Dear Parents and Carers,

It's been a truly celebratory and engaging week here at Woodside!

On Thursday, we successfully hosted our first Winter Warmer Night with our EYFS families. It was lovely to see some of our parents come along after school for some festive fun, warm drinks, and reading time. We look forward to hosting the remaining Winter Warmer Nights for other year groups next week. Years 1-3 is on Monday and Years 4-6 on Thursday. Come in your comfy PJs and enjoy a warm night in! 

On Wednesday, some of our children attended the Croydon Music and Arts presents Croydon Schools Showcase at Fairfield Halls. They thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic experience of performing and watching other schools! Back in school, our Year 2 pupils were treated to a special visit from the poet and author, Kate Cunningham. She delivered a wonderful poetic immersive experience focused on the Great Fire of London, which enriched their current history topic.

Next week, our festive celebrations continue! On Tuesday, we have the pleasure of welcoming Image Theatre, who will perform a production of 'The Jungle Book' for the children. Then, next Friday, we will be holding our Festive Jumper Day. Children can wear a festive or winter-themed jumper over their normal school uniform (trousers/skirt, shirt/polo shirt).

Finally, today we have sent home an exciting letter! To encourage excellent attendance as we approach the holidays, any child who achieves 100% attendance for the last two weeks of this term will be entered into a draw to win four tickets to see Disney on Ice at the O2 over the Winter Break. Full details are in the letter, and we encourage everyone to aim for perfect attendance!

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Iman Atwal

Headteacher

A reminder that our term’s value is Respect. This week, we explored how we can show respect in the build up to lots of religious and cultural events. We learnt that different communities around the world, and here in school, celebrate different festivals that are important to them, such as the upcoming Christmas, Hanukkah and Bodhi Day celebrations. Showing respect means that even if you do not celebrate these festivals, you support others and understand that differences are ok.

So ask your child:

• What do you celebrate?

• How can you show respect to someone who is celebrating something?

• If we don’t celebrate it, what can we do to support others?

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.

The HAF Christmas Brochure is now live! Click on the link to see clubs and activities that are available over the festive period: HAF Christmas Programmes. Spaces on the HAF programme are limited and pre-booking is essential. All bookings must be confirmed using the HolidayActivities online platform.

If you have more than one child, you will have received multiple vouchers via email/text. Please ensure you access the individual link for each of your children for their credits to show in your Holiday Activities Account. 

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.

A Very Croydon Christmas - Friday 5th – Sunday 7th December

Kickstart the season with a weekend of FREE arts and crafts from around the world, outdoor performance,

music and dance, face painting and poetry.

Throughout the weekend from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th December, A Very Croydon Christmas takes over Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street and the High Street with a feast of festive entertainment.

Dive into enchanting stories with FREE storytelling in the children’s library, and sing-along to a special concert with Baby Gospel. See spectacular performances and puppetry that will light up the High Street - meet our cheeky Elf, marvel at the sparkling Living Snow Globe, and be mesmerised by the Curiosity Christmas Tree. Get creative with crafts inspired by festive traditions from around the world in Croydon Clocktower – from Columbian paper lanterns to Turkish decorative wreaths. 

While you’re in the Clocktower you can also visit the Museum of Croydon to take part in a festive winter trail,

with a prize at the end.

Visit A Very Croydon Christmas for more details or download the full programme, with times and 

locations of all the activities, here: 

A-Very-Croydon-Christmas-Full-Programme.pdf

 Reception Places for September 2026

If your child’s date of birth is between 1st September 2021 - 31st August 2022, they will be due to start school in Reception in September 2026.

The deadline for applications is 15th January 2026.

Applications are made online through eAdmissions which can be accessed through Croydon Councils website; Apply for a primary school place: step by step | Croydon Council where you will also find information on local primary 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 require support to make an application, please make an appointment to see Mrs Georgiades (Family Support Officer) by emailing Familysupport at Woodside Primary School 

You will need your council tax reference number to make an application.

For those parents/carers whose children currently attend our Nursery, you must still complete and submit an application for entry

to Reception in September 2026.

If you are able to donate, please drop items to the Community Room during morning drop-off on Wednesdays and Thursdays, or hand them into the school office on any other day.

Thank you for helping us support all our children — and for joining us in raising funds for Save the Children and for the school funding of enrichment activities.

Nest

This week, the children showed tremendous engagement in a sensory exploration activity using dry pasta, silver spoons, and various containers.This simple yet rich activity incorporated language, sensory, mathematical and early literacy skills! The children loved running their fingers through the dry pasta, focusing intently on the texture and different shapes (like tubes, spirals, or bows) of the pasta pieces. We used this opportunity to discuss texture, shape and size.The children were able to confidently talk about the concepts of "full" and "empty" as they transferred the pasta from one container to the other, we counted the number of scoops it took to fill each container.

Children have been enjoying repeated phrase stories, this week, we read, 'Brown Brown Bear what do you see?' Children really enjoyed listening to the story and joined with repeated phrases.Through the story children learnt colour recognition, saying colour names, identifying and naming the animals and making animal sounds. The repetitive language supported children’s vocabulary and language skill. Children have been making marks on the paper, which was laid on the floor, they independently accessed it, made marks and gave meaning to their marks and some were inviting their peers to join in.

Reception

We've had another busy and wonderful week in Reception, full of fantastic learning and growing!

This week, our learning centered around the important themes of kindness and friendship.

