Wooden Hill Primary and Nursery School Parent Portal - The Wooden Post

27 May 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a fun packed few weeks it has been at Wooden Hill School! All of the children in Key Stage Two have been on a trip; whether it’s been a trip to the library or on a residential! It has been a joy to watch the children donning high vis vest or boarding coaches to go on new adventures. There are more planned for next half-term too. It is really wonderful to see and hear about, after all the restrictions of the last couple of years.

Next half-term is always really busy as teachers finish writing reports, assessments are made, and transition arrangements are made. In addition to this we have celebrations for Year 6 as well as the amazing Jubilee events organised for the first week back. I am very much looking forward to helping judge the bake-off entries! I think this will be the highlight of my year!

A huge thank you to Miss Smart and Miss Mistry who have been working with the fundraising team to plan and implement a number of amazing events for the school. On the last day of term, Friday 22^nd July, the team have arranged a community event to celebrate the Wooden Hill community, and bring us back together after the pandemic, but also to say goodbye to staff who are leaving. The event will start with a picnic on the Astro at 12.30pm and parents, grandparents and other family members are encouraged to collect their children and enjoy a picnic. The school day will end at 1.30pm for all children who have not been collected, and the fun event will start. It is envisaged that the event will continue until around 4-4.30pm. Miss Smart and Miss Mistry will send out a letter shortly with further details and timings, but I wanted to give you advance warning so that you can put it in your diaries now as it will be an event not to be missed!

As always, thank you for your continued support. Wishing you all a wonderful half-term break.

Kind regards,

Mrs Lagares

Jubilee Digital Art Competition

Huge congratulations to Ellie in Year 6 Kite class for winning the under 11’s Jubilee Digital Art Competition in the Bracknell Forest Libraries competition. Below is her winning design which she drew on a simple tablet digital drawing app (with just one finger). Also pictured is Ellie with her amazing prize. Well done Ellie!

The Queen’s Plant a Tree for the Jubilee Project

On Tuesday 11^th May, Freddie in Year Two, along with his mum, accompanied Miss Leigh-Hunt to the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park, as part of the Queen’s plant a tree for the jubilee project. There were seventy schools represented, with each school having a named tree. It was a rather damp outing, but Freddie quickly spotted our tree, right at the end, the last one! Afterwards, they had a rather posh sandwich and cakes lunch at Ascot Race Course. Well done, Freddie for representing Wooden Hill so fantastically. Thank you to Freddie’s mum for coming with us.

Sports Day

Monday 27^th June:

Nursery and Reception: 9.30am – 10.45am. Refreshments on sale from 9am (cash only)

Year 1 and Year 2: 1.45pm – 3.00pm. Refreshments on sale at 3pm (cash only)

Tuesday 28^th June:

Year 3 and Year 4: 9.30am – 10.45am. Refreshments on sale from 9am (cash only)

Year 5 and Year 6: 1.45pm – 3.00pm. Refreshments on sale at 3pm (cash only)

Bikes and Scooters

Bikes and scooters must not be ridden anywhere on the school groups. Please ensure that children walk their bike or scooter to the bike shed.

Playground Equipment

Please do not allow children to play on any of the playground equipment at the start or the end of the school day, and please ensure that siblings and younger children remain with parents and do not go off to play.

Water Bottles and Suncream

We are all hoping the sun will be shining after half term. Please ensure that your child has a water bottle in school (water only) and that suncream is applied in the morning. Our playground is a wonderful suntrap but it can get very hot.

Lost Property

Please note that there is a large amount of children’s belongings being left on the playground at the end of break and lunchtime.

We are doing our best to return the items to the correct year groups and children have been reminded to take responsibility for their own belongings.

Please can you ensure all items of clothing and water bottles are being labelled

Thank you for your cooperation.

Nursery Roundup

This half-term the children have listened to the following stories ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘The Bad Tempered Ladybird'. They have explored pretend bugs using magnifying glasses and tried to spot pictures of them in books, created butterfly pictures using collage and have also made symmetrical painted pictures. They have worked on their fine motor skills by threading pasta onto pipe cleaners to make their own ‘Hungry Caterpillars’.

