Dear Parents

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed time with your family over the half term break. This half term is very short, so it’s going to fly by! The weeks are packed with events, so please keep an eye on school communications.

On Wednesday Mr Taylor and I were joined by Miss Storer, Head of Writtle Junior School and Mrs Landa-Arrese, Headteacher at Moulsham Infant School to carry out our “peer review” process, where schools visit each other to observe teaching and learning. As the Little Wandle Phonics and Reading scheme is new to us this year, we focused our attention on its impact. It is evident from both the day's observations and surveys we have carried out that the children are loving reading. Their engagement and enthusiasm shone throughout the day. Thanks to our visitors for giving up their time to come in, they were very impressed by our teaching and the levels of attainment in reading, handwriting and presentation. My thanks to our wonderful staff for the way they have embraced this new approach, our visitors thought that they had been doing it for years!

Squirrels class thoroughly enjoyed the visit from their parents this week. Our final class lunch is next Wednesday for Foxes and we know they can’t wait to see you. Please arrive at the main entrance at 11.45am. 

We all enjoyed a very energetic day of skipping workshops yesterday, hosted by Skip2BFit. The children loved counting the number of skips and trying to beat their personal best, hopefully they can show off their new skills at home! Every child received a packet of blueberries to top up their energy levels after their workout - thank you to Winterwood Farms and BerryWorld for funding this. A special well done to David in Sharks who is the fastest skipper in school and also to Mrs Scott-Simons, who was triumphant in the staff competition! 

Today our Year 1 and 2 children visited the Junior School for an assembly on mental health from Kids Inspire. Together with Years 3 and 4 we talked about how to cope with worries and manage our feelings.  We still celebrated the week’s achievements and I popped into each classroom to give the children their certificates.

Next week we look forward to an assembly about Beat the Street, the free game currently taking place across Chelmsford. Maps and game cards have been sent home, please speak to the office if you missed yours! It’s World Book Day on Thursday, so a reminder that we are celebrating vocabulary and we hope your child’s outfit reflects an imaginative word of their choice. Please don’t go to great expense or trouble over an elaborate costume, the day is simply designed to explore new vocabulary and promote reading. In advance of Mothering Sunday, WISPA will be selling tickets for their Someone Special Shop from today. There are lovely planted bulbs in pots available, these will be ready to collect on Friday 8th March. 

For Years 1 and 2 there are new home learning passports and topic maps to explore this half term. Please take a look to see what your child will be learning and hopefully try out some enjoyable activities at home! 

Finally, a reminder to check our Community Links page which has recently been updated with lots of interesting resources, activities, courses and events. We receive many promotions for holiday camps, parent courses, career development and SEND events, all of which are posted to this page, so please take a look at any time.

Enjoy your weekend. I hope the rain finally stops!

Best wishes

Tracey Wilson