This newsletter from Westwood Farm Schools provides information to parents about the new school year. It welcomes new students and staff, provides updates about facilities, announces events, and shares other announcements. The newsletter contains a large amount of information over several pages.
This newsletter from Westwood Farm Schools provides information to parents about the new school year. It welcomes new students and staff, provides updates about facilities, announces events, and shares other announcements. The newsletter contains a large amount of information over several pages.
This newsletter from Westwood Farm Schools provides information to parents about the new school year. It welcomes new students and staff, provides updates about facilities, announces events, and shares other announcements. The newsletter contains a large amount of information over several pages.
This newsletter from Westwood Farm Schools provides information to parents about the new school year. It welcomes new students and staff, provides updates about facilities, announces events, and shares other announcements. The newsletter contains a large amount of information over several pages.
Welcome back to you all – I do hope you had a lovely Summer and managed to make the most of the beautiful weather. The children all look lovely and smart in their new/fresh uniforms and they all seem happy to be back at school and we trust you are all happy for us to have them back! We have missed them all – the buildings have been very quiet over the holidays without them!
A very big welcome to all our new families joining us in EYFS this week and the new families joining across the schools. A big welcome to our new staff; Mr David Howells (our new caretaker - more to follow), Miss Sam Harrison (Teacher in Simon Class), Miss Niamh Howlett (TA in Donaldson class), Mrs Watkins, Mrs Wilks and Miss Keskin (Lunch Time Assistants) and to our student Miss Kayleigh Phillips working in Year 1 with Miss Wakeham.
(Warning to all new families – I have a very silly sense of humour and tend to over-use exclamation marks so I hope you weren’t hoping for a serious tone to my newsletters – you will be disappointed!!)
Our new children in FS2 – Donaldson and Milne classes have had their first visits with us this week and have had a wonderful time in their lovely small groups – all of them are confident and happy to come to school with very few tears! The teachers have been busy in the afternoons with Home Visits which are really useful for us and ensure a positive start for your child so if you haven’t managed to arrange one yet – please see Mrs Finn in the office. Our new FS1 (Nursery) children in Carle class will be starting on Monday – welcome to you all! New FS2 parents - don’t forget to join us for coffee on Monday after drop off in the staffroom – a chance to meet each other, ask any questions and maybe share tissues and tears (or happy smiles of relief...?!)
As mentioned above we have a new caretaker who is very tall and very lovely! He has worked tirelessly without a break all through the summer holidays making the school look great – not even having a chance to move into the bungalow fully yet! There are a few jobs that have been more difficult and expensive for him to tackle and one of those is the pedestrian gate to the playground in the corner (which is out of action) and the rest of the fence. We have just received a quote to replace this which is a scary £16,000 so we are planning an alternative which will of course takes longer so please bear with us!
New (Revised) Behaviour Policy
We have been working hard on revising our policy and have launched it this week with the children. The policy will shortly be on the website for you to view and we have summary leaflets in the offices available for parents if you would like one. In the meantime below is a short summary of the ‘Westwood Way’; 1. ‘Do be gentle’ – those children who play well together and don’t hurt anyone 2. ‘Do be kind and helpful’ – those children who are kind to others and are polite 3. ‘Do work hard’ – those children who always make an effort to do their best and don’t waste their own, their teachers or their friends’ time 4. ‘Do look after property’ – those children who show respect for things that belong to the school and to other people 5. ‘Do listen to people’ – those children who do not interrupt and demonstrate good, polite listening skills and act on instructions 6. ‘Do be honest’ – those children who tell the truth even in difficult situations
New KS1 Toilets!
We have at last had these replaced by the Local Authority – they are amazing and if you are keen to see them please do come and have a look (and a sniff...!!) Sorry if you are a Yr3 child (or parent!) who has missed the chance of using them – but least they are now so much better for our future generations of KS1 pupils!
Have a lovely weekend!
Barbara Hunter Executive Headteacher Westwood Farm Schools
Meet the Teacher Times
We will be holding our meetings with the class teachers for you on the following dates and times. These meetings are really useful for you to meet the teacher and get to know the routines etc for the class and ask any questions. Please come if you can – we look forward to seeing you. If you do have children in different year groups on the same day you are more than welcome to come to half of one then the other or see the teacher to catch up at another time.
Tuesday 11th September Year 2 & 4 3.20/3.30-4.00pm
th Wednesday 12 September Year 5 & 6 3.30-4.00pm Thursday 13st September Year 1 & 3 3.30-4.00pm
Term Dates for 2018/19
Westwood Farm Schools Term Dates for 2018/19 are attached to this Newsletter. They can also be found on the home page of our school website. Hard copies are available from either school office.
New Year 1 trip to Milestone Museum
A reminder to Year 1 parents that your child will be going on a trip to Milestones Museum on Friday 14 th September 2018 as part of their 'Memory Box' topic. Can all outstanding consent forms and payment be given to Mrs Finn in the school office my Monday 10th September. (Please don't forget the extra £1 in a named envelope if you wish your child to visit the "Old Fashioned Sweet Shop"). Thank you.
