Spring Newsletter 4 [Friday 20th January]
Dear Parents & Carers
To begin this week’s newsletter, I have a message from Mr Grant – Woodlands’ TT Rock Stars supremo:
February 3rd is NSPCC Number Day! As part of our commitment to make maths exciting and high profile in our school, we've decided to take part in a friendly competition involving schools in the United Kingdom. It's a 1-day competition which starts on Friday 3rd February 2023 at 07:30 GMT and ends at 19:30 GMT. It's all done online via play.ttrockstars.com.
Children can play in any game mode with every correct answer to a multiplication or division question, earning themselves, their class and the school a point. The Times Tables Rock Stars platform will calculate the class average (the number of correct answers per pupil in the class who play during the competition hours, subject to a 60-minute limit (see below)). Winning classes in the school and in the competition as a whole will be the ones with the highest average.
To support player wellbeing, there is a time limit of 60-minutes per player. In other words, each player can earn competition points for up to 60-minutes between 07:30 GMT and 19:30 GMT on Friday 3rd February. Once the player goes beyond 60-minutes of play on that day, they will still earn coins but will no longer earn points towards the competition.
In the spirit of the competition, please don't play on their behalf but by all means, encourage and support them to the extent that it doesn't cause high-stress levels or impact on family plans.
As you are aware, we have arranged to hold our parent/teacher meetings on Monday 6th February & Wednesday 8th February (both from 4.00pm – 7.00 pm). You can book an appointment by accessing the parents evening area on the School Spider App. This link will close on Thursday 2nd February at 12 noon (appointments will no longer be available after this time).
Here’s this week’s conversation starters to help you find out about your children’s learning…
Nursery
This week, we have been investigating circles. Can you spot any circles in your house, garden or anywhere else?
{Literacy}
Reception [Red & Blue]
Where do penguins live? Describe what it is like there?
{Understanding the World}
Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]
What is timbre?
{Music topic: ‘Timbre’}
Y3&4 [3A, 3/4M & 4G]
What facts do you know about France?
{Geography topic: ‘Western Europe’}
Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]
What is the difference between complete & incomplete metamorphosis?
{Science topic: ‘Life Cycles’}
This week, our whole school attendance is 95.4%. We had no classes with 100% attendance this week & 4 classes reaching or exceeding our 97% target: Red Class (98.2%), Purple Class (97.4%), Yellow Class (99.7%) & 3/4M (99.3%).
We had only had 2 classes who had no late marks this week: 3/4M & 5/6P. We had 38 late marks across the whole school. 34 late marks were ‘before the register closed’ (that’s before 9.20am) & 4 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.
I want to remind you that, as things stand, next Wednesday 1st February Woodlands will only be open to children in the following classes:
- 3G
- 4T
All other classes in school will be closed to children on that day, including our nursery class. I will contact you if this situation changes, although there seems to be no prospect of a breakthrough in negotiations. School will be fully open again to all pupils on Thursday 2nd February.
There are further strikes scheduled on the following days:
Tuesday 28 February
Wednesday 15 March
Thursday 16 March
I would like to request that children do not wear ‘smart watches’ (or any device that can connect to the internet) to school. We have had a couple of instances recently where there have been issues caused by these devices. In one case an older pupil kept checking their watch continuously; when asked by a member of staff why, they replied that they were waiting for a message from their parent. If parents need to contact their children during the school day they should do this through the school office. So, from next week, I would like these devices to remain at home.
Have a good weekend.
KD Williams
Headteacher
Last word
Professor: What do you know about atoms?
Student: Very little…
Professor: Besides that.
