NEWSLETTER · Karate A successful Shikukai karate taster session was held for the Maldon, Blackwater Schools Part-nership. Children from five local schools took part in a taster Karate

NEWSLETTER

Newsletter issue no:3 9th November 2018

www.woodhamwalter.essex.sch.uk [email protected]

EXHIBITION DAY

We were overwhelmed by the amazing efforts put in by our children on their enrichment homework, which we proudly displayed in the classrooms on our Exhibition Day. They are now on display for everyone to see in the school hall.

We had some fabulous projects, which really showcased just how much the children have learnt about the different curriculum topics they are working on and indeed the passion that they have been given for learn-ing by sharing that knowledge at home amongst their families.

We had a spectrum of interpretation across each subject, which gave us a real feast for the eyes. So many thanks for all of your hard work and for really entering into the spirit of our engaging Curriculum. Look out for the new Enrichment Homework, which will be coming soon!

Church Assembly

Rev Julie came into school and talked about different Saints. We learnt lots about Saint Paul and had a fantastic time learning a new song.

Thank you Rev Julie for a really enjoyable assembly.

Dear Parents, Your Governing Body is working well with staff to improve our lovely school still further. We are delighted to welcome Matt Springett and David Jones to the Governing Body as Parent Governors and, pending confirmation from our Local Authority, we anticipate Pam Seear being appointed as our LA Governor (Pam is the owner of the Tadpoles Nursery next door and her expertise, particularly in Safeguarding will be most welcome). We now have governors’ meetings every month to keep up to speed with every aspect of what is happening in the school: each governor takes responsibility to work with members of staff to monitor particular aspects of school life. This doesn’t mean interfering; it means ensuring that the School Improvement Plan is being implemented as it was developed, and challenging if it doesn’t appear so, but then supporting to get it back on track if necessary. Basically it means being a ‘critical friend’. This last half term has gone very well: new children have settled well and pro-gress in all classes appears to be on track. Most importantly children appear to be having fun learning through the new way of introducing the curriculum in all classes: Cornerstones. I was privileged to meet children, parents and staff dur-ing the recent school work exhibitions and was delighted to hear what all had to say about how the children were enjoying their learning. This builds upon the re-sults achieved in the summer upon which, Clare Kershaw, the Director of Educa-tion for Essex commented to Mrs Dodd: “ I would like to personally congratulate you and your staff on your 2018 results…progress scores are above the Essex average…we know that achieving high standards and significant improvement with children is very demanding and this is in part due to the hard work of your staff”. Well done to all the staff for last year and we look forward to continuing to see good academic results achieved by safe, happy, keen learners. I hope to see some children and parents at the Remembrance Service at St Michael’s on Sunday at 10.30 Geoff Hicks Chair of Governors”

KS2 Trip to Harry Potter Tour

Here are just a few of the comments from the children who attended the amazing trip on Monday.

Holly: It was really, really fun, my fa-vourite part was the forbidden forest because there were things that you could switch on and off in there.

Grace: I thought it was amazing, and really fun and also you learnt a lot about how things were made and everything, like they showed you how they made the broomsticks fly.

Archie: It was awesome because the spiders literally jumped out on you in the forbidden forest.

Christopher: I liked the one where we got to test out the wands with the death eaters.

Joe: Well, I like the train, because you can actually look out of the windows. And there was another bit at the end when Harry and Ron were eating bags of sweets .

Rocky: It was really fun and exciting.

Sam: If you don’t like Harry Potter you should go because it will get you into it.

Fergus: It was very interesting to see how they made it like Quidditch and when they did the flying car.

Heather: I liked the forbidden forest and the train where they did the green screen and had to cut the things out.

Red Deer Class

Red deer had a great day to begin the half term. They were set a challenge to build a boat, strong enough to carry two people (mobile) and that could travel across a stretch of water without being pushed. The children worked collaboratively to share ideas, design, build, evaluate and then modify their boats. They sailed them across the water tray with varying degrees of success. But they learned a great deal in the process.

“I learnt that you had to make it light. It worked better when we took the wheels off.” Aimee.

“I learnt that you need to put something on your boat that will float.” Harry

“I learnt that you need a bigger sail for the wind to catch it.” Henry

“I think that the boat needs a safety ring in case the boat sinks.” Leon

WANTED

Old pots, pans, sieves, bowls and utensils.

Unicorn Class would really like them for their mud

kitchen!

Thank you!

Remembrance Day

Mrs Dodd and two pupils will be laying a wreath after the Remembrance Service at St Michaels Church on Sunday 11th November for Remembrance Day. Please do come and join us in paying re-spect to those who have sacrificed so much on our behalf. The Service will begin at 10.30.

WOMENS SELF DEFENCE

Two sessions of Women’s self defence have been held at school. They were lively and informative. Participants learnt about how to keep safe and risk assess potential dangers as well as about per-sonal protection.

Karate

A successful Shikukai karate taster session was held for the Maldon, Blackwater Schools Part-nership.

Children from five local schools took part in a taster Karate session hosted by Shikukai Karate – Do International at our school. The children found out about chief instructor Sugasawa Sensei and the principles of respect and courtesy.

It was a fun packed session where they practiced basic punching and kicking skills as well as how to count in Japanese.