ISS School Lunches
We have been advised that ISS have increased the price of a school lunch for KS2 pupils to £2.35. This took effect from 5th September 2018. We do apologise for the late notification but have only just received this information ourselves. Sleep Workshop 'We would like to invite parents to attend a short workshop about helping children sleep better, run by Parenting Special Children. The workshop will start with an informal chat with tea and biscuits to discuss what we would like to get out of the session followed by a talk from the specialist and then a chance to ask questions. The workshop will be on Wednesday 19th September 9-10:30 in the Happy Hub. ALL PARENTS WELCOME'
Lunch ordering in FS2 and KS1
School lunches can be ordered online by registering with www.feedinghungryminds.co.uk This ensures that your children receive the meal that you would like them to have. Alternatively pupils can order via the interactive whiteboard in the classroom on a daily basis.
Fruit and Snacks
As you are aware, we are always encouraging the children to eat healthily and we do ask that all snacks and packed lunches are in line with this. All Foundation Stage and KS1 children have fruit provided for them so there is no need for them to bring a snack to school for breaktime (if your child doesn’t eat fruit at home, you would be amazed at what they will eat in school when with their friends!) KS2 children do not have free fruit so will need to bring in a snack if they would like one. We encourage fruit, raw veg, piece of cheese, raisins, and breadsticks. Crisps, biscuits or cakes are not allowed at snacktimes and sweets and fizzy drinks are not allowed in school for snack or lunchtimes. We do ask that you do not send in nuts at any time as we have several children with severe allergies to nuts. Thank you for your support with this.
Lost Property and Labelling!
If you haven’t already spent all summer sewing, ironing or sticking name labels in – please could you spend this weekend doing it? We always have soooo much Lost Property and the vast majority of it is left unclaimed as it has no name in it! We even had expensive coats in there for ages last year! We promise we do help your children to look after their belongings but unless they are named it can be very difficult as it all looks the same! Thank you for your help with this. We are always looking for some parent volunteers who could come in on a fairly regular basis to sort through our lost property and even help with washing unclaimed property and helping to sell it as nearly new (see below).
Second Hand Uniform
We have some very kind parents who have sorted/washed and catalogued donations of good quality second hand items of school uniform. Katherine Green has produced a spreadsheet of what we currently have – attached to this newsletter. All items are priced at 50p and are on sale via the WFS Facebook page.
Parking Please continue to support the school and our pupils and residents with considerate and safe parking. It continues to be a problem for some so we continue to ask for your co-operation with this. It upsets our local residents if parents and carers park across their drive if they need to get out – please think of all of this when you are thinking of where to park. Thank you for your support.
Bracknell Bees Basketball
Please find attached a flyer and voucher to purchase reduced rate tickets for upcoming Bracknell Bees School Zone Ice Hockey tickets. The attached voucher is for £10 per adult with 2 kids going free in the School Zone (Block 4 downstairs) and is the promotional rate for School Zone Games only. It also includes a free public skate for all after the game!
Tilehurst Beavers If your child may be interested in joining Beavers, 79th Reading Beavers are holding an open evening on Tuesday 18th September from 5.45-6.45pm at 79th Reading, Armour Road, Tilehurst RG31 6JH. Further information is available by contacting Kim Williams by email on kim.williams@berkshirescouts.org.uk Diary Dates We will only be sending the termly and yearly (when completed) dates out in the newsletter at the beginning of each term and not always on a weekly basis. We would please urge you to use the website for any changes to dates and extra ones are added there all the time. If you have any difficulty in access to our website or the Internet, please ask one of our lovely ladies in one of the offices who will provide you with a printed list.
Autumn Term Dates so far
Monday 10th September Coffee morning for new FS2 parents 9.00-9.30am th Tuesday 11 September Meet the Teacher Year 2 & 4 3.20/3.30-4.00pm th Wednesday 12 September Meet the Teacher Year 5 & 6 3.30-4.00pm Thursday 13st September Meet the Teacher Year 1 & 3 3.30-4.00pm th Tuesday 18 September FS2 Reading Chronicle ‘First Day Photo’ th Wednesday 19 September Yr 6 Parents Greatwood Residential information meeting 6.00pm KS1 Hall Friday 21st September Bag2School event th Monday 24 September Harvest Festival Assembly for pupils with Dan Dwelly th Friday 5 October Dress Down Day for Autumn Fayre Saturday 6th October FOWFS Autumn Fayre 2.00-4.30pm th th Monday 8 – 12 Oct Yr 6 Greatwood Residential th Monday 15 October Parents Consultation Appointments 3.30-5.00pm Tuesday 16th October Tempest Individual School Photos – whole school Wednesday 17th October Flu Nasal Vaccines for FS2, Years 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 th Wednesday 17 October Parents Consultation Appointments 5.00-7.30pm Friday 19th October Last Day of Term Monday 22nd October to Monday 29th October – Autumn Half Term Holiday Tuesday 30th October Back to School Tuesday 6th November Diwali Celebrations (more to follow) th Friday 9 November FOWFS Disco (4-5pm FS2 & KS1 5.30-6.30pm KS2) th Wednesday 5 December FS2 Performance to parents 9.30am Friday 7th December FS2 Performance to parents 2.30pm th Wednesday 12 December FS2 & KS1 Panto Trip to Bracknell Thursday 13th December FS2/KS1 Xmas Lunch Friday 14th December KS2 Xmas Lunch th Thursday 20 December Last Day of Term – break up at 2.00pm
