Dear Parents and Carers,
 
We hope that your children have settled in and are happy at Woodlea.  Now that they have been in school over a week, 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 9am, the children are in place and ready for their first lesson.

Homework
This is given out weekly. We ask that the children do one piece of Literacy and Numeracy PLUS another from a different area. This style homework has proved successful, it is enabling children to work on an area in whatever style that they choose – drawing, writing, highlighting of text, photographs … It is expected that all children complete their homework. However we do not want it to become a battle at home to complete it. Most children have activities or other family commitments which means that homework may take a back seat and is therefore not completed.  If this is the case we offer a Homework Club on a Thursday after school till 4.15, whereby children can complete it, with support from our Teaching Assistants. If there is a particular reason why they cannot bring it in, please drop us a note.

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 11.50 – 12.05 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 proud of year 3 children with their resilience. They have had a positive start to year 3 and we hope that this continues.
Mrs Younis and Mr Brierley will be happy to discuss or clarify any of the above areas available after school.

Thank you for your continued support.

 

In July, the children who were going into year 6 were given a job advert to be a member of Woodlea's Super Six. The role entails supporting the staff during lunchtime and also working in the office.
Children were asked to apply in writing and use the job description as their guide. The letters were looked at and shortlisted candidates were invited for interview.
The successful children are; Abigail Poulter, Tom Down, Morgan Whittle, Scarlett Heyes, Frankie Poulter, Olivia Parsons.

During our Friday Family Assemblies, we will be showcasing a quality piece of work from each class. This weeks Big Work came from:
Ruby, 3G
Lucy, 3P
Max, 4T
Georgia, 4R
Ryan, 5L
Ellie, 5E
Georgia, 6C
Abigail, 6O

Woodlea Junior School is extremely proud of the teaching assistants that we have working with us. They are highly skilled in a variety of areas, which in turn supports the children. The job of a Teaching Assistant requires a lot of flexibility; one minute they are in an English lesson, followed by working in a small reading group and then asked to provide specialist support on a 1:1 with a child who has specific learning needs. Within each class there is at least one teaching assistant and teachers often comment that they couldn't manage without them.
As a recognition for everything that they do and to celebrate National Teaching Assistant Day, all of
the Teaching Assistants received a cup cake and a card.

The children of Woodlea have today participated in their Endangered Animal Fundraiser. Each class at Woodlea is named after and endangered animal. Last week the children in each class decided what their fundraising event was going to be. Below are what the children chose to do;

Panda – Panda Party
Gorillas – Class Disco
Tigers – Cake Making
Rhinos – Dress in grey & teddy bears picnic
Leopards – Leaping Leopards Sports Day
Elephants – Dress as elephants
Chimps – Throwing wet sponges at Mr Payne
Orang-utans – Dress as Orangutans, something orange

Here are a selection of Photos from during the day.
Please have a look at your child's class pages for additional photographs.

All parents were invited to an informal meeting with their child's class teacher. The purpose of the session was to put names to faces and find out routines of the class. It was good to see so many of the parents in school and that they felt comfortable in asking questions and establishing that link between home and school so early in the school.

FRIDAY FAVOURITES
 
Please find below a list of ‘Friday Favourites’ from Friday 25^th September to Friday 23^rd October.               
   
Please note the cost of a school dinner is £2.20. To order these lunches, please see Mrs Cook or Mrs Porter in the school office 

Congratulations Frankie Poulter on being selected to be Chimp's Role Model Prefect.

Congratulations to Iyla Armstrong and Joe Southward for being the first two children to become Role Model Prefects.