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Happy holidays

Fri 19 Jul 2019

Where did that year go?? We have reached the end of another successful year and what a busy year it has been, reading back through the blogs on this page reminds us of what a year it has been.

The family day 'Do you want to be an engineer?' was a great success yesterday. Some photos are on the Special Events page of the website. We had a brilliant turn out and brilliant feedback from families who attended. Mrs Jones does a brilliant job organising the event and the staff and contributors are so supportive in making it a day to remember bringing the whole community together.

Our Year 6 pupils had a great final trip on Monday to Barmouth. The weather was on our side, the children had a splashing time as they headed into the sea. It was great to watch the children being free and hear the screams of glee and pure fun. Thank you to the PTA for funding the ice creams - they were a welcome addition after our picnic lunch. We are also grateful to the PTA for planning the Year 6 Prom on Wednesday evening, the children had another memorable evening - so much popcorn and candy floss was consumed! Saying farewell this afternoon at their final leavers assembly was emotional but we hope they will take everything they have learnt about being a Short Woody into their futures and be the very best they can be. Once a Short Woody always a Short Woody!

Year 5 pupils showed what great community members they are on Tuesday as they supported the Friends at Bowring Park to create their wildlife garden. Our gardening club have been nurturing the small plants, these were taken down to the park and planted. During their visit the children enjoyed playing on the playground equipment and took to the park to play cricket and other ball games. Look out for events over the summer or why not just pop down for a family picnic and enjoy some quality time.

Thank you to everyone who attended parents evening this week and collected reports. It was great to see such a turn out.

The Sports days were finally completed this week and we had an assembly on Thursday to celebrate the amazing sporting success this year. We are really proud to have been awarded the Platinum School Games Mark having achieved the Gold award for a number of years.

Moses was crowned our Key Stage 2 Sports personality of the year with Kashi taking the title for Key Stage 1. Purple Pine were the winning house once all the Sports Days totals were added up. Thanks to Coach and his team of helpers who make it possible for so many pupils to achieve sporting success. More children than ever before have achieved swimming certificates this year too, they will be coming home with those wither today or early next term.

Golden leaf assembly was a long one today, we are celebrating the success of our final Golden Leaf winners, who we are so proud of. We also had winners of The Wrekin Fine Arts society Art competition,

The Year 6's a few years ago left a legacy trophy for the Short Woodiest Short Woody.....this year they were awarded to Julia in Key Stage 2, Sophie in Key Stage 1 and Ionella in Early Years . It was a tough field, the girls were voted for as they are hard workers, resilient and committed to always doing their best for others and themselves. When Mrs Simons left last year she left us an Arts Award trophy too for us to celebrate the talents of our pupils. This year this is being awarded to Maddison from Year 5. She is a talented musician and the detail in her art work is beautiful.

We also said goodbye to a number of members of staff today. Miss Chesters and Mrs Hayward from Early Years are leaving to pursue a teaching career. Mrs Tymon (EYFS), Mrs Loakes (Y5), Mrs Fairgrieves (Y1) and Mrs Dallow (Lunchtime) are off to have baby Short Woodies - we look forward to meeting them soon. Phoebe from our lunchtime team is leaving to take up a new opportunity, Miss Wheat will be moving to Charlton School in September and Miss Beadles is leaving to join the team at Old Hall School. We wish them all good luck - they also know that once a Short Woody always a Short Woody so I am sure we will see them again soon.

As it is the end of the academic year we do want to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the school this year. We are always grateful for the help and support we receive to be able to provide the very best opportunities for the pupils at our school. We have had some lovely end of year messages and this means a lot to our team who all work so very hard. As the holidays start we want to wish you a happy, healthy holiday and look forward to seeing many of you back on Tuesday 3rd September.

Sports Day superstars

Fri 12 Jul 2019

Finally we have managed to start our Sports Days! Years 5/6 and Years 3/4 have been brilliant this week. Thanks to Coach B who spends a lot of time planning and preparing for these events. The support from parents and carers has been great too. The balance of competitive events and fun filled activities makes these days a highlight of the year. We are hoping the weather stays settled enough for us to do Key Stage 1 and Early Years next week. Talking of sporting fun, staff took on pupils in a rounders match after school on Thursday. After last year's pupil victory there was a real buzz surrounding the rematch. Following a competitive match, expertly umpired by Miss Smallman, staff were victorious. The pupil's team decided the addition of Mr Brench to the staff team was the key to their success!

Transition days have happened across school this week. While Year 6 pupils visited their new secondary schools, pupils in schools met their new class teachers for next year. We have a number of new teachers joining Short Wood in September, it was a pleasure to welcome them to the team. It was lovely to see so many of our new Reception children join us for lunch this week, with their adults, to give them a chance to practise what lunchtimes will be like.

