Weekly News – Friday 7th March

Dear Parents,

It's been so lovely to see the sunshine this week! We have welcomed the brighter, warmer days and made the most of the outdoors. Thanks to the generosity of Mrs Dorman and our friends at the PTA, we have had lots of compost delivered which will enable us to plant up our containers and watch them grow in the next few months. Mrs Winsley would love some frog spawn for the school pond if anyone has any to donate, the children would be fascinated to see the life cycle in action!

World Book Day

The highlight of the week was of course World Book Day, at which we saw some amazing nautical costumes, there are photos above! Well done to all the children and parents for their inventiveness. Mr Taylor and I were "drowning" in school work in our office, but luckily I had gills and Mr Taylor had his diving helmet! The children had a brilliant day, with each class having a drama workshop delivered by Oliver from Perform - click here for more information! Each child should have received their £1 World Book Day token today, and we will also send registration forms for membership to Essex Libraries next week.

Attendance

We have sent home an important letter today regarding attendance and holiday requests. Please work with us to avoid planned absence in term time, unless there are very exceptional circumstances.

Lunch Orders

The wonderful Mrs Duff ensures that every day each child receives the lunch they have requested. Please help her by completing the ParentMail forms when they are sent to you. Even if your child doesn't have a school lunch, please confirm that they will receive a packed lunch each day. Thank you for your support.

Important Reminders

Please check our timetable for details of Forest School and PE lessons. As the weather is still unpredictable, it’s vital that your child has the appropriate clothing and footwear on these days.

School Nurse Appointments

The school nurses are available in our library every Tuesday afternoon.  Please take a look at the flyer to see the list of health concerns they can help with and then book your appointment online.

Community Events

We've added to our Community Links page once again, as there are lots of exciting events and resources which may be of interest to you! For children starting school in September, the Transition Roadshow at Galleywood Infant School on 20th March should be very useful and will be attended by some of our teaching staff. There's another fundraising ice hockey game featuring Miss Wakeling on Saturday 22nd March and the next Messy Church is on Sunday 23rd March.

Have a good weekend.

Best wishes,
Tracey Wilson

Home learning

Home Learning Passports

Please try to complete this half term's passports and email any work or photos to parents@writtleinfantschool.com.

Year 1 Home Learning Passport - Spring 2 2025

Year 2 Home Activity Passport - Spring 2 2025

Spelling Practice

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

Year 1 Spelling Practice: Spring 2 2025

Year 2 Spelling Practice - Spring 2, 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.

 EYFS Tapestry Challenge

In maths this week we asked the children to complete this sentence:

'5 is more than ....'
Some of the children found this easy and some more difficult. Obviously there are 5 possible answers - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.
For this week's Tapestry Challenge, please ask your child the question. If they can do it, ask them how they know. If they can't do it, it might be helpful to make the amounts with small objects such as cars, pieces of pasta etc. to show visually how the higher numbers are greater amounts. Have fun!

The EYFS Team

PTA Update

Dates for your diary

Friday 23rd May – Inflatable Fun – our after school celebration of the half term holidays

Saturday 28th June – Summer fair

Watch this space

Next Bag2School – donate your unwanted clothes and accessories for recycling and raise funds for your schools.

Someone Special shop – details coming next week.

Free easyfundraising App-eal!

Since our newest supporters joined up in the Autumn, we’ve seen a big increase in the donations coming in.  Remember that it’s simple to set up, and means companies donate without any extra cost to you!  If you’re not already using this to shop online, please do download the app and sign up – follow this link: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/create-an-account/

Discounted Barleylands tickets

The weather is improving, time to get out and secure your discounted days out!  Follow the link below to grab one of our limited discounted tickets. Be sure to complete your child’s class and full name so tickets can be sent home: https://square.link/u/GoOZH0e5

Forest School Update

On Tuesday we could not miss out on pancake day so we had our own delicious pancakes cooked over the fire!
The sunshine has made the most welcome return, after so many cold, wet days. We have been sowing sunflowers and making an early start on our pumpkin patch. Ending our Thursday session sitting ( some laying!) by the fire circle, closing our eyes and being mindful.
Many thanks for the donation of compost, this has helped us to get sowing , get the growing season started and pot up some plants to bring in some spring colour. We really appreciate it.

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

What a wonderful week! We hope that your child enjoyed World Book Day as much as we did. We have been learning all about creatures from under the sea and enjoying the poem, 'Marine Mammal Boogie'. The children have been doing really well in phonics, revising all the phase 2 and 3 words and sounds. In maths, we have been ordering numbers and thinking about number 8. Have a lovely weekend!

Year 1

Year 1 have had a fabulous week as always! We loved dressing up and celebrating world book day at school, their costumes were fantastic! The children thoroughly enjoyed the drama workshop and loved being theatrical under the sea.

Year 2

We've had a fun-filled week in Year 2. We have been working hard on our multiplication and have read through our lovely story about friendship: Pip and Egg. We've also learnt about animal offspring and the equator. A great week with World Book Day in the mix too - we loved to see everyone dressed up!