Dear Parents and Carers

We are eagerly anticipating our Sports Days, which is just around the corner next week! This is always a highlight for our children, staff, and families, and we look forward to seeing everyone there. Even though this is my first Sports Day, it promises to be a day filled with fun, excitement, and a wonderful display of our children’s athletic abilities and team spirit.

This week, we had the privilege of hosting a Trustee visit to our school this week. We were joined by our CEO of the Trust (Rob Carpenter) as well as 2 Trustees (including our Chair) and the Inspire Partnership Education Lead for Teaching and Learning. We are extremely proud to share that the visit was very positive with clear commentary and evidence of the improvements and progress being made across the school. They were able to witness the work being undertaken to support better teaching and learning across the school with better outcomes, improved behaviour as well as a better provision for SEND. Of course, there is always feedback which we will continue to work on as we move into the new academic year in September. Whilst we know there is more we still need to do, this has motivated us to continue striving for excellence in all that we do.

We only have a few weeks left of term and we continue to develop our end of year activities. Meeting with some members of the PTA this week, I look forward to the future fundraising efforts as well as plans for future events. 

I hope everyone has a great 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.

You will have received an email or text message from  (hello@holidayactivities.com) with a link to view your voucher - please check your spam if you cannot see communication from HolidayActivities.com. You will receive your unique code once you have claimed the voucher.

Click on the link to take you to further information on what parents can expect when they are assigned these vouchers: Summer 2024 Holiday Activities and Food | Croydon Council

Use the following link to see where holiday clubs are being offered in Croydon this Summer and the activities they have to offer; Croydon's Holiday Activity and Food Programme

All holiday clubs cater for children with low-medium levels of SEN and/or disability and children will be considered by each club on a case-by-case basis.

Support

If your child is in receipt of benefits-related free school meals but you haven’t received a voucher code, pop into the office and double check your child’s details with Mrs Hewitt, such as whether you are on the benefits-related free school meal list and/or whether your email address on the school system is correct.

Household Support Fund (HSF)  

A reminder that the Household Support Fund has reopened for new applications.

The Household Support Fund can help if you are facing hardship or an emergency, including struggling to pay bills or afford food.

Wherever possible, the scheme provides support such as vouchers rather than cash grants and does not have to be paid back.

It can help your household to meet living costs through:

• top-ups for prepaid energy and water meters 

• assistance with energy and water bills debts 

• food vouchers 

• essential items relating energy or water, for example, clothing, bedding, heater, and appliances  

• essential items relating to food, for example, slow cooker, microwave, cooker, fridge 

• items related to essential transport, for example, travel ticket, bicycle and helmet  

• other essential household items, for example, furniture, minor adaptations, draft excluders 

• housing support (in exceptional circumstances, excluding mortgage payment)

You can only use the fund for one household appliance per application.

To be eligible for this fund, you must;

• be over the age of 18

• live in Croydon

You will be required to provide evidence to support your application. You can apply even if you have applied before. However, priority will be given to first-time applicants who are not eligible for other types of support.

How to apply

Residents can apply via the website Household Support Fund (HSF) | Croydon Council or they can call 0208 760 5719 and applications can be taken over the phone.

Application turnaround time is typically 1-2 weeks. However, in urgent cases it will be done within 1-3 working days. 

If you are in urgent need of food, please email dhp2@croydon.gov.uk for an emergency food bank referral.

Nest

We had a fantastic week in the Nest. As we continue to embed the story 'The Tiny Seed', children made hand prints to represent flowers, they explored with the paint and were able to describe the texture how it feels, such as cold and tickly. Continuing to develop children's confidence, speech and language, children have been taking turns to retell the story in their own words. As we prepare the children on the next journey into Nursery, children have been practicing writing over the letters on their name card. Children continue to flourish in their mathematical skills, they are identifying numbers 1-10 and matching numerals to quantities.

Year 2

This week in English, year 2 children recapped the features of a narrative. They used a diagram of story mountain which allowed them to visualise the structure of a narrative and better discover how stories are pieced together. For example; a story usually begins with a problem or dilemma in the beginning or middle, which is fixed with a resolution towards the end.

In Maths this week, children added two 2 digit numbers. They partitioned 2 digit numbers and investigated ways to represent a 2 digit number. They explored fact families of addition and subtraction bonds within 20 and beyond.

Year 6

Last week, our year 6 children had so much fun during our visit to Condover Hall. It was an incredible event filled with outdoor activities, teamwork, and personal growth. 

A special thank you to parents for your support and trust in allowing your children to participate in this enriching experience. This trip has undoubtedly left a lasting impact on your children, equipping them with new skills, stronger friendships, and cherished memories. 

We look forward to seeing you all during our year 6 production.

Sports Days Reminder to Parents and Guardians

During the week beginning 1st July 2024, our annual Sports Days will take place. This is the opportunity for the whole school to be active and embrace a physical challenge. Parents are encouraged to attend and support your child on the day, but please be reminded that photographs are only permitted to be taken of your child and must not be posted on social media. Children will be split into four teams for Sports Day. Each team will be allocated a colour of either red, blue, green or yellow. Teachers will inform children of which teams they will be in. Children can wear an item of clothing that represents their team colour. If they choose not to, a full school PE kit will be required.

Please ensure that children attend the event with the following:

● Full PE kit/ team colour t-shirt  

● A named bottle of water

● Trainers/plimsolls (no flip-flops or crocs)

● Please apply sun cream in the morning

● Sun hat

● If your child is allergic to grass, please wear full tracksuit bottoms

The events will be held on the school field. Access to the events will be via the pedestrian gate at the front of the school on Morland Road. Please wait by the gate before the start time and we will unlock the gate when the children are ready to start. You will need to drop your children off and then go back out the gate to wait. When activities have finished, parents are asked kindly to wait while the children go back to class then exit the school gate. Due to health and safety, please can all parents and guardians stay in the designated areas and not approach children while activities are taking place.

Please note, we have received this information from TfL regarding upcoming disruption to tram services;

I’m writing to let you know that Unite the Union members who maintain our trams and tram infrastructure are currently planning to strike from Sunday 30 June until Monday 8 July and Thursday 11 July until Monday 15 July, impacting London Trams services. Additionally, Planned engineering work on Saturday 6 July and Sunday 7 July will mean no London Trams services will operate east of East Croydon on those days.

Please check your email for further infomation

Polite Reminder

At  the start and end of the day, please do not use any of the climbing equipment in the playground.

This equipment needs to be supervised by a member of staff due to our health and safety policy.

Thank you for you cooperation

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