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Wynndale Primary School Spring 1 Newsletter: February 2022

Welcome to the Spring term 1 edition of our Wynndale Primary School Newsletter. I can't believe we have come to the end of the half term already! It has been an extremely busy half term for us here in school and we have lots to celebrate and share with you.

Have a look at some of the wonderful things that have been happening in our school community this half term.......

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I hope you have a lovely half term break. We look forward to welcoming all our Wynndale Learners back to school on Monday 21st February 2022.

Mrs Rickersey and the Wynndale team.

Our Spring Term Curriculum Driver: Geography

'Geography is the subject that holds the key to our future' Michael Palin

At Wynndale, we have designed our curriculum into termly themes, with each term being driven by a different leading subject. This term, our curriculum driver is Geography and all classes across school have been enjoying immersing themselves in their Geography driven theme. Children have been developing their Geographical knowledge and understanding in a number of ways including; through map work, exploring towns, cities, countries and continents and by investigating human and physical features of places. Already our children are demonstrating that they have a good understanding of the aspects they are learning about and I can't wait to see how they develop as Geographers next half term too. Towards the end of next half term, we will be inviting you into school to our termly exhibitions of learning to showcase the work the children have been doing. Dates will be shared with you early next half term. In the meantime, have a look at some of the learning from across school........

Year 6 have been learning about the Yellowstone National Park as part of their USA road trip. They have produced some fabulous travel brochures containing all the information you could ever need to prepare for your visit there!

Y3's most exciting learning moment was being able to cut through the Earth, at the equator, to find out what the Earth was made of. The children found out that the Earth has four layers: Crust, Mantle, Outer Core and Inner Core.

The inner earth.......

Our Foundation Stage learners have loved learning about their country of the half term 'China' and have been exploring the Lunar New Year.

Our Y1 Geographers followed a map of the school and used directional vocabulary......

Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being @ Wynndale

As I am sure you know, here at Wynndale we place a huge emphasis of supporting children's mental health and emotional well-being. We have continued this year to work hard as a school, to develop our 'Pastoral Offer' and now offer a range of interventions that support mental health and well-being. So many of our Wynndale learners continue to benefit from our interventions, and we are incredibly lucky to now have a team of support staff, who are trained to deliver things like Drawing and Talking, ELSA, Forest Schools, Nurture Breakfast, Zones of Regulation and Fun Fit to name a few. If you would like further information about any of these interventions, please look on the school website under the section 'Key Information' and 'SEND, Inclusion and Pastoral care'.

As well as offering pastoral interventions across school, we take every opportunity we can to promote good mental health and well-being with our children. This week for example, is Children's Mental Health Week, and all classes across school have been exploring the theme 'Growing Together'. This theme has focused on children learning how to look after themselves and also help others around them to grow emotionally too.

Our Zones of Regulation Whole School Approach: We use this language with children to help them to begin to know how to recognise and talk about how they are feeling and regulate their feelings too.

Our New Wynndale Football Kit

We are delighted to be able to share with you that we have a new Wynndale football kit, which has been kindly sponsored by one of our Wynndale families, Mr and Mrs Tipple, through their business, TSP Steelwork Solutions. We are so grateful for their sponsorship, as it has meant that we can throw out our old kit (which was incredibly outdated and falling apart!!) and look like a professional team when playing in matches against other local schools. The kit had its' first outing this week, when the Y5 and Y6 football team played against Sutton Road Primary, and the children not only looked great, but said that they felt 'proud' to represent Wynndale in their new kit.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Tipple - it has meant such a lot to us all in school, and we know that our Wynndale athletes will enjoy representing school in their new kit for many years to come.

Family Consultation Evenings

We will be holding our second Family Consultation evenings of the year next half term, in the week beginning 7th March 2022. We will be holding these meetings face to face as we did in the Autumn term, and once again, they will be taking place over three evenings, in accordance with our current Covid risk assessment. These meetings will be an opportunity for you to speak to your child's class teacher about the progress your child is making towards their end of year targets, discuss your child's next steps and how you can help them work towards these at home, and it will also be an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. We would encourage all families to sign up to an appointment time throughout the week, and we are very much looking forward to seeing you in school to look at how we can work together to best support your child as we move into the Summer term and beyond. Please see the separate letter that has been sent via Parent Mail with details of how to book your appointment times.

Y4 meet the author Tony Bradman.....

Earlier this half term, our Year 4 learners had the most fabulous opportunity of taking part in a Zoom call with Tony Bradman, the author of Viking Boy (the text they had explored in English in the Autumn term). They had the chance to ask Tony lots of questions about what it is like to be an author, and the processes behind the publishing of a book. I think many of the children were quite surprised at how many times he had to edit his story before it was able to be published - it definitely helped them reflect on their own editing of their final pieces of writing too! Tony said he was very impressed with the questions the children asked...even reporting that one of the children asked a question that had never been asked before! The Zoom call has definitely inspired our children as readers and writers and supported us in our continued mission to promote a love of books at Wynndale!

Our Year 4 learners were captivated by their Zoom call with Tony Bradman

Our Remarkable Readers and Wonderful Writers......

