Latest News

Thank you for your support for our Children in Need appeal. So far, we have raised £542.52 in donations and sold £464.50  of fund-raining merchandize. Children in Need was again chosen by our School Council and we invited children  to come to school on Friday 17th November in their pyjamas or onesies in return for a donation. The school council also sold Children in Need merchandize.

Some of our school councillors and staff went to the Remembrance Service at St Mary's Chadwell on Remembrance Sunday and we held a silence in school on the Friday before. Mr Radford played the last post on the cornet for both events. Leading up to this we sold poppies and wristbands after school to support the British Legion. We made wreaths from natural and recycled materials, donating the cost of a normal wreath to the British Legion, for the St Mary's and King Edward Drive memorials.

We are looking at our school times in response to the government asking all schools to work 32.5 hours a week (this includes lunchtime) by September 2024. Last year, juniors started at 8.45 am and infants at 8.55 am although their classrooms were open and staffed from 8.45 am if parents wanted to drop them earlier. As a first step towards 32.5 we requested infant parents bring their children to school at 8.45 am from September 2023 and governors have now confirmed that infant children should now start at 8.45 am. Children have an hour for lunch time and the extra time time could be achieved with a longer lunchtime. However we feel that extra teaching time would be more useful and a longer lunch time is not necessary as no children go home for lunch. All children (apart from nursery)now have the same start and finish times. Children coming into school after this time will be marked as late.

Now we are looking at how we find the remaining 75 minutes to bring our hours up to the new expectation of 32.5 hours per week by September 2024. It is worth noting that Woodside children can in fact already access this time by attending some of our many clubs and activities and that Woodside is open to children for the full 190 days a year while many schools are not. However, we are seeking to comply with the  directive in the way that most benefits our children and which we can afford. We are currently looking at the possibility of finishing at 3.15 pm instead of 3.00 pm or possibly starting earlier. If you are a parent we would very much like to hear your views on this. 

Please note, these times are for children from Reception to Year 6. Nursery hours will remain the same as they are now.

Thank you for coming to our harvest festivals and for your amazing generosity. Well done children for 4 excellent harvest festival performances. Each house had their own harvest festival to give the children more chance to display their talent and enabled us to fit in all the parents who wanted to come and all children from year 1 to year 6. Thank you to staff for all your hard work preparing for this event.

Our online consultation system is very convenient and has helped us to included more parents in the conversation, especially people whose work commitments make attending in person very difficult. It also saves you waiting around and gives everyone a fair allocation of time. However, as we know you also like to look at children's work we have combined these with after school "book looks" when you can come into school and see first-hand what your children have been doing. We will have this find of consultation in the autumn and spring terms and in the summer we will send you a written report and an invitation to our "Exhibition Evening" when you can look at  your children's work and also have a look at the class where you child will be next September.

We know that dressing-up theme days are much enjoyed by the children and we try to make sure that you have good notice of them, that  you don't need to go and buy clothes for them and that they are not always to raise money. All dressing-up theme days are optional. Children can come in normal uniform if they would rather not dress up. Our first opportunity for dressing-up is Thursday 5th October when we are holding a Monster Day - this is  the official launch of our new Monster Phonics programme for younger children and we would like them to choose a Monster Phonics character; these are very easy as they include Tricky Witch, Silent Ghosts, Black Cats and lots of different coloured letter monsters. Older children can join in with this or choose another monster costume they may have or can borrow or improvise. We don't want anything too frightening as we want it to be a fun day. There will be a special Monster Lunch including Miss "Oh No"s doughnuts with chocolate sauce straight from Tricky Witch's cauldron. Every child having the lunch will received a Monster sticker.

We have now met with the School Council to decide our fund raising and other days and they  again chose Children in Need on Friday 17th November which involves wearing pyjamas, and also two Christmas Jumper Days: on the official Christmas Jumper Day Thursday 7th December and Wednesday 20th, the last day of term. We will not be collecting money but you can given directly to Children in Need if you wish. There is no need to buy a Christmas Jumper as children can wear any Christmassy clothes or just use their imagination to decorate an ordinary jumper, or of course wear their school uniform. There will not be a Hallowe'en Disco this year as we felt the costumes were getting a little too gruesome and not everyone appreciated this event. There will be a Christmas Disco and discos in the spring and summer terms.

Thank you for helping us launch our Monster Phonics programme  with your amazing support for our MONSTER DAY on Thursday 5th October. Children (and staff) came to school dressed as their favourite monster  and we of course had a MONSTER LUNCH. . Our fun Monster Lunch included special Miss Oh No's doughnuts (she lives in one apparently) and chocolate sauce served from Tricky Witch's magic cauldron, with children's favourites plus our daily healthy baked potatoes and choice of salad and fruit. All children having our monster lunch will also get a FREE monster sticker and, if they are infants, also a FREE monster book. We promote our school meals with special fun lunches at least once a term. Sometimes this is when numbers are counted which is why many schools do it but  our main reason at Woodside is because we know our lunches are healthy and sustainable and much better for children than the Ultra Processed Food (UPF)  which are often part of children's lunch boxes. Scientists have proved that Ultra Processed Food is not only bad for children's bodies, often leading to obesity and the danger later of diabetes and cardiac disease but can also affect their brains making learning more difficult and mental issues more likely.

We continue to be a very musical school with plenty of opportunities for children to sing and play instruments. We are maintaining our weekly Steel Pan teaching for all Y3 and once children have started this they can join one of our Steel Plan clubs. We are no longer teaching recorder only in Y4 but now teaching it throughout the school as part of music lessons so that children can keep and develop their skills and, in Y5, can play music linked to their study of Shakespeare. All children will learn to play keyboards in class lessons as this helps them learn to read music and develop their understanding of harmony. Our extensive range of instruments now includes Indonesian Gamelan giving children experience of a very different musical system. Individual and small group lessons also taught in school currently include piano/keyboard, violin, guitar, drums, and voice. Other instruments may be available on request or at the Thurrock Music School that meets here on Wednesday evenings. There is a cost for individual lessons but they are half price for children entitled to free school meals.

Unfortunately, due to predicted high winds and the priority for children's safety, the company providing our inflatables for our after school session on Wednesday 20th of September have cancelled the event. We are waiting to be given an alternative date. All tickets already purchased will be honoured with refunds available for anyone unable to attend the new date.

Thank you to all those families who joined in 'Ready, Set, Read', the sport and games theme for this year's Summer Reading Challenge. As well as the rewards from the library of stickers, certificates and a medal we will be giving all children who completed the challenge a session on our inflatable obstacle course in the summer term (hopefully that will encourage even more children to take part next year). However, the real reward will be the enjoyment children can  have from reading and the progress they can now make through keeping up their reading skills over the summer.

Please make sure your children continue to read regularly at home.