Weekly News – Friday 13th June

Dear Parents,

We are really proud of our Year 1 children this week. They have all completed their phonics screening and they were all brilliant, it was a stress-free experience and they all enjoyed the process. Well done to them all! The results will be issued in July.

Dance and Drama Workshops

All children participated in two exciting workshops this week. Maisie from Essex Dance Theatre worked with each class on Tuesday on a routine to The Jackson 5's ABC, the children might be able to show you at home! They even did some freestyle dancing at the end of the session! On Wednesday morning, Heather from Drama 4 All took the classes for a workshop called Jungle Rumble. The children trekked through the trees on a mission to find creatures in the jungle and then mimicked the animals they discovered!

Writtle Parish Council Prize-Giving

We were delighted to welcome 2 councillors from Writtle Parish Council, Howard Swan and Sue Emery, this morning, to give prizes to Year 2 children who created poems and pictures about their favourite aspect of school. Well done to Leo, Nevai, Milo and Mabel who all won a prize for their amazing work. Leo was the overall winner for his brilliant poem about Miss Wood!

Work experience placements

Thank you to Ellie, Millie and Josh from Anglo European School who have completed their 2 week work experience placement with us. Their help across all areas of the school has been absolutely invaluable and it is always a pleasure to see our former pupils blossom into mature, hard-working and polite young people. We look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Next week

Year 1 will be going to Maldon Promenade Zoo on Monday, they are all very excited about the trip! Year 2 also have their summer trip on Thursday, to the Wilderness Foundation at Chatham Green. Please ensure you have read the information about what to bring and what to wear. These enrichment activities are core to our curriculum and we know the children find them incredibly memorable, so we hugely appreciate your support for these trips.

Important Dates

Please check ParentMail for details of our upcoming Sports Day on 24th June and the Summer Fete on 28th June. We would love to see as many parents as possible at both events! If you can't make the fair, you can still buy raffle tickets (in bookbags) to support both schools, there are some amazing prizes to be won!

Attendance

Well done to Dolphins class for a near flawless attendance record this week. We know that hayfever is an issue for many children at the moment and children are of course unavoidably ill at this age. Our suggestion is always that if you are unsure about whether to send your child to school, please give us a call for advice. We will normally recommend that your child comes to school, where the distraction often means that they forget about their symptoms! We will always call you if they are unwell.

Health Advice

A reminder that every Tuesday afternoon we offer a Health Advice Drop-In service with one of the school-age health practitioners. The team are available in the library for you to discuss any health concerns about your child(ren). Please click here to book an appointment.

It's a special Sunday this weekend, when we show our appreciation for all the dads, stepdads, grandads and father figures in our lives. Please check your child's book bag for a handmade card.

Best wishes,

Tracey Wilson

Forest School Update

We have been learning about each stage of the ladybird, they are not what the children expected as they get mistaken for beetles and the forest school area is abundant in every stage of the ladybird development.

We have been spending time on the field and have ticked off a few activities on the 30 days wild. We loved having a mindful few minutes listening to the birds, we found out on an app which birds they were. We saw a beautiful red kite flying above us so pretended to glide in the wind just like the red kite.
With such lovely weather we took off our wellies and socks and felt the grass between our toes.

Home learning

Spelling Practice

There is also some spelling practice for Year 1 and Year 2 below.

Year 1 children will undertake the phonics screening check next week. The link below gives you more information about the check. This term we are revising Phase 5 phonemes in preparation for the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) in June. Please practise the words in the spelling document below with your child, to help support them with their reading. Please also continue reading with your child at home. Some children will be sent home with phonemes and words practise reading in order to help them prepare for the screening check.

Year 1 Maths

Miss Smith has prepared a document which should help you if you would like to give your child additional support with their maths at home.

Year 1 - Ways to support your child with maths at home

EYFS Tapestry Challenge

Could your child draw a picture of our caterpillars and write a sentence or two about them? Send their work into school or post it on Tapestry. Have fun and have a lovely weekend!

PTA Update

We hope you all had a lovely half-term!  A big thank you to everyone who helped make the inflatables event such a success on the last day before the break.  The event raised £890 and there were so many happy faces.

Sports Day – Tuesday 24th June

Your lovely PTA volunteers will once again be providing refreshments at Sports Day.  Come along for cold drinks, snacks and raffle tickets - cash and card accepted.

Summer Fair – Saturday 28th June

Our next event is the biggest of the year, the annual Writtle Infant & Junior School Summer Fair, from 11.30am – 2.00pm on *Saturday 28th June*.  Next week you’ll see raffle tickets coming home, with instructions on how to buy; don’t miss out, we have a huge number of fantastic prizes to be won including Chelmsford City Racecourse grandstand tickets, passes for Go Ape and Ninja Warrior, Premier League match tickets, meals at your favourite local establishments and lots more.

We still need more volunteers to run stalls, and to help prepare on Friday 27th June, collect donations on dress-down days, set-up on the day and clear up after.  If you are able to help with even a few hours of your time, please let your PTA class-rep know, email wispacharity@gmail.com, or let one of the school offices know (thanks to everyone who has already offered their help).

We also have a couple of non-uniform days coming up...

  • *Friday 20th June*- in return for donations of cuddly toys and bottles
  • *Friday 27th June* - in return for donations of cakes and sweets

More information will be sent closer to these dates.

Highlights of the week

EYFS

We have all been very excited to welcome our little caterpillars into our classes. The children have been very responsible and have handled them in their containers very gently and carefully. We are watching them grow and recording their progress in drawings and writing. We have enjoyed a Poetry Basket poem called 'Caterpillars' in their honour and the children have learnt lots of interesting facts about caterpillars and butterflies.

Year 1

We really enjoyed the dance and drama workshops this week! They particularly enjoyed the dance workshop and dancing to ABC by the Jackson 5. The children did us proud during the phonics screening checks, well done to all!

Year 2

We have been loving delving into our new topic with our Kenyan food tasting (some really interesting new favourites for some children!) and our TingaTinga art, which all link beautifully into our new book: Lila and the Secret of Rain! We've also immersed ourselves in some fun drama and dance workshops this week and are looking forward to our trip next Thursday.

Keeping Children Safe

  • Thanks to those parents who have supported us in protecting the children’s privacy by waiting on the path by the main entrance until 3pm.
  • 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.