Newsletters

27 May 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Today we had a visit from our Police Community Support Officer who has launched our poster competition to encourage the school community to be good neighbours to the local residents, following several complaints to the school.  The children have made their posters in class and PCSO Kathryn Williams will come back after half term to choose the best 10 posters.  These posters will displayed in the local area and will also be used on social media.  The children had lots of wonderful ideas about how to be good neighbours and I am sure the posters will be effective.

This week many of our Year 6 children went on their residential trip to Grittleton House in Wiltshire.  Despite the rain and the wind on Monday, the weather picked up and they have had a fabulous time taking part in all sorts of adventurous activities.  It was touch and go as to whether they could even go, having been postponed from October when they were originally scheduled to go.  Miss McGowan changed the date to as late as possible, which thank goodness, was after the date when residential trips were allowed to resume!  It is very disappointing though that the wonderful trips that KS1 had planned cannot go ahead, due to COVID.  This is due to the number of adults needed to accompany these trips and due to COVID, parent volunteers are not allowed to attend as this will burst the bubbles that the children are still required to be in.  We know that children have really missed out this year and last year and that so many children have not even had the chance to go on a trip.  With this in mind, the teachers will be looking at ways to ensure that these missed opportunities are made up as soon as possible next year as we know that these opportunities will create memories that the children will cherish from their time at Wooden Hill School.  The Y1 team are currently creating some fabulous ideas and ways to re-create their usual seaside trip, in school and the Y2 team are also planning a fun packed day to make up for the trip that they can’t go on this term.  

I know many of you will be wondering if our usual summer / end of year events will proceed. Under current guidance these will not be able to take place on their usual format and will depend on government guidance and the latest COVID levels. We will write again after half term to confirm.  I hope that in the autumn term we can raise money for the school and enjoy an event where parents are carers can be once again, warmly invited to attend.  

I hope that the half term break brings a restful break and that everyone remains safe and well.

Best wishes,

Mrs Lagares

~ Notices & Reminders ~

Help Needed – a builder or talented DIY enthusiast 

We are looking to have a partition wall, with a door, built to spilt the Headteacher’s office into a large meeting room and an additional office space.  If anyone knows of either a builder or talented DIY enthusiast who would be willing to donate their time and skills to this project, please let our school business manager, Jacinda Revill, know.  She can be contacted via the main school office.  All materials will be purchased by the school. 

Bikes and Scooters

Please remind your children that they must not ride bikes or scooters anywhere in the school grounds due to health and safety.

School Photographer

The school photographer will be in school during the first week back to take individual/sibling and class photographs.  

• Individual photographs of children - Thursday 10^th June 2021
• Family photographs (children in school and nursery only) – Thursday 10^th June 2021
• Class photographs – Friday 11^th June 2021

Bag2School

With summer coming, lockdown easing – don’t forget to clear out your old clothes over half term!  Our bags 2 school collection will be on Monday 14^th June, so please ensure you drop off your items no later than Friday 11^th June.

School Dinners

Congratulations to Barry and his team in the school kitchen for obtaining top marks in their food hygiene inspection this week.  We would expected nothing less as we know the kitchen is run and managed to a very high standard.  After half term the new summer menu will start with some excellent additions to the menu, follow the link to have a look. 

https://www.woodenhill.bracknell-forest.sch.uk/page/?title=School+Dinner+Menu&pid=23

Worried about your child?

If you are worried about your child in anyway, please speak to a member of staff who will be more than happy to help.  The flow chart below shows who to talk to, to ask for help.  Don’t forget, our friendly Family Support Advisor, Laura is also more than happy to help and offer advice and support.  Laura can be contacted via the school office. 

End of Year Reports

This year, we will be sending out your child’s end of year reports via email.  These will be sent out between the 5^th and the 15^th July.  If you wish to discuss your child’s report with the teacher, a drop in session will be held between 4pm-5pm on Thursday 15^th July 2021.  If we are unable to hold these drop in sessions in person, you will be able to request a call from your child’s teacher during this time.

Bracknell Forest's Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS)

The?Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) provides free, confidential and impartial advice and information to support parents/carers?and children and young people who have, or may have, Special Educational Needs and?Disabilities?(SEND) in Bracknell Forest. You can contact IASS by email send.support@bracknell-forest.gov.uk or by telephone (01344 354011).  They also have a dedicated website where you can find a range of information and factsheets relating to SEN www.bracknellforestiass.co.uk.? 

