9th November 2018

Wittersham Church of England Primary School “On a voyage of discovery: together we learn, grow and achieve”

Dear Parents and Carers, We have been lucky enough to have two wonderful visits this week to work with our pupils and staff. on Wednesday, we were fortunate to have Peter Foster from Tenterden Museum to come and run World War 1 remembrance work-shops throughout the day with every class. From some fascinating research by the museum, he was able to share with the children the specific importance and impact of our local area during the war years as well as the significance of it being the WW1 centenary this year. They also looked at the work of the Home Front and found out, amongst other things, about the National Egg Collection and how local villages and farms around Wittersham contributed to this effort. Over the day, classes created postcards for soldiers on the frontline, painted their own poppy designs on pebbles, wrote their own poppy poetry and visited the church and Wittersham war memorial to learn more about Colonel Body (a local war hero) and his connection to Camouflage who was a Wittersham war horse. Peter was impressed with our children and asked us to share this message with them: “Thank you very much for the warm welcome I received on my visit on Wednesday. The boys and girls were not only polite and well behaved, but also showed so much interest in the First World War work. I learned quite a bit myself from their intelligent questions and answers. The Staff who accompanied the pupils on the trip to the church and memorial made the whole event run very smoothly, and with all the groups, it felt like I was on a day trip to places of local and

historical interest with some friends.”

Today we have the renowned and much-loved children’s poet, Brian Moses, in school for the day. He recited poems and interacted with the whole school this morning before moving to work with Oxney and Viking children to do writing workshops for the rest of the day. The school has been alive with words and poems from the hilarious to the poignant. The workshops with the older children were focused on WW1 poetry and the children have produced some really lovely poems. Mr Moses’ visit was paid for from funds raised by the Matthew Giles fund set up in in his memory and the school would like to give a huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Giles for continuing to raise money for the school so we can have such valuable and exciting events. I wish you an enjoyable and relaxing weekend.

Claire Frost (headteacher)

Our school Christian values:

“Respect, kindness, self-worth/perseverance, forgiveness and love”

9th November 2018

Wittersham Church of England Primary School “On a voyage of discovery: together we learn, grow and achieve”

Our school Christian values:

“Respect, kindness, self-worth/perseverance, forgiveness and love”

Lunchtime Exemplary Behaviour Award:

KS1— Oscar KS2— Seren

Nominated by our Midday Leaders

This Week’s Golden Christian Values’ Winners

Windmill— Teddy R & Keira G Smugglers— Primrose H & Freya F

Viking— Taolin L & Mia C Oxney— Sam A & Luke T

Rother— Chloe L & Alfie P

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: SCHOOL REMEMBERENCE SERVICE Monday, 12th November 18 NON-UNIFORM (Mufti) DAY Wednesday, 14th November 18 CHILDREN IN NEED Friday, 16th November 18 Homewood Dance Dash WSA CHRISTMAS FAIR Saturday, 17th November—3pm OPEN MORNING for Intake 2019 Wed, 21st November 18—10am OPEN AFTERNOON for Intake 2019 Thur, 6th December 18—2pm RYE LANTERNS FESTIVAL Saturday, 8th December 18 CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY Friday, 14th December 18

Attendance Cup

Last week went to:

OXNEY

With 96.6% Attendance

Parents and Carers

The countdown is on for our Christmas Fayre. We are dusting off our Christmas jumpers and hope to see lots of you joining in the festive fun on the 17th November. We've got lots to offer on the day, including our very own Father Christmas and his Grotto. We'll be serving mulled wine and mince pies along with other refreshments for you to enjoy. We have class stalls and craft stalls, games and entertainment. The Romney Marsh Hand Bell Ringers will be there between 3 and 4pm. This year we are offering you all the chance to win a beautiful festive hamper for only £1 per square. Somebody will win it, who knows, it could be you! We will be in the playground at pick up every day leading up to the Fayre. Please check your child's bag for Raffle tickets which were sent home yesterday . They are bright yellow, so can't be missed! Anyunwanted/unsold tickets need to be sent back in so we can sell them on the day. We ran out last year!. The school is having a Mufti Day on Wednesday, 14th November. For those of you who don't know, this is when your child/children can come to school in casual clothes. All we ask is that you send them in with a donation for the Fayre. This can be unwanted gifts, wine or chocolate. We do hope we can count on your support next Saturday, as I said in last weeks newsletter, we managed to raise over £6000 in the last 12 months. The Fayre is a big fundraiser, let's see if we can beat last years total! Kate Robertson WSA Chair

Tidiest Cloakroom Award

VIKING

House Points WINNING HOUSE: HEVER

Congratulations

REMINDER

Residential Trip

The next payment for the Isle of Wight trip is due by 16th November

School Dinner Money Could all accounts for school dinners be paid by the end of the month.

Reminder letters are dispatched each week from the Finance Officer regarding

outstanding balances

Another great sporting performance by Wittersham School this week. This time in the Kent School Games year 5/6 Volleyball tournament at Towers School. We fielded two teams again, which were separated into ‘Pool A’ and ‘Pool B. Because we were one player short for one of the teams, they allowed us to

switch a player between the two during the tournament. A special mention at this point must be made about Sam A, who stepped into this role and subsequently played nine matches without a break. With his help, Wittersham One finished se-cond in their pool and sixth overall, and Wittersham Two finished first in their pool and third overall.

I have mentioned this before in these reports, but we cannot underestimate how well our teams have done so far this year. We always compete in these tournaments as the school with the lowest pupil number, but have constantly finished this year in either the medal positions or just outside. Our children really do have a great team and work ethic and should be congratulated for it. Dean Hawkins

Our school Christian values:

“Respect, kindness, self-worth/perseverance, forgiveness and love”

Wittersham Church of England Primary School “On a voyage of discovery: together we learn, grow and achieve”

9th November 2018

Sinden Theatre, Tenterden

Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs Friday, 28th—Sunday, 30th December 2018

(Flyers available in the school foyer)