Head's Blog

Wadebridge Christmas Show!

Key Stage Two

EYFS & Key Stage One

Friday 11th December

It has been a super busy week, made even more special by the Christmas festivities beginning to take over. I think that, for lots of us, the festive cheer in school really cranked up a notch today with the fine array of Christmas Jumpers and hair fashions (why are they always so itchy?!) on show. Christmas Jumper Day is one of my most favourite days of the year and it is made even better by all those taking part helping to raise money for ‘Save the Children’.

Today, whilst in our jumpers, we filmed our virtual ‘Christmas Show’. We look forward to sharing this with you on the school website next week. We then look forward to hearing from Hollywood soon after….

All pupils have enjoyed a festive Christmas lunch (or packed lunch) in the hall this week. There were crackers; party hats; two types of squash to choose from and, most importantly according to Mrs Lee Elkins, …. no sprouts! Thank you so much to our wonderful team (especially our kitchen team) for ensuring that we could all enjoy Christmas Lunch together, despite the challenges faced this year. We have also been lucky enough this week to be treated to two virtual assemblies from Pastor Drew Cox, who has been reading us excerpts of the Christmas Story via a video link – they have been great fun and it was lovely to see someone other than me on a screen during assembly!

Next week brings (possibly) even more excitement. There will be lessons as normal, with fantastic learning frantically going on up and down the school, and on Monday afternoon, we will be judging the Christmas decoration competition. If you are wanting to be in it to win it, please ensure that your decorations are in school on Monday. Winners will be announced on Facebook on Monday evening, so watch this space!

On Wednesday, we are having our class ‘cinema’ afternoons. Pupils are welcome to bring in 50p for a bag of popcorn and all money raised after costs will go towards FOWPA.

On Thursday, children are welcome to come into school in their best Christmas party outfits ready for a Christmas party in the afternoon. Please note that you do NOT need to send your child in with party snacks as a small treat will be provided by FOWPA (NB: we have noted those who may need an alternative treat).

On that note, we as a whole school would like to say a HUGE thank you to our brilliant FOWPA team. Despite the limited fundraising opportunities this term, this hasn’t stopped them from working incredibly hard to help raise precious funds for our school. Thank you to everyone who donated towards the raffle prizes and also bought and sold tickets and thank you to our talented pupils who created the marvellous hampers. A MASSIVE well done to Year 2, who deservedly won the prize for the best decorated hamper.

The last day of this term will be, as per the email sent today, Friday 18 December. We will be finishing at lunchtime though, so please do remember to pick up at those times mentioned in the email. We will send reminders!

Two points to end on though, please, both related to car parking:

This week, several parents have mentioned to us that parents are parking on the bend closest to the zebra crossing, up by Wadebridge School. Whilst we fully appreciate that this area does not have double yellow lines, it does make it incredibly difficult for people to see the cars coming in the opposite direction if cars are parked there. This has meant that, on several occasions, it has been necessary for parents to have to try and reverse (towards cars also in the queue). This is obviously very unsafe and puts both walkers and drivers at risk as well as causing huge hold ups. Please avoid parking on this bend where possible. We have also noticed cars parking on the double yellow lines. This is not safe, nor legal (!) and causes many problems for flowing traffic. Please do not do this this.

Thank you.

I will be writing to you again next week to confirm arrangements for next term, but please note that term starts on MONDAY 4 JANUARY 2021. Woohoo!

Enjoy the Christmas magic over the coming week and stay safe.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Friday 4th December

Dear Parents and Carers,

Can you believe it! Snow before Christmas (which actually does not always mean good things for all of us trying to get over the moor to school…)! Anyway, we very much appreciate your support and patience at drop off and pick up times as they can get very busy. One point to note please, though, whilst I am talking about cars, please, please do keep to the speed limit of 10 mph on the road into school. It can be very dangerous to drive any faster and we would hate for anything adverse to happen.