Year One 'Seaside Day'

Next term, Year One will be having a ‘Seaside Day’ at school as we will unfortunately not be able to go on our usual trip to the beach. We are looking for props and beach style activities so that we can make the day exciting and memorable (for example buckets and spades, inflatables, paddling pools, sand pits, beach balls and games). We would be very grateful if you have anything suitable that you would be willing to lend it to us for a day, please could you let us know by emailing Year1@office.woodenhill.bracknell-forest.sch.uk by Friday 25^th June so that we can arrange collection for the following week. Thank you.

Mrs Sawford’s Book Recommendations

Hello again, 

Another month over, another trio of book recommendations! Please do let me know if you read any of my suggestions, or if you have any of your own (children and adults alike!) you can send your messages to reading@office.woodenhill.bracknell-forest.sch.uk – I’d especially love to see pictures of children reading! 

Key Stage 1/Picture Book Recommendation 

Omar, the Bees and Me by Helen Mortimer, iIllustrated by Katie Cottle
A truly lovely book about the importance of bees and friendship. When Omar brings a slice of his Mum’s honey cake to school it sparks a whole class project about bees which spreads to the whole community. This is a beautifully diverse book with lots of representation, the pictures and colours are lovely for even the smallest children and the themes are incredibly important. A book perfect for opening discussions about differences, animals and plants and friendships. 

Lower Key Stage 2 (Year 3 and 4) or read-aloud with an adult

Dragon Mountain by Katie Tsang and Kevin Tsang

An action-packed adventure perfect for Year 3/4 children - a fairly simple storyline with lots of interesting details, magic and, of course, dragons. Billy Chan doesn’t realise he’s about to try to save the world when he arrives at his summer camp, though with some new friends and some superpowers along the way, what can stop them? I think the Tsang’s have combined everything children love in books – fantasy, dragons, friends and adventure, combined with lots of references to Chinese traditions and legends. 

Upper Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and 6)

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (#1 in the Dark Materials Trilogy)

A classic, epic fantasy that draws you into the parallel world of Lyra, an adventurer at heart, who overhears a conversation about her Uncle that will change her life forever. Soon she and Pan (her daemon) are swept up in a dangerous game involving disappearing children, a beautiful woman with a golden monkey daemon, a trip to the far north, and a set of allies ranging from “gyptians“ to witches to an armor-clad polar bear. This series was recently televised which would make a brilliant accompaniment to reading the stories. 

Nursery Roundup

The theme this term has been castles and the children have lots of fun talking about castles (and the features of a tower), knights (what they wear and why they have armour), princesses (and read lots of traditional tales such as Cinderella and Snow White) and dragons (and read books such as That’s not my Dragon, Room on the Broom and Zog).

They have been making all sorts such a knights shield, castles, princess hats and crowns. There has been a lot of dressing up and playing in the outside role-play area, which is a castle!

Click here to see all the Nursery news.

Reception Roundup

Reception have continued their topic of ‘Can we help the baddies in fairy tale land make good choices’, by looking at the book Goldilocks and the Three bears. The children had great fun completing role-play activities, drawing and labelling story maps to help them have a good understanding of the story and there has been some great acting. The children also got to make Goldilocks and the three bear puppets in the creative area.

The children have been learning about planting, linked to the area of learning, Understanding of the World, and have been learning through the focus book, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and they all got to plant a bean so that they can grow their own beanstalk.

This week the children all arrived on Monday to be greeted by upturned tables and giant footprints, alongside a letter left by the giant looking for Jack who had taken his chicken and golden harp. The children loved looking for clues and evidence of where Jack may have gone. It was all very exciting!

Click here to keep up with all the Reception news.

Year 1 Roundup

The highlight of Year 1's week (and most probably the term) was a visit from PC Whiteside. In PSHE the children have been learning all about people who help us, so a visit from a real police officer was a very exciting opportunity to learn first hand about this important job. The children got to try on some real police uniform, hold police equipment including handcuffs and a baton and even had a radio conversation with another officer at the police station! 

