Message from Mrs. Castell
Dear Parents
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. The children have settled back into school very well for their first full week. I am pleased to say that attendance this week was 97.4%, above our school target of 96%. Both the governors and myself were concerned about the level of attendance up to Christmas which was the lowest we have seen, but we hope the improvement we have seen this week will continue. On Wednesday I counted 12 children coming in through the door after 8.55. We need to close the doors promptly at 8.55 to enable staff to begin their support for the children. Please arrive on time.
This term we offer an opportunity for you to have a school dinner with your child. Dates for your diary are:
Foxes - Wednesday 25th January, 11.45am
Squirrels - Wednesday 1st February, 11.45am
Turtles - Wednesday 8th February, 12.05pm
Parrots - Wednesday 22nd February, 12.05pm
Dolphins - Wednesday 1st March, 12.05pm
Sharks - Wednesday 8th March, 12.05pm
We will ask you to order your lunch in advance via ParentMail. Each lunch visit takes approximately half an hour.
A request from WISPA/WJSPA who are planning ahead for Mother's Day. They would like to run a Someone Special Store on the same basis as the Elfridges store. It may be that you have unwanted presents from Christmas that could be donated now for the event, if so please bring them to the school office.
You may be aware that a much-loved member of our school community is currently facing the most challenging time imaginable. It is so wonderful to see the huge love and support for Lisa and her family and we are posting the link to the fundraising page for anyone who would like to donate: https://gofund.me/e81fd24f
Have a restful weekend.
Best wishes
Helen Castell
Notices
- As we have children in school with life-threatening allergies, please do not send products containing nuts into school, or egg-based foods such as egg mayo, scotch egg, omelette, frittata etc.
- Teachers cannot 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.
Safeguarding
A useful guide to using devices safely: https://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/parents-carers/parent-info/games-consoles-smart-devices-and-how-to-keep-your-children-safe/
We all have a duty to safeguard the children in our care and if the school suspects or knows that a child is at risk of significant harm, we will make a referral to Social Services. The school does not investigate any disclosures that children may make, we are a referring agency. Procedures on safeguarding from the Government make it clear that all staff should operate with an ‘it could happen here’ approach to any concerns they may have. If you have any concerns about a child please telephone the Essex Child and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627.
Awards
SHARKS - Audrey for a fabulous start to Sharks and adapting well to school life. Hettie for trying hard and persevering with money. Reuben for inclusivity.
DOLPHINS - Eden-Rose for super independent reading AND Frankie for brilliant perseverance in improving her handwriting and for having a wonderful attitude to learning! Yasin for inclusivity, Farrah and Oliver for politeness.
PARROTS - Imayah and Lowen for persevering with their writing to improve their handwriting and write neatly on the lines. Amazing work, girls! Leo for independence, Imayah and Nilha for inclusivity.
TURTLES - Artie for successfully challenging himself with harder work and for communicating his needs appropriately to adults. We are very proud of him! Eden for being independent and looking after her new little sister at home, for always trying her best and showing perseverance. Maddie and Ava for politeness.
SQUIRRELS - Poppy-Joe for inclusivity when caring for and playing with other children. Matilda & Sofia for perseverance when tidying the classroom! Amelia and Oliver for politeness.
FOXES - Darcy for perseverance in writing her name, now it’s written so beautifully. Yaqub for independence and inclusivity when playing with new friends. Well done! Nevai and Zachary for inclusivity.
Year 2 News
We have started as we mean to go on with a very busy, full-on week. We have been pleased with the children’s attitude to learning and enthusiastic response to our new topic, which is called ‘Dragon Quest!’ We have introduced our new book ‘The Moon Dragons’ written by Dyan Sheldon and illustrated by Gary Blythe. Through this text, we will be exploring a variety of dilemmas and questions which the children can relate to their own experiences.
In Maths, we have been working with money looking at coin and note values, counting money and making different amounts.
During HIPIP time this term, the children will be working collaboratively to make some artwork representing different emotions.
Year 1 News
Last week a wolf came to visit our classes! We explored different animal groups such as mammals, birds and fish. We researched facts about wolves using the iPads and found out where wolves live and where they live. We used adjectives to describe the wolf and created a fact file that included our own did you know facts. In Maths, we have deepened our knowledge of teen numbers and tens and ones. We introduced that teen numbers include one lot of ten, and represented the teen numbers using dienes sticks and drawing tens and ones. We have started our new dance and music topics and have tried to find the beat/pulse in songs.
EYFS News
This week we have focused on the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We have also learnt to recite the poem ‘Houses’. The poem was about different animal homes. We have read a variety of ‘Three Little Pigs’ stories including ‘The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig’. We even received a letter from the pigs asking for our help! We discussed the best materials to build a house for the pigs to protect them from the wolf! We designed our own houses and labelled our drawings. We also made some traps for the wolf! This week in maths we have been using numbers with in 5. We have been looking at the composition of 5 and how we can make 5 in different ways. In phonics we have learnt the sounds qu, ch and sh and the tricky words she, he, my and by. We really enjoyed our PE lesson with coach Chris. The next one will be on Monday! Have a lovely weekend.
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