** Woolgrove News **

Pupils in classes Y1L and Y2T had great fun making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.

Cooking is always popular with children and is an excellent way in which to motivate them in their learning. The fun element and prospect of ‘making a mess’ and being allowed to eat the fruits of their labour, never fails to catch their interest and curiousity. Pupils from Miss Litchfield’s class and Miss Thorn’s had a wonderful time and gained lots of practical experience with estimating, weighing and wisking their ingredients. They became familiar with the names of their utensils (who has and hasn’t got a whisk at home!) the ingredients required to make a pancake and the method involved. The best part was obviously tossing the pancake. They all had a go and all but one landed back in the pan…quite an achievement! As the chocolate sauce slowly melted into their hot pancakes, most of them relished the end result.

Our children can learn so many things when cooking…it’s amazing how much maths and science for example plays a part in preparing and cooking a meal. If you had pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, hopefully you enjoyed yours as much as the children did theirs…I think the expression on their faces says it all!

We hope you are all enjoying the half-term break. The days are getting longer and the temperatures are improving…yet only a short while ago our everyday routines ground to a virtual halt due to the heavy downfall of snow. A ‘will they or won’t they’ scenario developed throughout the week, as communities across the county awaited to hear if schools would be open or closed. As people hit the internet by the second and radio DJs read out the ever growing long list of school closures, the met weather watch became the head teacher’s new best friend! Due to the erratic and variable fall of snow across the region, taking the decision to close school was not always an easy one to make; despite what we may all think. Fortunately, most schools made the right one, leaving those of us at home to take advantage of the snow by dusting off our sledges, taking to the hills and perfecting our snow-building techniques!

For all schools and colleges, the issue of health and safety was first and foremost a priority; especially for those children and staff travelling into school via transport. This in turn, reinforced the importance and urgency of how to communicate to people whether schools would be open or not. By the second day, Woolgrove was able to post up-to-date information on the home page of the website, as to the school’s position. In addition, transport staff were notified personally by telephone. We are currently looking into alternative methods of how we can communicate with everyone more effectively than we already do so. As soon as these changes are in place we will notify you. In the meantime, there is at present a link on the Woolgrove home page, which gives information on local radio stations, their frequencies, website addresses and telephone numbers.

 

We are delighted to be able to welcome you to our new Woolgrove News Page!

Communication between home and school plays an important part in ensuring the well being of our pupils. It is also the key in maintaining a successful partnership between parents/carers and teaching/support staff. We are always striving to improve the ways in which we keep you in touch with what is going on in the community. The ways in which we deliver such information to you, via letters, newsletters or the website, obviously depends on its significance and the required timing element in which you need to be informed.

The introduction of the Woolgrove News Page is a form of communication that will come into its own in several ways: 

we will be able to bring you news, and coloured images, of activities that take place in school as they occur;

both you and your children will be able to enjoy reading and discussing school news together; they may even remember what they did that day and want to tell you all about it!

it gives you the opportunity to comment, suggest ideas and give general feedback on what happens in school instantly;

it is yet another way in which we, as a whole school community, can utilise ICT to our advantage by ‘keeping in touch with each other’.

Hopefully, by visiting our news page, people will feel as much a part of the school day, as the pupils and staff themselves. We will continue to send home letters, newsletters etc. in the normal way, but we hope you will enjoy reading our news page and visit often. If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or telephone Angela Gooding on 01462 622422 - thank you.

~~~