Whole School News

Thank you to all parents, family members and friends who came along to support year 5 and 6 with their performances of “The Amazing Adventures of Super Stan.”   It was the funniest and most vibrant upper school play we have seen here, in my opinion!  The children gave wonderful performances and really rose to the occasion, delivering their lines and singing their songs beautifully.  We had a wonderful couple of evenings.  It is sad to think that this is the final performance for the year 6 children!  Their secondary school drama departments are very lucky people – such talent coming their way!

We look forward to seeing you all at the Summer Fair this evening.

Please note that sports day is next week – Tuesday if the weather is good or Thursday if needed as a backup. KS2 will participate in the morning starting at 9.30 a.m. and KS1 will have their events in the afternoon starting at 1.15 p.m.

Class News

Oak Class

The children have enjoyed practising for Sports Day. Miss Beesley thinks she has some very promising sack racers! Come along and see if she is right. We held our coffee morning on Thursday morning for parents and children who start school in September, thank you to the current Oak parents who joined us.

Hornbeam

The children have been doing some fabulous writing about their visit to Beale Park and they have each made an information leaflet about a chosen animal. The class have also been practising their multiplication and division skills in maths.

Beech Class

The children have enjoyed practising for Sports Day and are looking forward to seeing you all to cheer them on. In class they have been applying their maths skills to solve a maths mystery, writing some sound poetry and developing their painting skills through study of another modern artist.

Ash Class

The class have been delving deeper into their topic on Ancient Britons and learning how they built the earliest settlements at Skara Brae. The children learned about what farming was like in this stone-built Neolithic settlement located on the Bay of Skaill.

Rowan Class

The children conducted some interesting experiments using various pieces of equipment to represent different types of teeth. They used scissors to represent incisors and forks for canines. They used these implements to examine how effective teeth are at ‘chewing’ raw meat, grass and sunflower seeds. The class have also been practising for sports day next week.

Maple Class

Maple Class had a fantastic Residential experience last week. They went to Winchester Science Centre, had a sleepover at school, and then visited Thatcham Discovery Centre. They are now writing newspaper articles about aspects of their experiences. We would like to thank Mrs Norton for accompanying us to Winchester and Holly Salter for helping out in the evening. This week Maple Class sang and performed in ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’. Sorcha, Alice and Louis stepped in as understudies and did a marvellous job. Well done to everyone!

Chloe has lost two pairs of trainers in an orange plastic bag. She thinks she left them in the hall some time ago. If anyone took them home by mistake or has seen them around the school, could you please bring them to Maple Class.  Many thanks.

Willow Class

The children did two stunning performances of ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’. Thank you to all the parents for supplying props and costumes. Year 6 have also been writing their ‘Wedge Chronicles’, drawing inspiration from ‘The Edge Chronicles’.   

School Photographs

Although it does say on your proof card to have your orders in by Wednesday 5^th July, could you please have your orders for photographs in to the class teachers by Tuesday 4^th July because Wednesday is an INSET day and the children will not be in school.

 Sports News

This week the newsletter has had some special sports correspondents, the children in Foundation have given tantalising snippets about their Multi-Skills sports activities at Stoke Row.

Abi had to go through a barrel.

Jax said it was raining.

Matthew S ran, jumped and hopped.

Amy had to go under a bar and a hoop.

Matthew D said they had a snack and lined up ‘nice’.

Charlotte enjoyed the hopscotch.

Mrs Critcher got struck by a tennis ball quite a few times but she is still smiling.

‘On Monday a few children from Hornbeam and Beech classes went to Whitchurch to do some sports with other schools. We did throwing, jumping and running and we won a trophy for the best teamwork. It was the best sports ever and my favourite race was when you had to spring around the circle to try to beat the other person to be the first one back.’

Aaliya – Beech Class

‘On June 22^nd, a group of 9 Year 4 and 5 pupils represented us in a cricket tournament at Whitchurch. We played teams from Checkendon and Whitchurch A and Whitchurch B, Stoke Row and Goring. All teams played really well with lots of enthusiasm. Toby made a couple of particularly good catches as did Finn. Although we didn’t win we all had a great time. Thanks Mrs Bodeker for taking us. Lucas – Maple Class

Dates

Remember that Wednesday July 5^th is an INSET Day

FOWPS

Fowps are looking for Parent Class Representatives.