On a lighter note, it has been another busy week, but we are getting lots done! I have seen some truly wonderful work this week in English in many year groups and we have all seen a small part of the wonderful Celts and Romans Day that Year 3 had on Wednesday. Handily, Wednesday is an Assembly day, so we were able to briefly join them to see their wonderful costumes (and some of the shields that we saw were spectacular, so I had to show them to everyone), learn some fascinating facts and listen to a wonderful song about both Boudicca and the Celts and the Romans. Well done to Year 3!

Today was the last day for our Post Box Christmas Cards and thank you all so very much for your cards. We have lots to sort on Monday!

Christmas Lunches start on Monday too. We have spread the lunches out so that everyone can remain socially distanced and safe in their bubbles. What will also be nice is that on the days when Christmas Lunch is in certain year groups, everyone in that year group will eat together in the Hall. We are really quite excited. It will be an ‘almost’ normal lunch day for everyone next week!

Shining Stars this week were all won by those who had worked hard on their home learning and I did go and see those wonderful Topic Shining Star things from last week and I can tell you that the classrooms and the pupil books are looking very wonderful indeed.

You will have received an email from FOWPA today regarding the 100 Club – DO please get involved if you can as the more people that enter, the larger the prize will be. Please see the email for more details. FOWPA have also asked me to include this message in today’s blog:

Don't forget to hand your raffle ticket stubs into the school office no later than Monday 7th December. If you would like additional raffle tickets, please contact the school office. There are the usual big money prizes (£100, £75 and £50), as well as other fantastic prizes on offer including a gaming headset (worth £85) from Wadebridge Computers, a £60 Bridge Bistro voucher, a £30 TH Lobb Butcher voucher, a free Will writing service (worth over £200) from MacMillan solicitors, a food hamper from the Vine, 3 x £10 Attic beauty vouchers and many more.

Also, this year we have some beautiful hampers as prizes, made by the teachers and children from items bought in from you, the parents. See below from some sneak preview pictures. Thank you so much to everyone that has bought in items, they really are going to make great prizes.

The FOWPA team

Thank you so very much for your continued support. Have a super, safe, wrapped up and restful weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Image Gallery

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Documents

Friday 27th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a really busy week, but we have a had a lovely time! We have started our Christmas Preparations as we are busy decorating our hamper boxes and we are starting to practice our parts for the Wadebridge Primary Academy’s Christmas Bonanza. Oh my goodness, you will be in for a treat.

Do make sure please that you carefully read the letter that we have sent home about the run up to Christmas. There are lots of things on and many dates to remember and we will remind you as much as we can, but we would hate anyone to miss out. The first three things to remember are:

1) Bring in any high-quality donations for the hampers on Monday (last day!) (please see the letter home from FOWPA that details the sort of things that might work well)

2) Return the slip for your order of a Christmas Lunch by Wednesday 2 December and pay on ParentPay (£3.30)

3) Post your Christmas Cards in the fantastic Christmas Postbox by next Friday 4 December.

Phew!

This week saw us looking at several things in Assembly; next Monday is St Andrew’s Day and so we looked at the origins of this day and how it is celebrated in Scotland. We also went virtually into the hall to listen to the Fabulous Year 4s singing a French song that they had learned for their French Day. They were marvelous (very clear and loud with super pronunciation) and the school loved it. We then talked about how lucky we were to be able to come to school and learn as well as we do (we linked this back to St Andrew going across Europe to teach people about his faith and how dangerous that must have been) and we listened to this year’s Radio 2 Allstars song that was brought out for Children in Need.

Phew!

Shining Stars this week were all won by those who had worked wonders with their non-core subjects (History, Art, D&T etc.) and I have to say that it was SO rewarding to reward all those that we did. There is so much going on that it is sometimes hard to take in, so please do head to the class blogs to see what they have been up to. I am due visits (short ones, hovering in the doorway, wearing my mask at all times) to every class next week to see what they have been doing. I am very excited.

Thank you so very much for your continued support. Have a super and restful weekend and enjoy this picture of our very recently put up tree (thank you EYFS!).

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Image Gallery

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Friday 20th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been a very busy week with many things going on. We thank you so very much for your support and understanding and appreciate very much your smiles in the morning as you drop off (which of course we now tend to see in your eyes!).

