Weekly News – Friday 9th February

Dear Parents

This week is Children's Mental Health Week, when we think about how to nurture a positive sense of wellbeing and resilience in our children. Reverend Tony gave an assembly on Monday and Mrs Fisk led Thursday's assembly, which explored Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Year 1 had a calming yoga lesson with Mrs Easteal on Monday, while the children in Forest School this week enjoyed being surrounded by the natural world, whose sights, smells and sounds helped them to be mindful and present. The rain provided plenty of opportunity to explore how getting muddy supports children's mental health, which you may find interesting!

Our regular monitoring shows that the Little Wandle phonics teaching programme and reading practice sessions have had a significant impact on writing. Children say they really like writing and we can see that they have improved their handwriting and are using advanced vocabulary. We hope you are enjoying regular reading at home, as this undoubtedly contributes to the children's progress.

Thanks to WISPA, we now have a full class set of 30 glockenspiels which the children have loved using in music lessons and during my Thursday lunchtime music club. We are very grateful that WISPA have funded this fantastic resource and we are already seeing the benefits: how playing simple tunes develops the children's musical ear and their sense of rhythm. Year 2 got to demonstrate this last Friday, when they took part in a Strictly-themed tap dance workshop! WISPA have sent home details of their Valentine's Day competition via ParentMail today. Entry forms should be in book bags this evening, so please take a look!

Our parent lunches for this half term concluded with Turtles class, we hope you enjoyed spending lunchtime with your child and sampling the school meals. Foxes and Squirrels will have their turn after the half term break. We will ask you to complete a short survey about your experience next half term, so that we can pass on your views to our caterer.

A reminder that our Parents Evenings are next week, on Tuesday 13th February, 5 - 8pm and Thursday 15th February, 3.30 - 6pm. This means that staff clubs will not take place on Thursday 15th February, so please make sure that your child is collected at 3.10pm if they normally go to Art or Puzzle club.

The next Messy Church is on Sunday 25th February, 10am. We have added more to our Community Links page this week, so please check for the latest local events, activities and resources.

We break up for the half term holiday on Friday 16th February at 3.10pm. The current after school clubs will continue when we return, with the addition of 2 lunchtime clubs: Cheerleading on Tuesdays and Spanish on Wednesdays. Cheerleading club can now be booked via ParentMail - we know this will be a popular club, so we will maintain a waiting list if you are not able to secure a place this time. We will also have a new menu after half term, which starts on Monday 26th February, from Week 2.

Have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes
Tracey Wilson

Essentials for next week!

  • Valentine's Day competition entries must be submitted by Wednesday! Entry is 50p and you can pay in cash or online.
  • Don't forget there are no staff clubs on Thursday! Football will still run as scheduled.
  • Please check your Parents' Evening appointment time, we suggest you arrive a little early to look through your child's work before your meeting.
  • Please transport and store our precious reading books separately from water bottles! We are sad to see many books with water damage, they are very costly, so please take care of them.
  • In cold weather, coats, gloves, hats, scarves and warm layers are essential for PE kits and Forest School.
  • Please ensure every item of clothing and footwear is named!
  • We are lucky to benefit from many parent helpers in school, as well as governors like Mrs Gentle and Reverend Tony who come to read with the children regularly. If you are interested in volunteering, please speak to the office.
  • Please check the diary dates for details of upcoming events.

Home Learning

Please follow the links below to access this week's home learning and topic maps for Years 1 and 2.
Year 1 Home Learning
Year 2 Home Learning

Highlights of the week

Year 2

We measured a dowel to create the axles for our dragon's trailer. They'll be finished and painted next week. We're so impressed by the children's ability to use a ruler correctly to measure in cms!

Year One

We made story maps of the 'Good Little Wolf' book, then learnt the plot using actions. This helped us to re-write the story and some of us wrote about our favourite part of the tale.

EYFS

We've had a great time learning all about the Chinese Lunar New Year. We made lots of crafts, wrote our initials using the Chinese alphabet and learnt a lion dance!

Forest School

Sharks made beautiful stick art (like this owl), clay hearts and talked a lot about dragons, as it is the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon! The constant rain and flooding created endless puddles and mud-skating opportunities for Parrots!

Keeping Children Safe

  • Emergency contact details must be up to date. Please email us at parents@writtleinfantschool.com if your details have changed.
  • Any food brought to school must not contain nuts or egg-based foods (e.g. egg mayo, scotch egg, omelette etc.).
  • We all have a duty to safeguard the children in our care. If you have any concerns about a child, please contact the school, the Chairs of Governors (if your concern is about a member of teaching staff), or the Essex Child and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627.