25 Feb 2025
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Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been an action packed end to the first half of the Spring term. The children have enjoyed a range of different experiences over the last few weeks to enhance their learning. By engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection, they are better able to make stronger connections with knowledge learned in the classroom. Some of these amazing experiences like the Science Day and our weekly Forest School sessions are fully funded by our PTFA - which is incredible! A MASSIVE thank you for all your support to enable this enhancement to our children’s education at Woolacombe School!

Our learning inspiring learning experiences from the last few weeks ……

Fantastic Devon Science Day

Thanks to our AMAZING PTFA, the whole school, including the nursery, had the opportunity to take part in a Devon Science Day Experience! To kick start the day the children took part in a whole school Chemistry Lab Adventures Science Show with lots of exciting chemical experiments including making elephant toothpaste, explosions and bubbles being set alight! The children then had fun exploring potion making and chemistry workshops throughout the day. It was wonderful to see the children’s enthusiasm, enjoyment and engagement during Science Day! Thank you PTFA and Ruth from Devon Science for giving our children such a memorable experience.

Year 1 and 2 had an amazing visit to Quince Honey Farm, they were inspiring adventurers but also demonstrated fantastic listening and inquisitive learning skills. The children were ‘buzzing’ with excitement and learnt lots about the life cycle of a bee, honey, candle making and the natural world through ‘bee-spoke’ hands-on workshops throughout the day!

 

As part of their work on the Romans, the Year 3 children have designed, made and painted their own Roman Shield, ready to use in a Woolacombe School Roman Army battle formation!

 

Our Year 4 children have also been ‘inspiring adventurers’ and had a wonderful, action packed residential trip to Bristol this last week. They visited Bristol Aerospace, SS Great Britain, We the Curious, Cheddar Gorge and also went on a Ferry Boat tour plus they managed to fit in a trip to the Cinema for some fun evening entertainment! We were super proud of how the children represented Woolacombe School when they were away, with lots of positive praise from the public regarding their behaviour and conduct. Thank you Mrs Clark, Mrs Morris and Paula for supporting the children on this trip.

 

Year 4, 5 and 6 shared an author talk with an INSPIRING ADVENTURER, Matt Dickinson. He shared stories, photos of his amazing explorations and his motivations about becoming a published author. Year 6 were also lucky enough to be visited by another local author ‘Biggles’. He shared some inspiring stories about his father and his first-hand experiences of missions, great escapes and travels. It was a perfect way to deepen the children’s understanding of their WW2 HISTORY learning, but with a different perspective.

I hope you all have an amazing half term holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday 24th February.

Thank you for your continued support,

Warm Regards

Mrs Gail Holmes

Whole school attendance this academic year: 92.1% (National Average is 94.5%)
Reception 89.2%
Year 1 91.3%
Year 2 94.3%
Year 3 94.4%
Year 4 90.4%
Year 5 93.6%
Year 6 93.8%

Thank you to all parents and carers who call the school absence line before 8.30am - it really helps us to know ahead of the school day whether to expect your child in class. Please remember to report all absences and again each morning for additional days that your child is absent. Any planned absences can be recorded ahead of time - please contact the school office for an Absence Request form (S2).

After School Clubs
Monday Forest School Club - KS1 4.15 finish

Art Club - EYFS/KS1 4.15 finish

Dance Club - KS1 4.15 finish
Tuesday Art Club - Y 5&6 4.30 finish

Netball Club - KS2 4.15 finish
Wednesday Ukulele Orchestra ( Starting 26th Feb - see poster below)
Thursday Football Club - KS2 4.30 finish
Friday No clubs

4th February - PTFA Extraordinary General Meeting

6th February - Science Day for all year groups with Devon Science

7th February - PTFA cake sale after school

10th - 13th February - SEND Parent meetings & Parent Consultation Week 1

10th-13th February - Year 4 Residential to Bristol

14th February - non-pupil day

HALF TERM

24th February - start of Spring Term 2

24th Feb - 28th Feb - Parent Consultation Week 2

27th February - Woolacombe School’s World Book Day! (Date altered due to Y5&6 residential to France.)

