Dear Parents and Carers

Firstly, I would like to extend my congratulations to all the children who participated in our annual Sports Day. It was a day filled with enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and outstanding performances. Whether it was on the track, in the field events, or during the team games, the spirit and determination displayed by our students was inspiring. A special thank you goes to Mrs Pearce for organising and leading the Sports Days across the school. We had to unfortunately cancel our Nest Sports Day today due to the weather and we are hoping to reorganise it soon.

It has come to our attention that, following Sports Day on Tuesday, some parents in a year group were distressed about not being able to take their children home early. We are concerned by reports of our office staff being addressed in an unfriendly manner. We would like to clarify that at no point did the school communicate that children could be taken home early. This policy was consistent across all year groups, with students expected to continue their learning until the end of the school day following Sports Day activities. We kindly remind all members of our community to uphold the values and standards that we, as a school, strive to embody. We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to your continued participation and support.

Yesterday, we invited 4 of our governors to attend a school monitoring visit, with a particular focus on Maths. All the governors commented on the improvements made within the school, commenting particularly on the improved behaviours, teaching and learning observed. We have good feedback on how we can enhance our Maths in the new academic year. 

This week, a letter was sent to the whole school community about leadership changes next year. We look forward to welcoming you all to a coffee morning on 18th July.

Wishing you all a wonderful 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.

Transitions can be very challenging to children as they often involve unfamiliar environments, new routines and the need to adapt to different social dynamics which can lead to feelings of uncertainty. Here are three tips to help to prepare your child for transition into their new year group or school:

1. Familiarise your child with the environment: Introduce them to new staff, arranging a visit and taking pictures of the environment with your child to create a book or slideshow simply stating who staff are, what the areas are and what they will be used for. This helps to alleviate uncertainty and anxiety and helps children to feel more comfortable and confident.

2. Talk about the changes: Have conversations with your child about what they can expect in their new year group or school. Actively listen to their thoughts and feelings and address their concerns or worries. By involving them, you are empowering children to feel more in control.

Encourage your child to make friends: Help your child to develop their social skills and create opportunities for them to interact with their peers. Arrange playdates or social activities with other children from their new class or school if possible. Teach them how to make friends and role play situations. This can help the transition smoother and foster positive experiences.

Nest

This week in the Nest the children are continuing to flourish. The children have been reading a book of their choice to an adult, they have been enjoying what they have read and have been able to talk about the pictures and what they think is going to happen next, they also have been able to tell us their favourite part of the story and who they think the main characters are.

The children have also been practicing for Sports Day using the small apparatus, some are using the hoops. They put the hoops around their tummies and wiggled to make the hoops move around their bodies.

Nursery

This week in Nursery, children have been learning about healthy and unhealthy foods. They sorted food onto two different hoops to show which foods were healthy and which foods were unhealthy. They were also able to speak about foods that are known to be unhealthy but are okay if they have them as a treat. Some of the foods mentioned were cakes, chips and chocolates or sweets. As they continued talking about healthy eating, they also talked about good hygiene. They had to brush their teeth twice a day and learn good handwashing techniques to avoid getting ill. They have also been encouraged to speak in full sentences using taught sentence starters such as, "I think….. or I know that…."

In Maths, children have been learning about number stories which supported them in learning how to take away. They used the playdough created foods in the Nursery to take away and were supported to know that taking away makes the number less than what they started with.

Nursery children also had the opportunity to take part in sports day. They had a great day.

In Phonics, children who are on Phase 4 phonics continue to use their phonics knowledge to read longer words that have digraphs and trigraphs. They are now able to chunk longer words to be able to read words such as: printer, buzzer, helper, jumper, hunter and sprinter. They have also been learning some tricky words to use in their writing. The tricky words were; to, into, all, are, they, one ,out and today.

Home work: Please continue to support your child with blending. Support your children to learn how to blend (put sounds together to read a word) through games. Please continue to login on the Little Wandle Phonics using the QR code. You can also find blending games on YouTube. These games are important to support your children to be able to read independently.

Year 2

At the beginning of the week, Year 2 showed lots of enthusiasm and collaboration during their Sports Day on Monday 1st July. They all cheered each other on, as they completed a range of class activities demonstrating different skills, from balancing balls on a racket, to completing obstacle courses, finishing with a 40m sprint at the end. It was lovely to see all the parents cheering on their children too - thank you for coming. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

In Maths, Year 2 have continued their mental maths skills by recalling place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and number facts. Using this knowledge to answer more worded style questions. They have shown a good level of resilience in each of their learning tasks this week and have demonstrated a good understanding in each arithmetic skill.

Year 3

Year 3’s displayed tremendous enthusiasm and exceptional teamwork during Sports Day. They should be very proud, having showcased a variety of skills and working together so well with their teammates. All the children had a fantastic time, and we appreciate the parents for coming out and supporting them.

In Maths, Year 3’s have started a new topic: statistics. They have been interpreting pictograms and drawing pictograms using the data given. The children have been remembering to write their key to show what the symbols represent.

In English, we are still focussing on the story ‘The Pea and the Princess’ and the children have been planning on writing their own innovative story by changing the ‘pea’ into another vegetable or an object and ‘prince’ into King.

Year 5

Year 5 have shown enthusiasm and brilliant teamwork during Sports Day this week. They should all be proud of themselves as they have demonstrated a range of skills and were able to collaborate with their teams. All the children had lots of fun and thank you parents for attending and showing your support for the children. 

This week in maths, we have been learning about negative and positive numbers. The children ordered numbers on a number line and answered a range of questions based on thermometers. Also, the children learnt how to count through zero in ones and multiples.

In English, the children have continued to read their core text 'Floodland' and have recapped the main points of the story.

Year 6

During Sports Day, our Year 6 students showcased their athletic skills and sportsmanship across a variety of activities. From the fast-paced 100m races to the fun and challenging obstacle courses, every child gave their best and enjoyed every moment. The water race brought smiles and laughter, proving to be one of the favourite among the children.

Your presence and encouragement played a crucial role in making this event truly special. The cheers from the sidelines, the claps of encouragement, and the joyful faces of parents and carers inspired our young athletes to push their limits and enjoy the spirit of friendly competition. It was heartwarming to see families coming together, fostering a sense of camaraderie that enhanced the fun and excitement throughout the day.

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