Dear Parents / Carers

I had a slightly different welcome planned for this week but following the sad news that impacted our Croydon community on Wednesday morning, I believe it’s imperative to address the situation. Whilst we do not yet know the full details of the incident, we can still feel the impact of a fatal and serious situation, whether we knew the teenager or not. First and foremost, we send our condolences and well wishes to the family and friends affected. It is a shocking situation and one which no parent, child, school or community should go through. It really highlights the issues that surround us at the moment but also serves as a reminder to keep our loved ones close and near.

I am aware that some members of our school community were caught in the commotion whether they have been stuck due to road closures, seeing additional police and ambulance crews or travelling near the incident itself. We want to support our community as best as possible so if there is anything you wish to discuss, then please do contact us. 

In terms of Woodside, we have sent a letter indicating that our school photos will be taking place on Thursday 5th October 2023. This is also Census day - this is where we undertake a government headcount of children who have attended school on that day specifically where the number of children in school impacts the amount of funding we receive. This is why it is extremely important that all children attend school on Thursday 5th October - not only to help the school in providing more resources and better service with additional funding, but also to take some great individual photos! Chartwells are also putting on a special menu to celebrate Census day.

I hope everyone takes care this weekend, spends time with loved ones and looks after one another.

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!

Transfer to Secondary School September 2024

If your child’s date of birth is between 1st September 2012 - 31st August 2013, they will be due to start

Secondary School in September 2024.

The deadline for applications is 31st October 2023.

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; 

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.

For any parents and carers who need help understanding the school admissions process or need support making an application, we will be holding a Coffee morning on Friday 6th October 2023, 9am - 9.45am

in our Community Room.

If you are unable to attend on this date, 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. 

Woodside Surplus Food Store

Please continue to help us in the fight against food waste and visit our Woodside Surplus Food Store. 

Our Surplus Food Store is available in our Community room;

Every Wednesday between 8.45am – 9.15am and 3.10pm - 3.30pm 

and every Thursday 8.45am – 9.15am

Many of our parents/carers that access the food store, have been talking to me about the food they

make with the produce that they receive. 

We would love to see photos of the finished dishes that you make and/or recipes that we can put in our newsletter and share with our school community.

Please send your photos/recipes to admin@inspirewoodside.co.uk 

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. 

Nest

This week in the Nest we have been looking at the book, “It's Okay to be Different”. The adults have been modelling language, using key vocabulary, naming what we can see in the book. All children looked at the pictures with interest and were able to repeat after the adult. We also looked in mirrors and named our features. The adults model talking about different colour hair and eyes. Some of the children said  “My eye is brown”, “I got brown hair". We have been visiting the nursery garden and the children are confidently accessing different areas. They have really enjoyed building large towers in the nursery using foam bricks. They waited patiently and took turns with their peers to stack the bricks.

Nursery

As we are settling into Woodside Nursery, we have started learning about our facial features using our core text ‘Happy to be me'. There have been lots of games and songs that teach us about our bodies. In Nursery, we played the game ‘Simon says…’ and are singing ‘Head, shouldres, knees and toes. We used hand held mirrors to have a closer look at our facial features such as our nose, mouth, eyes, cheeks and forehead.. We used full sentences to describe our facial features and we were excited to place the features in the right places on the body. As part of learning our numbers, we were fishing in our water tray and counting how many fish we had caught.

It has been an exciting week learning new words.

Year 1

This week we have all been learning superstars!

In English, we read ‘The Lonely Beast’. We identified the verbs (actions) of the beast and role played. We also wrote sentences about what the beast enjoys doing. 

In maths, we have learnt about the inequality symbols. We compared objects using the vocabulary of ‘greater than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’.

Nasal Flu Vaccination Programme

Your child should have brought home a letter about the NHS annual flu vaccination programme for this winter.

The Immunisation Team’s visit will take place on 11th October.

Flu can be an unpleasant illness and sometimes causes serious complications. This annual vaccination programme is a quick and simple spray up the nose. It is in place to help protect your child against the flu. It also helps protect more vulnerable members of our community by reducing the spread of flu.

The letter was accompanied by a consent form. You should return the form to school as soon as possible whether or not you give your consent to the vaccine.

Please read the letter carefully for more information, or contact the office if you did not receive the letter and form.

It is that time of year when we kindly asked the children to donate to charity as part of our Harvest Festival.

Could all children please bring into school any non-perishable items - (tinned food, rice, pasta, toiletries, etc).

These items will then be collected after our Harvest Assembly on Tuesday 3rd October 2023,

which will be hosted by Fr Sam Dennis.

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