Spring Newsletter 7

Dear Parents & Carers

Next week we are launching Eat Them to Defeat Them at Woodlands! Eat Them to Defeat Them is a national campaign supported by Veg Power, ITV, Channel 4, Sky & all the leading supermarket chains in order to encourage children to eat more vegetables. 80% of children in the UK are not eating enough vegetables, with a third eating less than one portion of vegetables per day. Perhaps most alarming is that 50% of grown-ups have said they have given up even trying. With the support of schools across the UK, Veg Power is turning this around using advertising & marketing to inspire kids to veggie loving habits they will keep for life, & in turn share with their children. Find out more at https://eatthemtodefeatthem.com/ We know that some of our children at Woodlands are already converts to the cause, but there are definitely others who need a wee bit of persuasion when it comes to eating vegetables. On Monday, each child from reception to Y6 will receive an Eat Them to Defeat Them mission pack. Holly the Chef & her wonderful team in the kitchen will using the next few weeks to further encourage our children to try vegetables they maybe haven’t tried before, or if they are already veggie eaters, they will be able help themselves to even more! We hope that together we will be able to encourage our children to lead even healthier lives. https://vegpower.org.uk/5-top-tips-for-fussy-eaters-from-an-expert/

I wrote to parents & carers at the end of January to tell you we have introduced Read Write Inc Phonics (RWI). RWI is a systematic, synthetic phonics programme for the teaching of phonics, reading, spelling and writing. The adoption of this phonics scheme has reached its next stage, with books being sent home to children in reception & Y1&2 over the next week. For further information and support, please visit the Read Write Inc Phonics section under the Parents tab of the school website. https://www.woodlandsschoolformby.co.uk/read-write-inc-phonics/ This will help you to understand how RWI is taught and how you can help your child at home with their reading.

Before half term, we alerted you to World Book Day next Thursday (3rd March). We asked the children to create a character from one of their favourite books or stories using a wooden spoon. Feel free to attach any necessary accessories, e.g. wand, broom, marmalade sandwich, bow & arrow, spade, backpack, a large stripy red & white hat… You can make it as simple or complicated as you want. There will be a small prize for the most imaginative wooden spoon character in each class. Most importantly, the children will be able to see a huge array of characters from a range of books chosen & created by their classmates. We’re looking forward to how creative the children (& you!) have been. We would be grateful if the children bring their spoons with them next Thursday morning.

Here’s his week’s ‘nudges’ to help you start conversations with your children about their learning…

Nursery

What is your favourite vegetable? How many vegetables can you name?

{Understanding the World}

Reception [Red & Blue]

Can you name some people that help us in the community?

{Understanding the World}

Y1&2 [Green, Yellow & Purple]

Can you tell me what an Empire is?

{History topic: ‘The Romans’}

Y3&4 [3A, 3/4M & 4G]

How did Charles I’s disastrous reign lead Civil War?

{History topic: ‘The Civil War’}

Y5&6 [5D, 5/6P & 6R]

What can you tell me about how light travels?

{Science topic ‘Light’}

Our attendance has started to rise! This week we are at 95.2% - not quite where we want to be (97%) but we’re on the way. Congratulations to 3G for achieving 100% attendance.  

We had 5 classes who had no late marks this week: Blue Class, Yellow Class, 3/4M, 3G, & 4C. It’s been another good week for punctuality: just 13 late marks across the whole school. 6 late marks ‘before the register closed’ – that’s before 9.20am & 7 late marks ‘after the register has closed’, that’s after 9.20am.

Reminder: due to illness, we have rearranged Mr Grant’s (3G) parents evening for Tuesday 1st & Wednesday 2nd March (4pm-7pm). Our nursery class parents evenings for our N2 children will be held on Tuesday 1st March (1pm-7pm) & Tuesday 8th March (3.30pm-6pm). The Google Forms for these parents evenings are now closed. We look forward to seeing you there.

I hope you have a good weekend – the forecast actually looks reasonable for once. Hopefully, you’ll be able to get out & about as a family without having to wear sou’westers or having to lash your children together to stop them from being blown away. Maybe you’ll be able to spot a few early signs of spring…

KD Williams

Headteacher

Last word

What’s blue & smells like red paint?

Blue paint...