Woodhill

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

Message from the Headteacher

It has been a busy week this week and we have had a huge push on the theme of excellence with all children working really hard on their handwriting and presentation. There has been lots to celebrate with many children sharing their progress with myself and other leaders throughout the week. This week has also seen the conclusion of the Y6 children and their bikeability cycling proficiency week and again it has been great to see progress that has been made with many of the children spending time out on the roads from as early as Wednesday.

We have also held our annual JLT jobs fair and this year the applications for roles have been open to children from both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. A selection of photos from the event can be found below.

Messages from the office

Safe and respectful parking in the school community

As we are all aware, there are a number of works happening in and around the school which has for the time has had a significant impact on parking before and after school. Even so, I felt it was important to write to you once more about our collective responsibility to maintain a safe journey to school for everyone while also respecting the local residents. We can do this in a number of ways:

• Please refrain from parking over driveways as many residents including some of our parents have contacted the school frequently since the start of September about the impact this is having on them and not being able to get to work or go about their daily duties. Some residents have spoken of being insulted when they have asked parents to not park over their drive. Please remember to uphold the school values and to remain respectful

• On Woodhill, cars must not be parked on the yellow zigzag “School Keep Clear” markings. These markings are to prevent vehicles stopping or parking specifically outside the entrance of the school in order to keep sight lines clear for motorists and pedestrians

• Please do not park too close to a road junction (for example, between Woodhill and Godfrey Hill) as this is an illegal offence. Take note of the signs that are placed on the junction

• Cars should not be parked on pathways during drop off and collection times

• Please consider the safety of young children and parents with pushchairs who may have to walk into the road and into the path of oncoming traffic to get past. Again, it is illegal to park a car on a pavement.

In the meantime, we will continue to speak with parents who place members of our school community at risk and if deemed appropriate, warning letters will be distributed.

Please consider whether you really need to use your car to make the journey to school at all. Not only is walking a healthier option and better for the environment, but it also helps to alleviate some of the problems we are currently facing at the start and end of the school day.

I am sure we are all in agreement that the safety of all our children must continue to be our primary responsibility. In these circumstances, I appreciate your support in ensuring this takes priority over a convenient drop off or pick up.

Secondary Applications

The closing date for on time applications is 31 October 2023.

If your child is due to transfer from primary to secondary school in September 2024 and you miss the deadline, you still need to apply for a secondary school place online. Please click on the link below for more information.

https://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/200286/apply_for_a_school_place/1937/apply_for_a_secondary_school_place

Punctuality

Punctuality As with attendance, it is very important that children arrive at school on time each day, every minute missed adds up to a vast amount of learning time lost over the school year. School starts at 8.55 a.m. every day. Your child will be classified as being late if they are not on the school premises by this time. Children who arrive late are greatly disadvantaged because they miss starting the day with their peers and the beginning of lessons. This can be disrupting for the rest of the class and teacher.

PE Kit

When children have PE lessons please can you ensure school uniform is worn to school and their PE kit must be brought to school in a bag and left on their peg for the term.

What we have learned this week

Year 2 - The children have been enjoying generating inspirational and emotive language in English, using our core text of Izzy Gizmo. In Science, the children have been identifying how habitats support the living creatures that live in each habitat.

In Art, the children have been learning how to sketch.

In Maths the children have been enthusiastically learning how to partition numbers, create number bonds up to 10 and count in 2s,5s and 10s.

We keep the children active in PE doing gymnastics. Singing with love in music, learning with fascination about the suffragettes in History.

Year 5- have been preparing to write a biography on Salva Dut, whose life provided the inspiration for the core text, 'A Long Walk to Water'. The children have developed the skill of using reference chains to avoid repetition of Salva's name, and have been reading other examples of biographies to identify the features they will need to include. Kaiden said, 'I enjoyed reading the biographies of Marcus Rashford and Benjamin Zephaniah'. Yesterday they used Chromebooks to research and record more information about the real Salva Dut, and planned their own biography. In maths, children have been practising the crucial skills of addition and subtraction of whole numbers up to 10,000. In science, they have been exploring the force of air resistance, making paper aeroplanes and parachutes to discover what affects the speed of objects travelling through the air. Michael said, 'My plane flew the quickest because of the shape of it'. In art, Year 5 have explored the work of Edward Saidi Tingatinga. They made a mood board to experiment with his style, and will be incorporating his use of silhouettes into their African sunset pictures for their outcome. They have also been practising their sketching and shading skills using real objects.