I wrote to you last week to mention our Year 2s, who were to take the National Phonics Screening Test this week. They did brilliantly and we are very proud of all of them. Phew! Next week on Tuesday and Wednesday, we will hold our virtual Parents Evenings. I hope that you have all managed to find a slot, but if you are not able to speak to us on either of these two days, we will definitely be able to fit you in at another time. We do know that there are issues with a particular ‘phone operator, but we will do everything that we can to mitigate this.

It was Anti-Bullying week this week. Every class has done some work around this topic and we talked about it in Assembly too. I thought that one of the main points that was talked about this year was really interesting, and indeed slightly different to what we might look at normally, as it mentioned that whilst it is wonderful to be kind and nice to everyone, we also all had a responsibility to speak out if you see something that you know is not right even if you are not in any way involved. We are very lucky in school as we have the most wonderful pupils, who are possibly the kindest that I have ever met as a whole, BUT we all just need to keep in mind that if we know that someone is lonely on the playground, that we go and help them. It was a really good session and I stayed firmly in my office for the whole thing. I felt that it was for the best.

Next week brings us ever closer to our Christmas Plans. Our first step towards it is FOWPA’s collection for Christmas Hampers. Please see the separate email that has been sent from FOWPA but next week we are looking for high quality donations for every year group if you are able please. It is a brilliant idea for each year group to get a hamper together I think and I cannot wait to see what next week brings!

Thank you so very much for your continued support; we really do appreciate it and look forward to seeing you on Monday. Have a super and restful weekend.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Bubble Closure

Following the positive case of COVID-19 in the Reception Bubble in school yesterday, Public Health England, the Bridge Mat Trust and the school have made the decision to close the Reception Bubble for 2 weeks until Wednesday 2 December.

All learning has moved to the class website page and Tapestry. If you are having problems logging in, please contact the school who will be more than happy to help.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during this time.

Ms Whitlock and the Reception Team

Friday 13th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a lovely day. I have seen some wonderful nods to Pudsey today as well as a huge amount of clearly well-loved own clothes. Hugely well done to those who face painted today – there were some fantastic Pudsey faces! I helped with face-painting just once at a school fair some years ago. I won’t lie, I was stopped after my first attempt at a butterfly as apparently being able to tell what is being painted is a good thing.

Our next reason for a non-school uniform day will be Christmas Jumper Day, which this year takes place on Friday 11 December. We have a programme of things lined up for Christmas, which we shall share with you as soon as we can, but we are determined to try and celebrate as safely but as festively as possible. It is very exciting!

This week, I have seen the most moving and thoughtful learning and sharing around Armistice Day and Remembrance. Year 1 wrote some superb acrostic poppy poems for example; Year 2 and 3 created poppy art and every year group thought carefully and reflected on what ‘Poppy Day’ really means. Some pupils shared their family memories and some pupils even shared stories of seeing their family’s medals. The whole school observed the 2 minutes silence at 1100 on Wednesday and I have to say that you could have heard a pin drop. I was so proud and it brought a lump to my throat, which is testament to pupils’ thoughtfulness and respect. Thank you too to all who bought something from the poppy appeal box – every poppy item bought makes a difference to the Royal British Legion and they hugely appreciate it.

Next week sees our Year 2s taking their Phonics Screening test (they are prepared for this!) and our theme in school is Mutual Respect. You will all also be receiving an email asking you to book a Parent Consultation on either the 23rd or 24th of November. The appointments will be via telephone and will last 10 minutes. The best thing about this is you don’t even have to come to school! Do please sign up when the email comes through (this will be early next week).

Thank you so very much for your continued support; we really do appreciate it and look forward to seeing you on Monday. Have a super weekend.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Friday 6th November

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am hoping that after this weekend I can stop singing the Katy Perry Song ‘Firework’ during every waking moment in my head, but I tell you what – the brightest and the best were definitely at school today. There is a lot to be said for such brightness on an actually pretty dull day weather wise, so THANK YOU for all of the effort put in today. Although we did not today, I have decided that from now on, we must also have teacher winners as well as pupil ones. If you dropped off or picked up, you will know what I mean!

