Friday 13th December
Headteacher's Update
We are now well into our Christmas Festivities. Yesterday, Hedgehogs class performed their nativity play brilliantly at St Thomas' Church. Our families really enjoyed the singing and acting and it helped us all to get into the Christmas spirit.
Our Infant school pupils enjoyed a performance of Pinocchio from The Open Box Theatre Company. The children had an absolutely fantastic time, and we would like to thank the Friends of the Woolton Hill Schools for their generous donation that made this opportunity possible. Pupils from the junior school will also be seeing Pinocchio, at the Watermill Theatre next week.
Thank you to everyone who bought a poppy for Armistice Day - this year we raised £99.88 for the Royal British Legion.
The last day of term is Friday 20th December. As this is the last Newsletter of term, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our children and families a very Merry Christmas and a happy start to 2025! We look forward to welcoming all the children back to school at 8.45am on Monday 6th January 2025.
Junior Ambassador Christmas Fun Day
Important date for your diaries: Friday 20th December (last day of term). As is now tradition, the Year 6 Ambassadors are organising a Christmas Fun Day for the junior school children in aid of two charities they have chosen and researched.
This year they will support the Crisis homeless charity and St Michael’s Hospice – as part of their Leadership role they will do some Courageous Advocacy work around this with the rest of the school to educate them about the charities and how their money will support and help this Christmas.
The day is called ‘Reindeer Rumble’ and the Ambassadors would like children to come to school dressed in a festive way or as a reindeer for a £1 (minimum) donation to the charities!
They are running Christmas games for free at lunchtimes – there will be prizes! They are also organising two other events children can get involved with during the day:
1. A ‘Reindeer Run’ with certificates for winners in each year group – there is an additional £1 charge to enter the run event.
2. Selling special iced reindeer biscuits for 50p each during the afternoon (and more sales after school if they don’t all sell!)
We hope children and families can support this event and dig deep to help others at Christmas.
Reminders
I reminded parents earlier this week that we do not operate a 'drop-off' system at the gates of the school. Please park your car in a designated space. Pupils should use the path around the edge to walk safely into school. Please can parents who are waiting, switch off their engines to protect the children, who are walking by, from the exhaust fumes. Children on bikes must wear cycle helmets.
The car park gets very busy, particularly around 3.30pm. If families can park off-site or walk to school, that would really help to ease congestion.
Thanks for your help with all these matters.
Clubs at the Junior School
We wanted to make parents aware that the school gates at the Junior School will remain closed from 3.35pm until all school clubs have finished. This is to ensure pupils remain safe i.e. that strangers are unable to wander onto the premises. Pupils will be dismissed from the gate at the end of the club.
Starting Infant or Junior School in September 2025?
Does your child start junior school in September 2025? Do you know someone who is looking for a Year 3 place for next year? Come along to our next open morning on Thursday 9th January 2025.
Register at this link:
Christmas Dates
We are in the middle of our packed Christmas programme. Here are the dates for your diary:
Mon 16th Dec 9.30am | KS1 Nativity Dress Rehearsal |
Mon 16th Dec 2pm | KS1 Nativity Performance to Parents |
Mon 16th Dec 5pm | Lower KS2 Carol Concert to Parents |
Tues 17th Dec 5pm | KS1 Nativity Performance to Parents |
Weds 18th Dec | Infant Christmas Jumper & Lunch day |
Weds 18th Dec | Junior Whole School Pantomime at the Watermill Theatre |
Weds 18th Dec 5pm | Junior Musical Extravaganza |
Thurs 19th Dec | Junior Christmas Jumper and Lunch Day |
Thurs 19th Dec 9.30am | Christmas Church Service - pupils only |
Fri 20th Dec | Junior Ambassador Charity Fund Day |
Swings & Smiles
Rose writes:
"On Tuesday we went to Swings and Smiles in Thatcham to see what we were raising money for.
The lady that showed us round was very nice and told us a lot about the people that go there and the things that they do. She said that our money could go towards a day out for them, new activities and some other things to. We had a tour, but we unfortunately didn’t get to see outside because it was dark when we got there. We had a picture with a cheque in front of a chalkboard (see below).
Thank you for all the donations you a great charity. We raised £142.40. We had a really nice time selling the bracelets and we hope you like them as much as we do. We even had a little go with some toys! Once again, thank you for your donations and the children at swings and smiles will love something new to do. "
Sports Update
Noah writes:
"On Monday 2nd December 2024 we went to a Park House football tournament. On the way there, tension was high between the teams. Our first game was against Bucklebury; where, after an impressive save from the Woolton Hill keeper, we stayed focused and Jack slotted it in.
Not once, not twice, but three times.
A 3-0 victory to start us off.
In our second game we scored straight from kick-off with an assist from Finley and a tap-in from goal machine Jack. Throughout the rest of the game it was tense and tough and the goalkeeper's slide tackle was perfectly timed, saving us from a stalemate.
The third game was easy from the get-go. We won 4-0 as Finley scored twice and the opposition did not have a single shot on target.
This was just the beginning. We returned on Monday 9th December 2024 to play against the other 7 group winners from schools across the county. Our first game was tough as we lost 3-0 but we picked ourselves up for our second match against Burghclere. This one we won 1-0 with Jack scoring in the last minute - an absolute screamer. The last game was a 1-1 draw and a very tight match. We ended up not making the finals with second place to St Nicholas’ in our group. Overall we played very well and we are proud of our performance."
Star Awards
The following children received Star Awards this week! They should all be really proud, well done!
6th December: William C, Jessica W, Lexie M, Riley M, Bella K, Jack W, Noah L, Ben R, Harry D, Rose H and Torin H.
13th December: Oscar L, Lilly M, Immie S, Millie C, Lydia M, Lucas A, Thomas H, William C, Scarlett M, Holly S, Niamh J, William A, Joshua L
Hot Chocolate
6th December: Immie S, Poppy R, Daisy L and Grace H
Life Learning
Resilience
6th December: Sofia E, Rosie A, Isabelle G and Niamh J
13th December: Sofia K, Lottie C, Freddy G and Noah A
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