18^TH November 2016

Dear Parent and Carers,

I am writing to advise all adults that our Safeguarding procedures are being updated and the following changes have been made.

• Parents that visit the school for any assembly must sign in at reception, where a sticker will be given. Parents will then be asked to wait in the entrance, until a member of staff takes you to the hall. After the assembly, you will be brought back to reception to sign out. This is to ensure your safety, in the event of a fire and the safety of your children.
• Anyone wishing to speak to a teacher must do this before morning bell or at the end of the school day. You will need to sign in at reception, and will be asked to wait there, until the member of staff arrives. We cannot ask teachers to come out of their classroom once the school day has started.
• We understand that you may speak to a member of staff on the playground. However, if you need a private conversation in school, we ask that you come in via reception where you can sign in. This is to ensure the safety of everyone in the building, in the event of a fire. No adults will be allowed into school through the children’s entrances.
• There is a disabled toilet in the entrance area, but we ask that parents don’t make a habit of this. If you need to use this facility, please ensure that you let staff in the office know when you are leaving the building.
• When after school clubs finish at 4.10pm, we ask that an adult is available to pick up a child. There are a number of children walking home alone and as the nights are getting darker, this is a safeguarding concern.

We continue as always to have an ‘open door’ policy and I am sure that you will all agree, the changes made are a positive move in ensuring the safety of your children, which remains our main priority.

Thank you for your continued support, 

Yours faithfully,

Mrs J Shorrocks

Headteacher

16^th November 2016

Dear Parents,

As previously announced, we are extremely happy and excited to be taking the whole school to The Lowry Theatre in Manchester, to watch the matinee performance of ‘Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang’, on Wednesday 21^stDecember 2016.

The planning for such a visit takes months and the tickets were purchased in May of this year.  The full cost for the visit, including theatre tickets, transport and insurance will be fully funded by Woodlea’s PTA.

As this is a matinee performance, we will be returning to school later than the end of a regular school day, at approximately 6pm.

Can all parents please send the reply slip below giving permission for your child to go on the Theatre visit. This slip must be returned to school no later than THURSDAY 8^th DECEMBER.

I am sure that you will agree that this is an amazing opportunity for our children.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs J Shorrocks and Woodlea’s PTA

I give permission that my child __________________________, class _____

Goes to watch Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang on Wednesday 21^st December.

Signed ___________________________ Date ___________________

Homework at Woodlea

Dear Parent/Carer,

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the large number of parents who returned our homework questionnaire. The response was great and the information and opinions, which you provided, have helped us enormously to make significant changes to how homework is run at Woodlea.

A significant majority of you were keen to see homework activities online in addition to regular homework on paper. As a result of this, we have decided upon the following.

• Children in all year groups are expected to read regularly at home, learn spellings and times tables.
• Online and written Maths and English homework will be set on alternate weeks ( online one week , written the next)
• The creative project homework will still run over the course of the term.

The online content will be using ‘Purple Mash’ mainly for English and a subscription-based website called ‘Sum dog’ for Maths (This is an online service which has a wealth of maths games that adapt to the child’s level of ability and track their progress).

We are aware, from the survey, that some families have limited access to ICT and so to overcome this we will be continuing to run homework club weekly. Here, children will be able to use the school computers / ipads to complete their homework as well as receiving support from our teaching assistants.

It is our hope that by simplifying and making our homework more focused and interesting we will be able to encourage all of our children to continue their learning outside of school.

Thank you again for your continued support

Norman Payne

Curriculum Leader

Sponsored Times Tables

Tuesday 8^th November

On the 10^th November 2016, Woodlea Junior School will be hosting a ‘Maths Day’, with a wide variety of interesting maths challenges taking place throughout the day in school.

In the build up to this event, we will be running a ‘Sponsored Times Table Competition’, throughout the school. Children will firstly compete on their own, with 60 questions ranging from 2 – 12 times tables. They will then compete against classmates, where a winner from each class will be decided. On the ‘Maths Day’ itself, the finalists from each class will compete to win a prize. To make sure this is a fair competition there will be different questions for each year group.

It would be fantastic for the children, if you fully support them in this competition with your encouragement and sponsorship. This money will go towards new maths equipment for each class, which will enable all children to access it during all maths and theme related lessons. Additional money raised will go towards a subscription to ‘Sum Dog’. This is a fully interactive maths programme, which will be used in school and all children will get their own personal log in, to be used at home as part of their homework.  

It was clear from the homework questionnaires that many parents and guardians felt as though homework should be more IT based or fun and this will go a long way to making positive changes for the children. For those without access to the internet at home, homework club will have access to Sum Dog each week so the children won’t miss out.

Please complete the sponsorship form overleaf and return it to school by Tuesday 8^th November at the latest. Any sponsorships will be greatly appreciated and we thank you in advance for your continued support.

Jillian Shorrocks

Headteacher. 

Dear Parents

13^th October 2016

PARENTS’ EVENING

We would like to invite you to Parents’ Evening on Wednesday 26th & Thursday 27th October 2016.  This will give you an opportunity to come in, look at your child’s work in class and speak with the class teacher as to how your child has settled into the new school year and how they are progressing. You can also share information which may be beneficial to the teacher. 

If you are unable to attend parents evening, please contact the class teacher, or myself, and we will be happy to make an appointment at a more convenient time.

During the evening there will be Teaching Assistants available in classrooms. This will be an opportunity for you to speak with them and see which strategies are used in maths and how additionally you can support your child at home.

We will also have lap tops set up in the Nurture Room, for parents to complete a short OFSTED Parent’s View questionnaire. All your responses are confidential and go direct to OFSTED.

Sarah Beardwood, our Family Support Worker will be in attendance during the evenings. She will be able to offer advice, support and direct you to relevant agencies who help with behaviour, budgeting, adult learning, to name but a few.

There will also be a ‘Pop Up Pharmacy’, where pharmacists will be available during the evenings to advise and suggest treatments on common and reoccurring ailments.

Could you please fill in the tear off slip and return to school asap, as appointments are given on a first come, first served basis.

Yours sincerely

Mrs J Shorrocks

Headteacher