Parent-teacher associations (PTAs) are an important asset to most primary schools, organising events and helping to raise vital funds for the school. As well as the formal PTA positions of chair, treasurer and secretary, parents are invited to become the PTA representative for their child’s class. There are many good reasons to get involved as your child’s class rep. The main one is to help your child’s school.

There’s no formal person specification for the class rep position, but ideally, you need to be sociable, confident enough to put pressure on other parents to help out with events, and organised. Having enough spare time for the job is important, too; if you work full-time and are rarely in the playground for drop-off or pick-up, it can be hard to build relationships with other parents. Being a class rep isn’t just a job for women. We’d love to see some Dad’s volunteering.

But what exactly does being a class rep involve?

Being a class rep allows you to have a greater say in what the PTA does in terms of organising events and raising money. It’s also a good way to get to know other parents within the school, from your own child’s class and others.

Duties of class reps:

• Attending PTA meetings (optional) and passing on comments and suggestions from the other parents in your child’s class. This can be done via email to the committee if preferred.
• Helping with school events such as the summer fete and Christmas fair. This may involve helping to organise the entire event, coordinating a particular stall, and compiling a rota of your class parents to help on the day.
• Attending other school events such as sports day, discos and concerts to help serve refreshments, sell programmes and other similar tasks.
• Drawing up a list of contact details (from willing families) for all the parents in the class, circulating this to the families, and keeping it up to date. This is helpful for arranging playdates and birthday party invitations. This is especially helpful for parents not on social media.
• Organising social events for class parents such as coffee mornings and drinks or meals out.
• Coordinating collections for end-of-term presents for staff.
• Administrating the class Facebook page where class parents can communicate. Includes placing reminders, passing on messages from the teacher or information from the office.
• Acting as an extra line of communication between the teacher and parents, for example by passing on messages about school trips and events.

Suggestions for ways to support the class and the teacher:(Not always being actively involved but providing the link to other parents that may be able to help)

Communication with other class parents.

• General in-class support as requested by the class teacher, such as listening to readers.
• Encouraging parents to support school  and class events.
• Help with organising class parties and events.
• Helping with cooking, planting, art and other practical activities.

Keen to be a rep? Contact FOWPS via email, fowps@woodcote-primary.co.uk or speak to any committee member.

Whole School News

I hope you will agree that we had a very successful Move-Up day on Wednesday this week.  The year 6 children who will be attending Langtree spent the day there providing an ideal opportunity for us to experience life as it will be next year here.

We welcomed two new teachers who will be with us in September. Mr Lane, who will be teaching in year 4 and Miss Smith who will be teaching in year 5.  We will let you know in due course where the TAs will be placed for next year.  In the meantime, for clarification, the teaching structure for next year will therefore be as follows:

We will sadly say goodbye to Mrs Hetherton, as you know and also Mrs Fletcher who is leaving us to support her family more. We will miss both of them very much but they haven’t gone yet and we will continue to enjoy the rest of the term with them both.

Mr Jones will still be here to support our work at the school alongside some new challenges that he has set for himself next year –more news to follow!

Reports

Your child’s end of term report will be coming home during the week of the 10^th of July.  It will contain a feedback sheet, as usual.  Please fill it in and return it to us if you have the time.  It is really helpful to us to receive the feedback and we do read them all!

Class News

Oak Class

Oak class enjoyed spending time in Year One during ‘Move up day’. They had fun making portraits of themselves. The children have also enjoyed learning about sharing in maths and what you do with an odd amount. Miss Beesley would like to remind the Parents of children in Oak class that our coffee morning to welcome new Parents of children joining in September will be on Thursday 29^th June starting at 9.30 a.m.

Hornbeam Class

The class enjoyed their visit to Beale Park on Tuesday of this week. The visit was linked to the work the class are doing about animals and their habitats. In Maths the children have been learning about arrays and how these mathematical patterns can help with shopping. The Year 1 teachers need to remind you that the children need full PE kit on a Monday and a Thursday.