Talking of pick up and drop off; thank you so very much to all who have made sure that they are picking up and dropping off at the right times – it really does make a difference to the flow of the traffic and indeed to the school day. If you are not sure of your timings, please do ask.

Thank you too for making sure that there are no nuts in lunchboxes or snack boxes; it is really appreciated.

As we go into our first weekend of the second national lockdown, I completely understand that there are many who feel anxious. We appreciate that we are living through very uncertain times, but we also know that the very best place for your children is in school. It might sound odd, but it is almost as though you can step away from what is going on outside as you are so busy learning and being with your ‘normal’ class. Handwashing, being extremely careful about all cleanliness and ensuring that we are keeping our distance and only seeing our classes is now not unusual, and we are actually really glad that we get to see all of you every school day.

Next week is a busy one – we will of course be remembering all those who fought for us on Wednesday 11 November by learning about the history behind Remembrance Day and we are also going to come to school in own clothes next Friday for Children in Need. I will write to you with all of the details on Monday but we couldn’t just let it go. Next week’s earworm is already lined up; ‘if you want to help, help Children in Need’.

We look forward to seeing you on Monday and hope that you have a relaxing weekend.

Kindest regards

Ms Whitlock

Friday 23rd October

Dear Parents and Carers,
We made it to Half Term! It seems as though this has been an incredibly long half term, but it also seems to have flown by, which is testament to the immense effort that you have all put in. Seeing so many smiling faces has been a real tonic for us all, and we are so very grateful for all of your support. However, we wish you a restful half term and cannot wait to welcome you back on Tuesday 3 November.

I am writing a letter, which will follow shortly, so will not write for too long, but if you have three minutes, do please go to the website and watch our ‘Half a term round-up’ video which gives you a small glimpse of what we have been learning in school recently. One of the loveliest responses to this video has been the reaction of the pupils through the school when they have been shown the video in class. It is rare, actually, that the whole school gets to see what the other classes have done without going into the other classes (and they don’t even often do that in ‘normal times’) but as we are not using the corridors, this is actually the perfect way to share and gel as a community. Which we very much are.

We talked about communities in our whole school assembly this week. We talked about how important it is to get on with people, but how, sometimes, even the closest of friends can get cross with one another and have arguments. This led to a practical demonstration of how things can get out of hand and lead to things that no one really wants or expects. I was lucky enough to cajole several members of staff into helping me with this (we socially distanced of course). We talked about how, in the olden days, when people were very angry with each other, they might have challenged the person that they were angry with to a duel. In our duel, Mrs Lucock challenged Mrs Botten to a duel because Mrs Botten had taken Mrs Lucock’s pen and would not give it back. Mrs Botten claimed that it was hers. Mrs Hill was the referee and swords were the chosen weapon (we had one old sword (possibly made of balsa wood) and one foam sword which was about 6 inches long). The duel was very well acted given that the duellers were 2m apart and fervently contested, but the final ruling was that it ended in a draw. Which I am not sure Mrs Botten was *entirely* pleased about. Anyway, the point was well made and all of the school realised that most things are definitely not worth falling out for, and that being good and trusted members of our community whilst being kind and being tolerant were the MOST important things to be in life.

Please do have a look at the letter when it arrives; remember not to come to school on Monday 2 November and remember that the first Friday back, Friday 6 November, is our Firework Party Day.
I hope that you all stay safe and well over the next week and one day and we hugely look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 3 November (NOVEMBER?!?!? Already!??!).

Kindest regards
Ms Whitlock

Happy half term!

What a fantastic term!

We can't believe how quickly the last 7 weeks has gone! Despite the obvious differences and challenges, we are so proud of all that everyone has achieved this term.

Thank you to our fantastic staff for their dedication and hard work, our amazing children for their enthusiasm to 'learn, thrive, excel' and to our families for their ongoing understanding and support.

Please enjoy just a short snippet of the many things we have achieved and enjoyed so far...

Happy half term!