Dear Parents and Carers

This week has been a very busy week for our Year 6s. They have been sitting the Key Stage 2 SATs. I have been thoroughly impressed by the resilience and perseverance shown by our children. With their efforts this week, I am in no doubt that the school, parents and carers, will all be proud of them. A special thank you goes to all the staff members who have helped out and supported our Year 6 children, from those who helped administer the tests to those who supported with breakfast set up. Today, they had a celebratory breakfast and found out about their production: 'The Lion King'. Auditions are being held next week and I can’t wait to see our Year 6s come alive and show off their acting and singing skills.

I wanted to remind everyone that next week, we have our morning sessions for our Year 3, Year 5, Year 6 & Reception for parents and carers. It is a great chance to join in with your child’s learning and spend time with them. 

Unfortunately, there have been incidents of inappropriate parking at school drop and pick up. No cars should be parked on the Zig-Zag lines during these times. Just this week, there was a close call between a car and a parent/child. Whilst I appreciate there will be times people may be rushed, they must not park on these lines and must drive sensibly and safely. We will work with Croydon to see what further measures we can take if there is not an improvement.

A reminder that next week is the last week of term. Let’s hope for a week full of sunshine!

Iman Atwal

Headteacher

We expect pupils to maintain a high standard of attendance here at Woodside. We want all our pupils to be able to achieve their very best and in order to do this, they need to be in school as much as possible so they don't miss out on any learning. Everyday is a new learning opportunity!

We want all children to come to school each day, but we know that there are some days children are just too ill to attend, or will spread illness to others.

The NHS website Is My Child Too Ill For School is a useful place to look for guidance.

If your child has vomiting or diarrhoea they should stay away from school until they have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days (48 hours).

Children can attend school with cold sores, conjunctivitis, hand, foot & mouth disease, slapped cheek (fifth) disease, sore throat, thread-worms or ear infections as long as they don't have a temperature as well.

Please encourage your children to wash their hands regularly and use and throw away tissues properly.

Nest

In the Nest, the children are continuing to thrive in their learning. Children have really enjoyed exploring farm animals and farm scenes. We made animal prints, which allowed children to experiment with colours, textures and patterns going on to learn the farm animal names and what sounds they make. The sounds also supported children with their early phonics.

Children also made a leaf collage. Children carefully applied glue and stuck on their chosen materials on the leaves. They are continuing to develop their fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination as they made character puppets from the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. They used scissors to cut around their chosen character. The children's speech and language skills are continuing to develop very well. During all the activities, children were talking about what they were doing now and what they were going to do next.

Nursery

This week in Nursery, children have been learning about minibeasts. Children were able to identify a few of the minibeasts. They also used their cutting skills to cut and match to support their understanding of what a minibeast looks like then the children created their own minibeasts using playdough. They talked about the minibeast bodies, eyes, mouth and antennas.

In Maths, children have been using the outdoor area to find and recognise numbers 1-5 using numbered birthday stepping mats stuck  on the ground. As the children planted some beans, they have continued to talk about the life cycles of plants during their free flow activities.

In Phonics, children are on to Phase 4 phonics and have used their knowledge of sounds from Phase 3 to read words such as: shopping, magnet, helmet, blinked, buzzer and forest. They have also been learning new tricky words which are: to, into, all, are, they, one, out, today and says. 

Home work: Please support your children to learn how to blend (put sounds together to read a word) to read the words in the Phonics' homework. Thank you for your support.

REMINDERS: Please remember that on Wednesday 22nd May at 9:00-9:30am, we are having an open Phonics session whereby all parents are welcome to join us.  

A gentle reminder about reading record books. All children were given reading record books but we are only receiving half of the books back. Please could parents support us in this. Reading record books should be brought back between Monday-Wednesday please. If reading record books are not brought in, Little Wandle phonics books will not be given out.

Year 1

In English, this week we have been learning about instructions. We practiced giving and following instructions with our friends. We highlighted the imperative (bossy) verbs in each sentence and made sure the instructions were in chronological order.

In Maths, we have been learning about halves and quarters. We practiced finding a quarter of a quantity by sharing pictures of fish between 4 bowls.

Year 2

In English, this week Year 2 has been focusing on editing and publishing their amazing diary entries from the perspective of Floella, a 10 year old girl who travels from Trinidad and Tobago over to England by herself.

In Maths, we have begun our new topic of ‘Statistics’, we have identified what data is and how we can display the data collected in a range of graphs. The children had a chance to create their own tally chart, choosing what they would like to find out about their classmate, i.e. favourite pizza topping, favourite subject etc.

In DT, Year 2 have enjoyed beginning to create their carnival headdresses using their plans to help them. They used a range of materials to bring their plans to life, making them very vibrant and colourful.

Year 6

As we reflect on the past school year, we are incredibly proud to highlight the outstanding resilience and positive attitude to learning demonstrated by our Year 6 students. From the very beginning, their dedication and determination have been a driving force, equipping them with the essential skills needed for their recent SATs.

This week, as they tackled their SATs, the students showcased the fruits of their hard work and perseverance. Their ability to remain focused, manage stress, and approach challenges with a positive mindset has been truly impressive. These attributes have not only helped them in their exams but also in their overall academic and personal growth.

Throughout the year, our Year 6s have engaged with a variety of learning resources that made their educational journey both effective and enjoyable. One such resource, Blooket, has been particularly instrumental. This interactive platform allowed students to reinforce their learning through fun and engaging activities, making revision a more enjoyable experience.

We want to extend a huge congratulations to our Year 6 students. You have shown remarkable resilience and a commendable attitude towards your learning. Your hard work has paid off, and you should be extremely proud of yourselves. Keep up the fantastic effort and continue to approach every challenge with the same spirit and determination.

Well done, Year 6!

We are starting to use in-app messages to communicate with parents through the app - please could parents ensure they are able to log-in and Arbor is set up to accept these messages - they should be visible in the Communications section of the portal.

Parents who have the app should enable Push Notifications - this will alert you through the app that a message has arrived.

Over 90% of our parents have logged into Arbor - if you are having difficulty,

please talk to the office who can help.

Check your Child's Data

Please log in to Arbor and check your child's/children's details are correct - and let us know if not. You can also request changes directly through the app which will take place once we have seen them - if we have questions, we will get in touch. Or you can let the office know directly.

It is important we have the correct data for all our families.

Please remember to check Arbor - either the Parent Portal (at https://login.arbor.sc/)  or the parent app (available from the App Store or Google Play).

Parents who log in can:

* see their child's attendance

* log consent for local trips and those further afield

* pay for trips and book and pay for clubs

* receive In-App messages - and message the school

* book parent consultations

* see their child's details and request changes to ensure they are completely up to date

If you have more than one child at the school, they should be visible via a drop-down so you only need to login once.

To set up your account, you need the email you use for school communications and the date of birth of one of your children. Follow the Forgotten Password link on either the app or the website.

If you need support with logging in, please talk to the office team who will be glad to help.

Collaboration matters   Excellence in everything   Community first   Equity for everyone   Continuous growth