Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been another productive and collaborative week here at Woodside.

Firstly, as a school, we are constantly reviewing how we can better support our children. As part of our evaluation, we have been exploring what PPA time (teacher statutory release) looks like. We are excited to share that starting next week, Sports Attack will be supporting during these sessions. They will be taking each class from Years 1-6 for part of this time to do PE and collaborative sessions with the children. This may mean that you see our sports coaches welcoming or dismissing children at the start / end of day depending on when they are with your children. They all go through safer recruitment and DBS checks and many of you will be aware of our coaches through our after school and football clubs. Teachers will be confirming via Dojos if any PE days have changed so you are all aware.

A huge thank you to our Year 2 parents and carers who joined us on Tuesday for our latest 'Parents in to Read' session. It is always a pleasure to see the children so engaged with their reading alongside you. Next Tuesday, we look forward to welcoming our Year 3 parents into the classrooms at 9:00 am.

In our letter directory this week, we have sent out important information to Year 1 and Year 2 parents regarding their upcoming school trips. We also sent a whole school letter about an upcoming safer internet workshop for parents. Please check these out.

On Thursday, Woodside had the privilege of hosting an Early Years Training Session for colleagues from across our Trust. Teachers and senior leaders spent the day with us developing their EYFS practice and touring our Nursery and Reception provisions. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase our setting and share our successful early years practice with others across the partnership.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Iman Atwal

Headteacher

This term, we have started to explore a new value: Collaboration. This week, Mrs Oni focused on the importance of good communication to enable good collaboration. They explored how to communicate well with others, which include good listening skills as well as speaking clearly and calmly. On Thursday, they put this in practice by playing team games where they had to communicate to each other and direct a child whilst they had limited sight. A great chance to test their communication skills?

Ask you child:

• Are you speaking clearly?

• Are we listening well?

• How can we speak to each other in a good way?

Nest

We have had another fantastic week immersing ourselves in the world of Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

The children have shown wonderful engagement and are becoming real experts on the story. To help develop our 'pincer grip' and hand-eye coordination, the children have been busy threading Goldilocks and the Three Bears characters.This activity is a vital step in preparing their little hands for writing. We were so impressed by their focus! While threading, we practiced our positional language, talking about how the string goes "in" and "out" of the holes.

We also introduced our Number Match Puzzles activity that combined maths with puzzle-solving. We have been using paper plates to create Number Match Puzzles! This wasn't just a counting game! By playing with these puzzles, the children worked on three key areas of development; Number Recognition: Looking at the numeral and naming it correctly. One-to-One Correspondence: Carefully counting each dot to see if it matches the number. Problem Solving: Using the "zigzag" edges to figure out which pieces fit together. If the edges don't match, the children have to think, "Which one goes here instead?" All the children have been really enjoying singing songs and rhymes.

Saplings

This week in Saplings, we have been exploring different fairytale stories, such as 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Three Little Pigs'. The children have free time to explore the stories through books, costumes, props and storyboards. At circle time we explored some of the different foods in the story, such as the 3 bears porridge, which the children made together. The children also designed the 3 bears house in the construction area, with a bedroom for Goldilocks to sleep in!

In Numeracy, we have been looking at ‘long and short’, allowing the children to measure items such as ropes, sticks and blocks, the children have also been doing it themselves by looking at each others clothing - "you're wearing a skirt and im wearing trousers, so my bottoms are longer than yours" as well as their hair - "he has short hair and I have long hair".

Year 1

Year 1 has been working hard this week in all areas of the curriculum.

In English, they have been writing a setting description using their senses to describe what they can see, hear, feel and smell. They have focused on writing sentences starting with a capital letter correctly, ending with a full stop and leaving finger spaces. They have tried to use adjectives and applied their phonic knowledge when spelling words.

In Maths, we learnt about finding the difference between numbers. We also found related facts and number families.

Eg.   12 + 4 = 16     4 + 12 = 16      16 - 4 =12      16 - 12 = 4      16 = 12 + 4     16 = 4 + 12      12 = 16 - 4     4 = 16 - 12.

