Dear Parents,

We hope that your children have settled in and are happy at Woodlea.  Now that they have been in school for a few weeks, we feel it is important for parents, that you too are aware of the routines that your child follows in school.

Morning Routines

The school doors open at 8.45am and the children come into school.

If they need to change their reading books and their record book is signed by an adult, they change this book themselves.

They then go into their class and complete morning work from the board. This means that at 8.55am, the children are in place and ready for their first lesson.

Homework

As you are aware, there has been a questionnaire sent out for parents to give opinions on. These will then be looked at and in consultation with staff, an agreed homework will be decided. For this half term, homework will be in the form of reading, learning spellings and times tables. There is a Project Style homework, set additionally to this. For this half term, it is based on your child’s class endangered animal. This encourages children and parents to work together at home and can take the form of collage, ICT, painting, sculpture … The choice is yours!

Reading

We are asking that the children read at home a minimum of four times a week and this is signed off in their reading record book by an adult. The children can read from any text at home – reading ingredients in food products, signage by the road / in a supermarket, the programme listings on television, a sports programme from a match, a magazine – the list is endless. Children are encouraged to change their own books, once completed. We have found this to be positive as it gives the children ownership of their reading.

Basic Skills

We ask that you practise number bonds and times tables with your children to help support them in their daily maths lesson. All the children in the school are having a daily basic skills session, additionally to their maths session. These skills are important for all children of all abilities and contribute to the speed and accuracy of the children’s maths work.

Effort Club

This takes from 12.15 – 12.35 the children then go for their lunch.  As a school we are encouraging children to have pride in their work and our expectations are related to their ability – not age. Effort club is for children who fall short of what is expected of them – it could be as simple as not underlining the date and learning objective or not completing a set amount in class.

Birthday Children

Children who are celebrating a birthday can come into school in their own clothes and ask a friend to join them. They are instantly recognisable by anyone in school and often wished a ‘Happy Birthday’. Every month there is a ‘Birthday Lunch’ where Mrs Leggett invites all children, whose birthday it is in that month to have a hot dinner. The children who are on the decorated birthday table receive a party hat, additional cake or biscuit as well as having the rest of the school singing to them.

Positive Behaviour

At Woodlea Junior School, we actively promote positive behaviour and seek out children doing the right thing. If your child is consistent with their good behaviour, they will receive Golden Time, on a Friday afternoon. This is an activity in school chosen by your child and can range from science experiments, to loom bands to gardening. In addition to this, parents will receive a text message to directly inform you that your child is displaying positive behaviour.

Friday Family Assembly

We would like to invite all parents and family members to our Friday Family Assembly. During this assembly, we will be celebrating work, behaviour and achievements made during that week.  The assembly starts at 9.05am.

Nut Free School

Woodlea is a ‘Nut Free School’. All snacks, lunches and other food brought into school must not contain nuts.

Healthy snacks

As a Healthy School, we expect snacks which are brought in to be healthy; fruit, cereal bars and veg sticks are all acceptable.

We realise that this is a lot to take in, however we are so proud of the children and hope that their positive start to year 3 continues.

Should you wish any further information, Mrs Younis and Mrs Smith will be happy to discuss or clarify any of the above areas with you.

Thank you for your continued support.

Each class at Woodlea is named after an Endangered Animal. I would like you to create your first project homework of this new school year, based on your class animal.

For our children in year 3, this type of homework encourages you to work alongside your parents and produce something very unique to you.

You can use any medium of your choice; 3D, 2D, collage, ICT, performance …

In the past we have had paintings, information booklets, sculptures, masks, cakes, models and the list goes on.

Should you require any additional information, please ask your class teachers, who will be happy to help.

These projects must be in school during the week beginning 26^th September.

Thank you.

The main prize was a trip to Rio de Janeiro to watch some of the Paralympian Games. As a school the children, after completing any activity had to log onto the computer and enter the details. These details were converted to miles and the organisation to get the furthest won!  As you can imagine a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The competition is a huge boost to our children and school. For our children and indeed for many children this is a true, ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’. ‘Things like this don’t happen to schools like ours’, is just one of the comments that has been said to me by the parents. The competition was an opportunity for us to relate our school’s deep rooted Core Values to those of the Paralympics. The children were keen to take part in additional activity, and linking this to their health began to see many benefits. They have researched Paralympic events and adaptations and started to discover some of the many athletes and their stories, which are in many cases inspirational.

As a school we are planning to develop this even further before, during and after the trip. The children and staff who are going to Rio will be keeping the school, families and friends updated with Tweets, Vlogs and traditional phone calls. Following their return, we are going to use it as an opportunity for furthering the school’s knowledge and understanding of the games and making links with athletes met in Rio.

The children themselves are already building a large following on social media through Instagram, Twitter and You Tube, dedicated to their journey. The accounts will follow the children through videos and pictures sharing the inspirational stories of the athletes they meet and see. Over the next few weeks we hope to see followers rise through give aways and promotions, from local business and other sites on Facebook and Instagram. This will also have dual purpose: to spread the word and to advertise.

Sainsbury’s are the main sponsors of the competition, however Channel 4 are the lead TV station that will be promoting the games throughout the tournament.  Sainsburys are setting up a national press release at the start of September also as a school we are promoting it in the local press who have already run the story.

<font color="#212121">follow this link to the local press release</font>

www.leylandguardian.co.uk/news/local/girls-on-their-marks-for-rio-paralympics-1-8033889  

Congratulations to the following children for receiving one of three traditional awards, given out annually to year 6 leavers.

Hewartson Award- this is for 'Excellence and Endeavor' throughout their time at Woodlea. These children are chosen by all the school staff. This year the award went to Scarlett Heyes and Jack Townson.

Allison Trophy - This is for the child that has made mosy progress in reading, during their time at Woodlea. This year Charlotte Parr was the proud receiver of this trophy.

Johnson Award - this is again chosen by the staff in school for the child who has shown continuous 'Care and Compassion' during their time at Woodlea. Mckenzie Topping was this years winner of the award.  

All of our year 6 leavers have contributed to the success of their cohort. Thank you to each and everyone of you and Good Luck with the next stage in your education.

Woodlea’s Super Six of 2016 / 17
 

Do you show Woodlea’s Core Values at all times?
Are you available at lunchtimes?
 
Are you respectful to all members of the school community?
Can you speak clearly, and listen carefully, in order to pass on accurate messages?
Are you reliable and trustworthy?
Are you honest?
 
If you have answered yes to these questions, and would like a chance to be one of the Super Six, please read on.
 
You must write a formal letter of application to Mrs Shorrocks.
 

In this letter you must;

• state clearly why you want to be part of the Super Six,
• what skills you can bring to the Super Six,
• what difference you will make to the team,
• answer the questions above, by giving examples.

 
Letters of application must be given to Mrs Shorrocks, no later than Monday 27^th June at 3.30pm.

Children who are successful with their letters of application, will be asked for interview on Thursday 30^th June.
 
Good Luck.

Mrs Shorrocks