Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back everyone to a brand new school year. I sincerely hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable summer break. Although, this now seems like a distant memory with the change of weather since our return.

I am excited to be part of our school community and witness our continued growth. Our children have been working on their new learning journeys and we are very happy with the way children have settled into their new rooms and with their new teachers.

We have sent quite a lot of communication this week. A reminder that from now on, we will be sending all formal letters on a Friday. A single directory letter will be sent with links to letters, making it clear the audience it is intended for. We listened to feedback from the community so we hope you find this change more manageable and clear. So don’t forget to look at our first directory letter that has gone out today.

I wanted to remind everyone that children should not be bringing in personal equipment from home - this includes any toys, fidgets etc. We provide all equipment for children (unless we ask for something specific). As a school, we do not take any responsibility for any loss or damaged items.

Next week, PE sessions start for years 1-6. A reminder that for this year, we are trialling children coming into school in their PE kits on their PE days. Please see our PE letter for more information.

Finally, we are excited to extend our community and parental engagement. As per our letter sent this week, we will be introducing a “Parents in to Read” session where once a week, parents and carers of one year group will be invited into school to read with their children in their class. We start with Year 1 on Tuesday from 9am. If you wish to attend, please wait in the main office and you will be taken to the classrooms. Please see the letter for more information and future dates for all year groups.

We hope everyone has a restful weekend!

Iman Atwal

Headteacher

We have started the year with Excellence. In our assembly, we focused on what we mean by excellence. It means trying our best to get the best outcomes. It doesn’t mean we get things perfect all the time, rather we celebrate the effort and work to do the best we can. Whether this means we show excellence in our learning (neat handwriting, completing questions, working with others) to our behaviours (listening to adults, saying please and thank you, using kind words, hands and feet).

So ask your child:

• What does excellence mean to them?

• What are your expectations at home? Do they show excellence at home?

• What happens if it is not perfect or we get something wrong?

“Quality sleep is essential for everyone, but it holds particular significance for individuals with special educational needs, who often face unique challenges that can disrupt their sleep patterns. By making sleep the best it can be, young people can have a better chance to achieve their potential. And of course, help their wider family to sleep better”. Jan Jenner

Please be sure to refer to the Local Offer website where you can find information on the locally available support - https://localoffer.croydon.gov.uk/kb5/croydon/directory/home.page 

Nest

A warm welcome back to all our returning families and a very special welcome to all our new students and their parents! It was wonderful  to have the opportunity to connect with many of you during our home visits, and we’re so glad to have you as part of our Nest, where your journey begins. It has been a fantastic week back, the children have been busy settling, exploring all the different areas, both indoors and outdoors, our team has been working hard to support every child to settle, modeling using the resources and most of all helping them to feel safe and secure in their new environment.

Thank you for entrusting us with your little ones, we look forward to a wonderful year of learning and growing together.

Saplings

As the new year begins, we wish to welcome everyone back to our lovely nursery. We hope everyone has had a wonderful summer. Children in Saplings have been settling in their new environment with more new friends. They have been exploring their environments and choosing their favourite areas to spend their time and share their learning. They have been enjoying getting used to routines such as when to sit on the carpet for circle time and when they can go into the playground. Saplings children will be getting their reading records soon and they can start sharing with us what they have or enjoy reading. Saplings have also enjoyed singing nursery rhymes and number rhymes.

Reception

A very warm welcome to our new and returning families joining us in Reception at the beginning of this term. We hope you have had a lovely summer. We are already excited about what this term has to offer to your children and the community as a whole. Children have been exploring their new learning environments both indoors and outdoors.In the dinner hall, children have been choosing what they would like to eat with adult support. 

Positive friendships are being formed and they are already working together to create things they like. Children in Reception have been learning about using indoor voices and tidying up after themselves. They have enjoyed making all the right choices but still asking when their grown ups are picking them up.

Some children have been exploring numbers by using numicom. They were talking about the colours and how many holes were on each numicon piece.

Reminder:

Children are provided with snacks everyday and milk for those who drink milk.

Year 1

It’s been lovely to welcome the children back to school and to year 1. Their smiling faces and enthusiasm has been a joy to see.

We’ve had a busy week getting to know each other, setting up and practising routines. We’ve drawn pictures about our holidays and set class rules. We’ve also been working collaboratively to complete various tasks.

In Maths, we’ve been counting forward to 10 and back to 0 using songs and games to help. We’ve used our fingers to show numbers, and practised how to write the numbers correctly. We’ve also put the numbers in the correct order and found groups of objects to match the numbers.

The children have had some free-flow time in the afternoons to help the transition from Reception into Year 1. They’ve been choosing from lots of fine motor skill activities such as colouring, cutting and sticking, building with construction resources and making patterns with pegs.

Year 2

We’ve had a brilliant start to the new school year. The children have settled in beautifully, showing great enthusiasm and resilience as they adjust to new routines.

This week, we’ve enjoyed getting to know each other, sharing our holiday news, and exploring some exciting Year 2 activities. The children have impressed me with their positive attitudes, teamwork, and eagerness to learn. We can’t wait to see all the wonderful things they will achieve this year! 

In Maths, we started with making sure the children knew how to present their work to the best of their ability. With the topic of the next few weeks being place value, the children have used practical equipment to identify the tens and ones of a number and learnt about the word partition. They quickly picked up how to find intervals on a number line and were able to count up in a variety of numbers to complete their own lines.

In Science, we introduced the topic of ‘Light’ and we had a discussion about what is natural light and artificial light. The children were able to identify the differences between the two and some were surprised to learn that the light from the Moon is actually light that is reflected sunlight.

Year 5

What a great first week back! Year 5 have shown fantastic enthusiasm and a positive attitude towards their learning. We are so pleased with how engaged they’ve been in lessons and the brilliant ideas they’ve shared in class. Together, we agreed on our classroom rules, making sure they reflected the Woodside values and key character skills.

In Maths, we began exploring numbers up to 10,000, using a variety of resources to partition and represent them in different ways. We also investigated how Roman numerals are created, learning how letters like I, V, and X are combined to show numbers such as IV for 4 and VI for 6.

In English, we began exploring our exciting core text, 'The Boy and the Globe' by Tony Bradman. The children were introduced to Moll Cut-Purse and worked hard to create detailed character descriptions. They focused on her personality and appearance, using powerful vocabulary and descriptive phrases to bring her to life.

In Art, we designed vibrant mood boards inspired by the Pop Art movement, taking influence from the bold colours and striking patterns used by the artist Venus Art. The children experimented with different textures, images, and colour schemes to express their ideas, and their mood boards will serve as inspiration for future artwork in this unit.

Year 6

The children have settled in brilliantly and are already engaging enthusiastically with their learning.

In English, we have immersed ourselves in our core text 'Pig Heart Boy' by Malorie Blackman. The children explored the thought-provoking question of whether they would accept a pig’s heart if their life depended on it. This led to some lively, mature discussions where the class considered different perspectives. We also focused on empathy, stepping into Cameron’s shoes to reflect on how he might feel about the challenges and decisions he faces.

In Maths, we have been working with numbers up to 1,000,000. The children have shown great curiosity, asking thoughtful questions and using manipulatives to deepen their understanding. These discussions have really helped to move their learning forward.

It has been a joy to see the children so engaged and eager to learn. We are looking forward to building on this strong start as the week continues.

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.