This week saw our end of half term Remarkable Readers and Wonderful Writers assembly, where we celebrated the English achievements of children from across school. Have a look at the children who we are celebrating this half term.....

Our proud Remarkable Readers........
Celebrating our Remarkable Readers.....
This half terms Wonderful Writers........

TT Rockstar's @ Wynndale

Knowing times tables is an important life skill that helps children in so many aspects of learning across the curriculum. The National Curriculum states that all children should know all their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of Year 4 in primary school. To raise the profile of, and improve our times tables across school at Wynndale, we have a new competition! There will be a TTRockstar battle, that will run each week for a week starting on a Friday at 3.30pm. The battle takes place in house teams, and the weekly winners will have house points added to their whole school total. The winning house will be announced each week in our class briefing and will be displayed on our TT Rockstar's display in school. Please encourage your child to play at home. If you need your login, please speak to the class teacher.

Can you help us resource our EYFS outdoor space?

Can you help us improve our EYFS outdoor space?

We are currently trying to improve our outdoor provision in the Foundation Stage unit. If you have any of the following unwanted items at home, they would be gratefully received in school:

* Large covers and ground sheets for den building

* Old camping or picnic equipment, including wicker baskets or back packs for role-play

*Large wooden or plastic spools or guttering for construction

*Old car toys or large toy diggers and trucks

Thank you for your support with this!

These are some of the items we are looking for.........

Forest Schools Plea.....

We are up and running now with our whole school Forest Schools intervention, and the children who are taking part in it are loving it! Our hope is that that our outdoor Forest Schools area will continue to evolve over time, with new structures and resources built and purchased to enhance it. It is also our vision that every Wynndale learner from across school will have the opportunity to take part in Forest Schools during their time with us.

We are always on the look out for spare wellington boots to keep in school, for if our children forget theirs or they need a change of footwear during the session; therefore if you have any wellingtons at home that your own children have outgrown, we would very much appreciate them in school! We are also always in need of plants and seeds for growing, if you have any at home that are surplus to requirements. Please hand any donations in to Mrs Swanwick, our Forest School lead.

We Welcome Learning Ladder to Wynndale

As I am sure you are aware, at the end of January, Mandy Squires, the manager of our after school provider Learning Ladder, made the difficult decision to close the business down. We know that this was a very difficult decision for her to make, after many years of running such a successful business, and we wish her the very best in the future.

As a school, we know that many of our Wynndale families rely on after school provision, and we are therefore delighted that we have been able to take over the provision, and continue to provide the service under our own school name, in the same way that we run breakfast club. We are equally delighted that Louise Betts wanted to continue to manage the provision for us, and that another member of the Learning Ladder team, Nettie Allen, wanted to come and work alongside Louise. We would like to welcome them both to the Wynndale Team, and know that they will continue to do a fabulous job for the children in our care.

Having Louise manage our provision means that for the children attending, nothing has really changed. We acknowledge that for you as parents or carers, there are a few changes in terms of bookings and payments, and we appreciate this may take a little time to get used to - we understand this and we also thank you for your patience with us whilst we get everything set up too!

Can we please ask that you book all your sessions in advance and pay on booking, in order to help us manage the system effectively. Can we also ask that if you cancel a booking, you do so one day in advance so that we can transfer your booking over and you are not charged for it. If you have any questions at all, please pop into the school office, who will be more than happy to help you with any questions or queries you may have.

Attendance Matters

We know that Covid has affected attendance for children in all schools across the country, and that it still continues to be a challenge for many. At Wynndale, our attendance this year has certainly been impacted, with our current attendance for the year standing at 94.9%. Our attendance target as a school is 97%.

Whilst we know that the vast majority of absences from school are genuine, and a large number have been Covid related and cannot be helped, we have an increasing number of children who without Covid related absence, are falling below 90% attendance, and therefore classed as a 'persistent absentee'. Over the course of the year, children whose attendance stands at 90% will have missed the equivalent of a whole month of teaching and learning in school.

In order to try and reduce the number of children falling into this category of being a 'persistent absentee', we are working as a leadership team to improve some of our attendance monitoring systems.

Every half term, the leadership team look at individual children's attendance across the whole school to see what the percentage attendance is, and to see if there are any patterns of absence. For children who we are concerned about, we will then make contact with you to discuss the absences, focusing on how we can support you and work together to improve attendance for your child. We will then monitor attendance for a period of 4 weeks and review again.

If, following this, attendance does not improve, and we are still concerned, we will invite you into school to discuss your child's attendance further with us. At this point, we may discuss requesting medical evidence as proof for any further absences and inform you that without medical evidence, further absences will not be authorised.

Can we also take this opportunity to remind you that our doors open in a morning from 8.35am and close at 8.50am. Children arriving after this time will be marked as late.

We thank you for your support in this, and are hopeful that as Covid subsides somewhat, our whole school attendance improves!

Showcasing Science at Mansfield Museum....

