What’s On – Friday 7th July

Message from Mrs. Castell

Dear Parents

Thank you all for your support at our Summer Fete last Saturday. We raised £4,545 split between both schools which is an amazing amount!! Thank you so much to WISPA and WJSPA for their hard work, in particular Lizzie Phillips and the committee who organised us all so well. We are so lucky to have such supportive parents who give up their time to raise funds for both schools.

This week

It's been a busy week! I hope you have enjoyed reading your child’s reports on Monday, thank you for your positive comments. We had our final Reading Monday of the year which was well attended. Both Year One and Two have enjoyed a trip this week - Year Two had a day of fun outdoor activities at the Wilderness Foundation in Chatham Green and Year One had a brilliant time at the petting zoo in Maldon. Photos are on our gallery page. On Thursday we had an amazing performance from our EYFS children and we so enjoyed hearing about their experiences this year and their future plans. Thank you to all of the staff for preparing them all so well. This morning we had an assembly from Mrs Soden at Writtle Library, who told the children all about this year's Summer Reading Challenge. We are delighted to have strengthened our links with Writtle Library through the class visits this year and look forward to more in the next academic year.

Classroom Doors

Thank you to Mr Brick from Signs Express Harlow for giving up his time to design and install the last of our class door wraps. They look fantastic and have really transformed every classroom entrance and indeed the whole corridor! Wrapping the doors will be one of my retirement gifts to the school - I wanted to leave something behind that would be for all the children to see.

Clubs

All clubs have now finished, apart from yoga after school today and Mrs Gowers' tennis club on Monday 10th July. Please ensure that you make arrangements for your children to be picked up at 3.10pm if your child usually attends clubs.

Class Swap / Meet the Teacher

Children have already begun to visit their new classes, but our whole school Class Swap morning is next Wednesday 12th July. We are delighted to welcome our new teachers Mrs Richardson, who will work alongside Mrs Scott-Simons in Dolphins and Mr Williams, who will take Foxes class from September. Mrs Espinosa Pardo returns from maternity leave next week and will be getting to know her new Turtles class. A reminder of the teaching staff from September:
Sharks: Miss Smith (Parrots)
Dolphins: Mrs Scott-Simons and Mrs Richardson (Turtles)
Parrots: Mrs Fisk (Squirrels)
Turtles: Mrs Espinosa Pardo (Foxes)
Squirrels: Mrs Giles
Foxes: Mr Williams

For children moving up to Year 1 and Year 2, there will be an opportunity to meet your child's next teacher at 3.15pm on Wednesday 19th July. The Junior School will advise parents of their arrangements for children going into Year 3.

Year Two Celebration Assembly

Year Two's Celebration Assembly will be at 9.30am next Thursday 13th July. Parents are warmly invited to attend, make sure you bring your tissues!

Word Aware

This week's word is faithful, chosen by Squirrels class. Please try to use this word at home and discuss its meaning with your child.

Attendance

Attendance this week is 95.6% - our school target is 96%. Please remember that from September 2023 the doors will open at 8.40am and close at 8.50am. The extra five minutes ensures that we are meeting the expected length of the school week from September 2023.

Enjoy your weekend.
Helen Castell

Safeguarding

Can I please ask parents not to enter the school building unless invited by a member of staff. Staff are always positioned by the school doors when they are open, but if they are talking to another parent, please wait and ask before entering. We must know who is in the building for safeguarding purposes.

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.

Awards

SHARKS - Rachel for always being polite and friendly to all adults and children! Jude for independence when editing his story.

DOLPHINS - Henry S for his independence and being spotted for his remarkable knowledge by recent visitors. Joe for his politeness and enthusiasm during our trip.

PARROTS - Alfie for being independent during PE and showing off his tennis skills! Imayah for being polite while at the zoo, she represented our school very well!

TURTLES - Archie T for persevering and being really courageous on our school trip! Annabelle for being very polite and sensible on our school trip. She was a great line leader and very grateful for the experience.

ALL OF YEAR 1 - who represented our school very well on the trip!

SQUIRRELS - Oliver for inclusivity always inviting children into his play and Alice perseverance with the end of year show

FOXES - Robin for persevering when using the monkey bars in Forest school. Khiara for always being inclusive and looking after her friends.

Year 2 News

Our highlight of the week has to be our school trip to the Wilderness Foundation. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and participated in 3 very fun nature-filled activities, including den building, nature walks and mindfulness and bee buzz. The staff were extremely welcoming and ensured that all the children and adults were kept safe at all times. We just want to thank all of you for arranging pick ups and drop offs for your children and our particular thanks go to the parents who stayed for the day as well. We have been extremely busy rehearsing for our end of year show and the children cannot wait to perform for you next Thursday.

Please click here for this week's home learning.

Year 1 News

Our school trip was fantastic! We visited Maldon Promenade Zoo which is a small, family-run petting zoo. We got to see so many rescued animals such as a parrot named Trevor and a skunk named Cody. We got to hold and stroke a variety of reptiles and mammals and were able to feed some animals, including alpacas. The children were so well behaved and represented our school well. We are so proud of them!

The children have been learning to tell the time using o’clock and half past, feel free to ask them what the time is and see if they remember! We have also looked at features of a recount such as time conjunctions, ready to write a recount of our trip.

Please click here for this week's home learning.

EYFS

What a fantastic, busy week we've had! We are so very proud of the children for their hard work and absolute brilliance in their end of year show. They all enjoyed themselves and were true superstars!
Our chrysalises hatched into butterflies and we fed them with orange segments and sugar water. The children loved to watch them fluttering around inside their nets and testing their new wings. We released them into Forest School on Thursday and the children were sad to wave them goodbye but happy that they will have a lovely life there among the bushes and trees.
We practised doubling and odds and evens in maths. In phonics we have continued to revise phase 3 words and sounds and practised using them in sentences.
We are all looking forward to our trip to Hylands Park next Thursday. Get your teddy bears ready!