Dear Parents,

I was so proud this week to watch the performances from our EYFS children. Their confidence has grown so much in the last term and we are all so proud of them! At a time of uncertainty, their enthusiasm really gives us all a boost.

At the time of writing we are preparing for WISPA's Christmas Market this afternoon and I would like to thank WISPA again for the many hours they have put in to make the event happen safely and to encourage support from local businesses. We are very grateful to the students from Writtle University College who have offered to help out at the Christmas Market. If you can help, particularly with the clearing up, we would be very grateful!

The WISPA Christmas craft event on Wednesday was great fun and it was lovely to see the children together creating a beautiful decoration. WISPA also funded yesterday's pantomime from The Rainbow Theatre Company. Their performance of Dick Whittington was fantastic (oh yes it was!) and the children really enjoyed joining in! WISPA are also working flat out on our library refurbishment which will inspire a love of reading for our current children and for those who join us in the years to come.

If you went to the Christmas Tree Festival at the weekend you will have seen our beautiful entry, All Good Things Come in Trees, designed by Mrs Winsley and Mrs Stobbie using forest school decorations created by the children. We were so proud to receive the "Bishop's Choice" award from the Bishop of Chelmsford, who awarded our tree as his favourite of the festival.

All clubs have now finished for the term. The children will have an assembly next Thursday to introduce them to the new Fencing club which is on offer from January. Booking for Spring Term clubs is now open - these are for Years 1 and 2 only. Please take a look at the timetable on our website and book with our sports professionals directly or, for staff clubs, via the ParentMail form. Please make a note of club dates in your diary.

Have a lovely weekend.
Helen Castell

We encourage healthy lunches for all children. Please support us by not including sweets or chocolate in your child's packed lunch and reserving those treats for home.
A reminder that we love to share awards, medals, trophies, even anecdotes from children’s achievements outside of school. Please hand them to me or email parents@writtleinfantschool.com for assemblies on Friday.
Diary dates and school events can added from our website to the calendar on your phone. Click on your chosen list of dates from the Links section and then click export at the bottom of the page.

Sharks: Zachary for persevering with his seal fact file and Nuala for always being polite and being an excellent role model for others. Zara for independence and Blythe for inclusivity.
Dolphins: Audrey, Teddy and Florence for persevering and independence with their money work. Humphrey for determination and independence. Stanley P for perseverance and George for politeness.
Turtles: Thomas for perseverance with his writing and working independently. Isabelle and Noah for inclusivity.
Parrots: Molly for inclusivity, Oliver for politeness.

We started the week by visiting Antarctica, writing about Emperor Penguins and doing some polar yoga. The children created their own polar maths problems, devised a frozen themed quiz and wrote a story about ‘The Girl Who Went to the Arctic’. All of this work is now in their beautiful frozen topic books which they have shown great pride in. In maths we completed our money unit. We have been finding change, answering money problems and adding different totals. Please continue to apply these skills whenever you can as this is a life skill which will help them in the future.

Click here for this week's home learning.

Our email addresses are dolphins@writtleinfantschool.com and sharks@writtleinfantschool.com.

Both classes have been very busy carrying out various Christmas themed activities and creating cards and decorations which they can’t wait to bring home and share. They have also made a special decoration each, which will be on sale today at the Christmas Market. If you don’t have the opportunity to attend but would still like to purchase your child’s decoration, then just let us know. On Thursday afternoon they were also lucky enough to watch the Dick Whittington pantomime which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Aside from Christmas activities there has been lots of maths and English going on too. In maths the children have been representing teens numbers and numbers beyond 20 using tens frames, counters and base ten apparatus. They have also been practising writing numbers in words. In English they listened to and retold the Christmas story. They also wrote letters to Father Christmas and did a Christmas alphabet task.

Click the link for this week's home learning.

Our email addresses are parrots@writtleinfantschool.com and turtles@writtleinfantschool.com.

What a week! The children loved performing our Christmas show and didn't they do really well. They had to perform three times which I'm sure is tiring when you are 4 or 5 - I know Mrs Giles and I are! We have been making Christmas cards and folders this week and have enjoyed listening to lots of Christmassy stories. This week we have learnt all about the letters and sounds l, ll, f and ff. That brings us to the end of phase 2 phonics and we will start on phase 3 after Christmas. We all really enjoyed the pantomime 'Dick Whittington' and joined in well with the dancing and singing. There is a festival feel around the school today as everyone is dressed up in their Christmas jumpers and rocking some fabulous hairstyles! We look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Market later, don't forget to come and say hello. Have a great weekend.