Dear Parents and Carers

As I write this, I cannot believe we are half way through this half term already? This week, our Year 5 children went on a trip to the Science Museum in London. It was a great trip and experience for our children who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who supported. We have more trips coming up this term, including Year 1 and Year 6 - we can’t wait for these opportunities for our children.

A couple of weeks ago, we sent out a letter asking for playground donations. As the weather starts to get warmer (which I hope will continue) we are looking at ways to enhance our break and lunch provision for our children. Any donations will be gratefully appreciated - everything from skipping ropes, board games, cards, spare bikes/scooters, balls, fancy dress etc. 

This week, we have noticed more children not wearing full school uniform. We want to ensure our children feel part of the school ethos and key members of our community. This means all children should be wearing school uniform, including sensible black shoes. Also, children should not be wearing their PE kits into school and wearing them all day. It is important that we all upheld our expectations, including with uniform. From next week, we will be challenging more parents and carers to ensure these are upheld.

Have a great weekend everyone

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!

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.

Woodside Surplus Food Store

Help us in the fight against food waste and come along and have a look next week. .   

Our Surplus Food Store is available in our Community room;

Every Wednesday 8.45am – 9.15am and 3pm - 3.20pm

Thursday 8.45am – 9.15am

Polite reminder - We are operating a ‘pay-as-you-feel’ model whereby you pay what you can afford for the food and the money will go towards buying produce that we wouldn’t usually receive through the project such as pasta and other non-perishable goods. Please bring your own bags and if you are able to donate any spare bags, they would be gratefully received.

Nest

All children have settled and are following the routine very well, they really enjoy praise. Adults use visual aids to praise children for good listening, good sitting, good looking, sharing and turn taking. All children have been taking turns to play a matching numbers to quantity game, which has been supporting children with number recognition, counting, patterns and concentration and memory, which is vital for their age. They have also been enjoying drawing the characters from the story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. The children drew their favorite characters, whilst engaged in an activity, they talked about the story. This activity is continuing to build children's fine motor skills, creative thinking and imagination. During our carpet session, children have been taking turns to retell the story to their peers and adults in their own words.

Nursery

This week in Nursery, children have been reading the story, 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. They retold the story using widgit symbols. Children were excited to use the pictures and add some words to their story. During the week, they went on to talk about recipes and the ingredients needed to make some porridge. Children took turns to add ingredients that were needed for the porridge. In Literacy, they sequenced their stories and drew some pictures of the story. In Maths, children used their knowledge of numbers to count how many spoonfuls of oats went into the big, medium and small bears bowls.

Year 2

In English, this week Year 2 completed their persuasive letters. They recalled and applied WMG (what makes good) persuasive letters. They wrote in the first person and past tense. They used time adverbials in their writing and edited their work independently. 

In Maths, children used different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. They used base 10 to add two digit numbers to two digit numbers. They also used the column method to subtract two digit numbers from two digit numbers applying exchanging and regrouping.

Year 5

In Science, Year 5 are studying Earth and Space. Rowan and Sycamore enjoyed a trip to the British Science Museum in London. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents who came on the trip with us. In Maths, we are beginning to divide up to four digit numbers by one digit number. We are using some manipulatives to reinforce our learning and practising the short division method. In Literacy, the children are writing a third person narrative based on the core text 'The Windrush child'. They are exploring the use of ambitious punctuation (dashes, semicolons, parentheses) and some figurative language (similes, metaphors, alliterations).

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

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.

Belongings and equipment

Please remember that children should not bring pencil cases, toys or other items to school - we cannot be held responsible if these items go missing or are damaged. Pencil cases are a distraction - we provide all necessary equipment for our students to use during lessons.

In line with our school policies, we ask that children do not wear smartwatches during school hours. This ensures a fair and uniform approach to the use of technology within the classroom setting. 

To avoid confusion and loss of personal items, please ensure your child's name is clearly written on all of their clothing. This includes uniforms, PE kit, jackets or coats, and any other items they may bring to school. This simple step greatly aids in the quick and accurate return of lost belongings. Please regularly check that your child is returning home with their own property.

Thank you for your support with these requests.

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. 

Places are limited for school-run clubs and parents can sign children up for school clubs by signing into Arbor online or using the Arbor App. This help page will show you how this is done: Arbor support to sign-up for clubs

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