Mrs Fletcher, our Science lead at Wynndale, organised for some of the children from across school to attend a Science Fair at Mansfield Museum. For the Science Fair, the children had to prepare a presentation of what they have been learning about in Science this half term. Year 1 prepared some artwork based on their learning about 'The Seasons'. They then presented this to the judges along with reading a poem all about the seasons. They were then asked lots of questions about their learning, including: their best part of learning and which lesson they had enjoyed the most. They also got to have a look around the museum and even got dressed up as astronauts (including Miss Mee!).

Year 3 prepared some artwork to show their learning about the Scientific vocabulary: transparent, translucent, opaque and reflective. They then presented this to the judges along with a gameshow style quiz, where audience participation was needed. Again, the children were asked lots of questions about their learning from the judges. They also got to look around the museum and enjoyed finding lots of links to their learning from their history, science and geography learning too. Well done to everyone that took part, and we hope we can continue to develop our links with the museum in the future too.

Our Y1 astronauts........

Astronauts in Mansfield......

Y1's presenting their Science learning.....

Y3 exploring life in the Iron Age. Children were able to make connections to their History learning from earlier in the year.

Our fabulous Y3 Science presenters.......

Head Girl and Head Boy Round-up......

This half term at Wynndale every class has had a geography-based topic such as: a road trip around the USA, the Rainforests and Africa.

This week (7th-11th) is mental health week and on Friday we are wearing non uniform for the theme 'wear what you love and love what you wear'.

Also, the school football team has acquired a new football kit which was designed by a pupil.

Learning Ladder have been doing a after school club at Wynndale for years. They have had to shut down due to financial issues so Wynndale have carried the afterschool club on and kept two workers from the past and they are helping school.

Recently the Remarkable Readers and Wonderful Writers' assembly has taken place. The children who had been picked out of the class readers jar, for magnificent work in things related to reading, have received a book of their choice from our school book vending machine. The teacher picked children have been able to share their superb writing in front of the whole school for great content and amazing presentation.

Have a great half term everyone

Eloise and Ryan.

Staffing Updates

As we come to the end of the half term, I wanted to share some staffing updates with you. Firstly, Mrs Alison Newton, one of our Foundation Stage teaching assistants, who has been absent from school for a long period of time due to ill health, has made the decision to retire from her role. We would like to thank Alison for her hard work in supporting our youngest learners at the beginning of their school journey in EYFS and we know that she will now be able to enjoy spending precious time with her own children and grandchildren.

At the end of this half term, we also say goodbye to Miss Keely Sanders, one of our fabulous office staff team. She is moving on to pastures new, working in a secondary school, leading on media and marketing, which is where her background and passions lie. Miss Sanders will leave a huge gap in the Wynndale team, and whilst I am incredibly sad to see her leave, I know she will be hugely successful in her next role and an asset to her new school. Good Luck Miss Sanders!

Next half term we also welcome back Miss Aimee Bloor from maternity leave. She has been in school for a few days this half term, settling back in, and will return to her role after the half term break. She will not have a class responsibility initially and will be supporting children from across school.

A few points to note...

A few useful reminders....

*School closes for the half term on Friday 11th February 2022 and reopens for all children on Monday 21st February 2022.

*We continue to offer football at lunchtimes for all children across school, run by MTFITC. At the moment, the field is quite muddy and we have some children who don't bring a change of footwear when playing. This then leads to large amounts of mud coming into school. Can we therefore please remind you to send children with a spare pair of trainers in a carrier bag if they are wanting to play football at lunchtime. Thank you for your support with this.

*School uniform, including book bags and PE bags is available exclusively from the following website: www.myclothing.com. School water bottles are still available to buy from school, and remaining stock with the old school logo on is priced at £2.50 per bottle.

*Please can we remind all parents and carers to ensure that children stay safe with you when out on the playground before the doors open in the morning. We have had a number of children racing around the playground, running in the International Garden and using the Trim Trail before and after school. This has at times led to accidents and also means that some children are not starting the day off in a calm manner. Please remind your children to stay with you until the doors open in the morning.

Can we also ask that if your child comes to school on a bike or a scooter, they dismount it before coming into the school grounds. We have had reports of a number of our children as well as younger and older siblings, coming onto the playground and riding on bikes and scooters, both before school and at the end of the day. We regularly talk to the children about this, but please talk to your children about this too.

We appreciate your support in helping us keep our Wynndale community safe.

Monday 21st February 2022 - Children return to school

Thursday 3rd March 2022 - World Book Day (Further information in a separate letter)

Thursday 3rd March 2022 - Parents Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) meetings (am and pm). See separate letters that have been sent out.

Week beginning 7th March 2022 - Spring Family Consultation evenings

Friday 18th March 2022 - Comic Relief (separate letter will be sent)

Friday 1st April 2022 - Easter events...information to follow next half term

Friday 1st April 2022 - Break up for the Easter holidays

Tuesday 19th April 2022 - Children return to school after the Easter Holidays

Friday 27th May 2022 - INSET Day. School closed to children

Credits:

Created with images by Nejko - "globe map geography" • PIRO4D - "welcome lettering typography" • ds_30 - "magnet blank reminder"