Beech Class

The children in Beech class have had another fabulous week of learning despite the intense heat. They have enjoyed writing their stories entitled ‘The day the Giant Came to School’. Next week the class will be working on poetry writing using the ‘Ning, Nang Nong by Spike Milligan as a starting point.

Ash Class

At this time of year it isn’t always possible for us to use our own field for sports activities because of exams at Langtree, so Ash class used the village recreation ground for their rounders. It was all going really well until a dog ran off with the rounder’s ball! The children will find another ball and continue practicing and will offer the dog a place on the fielding team, it might be of help.

Rowan Class

After their trip to Englefield Estate the children in Rowan class have been writing ‘Thank you’ letters to Richard Benyon whose family own the Estate. In PE they have been training in preparation for Sports Day by practicing sprinting, throwing and jumping.

Maple Class

Maple Class are enjoying two days of trips and survived their sleepover in school last night. Yesterday the class visited Winchester Science Centre; it has the largest standalone planetarium cinema in the UK so we are all looking forward to hearing how the visit went. Today the class are visiting Thatcham Discovery Centre where the children can interact with nature whilst walking a network of footpaths and they will also have the opportunity to study the natural history displays.

Willow Class

This week Year 6 have been preparing for the Yr. 5/6 play, they have been making props, painting scenery and producing the tickets. Those going to Langtree had a fabulous day visiting their Secondary School on Wednesday and came back to class with enthusiastic stories of their adventures.

Play Performances – Tuesday 27^th June 6.30 p.m. – Wednesday 28^th June 6.15 p.m. Refreshments will be provided by FOWPS so make sure you have some money with you.

 Open Afternoon

We have enjoyed seeing you all in school for the Open Afternoon; it is lovely to see the children sharing work with visitors to the school. Thank you all for taking the time to come.

The picture below shows children in Hornbeam class working outside.

FOWPS

A reminder that the Summer Fair is on Friday 30^th June. Please return all sold and unsold raffle tickets to the school office by Tuesday 27^th June. If you can help either at the Fair or setting up beforehand there are sign- up sheets in the school foyer, any help will be really appreciated.

Fund raising

The school discos raised £420 and the cake sale raised £40 for Oak class and £40 for Ash class.

Dates

We are delighted to attach the Term 6 newsletter from the Primary School Health Nurse team.

This newsletter aims to provide families and young people with some useful tips for keeping healthy. Childhood is an important time to instill healthy habits and learn crucial life skills. Establishing these habits early on will help to improve your child’s quality of life in the future and enable them to reach their full potential educationally.

See Newsletters

We look forward to welcoming as many of you as possible to our Open School Afternoon on Friday next week starting 1.30 p.m.

Class News

Oak Class

Oak class will be holding a coffee morning on Thursday 29^th June to welcome the parents of children who will be starting in September. Please come along and support this event. The children have been practising counting one more and one less with numbers to 20 and they have enjoyed creating pirate names for their topic.

Hornbeam Class

The children in Year 1 completed their phonics screening. They all did really well and we are all very proud of them, the results will be in their end of year reports. The class have been learning to recognise money and in science they have been looking at different groups of animals and birds. The children are looking forward to their trip to Beale Park next Tuesday; please remember to return your permission slips by Monday 19^th June.

Beech Class

The children enjoyed collaging in the style of Mondrian and produced some beautiful artwork. These will be on display during our Open Afternoon on Friday 23^rd June. It will be lovely to share our work with you, we look forward to seeing you.

Ash Class

Ash class have been pond dipping this week and found newts and tadpoles which they have been studying. They have also created cave paintings and used all their senses to write an account of what it would feel like to be an archaeologist and discover ancient caves.

Rowan Class

On Thursday Rowan Class visited Englefield Estate in Berkshire. They had wonderful time learning about the history of the house and exploring the grounds. Here are some of the comments the children made about their visit. ‘Fabulous views, cool sheep shearing, calm and peaceful, amazing blacksmiths, super tractor ride, tremendous paintings and awesome artefacts’.