27th February - After School second hand book sale and cake sale in the Village Hall

1st-5th March - Year 5 and 6 France Residential

10th March - Whole School Space Dome - to kick start British Science and Engineering Week

 

Please see the school website calendar for further dates.

Congratulations to the following children, who have received Character Recognition Awards for their Honesty this week:

 

Willow and Hugo - Reception

Connie and Reggie - Year 1

Wren and Kody - Year 2

Juliet and Pixie - Year 3

Jacob and Isla - Year 5

Logan and Roxy - Year 6

BREMCO North Devon Cross Country League  

 

Congratulations to our cross country runners who took part in a very muddy cross country run at Kingsley the other weekend. It was a tough course and I know a few of you even lost your trainers along the way! Just one more cross country run to finish off the season - you have all done incredibly well with some super amazing results. I am looking forward to seeing the final individual and team league results in a few weeks time!

A massive well done to Sophie Lamb who competed in the Devon County Swimming Championships a few weeks ago in Plymouth, representing Ilfracombe Swimming Club. This was Sophie’s first ever County Championships and she achieved 3 silver and 1 bronze medal, which is absolutely amazing! Well done Sophie - you are a super star!

 
Another massive congratulations goes to Finn Hamer and Ralph Dial in Year 4, who went to Plymouth to compete in a School Table Tennis competition. They represented Woolacombe School and were some of the youngest there, competing against Year 6’s. The boys played incredibly well, winning many of their matches. They certainly have a bright future ahead of them in table tennis. Well done boys!

 

 

A final congratulations goes to all the children who took part in the Devon Surf Life Saving Still Water Nipper competition at the weekend. Woolacombe Surf Life Saving Nippers won the competition with some very impressive performances! We are all super proud of you - well done!

 

Safe Parking

Important Reminder about Safe Parking

It has come to my attention that some parents are parking and driving dangerously on Beach Road when dropping and picking up their children. Please ensure that you DO NOT park on the zig zags and bus stop area on Beach Road. These areas are clearly marked on the road and must not be blocked.

 

When cars park in these areas it means that the island crossing area is blocked from vision and it can force cars to drive on the wrong side of the road to get past the inappropriately parked cars. Please leave enough time to park appropriately and safely.

Thank you to everyone who attended the PTFA Quiz night on Tuesday 11th February! We managed to raise a fantastic £426.50 in one night!! Your support is greatly appreciated and the money raised will go towards our fundraising for the new play equipment and to continue to pay for more amazing experiences for our children - like Forest School and the Space Dome!

Playground Equipment Update

Please see below the updated designs for our proposed playground equipment we are fundraising for. The PTFA are working tirelessly applying for grants to support the fundraising to install the equipment. Many thanks must go to Jen Steer who has been leading on this with the support of Penny Clark, our PTFA Chair, they have been working hard behind the scenes to increase our fundraising opportunities! Thank you!

Events & PTFA

Extraordinary PTFA meeting - Tuesday 4th Feb 7.30pm.

The meeting is both in person in school or via zoom.

The zoom link for the PTFA meeting next week is below.

Looking forward to seeing you virtually or in person.

PTFA scheduled Zoom meeting link.

Topic: PTFA Zoom meeting

Time: Feb 4, 2025 07:30 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83363387276?pwd=Y8OQ4kjWhV3Cwq14lQKXkH3nyWNfmq.1

Meeting ID: 833 6338 7276

Passcode: 937594

PTFA Update

Barnstaple Library Half Term Programme

Barnstaple Library has an exciting programme of events for the February half term including a theatre performance of Roald Dahl and the Imagination Seekers, a free classical music concert for children and their grown-ups and their popular breakfast & crafts on the Thursday.

 

Booking links for the theatre performances at 11am and 1pm:

 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roald-dahl-and-the-imagination-seekers-tickets-1064201839349?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roald-dahl-and-the-imagination-seekers-tickets-1064214988679?aff=oddtdtcreator

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