Weekly Bulletin: Friday 9th January 2026

Dear Parents, Carers & Families,

Welcome back and a very happy New Year to you all. It has been a genuine pleasure to welcome the children back to school this week and to see them return so positively after the Christmas break.

Our first assembly of the year focused on the idea of New Year’s resolutions, but with an important twist. We talked about how every day can be a fresh start. Rather than dwelling on mistakes, we encouraged the children to recognise that mistakes are a natural and valuable part of learning. What matters most is how we respond to them – by drawing a positive line under what hasn’t gone as planned and moving forward with renewed determination.

The children shared some thoughtful and mature ideas about how they would like to grow and improve each day. These included:

“I will listen more in class.”
“I will help others more.”
“I will be better at tidying up.”
“I will join in more during lessons.”

It was wonderful to hear such reflective and aspirational thinking so early in the term.

We have also already seen some fantastic work across the school this year. I am delighted to share that six children have already been sent to me for Headteacher Awards – a brilliant start and a real celebration of effort, attitude and achievement.

Head Teacher Awards

Attendance continues to be a key focus for us, and I am pleased to announce that Amethyst Class won last term’s attendance award, having achieved the greatest number of weeks with the best attendance. Well done to all pupils and families in Amethyst for this excellent commitment.

A reminder that the class learning pages have now been updated with details of what each class will be learning this term. Please do take a look if you would like to know more about the exciting learning planned ahead.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone of the importance of children wearing the correct school uniform each day. A copy of our uniform policy is can be found HERE for your reference. We really appreciate parents’ and carers’ support in upholding our school rules and helping to promote a strong sense of belonging and pride in our school community.

If you require any support with uniform, please do not hesitate to contact the school office. We have a supply of nearly new uniform available and are always happy to help where we can.

School Census Days are really important days for us…

On these days each year, the government counts how many children at Whitehill Primary School have a school dinner – both free school meals and normal paid for meals. Our school funding is determined by how many of our children have school dinners on these days.

Thursday 15th January is Census Day. Essentially, the greater the number of students in school having a school dinner, the greater our school funding will be for the year ahead.

We would love your child to join us for lunch this day, you can book by topping up Arbor. Please see the menu below: