2023.
From September 2023 the school doors will open for registration and learning to begin at 8.40. The doors will close at 8.50. This extra five minutes ensures that we are meeting the government's expected length of the school week from September 2023.
No staff clubs next week
Due to staff training, there will be no clubs after school on Wednesday 14th June. We do traditionally get left with children when staff clubs are not on, so please make arrangements for your child to be picked up at 3.10pm.
Word aware
This week's word is "flamboyant". Please discuss the meaning with your child and try to use the word at home.
Enjoy the sunshine this weekend!
Best wishes
Helen Castell
Safeguarding
The Rationale Behind Replacing 'Stranger Danger' Doctrine - Whitehatter
'Stranger Danger' is a phrase that almost everyone in the UK has heard at least once. Either whilst they were in education, or in one's capacity as a parent. The Whitehatter have written an article explaining why it is considered no longer relevant, and exploring the rise of better methodologies for protecting children. If you're interested please follow the link below:
https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/why-teaching-stranger-danger-doesnt-work-an-onlife-world-perspective/
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.
Notices
- 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.
- Please do not walk your children across the staff car park, it is not a thoroughfare and is very dangerous to cross. Thank you.
- A reminder that you can email our Chairs of Governors, Matt Coffey and Esther Burton, at any time at chair@writtleinfantschool.com.
- 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 check the class email during the day. Please send urgent messages to parents@writtleinfantschool.com.
- 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.
Message from WISPA
Date for your diary: On Friday 16th June WISPA, WJSPA & Mothers CAN Chelmsford are running a Children's Clothes Swap. They are a great way to get rid of your unwanted items as well as get some preloved/new to you items at an extremely low cost whilst being kind to the planet. It is £4 to swap 10 items.
To book and find to out more information, please visit the Eventbrite page https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/642880742607
We are in need of some clothes rails, a table & children's hangers. If you are able to loan any to us, please email wispacharity@gmail.com so we can arrange to collect from you.
Awards
SHARKS - Evie for persevering with the Mini Games, she found some of the events really tricky but did not give up! Eric for working independently on his phonics this week.
DOLPHINS - Rowan for perseverance during the Year 2 Mini Games and Oliver for his politeness and caring nature towards others including the adults in the class.
PARROTS - Rex & Imayah - Persevering with their phonics and working hard to blend some very hard words!
TURTLES - Artie for politeness. He was asked to tidy up his Lego at lunch time. He did it straight away and then worked with other children to tidy the rest of the Lego up. Naomi for perseverance - she always works really hard and I am so proud of the lovely work she is producing. She is a superstar! Freya for inclusivity. She is a very kind member of Turtles who always looks after her friends and includes others.
SQUIRRELS - Amelia for politeness as she always has beautiful manners. Jasmine for perseverance, Jasmine tried again and again to use the rope swing in Forest School until she could do it. Wow!
FOXES - George for including lots of children when he was drawing fish! Thank you for teaching your friends how to draw them. Laura for persevering when writing our super sentences. Well done
Year 2 News
We've packed 5 days worth of fun into 4 days this week! We started with the Mini Games at CSAC where the children showed brilliant sportsmanship and skill despite the unfavourable weather conditions! We were delighted with our 3rd place position out of 8 schools in a very tightly contested competition. Many thanks to the parents who came to support the children.
We have introduced our new topic "African Adventures" this week, based on the wonderful book "Lila and the Secret of Rain" which will be explored across the curriculum this half term. Our African drumming and dance workshop today has been a tremendous success, filling the hall with African beats and a summer vibe. The children have been enthralled and look forward to exploring Africa in all its colour and flamboyance.
Year 1 News
Our week absolutely flew by! We introduced our new topic book ‘Grandma Bird’ and we read the blurb and made predictions of what it could be about. We then read the story together using choral and echo reading and the children could comprehend what they read. We also revised what verbs are and spotted them in our book. In Maths, we have explored numbers 50-100 this week. We counted to 100, wrote the numbers down, represented them with tens rods and worked together to pull apart the numbers into tens and ones. In the afternoons, we learned songs for our upcoming end of year performance. We also practised some of our events ready for Sports Day, as well as refining our tennis skills with Mrs Gowers. This week has been full of phonics revision and we can truly see how far the children have come from September. Thank you to you all for the support you have given your children at home with phonics, we could not ask for more supportive parents. Have a lovely weekend!
EYFS News
This week we have learnt the poem 'Creepy Crawlies' and have loved finding bugs in our garden! We have talked a lot about how to handle bugs and how to look after them. We are going to learn a few different mini-beast poems as the children have really enjoyed this theme. Thank you for all the baby photos! The children have enjoyed sharing them and talking about what happened in the past. In phonics we have been revisiting phase 3 and going over some of the trickier phonemes. In maths we have been working with numbers 10 -20. We loved watching the African drumming and dancing in assembly today!
Forest School
Tuesday - Dolphins
Whilst the children were at the Mini Games, we put up a new ninja line and some other activities. When the children returned they were so surprised! They loved trying out the new equipment.
Wednesday - Squirrels
The children loved their first Forest School experience. This was a settling in session where we covered the safety rules and looked at the various activities. The children had a brilliant time and can't wait to return next week.
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