World of Woodland Issue 44

This month’s value is: ASPIRATION 

 Welcome to the first edition of the World of Woodland 2017, our almost fortnightly publication—we try to use our newsletter to draw attention to upcoming events and to celebrate school and pupil achievements. We are now two weeks into the start of the new school year and so, by now, every child should be (more or less) into the swing of the new timetable, new classes, new teachers and perhaps new friends too. A HUGE welcome to our new readers, the Year 5 parents and the dozen or so families of children starting in other year groups – I hope that your newly starting child (or children) have had a great start to the year! Our form tutors are eager to hear from parents and the easiest way is to email them directly. If you are unsure of their email address then you can email the relevant head of year and they can direct the email for you.

Year 5 petries@woodlandacademy.co.uk
Year 6 hughesd@woodlandacademy.co.uk
Year 7 matiass@woodlandacademy.co.uk
Year 8 guthriea@woodlandacademy.co.uk

I would also like to welcome our new staff to Woodland: Miss MacLennan, our new leader of French; Miss Dimmock, a KS2 teacher; Mrs Davies-Smith, our textiles/food teacher and Miss Cornish, a teaching assistant. We are really delighted to have you all joining Team Woodland.

This month our value is Aspiration – a really good, thought provoking value for our pupils & staff at the start of the year. As a staff we have sky high aspirations for our pupils; we are so delighted when former pupils come back and share with us their successes! For our pupils, considering their futures and mapping out the hard work that is required to get there has been a central talking point in assemblies, form times and PSHCE so far this term. I know from experience that talking about future objectives can never start too early – but can certainly be overlooked, so please do carry on this conversation at home!

There are so many opportunities and subsequent dates for the diary for the year ahead – I have included all the key ones in this edition. We will sent out reminders by letter and text near each event of course, but you can also follow the school news and reminders on Twitter @WoodlandAcademy - there’s a lovely little video clip of the Roald Dahl Day hat competition entrants posted just yesterday! Congratulations to the winners and all those that took part.

As we begin this new school year it is so pleasing to reflect back on last term where we re-attained our ‘Good’ Ofsted rating (we believe we never lost it – but that’s another story) - if you’d like to come in and see the school in action there are a few opportunities coming up. First is the PTA Fun Run on Friday 22nd September in the afternoon. All parents are welcome to come and cheer on the pupils as they run or walk around our field course. Gates open shortly after 1pm, coffee, tea (PTA) and cakes (McMillan Fundraiser) are available for parents.

We will also be leading escorted tours on a ‘normal’ weekday for existing parents in week commencing 25th September - a booking letter will be sent home shortly but, if you miss it, book a tour by emailing office@woodlandacademy.co.uk or calling Tracey on 01525 750400. We have a ‘meet the form tutor’ parents’ evening on Thursday 12th October - again a letter will be sent home to book a space. This event is very popular with Year 5 parents, parents of new starters and pupils in forms with ‘new to the school’ teachers, so do book early to get the time slot you prefer.

We are recruiting for a maternity cover position, seeking EITHER a part-time Primary teacher OR a full or part-time Music teacher. Candidates need to be able to start at the beginning of December (but January at the latest). If you are interested, please email me directly on conquestj@woodlandacademy.co.uk .

We are in the process of setting up a donations page to raise money to commission a sculpture for our gardens in memory of our pupil, Lucy Green, who sadly passed away last year whilst in Year 7. We will also be holding a non-uniform day and receiving a contribution from the PTA to pay for the sculpture which will be important for remembering Lucy. If donations exceed the cost of the sculpture, the excess will go to Lucy’s family’s choice of charity – Clic Sargent. We will write home to everyone when we have the details for donation confirmed. We will also be streaming the amazing video that our Year 8 made using a drone for Lucy in their Year 7 summer term. And finally… at the outset of the year, I’d like to wish everyone at Woodland a very successful and healthy year 

English Department Notices

Roald Dahl Day 2018
The English department ran a Roald Dahl hat competition and saw some fantastic entries, ranging from ripe peaches to exploding potions. The runner up was Katie Harris (5ST) with a James and the Giant Peach inspired hat and in first place was Holly Gates (6CGS) with a hat that managed to tell the story of Esio Trot - fishing line included! Both girls won books and the winner won a large bar of Dairy Milk (Willy Wonka would be proud). Congratulations to all entrants - the standard was phenomenal - everyone received a housepoint for their efforts.

