Dear Parents,

We’ve been feeling very autumnal this week, the weather is turning and the leaves are starting to fall. There are lots of spiders around and the children have had some very close encounters with them in Forest School, which they have absolutely loved! This week they took inspiration from the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy, creating some beautiful artworks. Forest School lessons are such a valuable asset to our school, they enrich the children’s learning and clearly give them such joy. We are very lucky to have such amazing Forest School leaders, Mrs Winsley and Mrs Stobbie, who work tirelessly every week to devise enchanting new ways to inspire the children to enjoy the natural world. 

This week

HIVE Family of Schools: Each school hosted a consultation meeting for parents and staff this week, which is an essential part of the process of forming a multi-academy trust. Please remember you are welcome to give your feedback until the consultation period ends on Friday 25th October.

Harvest: The Year 1 and 2 children performed brilliantly at the Harvest Festival on Wednesday, we hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you to Reverend Tony who led a prayer and made us all appreciate why we celebrate Harvest as such a special time of year. Our Foxes and Squirrels were treated to the performance of The Enormous Turnip in assembly today. Your very kind donations raised over £100 for The Link Club, for which we know they will be so grateful. Our Year 2 children will sing to them at their annual Christmas party. We have also received a note of gratitude from Chelmsford FoodBank after both schools collected an amazing 206kg of donations yesterday. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed. 

Village Fair Donation: This week we were also incredibly grateful to have received a very generous donation of £1,500 from the Writtle Village Fair Association, following the village fair that was held during the summer. We will use the money to invest in our outdoor areas across the school and we look forward to showing the Fair Association how their hard-earned profits have benefitted the children. 

Autumn Storytime: This afternoon we have invited Year 1 & 2 parents to our Autumn Storytime (EYFS parents joined children in class last week). We hope this event fits in well with your busy schedules as it is just a few minutes before you would normally collect your children, but we know they really enjoy reading with their parents. We will have another session again next half term. 

Chickenpox: Unfortunately chickenpox is doing the rounds at the moment, so please look out for the symptoms. If your child is affected they will need to stay home from school until every blister has scabbed over - normally we find this takes around 5 - 7 days.

Next week

Tuesday - Flu consent deadline: The school nurses will be in school on Thursday 17th to complete the annual flu immunisation which is offered to all children. Please make sure you have completed the consent form by Tuesday 15th October if you want your child to receive the vaccination, which takes the form of a nasal spray. 

Thursday - Flu immunisations: As the nurses from the immunisation team will be in the library, there will be no piano lessons on Thursday morning - Bonnie will make up the lesson later in the term. 

Week after next

Tuesday 22nd / Thursday 24th - Parents’ Evenings: We are only 2 weeks away from the half term break! In the final week before half term we will host Parents’ Evenings at both schools on Tuesday and Thursday (Dolphins on Monday and Thursday). Please sign up on ParentMail for your appointment if you haven’t already done so. Children are welcome to attend these appointments. Both schools will run a Book Fair at the same time, giving you the opportunity to buy some wonderful books before or after your meeting with the class teacher. 

Friday 25th - Pumpkin competition: On the last day of half term, the PTA will hold a dress down day and pumpkin decorating competition. This is a hotly contested event, when children (and parents) show their incredible creativity and ingenuity, so no pressure, but you might want to start thinking about your ideas! Please drop off your pumpkin on the lawn outside the school in the morning and remember to collect it at the end of the day to take home, otherwise it will rot over the half term break! 

Reminders

Toys in school: The children are bringing in lots of toys from home at the moment, which unfortunately creates a distraction in class and interrupts learning time. If it is necessary for a child’s well-being to bring in a toy for comfort, please discuss this with the class teacher, otherwise please keep toys at home so they don’t get lost or damaged. There may be the odd occasion when teachers will ask for particular items to be brought in from home to support the children’s learning. 

Earrings: We have seen a number of girls wearing transparent earrings in school. It is an Essex-wide health and safety requirement that earrings are not worn for PE, so please remove them before school, or ensure your child can remove them themselves. Staff are not permitted to remove earrings, or tape over ears. 

Name tags: Please, please label all school uniform, footwear and other belongings! We have lots of lost property and mislaid items at the moment! We will put lost property on display at our Parents’ Evenings, so please check it when you come to school for your appointment and claim anything that belongs to you.

Community Links: There is lots of useful information on our Community Links page. If you are looking for holiday activities, resources, competitions and publications, please take a look, there are plenty of ideas for the October half term! 

Enjoy the weekend.

Best wishes,

Tracey Wilson