Weekly News – Friday 17th January

Strictly may have finished but dance fever continues in our Year 2 PE lessons!

Dear Parents,

There was a full moon this week, which might explain some of the strange goings-on around the school! As your Parrots and Turtles may well have told you, unusual footprints appeared unexpectedly in the classroom, so the children used all their forensic detective skills to discover who had been lurking in the school. There was only one possible conclusion - a wolf had snuck into school at lunchtime! It’s a funny coincidence, as the Year 1 children have just started reading their topic book, Good Little Wolf. This has really sparked the children’s imagination and we are all now on the lookout for our lupine friend. It is wonderful to see them so engaged in their learning!

Parent Lunches

We had a lovely lunch with Sharks’ parents on Wednesday. Thank you all for coming, the children were so excited to spend time with you during the school day. It will be Dolphins’ lunch next week. Our calendar of events for this term is available at writtleinfantschool.com/events.

Writtle Library Visits / Winter Reading Challenge

It was Parrots’ turn to visit Writtle Library this week. They really enjoyed exploring the book shelves and reading a story. You still have time to sign up for the Winter Reading Challenge, it finishes on 22nd February, so pop into the library and collect your challenge booklet.

E-books

We will update all parents next week on access to e-books via the Collins Hub library. Some parents have struggled to access the e-books on their phone, where the library appears to be blank. Having tried and tested this in school we recommend that you download the free Collins Hub app from Google Play or the Apple Store. You can use the same login details we issued before Christmas and your books will appear in the library on the app.

Parking

We were very sorry to receive a visit from a distressed resident earlier this week. Their driveway was blocked by a parked car, which prevented an emergency ambulance from accessing their home. This meant that a very sick, elderly patient had to be transferred to the ambulance across neighbouring gardens in order to be transported to hospital. Having already sent home a letter this week regarding safe parking, can we please ask again that all parents show due courtesy and consideration when they park near the school. Driveways, pavements, junctions and crossing points must all be kept clear, for the safety of both residents and pedestrians. We have of course apologised to our neighbours on behalf of the school and assured them that we would remind parents to park with respect for others. We wish the patient a speedy recovery.

School Nurse Drop In Sessions

Remember you can now book appointments online with the School Nurses who come to our library weekly on a Tuesday afternoon.

Enjoy your weekend, stay warm!!

Best wishes,

Tracey Wilson

Home learning

Home Learning Passports

We have now published our home learning passports for this half term. Please email any work or photos to parents@writtleinfantschool.com.

Year 1 Home Learning Passport - Spring 1 2025

Year 2 Home Activity Passport - Spring 1 2025

Spelling Practice

There is also some spelling practice for Year 1 and Year 2 below.

Year 1 Spelling Practice

Year 2 Spelling Practice - Spring 1, Week 3

Topic Maps

We have also published our topic maps for the this half term, so you can see what the children will cover in all areas of the Key Stage 1 Curriculum.

 

Click to access Year-1-Half-Term-Plan-Spring-1-2025.pdf

Click to access Year-2-Half-Term-Plan-Spring-1-2025.pdf

EYFS Tapestry Challenge

This week the children have been learning / oo / (as in zoom) / oo / (as in book) / ar / and / or / in their phonics lessons. Please continue to read at home and encourage the children to try and spot the newly taught diagraphs.
Your challenge this week is to play a simple board game using a dice, something like snakes and ladders. Use your mastering number skills to practise counting as you move along the board. You can also wow your grown ups by subitising when looking at dice!
Have a great weekend.
The EYFS Team.

Forest School Update

The children couldn’t believe it when they found silver scales in our forest school area, were they left by the Moon Dragons? Lots of questions were asked and letters pinned to the tree for the dragon to read.

We have been topping up all habitats with leaves and sticks, talking about the moon and the changing of the seasons as we have daffodils springing up. There was lots of playing in mud and painting alongside all the physical and regular forest school activities.

If anyone has any spare left over compost, seeds, bird seed, fat balls etc, it would be greatly appreciated!

Keeping Children Safe

  • Thanks to those parents who have supported us in protecting the children’s privacy by waiting on the path by the main entrance until 3pm.
  • Emergency contact details must be up to date. Please email us at parents@writtleinfantschool.com if your details have changed.
  • Any food brought to school must not contain nuts or egg-based foods (e.g. egg mayo, scotch egg, omelette etc.).
  • We all have a duty to safeguard the children in our care. If you have any concerns about a child, please contact the school, the Chairs of Governors (if your concern is about a member of teaching staff), or the Essex Child and Families Hub on 0345 603 7627.

Highlights of the week

EYFS

This week the children in EYFS have been making boxes for popcorn which they ate Friday afternoon. Our poetry basket poem was about popcorn this week and the children were all very excited.

Year 1

This week we have enjoyed learning about wolves and writing silly sentences about them!

Year 2

This week we’ve been focusing on the use of possessive apostrophes and our dictation work, which is proving beneficial to our writing day-to-day. In Maths, we’ve begun exploring 2D and 3D shapes and have started reading our exciting new book for English this half term, The Moon Dragons. Sharks class also had a lovely parent lunch on Wednesday - thank you to everyone who was able to join us. Dolphins are looking forward to theirs next Wednesday!