Woodlands Primary School

Working together, achieving more

Rather than write a long, rambling piece which tries to convince you how wonderful our school is, I am just going to include some quotes from a recent pupil survey (autumn 2019). The children, from all year groups, were asked what they liked best about Woodlands. Here are some of the things they wrote:

• Kind teachers that always listen – they respect us
• Playing with my friends
• When you’re new, everyone’s friendly
• Teachers help us learn - all the staff help & encourage us
• Eating packed lunches outside on a sunny day
• School dinners
• The staff care about you
• I like the way you can tell your teachers & friends about any of your problems
• The way we’re given responsibility
• Forest School with Mr Anderson
• The Woodlands' Mile run
• Great topics in science, history & geography
• Opportunities to try new things
• The desserts!
• Eco Club
• If I could go to any school in the world I would choose this school

We know we’re not perfect. We are constantly striving to build on our successes, make  improvements where we can and raise standards in our school even further. When asked in the same pupil survey how they would improve our school, children wrote:

• Ban single use plastic [We know this is an important issue. So far, we have stopped using glitter in school, replaced single use pasta pots at lunchtime & changed the way milk is delivered to our nursery & reception children (no more individual cartons). There is still more to do; we are in the process of setting up a Plastic Free Schools Action Group & hope to apply for Plastic Free Schools Status during 2021]
• More homework[Half of our parents would agree, half wouldn’t…]
• Start wearing ties [Our governors (the people who help run our school)decided against changing the school uniform a few years ago, but it's something we could look at taking back to them if it was an issue that proved to be popular]
• Have a Year 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 [Sorry, we’re only a primary school!]
• Longer/more playtimes [I'm sorry, but I think we have a good amount of time given over to playtimes already - 15 minutes in the morning, 60 minutes at lunchtime & another 15 minutes each afternoon]
• More time in school [It's lovely you want to be here for longer, but I'm afraid there are a certain number of hours per week you are able to be in school for - we can't keep you longer...]
• More sports/playground equipment for the yard & the field [I know that this is something our School Council will be looking at over the coming months]
• Put cute puppies everywhere [A lovely idea but I'm not sure how Mr Inskip would feel about have to walk lots of dogs - & clean up after them!]
• Nothing - this school is great & nothing needs changing [We must be doing something right…]

I do think our school is wonderful – I just thought you should find out from our children.

Keith D Williams

Headteacher