Linking with our topic on bugs, the children found out about bees this week and created some bee themed art work. They have also learnt about the life cycle of a ladybird and made ladybird and mini beast themed paintings.

In Art Week the children got to find out about the artist Piet Mondrian and they created a portrait of Queen Elizabeth in his style. They used masking tape to make sections on their portraits and then painted the different sections in red and blue.

Towards the end of term the children have been learning all about spiders! They have found out facts about them and listened to lots of spider-themed stories including ‘Spinderella’ and ‘Ahhh Spider’. They have been creating some fantastic spider-themed art work such as paper plate spiders and sparkly spider webs.

Towards the end of the term, the children started to prepare for the Jubilee celebrations for after half-term. They have been creating place mats for the tea party and bunting to decorate our classrooms. They have looked at pictures of the Royal Family and started to learn about the Queen’s jubilee and why it is being celebrated.

Click here to keep up with all the Nursery news.

Reception Roundup

Reception this half-term has been thinking about growing and how we grow and develop from a baby to a child. The children enjoyed sharing their photos of themselves as babies and we had fun guessing who they were! We have been thinking about the changes we make as we grow older, how we get taller and how our interests change. The children have enjoyed exploring our new role play area which is now a garden centre. They knew plenty about what can be purchased from a garden centre and used in their imaginative play.

The children have been learning about Minibeasts. They looked at different types of minibeast to see how they are the same and how they are different from each other. We also looked at microhabitats to see where minibeasts like to live and what they eat. The children were very excited to have a visit from the Nursery stick insects and enjoyed spending the day observing them. We also went on a minibeast hunt around the playground to see how many different insects and spiders we could find. We have been learning all about caterpillars and butterflies and recalling some facts about them.

During art week and the children have learnt about Brazilian artist Romero Britto. They firstly created a butterfly in the style of Romero Britto and then created a collage of the Queens face using this style. These pieces of artwork will be up in our art gallery during our Jubilee celebration after half term!

Lastly the children have had lots of fun learning about how to look after our teeth. We were very lucky to receive a visit from two dental nurses who explained and showed us how to look after our teeth. They talked through what happens at a visit to the dentist, how to brush our teeth correctly and answered their many questions.

Click here to keep up with all the Reception news.

Year 1 Roundup

The children started the new term with a new topic, communication. They were very lucky to have some lovely parent volunteers (Mrs Stallard and Mrs Inger) come into class to teach them about Makaton. Both parent helpers were impressed by how beautifully the Year One children sat, so we are very proud teachers!

The children were very busy exploring the history of communication and doing lots of role-play and writing linked to the story 'The Way Back Home'. We were also lucky to have a Police Officer come and visit as part of our PSHE learning to talk to the children about people who help us and how to stay safe.

During art week the children got to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee by creating a portrait of the Queen. They were asked to create their portraits in the style of Van Gogh - not an easy feat! To do this, they spend the whole week layering up acrylic paint to enable a swirly, textured piece. The children loved creating their Queens and exploring how acrylic can add texture. It was lovely to see the children unleashing their inner artist and each portrait looks so incredibly different.

The children finished the term exploring position and direction in maths they learnt key mathematical vocabulary including 'left' 'right' 'forwards' and 'backwards'. They have also learned about half-turns, quarter turns and three-quarter turns clockwise and anticlockwise.

This also supplemented nicely their computing lessons, where they continued to learn about bee-bots and algorithms. It has been lovely for the children to make links between curriculum areas and see the practical importance of maths in everyday life.

Thank you to all the Year One parents and carers for your continual support.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 1 news.

Year 2 Roundup

It was a busy return to school for year 2. In Maths, the children have been practising counting, recognising and ordering numbers to 100 and have been partitioning 2-digit numbers into tens and ones and representing them in lots of different ways using a range of practical equipment.

