Weekly Bulletin: Friday 31st January 2025
Dear Parents, Carers & Families,
Our Nursery children have had great fun this week exploring everything watery. From splashing in puddles to learning which materials and objects float, they have learnt a great deal through their play. It was great to watch them puzzle out whether a floating container still floats when filled with water. The Nursery children also had a fabulous time learning about Chinese New Year. They created their own Chinese Dragon and performed a Dragon Dance. Well done!
Nursery Learning
Week on week, we will continue to share the learning experiences of other year groups.
In assembly this week, we learnt through the Zimbabwean story of the Awongalema Tree that all creatures have their own special gifts and that each and everyone has value. The children considered which of our school values were exemplified in the story. It was agreed that the tortoise was spirited, autonomous, noble and determined. Please talk about these ideas at home. You can revisit the story by clicking on the following link: The Awongalema Tree
Having met with the Student Council and agreed further roles and responsibilities that the students would like within the school, we are now looking to recruit House Captains, Prefects, Head and Deputy Prefects for the school. In assembly we discussed what these roles entail. As in the story of the Awongalema Tree, everyone’s unique talents would be valued in these roles. Students will need to write a brief note to the Headteacher and Student Council if they wish to apply for these roles. They need to state
why they would like the role and why they think they would be good in it. All applications need to be in by the half term break.
Supporting 10 and 11 Year old Students with their Mental Health Workshop
Our SENCo, Miss Haddaway has organised a workshop for those parents with 10 and 11 years olds who are interested in supporting them with their mental health. Please click HERE if you are interested in attending.
We realise that quite some time has passed since we sent out a letter
informing you of the decision to join the Aletheia Trust. Much positive work has been taking place since this announcement with various members of the Aletheia Team working with ours. We are aiming to have fully transitioned over to Aletheia by March 1st, 2025.
We are grateful for the support and feedback that many of our families give. Thank you to those of you who take the time to come to our events and to complete our surveys. We are presently looking to develop a parent/carer/school consultation group. This group would meet the first Monday of each term within the school day (14:30 to 15:30).
The remit of the group is to work together and develop strategies that improve our students’ well-being, learning and chances of successful futures. We are looking to recruit one Parent or Carer to represent each class across the school at the consultation meetings. If you are able to commit your time on a regular basis and are interested in applying for this role, please click HERE and complete an Expression of Interest Form.
Have a lovely week everyone.
Best wishes,
Angela Carpenter
Headteacher.
Attendance
The foundations of learning are laid in the Primary years of schooling and so Whitehill Primary School is committed to making sure that our children do not miss out on the education and care that we offer. Regular attendance is critical if our pupils are to be happy, successful and benefit from the opportunities presented to them now and in the future.
Good attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience. We actively promote 100% attendance for all our pupils and we use a variety of rewards and incentives to promote good attendance and punctuality. Awards are group focused rather than given to individuals as we recognise that our students cannot help being absent for medical reasons.
Below, you can see this week's attendance data. The stars indicate the year groups who were awarded 5 minutes extra Green Time for topping everyone else's attendance:
Key Events