Maple Class

Maple Class have been practising hard all week for the Y5/Y6 performance of ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’. They are doing a great job of learning their lines but need to keep on practising!  We have also been preparing for our trips and residential next week. Remember to bring bedding etc. on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th of next week.

Willow Class

Year 6 have been rehearsing their play, ‘The Amazing Adventures of Superstan’. Costumes and props were due in today so that the children can check what else they need. Please check your child’s bag this evening for a letter about tickets for the performance. Also please make a note of the date for the Leavers BBQ – Thursday 13^th July. The date has been brought forward by one night due to the addition of a sleepover.

Sports

Yesterday we took part in the Quad Kids semi-final for the first time. The children performed very well and we were placed 5^th overall. The event included throwing a vortex, standing long jump, a 50m sprint and 400m track. The team improved on their previous score by 300 points. Congratulations to all 8 Yr. 3/4 pupils who took part.

SUMMER FAIR INFORMATION – Friday 30^th June from 5-7pm

With only 2 weeks to go until the fair, you may have noticed that the playground has already been decorated with cheerful bunting. The children are getting very excited and it was great to see their faces when they noticed the bunting during their lunch break today.  We hope you are all are looking forward to the fair as much as we are!

We would like to remind you of a few things and request your help.

The collection point for Summer Fair items is the first chalet in the playground. Each house team has a collection crate below their name poster. There is a prize for the house team that collects the most, so please give generously! Place your donations in your child’s house crate so that the house can be credited with the points. Do not give any items to the teachers as they will not count towards your house total.

Please could the items be brought in on the following dates?

Bottles: Tuesday 5 June onwards  (we are still collecting)

Jolly Jars: Monday 12 June onwards. (we are still collecting)

Teddy Tombola: 19^th June onwards

Hamper Raffle items: 19^th Jun 26^th June.

Cakes and Biscuits: 30^th June ONLY please.

We will also be collecting items for our Hamper raffle from 19^th June until the 26^th June. These include any Beauty/ toiletry items, luxury food items, new books, chocolates, wine, and new toys or children’s craft items.

Please note that there are sign-up sheets in the school foyer for you to sign up to volunteer at a stall at the fair. There are many school stalls as well as class stalls where your help will be greatly appreciated. Each slot is 30 minutes long.

Details about your child’s class stall will be on your classes Facebook page or speak to the teacher if you require more information.

School Disco

We hope to see you all at the last disco of this academic year tonight! £3 per child and times are 5:30pm start for reception and KS1 and 6:30pm start for KS2. Thank you to those who have volunteered as chaperones for this event.  Best Wishes, Carla and Amanda On Behalf of Friends of Woodcote Primary (PTA) fowps@woodcote-primary.co.uk

Dates

Learning outside the Classroom

This week we intended to have as many lessons as possible outside of the classroom.  Well the weather was not kind!  However, many classes have still taken up the challenge.  The front garden has many new plants, the pond has been dipped, the village green has been measured and the materials used to build your houses have been studied!  It has been great fun and many classes will be continuing the outdoor learning theme throughout the term.

Oak Class

In Oak class the children have been playing with sand and water and practising their counting on and counting back skills using leaves. They have been learning about team building whilst perfecting their football skills. Miss Beesley said that the children in Oak class set an excellent example of good behaviour when they were visited by children who attend Cabin and Pre-School.

Hornbeam Class

The children in Hornbeam class created tree elves and fairies using clay, leaves, twigs, daisies and buttercups which they had collected from the school field. They examined trees and bushes that are growing on the school grounds including the beautiful Indian Bean tree in the front garden which incidentally is a protected species. They talked about the differences between deciduous and evergreen trees. The children also collected leaves of different sizes and shapes and made beautiful rubbings and they were lucky that the sun shone when they spent time with Year 3 lying on the field and looking up at the sky. They wrote a poem about how this experience had affected all their senses.

Beech Class

Beech class have had a wonderful week despite the unpredictable weather. They have been looking at materials in the school grounds to prepare for their science topic. On Wednesday Deborah Jones visited the class and showed the children how to weave willow into fish. Keep an eye open for their display which will go up shortly. Today the Beech class giant came to life, he walked around the playground and peeped into Maple class and surprised the children. The Beech class children measured their giant and thought that maybe he needed a school uniform.