Whist the children had to do their SATS this term, they responded wonderfully well and had lots of fun, doing practical activities to keep their spirits high throughout the rest of their day. They got to enjoy the lovely weather by having outdoor scavenger hunts and hands-on learning experiences.

The children were lucky to have some of the children’s parents come in and talk about their different careers for their PSHE topic on jobs that people do. The children loved hearing about the different roles, and enjoyed asking questions to find out more! They have also enjoyed their PE lessons this week, where they have added more to their pirate dance sequences, and practised more cricket skills.

During art week, Year 2 used the style of the artist Andy Warhol to create bright, and bold prints. The children have really enjoyed experimenting with different mediums and colours to create their finished piece. They have worked in small groups to design their own pieces of artwork collaborating on colours and designs.

The children also participated and really enjoyed a very colourful day for our school’s ‘Colour Run’. Well done to all who took part and made it another successful, fun event!

The children finished the term on a high with a Year Two party to celebrate the hard work all the children put into their SATS tests.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 2 news.

Year 3 Roundup

In science this term the children have learnt about light sources, explored how they can see things by light being reflected and investigated what happens when the distance between a light source and an object increases.

In history, we have found about thur Ancient civilisation of Sumer and compared it to modern civilisation and have read the epic of Gilgamesh.

In English, we have been writing poetry. We have been on senses walks and explored things of different colours to inspire us.

In science, we have learnt about opaque, transparent and translucent objects and conducted an investigation to decide which material would make the best blind.

The children enjoyed visiting Great Holland library to find out more about the library, and to explore the many book options available and listen to a story. They had a fantastic time-sharing some of our favourite books as well as discovering some new ones too!

Year 3 have been learning more about fractions in maths and have explored equivalent fractions using practical resources as well as fraction walls and bar models. We have also compared fractions with the same denominators or numerators.

In science this week, they have been investigating shadows to see what effects the size and colour of the shadow.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 3 news.

Year 4 Roundup

This half-term Year 4 have been learning about The Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Norman Conquest (History), Light (Science), Money, Time and Statistics (Maths), The Iron Man by Ted Hughes (English) as well as playing Kwik Cricket, Rounders and Indoor Athletics (PE).

The children finished this half term with a trip to Butser Farm where they celebrated their learning about the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings.

First, the children sat inside an Anglo-Saxon house and found out all about the way the lived. After this, they were able to make some jewellery, using Anglo-Saxon patterns as a guide. They also made clay pots similar to the ones made in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Finally, they went on a tour of a Roman house to make comparisons between the different periods of time.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 4 news.

Year 5 Roundup

To start the summer term, year 5 got to explore space! The children investigated Mars and Martian sand; comparing and separating the different materials and emulating crater creation (using their maths skills of measuring and sharing information in tables). They created our own playdough volcanoes and even made one erupt to see the formation patterns to make smaller versions, cutting them to see the different layers. They have also learnt about the Earth, the moon and the sun, including the concept that the earth is spherical, how day and night happen and the phases of the moon (using biscuits!)

In maths, the children have completed their unit on decimals, fractions and percentages and the children did incredibly well in their assessment! In English, the children have based their writing on the book 'The Journey by Francesca Sanna', which is about a young girl who has to flee her home because of war.

As part of their History learning, Year 5 have been finding out about Tudor life. They had a fantastic time visiting Ufton Court, where they had the opportunity to explore artefacts from the past, be history detectives by searching the grounds for clues, to learn about crime and punishment when re-creating a Tudor courtroom and to play some typical Tudor lawn games.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 5 news.

Year 6 Roundup

The children have been working incredibly hard this term working towards their end of Key Stage 2 SATs. We have spent the last week of the term having a fantastic time on our residential trip. The children completed a number of activities that they haven’t tried before; overcoming fears, pushing themselves in challenging situations and working together as a team to solve problems and riddles has been amazing to watch! The children have now earned a very well deserved break over half-term.

Click here to keep up with all the Year 6 news.