Key Stage 1 performed beautifully on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon this week. Following on from the older children attending the Big Sing our Key Stage 1 pupils were keen to showcase their talents too. We had lot of family members and friends come along, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Next week is a really busy one and we can't quite believe it is the last week of this academic year. Year 6 have their Barmouth trip on Monday. Parents evenings will be held on Monday and Tuesday, the children's reports will be handed out and discussed at these meetings. On Wednesday evening the PTA have planned the Year 6 Prom, then on Thursday everyone is invited to our end of year celebration day - Do you want to be an engineer? - we have lots of activities and stalls to enable families to explore lots of different aspects of engineering and hopefully inspire some engineers of the future.

As it is the end of the year please have a search around at home and return any school books you may have hidden. All library books can be returned directly to the library or to the red box in Class 9. Lost property will be out on the playground towards the end of next week, please take a look for anything your child may have mislaid.

Just a reminder that we return to school next term on Tuesday September 3rd.

Congratulations to our Golden Leaf winners this week, they are superstars and we are so proud of them.

Summer reading challenge at your local library

Wed 10 Jul 2019

Space Chase Summer Reading Challenge 2019

On Saturday 13 July Telford & Wrekin Libraries will be launching Space Chase Summer Reading Challenge 2019, celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the moon landings. The Challenge is aimed at children aged 4-11.

How the Challenge works

Children sign up at their local library and receive a Space Chase collector folder
Children borrow and read at least six library books of their own choice during the summer, collecting special stickers to complete their folder and incentives along the way
Library staff and young volunteers are on hand to advise and run family-friendly activities
Children who complete the Summer Reading Challenge are presented with a certificate and a medal

A visit to the library is a great trip out - and is totally free of charge. Children can explore new authors or revisit some of their favourite books.

Reading for pleasure and sharing books over over the summer is a fun, relaxing thing to do and will really help your child when they return to school in September. We look forward to hearing about their reading adventure.

Best performance ever!

Sun 07 Jul 2019

"The was the best performance I have ever seen at Short Wood - and I have seen a few great ones!"

This was just one of the comments we received following the performances of The Lion King on Wednesday. It was a really special Short Wood moment - seeing such brilliant performances from each and every pupil who took part was amazing. It certainly brought a tear to many a proud parent's (and staff member's) eye. From a seed of an idea (and a slightly risky decision to rehearse and perform in less that 3 weeks), to such a memorable day. We hope it is one that pupils will recall for many years to come, at the end of the evening performance no one wanted it to end. We hope it will inspire those who saw it and took part to think about joining a drama/music club to showcase their talents and get that sense of a team effort and achievement. The Arts Centre Telford (TACT) would welcome anyone along. The support from The Schools Arts Trust and TACT made the performance possible and supported the Short Woodies to sparkle, we cannot thank them enough for their support. Our pupils were even treated to impromptu performances from some TACT members to motivate them on show day! We also need to thank our staff and community members who helped with creating the props and costumes, and ensured the music and drama was well rehearsed, in such a limited time. What a talented team!

We welcomed our newest members of the Short Wood community this week as the children who will be joining our Reception came to visit us on Thursday after school with their adults. We introduced this to our transition process to ensure children (and adults - because we realise this is a big step for everyone) are confident with the spaces in which they will be learning, and have had had a chance to meet key adults before they are left with their new teachers on Monday for their first transition session in their class. It was a lovely informal evening, with a chance to see the classrooms, play on the playground and even explore into Squirrel school.

Year 5 and 6 had an opportunity to explore online issues this week with a performance call 'Snap trap' this is presented as a short drama, throughout which the children respond to what the characters are experiencing and consider the impact of the decisions they make. Our Short Woodies were praised for their thoughtful and informed responses. We have sent a summary of the issues raised in the performance by email to parents of Year 5 and 6 pupils, we would urge you to discuss this with your children.

Year 6 pupils also attended Crucial Crew on Friday, this is another part of our curriculum to support children in making sensible, safe choices. Again our pupils responded thoughtfully and appropriately throughout the day and I'm sure they will take messages away that will be useful now and throughout the next stage other lives.

Many of you will be aware of the incident that occurred during the Year 6 Art visit on Thursday. We are relived that no one was seriously hurt and those who did attend hospital, as a precaution, were released later in the day. The immediate response from the Short Wood staff has been praised as exemplary and the follow up response from the emergency services was excellent too, we couldn't have asked for a more comprehensive response. The children were also incredible, they remained calm and were so supportive of each other. Due to the number of children it was responded to by a full range of emergency teams who took time and care to ensure all involved received the right attention in a timely manner. We also want to thank parents and carers who responded in a practical and understanding manner as we tried to address the incident in as efficient a way as possible. We will of course work with the appropriate authorities to support the subsequent investigation.

We held our first Short Wood Run event this week where parents and carers are invited to so some laps of the field straight after school with their children. We want to build on the success of our daily mile, encouraging our whole community to get involved, improving their physical and emotional health and well being. Look out for the next event and bring your trainers along!

Our Golden Leaf winners are all stars again this week well done - their photos will appear here shortly.

Next week our Year 6 pupils head off to visit their next schools - we hope they make a great first impression. In school pupils will find out which class they will be in next year and who will be teaching them, it is an exciting time.