Woodhill

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

Message from the Headteacher

It has been a busy week at Woodhill with the children continuing their learning across all areas alongside upping their practice for the upcoming Christmas performances. Linked to this, it was great to participate in 'Save the Children's' Christmas jumper day again this year; thank you to the families who donated jumpers for this event. We combined this event with our school Christmas lunch with music playing and crackers cracking while the children and staff came together to enjoy their meal. Our Nursery children have had a lovely time at Maryon Park and our Year 6 children went to the Natural History museum as part of their Science learning. Also in year 6 a ballot was drawn and as a result, a group of Y6 children took part in workshops with a company called 'Pathways to Professions' which gives an insight into working life. They focussed on sessions such as endless possibilities and creative entrepreneurship.

Earlier this week, I sent a letter out about the opportunity to put yourselves forward for the role of parent governor. If this is of interest to you, please send your statement through by the end of next week.

Stay warm and safe, have a great weekend and see you next week!

Messages from the office

Christmas Fair - Wednesday 20th December

We are very excited to announce that our Christmas Fair this year will be held on Wednesday 20th December at 3:30pm. This will be a wonderful opportunity for bringing our families together and building our community spirit, creating a wonderful experience for our children and families and making memories together. All money raised by the events held by the Friends of Woodhill is used to enhance the children’s learning experience at school. In order to do this, we will need as much help from our community as we can get:

Donation of Good Condition Books

If you have any books that your children no longer read and are in a good condition, please donate this for our book stall.

Donation of Good Condition toys and games

If you have any toys or games that are in a good condition and your children no longer use, please donate these for the toy stall.

Food stalls

Following on from the success of our World Café event, we would love to ask if you are able to donate some cakes or food that we can share with our families on the day. We are particularly interested in your cultural cakes to add lots of diversity to our food offerings. Please also write your name on any containers, trays or tins, which you send in and we will do our best to return them to you at the end of the day.

Due to allergies, we ask that you create dishes that do not contain nuts of any kind.

Year 5 - Residential Trip

If you have booked your child onto the YEAR 5 school Journey from Monday 11th March until Friday 15th March.

The total cost for the week is £300 per child, including accommodation, travel, all meals plus all of the fantastic activities and experiences.

Please can you make a payment. We have noticed some parents have not made the October and/or November payment. This payment needs to be made ASAP and each month from the instalment plan below.

Head Lice

We have received a report of Headlice in the school, please check your child’s hair tonight and for the next 7 days to make sure there are no eggs hatching. You may wish to run conditioner through the hair using a fine-tooth comb. Unfortunately, this is a common problem in all schools. It helps to keep all long hair tied up to prevent the spread. Legally the school cannot check children’s hair or send a pupil home if they have head lice. It is therefore important that all parents are vigilant and act quickly if head lice are found.

Primary Applications

If your child's date of birth is between 01st September 2019 to 31st August 2020 they will be due to start primary school in September 2024.

You need to apply for a primary school place online, the deadline for applications is 15th January 2024.

Please see link below to submit your application

https://www.eadmissions.org.uk/

Lost Property / Valuables

We will have a lost property stall in the playground at 3.15 on Friday 21st December, any unclaimed item will be disposed off during the half term.

Can we also remind parents not to send children into school with expensive clothing as children often misplace their belongs and the school accepts no responsibility for any lost belongs, this is the responsibility of your child to ensure they look after their property. To support with this please can you ensure all children's clothing is labelled with their names.

Save the Date for Autumn Term

Missed Flu Vaccinations

What we have learned this week

Year 3 have been writing their persuasive speeches in English addressing the impact of climate change, using impactful techniques such as hyperbole and rhetorical questions. The children confidently presented their speeches to adults and peers in classrooms, expressing their concerns on the causes of climate change and proposing sustainable changes each child will make.

In Geography the children have been exploring different types of maps within the UK. The children looked at the purposes of the maps and their use, for example topographical maps illustrating the terrain and climatic maps showing the changing weather patterns in an area. We have been emphasising on the distinctions between Physical (nature-based) and human (man-made) geography, using London and Kent as two localities for comparing and contrasting

Year 6 - Year 6 have had an exciting few weeks ,in their curriculum learning, as they continued learning even more about Rainforests - particularly the Amazon - as well as researching their importance as an ecosystem on the planet . They have used this pertinent research to develop a `New Charity` to support the sustainability of the Amazon Rainforest. They are now designing websites for their chosen charity.

To keep those arithmetic skills developing, the children have been improving their `Personal Bests` as well as fine tuning their times tables knowledge . The children have also been fine tuning their application of arithmetic to real-life situations . Denis commented , `` I just love seeing my scores get better``

In Science, Year 6 have been researching more deeply into `Evolution and Inheritance` , and have been presenting their findings in the form of a `Double Page Spread.` Ellie said , `` I have really enjoyed researching and creating my final Double Page Spread - can I also do one about fossils?`` This followed on from a great learning experience at the Natural History Museum whereby the children came face to face with a range of exhibits - including fossils dating back thousands of years.

In DT, the children have been researching and exploring a range of habitats prior to designing and making a scaled model of a rainforest setting . Emily commented, `` We could use what we saw at London Zoo as an inspiration.``

In English. the children have been exploring the rich vocabulary in `The Giver` and role-playing as the central character -Jonas. The events in the story have prompted excellent discussions in class whereby the children have added their own `twists` to parts of the opening chapters- culminating in excellent published pieces. Rebecca said of her work ,

`` I really enjoyed writing a new chapter for the story.``

Additionally, the children also took part in exciting discussions and enquiry tasks in RE, whereby they have been exploring Christianity -using the `5Ws` - to develop interesting information that will now be presented in - yet another- `Double Page Spread.` In PE, the children continue to develop their practical skills and teamwork in a range of sports. Rehearsals have also been underway for our Christmas Concert

Community Support, Events & Activities

Holiday Food and Fun is back for Christmas! Free activities for young people in Royal Greenwich.

Using money from the Department of Education, there are free, funded holiday club spaces available for eligible children and young people.

If your child is aged between 4 and 16, and receives or is eligible for benefit-related free school meals, they'll be able to claim a spot at one of our participating clubs.

If your child is eligible for benefits related free school meals and attends a special school in the borough and/or has a package of care from social services, they can access the specialist SEND provision and programmes.

Find a list of participating holiday clubs on our website and book a place directly with them.

Royalgreenwich.gov.uk/holidayfoodandfun

Clubs will run between 22 December 2023 and 5 January 2024