Book Club News 2017-2018
For 2017 book club has a new time! To make the club available to a wider range of students we have moved to lunchtimes. The first book of the year is: Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Our first meeting is at 1pm on Thursday 6th October in the library. Please encourage your children to read the book and come along. If you want any further information please email Mrs Packman on packmank@woodlandacademy.co.uk

Pupil news

Sofia Reeves (ex-pupil) took part in an international horse competition over the summer holidays and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Fundraising:
Me and my sister are doing an 8 km walk on Sunday 24th September to try and raise some money for The Alzheimer's Society. Although we don't have anyone in our family who suffers from Alzheimer's or Dementia we feel very strongly about it. People with Dementia can forget everything about their lives, even forgetting people who have loved them for a long time which is very hard for everyone involved. If you would like to sponsor us we would be very grateful. Katie Millar 8JT.

Anthony Dickinson 6RL is swimming 22 miles over a period of 12 weeks, to raise money for a spinal injuries charity. This is something he is doing by himself and not as part of any club. He is swimming at Flitwick leisure centre, with 64 lengths equalling 1 mile. He is very determined, and has so far raised £80 in just 4 days. If anyone would like to sponsor Anthony please contact the school office. 

FREE SCHOOL MEALS
Your child may qualify for free school meals if you receive any of the following:

Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, the Guarantee element of State Pension Credit, Support from the National Asylum Support Service, Child Tax Credit (but not Working Tax Credit) and you have an annual income that does not exceed £16,190.

Please call 0300 300 8306 for further information.

Key dates:
2017
Sept 6th Autumn Term commences
Sept 18th School Photos
Sept 22nd Fun Run
Sept 26th Y8 Go Global trip
Sept 29th Y5 Whipsnade trip
Oct 12th Meet the Form Tutor evening
Oct 19th Halloween disco
Oct 23rd Half Term week
Oct 30th INSET day (school closed)
Nov 9th Prospective Y4 pupils’ open evening
Nov 10th PTA Quiz Night
Nov 13th Parent tours week
Nov 15th Ski Trip Parents evening
Nov 17th Y8 Skills Show trip
Dec 1st Christmas Fayre
Dec 5th Y6 Parents evening
Dec 6th Christmas recital
Dec 14th Christmas dinner. Christmas disco.
Dec 19th Y5 and 6 Panto Trip. End of Autumn Term

2018
Jan 2nd INSET day (school closed)
Jan 3rd Spring Term commences
Jan 4th Y8 Calshot parents evening
Jan 10th Y7 Parents evening
Jan 26th Y5 Parents evening
Feb 8th Valentines disco
Feb 12th Half Term week
Feb 20th Y8 Parents evening
Mar 6th Y7 first Normandy trip
Mar 27th KS2 production
Mar 29th End of Spring Term
Apr 3rd Ski trip departs
Apr 16th Summer Term commences
May 14th SATS week
May 21st PGL week
May 28th Half Term week
June 7th Y7 Go Global trip
June 14th Y6 Clued up club trip
June 15th Y5 Boulogne trip
June 20th KS2 Sports day
June 21st KS3 Sports day
June 22nd Summer Fayre
July 6th Y7 Chessington trip
July 9th KS3 production week
July 12/13 Y4 transfer days
July 13th Y8 transfer day
July 16th Y4 Parents evening
July 17th Summer concert
July 19th Y8 leavers’ assembly. Y8 Prom.
July 20th End of Summer Term

Attachments:
World Of Woodland Issue 44.pdf
Code Club Poster.pdf
Parent Guide AR.pdf
TICs Bedford.jpg