In Science, the children have been exploring the properties of different materials and received a letter from Daddy Bear asking for our help to design a hat that would be soft, stretchy and waterproof. They had a lot of fun testing out a variety of materials including wood, paper, cotton wool, plastic and glass and thinking like true innovators, decided the best combination would be cotton wool on the inside (as it will be soft and comfortable) and plastic on the outside (as it will be waterproof and stretchy). 

Click here to keep up with all the Year 1 news.

Year 2 Roundup

In English, Year 2 have continued their sentence stacking and began to think about the stories they will write, these will be based on 'The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark'. The photos below show their writing process - from sentence stacking lessons, to planning, to writing. The children have worked incredibly hard on their outstanding and imaginative stories!

The children have also been thinking about respect and speaking and acting kindly and created some flower pictures.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 2 news.

Year 3 Roundup

To end Year 3's topic on the Ancient Egyptians, Greenfinch and Chaffinch classes had a very special visit from Cleopatra herself! Cleopatra was once the queen of Egypt, and she spoke to the children about what life was like being a Pharaoh and living in Egypt at the time. She taught us that the Egyptians were responsible for inventing things like make up and toothpaste, which was made out of ox hoof and egg shells (eww!) The children were able to ask Cleopatra questions as a class and learnt lots of fascinating facts. Earlier this month the children had been designing and making their own Egyptian headdresses during DT, using a range of materials including mod rock to create their designs. 

The children, when it wasn't raining, got to explore the outdoors and took part part in some team building PSHE and PE activities as well as scavenger hunts in the woodland area. The children enjoyed building on their trust, friendship and communication skills whilst supporting each other.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 3 news.

Year 4 Roundup

In English, the children have finished their model writing for The Street Beneath Our Feet and have planned their own non-fiction text based on the book. We have learnt about rocks and minerals, focussing on describing these using adjectives and carefully chosen verbs; imperative verbs to offer advice to our reader as part of the big finish to conclude our journey to the centre of the earth; and exclamations, including exclamation points, to create a finale at the end of our writing. 

In maths, we are now focussing on times tables for our fluency time, as we will be taking part in the Year 4 Multiplication Check after half-term. Practice at home is vital to improving their skills, please ensure your children are using Times Tables Rockstars at home, so we can keep up to date with their scores and speeds. 

In Science this term, we have been learning about electricity. Included here are some photos of our Science Week posters, when we designed a classroom of the future. We used this as a springboard for our learning about electricity, noting down what electrical devices we use in the classroom.  

In Reading, the children have been continuing with The Secrets of A Sun King by Emma Carroll, following Lil as she makes an amazing discovery of a canopic jar housing secrets and a curse! The children in the story are planning a mission to Egypt to return it back to Tutankhamun's tomb, which fitted nicely with our Egyptian topic learning.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 4 news.

Year 5 Roundup

In Science the children have been focusing on the skill of recording and presenting data within science and have conducted an investigation of moon craters and their diameter, depending on the size, weight or drop of a meteor. They recreated this in class with flour (for moon dust), a range of balls (for the meteor) and a ruler to measure the drop and width. The children have also researched the length of a day and length of a year on the different planets before looking for patterns in the data, finding out that the closer the planet is to the sun, the shorter its year.

In English, the children have begun a new writing unit about Scott of the Antarctic and have been reading diary entries from Scott and his team, had two experience days to understand how it must have felt being in those small tents and pulling the heavy sledges, as well as using parenthesis within our writing for detail. We have also used a variety of techniques and sentence structures to engage our readers.

In PE the children have used their teamwork, map reading and communication skills to complete challenges.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 5 news.

Year 6 Roundup

Year 6 have been building on their knowledge of the circulatory system and investigating the effects of exercise on our heart. They found their resting heart and then carried out a number of static exercise movements to discover whether this had an effect on how often our heart was beating and discovered that these exercises increased out heart rate and even found that some had a bigger effect than others - especially when we were upside down!

In English, the children have been writing about the experiences of Jewish refugees during World War 2. They have also learned about the treatment of the Jewish people who were not evacuated on the Kindertransport. We focussed on the story of Anne Frank and gained an insight into her life, both before and after she was captured.

The children created some fantastic art pieces (see below) inspired by their learning of the Blitz. Using mixed media, we created a time-lapse portrayal of a scene before, during and after an attack. 

Oh, and not forgetting that the children also got to go on their Residential Trip!

Click here to keep up with all the Year 6 news.

~ Residential Trip ~

~ Dates for the Diary ~