Dear Parents

What a wonderful Jubilee day we have had! The children looked fantastic in their red, white and blue, and the school was adorned in Union Jack bunting, balloons and the children's incredible artwork! Please take a look through our many photo galleries this week, as they really have done some superb drawings, inspired by Her Majesty and of course her corgis! Thank you to the parents who came for Family Learning Time this week, to the midday and catering teams for a very special street-party lunch today and finally to WISPA, who organised this afternoon's entertainment by the brilliant Mister B as well as a beautiful Jubilee pin for every child. We are hugely grateful and we know the children will have very fond memories of today.

The beautiful Jubilee badge given to each of the children by WISPA

We are seeing the return of a lot of common childhood illnesses, so please be aware of symptoms, treatment and any required periods of absence. However we are also seeing a rise in parents booking holidays in term time, which we are required to record as unauthorised absence. We appreciate that some of you have had holidays postponed due to COVID or have been unable to visit family members, however please consider how much learning children have missed during the two lockdowns. We will be expected by the government to take a much tougher stance next year, as things are back to some sort of normality, so I urge you not to plan holidays during term time as you plan ahead next year.

As we break up for half term today, I want to thank you all for your continued support. While this term has had its challenges, we have had a more settled time with staffing. The next half term brings events such as Sports Day, year group trips and transition opportunities, with Year 2 having taster sessions at the Junior School and our new intake and other year groups visiting their new classrooms. Reading Mondays will continue every Monday unless you are notified otherwise. Please continue to check our website for all special events and dates of holidays. We do not list weekly events such as clubs, piano lessons or Reading Mondays but all other dates are included.

Children return on Tuesday 7th June, as 6th June is an INSET day. There will be no staff on site on 6th June as we are having work done to the water tanks, so please do not ring or come up to the school - we will be monitoring emails. Forest School lessons next half term are for Dolphins on Tuesdays (the first day back!) and Foxes on Wednesdays. The final parents lunch will be for Sharks class on Wednesday 8th June at 11.55am. I will meet parents at the gate to the playground and lead them into the hall. Please avoid bringing younger siblings. All clubs resume in the first week back after half term and Young Architects' Club for Group 3 begins on Friday 10th June. Planning will begin in earnest for the joint WISPA and WJSPA Summer Fete on Saturday 25th June, please make sure you have the date in your diary! There will be dress down days on 17th and 24th June in preparation - more details will follow.

Have a wonderful half term break. I hope you enjoy all the celebrations for the Jubilee.

Best wishes
Helen Castell

Toys from home are not permitted in school, as they can cause issues between children.
We have had a number of issues this week linked to the online game Poppy Playtime and the character involved. This game is recommended for at least 8 plus and has scary content, so please be vigilant if your child plays online games.
A reminder that teachers cannot always check the class email during the day. Please send urgent messages to parents@writtleinfantschool.com.
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 his independent story writing. Dudley for persevering with step by step drawings of the Queen and her corgis! All of sharks for showing ALL values in forest schools! Jessica for perseverance and
Poppy for politeness!

DOLPHINS - Marwan for his independent writing and perseverance. Leo for his polite manner and inclusivity in 'buddying' up with a new pupil. Coen for his independent story writing and for persevering to design an amazing outfit for the Queen. Teddy H for perseverance and Alexa for inclusivity.

PARROTS - Jude & Sophie for working independently to complete some wonderful writing about the Queen. Ella for inclusivity and Ozzy for politeness.

TURTLES - Thomas C for persevering with his Queen's Hat writing, Isabelle B for independence when creating a detailed drawing of the Queen, Alex G for politeness and always working hard, Felix P for inclusivity, Mae for independence and Henry K for inclusivity (looking after Mrs E)!

SQUIRRELS - Alfie for persevering with his writing and letter formation and Lois for independent writing. Adley for perseverance and Lowen for politeness.

FOXES - Annabel and Leo for always being polite to adults, Amelie for independence, Willow for politeness,
Albie for inclusivity.

What a fantastic week we have had learning all about the Queen! We loved all the stories, including 'The Queen's Hat'! We all drew the Queen and did some shared writing of all the facts we know about her. Foxes drew corgis and Squirrels made paper aeroplanes and did a fly past! We enjoyed the Jubilee dough disco this week and learned some dances from different eras. We made a timeline using bricks to represent every ten years of the Queen's reign. This helps the children understand the history concepts of 'now' and 'past'. We really enjoyed dressing in red, white and blue and there was a lovely atmosphere around the school.
We hope you have a wonderful half term!

Our email addresses are foxes@writtleinfantschool.com and squirrels@writtleinfantschool.com.

Year 2 has had a wonderful week learning about our Queen and celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. Activities included; fact finding, listening, appreciating and dancing to music throughout the decades of Queen Elizabeth’s life, designing outfits for the Queen, writing and illustrating their own story based on Steve Antony’s The Queen’s Hat (after following a live draw-along with the author), Maths mystery of the Queen’s Missing Brooch, culminating in a red,white and blue themed day. We hope you enjoyed a taste of life in Year 2 during Family Learning Time. We loved working with you. Dolphins also enjoyed lunch with their grown ups. There is no homework this week as the children have worked so hard over the past few weeks. We wish you a fabulous half term break and hope you enjoy your Jubilee celebrations.

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

We have had a great week celebrating the Queen’s 70th Jubilee. Thank you so much to those that were able to attend Family Learning Time, it has been so lovely to have you all in again. This week we have written letters to the Queen, sketched some wonderful pictures of her and her corgis from the story ‘The Queen’s Hat’. We retold the story of ‘The Queen’s Hat’ and completed some other lovely Jubilee-themed writing activities. We have revised all of our maths topics from this half term such as fractions. Well done Year One for such a great half term, have a wonderful break and we will see you when we return.

Click the link for this week's home learning.

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