Woodside Weekly - 6th November 2026

Woodside Weekly Newsletter

Respect ⟡ Resilience ⟡ Aspiration ⟡ Excellence ⟡ Integrity ⟡ Collaboration

6th November 2026

Headteacher's Welcome

Dear Parents / Carers

Welcome back to the start of a brand-new half term! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable two-week break. It has been fantastic to see the children return with such enthusiasm, diving straight into their new learning themes and immersing themselves in exciting new core texts across the school.

A big thank you to all the Reception parents and carers who engaged with us this week. It was wonderful to see so many of you on Monday evening for our Reception Phonics Workshop, as well as on Tuesday morning for our very first Reception 'Parents in to Read' session of the year. Working in partnership with you at this early stage makes a tremendous difference to the children's reading confidence.

This coming Saturday, we are delighted to be hosting a prospective Reception Stay and Play session at 10:00 AM for nursery-aged children and families considering Woodside for the future. If you have younger children or know friends and neighbours with little ones due to start school, please do sign up here and pass the word around our community.

Please also take note of an important calendar date: Friday, 20th November, is an INSET day, meaning the school will be closed to all pupils while staff undertake professional training.

Finally, be sure to check our letter directory this week, as several important letters have been published. These include details regarding an upcoming Year 5 trip, our new whole-school attendance competition, and information on how we will be celebrating Children in Need next Friday, 13th November.

We hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend.

Mr Atwal

Values Focus

This term, our value is Respect. Today, we explored the religious festivals of Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas. These are 2 festivals, celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs respectively, on the same day.

We retold the story of Rama and Sita for Diwali, and the story of the release of the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, and 52 Hindu princes for Bandi Chhor Divas.

We showed respect by listening and acknowledging why these festivals are important to Hindus and Sikhs. We also explored how the different people in the stories showed respect by fighting for good over evil and respecting other people by supporting them.

Ask your child:

What happened in the story of Diwali and/or Bandi Chhor Divas?
How did they show respect in the stories?
What will you do to show respect?

Local Council Committee

LCC Woodside Parent Advert.pdf

Spotlight on UKS2

Year 5

We are pleased to welcome Year 5 back to school and are delighted to see how well the children have settled in and how enthusiastically they have dived straight back into their learning.

This week, the children have been exploring their new core text, 'The Boy in the Tower'. They have already begun creating some fantastic pieces of writing, using figurative language to describe the emotions and feelings of the characters.

In Maths, the children have been focusing on identifying multiples of given numbers, drawing on their times table knowledge to help them recognise number patterns and strengthen their multiplication skills.

Looking back at last term, we also celebrated Black History Month by exploring inspirational people within our local community and recognising the positive contributions they make to society. As part of this learning, the children created a community quilt poster. This is an ongoing project, giving children the opportunity to continue adding new pieces that celebrate other inspirational people and their contributions, not only within the wider community but also within their own homes and families. It is a lovely way for children to recognise the people who inspire them, celebrate their backgrounds and appreciate the positive impact others have on their lives.

It has been a fantastic start to the new term, and we look forward to seeing the children continue to develop and make progress in their learning!

Year 6

Welcome Back to Autumn 2!

We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable half-term break. The children have returned to school with fantastic enthusiasm and have continued to demonstrate our IMPACT values through their positive attitudes and hard work across all lessons.

In Maths, our main focus is on Fractions. To ensure every child develops a deep, lasting conceptual understanding of these core skills, we have been using a variety of hands-on manipulative—such as fraction bars and counters—to visual math problems and build confidence when simplifying, comparing, and calculating fractions.

Inclusion & Family Support

Aydin’s Dinners

We are also pleased to announce the return of Aydin’s Dinners on

Thursday 17th December, 2:00pm - 6:00pm,

at Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Family Hub.

This year, Aydin has secured additional funding and will be providing families with ingredients to prepare two meals, each designed to feed a family of up to six people:

Vegetable Curry

Shepherd’s Pie

In addition, each child will receive a small gift.

Registration is now open (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/RHC5H27394?origin=lprLink)

Autumn Term Parent/Carer Webinars

To further support your child's emotional wellbeing, please find below information about upcoming Webinars and Workshops for Parents/Carers. These are online workshops that are free to attend.

Parents/Carers are able to sign up for FREE using the following link:

Off The Record Webinars

Croydon Drop in are currently offering this free programme to parents and carers of children aged 2-8 years who would like support with managing their child's behaviour.

The intervention consists of 8 weekly sessions and can be delivered online or in person, depending on the family's preference.

The programme supports parents and carers with a range of behavioural difficulties, including:

Challenging behaviour
Aggression, such as kicking, hitting, and angry outbursts
Difficulties with boundaries and routines
Not listening or following instructions
Other behaviours that may be causing concern at home

Throughout the intervention, we work with parents and carers to develop practical strategies to better understand and respond to their child's behaviour. The sessions focus on:

Understanding the reasons behind behaviour
Building positive parent-child relationships
Encouraging positive behaviour
Setting clear and consistent boundaries
Developing practical behaviour management strategies
Increasing confidence in managing difficult situations at home

SEND Bonfire Night Event - Croydon Fire Station

Croydon Fire Station will be holding their annual SEND Bonfire Night Event again this November.

Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th of November, Croydon Fire Station will be open to guests between 17:30 and 20:00 on both evenings. The addition of a second evening this year is due to the high demand from 2025. As with previous events, tickets are required, and these will be FREE and available HERE!. Tickets will be accessible from

Monday 19th October, thus giving time for families to be informed of the upcoming event.

Bonfire Night can be a challenging time for many, particularly for those with SEND. Our aim is to create a fun and welcoming environment that has all the visual stimulation and excitement of a traditional firework event, without the noise and accessibility issues. Through this, we create a safe environment for the local SEND community to come and enjoy this celebration, whilst at the same time allowing engagement with the Croydon fire crews.

Highlights of the event will include light displays, a UV house, a fully accessible fire engine, bubble tunnels and many more sensory activities. There will be very limited parking available, details of which are available

at the time of booking tickets.