It has been delightful to welcome everyone back into school this term.  The Short Woodies have shown brilliant resilience as they have settled into their new classes, staff are enjoying getting to know the new pupils they are working with.  

The new year has not been without challenges as we respond to the regularly updated guidance around COVID 19.  Thank you to everyone who is continuing to follow the one-way system around school as this does ensure we are avoiding bottlenecks at the gates.  We continue to work closely with the local health hub, and follow their guidance around positive cases.  As always if your child displays any symptoms please do not bring them to school and book a PCR test as soon as possible.

The planned curriculum offer this term is developing well and children are excited by their learning. 

Early Years are getting to know Percy the Park Keeper, they are adventuring to squirrel school and getting to know their daily routines well. 

Key Stage One's topic of 'Celebrations' is heading into the celebration of Harvest, the children are learning why this is an important time of year, they will hold their own Harvest celebration in school on Thursday 7th October, we are supporting the KIP project in Wellington by donating the food we collect in school.  If you are able to send in any packets, tins or toiletries they will be gratefully received.

Years 3 and 4 are 'Turning Over a New Leaf' with their Rainforest topic.  Next week they will be visiting the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham to experience how it feels to be in a tropical atmosphere.  They will be looking at and comparing tropical plants with those grown in their local environment.

Year 5 have already been up the Wrekin to find out more about the Cornovii Tribe, some of the earliest settlers in our local area.  Throughout the year through their 'Shadow of the Wrekin' topic they will travel through time to discover how our community has come to be the one it is today.

Year 6 are focusing on 'Community and Belonging' this term.  The pupils have been inspired by the Wolves in their class read Wolf brother to find out more about how Wolves live and in some parts of the world have changed their environment.  Their Arts fortnight is providing opportunities to develop their painting skills to enable them to paint their own wolf, capturing the personality of their wolf in their work. They have created colour palettes, are exploring brush techniques and considering different types of paint. A visit from the Animal Man has also been a highlight this week - they have been able to build on their understanding of classification in Science and have learnt so many new facts - ask any Year 6 how the frog swallows their food - you may be surprised by the answer.

We are very fortunate this year to have been selected by Sunnycroft, our local National Trust property, to be their first partnership school. We are collaborating to use the property to enhance our topics and curriculum.  We will be using their grounds, performing at events and holding some events of our own.  By sharing expertise we hope to offer our pupils a unique insight into this local gem of a property, to find out about the people who have lived there over time and how they have contributed to the local community. We hope to be able to invite our families to come along to some of the events too.  This is a really exciting opportunity that we are looking forward to developing over the coming months.

As the weather is getting chillier please ensure your child comes to school in warmer clothes, we are still maintaining good ventilation across school so doors and windows are regularly opened.  They need to have coats and suitable shoes for outdoor play too.  Outdoor learning is becoming a weekly part of the timetable this year too.  We would be grateful if you have wellies and waterproofs that your child can bring in for their sessions as we will go out in most weathers.  We do have some school waterproofs that we will lend to children if they need them so no one misses out on the fun.

Following parents calls this week we have received some really positive feedback about the start of term, thank you. We realise some of you may prefer face to face sessions but while the local rates of Covid are high we are working to keep everyone as safe as possible and reduce risk of transmission where we can.  Please continue to use Dojo to keep in touch with your child's teacher.  The teachers will respond at an appropriate time in their daily timetable, this is unlikely to be during lesson time or beyond 6pm. If you need an urgent response or have a message for a child during the day please call the office and a member of the team will be pleased to help you.  As always you can always call to speak to a member of our senior team too or catch us on the playground at the start and end of most days.