We've been deeply engaged with our topic book, 'The Squirrels Who Squabbled' by Rachel Bright and Jim Field. We discussed how Cyril and Bruce learned to share and cooperate, even when they both wanted the very last nut! The children have really embraced these concepts, coming up with some truly thoughtful and great examples of kindness they have shown or seen, such as: helping a friend who has fallen over, sharing their toys or colouring pens, giving someone a compliment, and tidying up without being asked. We will continue to encourage these positive behaviours as we move through the rest of the term.

In Mathematics, we have been focusing on key early number and shape concepts; One More and One Less: The children have been practicing finding the number that is one more than and one less than a given number (up to 5), using practical resources like counters and number lines. Shapes: We have been identifying and describing 2D shapes (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles) in our environment, focusing on their properties (e.g., "a square has four equal sides").

Getting Ready for Christmas! The Christmas excitement is certainly building in the classroom! We have started some festive activities and are looking forward to the magic of the next few weeks.

Year 2

This week has been very busy and full of exciting learning in Year 2!

On Monday, we began by reading a book about the Great Fire of London, where we were introduced to Vlad the flea and Boxton the rat. The children prepared a worksheet with questions for the author, as the next day we had a very special visitor – Ms Kate Cunningham! She came to our classroom and led an interactive English lesson.

During the session, the children had the chance to:

• Meet Vlad and Boxton in person

• Explore objects from the Great Fire period

• Make a human chain and try to carry water to put out the “fire,” showing excellent teamwork

• Ask questions at the end of the session

In Maths, we have been learning to subtract two-digit numbers. We used manipulatives to secure our knowledge and build confidence with our calculations. We also practiced problem-solving, and worked in pairs to explain our thinking.

The highlight of our week was our Great Fire of London play! The children worked extremely hard to rehearse and perform, and we were so happy that you came to support them. We hope you enjoyed the play and learned even more about the events of 1666!

Year 3

What an exciting week we’ve had in Year 3!

The children have been fully engaged across all areas of learning, showing fantastic curiosity and enthusiasm.

In English, we have been exploring the features of newspaper articles, using Rosie Revere, Engineer and her rather unfortunate broken cheese-copter as our stimulus. The children have learned how journalists use fronted adverbials to add detail and subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to extend ideas and make their writing more interesting. They have enjoyed experimenting with dramatic adjectives, to further interest the reader. We are looking forward to starting our own articles!

In Maths, the class has been building confidence with multiplying and dividing by 4 and 8. We have been making strong links to our times-table knowledge, using patterns and known facts to help us solve problems more efficiently. The children have practised using a range of strategies, including grouping, arrays and repeated addition, and many have shown excellent perseverance when tackling tricky challenges.

In DT, we have been putting our woodwork skills to the test as the children began constructing the photo frames they designed themselves. They measured, sawed and joined their pieces carefully, showing impressive concentration and creativity. We’re looking forward to seeing the finished products!

Well done to all our Year 3 learners for a wonderful week of hard work and curiosity. We can’t wait to see what next week brings!

Year 4

This week in English, children have been using dialogue to express characters' emotions. They have immersed themselves in role play by using ‘show not tell’ language to convey the characters moods and feelings.

In Maths, children continue to secure their multiplication knowledge, using it to explore word problems and number facts.

In Science, we have been investigating states of matter, by observing how solids change state when covered in different materials and substances.

Finally, year 4 has been full of energy in PE, learning all the relevant teamwork skills needed in team games like benchball, to make it fun and successful.

Year 5

This week, the children launched into the new topic of fractions. They began by developing a firm understanding of equivalent fractions, exploring both unit and non-unit types. Following this, the focus shifted to the critical skill of converting improper fractions to mixed numbers. A key realisation for the children this week has been the crucial link between their times tables and their success with fractions, recognizing that strong multiplication recall is essential for simplifying and converting fractions.

In English, the children began the drafting process for their newspaper report, centered on the suspicious deaths of two policemen found in the rubble of an old pub. They successfully drafted compelling introductions, ensuring they addressed the essential journalistic 5 W's (Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?). To develop the next stage of their report, the children engaged in role-play exercises, practicing how to formulate effective open-ended questions to interview imaginary eye-witnesses.

In Geography, the children have revisited their previous fieldwork trip to Croydon by taking a Google virtual tour of the area. This enabled the children to understand how the use of buildings has changed over time, with many commercial spaces being redeveloped into residential. The children also investigated how the population has steadily increased over time due to many different factors.

In English, our writing focus has been on exploring the genre of biographies. We started by investigating what biographies are, how they are structured, and their primary purpose. The children then worked brilliantly in peer groups to analyse and annotate an example biography, collaborating to identify key features. They successfully located features such as fronted adverbials, the chronological sequencing of key events, various conjunctions, formal vocabulary and relative clauses to add detail. Further into the week, the children began to create sentences that incorporate both fronted adverbials and conjunctions to powerfully describe the achievements of a chosen British Civil Rights figure for example Doreen Lawerence, Paul Stephenson, Olive Morris and Claudia Jones.

In Science, we continued our exciting investigation into the world of microorganisms.  The children successfully recalled the three main types: viruses, bacteria, and fungi. This week, they put their research skills to the test, exploring specific examples of each. They documented the unique characteristics of different viruses, bacteria, and fungi, learning about their basic structures, how they function, and the effects they have—both helpful (like yeast in bread) and harmful (like certain bacteria causing illness)—on living things.

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.