Message from Mrs Daly
Welcome back and here’s to the start of the summer term! I hope that you all had a restful Easter and managed to enjoy the warmer weather.
We’ve had an active first week back, with a cricket taster day for years 1-6, a farm trip for years 3 and 4 and the return of the ‘Great Fire of London’ in Y2!
Thoughts naturally turn towards assessment at this time of year. In line with the Government’s intention to resume statutory testing, I just wanted to share information about the tests that your children will be taking this summer term. Y6 SATS take place 9th – 12th May, and Y2 will be having their SATS on 16th – 20th May. Meanwhile, the Y1 phonics screening and the Y4 multiplication check will take place after half term. We will share more information about these in forthcoming newsletters.
Please do not worry about any of these assessments. Y6 are well prepared for their SATS, while years 1, 2 and 4 will not feel like they are being ‘tested’ as the format is very relaxed.
I hope that you enjoy this week’s newsletter, and we look forward to seeing the children on Tuesday after this long Bank Holiday weekend.
Mrs K Daly
Headteacher
Dates for your diary
We have lots on for the summer term. Here are the key dates for your diary. There will be more class-specific activities to come and we will update the Calendar as soon as we know the details.
Sports Day – 18th July (KS1) and 19th July (KS2) – both morning. Full details to follow after half term.
Y6 Production – 13th and 14th July – 7pm
Summer Fair – Saturday 2nd July
Y6 Leavers Assembly – 20th July, 1.45pm
Clubs Schedule
Clubs restart next week with the exception of Code Club and after school tennis due to the Bank Holiday.
All clubs are now full apart from Jon Mansfield’s tennis club. It costs £32 for 8 sessions. Please see the email ‘After School Tennis‘ sent on Tuesday 26th April if your child wishes to join.
All clubs run 3.30 – 4.30 unless otherwise stated.
The Summer schedule is below:
Mondays
Code Club (Yrs 5 & 6)
From 09/05 to 04/07 (not on 23rd May)
Tennis with Jon Mansfield (Yrs 3, 4, 5)
09/05 – 04/07
(PLACES STILL AVAILABLE! – £32)
Forest School Club with Suzanne and Shauna (Yrs 3, 4, 5) – FULL – ALREADY RUNNING
3:30pm – 5pm
Block 1: 25/04, 09/05, 16/05, 23/05
Tuesdays
Netball (Yrs 5 & 6)
03/05 – 28/06
Wednesdays
Football (Yrs 5 & 6)
04/05 – 29/06
Thursdays
Multi-Sports
Y4 – 09/06 – 30/06
Y3 – 05/05 – 26/05
Fridays
Multi-Sports
Y2 – 10/06 – 01/07
Y1 – 06/05 – 27/05
Breakfast Club
Willow Garden will be preparing its own food (as pre-covid times), from Tuesday 3rd May. This means that children booked in from 8am will be able to have breakfast in school. These sessions must be pre-booked and cost £4.50 per session.
The price for the Early Bird session from 8.30am – 8.50am will remain at £2.50. Please note that Early Birds are not able to have breakfast in school, as there is not enough time for them to eat before starting lessons.
For more information, please see the email sent on Thursday Important information: Willow Garden.
Swimming at the Deben Pool
As Year 5 parents will now be aware, the pool has significantly tightened up its rules for students that go swimming. Please ensure that earrings are not worn on swimming days, and that boys wear close fitting shorts (nothing baggy) else they will not be able to swim. This applies to all groups that go swimming so please bear it in mind going forward. We will of course send full information to classes in advance of their sessions. Thank you!
Name our boat competition
A big thank you to all of you who entered our Name our Boat competition. We’ve had some lovely naming suggestions and generous donations from children in F1, Y1, Y4 and Y6. Money raised through your donations will allow us to buy these fantastic trikes. So far, we’ve nearly enough to buy one trike, but with your help, we can get at least one more!
What is this competition?
A new play boat is very close to its grand installation in the Early Years area. To mark the occasion, we are asking children to give the boat a name, and to provide a small sketch or logo that will be made into stickers and attached to the sides. Everyone is welcome to enter, so if you have 15 minutes, why not have a go? All we ask is that you provide a donation along with your entry. All monies raised will go towards purchasing these fabulous new trikes for the EY crew. The entries will be judged by boat-restorer and F2 legend, Grandad Everitt!
Behaviour sessions
Mrs Daly has been busy running behaviour awareness sessions with year groups 1-6 this week. The idea of these was to bring the updated version of our Behaviour Policy to life in a way that is meaningful to our children.
Each session was matched to the ages of the children. In the pictures, you can see the children using gestures to give feedback about their opinions on different types of behaviour .
It was a really good opportunity for children to share their ideas and come to an agreement on expected behaviour across the school. Their contributions were brilliant, so you should be really proud of them. We will be sending you the updated Behaviour Policy next week, and you will be able to find a copy on the website going forward.
Cricket taster day
Thank you to Ben Wallace from Suffolk County Cricket Club who came in to teach the basics of catching, batting and hitting. Take a look at the Cricket Taster Page for video clips and pictures!
Rebecca’s Big Swim to beat cancer
Rebecca in Y4 is going to take part in the Swimathon on 7th May at Ipswich Crown Pools. She has set herself a big challenge to swim 2.5 km (that’s 100 lengths!) to support Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie. We are all very proud of Rebecca for doing this and wish her all the best. If you would like to sponsor Rebecca, please visit her JustGiving page. We’ll let you know how she gets on 🙂
Alerts for Epipen users
Does your child, or a child you know, have an epipen? Jext Expiry Service and Epipen Expiry Date Service allow you to sign up to mobile alerts so that you know when their equipment is due to expire.
Nivea Sun Protect – in the news
As you may be aware from social media, parents and caregivers have raised concerns that the popular Nivea Sun Protect and Care children’s products contain almond oil, and should not be used by children with nut allergies. You may be interested to read the official response from Nivea at the Allergy UK website, which reassures parents that the products are safe to use.
After School tennis at Woodbridge Tennis Club
Jon Mansfield has a few spaces available for his afterschool tennis lessons at Woodbridge Tennis Club (Kingston) starting May 2022. The classes are open to children 4-11 years old with different sessions depending on your child’s age. Please download his flyer for details.
And finally… do you have a misbehaving dog?!
Five Mile Films, maker of Channel 4 series The Dog House, is currently making a brand-new prime time series for Channel 4 called The Dog Academy which is all about misbehaving dogs and their owners.
The blurb:
“We’re looking to hear from people who might be struggling with their dog’s behaviour and need help to overcome their dog’s issues. From small quirks to life impacting behaviour, we’ve assembled a team of the very best trainers in Britain to help owners transform their dogs once and for all.
The series will be filmed later this year, but we’d love to start hearing from people now. At the moment, we’re trying to spread the word and encourage people to apply.”
See this flyer for details on how to apply!
