Dear Parents and Carers,

It's been another focused and engaging week here at Woodside!

A big thank you to all our Year 3 parents and carers who joined us on Tuesday for the latest of our 'Parents in to Read' sessions. The children thoroughly enjoy having you in the classroom, and we appreciate your commitment to supporting their literacy. We look forward to welcoming our Year 4 parents next Tuesday for their session.

Our Year 5 children ventured out on a local trip this week, taking a walk around Croydon to observe local buildings and architecture linking to their current geography work.

Looking ahead to next week, please make a note of two important events happening on Thursday:

Firstly, it is School Photo Day. Please ensure your children are looking smart for their individual and class photos!

Secondly, Thursday is also Census Day. It is incredibly important that all children attend school on time on this specific day. The number of children in attendance directly affects the level of funding our school receives, which in turn allows us to continue providing resources and support for all our pupils. Your cooperation in ensuring prompt attendance on Census Day is vital.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Iman Atwal

Headteacher

A reminder that we have started the year with a focus on the value of Excellence. This week, in our assembly, we focused on adaptability - how we sometimes need to change something in order to see success. Even if we have the best plan, we may need to adapt in order to make sure we can still move ahead.

So ask your child:

• If something doesn’t go well, what can you do?

• What do we need to change?

• How can we still show excellence even when it is hard to do?

At school we use a programme called the Zones of Regulation to talk to the children about their emotions and how to regulate themselves. There are 4 zones in the zones of regulation;

We teach the children to recognise the different emotions that they might feel and that it is ok to feel them. We also teach them how to regulate themselves when they are in the red, yellow or blue zone. If you would like more information about the zones of regulation then please speak to your class teacher.

Transfer to Secondary School September 2026

If your child’s date of birth is between 1st September 2014 - 31st August 2015, they will be due to start

Secondary School in September 2026.

Reminder!!! The deadline for applications is 31st October 2025.

It is recommended that you submit your application no later than 17th October 2025 (Friday before half-term) 

Late applications will be processed after those received on time, which could severely reduce your child’s chances of being offered a place at your preferred school.

Applications are made online through eAdmissions which can be accessed through Croydon Councils website

- click on the link below; 

Apply for a secondary school place: step by step | Croydon Council. 

You will also find information on local Secondary Schools and step-by-step guidance to help you through

the application process.

If you are familiar with the application process, you can apply straight away here; www.eadmissions.org.uk 

Click here for the  Link to Croydon Secondary Schools Prospectus;

Secondary-admissions-prospectus-2026-2027 

Follow this link for the Transfer to Secondary Schools open days / evenings; Open-Days-Evenings-Timetable-for-Secondary-Schools-2025-2026   

If you missed an open day/evening for a particular school, please contact the individual school

- most will be happy to accommodate you at another time.

For any parents and carers who need help understanding the school admissions process or need support making an application, please make an appointment to see Mrs Georgiades (Family Support Officer) who will be happy to help you complete the application. You will need your council tax reference number to make an application.

Nest

This week, we've continued to explore the wonderful book, 'I Like Myself!' The children have been thoroughly engaged in discussions about who they are. To further embed the story's theme, we made self-portraits on paper plates. The children loved using a variety of materials like buttons and wool to create their unique faces. As they focused on their creations, we named the materials together, which they enthusiastically repeated.

In other areas of their learning, the children have been busy making marks and giving them meaning, using construction materials to build, and most of all, enjoying our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Garden. They've been having a fantastic time climbing the large climbing frame and riding around on the trikes. It's been a week of self-discovery, creativity, and active fun! We can't wait to see what next week brings.

Saplings

This week, we have been exploring the senses. Defining the 5 senses and allowing the children to explore each of them in circle time, such as describing individually what they can see around the room, using musical instruments to define sounds, and at snack time using words such as crunchy, sweet, cold and fresh. The children are also encouraged to speak in full sentences when speaking individually at circle time, such as ‘My name is _ and I can see a red dress in the dressing up area’. For touch they are exploring sandpaper letters which also helps them recognise letters from their names, and trace them. Smell is also being explored through empty bottles of herbs, allowing the children to explore smells they do and don't like.

In Numeracy, we are exploring the autumnal theme with conkers on the decking, and grouping them into sections with individual numbers, such as 2 conkers in the number 2 section and so on.

In Literacy, we have also reintroduced parents into reading on Friday mornings and Friday afternoons for the second session of children, as well as parents staying in the mornings to help the children find, and trace their names.

Year 3

Thank you to all the parents that came in on Tuesday to read with their children. The children all clearly enjoyed the session and we want to thank you all for your support.

In English this week, the children have been writing their own biographies on a member of staff at the school. By focusing on one paragraph at a time they have organised the information from their interviews last week and successfully used subheadings to label each of their paragraphs. On Thursday they wrote short reviews of their partner’s work ready to be written up for display on Friday.

In Maths, the children have been ordering numbers and counting up in 50s up to 1000. They then were able to apply number bonds within 10 and completed their weekly Arithmetic test on Friday.

In History, the children learnt about Howard Carter, the man who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. They looked at photographs of some of the exotic objects that were found in the tomb and were able to work out what some of them were used for. A lot of the children correctly guessed the purpose of the wooden box which is the Ancient Egyptian boardgame, Senet. Next week is our trip to the Horniman’s Museum, please ensure your child has everything they need for the day, including a packed lunch if they haven’t already asked the school kitchen to provide one.

Year 5

In Maths, the children built on their understanding of rounding to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000, extending this to include numbers beyond 10,000 with the same degrees of accuracy.

In English, we began planning and writing our own narratives inspired by The Boy and the Globe, continuing the story of Toby’s journey from pickpocket to playwright. We revisited our previous learning to ensure we used a wide range of rich vocabulary and emotive setting descriptions.

In History, we took our learning outdoors and explored the local area of Croydon to investigate how it has changed over time. Along the way, we stopped at key landmarks to record significant buildings, including a visit to the Almshouse on Croydon High Street—one of the last remaining Tudor buildings in the area.

Year 6

This week, pupils have focused on re-consolidating their knowledge of times tables and their use of the written (column) method for multiplication, working particularly with four-digit by two-digit calculations. They have engaged in both fluency exercises, to strengthen speed and accuracy, and reasoning questions which they worked brilliantly showing resilience and effort.

This week, pupils began writing their narrative setting descriptions inspired by 'Pig Heart Boy'. Their focus has been on using key features to captivate the reader, including similes, metaphors, personification, relative clauses, and alliteration. Children also worked on incorporating fronted adverbials and selecting powerful vocabulary to enhance and uplevel their writing.

This week, pupils began drawing a detailed anatomical heart, incorporating shading and other techniques learned in previous lessons. They demonstrated impressive patience and an eye for detail as they carefully sketched each feature, working diligently to create a realistic heart inspired by the studies of Leonardo da Vinci. Their commitment and focus were evident in the high quality of their developing artwork.

We're excited to announce our new Woodside Football Team. This a fantastic opportunity for students to build teamwork,

stay active and develop leadership skills, all while having fun representing our school with pride.

This week, we welcomed a visit from a company we work closely with, Teaching Personnel, who have very

kindly sponsored our brand new football kit!

I think you'll agree they look the part and we can't wait to support and cheer them on.

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.