Ash Class

Ash class have been investigating light and shadows as part of their learning outside the classroom. They carried out a traffic survey to find out when the road in front of the school is busiest. They collected leaves from the front garden from a variety of trees and used them for printing.

Rowan Class

Pupils in Rowan class collected leaves and when they were back in the classroom they did some observational drawing. Budding scientists conducted experiments with test tubes, pipettes and various edible and natural substances.

Maple Class

Maple Class have had a good week getting outdoors as much as the weather has allowed! They went out investigating angles in the playground and school, and planted out their seedlings in the front garden. A big thank you to Mrs Martin who accompanied the class on their ‘Angles and Turns’ walk around Woodcote on Wednesday. We tossed a coin to decide whether to turn left or right and named and estimated the angle of our turns! On Friday, the class went to the Recreation ground to identify different species of tree. They measured the circumference of the trees and used the data to work out how old and how high the trees were. We are aiming to be out and about next week as well; hopefully the weather will be on our side!

Willow Class

Year 6 are on their way home from what has been a fabulous (sometimes soggy!) week at PGL in Torquay.  Mrs Hunt went to see them on Wednesday.  When she arrived they had just completed some raft building and some had been on the Giant Swing!  They were all in good spirits and had plenty to tell her.  They had lunch together and we can tell you they were being very well fed!  Later in the afternoon they made buggies from poles and barrels. Mrs Hunt got photographic evidence of Mrs Wornham and Mrs Jones competing on the Vertical Challenge and shared an abseiling session with Mrs Bodeker and her group.  She was even cajoled into taking a turn at Archery!  We look forward to welcoming them back this evening when we are sure we will hear plenty more about their week.

School Photographs

The school photographer will be in school on Friday 16^th June to take class photographs.

Community News

Open Farm Sunday – June 11^th

Nettlebed Farming Club and the Hatt family invite you to Coombe End Farm, Whitchurch Hill, RG8 7TE for Open Farm Sunday. You can see a working farm in action and finish your walk with a cup of tea and a bun. The farm is open between 12 noon and 4 p.m. The Hatt Family will collect donations for Helen and Douglas House in Oxford.

FOWPS

Summer Fair

The summer fair will be held on Friday 30^th June between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. and we would be very grateful for stall donations. Items required are as follows:

Bottle Tombola: bottles of anything, e.g., soft drinks, alcohol, bath goodies, food stuffs etc. All bottles must be unopened and well within their use by date.

Jolly Jars: Jam jars filled with items such as sweets, chocolates, little toys, and small stationery items. NO NUTS please and all items must be well within their use by date.

Cakes and biscuits: Anything suitable for selling in the café or as a whole cake. No NUTS please.

The collection point for these items is the first chalet in the playground. Each house team has a collection crate below their name poster. There is a prize for the house team that collects the most, so please give generously!  Please put your donations in your child’s house crate (rather than giving them directly to the class teachers) so they can be totalled up for each house. Please could the items be brought in on the following dates:

Bottles: Tuesday 5 June onwards

Jolly Jars: Monday 12 June onwards.

Soft Toys: (teddies) Monday 19^th June onwards.

Cakes and Biscuits: 30^th June ONLY please.

Woodcote Rally

The Woodcote Rally organisers are looking for volunteers to help with marshalling the event. If you are able to help please let Carla know and she will pass your details to the organisers. FOWPs receive a donation from the rally proceeds for helping out. Marshalling timings are split throughout the weekend as follows:

Friday evening from 6.30 p.m., Saturday morning and afternoon, Saturday evening from 4.00 p.m. Sunday morning and afternoon from 9.30 a.m. and Sunday afternoon and early evening from

4.00 p.m. The Rally organisers ask for a minimum of 3 hours from each volunteer and if you help you will be given free entry to the rally on the day of your marshalling with food and drink provided. Each marshall is required to attend a Safety Briefing which are held on Friday 7^th July at 7 p.m., Saturday 8^th July at 9.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. or Sunday 9^th July at 9.30 a.m.

Diary Dates