It has been a busy week at school this week with different events happening. Our year 5 children are one week into their intensive swimming sessions at the Waterfront leisure centre and all children have represented the school amazingly well and shown real determination in the pool which has been reflected in their progress. This week, we also had two open mornings, one linked to the Multiplication times table check for year 4 parents and another where parents were invited in for a pre-loved uniform sale as we seek to maintain our expectations re: uniform and PE kits over the summer term. Thank you to all parents who attended and I hope that you found the MTC open morning useful. Today, our Catkins children visited Woodlands farm and has a wonderful time meeting all of the animals. Next week, our Y6 children will be taking their KS2 assessments. I am sure you all join us in wishing them well.

The weather seems to be on the up and up so have a lovely weekend in the sunshine and see you all on Monday.

from Mr Phillips and the staff

Summer Fayre - Friday 5th July 2024

We are excited to announce that our summer fair will be on Friday 5th July from 2.30pm - to facilitate this, children can be picked up from their classes at 2.30pm. 

We want to build on the continued success of our previous fayres and make sure that our 2024 Summer Fayre  is a very enjoyable event for our children and for our community. In order to do this, we would appreciate any help that you are able to offer, including:

Volunteers to help with stalls or run their own stall on the day

Bottle donations for the tombola

Donations for stalls such as teddies, games, children’s toys

Food and cakes donations for the food stalls

Raffle prizes for both adults and children such as local activities, brand new toys, gift sets etc 

Bottles for our ever popular tombola stall - we will hold a ‘Bring a Bottle’ non-uniform day closer to the event!

What  makes our summer fayre so special for our families are the stalls led by the community - if you or anyone you know would like to hold a stall to sell items or to do an activity please let the office know by emailing the school on: info@inspirewoodhill.co.uk

We are also looking for local businesses to attend to promote their products and share their business within the community, so please do speak to people who you think may be interested. 

We will be holding a coffee morning in the lower hall on Wednesday 15th May at 8:50am to gather parental views on how to make the Woodhill Summer Fayre even better, so if you have some ideas to share and some help to offer please do come along.

Refreshments will be provided. 

Year 6 - SATs Breakfast

As you all know next week is SATs week for year 6 pupils in order to ensure that all children are prepared for each day, we will be running a breakfast club in the lower hall. All children in Year 6 are encouraged to attend the breakfast club which will open at 8:10am and will run until 8.50 from Monday to Thursday; here they will receive a free breakfast consisting of toast, cereal, fruit and juice.

Attending breakfast club will ensure that your child will be focused and prepared for the day ahead.

Please ensure that your child has a good night’s sleep as this will mean they will be refreshed and have improved concentration in readiness for these tests.

Thank you for your continued support. We are confident that with your support, as well as the children’s hard work, they will have a very successful week.

 Intensive Swimming Interventions – Beech Tree 

We are delighted to inform you that this term as part of our PE curriculum for Year 5, we have secured sessions at the Woolwich Waterfront swimming baths. Your child’s class, Beech Tree.

The swimming weeks will take place on the following: 

Intensive Daily lessons are from 

Tuesday 07th May until Friday 10th May – 12pm – 1pm 

Monday 13th May until Friday 17th May – 12pm– 1pm 

Weekly Lessons each Friday as follows: 

May Weekly Lessons – 24th May - 2pm - 3pm 

June Weekly Lessons – 07th, 14th, 21st, 28th – 2pm-3pm 

July Weekly Lessons – 05th, 12th, 19th – 2pm - 3pm 

Children will not return to school until 3.40 on the Friday weekly lessons due to the timings 

Children will swim every day for two weeks and will need to bring the following each day: 

• Intensive swimming lessons- 

• All children must bring a packed lunch (This will be provided by the school for children who receive free school meals only) and a substantial healthy playtime snack (e.g. fruit/cereal bar

• Swimming costume/Trunks and towel 

• Swimming hat 

Year 1 - In Year 1 this week, the children have enjoyed being immersed into their core text 'Dougal's Deep Sea Diary'.  Last week they travelled on an underwater adventure, generating exciting adjectives describing what they saw.  This week they built on this descriptive language by writing setting descriptions for an under the sea setting. "All around me were transparent jellyfish stinging me" said Amiyah.  "In the distance, I could see something glistening. When I swam closer I discovered the lost city of Atlantis" said Harry. Throughout our English lessons this week, we have been using the past tense to write these descriptions, We have been particularly focussing on using the suffix 'ed' at the end of verbs, such as 'discovered', 'jumped' and 'splashed'. 

Meanwhile, in Maths, the children have been exploring measurement. They have been measuring length of objects, using rulers; the mass of objects, by comparing weight; and measuring and comparing the capacity and volume of containers. "If I am measuring the capacity of something, I could measure how many cups of water it takes to fill the container" said Sophie.  “I know that I need to make sure that my cups of water are full to the top each time to make it fair" Ethan explained. 

In Science, the children have been building on their research in features of groups of animals to compare two groups. This week, they compared birds with reptiles.  "Both lay eggs on land", Adejuwon explailained.  "A reptile has scaly skin, but birds have feathers" said Lexi.  In phonics, the children have been spotting digraphs in words, such as 'ay'. "I can see the 'ay' sound in 'spray', said Aaliyah. The children have been enjoying applying this to spotting digraphs and trigraphs in 'alien', nonsense words, testing their phonic knowledge. The children have then gone on to apply this to their reading sessions.  

In RE, Year 1 have been learning about Islam. They have listened to key religious stories and discussed the morals of these. “The story of the crying camel teaches Muslims that all creatures are important to Allah. No matter how big or small they are, we should all take care of them”, explained Melissa. 

Year 6 - This week Year 6  had an exciting week ,in their maths  learning, as they developed their problem solving skills to calculate missing co-ordinates on a grid, and find solutions to 2-3 step word problems. To keep those arithmetic skills developing, the children continue to improve  their  `Personal Bests` in their  early morning arithmetic challenges . Bella commented , “ I`m getting 40/40 almost every time now.”

In Science, Year 6 have been exploring and finding out more about `Light`-  so they can create a detailed `double page spread` in several weeks time.  Sharniya  said , “ I didn`t know  that a rainbow came from light being separated by rain drops."

In English, the children have been  reading and exploring  a wide range of texts   - in preparation for KS2 SATs- in which they have been developing a wide range of  reading strategies and response techniques .Marcus  commented ," I feel that my reading and comprehension skills have really improved this year."

The children continue to edit and  publishi their final pieces - formal letters- relating to their reading - last term- of `The Othert Side of Truth.` David   said of his final published piece ,

“ My formal letter  has really improved thanks to feedback from the class.”

In RE, the  children have been taking  part in  paired and group discussions - as they look forward to secondary school-  in a unit about their `Journey in Life.`

Lastly,  the children  have continued to improve their  practical  skills and teamwork  in PE. Nilton  said, “ My  throwing  and passing have really improved in basketball.”