Dear Parents and Carers

Another week has passed in our second spring term and it has been one of wet weather. I want to firstly remind children to bring in coats and gloves during the wet weather. I am hoping it will improve next week but please do send children wrapped up warm in case of wind and rain.

Next week, we are looking forward to celebrating World Book Day. We have lots of events planned and a letter has been sent. This includes our book swap on Tuesday, “Books and Breakfast” morning on Wednesday and World Book Day itself on Thursday 7th March. We are also opening our doors on Monday to help our community get costumes and have a whole school competition. Please see our letter for more information.

We also have been reflecting on the feedback we have been receiving from our community. We want to ensure we work with our community to better serve our students. We are pleased to announce two new parent coffee mornings this term which will be focused on safeguarding and EDI (Equality Diversity Inclusion). More information and dates are below. 

We look forward to seeing everyone next week - have an enjoyable weekend!

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.

Further to our recent communication regarding re-establishing our Parents & Teachers Association (PTA), we will be holding a meeting on Friday, 8th March in the Community Room which will be open from 2.30pm to allow for the meeting to begin promptly at 2.45pm. This will be an opportunity for parents/carers to meet and identify what the next steps will be in getting the PTA up and running. We’ve had lots of interest so far and hope to see lots of you there but if you can’t make it, don’t worry, there will be lots of other opportunities.

Upcoming Coffee Mornings and Parent Forums

Friday 8th March 2024 - Parent-Led SEND Coffee Morning 

Meet other parents/carers and enjoy some tea, coffee, and biscuits. These regular Parent-Led coffee mornings will be an opportunity for parents & carers of children with SEND, to meet one another and share experiences and ask questions. It is always great to realise that you are not alone on this journey; there are many of us treading a similar path! 

• Need some advice about how to manage challenging behaviour?

• Share tips about how to support your child to manage their anxieties?

• Have questions about how to put routines in place and enforce boundaries?

Come and join Emma (one of our lovely Woodside Parents) & Mrs Georgiades (Family Support) at 9am in the Community Room for a cup of coffee or tea, a biscuit and a chat.

Thursday 14th March 2024 - Safeguarding Parent Forum

An opportunity to hear information about how the school promotes safeguarding with children (curriculum) as well as an overview of our systems and processes and for parents to ask any questions in relation to Safeguarding, 9am in the Community Room.

Thursday 28th March 2024 - EDI Parent Forum

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Curriculum - an opportunity to have an overview of our curriculum and to provide feedback on how we promote and explore our culture of inclusion, using real life contexts, 9am in the Community Room.

Nest

This week children have been retelling the story in their own words, using the sensory story tray which is on the 'The Three Little Pigs'. They have been feeling different materials like sticks, straws and bricks to talk about the texture, colour, going on to count the items. Some children were able to retell the whole story using small sentences and made Wolf and Pig sounds.

In the outside area, children have continued to develop their gross motor skills, they have been exploring with hoola-hoops and bean bags. They threw bean bags into a hoop with good hand eye co-ordination and counted the bean bags to support their mathematical language and using words like “in, out, and over". 

Nursery

This week in Nursery, children have been learning how to retell a story and give ideas for alternative endings and share ideas in small groups and as a whole class. Children were excited to talk about their own ideas and work collaboratively to create the alternative story endings.

In Maths, children have been learning about directional language and used the story 'Rosie’s Walk' to support their creative activities.

Year 1

In English, the children have been reading the book 'Grandad’s Island', which tells a story about Syd and his Grandad going on a journey to the jungle. Children took the main characters Syd and Grandad to a different journey - Antarctica! They have been using similes and adjectives to describe Antarctica. They have also been using the action verbs to describe what Syd and Grandad did together in Antarctica.  

In Geography, children were identifying geographical features of an urban area in the UK. They used their prior knowledge to identify human and physical features of an area.

In maths, children have been learning the place value of numbers up to 50. They used dienes to represent two digit numbers up to 50. Also, they were learning how to partition the numbers into tens and ones using a part whole model.  Then they were using the number lines to 50 to find the missing numbers.

Year 2

In English this week, year 2 children sequence events linking to their core text, “Frog Belly Rat Bone”. Children enacted the roles of the character's thoughts and feelings throughout different events and worked keenly to generate sentences and paragraphs by adding descriptive language when expressing emotions. They used a range of vocabulary to describe the setting.

In Maths, children have solved problems by using their fraction knowledge of how many parts of a whole to identify a unit and non-unit fractions. Children explored equivalent fractions using a range of venn diagrams to support their understanding.

Year 4

While unforeseen circumstances prevented our planned trip to the British Museum on Wednesday, we're happy to share that the afternoon turned into a fantastic Greek Afternoon filled with learning and fun!

The children embarked on a captivating exploration of Greek culture, indulging in a taste sensation with various delicious Greek foods. They got to experience the unique flavors and textures of authentic dishes, broadening their culinary horizons.

Following the taste adventure, they embarked on a creative journey, creating their very own Greek headdresses. Using their imaginations and artistic skills, they designed and decorated beautiful headwear inspired by ancient Greece. It was truly a sight to behold!

Despite the change in plans, the afternoon proved to be a valuable learning experience for Year 4. They not only explored Greek culture in a delightful way but also developed their appreciation for different cuisines and expressed their creativity through artistic endeavours.

Year 5

Maths lessons in Year 5 were dedicated to solving reasoning problems involving fractions and using fractions as operators. Children investigated various methods of calculating fractions of an amount.

In Design and Technology, we explored ways in which trusses can be used to strengthen bridges. We also examined how pillars and beams can be used to span gaps and in the next lessons we will be designing prototype bridges.
Currently, we are  reading ‘A Kind of Spark’ by Elle McNicoll - a story about friendship, courage and self-belief. In preparation for writing an internal monologue, Year 5 were acting out scenes from the core text. We discovered that Woodside has some real acting talent!

Year 6

This week, to finish off our WW11 learning journey, our remarkable young historians explored career choices during World War II. Through their insightful writing, they delved into the past but also demonstrated an understanding of the sacrifices and courage exhibited by individuals during that challenging time.

The young writers paid tribute to the unsung heroes of World War II, bringing to life the stories of brave soldiers, dedicated nurses, resilient factory workers, and innovative thinkers. Their fantastic writing underscores the importance of acknowledging and honoring the contributions of individuals in different professions.

We encourage you to take a moment to engage with your children about their writing. Ask them about the careers they explored and the stories they uncovered. Your conversations can provide valuable insights into their learning experiences and foster a deeper connection to the historical period they are studying.

A number of policies have been updated on the school website

Please follow this link for more information: Woodside Primary School Policies Page

Updated policies:

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) Policy 

Privacy Notice for Pupils 

Privacy Notice for Staff 

Staff Pupil AUPs

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.

Please note that this year, we are asking children to change in school. They should bring in their PE bags and keep them in school for the term and take them home at the end of the term. Thank you for supporting us with this.

All children need elastic fronted plimsolls for indoor/outdoor PE which are best kept in a drawstring bag on their cloak peg. Children will need black/blue shorts and a white t-shirt in their PE bag to wear for PE lessons. 

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