In Art, we created different types of lines - vertical, diagonal, wavy, zigzag etc - then looked at different shaped crowns. We used our observational skills to look carefully at the shapes and tried to draw our own.

In History, we continued our work on leaders. We wrote and asked questions to Mr Atwal about his job as head teacher of our school. Then we found out about leaders of our country and held our own election in class.

Year 2

We have had another busy and creative week in Year 2!

Here is a snapshot of what we have been learning across the curriculum.

This week in Art, we explored shape and pattern, inspired by the work of Sally Morgan. The children experimented with creating their own designs using a range of patterns, shapes and bold lines. They showed great creativity and confidence while trialling different ideas and techniques.

In English, we have been writing a letter from the perspective of a stationery item in our classroom, inspired by our core text 'The Day the Crayons Quit'. The children worked hard to use imagination, descriptive language and an appropriate tone, thinking carefully about how their chosen object might feel and what it might want to say.

In Maths, we have been further developing our understanding of money. The children have been learning that £1 is the same as 100p, calculating change from £1, and making different amounts using coins and notes. They are becoming more confident in recognising values and explaining their thinking.

In RE, we have been exploring what prayer means to Muslims. The children learned about how Muslims pray and discussed the ways in which prayer is important in their daily lives. They demonstrated a respectful understanding of how Muslims show the importance of prayer.

Year 3

This week in Year 3, the children have been busy exploring a variety of exciting topics across the curriculum!

In English, we have been focusing on writing detailed descriptions of the Amazon rainforest. The children have been practicing using coordinating conjunctions such as and, but, and so to link ideas smoothly, as well as commas in lists to make their writing clear and engaging. Their descriptions are becoming wonderfully vivid, showing a real understanding of the rainforest’s plants, animals, and climate.

In Mathematics, the class has continued to build confidence in dividing two-digit numbers. We have been exploring the relationship between multiplication and division, reinforcing inverse operations to help the children check their work and develop problem-solving strategies. It has been great to see the children explaining their thinking clearly and supporting each other with tricky calculations.

In Design Technology (DT), the children have been designing cam-mechanism toys. They discussed different ways their toys could move and experimented with ideas to make their mechanisms work smoothly. This hands-on work is helping them understand basic mechanical principles while encouraging creativity and problem-solving.

It has been a wonderful week of learning and exploration, and the children are showing enthusiasm, curiosity, and perseverance in all areas. We look forward to seeing their designs come to life and to continuing our exciting journey through the rainforest in English!

Year 4

This week, Year 4 have been fully immersed in learning all about electricity!

We really enjoyed making circuits and experimenting with different components to explore what is needed for a circuit to work and light up a bulb.

In Maths, we have been multiplying three-digit numbers by one-digit numbers and quickly realised how important our times tables knowledge is for accurate calculations. We also began learning how to divide three-digit numbers by one-digit numbers using the partitioning method — a great way to understand how division works step by step.

In English, our lessons continue to link with our topic on Ancient Greece. We are reading the story of Odysseus and His Adventures and have been drafting character descriptions using expanded noun phrases and figurative language to bring Odysseus’s appearance and bold, colourful personality to life.

A big thank you to everyone who completed their homework this week. Please continue reading daily and practising your times tables on TT Rockstars — it really makes a difference!

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Year 6

In Science, the children have been mastering the fundamentals of electricity. They began by learning how to confidently build a complete circuit, ensuring a continuous flow of energy. Once they mastered the basics, they began experimenting with more complex setups by:

• Integrating buzzers to explore how electrical energy converts to sound.

• Adding switches to control the flow of electricity within their circuits.

• Observing the effects of adding different components on the overall performance of the system.

In History, our lessons have focused on the global landscape of World War II. The children have been identifying the Allies and the Axis powers, developing a clear understanding of the United Kingdom’s position during the conflict. A key focus of our study has been investigating how various countries supported the UK during those challenging years, from military aid to vital resources.

We are using 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.