Welcome

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. The children, from all year groups, were asked what they liked best about Woodlands. Here are some of the things they wrote:

• The teachers are kind & friendly
• Star of the Week
• Everyone smiles
• We are surrounded by friends
• Golden Time
• Hard-working teaching assistants
• Woodlands 5
• School Council
• MATHS!
• Different groups for different lessons
• I am trusted to do things
• English / Art / PE / DT / Geography / History
• Everyone is treated equally
• The teachers always give really good feedback on my work
• In school I feel safe & have fun
• The teachers do as much as they can to make lessons enjoyable for us
• If there is a problem or you’re worried about something the teachers always sort it out
• The teachers make it exciting for us to learn new things in different ways

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:

• Have a Year 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 [Sorry, we’re only a primary school!]
• More lessons in the copse outside [We agree – this is something that is part of our School Development Plan & hopefully will happen more over the coming weeks & months UPDATE: we have introduced outdoor education weeks & these are now a feature of each half term]
• More clubs [This is an excellent point & is an area we will be looking to expand in future]
• More playground equipment [UPDATE: Our School Council has bought a wide range of equipment for the juniors & the infants’ PlayPod should be up & running for March 2016]
• iPads for everyone [Again it’s something we'd love to do, but it’s a question of raising the funds UPDATE: we have bought 16 new iPads - not quite one each but it's a start!]
• More food on the plates for older pupils [I’d never thought about this – it’s a great point, but we’ll have to ask our cook. UPDATE: it turns out that our kitchen staff have to follow strict guidelines in relation to portion size. Yes, Reception class pupils should receive the same size portions as Year 6 pupils - though cook did confess to giving juniors 2 sausages compared to the infants' one!]
• A bigger bike shed [A good idea - maybe we'll be able to get a grant. UPDATE: Our EcoClub are researching buying some scooter racks, which would organise things a wee bit better & hopefully free up some space]
• Less homework [Half the parents would agree, half wouldn’t…]
• Nothing, I really love Woodlands the way it is [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